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A New Project
A walk through The Living Breath:
A 7-part workshop series
Exciting new project: A walk through The Living Breath: A 7-part workshop series.
One of the most important projects I’ve been involved in was the translation of Peter Hersnack’s book La Chair Vivante into English as The Living Breath. From December 2022 through to July 2023 I’ll be offering a chance to explore this gem of a book through study, discussion and practice.
All material and practices from the book will be covered, to deepen understanding of Peter’s unique teaching.
Dates and times are as follows, Fridays, 4.00-6.30pm and Saturdays, 10am – 1pm
- 9th-10th December 2022
- 13th-14th January 2023
- 24th – 25th February
- 1st-2nd April
- 28th-29th April
- 2nd – 3rd June
- 23rd-24th June
Booking and payment options:
If you would like to book a place, please let me know. Once you book, you can pay either in full any time before 1st December, or else with a deposit of £100/€150 now and the balance by 1st December.
Payment options:
- PayPal using my email address, and selecting ‘pay a friend’. There might be a very small charge for UK transactions (I have to pay €1.99 for transfers to the UK)
- Revolut, using @eleanor8ymb. This should be free!
- Bank transfer. Please contact me for bank details eleanor.yoga.flute@gmail.com.
General points and course structure:
The group will be limited to between 12 and 15 people on a first come, first served basis- so do get in touch if you’re interested! I will set up a waiting list if necessary.
We will look at one chapter each month for 7 months, starting December, 2022. We’ll take time to look at the ideas in each chapter, and I will guide the practices. In between sessions you will have a chance to reflect, to practise, and to read the next chapter for each upcoming session.
I see myself as a guide, rather than a teacher – Peter is the teacher here!
The course will take one chapter per month, as follows:
- One: Introduction
- Two: Form, axis, breath: prāṇa – apāna
- Three: The relationship between form and axis: prāṇa – sūrya apāna
- Four: The two poles of the axis: mūla – apāna and candra – prāṇa
- Five: Axis, form and laterality: candra – mūla
- Six: Confusion and discernment: bandha – kleśa – saṁyoga
- Seven: Incarnation and unveiling: puruṣa – prāṇa – prakṛti
Recordings:
I will record all the sessions, so that you can go over them again in your own time, or if you have to miss a session. The ideal would be to come to all the workshops in real time, so we can generate a good group feel, and share our troughs and reflections. However, I know that some of you have other commitments and I wouldn’t want these to prevent you from signing up – you can catch up with the recordings.
I am hoping that for the first and last sessions, some of the people involved in the history and production of the book might join us for a short while to celebrate and talk a bit about its coming into being – from the retreat in 2002 to the book’s publication in 2018.
The Living Breath is the translation of Peter Hersnack’s book La Chair Vivante (Cahiers de Présence d’Esprit 2003). It covers the proceedings of a week-long retreat which Peter taught in France in 2002.
The book is divided into 7 chapters, each covering one day of the retreat. The theme is the relationships of five ‘energetic elements’, which are vital for our healthy living in the world.
Peter states clearly at the beginning that this is essentially a practical book; the fruit of his many years of study with TKV Desikachar in Chennai, India, in the late 1960s and early 1970s.
Each chapter contains two or three practices, which are described in detail and represented by diagrams. These introduce key aspects of Peter’s teaching, including intelligent use of breath in yoga posture and different aspects of bodily intelligence. The whole book is shot through with insights from Peter’s profound knowledge and unique understanding of the Yoga Sutra of Patanjali.
Rationale and vision for the course:
Several people who worked with Peter through English have asked for some kind of workshop or course which covers both the essence and more specifics of his teaching. I thought it could be interesting and helpful to go the book chapter by chapter, looking at the ideas Peter presents, and doing the practices. It would be a ‘guided walk’. We will work together, sharing our experiences. As Peter says in his introduction to the book, ‘I don’t claim any authority here’! I’d hope that we can share our experiences, but I would be there to facilitate, to guide the practices and to outline the theoretical material.
Every time I read the book I find something new. My intention with this course is to share Peter’s work through the lens of my own understanding through study and practice. I’d hope that each participant will be touched differently – as Peter touched each of us according to who we are, rather than to any agenda of his. If it seems appropriate, we might also wander further, slightly ‘off piste’, if any other aspects of Peter’s teaching come up during the course of our explorations. His teaching changed over the years, and some of his later ways of looking at particular yoga concepts could certainly inform our work on The Living Breath. However, the book will remain the clear focus of the course, and we will go through it step by step.
I spent many years completely immersed in The Living Breath. Peter encouraged me to translate the original French book, La Chair Vivante, into English, and from 2010 to his death in 2016 I worked on it under his guidance. After that, a small group was formed, and we worked together to complete the translation project, which was published in December 2018. This group was led by Peter’s widow Colette, and included Sheila Baker, who did all the artwork and cover design, and who ensured we kept ‘essence of Peter’ present at all times.
Since Peter’s death I have been working consistently with Peter’s wife Colette, and also with Sylvie Palot, who shares the teaching at the annual Art of Yoga- Peter Hersnack retreat in France. I’m also translating Peter’s translations and commentary of the Yoga Sutra into English for the Association’s website, as well as being ‘anglophone rep’ on their committee. I’m offering this course as a way of keeping Peter’s teaching alive – and so that those of us who want to can pass it on to a new generation of students – each in our own way, but with an understanding based on practice and study.
A walk through The Living Breath: A 7-part workshop series

