It is hard to believe that two months have passed since our incredible yoga retreat in Italy (6/21/08 to 6/28/08). It was an amazing experience. I am fortunate to have been one of Tama’s yoga students for a long time. We were even students together before she began her own teacher training. I have always enjoyed, learned and benefited from Tama’s thoughtful instruction in Iyengar, Ashtanga and restorative yoga.
The retreat took learning to another level due to the concentrated luxury of two 1.5 hour classes daily: a physically challenging class in the morning and a separate restorative class in the early evening. We also had individual sessions on the second day of the retreat so that Tama could provide informed instruction to us for the rest of the week. This was in addition to completing detailed questionnaires prior to the retreat so that Tama understood our needs and goals.
It was another luxury to have only four students in our class. We had a beautiful studio (with a gracious hostess) in a small town in lovely Northern Italy.
Two of us were working around injuries. Tama provided modifications that allowed us to participate fully without pain, and in fact the work that we did promoted healing. I have never had the opportunity to have a vigorous class and several hours later, a focused restorative class. Tama did a lot of work with us on pranayama during restorative sessions. It was so interesting and beneficial to reflect physically on the work done earlier in the day. Closing the afternoon with the restorative class was a wonderful bridge to our lingering dinners (I can’t even begin to describe the food) on the lake front terrace at our hotel.
In addition to our yoga classes, we had many choices of interesting and serendipitous activities during the afternoons. It was very helpful that Tama, Susie and Mike all speak Italian, as we were a bit off the beaten tourist path (yeah!). Tama did a wonderful job of driving us all over the area; Rebecca was a stellar navigator, and together we had tons of fun. Rebecca and I even learned some Italian. I could go on and on, but as they say in Italy, Basta!
--Ellen 8/27/08
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