Training & Qualifications:
- 2010 – 2012: Diploma (YA 500 hours) – Yoga Therapy Ireland
- 2013: Yoga for Pregnancy (50 hours) – Yoga Therapy Ireland
- 2013 – 2014: Advanced Training (IYN 500 hours) – Living Yoga
- 2014: Training Intensive (25 hours) – Donna Farhi
- 2014 – 2015: Somatics Exercise Coach (60 hours) – Somatics.ie
- 2015: Womb Yoga Training (45 hours) – Womb Yoga UK
- 2015 – 2016: Teaching Assistant (500 hours) – Living Yoga
- 2016: Training Intensive (25 hours) – Donna Farhi
- 2016: Womb Yoga Training & Yoga Nidra (45 hours) – Womb Yoga UK
- 2016: Teen Yoga Training (30 hours) – Teen Yoga UK
Yoga Background:
I first discovered Yoga in Australia in the year 2000 and though I had always engaged in physical exercise, I knew straight away that this was something different – something more than just physical movements. The connection I felt between body, mind & spirit was exactly what I had been searching for and it brought me home to myself. Since then, Yoga has had a profound influence on my life and I look for Yoga (Union of Body, Mind and Breath) everywhere – both on and off the mat.
Over the past seventeen years, I have practised a number of different styles of Yoga. On my journey, I have also explored the world of Somatic Movement and in my own practice I find that gentle Somatic movements preceding Asanas (Yoga postures) allow for greater release of tension from the body.
Following a 500-hour Yoga Alliance (YA) certified training over a two-year period from 2010 to 2012, I received my teaching qualification from Yoga Therapy Ireland where one of the core beliefs is that Yoga is for everyone, whatever their age or physical ability. This is something in which I whole-heartedly believe. I have seen the many benefits of Yoga practice in all aspects of life (physical, mental, emotional & spiritual) and this inspires me, both in my own practice and in my teaching.
Between 2012 and 2014, I completed a 500-hour International Yoga Network (IYN) certified Advanced Teacher Training with Lisa Petersen and Dave Curtis, which served to deepen both my personal practice and my understanding of what it is to teach Yoga. From February 2015 to June 2016, I was a teaching-assistant on this course.
In 2015, I qualified as a Somatics Exercise Coach (SEC) having spent 60 hours over the space of two years studying Somatics with Lisa Petersen. I now teach Somatics exercises both as part of general Yoga classes and on a private basis.
In 2013, following additional training with Yoga Therapy Ireland, I gained my certification to teach Yoga for Pregnancy. In 2015, I completed a 45-hour ‘Womb-Yoga’ training with Uma Dinsmore-Tuli, which gave me a far greater understanding of how Yoga can be practised for the benefit of women’s overall health, whatever life stage they are at – from the onset of menstruation through fertility, pregnancy, menopause and beyond. Yoga for Women’s health is a particular interest of mine based on my own experience of how Yoga has helped me to maintain health, vitality and a positive attitude despite the challenges life has presented me with in this regard.
I regularly attend workshops, retreats and classes with internationally respected teachers such as Amy Matthews, Uma Dinsmore-Tuli and Donna Farhi.
My practice has brought me to many wonderful teachers, each of whom has given me the gift of their knowledge and experience, from which I have benefitted enormously. I enjoy sharing this precious gift with others.
A Profile on Áine from The Novara Centre
What inspired you to become a Yoga teacher?
I had practised Yoga for about 10 years when I decided to undertake my teacher training. I tried various styles over the years and at that time, had quite a strong Astanga practice but I felt a bit ‘stuck’. I noticed that I had become quite goal-oriented with my practice and that consequently, it had become like a chore. If I didn’t get up at 6.30am and do my hour and a half on the mat, I felt like a bad person! In my quest for a new style or some inspiration, I met the wonderful Sighle McDonnell.
After observing my practice, she suggested that I apply to train as a teacher with Yoga Therapy Ireland (YTI). I told her that I had no interest in teaching and she suggested I do the training not so that I could teach but so that I could deepen my own practice and my understanding of Yoga. She knew well that as soon as I walked through the doors of YTI, I would embark on a passionate journey that would see me teaching along the way! I owe her a huge debt of gratitude for her insight and guidance.
What style do you practice?
I am always reluctant now to hang my hat on any ‘style’. Having tried numerous forms of Yoga over the past 17 years, I have come to the conclusion that Yoga is Yoga – Union of Body, Mind & Breath. Yoga is both an art of living and a science of life. It applies equally both on and off the mat. This is why I no longer find myself ‘stuck’ in any particular style. My understanding of Yoga has expanded so that my practice is not confined to my mat. I look for union of body, mind & breath everywhere in my life.
In 2014 I completed an advanced teacher training with Lisa Petersen, based on the teachings of Donna Farhi – internationally respected Yoga teacher – (also known as the teacher of teachers). This practice centres around developmental movement patterns which can be observed in every human being from conception to death. Working with the developmental movement patterns has given me a wonderful framework to develop my practice and my teaching in a more fluid and natural way, with the freedom to explore and discover new ways of being in my body and of sharing my learning.
Yoga seems to offer wonderful benefits not just physically but mentally, calming down the mind. What have you discovered from Yoga since becoming a teacher?
Since becoming a teacher, I have discovered that the physical practice (asana) is one small fraction of the whole that makes up Yoga. I used to think that the holy grail of Yoga was being able to stand on my head for an extended period and wondered why my life wasn’t transformed once I was able to do that! Now I realise that the benefits are to be found in the Union implied in the word ‘Yoga’. Whether I am standing on my head or standing in a queue in the supermarket, if I can bring awareness to the moment I am in at any given time (mindfulness), that is, in itself, the practice of Yoga.
The postures (asanas) are simply vehicles that we use to bring awareness and breath together in the body. So, for example, If I can find my balance on one leg on my mat, using my breath to centre me, can I then translate that to my life and remain balanced when everything around me is shifting or in chaos? If I can feel my breath in a deep twist when one of my lungs is compressed, can I better negotiate the twists and turns of life that I have no control over? If I can stand for a period of time in a strong warrior pose, one hand pointing forwards and the other behind, with my torso erect and stable in centre, can I remain poised in the present moment when my thoughts are trying to pull me into the past or the future? These are the real benefits of Yoga – a fit and healthy body is the icing on top!
