Ashtanga Yoga Paris summer intensive with Gérald Disse & Linda Munro August 2nd – 8th 2010

Program: Monday, August 2nd, meet & greet tea time at 14:00 Tuesday - Sunday, August 3rd – 8th : 7:30 – 8:30 Kriyas & Pranayama 9:00 – 11:00 Mysore practice or Intro to Developing Self Practice 11:00 – 12:00 light brunch 12:00 – 14:00 Asana Technique 14:00 – 14:30 tea break 14:30 – 15:30

Lecture & Questions Program Details: Kriyas & Pranayama- During this session you will be introduced to different yogic practices and breathing techniques to purify the body and the mind. You will come away from this week with a daily routine in which we encourage you to continue on your own once this week of intensive yoga practice is finished.

Mysore practice or Intro to Developing Self Practice- For those who already have a Mysore practice, you will do your self practice under the guidance of Gerald & Linda. For the others, you will be given the tools to develop your personal practice.

Asana Technique- Each day a different topic will be explored in order to move deeply into the understanding of these groups of asanas. You will learn how to work safely and intelligently while getting through some “road blocks” in certain postures. Tuesday: Chaturanga & Working with the Core; Wednesday: Finding Balance in Standing Positions; Thursday: Refining Vinyasa & Jumping; Friday: Bhujapidasana & Kurmasana; Saturday: Back bending based on Second Series for all levels; Sunday: Finishing Sequence.

Lecture- Each afternoon we’ll choose a topic of yogic discussion in order to expand your knowledge of the entire spectrum of yoga. Tuesday: Dynamics of Breathing; Wednesday: Building Practice with Bandhas; Thursday: The Eight Limbs of Ashtanga Yoga; Friday: Chakras and the Energetic Body; Saturday: Chakra Meditation; Sunday: Open Question & Answer

Cost: 400 euros if 50% deposit paid by July 1st, 430 euros from July 2nd. Or, 40 euros per morning or afternoon. The intensives are open to all levels of practitioners except complete beginners. It will be held in English.

About Gérald: Gérald has been practicing yoga for over 18 years. He discovered Ashtanga Vinyasa Yoga in 1991 with Sri K Pattabhi Jois in Mysore, India. He spent 8 years traveling to Mysore spending 4 – 6 months per visit to learn more of the system, then going off to some other exotic location to practice daily what Guruji had taught him. Gérald was taught up to the third series and was one of the first French students to have been personally authorized to teach by Sri K Pattabhi Jois. As he had learned directly from the Guru at a time when there were not so many yoga students in Mysore, he started to give workshops around the world. He gave Ashtanga workshops in Australia, New Zealand, and around the USA and Europe.

In addition to his Ashtanga yoga practice, Gérald has done extensive stays in Vipassana silent meditation centers in India and Australia and continues to cultivate a meditation and pranayama practice.

During his travels he visited Auroville, an international spiritual community in Tamil Nadu, South India. He related with the place immediately. It was a way for him to remain connected to the spirituality of India and also still have connection to the west, so he decided to build a house and a yoga shala and become a part of the Auroville community.

Gerald spent 5 years there teaching daily Ashtanga Mysore style classes in between his workshops around the world; until 2004 when he decided, after being away for 17 years, to move back to France. Gérald is now settled in Paris where he has founded a beautiful community of yoga with Linda and their children.

Gérald has also studied with Manju Jois, Pattabhi Jois’ son and Kausthub Desikachar, the grandson of Krishnamacharya. As well, he has studied extensively with Ron Reid and Marla Meenakshi Joy. He continues his yoga studies in asana, pranayama, Sanskrit and Indian philosophies.

About Linda: Linda was first introduced to yoga in 1996 in Toronto, Canada with Ron Reid and Diane Bruni. She had been in a car accident in 1995 and was in physical therapy when she became interested in yoga as a way to compliment the therapy. Soon after she realized that the yoga would be a life time practice. A practice of asana, pranayama and meditation but also a practice of being truthful, a practice of being kind, a practice of being fearless, peaceful and happy. She believes that the practice of “yoga” is continuous; the practice does not stop when you roll up the yoga mat. The practice of yoga includes the way you live your life, the way you relate to your family, friends, co-workers and to the strangers on the street. This is the lifelong practice of developing yogic awareness.

In 1997 she moved to New York City with her work in the fashion business while continuing a daily ashtanga practice studying under Eddie Stern. The year 2000 brought her to Paris, France.

After thirteen years in the world of fashion she decided it was the time to move fully into the direction she had been moving since her first yoga class. She felt a strong desire to strive to give to others what her teachers have given to her; so she started teaching yoga as her own study and practice continues. Gerald and Linda opened Ashtanga Paris in February 2004. She continues her studies of yoga and specifically Patanjali’s Yoga Sutra under the supervision of Georg Feuerstein.

Linda’s completed teacher trainings with David Swenson, Mark Darby and 2 with Ron and Marla. In addition she has studied with Sri K Pattabhi Jois in Mysore and TKV Desikachar and Kausthub Desikachar, the son and grandson of Krishnamacharya.

She considers Ron Reid and Marla Meenakshi Joy her primary teachers from a far. And her husband, Gerald, along with their two young children, Amaya and Jonathan, her primary daily yoga teachers!