David Swenson Yoga Workshop

I spent this past weekend in London at a yoga workshop with David Swenson (the world renowned Ashtanga yoga teacher for those that don’t know). It’s a workshop I’ve wanted to do for many, many months now but David travels the globe sharing yoga so it’s a challenge practice with him here in the UK.

Fortunately for me he visited Triyoga in London this weekend, which is only about 200 miles from my house (accessible, right!), so I was able to attend this not to be missed workshop!

Saturday kicked off bright and early with a full primary series practise. There were 100 people moving, flowing and breathing in unison and it was magical, and very sweaty. David has this way of teaching that brings a sense of calm to the most challenging of postures. He is relaxed, and in turn makes you more relaxed. He makes this fiery practice kind and accessible. He makes you become even more aware of the breath than ever before and he believes every student is able to achieve their yoga goals.

After morning practise we moved on to ‘flying, floating and jumping through. A workshop that taught us balance, control, patience, strength and how to jump back and through. We spend a lot of time on our hands throughout the entire weekend and David shared his years of yoga knowledge with us, giving us all his tips and tricks to enable us to achieve what we once though was impossible.

We spend the next few sessions looking intensely at inversion, headstands, lifted headstands, arm balances and handstands. Every inversion possible! David believe everyone should be given the opportunity to give 2^nd and 3^rd series a try because it’s fun and yoga should be fun!

He tells incredible stories of Sri K Pattabhi Jois, Mysore, how Ashtanga has changed over the years and what he has learned during his 30+ years of practice. He is approachable and you can ask him the silliest of questions which he will answer with sincerity. He makes the Ashtanga Vinyasa sequence approachable too, not matter which series you practice.

I highly recommend every yoga student take one of David’s workshops, even if you are really new to the practice or don’t practise Ashtanga at all you will still benefit from his teachings. He is hilarious, sincere, kind, and knowledgeable plus knows every yoga trick in the book.

Thank you to David for sharing his wisdom.