Honeywood Farm Yoga Retreat October 2019

Following last year’s success, we are returning to Honeywood Farm this October for another Yoga retreat, with a range of styles and activities.

After such an enjoyable time at Honeywood Farm last year, we are delighted to offer another fully immersive Yoga retreat this October.

To book for 2019, click here.

Expect Yin Yoga, Vinyasa, Transformational Yoga, and even an Aerial Yoga workshop!

Less than three hours from Cape Town, this rustic family-run farm provides sweeping views, crisp country air, a choice of accommodation and countless perfect settings for Yoga practice.

The Moodie family has owned Honeywood Farm since 1817. Located alongside the wild, spectacular Grootvadersbosch Nature Reserve beneath the Langeberg Mountains, it is a paradise for nature lovers. In a calm and secure setting, guests can enjoy numerous activities, including hiking, mountain biking, birdwatching, horse riding and swimming in rivers and pools.

Anyone who has visited Honeywood Farm will understand why it makes such an ideal Yoga retreat venue.

What to expect

• Beautiful surroundings, from rolling lawns to secluded forests, for Yoga practice.
• Delicious, hearty home-cooked meals.
• Morning and evening Yoga practice with a selection of leading South African teachers, covering a variety of Yoga styles.
• Daily excursions and/or activities.
• An introduction to beekeeping and honey production.
• Plenty of free time to relax and discover all that the farm has to offer.

To find out more about last year’s activities, see Honeywood Farm Yoga Retreat 2018.

Taryn Elise Herselman (Ma Akash Ganga)

Yoga Therapist and Studio Director

As the director of Shakti Yoga Therapy Centre in Johannesburg, Taryn Elise is a Yoga Teacher and Therapist with more than 14 years of experience. Combining broad international influences with extensive training in India, Taryn Elise offers a compassionate, therapeutic approach to Yoga. She also holds an MA (Masters) in Psychology and draws on her substantial knowledge of yogic methods to support emotional wellbeing and stress-related conditions, using the many physiological and psychological benefits of Hatha, Yin and Restorative Yoga. Her teaching creates an uplifting, welcoming environment, making her a popular choice for retreats and workshops in South Africa and India.

Taryn Elise completed a one-year Teacher Training course at Yoga Circle in South Africa in 2005, before continuing with intensive study in India. She is a student of the renowned Yoga Therapist Yogacharya Vishwas Vasant Mandlik and holds qualifications in Hatha, Transformational (500 hour) and Aerial Yoga Teaching. She also holds a diploma in Advanced Hatha Yoga and Yoga Therapy from Yoga Vidya Gurukul, accredited by the University of Pune, India.

During the Honeywood Farm retreat, Taryn Elise will lead a Transformational Yoga workshop.

What is Transformational Yoga?

Transformational Yoga is a powerful collection of yogic techniques designed to help us find focus and balance in our lives, enabling us to remain naturally happy, healthy and emotionally stable.

It is founded on the belief that every person can continually experience pure consciousness, marked by good health, emotional balance, and mental and spiritual clarity. Transformational Yoga places emphasis on practising and becoming aware of important yogic postures and techniques. Its primary purpose is to cleanse the accumulated toxins within the five bodies and activate dormant energy (kundalini), leading to spiritual awakening. Swami Vidyanand developed this integrated system to activate inner resources that enable an individual to live in equilibrium, easing the pressures of modern life.

A carefully chosen series of asana postures is practised to stretch the physical body. This asana sequence opens and cleanses the seven chakras (life energy centres), which govern physical, emotional, mental and spiritual wellbeing. Yet Transformational Yoga encompasses far more than asana exercises alone. While hatha yogic postures build physical strength, pranayama breathing techniques, mantra chanting and meditation are equally essential elements of this complete yogic system. Together, these practices cleanse and energise the chakras while balancing the subtle prana energies. The benefits of Transformational Yoga can therefore be felt immediately and continue into daily life, bringing balance and serenity to the body, emotions, mind and soul.

Four key aspects of Transformational Yoga:

Asanas (yogic postures) – stretch and strengthen the body

Pranayama (breathing techniques) – detoxify and balance emotions

Mantra (chants) – focus and quieten the mind while awakening the chakras

Meditation – develops awareness of our true Self through observation

Kylie Coleman

Johannesburg-based Hatha and Yin teacher

“Yoga is the journey of the self, through the self, to the self.” – The Bhagavad Gita

Kylie is a 500 level hatha yoga teacher with a deep appreciation for all things calm, peaceful, unhurried and serene. Her speciality is hatha yoga, although she also enjoys incorporating and exploring principles and techniques from gentler, more reflective styles such as yin yoga and restorative yoga.

Her aim is for every person to leave class feeling a little lighter, calmer, more balanced and composed, while remaining committed to their own journey towards reconnecting with their true selves.

At the Honeywood Farm retreat, Kylie will teach a Yin Yoga and Yoga nidra practice.

Charney Engelbrecht

Aerial Yoga Specialist

Charney has taught yoga and meditation for more than 10 years. When she left her first yoga class, she was amazed by how light she felt, and half-jokingly said that everyone should do Yoga!