When:Monthly, 9th/10th December 2022 – 23rd/24th June 2023
Fridays, 4-6.30pm, Saturdays, 10am-1pm
Where: Zoom
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svādhyāya ..
Weekend retreat in the Burren Yoga and Meditation Centre
Yoga retreat/holidays in the recently refurbished Centre. Delicious food! Walks and trips. Open to anyone regardless of yoga experience. Find space and nourishment in the wild, beautiful West of Ireland.
The beautiful, newly-expanded and refurbished Centre is now open, providing more space for each person and new, en-suite accommodation. See https://burrenyoga.com/.
Retreats are open to everyone – from beginners to experienced yoga practitioners and teachers. It is a chance to find some space for yourself in a peaceful and stunningly beautiful location and to deepen your practice of yoga and meditation.
A weekend allows for a letting-go of everyday stresses and time to relax and refresh. On the week-long retreats there is a wonderful sense of time becoming very fluid and an opportunity for deeper rest and nourishment from the yoga practice, the environment – and the food …
The programme is relaxed, with yoga and meditation in the morning, late afternoon and evening. The middle of the day is set aside for a guided walk or activity and lunch in a local restaurant, or else a picnic. The Burren is an outstanding area of natural beauty, with unique wild flowers in the spring and summer, birds and a beautiful coastline.
Food is vegetarian – organic and locally sourced wherever possible – and utterly delicious!
Some people like to come with a friend or relative; others prefer to come alone, needing time for themselves. There is great respect for the needs of each individual, within a warm-hearted, friendly group feel.
I generally take a theme for the week or weekend, often linking into the seasons, the elements or the landscape. The theme then becomes a support for our work in yoga – which takes its own momentum according to the needs of the group.
All bookings are taken directly through the Centre website – https://burrenyoga.com/, but do contact me if you have any questions at all.
Weekend retreat in the Burren Yoga and Meditation Centre

When:
24th – 26th March 2023 (weekend retreat)
Where: Burren Yoga & Meditation Centre, Kinvara, H91 KN72, County Galway, Ireland. Discover more
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pariṇāma vāda ..
Yoga for changing times sangha
A free online gathering
October Theme: Relationship with the world: the yama-s for living today
Yoga for changing times
an evolving project

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Retreat/holidays in the Burren Yoga and Meditation Centre
These weekend and week-long retreats take place in the Burren Yoga and Meditation Centre, near Kinvara, Co, Clare, in the West of Ireland. My retreats are part of a wider programme of retreats run all year round by the Centre.
The beautiful, newly-expanded and refurbished Centre is now open, providing more space for each person and new, en-suite accommodation. See https://burrenyoga.com/.
Retreats are open to everyone – from beginners to experienced yoga practitioners and teachers. It is a chance to find some space for yourself in a peaceful and stunningly beautiful location and to deepen your practice of yoga and meditation.
A weekend allows for a letting-go of everyday stresses and time to relax and refresh. On the week-long retreats there is a wonderful sense of time becoming very fluid and an opportunity for deeper rest and nourishment from the yoga practice, the environment – and the food …
The programme is relaxed, with yoga and meditation in the morning, late afternoon and evening. The middle of the day is set aside for a guided walk or activity and lunch in a local restaurant, or else a picnic. The Burren is an outstanding area of natural beauty, with unique wild flowers in the spring and summer, birds and a beautiful coastline.
Food is vegetarian – organic and locally sourced wherever possible – and utterly delicious!
Some people like to come with a friend or relative; others prefer to come alone, needing time for themselves. There is great respect for the needs of each individual, within a warm-hearted, friendly group feel.
I generally take a theme for the week or weekend, often linking into the seasons, the elements or the landscape. The theme then becomes a support for our work in yoga – which takes its own momentum according to the needs of the group.
All bookings are taken directly through the Centre website – https://burrenyoga.com/, but do contact me if you have any questions at all.
Retreat/holidays in the Burren Yoga and Meditation Centre

