Ashtanga Workshop in Athens with Adam Keen

May 31st to July 2nd

Organised by Avra Yoga, held at Chakra Yoga Athens

Ashtanga Yoga Inside Out

This workshop aims to give you renewed inspiration and enthusiasm for the Ashtanga practice by going back to the original spirit of fun, inclusiveness, and individual-oriented yoga. This doesn’t have to mean not practising ‘traditional’ Mysore style ashtanga. It simply means fitting the method, so it works for all different bodies and abilities.

Adam gives clear ideas about what's going on (or should be) behind simply making shapes. Indeed, when you know what you’re meant to be doing and feeling, things always go better. This has to do with using the Ashtanga tristana method (posture, bandha, drishti) for the sake of unlocking and harnessing the power of diaphragmatic breathing.

Everyone is welcome to this; Adam teaches with humour and kindness and with 25 years of experience.

FRIDAY

18.30 to 20.30 Led Class

This is a unique led class as it features both the vinyasa count as well as fundamental pointers for each posture. Everyone will be made to feel welcome and safe in participating in this class as options are given so everyone can do the whole series in a way that suits their bodies. Adam doesn’t believe in stopping people, the ‘perfect’ posture, or, dictating exactly how something should look.

SATURDAY

8.00 to 10.00: Mysore

Adam gives yoga assistance in a safe and non-intrusive way. He does not believe in forcing people into postures, rather, he uses verbal and light physical touch to open up new directions for the individual to follow as they wish. This practice is based on individual exploration, kindness, and fun. It is not an exam or military exercise. All are welcome to the Mysore class. Adam is happy if you need practice sheets, or he or Theresa will show you the postures.

10.30 - noon: Fundamental Openings

There are a relatively small number of fundamental movements that yoga asana requires we grasp to progress. However, these openings are subtle; and not necessarily straightforward to understand at body level.

And, from the basic standing postures where they’re first presented in their most simple form, they get increasingly complicated. Therefore, we shall look at these postures, consider them in detail, and find they translate into a deeper understanding of what’s going on in various problem postures further on down the line.

13.00 – 14.00: Yoga Chat & Q+A

We will discuss together the roots of modern asana and then how this relates and intertwines with the roots of Ashtanga yoga. Then, how the tradition of Ashtanga yoga has evolved to get to where it has today.

SUNDAY

8.00 am - 10 am: Mysore

As above

10.30 am – 12.00 pm: Mobilising the Shoulder Girdle and The Jump-Back/Thru

A look at how we can generate more mobility in the scapula area. For, despite the claims that we need more core strength, or the (most unhelpful cliché) more bandha, it’s scapula mobility that results in how well we achieve this most elusive linking movement.

And everyone can get this movement in varying degrees according to our bodies’ capacity. We all have all the muscles we need; we simply must use them all more effectively in combination. This is something that, whatever level we’re at, we all can work on more, so this workshop aims at giving some effective pointers to unlock our, often hidden, floating potential.

ABOUT ADAM

Adam made his first trip to Mysore in 2007, received level 2 authorisation in 2012 and completed the Advanced A sequence of Ashtanga yoga in 2013 with Sharathji.  He has been a yoga practitioner since 1999.

Having taught internationally and spent over ten years running a Mysore program in his native London, Adam’s style is open, non-dogmatic and eclectic while remaining rooted in an appreciation of the tradition as taught in Mysore. He has a unique way of making everyone welcome and meeting students where they are with humour and kindness.

He is a co-founder of Keen on Yoga, an online yoga platform hosting workshops and events, and the host of the Keen on Yoga Podcast and YouTube channels. Adam has interviewed and learned from most of the top Ashtanga teachers and philosophy academics in this capacity, leading to a unique overview of the modern yoga world and teaching approaches.

When not practising yoga, Adam likes to cook – in his earlier years, he was a chef, supporting himself in this profession by cooking in Buddhist and yoga centres whilst studying yoga. This took him to Purple Valley in Goa, where he was employed as the chef by his future wife, Theresa who was Director of the centre at the time.

Still a philosophy student at heart, Adam shares his thoughts and experience daily on social media, where you can find him discussing many of the questions that come to our minds, but we’re often afraid or unsure how to ask. Find him on Instagram @adam_keen_ashtanga

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