Vajrasati Yoga Retreat with Khadine Morcom
About Khadine:
I came to yoga by chance in 1997 via a meditation course. The very first class I attended felt like I had found me! I knew that I was going to practice yoga from that moment on. From those very first classes I became calmer, clearer happier and more embodied. It didn’t take long for my yoga practice to become a daily ritual for me as I felt the benefits in body, mind and spirit.
I traveled to India for 6 months in 2003 and spent time exploring yoga in more depth, spending time at the Yoga Niketan Ashram in Rishikesh and practicing with many teachers all over India and returned in 2008 for further study. During the earlier trip I became really inspired and truly started to connect with yoga philosophy and teachings beyond just the physical asana practice. It also affirmed my desire to teach so on returning to the UK I trained with Jim Tarran (my teacher of several years and the founder of Vajrasati yoga) in the Vajrasati School of yoga and started teaching in 2004 and became fully qualified (Yoga Alliance 500 hours) in 2006. I am now a Senior Teacher of the Vajrasati school and I co-run the Vajrasati teacher training course with Jim Tarran in Brighton and London. As I believe yoga is a constant journey of learning I continue to further my development with regular training with teachers such as Cathy-Mae Karelse, Judith Lasater, Sarah Powers, Donna Farhi, Paul Grilley and Christopher (Hareesh) Wallis. I am now also completing a Masters Degree in the Traditions of Yoga and Meditation at SOAS University, London.
My teaching style is calming and focused with particular attention given to breath awareness and cultivation and recognition of energy and connection with our inner state of being. I use dynamic and restorative (and a whole range in-between!) classical and modern postural yoga asanas to bring us towards yoga/integration. I teach based on the astanga (8 limbs – not to be confused with astanga vinyasa) path of yoga , incorporating yoga philosophy into my asana classes, and teaching other practices such as pranayama (breathing practices), dhyana (meditation) and mantra (chanting). I am inspired by traditional yoga philosophy such as the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali and tantra texts such as the Vijnana Bhairava, Shiva Sutras and the Spanda Karika and a mindfulness practice but I also take inspiration from anything and everything from being a mother to being an environmentalist or just simply being a being in the world!
My classes are fully inclusive. Everyone is welcomed regardless of ability, gender, race, religion, sexual orientation and age. My classes provide an open welcoming space for all people. I teach yoga with respect to the roots of the tradition, acknowledging that as a western woman I am gratefully borrowing teachings from a culture outside of my own. With this in mind I pledge to remain respectful by continued study of, and appreciation of yoga’s roots within the Indian sub-continent.
About Vajrasati yoga:
Vajrasati yoga was founded in 2000 by Jim Tarran. The study and practice of yoga (and its influencing traditions) and Buddhism inspires the school. Graduates of the training become part of a knowledge pool and support network, and the school grows with each individual. Vajrasati yoga aspires to communicate a practical experience of yogic principles to a multifarious and contemporary world.
Vajrasati yoga is not in itself a ‘style’ of yoga as one may expect from many schools of yoga. Vajrasati is based more on a shared philosophy and integrity. Vajrasati yoga encourages exploration, creativity and continued learning from self study (svadhyaya), and sharing that learning with the Vajrasati community and the wider world.
