Evia Silence, Boúfalon, Greece
Up to 22 in group
June 25 - July 12, 2027
About this Retreat
Liz Heffernan, MA, E-RYT 500, C-IAYT is a gifted international yoga teacher, a certified Yoga Therapist and long-term practitioner. She combines her in-depth knowledge of anatomy and bio-mechanically safe alignment principles with insights and practical wisdom gained from over 26 years of yoga teaching & immersive study.
She is the Founder and Director of Soma Yoga Institute, a world-wide yoga teacher training school that embraces a therapeutically-oriented, heart-centered approach. These programs, heralded by many as truly inspirational, combine modern day biomechanics and research driven science with ancient teachings and serve to teach adaptive Yoga for all BODIES as a practice for vibrant health, self-transformation and personal empowerment.
Liz's dynamic teaching style is influenced by many, many wonderful yoga teachers. These include Ashtanga Yoga’s Shri K. Pattabhi Jois, Tim Miller, Nancy Gilgoff and Bhavani Maki; Anusara Yoga’s Desiree Rumbaugh, Jenny Otto, Noah Maze, and Jim & Ruthie Bernaert; Integrative Yoga Therapy’s Joseph Le Page; and yoga philosophers Ram Das, Douglas Brooks, and Carlos Pomeda.
Liz is known is for her ability to bridge the gap between the ancient perspectives of yoga and contemporary daily life. In her work as a yoga therapist, Liz specializes in helping seniors age gracefully and is highly skilled in adapting practices to meet the complex health challenges associated with aging. In collaborative partnership with Yoga 4 Brain Health she has co-founded the Memory Maintenance Yoga Teacher Training program that certifies Yoga teachers to help their communities delay the onset of memory loss related diseases through Yoga. Liz also serves as a faculty-mentor for the Kripalu School of Integrative Yoga Therapy supporting professionals on their journey to become yoga therapists.
Liz believes that the path of Yoga brings greater ease, not just to the individual, but to all beings everywhere, and ultimately uplifts planetary consciousness one conscious breath at a time.
Christine, a seasoned yoga instructor and founder of the international school Om Shree Om, began her yoga journey in 1990, driven by a desire for emotional balance and mental clarity from her stressful teaching career. Renowned for her expertise in therapeutic yoga, Christine excels in teaching alignment, biomechanics, and fascial health, integrating these into a holistic approach that promotes healing and well-being. As a teacher trainer, she imparts this deep knowledge to aspiring yoga teachers, enhancing their practices with her fun-spirited and engaging teaching style. Her methodology not only addresses individual needs but also emphasizes the importance of fascia and miofascial lines in supporting effective and safe yoga practices.
Details of this retreat
This teacher training offers students in-depth skills to explore Yoga as a vehicle for holistic health, self-transformation, and personal empowerment.
Our curriculum includes a unique blend of alignment-based vinyasa flow yoga, a solid foundation in Hatha Yoga, and 200 hours of instruction offered within a therapeutic framework.
The instruction will cover a wide range of Yoga techniques including yoga postures, yoga anatomy, relaxation, breath awareness, pranayama, meditations to calm the mind, contemplations to transform limiting tendencies into life-affirming thought patterns, and the application of clear, anatomy-informed principles of alignment to create safety, balance, and freedom in Yoga poses.
Students explore yoga's ancient teachings and concepts from yogic philosophy including Ayurveda, Patanjali's Yoga Sutras, the Hatha Yoga Pradipika, and the Chakra System as frameworks for the application of Yoga as a journey towards radiant health and well-being.
The physical practice emphasis includes hatha and vinyasa yoga offered through a lens of biomechanically sound and anatomy-informed alignment. Expect both mindful vinyasa flow sequencing as well as gentler and restorative variations. You will practice physical postures from all categories of poses including standing poses, hip openers, forward bends, backward bends, twists, inversions, balancing, supine, seated, and prone.
Variations for all levels of practitioners will be provided in yoga practice, all abilities and ALL bodies are welcome to attend.
Rather than offer standard sequencing or rigid methodologies, students are exposed to frameworks that inspire each yoga teacher to adopt the practices, awaken their creativity, and find their own authentic voice as a yoga teacher.
Graduates of this program feel empowered to teach a variety of yoga class types, including all levels vinyasa flow yoga, alignment-based classes, yoga foundations, senior, gentle, and restorative.