Alexander Technique, Yoga and Meditation Retreat.
Walks, relax and good food in Assisi
June 27 - 3 July, 2024
Join David Moore, Rossella Buono and other teachers for a week of learning and rejuvenation in historic Assisi.
The retreat is open to everyone!
This week has been specially developed for yoga instructors, Alexander Technique teachers, those who are serious, curious and open-minded about their yoga practice and people who want to start with yoga.
Under Rossella Buono and David Moore's guidance you will find much of interest in working in a new way with familiar or unfamiliar poses. Rossella is an experienced organiser original from this part of Italy, and with thirty years of teaching experience in the Alexander Technique and yoga, David brings fresh and practical insights into how the Alexander Technique can contribute to yoga practice. David will invite enquiry from participants and draw on his highly regarded book 'Smart Yoga' during the Retreat. David and Rossella, take into account the wide variability in participants' ability and range of movement, and use these differences as a springboard to examine how we might deal intelligently with personal variability.
During the week-long Retreat participants can expect insight into: 
Applying the Alexander Technique for safe and effective yoga practice
Altering poses to suit a wide range of structural issues, body-types, and flexibility
Dealing with pain and injury
How Hatha Yoga, Patanjali, and Buddhist insight practices relate to the Alexander Technique
Bringing the practice into daily life
Balancing the autonomic nervous system
Mindfulness and meditation
Changing habits
For those interested, Smart Yoga: Apply the Alexander Technique to Enhance Your Practice, Prevent Injury, and Increase Body Awareness makes a great companion to yoga practice. More than an instruction manual, it is complete with visual examples and offers readers a critical approach to yoga practice. As a guide, Smart Yoga accommodates the needs of people with a diverse range of movement, in terms of injuries, structure, strength and flexibility. It offers comprehensive advice in modifying one's yoga practice.
THE RETREAT PROGRAM
The program will be structured to allow for intensive yoga and Alexander Technique work plus two private lessons for each participant over the course of the retreat. In addition it will allow for sufficient time for people to be able to visit and enjoy the surrounding towns and countryside. The program listed below is indicative and may be altered somewhat in consultation with the participants.
The course will start with an afternoon introductory group followed by an evening meal, and will end in the morning on the last day.
The daily program.
6.30 – 7.00 Meditation
7.00 – 9.00 - Yoga
9.00 – 10.00 - Breakfast
10.00 – 13.00 Alexander Technique Group
13.00– 14.00 Lunch
After 2pm - private lessons will be organised in the afternoon or evening. There will be free times for outings including a visits to Assisi and Perugia and a guided tour of the artwork at the cathedral. Depending on timing and interest we may do a late afternoon session in either yoga or Alexander Technique.
VENUE FOR THE ASSISI RETREAT
Accommodation: The historic Fontemaggio is located within the Monte Subasio Park just 15 minutes walk away from the top of Assisi, at an altitude of 550m. Fontemaggio is surrounded by hills and woodlands, offering an excellent opportunity for hiking and contemplation. The accommodation building has the benefit of standing alone but is part of a larger complex that includes a traditional restaurant, a coffee shop (they have good coffee and delectable ice cream), and a camping ground.
Meals: The menu will be vegetarian. Note that only breakfast and lunch are included in the fee. We will make our own arrangements for the evening meal, to give us the flexibility to be out for the evenings. The La Stalla restaurant is next door if you don't want to venture into town. There is also a kitchen for self-catering.
The Cost
Fees include tuition, 2 private sessions, breakfast and lunch (vegetarian) and accommodation.
All the rooms are ensuite with towels and basic toiletries provided. Yoga mats will also be provided.
These are our rates as of July 2023. If you book now we will guarantee these fees, but closer to the time we may need to raise them when it becomes clearer what our costs will be.
Full price and early bird:
Single €1,350 - Early bird €1,200
Double €1,195 Early bird €1,095
4 bedroom €1,050 Early bird €960
Early-bird discount ends 15 March 2024
Bring your partner: participants are welcome to bring a non-participating partner to the venue. There is plenty for them to do in the vicinity.