Her belief in Yoga’s therapeutic benefits inspired her to complete Sivananda Yoga Teacher training in 2006. This was followed by training in Ashtanga and Vinyasa flow, Aerial and kids yoga. Drawing on a range of yoga styles, her personal practice and her experience, she provides a rounded, holistic yoga practice suitable for every level. Charney’s teaching combines her distinctive blend of gentleness, breath and embodiment.

Charney runs Jai Aerial, which specialises in Aerial Yoga and uses a hammock to support deeper practice and safe inversions. She also facilitates Om Kids, where she delivers Teachers Trainings in Kids Yoga and Mindfulness.

Charney will lead an Aerial Yoga Workshop at the Honeywood Farm Yoga retreat. Places in this class are limited, so be sure to book early!

Suzanne Atie

All About Yoga

Suzanne has practised many different styles of yoga for more than 10 years, particularly Vinyasa, Forrest, Iyengar and, most recently, Synergy.

A skilled, enthusiastic and knowledgeable yoga practitioner, Suzanne completed her 200hr teacher training under the careful guidance of Jim Harrington, the renowned ‘teacher of teachers.’

Her extensive understanding of the body also comes from twenty years of dance experience. Combined with her counsellor training, this makes her classes a genuinely distinctive mind-body experience.

At the Honeywood Farm retreat, Suzanne will lead a varied, slow-paced but technically focused class that will leave you feeling refreshed and connected.

Catherine Leong

Yoga Venture SA

Catherine completed her vinyasa yoga teacher training with Yoga Warrior in 2016. Wanting to share her love of yoga in the safest and most effective manner possible, she believes that the mind is a powerful tool and that integrating it with physical practice is essential. Catherine will never stop learning; for her, yoga is a modality that keeps her, quite literally and figuratively, on her toes.

Those who joined us last year will know to expect a dynamic, demanding and playful sequence in Catherine’s class.

Lia Mundell

Yoga Lova Teachers

“My little boy once asked me why I do yoga, and for a moment I couldn’t think of a straight answer.” says Lia. At first, Yoga was the one place where Lia felt blissfully alone while still surrounded by like-minded practitioners. She became a teacher because she wanted to pursue something far greater than herself: an opportunity to share with others some of what she had learnt.

A born-and-bred Jozi girl, Lia acknowledges that she is surrounded by the everyday bustle of city life. Being a single mum to a very busy, lively little boy while launching her own PR Company can both be demanding. Teaching yoga is a small sanctuary in her week, allowing her to connect with and guide students through such a healing tradition.

Lia teaches with exceptional attention to form and detail, alongside genuine warmth and kindness. We are delighted that she is teaching at the retreat again this year.

Theresa Moodie

Hatha & Vinyasa Yoga Teacher, International and Local Retreat Leader

Yoga Alliance accredited for 100hr/200hr and 300hr TTC

Theresa worked for many years as a personal trainer. She found Yoga through her own self-practice and recognised the value of combining it with her existing expertise.

After completing her 500hr advanced TTC with Shakti Yoga last year, she now enjoys teaching a blend of styles, including Vinyasa, Hatha and Yin. Theresa also lectures on Yoga anatomy and Principles of Traditional Chinese Medicine for a range of teacher training courses with Shakti Yoga.

Theresa hosts annual international and local Retreats.

“I couldn’t be more excited to be hosting another Yoga Retreat at Honeywood Farm. A huge thank-you to all the wonderful teachers who have volunteered to teach classes during the retreat. This event is really close to my heart and it is amazing to see the momentum growing.”

Thurs 17 Oct

4:30pm Welcome and Registration

5:30pm Hatha Yoga class and Yoga nidra led by Theresa Moodie

7:00pm Dinner served

Fri 18 Oct

7:00am Herbal teas available outside Shala

7:30am 75 min Dynamic Vinyasa Yoga class taught by Lia Mundell

9:00am Breakfast served

10:30am Aerial Yoga workshop with Charney Engelbrecht (limited to 8pax)

1:00pm: Lunch served

Quiet time for guests to walk, sleep, read or book a massage.

5:30pm Yin Yoga 90min class with Kylie Coleman

7:00pm Dinner served

Sat 19 Oct

7:00am Herbal teas and fruit smoothie served before class

7:30am 75min Vinyasa Yoga class taught by Catherine Leong

9:00am Breakfast served

10:30am Transformational Yoga Workshop with Taryn Elise Herselman

Lunch at the Red woods and walk to swim in the rock pools

4:30pm Silent walking meditation to the forest

7:00pm Dinner served

Sun 20 Oct

7:30am 75 min Vinyasa practice by Suzanne Atie

Followed by short closing ceremony & thank-you

9:00am Breakfast served

Check out by 11:30am

Cost per adult: R 2800

Included: Accommodation, Yoga classes, workshops and meals at Honeywood Farm.

Excluded: Transport to Honeywood Farm, optional extras such as massage and entry to the Nature Reserve.

We look forward to welcoming you.

For more information, please feel free to contact: [email protected]

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