The Beauty of Ashtanga Yoga
Purple Valley Tenerife Retreat, March 23 – April 6 2024
With Petri Räisänen and Tamara Ashley
The traditional Ashtanga Yoga method was always meant to be adapted to the practitioners individual needs and conditions. So the Ashtanga asana sequences are the ground from which we can build our own personal practice based on our unique bodies, ages, identities, mind types, injuries and traumas.
At the Beauty of Ashtanga Yoga Retreat you will be accepted as you are and be encouraged to follow the traditional method with kindness, care and love.
I’m inviting everyone the opportunity to enjoy the practice, movement, spiritual growth and great company in beautiful Tenerife.
My hope is to open us all up to more diversity (which is required for a healthy yoga community), more safety (which makes everything to bloom) and more happiness (which is the essence of an individual and collective yoga process) wherever we are in our personal yoga evolution.
Purple Valley Goa has been running an European Purple Valley Retreats in Tenerife, Canary Islands. The resort is an amazing combination of all different artistic houses and buildings just few minutes away from the famous hotels and beaches, but in a completely peaceful environment. The shala is beautiful and the meals amazingly tasty. Sounds great. Yes it is!
In this part of Tenerife (Playa Paraiso, Adeje) the sun is shining almost every day and the temperature is higher than in other parts of the island. There is summer there all around the year.
Tamara Ashley will be assisting Petri and teaching a Tibetan Buddhist meditations and traditions in the evenings. Please, check a new schedule with Tamara’s classes and her bio from the end of the page.
You are kindly welcomed!
Petri Räisänen and Tamara Ashley
Petri’s sons made a garland in 2023 retreat Petri and Tamara in 2024
Retreat schedule
Each week consists of 5 morning Mysore classes, 1 Led Primary or Intermediate Series class and 4 afternoon workshops and evening meditations.
Week 1 March 23-30 2024
Saturday 23.3
14:00-18:00 Arriving to the resort
18:00 Retreat opening discussion, schedule, introduction (Petri and Tamara)
19:00 Dinner
Sunday 24.3
06:00 or 7:30 Mysore style (two groups)
15:00-17:00 Discussion on your personal practice and accessibility in Ashtanga Yoga;
What is your need? The Beauty of Ashtanga Yoga (Petri and Tamara)
17:00-18:00 Pranayama, Meditation, Chanting (Petri)
18:30 Dinner
20:00-20:45 Coming home to the body as refuge meditation – the 5 elements (Tamara)
Monday 25.3
06:00 or 7:30 Mysore style (two groups)
14:00-15:00 The body in meditation practice: A Buddhist Perspective (Tamara)
15:00-17:00 A practitioner-centered approach to Ashtanga asana and
adjustments (Petri)
17:00-18:00 Pranayama, Meditation, Chanting (Petri)
18:30 Dinner
20:00-20:45 Refuge in the earth element meditation (Tamara)
Tuesday 26.3
06:00 or 7:30 Mysore style (two groups)
Free Day
Wednesday 27.3
06:00 or 7:30 Mysore style (two groups)
14:00-17:00 Primary and Intermediate series techniques and adjustments (Petri)
17:00-18:00 Pranayama, Meditation, Chanting (Petri)
20:00-20:45 Refuge in the air and space elements meditation (Tamara)
Thursday 28.3
06:00 Led class Intermediate series
08:00 Led class Primary series
15:00-17:30 Touching the Prana: Energy healing techniques (Petri)
17:30-18:15 Guided Self Healing Meditation (Petri)
Friday 29.3
06:00 or 7:30 Mysore style (two groups)
Free Day
Saturday 30.4
7:00-7:45 Pranayama (Petri)
8:00-8:15 Gratitude to the elements meditation (outside) Tamara
8:20-9:00 Closing circle
Week 2 March 30 – April 6 2024
Saturday 30.3
14:00-18:00 Arriving to the resort
18:00 Retreat opening discussion, schedule, introduction (Petri and Tamara)
19:00 Dinner
Sunday 31.3
06:00 or 7:30 Mysore style (two groups)
15:00-17:00 Discussion on your personal practice and accessibility in Ashtanga Yoga;
Using the tools; walls, blocks and belts in the practice (Petri)
17:00-18:00 Pranayama, Meditation, Chanting (Petri)
18:30 Dinner
20:00-20:45 Healing relaxation meditation (Tamara)
Monday 1.4
06:00 or 7:30 Mysore style (two groups)
15:00-17:00 A practitioner-centered approach to Ashtanga asana and
adjustments (different than in week 1) (Petri)
17:00-18:00 Pranayama, Meditation, Chanting (Petri)
18:30 Dinner
20:00-20:45 Healing with form meditation (Tamara)
Tuesday 2.4
06:00 or 7:30 Mysore style (two groups)
Free Day
Wednesday 3.4
06:00 or 7:30 Mysore style (two groups)
14:00-17:00 Primary and Intermediate series techniques and adjustments (different than in week 1) (Petri)
17:00-18:00 Pranayama, Meditation, Chanting (Petri)
20:00-20:45 Healing with light meditation (Tamara)
Thursday 4.4
06:00 Led class Intermediate series
08:00 Led class Primary series
15:00-17:30 Yoga philosophy: Yoga sutra chapter 3-4, Sinddhis and Kaivalya. The final transformation. (Petri)
17:30-18:15 Guided earth and sky meditation (Petri)
20:00-20:45 Healing with energy meditation (Tamara)
Friday 5.4
06:00 or 7:30 Mysore style (two groups)
Free Day
Saturday 6.4
7:00-7:45 Pranayama (Petri)
8:00-8:15 Gratitude to the elements meditation (outside) Tamara
8:20-9:00 Closing circle
Tamara Ashley Bio:
Ashtanga yoga is Tamara’s passion and path to healing, peace, and wellbeing. As a dancer, bodyworker, and somatic practitioner, she brings over 25 years of movement knowledge and teaching to her work. She studies with Petri Raisanen and Juha Javainainen. She also studied with Oksana Gorkina, Manju Jois, Sharath Jois, Eddie Stern, David Swenson and Tim Feldman. Tamara is a practicing Buddhist in the Tibetan tradition and her teaching is informed by her meditation practice, contemplative movement and experiential enquiries into the nature of the mind. Her route into Buddhist meditation came through dance improvisation trainings with her teacher Nancy Stark Smith, who skilfully aligned many of the Tibetan Buddhist teachings with dance improvisation practice. Tamara maintains a body based somatic approach to meditation. Her studies in ashtanga yoga have strengthened and added to the practice, giving a deeper understanding of the body mind, energy, and the healing process. Petri has been an important teacher in helping Tamara understand how to work with the subtle energies of the body and mind, as well as helping her refine her sensing and healing skills. This background also informs her teaching in that she holds the space in a quiet and peaceful way that promotes the introspective inner sensing aspects of practice.
A seven headed Cobra shaped rock by te beach down from the resort
Photo by Petri 2023