One of Galway’s foremost yogis, Aisling Reidy of Optimum Health, is bringing the first yoga festival to Galway along with some of the country’s most accredited yoga teachers. The festival will run at Esker Monastery in east Galway from Friday April 28 to Sunday April 30. This is a full bed and board festival, so from the Friday to the Sunday, attendees will stay on site at Esker.
The three day festival will allow attendees to nourish the mind, body, and soul with a host of different styles of yoga from absolute beginners to advanced, to deeply spiritual, to mindfulness and meditation.
There will be a variety of yoga styles coming from traditions based in the north and south of India, including hatha yoga, ashtanga, flow, kundalini, gentle, and partner yoga. Some of the teachers include Paul and Katrina Hardiman from An Seomra Yoga (Galway ), Colin Callinan teaching ashtanga and meditation, and Andrew Hassett teaching Bhagavad Gita and hatha yoga.
The weekend will see Optimum Health bringing an awareness of mindfulness and psychotherapy to the practice. There will also be special additions to the weekend with funky dance workshops, Thai massage training with Paul Hardiman, and Des Richmond kinesiologist and life coach.
“It has all the ingredients for a fantastic getaway to relax the mind, awaken the heart, restore and rejuvenate the body," said Aisling Reidy of Optimum Health. "One of the highlights is our dance workshops. For those of you who love to dance, we will create nights to remember with music and dance from all over the globe, using dance as a meditation and also a space to let go and connect to the beat.”
Along with the yoga teachings, there will be massage therapies, kinesiology with Des Richmond, gong baths with Kasia, chanting, and healthy cakes and tea ceremonies with Mara from Secret Garden, all happening throughout the weekend.
For more information see www.optimumhealth.ie/yoga-festival The Galway Yoga Festival is €250 for the full weekend, which includes all food and board, or a one day ticket costs €95 (this does not include accommodation ).
