SomaChi Yoga – Feast, Chant, Live : Lianne Metcalf : September 2012
1 – 8 September, 2012
Unravel into the new and experience a contemporary yoga: SomaChi. SomaChi explores the qualities of energy that inspire us to move beyond our limitations and old habits. It is spring and time for something new so take the plunge. Come to Fiji to feast on fresh foods, chant a way to a still mind and live within a re-energised body.
SomaChi yoga style was created by Lianne Metcalf, who is the founder of the SomaChi Studio. The yoga she developed is a unique form of vinyassa flow yoga. It mixes modern and strong movements with traditional hatha yoga postures. SomaChi yoga is also influenced by martial arts and tai chi.
Combining these styles gives incredible freedom. It allows the participant to delve deeply into sensation and to actually ask with fully curiosity what it is to be body, what it is to be energy, what it is to be mind – and to recognize the qualities of bodhicitta (heart mind). It is a dynamic, fluid practice that stills the busy mind and brings aliveness to the body. The entire focus is on helping you build a healthy, happy life.
Read a fuller description of SomaChi »
The course
The week is structured around 2 daily practices, one in the morning of 2 hours and one in the late afternoon / evening of 2 hours.
Morning – 2 hours: Unravel in to the new
Each morning we will start with study and practice of meditation.
This will be accompanied by discussion and visual prompts to help us understand the ancient tradition of the 4 noble truths of which the Buddha taught:
- There is suffering.
- There is a cause to suffering.
- There is an end to suffering.
- There is a path out of suffering (the Noble 8-fold path).
This will be followed by a 1.5 hour vinyasa class – different themes will be presented each morning.
Afternoon Practice – 2 hours : Chant
We will lean the meaning and beauty about mantra, and sometimes just hum and sing until our heart is content.
“Different tones make different patterns. Those patterns are the information – literally the in-form-ation-inherent in the sound. They are the shapes of sound moving us.”
Julie Henderson*.
When we let go in to song and dance and eat great food we are part of the great living feast. Using sound, SomaChi Yoga and movement our afternoon practice will be to explore spontaneous patterns, and how these patterns develop ‘aliveness’ in who we are.
The programme
Saturday 1 September
Local flight to Savusavu.
6.00pm: Welcome to Daku Resort
Sunday 2 September
7.00am – 9.00am: Morning session
9.00am: Breakfast
Free morning
12.30pm: Lunch
1.30pm: Tapa making demonstration
4.30pm – 6.30pm: Second session
7.00pm: Dinner
Monday 3 September
7.00am – 9.00am: Morning session
9.00am: Breakfast
Morning visit to Savusavu town: see the local market, browse the shops, stop in and see the geothermal hot springs.
12.30pm: Lunch
1.30pm: Tree of Life – talk on the coconut and its uses in Fiji
4.30pm – 6.30pm: Second session
7.00pm: Dinner
Tuesday 4 September
7.00am – 9.00am: Morning session
9.00am: Breakfast
11.30am: Beach outing and picnic lunch
4.30pm – 6.30pm: Second session
7.00pm: Dinner
Wednesday 5 September
7.00am – 9.00am: Morning session
9.00am: Breakfast
Morning: free for optional snorkelling trips (F$35) / massage/ relaxing by the pool / hiking.
12.30pm: Lunch
4.30pm – 6.00pm: Village visit and meke
6.30pm – 7.30pm: Second session
8.00pm: Dinner
Thursday 6 September
7.00am – 9.00am: Morning session
9.00am: Breakfast
9.30am: Hike around Daku Resort – about one hour – optional. You need decent walking shoes eg trainers / walking sandals with heel straps. Reasonably demanding!
Free morning for optional snorkelling trips (F$35) / massage/ relaxing by the pool.
12.30pm: Lunch
Free afternoon : optional visit to black pearl farm at 1.30 (F$25)
4.30pm – 6.30pm: Second session
7. 00pm: Dinner
Friday 7 September
Approx 6.45am – 8.00am: Morning session
Afternoon: Free time
4.30pm – 6.30pm: Second session
7.00pm: Final dinner
Final session after dinner
Saturday 8 September
Return to Nadi and on to international flight.
All the listed activities are part of the course and are covered by your fees unless otherwise indicated by cost in brackets. You will also receive a free half hour massage. If you want to add on extra excursions eg diving / special snorkelling trips, we are delighted to help arrange them: they will be added to your room bill.
