Venue - Fontemaggio, Assisi

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With David Moore, Rossella Buono and other teachers.

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David Moore has been teaching the Alexander  technique and yoga for over 35 years and runs training courses for Alexander teachers and yoga teachers in Melbourne, Australia. He is a registered Senior Teacher with Yoga Australia, He is the author of "Smart Yoga: Use the Alexander technique to enhance your practice, prevent injury and increase body awareness."

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Rossella Buono has been teaching the technique since she graduated in 2010 and presently runs he practice from Canterbury in the UK and Perugia in Italy as well as online classes which she developed during the pandemic lockdowns. She is a skilled teacher in both private lessons and group classes. She is the co-author of "For the Love of Games: Alexander Technique Activities."

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About the retreat

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Yoga instructors, Alexander Technique teachers and those who are serious, curious and open-minded about their yoga practice will find much of interest in working with David Moore.

 

 We will be dividing up the group for some sessions so that Alexander teachers, and yoga teachers who have previously participated in Smart Yoga training, can focus on their own teaching of yoga and with an emphasis on hands-on guidance and adjustments within yoga classes.

 

 With thirty years of teaching experience in the Alexander Technique and yoga David brings fresh and practical insights into how the Alexander Technique can contribute to yoga practice. 

More than an instruction manual, his book, complete with visual examples, offers readers a critical approach to yoga practice. Furthermore, this guide accommodates the needs of people with a diverse range of movement, in terms of injuries, structure, strength and flexibility. Offering comprehensive advice in modifying yoga practice, David takes account of the huge variability in people doing yoga practice and examines how to deal intelligently with this variability. 
 

• Applying the Alexander Technique for safe and effective yoga practice
   

• Altering poses to suit a range of body types, flexibility and strength, structural issues and injury
   

• Dealing with pain and injury
   

• How Hatha Yoga, Patanjali, and Buddhist insight practices relate to

the Alexander Technique

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• Bringing the practice into daily life
   

• Balancing the autonomic nervous system
   

• Mindfulness and meditation

 

• Changing habit
   

• For teachers - developing teaching skills and hands-on guidance

The Program

The program will be structured to allow for intensive yoga and Alexander Technique work plus two private lessons for each participant over the course of the retreat. In addition it will allow for sufficient time for people to be able to visit and enjoy the surrounding towns and countryside. The program listed below is indicative and may be altered somewhat in consultation with the participants.

The course will start with an afternoon introductory group followed by an evening meal, and will end in the morning on the last day.

 

The daily program.

6.30 – 7.00 Meditation

7.00 – 9.00 - Yoga

9.00 – 10.00 - Breakfast

10.00 – 13.00 Alexander Technique Group

13.00– 14.00 Lunch

 

SEE REFUND POLICY BELOW

After 2pm - private lessons will be organized in the afternoon or evening. There will be free times for outings including visits to Assisi and Perugia.

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Depending on timing and interest we may do a late afternoon session in either yoga or Alexander Technique.

Venue:

Fontemaggio is located inside the Monte Subasio Park, just 15 minutes walk away from the top of Assisi, at 550 mt altitude. It is surrounded by hills and woods, offering an excellent opportunity for hiking in nature.

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The structure stands alone but is part of a larger complex that includes a traditional restaurant, a coffee shop (they have good coffee and lovely ice cream), and a camping ground.

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The food is vegetarian, only breakfast and lunch are included, for dinner there is the restaurant La Stalla next door, people can go out to town and also we have the use of a kitchen, if you fancy cooking and washing up.

Fees include tuition, 2 private sessions, breakfast and lunch (vegetarian), and accommodation,

All the rooms are ensuite with towels and basic toiletries. Yoga mats will also be provided.

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These are our rates as of July 2024. If you book now we will guarantee these fees, but closer to the time we may need to raise them when it becomes clearer what our costs will be.

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Very early-bird discount ends 31 December 2024​​​

Early-bird discount ends 1 March 2025

• Single €1,495 - Early bird €1,350 - Very early bird €1,200

• Double €1,300 - Early bird €1,200 - Very early bird €1,095

• 3 bedroom €1,155 - Early bird €1055 - Very early bird €960

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Fees can be paid directly to our bank accounts in Sterling or Australian dollars at the current exchange rate on the day.

 

 

What people are saying about David Moore, Rossella Buono and Smart Yoga

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"I have now been working as a yoga teacher for almost ten years and I have had the pleasure to work with many differently bodied people, including lots of people in chronic pain. I have seen the wonders that yoga has done in gently untying the emotional, physical and mental knots that people's lives, habits, choices and luck have created. I am and will be forever grateful to yoga's incredible transformative power. And yet, sometimes in my teachings, I would feel stuck in giving the right advice to students with certain deeply ingrained physical habits of coordination. My yoga teacher training did not prepare me for that level of analysis. Last July, I had the pleasure to host David Moore and Rossella Buono, in a six hour workshop at our studio in English Yoga Berlin. They brought the Alexander Technique into yoga and into my life. They provided me with the missing link" - Pinelopi -teacher at English Yoga Berlin

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I have lived with chronic pain for many years and this yoga has helped me so much. Each teacher has adapted poses for my needs and taught me how to tune into the needs of my own body. Can't thank David and the other teachers enough, - Marid Thorpe - yoga student, Melbourne

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Great yoga teachings, learning to perform the moves and stretches in keeping with the design of the body, and how we're meant to move. Love it! - Helene Goldberg - Alexander teacher in Melbourne

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What people are saying about the book "Smart Yoga"

 

Smart Yoga is a useful guidebook on navigating the Alexander Technique with yoga practices. The book is filled with diagrams and photos throughout to complement the text.

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The book explores tadasana, floor stretches, squatting poses, standing poses, twists, forward bends, backbends, hip openers, inverted poses and plank variations in great depth. I would recommend the book to anyone curious about the Alexander Technique and wanting to go into more details on the principles underpinning the methods as it relates to various yoga poses.

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It’s great to get another layer of perspective applied to poses, especially in preventing injury and building greater body awareness. I found the background and development of the Alexander Technique fascinating and can see how it would complement yoga practice. - from Yoga Today, the magazine of Yoga Australia

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 "This book is a must-read for modern day yogis searching for optimum coordination in poses to help them avoid the trap of trying to do yoga poses in a way that reinforces harmful patterns of thinking and movement" - From Amsat News - magazine of American Society of Teachers of the Alexander Technique. - Suzanne Faulkener

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Bring your partner: participants are welcome to bring a non-participating partner to the venue. There is plenty for them to do in the vicinity.The cost will be €500 for breakfast, lunch  and sharing the room with you.

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Cancellation Policy

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• For cancellations received prior to March 1 - full refund less €75 handling fee

• For cancellations received between March 1 and April 17- refund of fees paid less €500

• For cancellations received after April 17 we cannot offer a refund.

 

We strongly recommend taking out travel insurance which will cover any losses in the case that you are forced to cancel.   

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Getting there:

Assisi is about 2 hours from Rome by bus or car and  15 minutes from Perugia airport.

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