When:
26th May – 1st June 2023 (week-long retreat)
7th – 13th July 2023 (week-long retreat)
Where: Burren Yoga & Meditation Centre, Kinvara, H91 KN72, County Galway, Ireland. Discover more
Cost: Variable – More information
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Yoga for changing times - Autumn Workshops
an evolving project
Themes: To be announced
An exploration of the question of time, timelessness and presence, drawing on concepts from the Yoga Sūtra
How can our internal experience of time help to transform our experience of what it is to live in the world in our ‘shared humanity’?
‘A shift in consciousness may sound grandiose to some, insufficient to others. But we live in a time of growing awareness of the intimate connections between outer and inner worlds’
from ‘The Future We Choose’, by Christiana Figueres and Tom Rivett-Carnac.
The process has already started, but it will continue step by step, listening to our individual and collective needs, with meetings between 4 and 6 times a year.
In essence, yoga is a philosophical and spiritual teaching for living freely and fully in the world. The practice on the mat allows for a change on a cellular level In a world which is changing so rapidly, our relationship with yoga can be a support, but it needs to be a living support, which can change as we do – and allow for a transformation of consciousness which is needed to move into the future.
The practice on the mat is like a laboratory for exploration which has the potential to change us on a cellular level, so we quite literally become ‘the change we want to see’.
‘The state of yoga … is a beginning and not an end-point … a momentary state, the initiator of a process which transforms both our perception and our being in the world.’ Peter Hersnack
What is essential in yoga can then remain both relevant and resonant to our changing lives.
- a group of people, some yoga teachers, others not, all wanting to explore how yoga can support and nourish us in this sometimes bewildering, fast-changing world.
- a nourishing space for practice, sharing and joyful living!
- an evolving process, led by the whole group.
- open to ideas and practices from other areas (somatic practices, ideas from environmental teachers etc).
- yoga in its broadest sense remaining as the hub of a turning wheel.
- a recognition of our potential, and the need to tap into the unknown in order to ‘be the change we want to see’.
- yoga as a teaching for living– in order to inform our daily lives (work, family, community etc).
- one-day or weekend workshops, with a specific theme to each workshop
- all work to be grounded in practice- postures, the breath and meditative practice.
- 2 or 3 practices a day (some ‘mini’, some longer).
- exploration of ideas and specific postures in more detail.
- sharing and discussion of key ideas from yoga teaching (mostly the Yoga Sutra of Patanjali), which we then explore in practice.
- a recognition of our potential, and the need to tap into the unknown in order to ‘be the change we want to see’.
- yoga as a teaching for living– in order to inform our daily lives (work, family, and the local and global community ).
- inspired by the teaching of Peter Hersnack – filtered through our own experience.
Yoga for changing times - Autumn Workshops
an evolving project

When:
Saturday and Sunday 23rd – 24th September
Saturday and Sunday 18th – 19th November
Time: Both workshops 2 – 5pm Irish/UK time (9am – midday Eastern Time)
Where: Via Zoom platform
These workshops can also be attended through recordings. Contact Eleanor for details.
Cost: €60
(20% of the proceeds are split between a humanitarian and an environmental charity)
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workshops
Yoga, Sound and Chant Workshops
“The human voice carries something in its vibration that makes it more powerful than any instrument: consciousness” (Jan Wallaczek)
Sound has a powerful capacity to mobilise energy, and a therapeutic potential through resonance within the body. These workshops have been developing since 2008, bringing together work in sound and yoga.
The workshops combine sound and movement (yoga postures), some seated work with sound, and some seated Vedic chant. It is a meditative process involving listening and responding – tuning in to ourselves and each other. There is a lovely group feel!
We also work with freer, more improvisatory sounding together, creating a vocalised ‘landscape’. This work comes towards the end of the session, as participants begin to feel comfortable with using their voices, and more at ease in the group. The sounds can be beautiful, almost ethereal: a sounding together, literally a ‘symphony’, where the ‘conversation’ opens up and takes on a life of its own.
This sound work is accessible to anyone, to help people find their own voice. Working with sound is potentially empowering and freeing – as well as very enjoyable! The workshops can help people who have lost confidence with singing or any type of performance. The aim is to connect more deeply with ourselves from the inside in a safe way and to explore our own resonance and creativity.
These workshops have been happening roughly monthly on Saturday mornings, 10.00-12.00.
See new timetable in September for details of the programme for 2020-21.
Yoga, Sound and Chant Workshops

When: Saturday mornings, 10.00-12.00
Where: This is an ongoing programme. Details of the next workshop coming soon …
Cost: More details soon

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YOGA & SOUNDSCAPES
WEBSITE DESIGN