Teacher Lianne Metcalf
Lianne founded SomaChi Yoga in 2000. She was soon asked by students to develop a teacher training and in 2004 the first SomaChi Yoga Teacher Training was underway. By 2007 her school was accredited with the international body of Yoga Alliance.
Her unique style encompasses the influences of physical theatre, where she received sponsorship to study Grotowski and experiential theatre in Europe, and the influences derived from her travels in the east, including Nepal, to study Buddhism. Her classes are described by her students as refreshing and experiential, and the Melbourne Age characterised her style as “fun classes that swoop into trikonasana (triangle pose) in dance like rolls from the waist, and cycles of sun salutations”.
Lianne’s vinyasa has been influenced by taoism and tai chi and the yoga world of Cyndy Lee, Shiva Rae (trained in her style by Twee Merrigan), and Wade Imre Morrisette. She has an advanced diploma in Zapchen Somatics (Buddhist and Western body psychotherapy), where her principle teachers are Tony Richardson and Julie Henderson. For the past 12 years she has been studying Buddhism with Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche. Lianne has also completed level II and III in Shambhala contemplative meditative practices.
Lianne has been in great demand as a teacher. She has taught yoga, Improvisational and Somatic Movement, Pilates and SomaChi. She has given instruction at Chunky Moves, Melba Conservatorium of Music, and was a teacher trainer for Somatic Pilates at The Melbourne Sports and Aquatic Centre. She has also been flown to outback Australia to run Yoga and Pilates Workshops. In 2011 she taught sensory applications of functional anatomy to medical students of Melbourne University. Her past students are teaching today around Melbourne in SomaChi and Vinyasa, and some are venturing into their own studios.
Her passion and motivation for yoga stems from traditional Eastern and Western contemporary influences. Paying utmost respect to her own teachers, Lianne continues to go beneath the structure of asana, asking the question of how you find spontaneity and energy to express these ancient postures, as it is here we can experience great joy.
*Dr Julie Henderson is a Somatic Body Psychotherapist and Tibetan Buddhist Practioner. She has written 3 books How to feel as good as you can in spite of everything. The Lover Within -tantric practice, and The Hum Book. She teachers in American, Austalia and holds annual retreats in Nepal. Lianne has studied with Julie for 15 years and has an advanced diploma in Zapchen Somatic Therapy, which is the marriage between buddhism and western body- orientated psychotherapies.
Price: A$1980 twin share; single supplement A$350
Price includes:
- Return domestic flight from Nadi to Savusavu.
- Return airport transfers from Savusavu to Daku Resort.
- 7 nights accommodation at Daku Resort in traditional bures and villas with private facilities and one night’s accommodation in Nadi.
- Breakfasts, lunches and dinners are provided.
- Course fees.
- Excursions as indicated.
Excludes:
- Return economy international airfares to Fiji.
- Travel Insurance.
- Optional activities not listed on the program
- Costs of a personal nature eg laundry, massages, private trips
- Meals in Nadi or taken in transit at the airport
Soma = the alive body. Chi = energy. In bringing Soma and Chi together, the body and mind is unified, balanced and replenished. Our body-mind intelligence is awoken, and we become aware of the energetic sensations within our bodies. SomaChi Yoga will help you develop a greater awareness and understanding of how amazing your mind and body really is.
Usinge classic hatha poses, SomaChi is experiential in its process, enabling us to discover our energy patterns. It examines how we become the postures as opposed to just doing them. And it delves into the experience of how we as a living intelligence identify ourselves in this yogaso, for example, when I move my arm do I it just from a mechanical place or do I recognise the sensations and the energy that pulses through my being to cause this movement? And do I recognise how I move in and through space? Do I feel wooden? Do I feel stiff? Is it an effort? How do I soften? How do I connect more with chi? How do I identify with my environment (space around me)?
The role of tai chi is in working with spaciousness for feeling and sensation. This includes warrior postures blended with graceful and expressive arm and leg movement. At times we imitate deities that represent wisdom and compassion, and through embodying these deities we gain clarity and gain a greater understanding of our vital energy – self. In tai chi and martial arts the joints are the gateways to chi – in Somachi we apply this by rolling and softening the joints - down dog and jump backs have a rolling convoluted motion.
SomaChi acknowledges influences from the following practices and people:
Hatha Yoga; Vinyasa Yoga; Ashtanga Yoga; Martial Arts; Tai Chi; Tibetan Buddhism; Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche; Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche; Dalai Lama; Somatic Therapy; Julie Henderson; Tony Richardson; Respect and acknowledgement is given to all those who have inspired the creation of SomaChi.
