3-Day Breath & Pranayama Workshop Weekend with Simon Borg-Olivier

This is a Continuing Education Course certified by Yoga Alliance.
Teacher: Simon Borg-Olivier (Australian Biologist, Physiotherapist, Yoga Teacher)
Language: English
Location: In-Studio
Pricing: 1-Day = 160€ / 2-Days = 320€ / 3-Days = 475€

Please note: Students can register for Day 1 or Day 2 separate or together, but cannot register only for Day 3.

PLEASE REGISTER & PAY FOR THIS EVENT BY EMAILING TO: info@peaceoutyoga.de

Workshop Weekend Outline:

Understanding how to breathe correctly and optimize control of your breathing is critical to maintaining good health. Once you can restore natural breathing, initially at rest and then during exercise, you can improve your breathing to a point where it can give you exceptional health, happiness, and longevity benefits.

Many people think that the essence of breathing is to breathe more. But in fact, superior health comes when you can learn how to comfortably breathe less than usual for your activity while maximizing your use and control of your breathing muscles. One of the benefits of exercise is that it increases the activity of your breathing muscles. One of the benefits of good sleep, meditation, and relaxation is that you tend to have minimal breathing.

In this course, you will learn how to use your breathing muscles while breathing less than usual to get many benefits of exercise, relaxation, meditation, and healthy sleep simultaneously, as well as improve your ability to do all four activities individually. This is the essence of kriya, the first stage of Hatha Yoga. This idea is also the key to understanding Qigong, internal martial arts, and why elite athletes are so good at what they do. 

The benefits of being able to maximize the control and use the muscles of breathing, while hardly breathing at all, which is a main aim of traditional pranayama include: 

• Increased blood flow to the brain
• Increased transfer of oxygen from lungs to blood
• Calming of the nervous system
• Increased entry of oxygen into the cells via the Bohr effect
• More efficient metabolism of glucose at a cellular level to enhance energy levels by a factor of 19 times 
• Relief of prolapse
• Relief from lower back pain
• Relief of neck pain
• Increased strength 
• Increase flexibility 
• Increase blood flow throughout the body
• Increased parasympathetic dominance of the nervous system
• Increase immunity
• Increased reproductive health
• Increased digest of function
• And many others

Workshop Weekend Schedule:

June 30

Restoring natural breathing in stillness & movement

Theory behind the anatomy and physiology of breathing

The controlled pause (Level 1) in stillness & movement

Understanding the purpose of breath-control on a physical, physiological and mental level

Isolation of trunk muscles & Training the muscles of breathing using simple postures and movements 

Learning how to lengthen the 4 main parts of the breath

Sama Vrtti Pranayama (4 parts to each breath)

Theory behind Kriya as the base of asana, mudra and pranayama 

Trataka Kriya

Assisted simplified Basti Kriya 

Visama Vrtti Pranayama building up to one breath every minute

Theory and practice of bandha as a subset of mudra in posture movement and breathing 

Breathing in postures for strength, flexibility and internal health (level 1)

July 1

Natural breathing extension into breathing from your core (kanda)

The controlled pause (Level 2)

Use of vocal work, singing and chanting 

Theory and practice Mudra of bandha as an subset of mudra (Level 1)

The Mueller manœuvre and the expansive mula and uddiyana bandhas

Enhanced theory and practice of relationship between nervous system and breath control 

Simplified Neti Kriya with spinal movements

Nauli Kriya - simple and complex forms

Practicing Kapalabhati Kriya 

Digital breathing: Nadi Sodhana pranayama 

Building up to one breath every two minutes 

Breathing in postures for strength, flexibility and internal health (Level 2)

July 2

Enhanced theory and practice of pressure changes in the body to move blood and Prana

Techniques for breathing into any part of the body 

Practicing simplified Dhauti with mayurasana, tongue control, external pressure self massage and and transverse abdominis isolation 

The Valsalva manœuvre and the compressive mula and uddiyana bandhas

Visama Vrtti Pranayama with pretend breathing to make 6 stage breathing (using six parts to each breath)

Enhanced theory and practice of hyperventilation and hypoventilation

Hyperventilation practices with long breath retentions as a prelude to meditation

Shakti chalani pranayama

Building up to one breath every three minutes 

Preparation for meditation and Kevala Kumbhaka

Breathing in postures for strength, flexibility and internal health (Level 3)

About Simon:

Simon Borg-Olivier has been training with experts on breathing for more than 50 years. He is a licensed physiotherapist, a research scientist, and a university lecturer. For the past 40 years, he has been training teachers. This course will allow you to restore the rejuvenating natural breath that people had when they were children and enable you to bring this into your everyday life. At its base, this type of breathing is similar to how we breathe during our deepest, most restorative stages of sleep. You can use this type of breathing as part of your advanced breathing practices and improve your strength, flexibility, energy levels, internal health, mental peace, and clarity. These practices are the key to superior health.