Cost €375 early bird, €475 booking after the 15th of March 2024 for breakfast, lunch and sharing the room with you.
Fees can be paid directly to our bank accounts in Sterling or Australian dollars at the current exchange rate on the day.
Exchange rates from Euros will be updated monthly, but once you have booked the price will remain the same as for your booking date.
Cancellation Policy
For cancellations received prior to March 1 - full refund less €75 handling fee
For cancellations received between March 1 and April 17- refund of fees paid less €400
For cancellations received after April 17 we cannot offer a refund.
We strongly recommend taking out travel insurance which will cover any losses in the case that you are forced to cancel.
Getting there:
Assisi is about 2 hours from Rome by bus or car and 15 minutes from Perugia airport.
3 hours walk to Spello or quiet contemplation in the forest of St Francis's Hermitage which is situated up the hill from Fontemaggio?
Rossella Buono
Rossella has been teaching Alexander Technique since 2010, when she graduated in Melbourne and her interest in yoga and Alexander is based on her experience working with David Moore. David is the author of "Yoga and the Alexander Technique: Intelligent Injury-Free Yoga" and "Smart Yoga: Apply the Alexander Technique to Enhance Your Practice, Prevent Injury, and Increase Body Awareness" which was published in 2018.
Rossella Buono relocated to Canterbury, UK in January 2013 from Melbourne where she had an established Alexander Technique practice. Working with a great range of people, Rossella has applied the Technique to improving the lives of people with issues such as back, neck or shoulder pain, fibromyalgia, Parkinson’s disease, sciatica, asthma, stuttering, anxiety and stress. She has also enjoyed attaining tangible posture and movement improvements for musicians, sportspeople, office workers, and the elderly.
Rossella was first introduced to the Technique as a means of her own rehabilitation, after breaking her knee in an accident – and found herself benefitting greatly from the approach. After eliminating residual pain and regaining sustainable, coordinated mechanical function, Rossella decided to train as an Alexander Technique teacher. Since then she has worked to offer others the same opportunity for the elimination of pain and improvement of overall quality of life.
As well as operating a thriving Alexander Technique practice in Canterbury UK, Rossella travels extensively to both teach and to further her experience with senior Alexander Technique teachers throughout the world. She is also the co-author of For the Love of Games, an almanac of ideas designed to assist with the teaching of the Alexander Technique and which can be applied in many other teaching situations. Rossella regularly assists David Moore in delivering yoga and Alexander Technique workshops and retreats in Europe, most recently in Berlin, Prague and Chicago in 2018.
David Moore
David Moore, is a Senior Alexander Technique Teacher, director of the School for FM Alexander Studies in Melbourne and a Registered Senior teacher with Yoga Australia. He graduated from Australia's first Alexander technique training course in Sydney in 1985. After graduating he spent some weeks each year for a number of years studying with senior American teacher, the late Marjorie Barstow.
Since then he has established private practices in New Zealand and Melbourne, run many residential courses in Australia, Italy and New Zealand, and taught classes and intensive workshops in the UK, Germany, Japan Italy, Taiwan, and the USA. In 1999 he set up an Alexander Technique Teacher Training course which is approved by the Australian Society of Teachers of the Alexander Technique. This 1600 hour training course runs over three years.
Prior to studying the Alexander technique David did many years of yoga practice. He spent over seven years in India and Thailand, including over two years in Thai meditation monasteries, and two years in Madras studying with TKV Desikachar at the Krishnamacharya Yoga Mandaram. In Sydney he studied Iyengar yoga for four years with Martin Jackson from 1991 - 1994, including undertaking a teacher training course with Martin in 1994. He now teaches classes applying the Alexander technique to yoga and is the author of "Smart Yoga: Apply the Alexander Technique to Enhance Your Practice, Prevent Injury, and Increase Body Awareness". He also has a strong interest in voice and performance, and has run numerous classes and workshops for singers, storytellers and public speakers.
Fontemaggio, Via Eremo delle Carceri, 24, Assisi, PG, 06081, IT
Fontemaggio
Via Eremo delle Carceri, 24
06081 Assisi PG
Italy