Scaravelli-inspired Yoga Workshops
Join me on Saturdays for a programme of yoga workshops and Beginners’ Yoga on the Isle of Wight. Some Saturdays offer a relaxed introduction for people starting, returning or wanting to revisit the foundations. Others give us more time to explore yoga and movement in greater depth.
My teaching is Scaravelli-inspired and informed by functional human movement. Rather than making a pose look a particular way, we explore how movement feels from the inside: breath, gravity and the freedom of the spine. We notice where tension and effort build up, and the ease that can appear when we stop forcing a shape.
Does Yoga Sometimes Feel Harder Than It Needs To?
Yoga can easily become a question of whether we can make the shape, hold it long enough, or do it the “right” way. In the process, we can lose touch with what the movement actually feels like.
- Feeling stiff and assuming you need to stretch harder.
- Not knowing whether the tension you feel is useful or unnecessary.
- Using more effort simply to make a pose look right.
- Following an instruction that does not seem to make sense for your body.
- Holding the breath when a movement becomes difficult.
- Becoming so focused on the pose that you stop noticing how you got there.
A different way to practise
Feel the Movement, Not Just the Shape
We use yoga to explore functional human movement — not to perfect shapes, but to feel how we move. We notice tension and effort, and what changes when we stop trying to make a pose and allow greater ease to emerge.
- Notice how you organise yourself before and during a movement.
- Experience how movement through the spine affects the organisation of the whole body
- Explore how gravity can support movement rather than something to resist.
- Recognise unnecessary effort and discover where less can sometimes give you more.
- Allow the breath to respond instead of imposing a breathing pattern.
- Bring what you learn about functional movement back into your yoga practice — and everyday movement.
Yoga Workshops
The Saturday programme alternates between two kinds of sessions. You can start with the one that suits where you are now — or use both as different ways of exploring the same practice.
Beginners’ Yoga
A relaxed Saturday morning for anyone new to yoga, returning after time away, or simply wanting to revisit the foundations. We move slowly, ask questions and explore familiar movements without needing to keep up or get anything “right”. The emphasis is on becoming more aware of support, breath, tension and effort, and beginning to feel what changes when we stop trying so hard.
Yoga Workshops with Erling
Longer Saturday sessions for people who want to explore their yoga more deeply. We use yoga to explore functional human movement, not to perfect shapes but to feel how we move. The pose gives us a framework in which to notice support, breath, tension, effort and the patterns we bring into movement.
Yoga Workshops with Erling
These Saturday yoga workshops give us time to explore movement, breath and practice more deeply than we can in a regular class. We use yoga to explore functional human movement, not to perfect shapes but to feel how we move. The pose gives us a framework to notice support, breath, tension, effort, and the patterns we bring into movement.
Saturday Workshop (10 am to 1 pm)
View workshop dates- Engaging discussions on movement, posture, and breath
- Space for questions, exploration, and self-discovery
- Practical, hands-on guidance tailored to your needs
- A welcoming environment for all levels
What We Explore
Movement & Awareness
FEEL HOW YOU MOVE
Form & Function
QUESTION THE POSE
Freedom of the Spine
SUPPORT BEFORE FORCE
Breathe and gravity
ALLOW RATHER THAN IMPOSE
Tension, effort & ease
NOTICE WHAT CHANGES
Beginners’ Yoga
A relaxed Saturday morning for anyone curious about yoga, whether you have never tried it or it has been a while. Nothing to keep up with and nothing to get right. We move slowly, ask questions and pay attention to what the body is actually doing rather than what a pose is supposed to look like.
Explore Beginners’ Yoga
Function Before Form
Yoga does not happen in a separate “yoga body”. We bring the same human structure into standing, sitting, reaching, balancing and getting up from the floor. I focus on whether a pose supports the person doing it, rather than asking the person to conform to the pose.
The Scaravelli Influence
Vanda Scaravelli’s work has been a lasting influence on my teaching: gravity, breath, the freedom of the spine and the possibility of doing less rather than adding more force. These are not rules to follow, but ideas to test in your own experience.
A Practice You Can Feel
A pose gives us something to investigate. What do you feel? Where is the effort? Where does tension appear? What changes when you stop trying to achieve the shape? Over time, that ability to discriminate becomes part of the practice itself
What They’re Saying…
Thank you for delivering an inspiring workshop. I thoroughly enjoyed it and feel that my practice is really developing. Thank you once again for making this possible.
Sarah
Yoga teacher
The recent Scaravelli yoga Workshop helped me to think about the movements and how stretching yourself into a posture might not be the best thing for your body! Rather, a smaller, more focussed movement is better for you. Thanks, Erling, for a really interesting and informative day. Who would have thought moving so little could be so tiring!! A fabulous course. x
Tracey
Student
Another great workshop, my second, and I will be coming back for the next one as well. It’s great to spend a day immersing oneself in the practice. I love the doing, my favourite part, but it is also good to be able to chat, ask questions and explore it in a workshop environment. I would recommend it to anyone, but it has worked for me in giving me space and length in my body, especially my spine. Having space in the spine is a great feeling! Yoga, possibly not as you know it or have experienced it before.
Peter
Yoga teacher
Beyond the pose
A Practice of Attention
Beyond physical postures, these workshops explore how yoga becomes a transformative practice for body and mind. The workshops are not about accumulating more difficult postures. They are an opportunity to become more sensitive to how you move and more able to respond to what you feel. Through Scaravelli-inspired principles, you’ll discover how breath, gravity, and awareness create a foundation for genuine self-discovery.
Feel More Clearly.
Develop a more detailed sense of how movement is happening from the inside.
Recognise Effort.
Notice when effort is useful, and when you are simply adding tension.
Find Support.
Explore how the ground, the skeleton, breath and gravity can change the way movement is organised.
Move with Greater Ease.
Discover what becomes possible when you stop trying to manufacture a pose’s shape.
Workshop Details
- Beginners’ Yoga: 10 am–12:30 pm
- Yoga Workshops: 10 am–1 pm.
- Group size: maximum 6 people.
- Cost: £25.00 to 50.00 per workshop.
- Location: My Studio, Shanklin. Or on location.
Important: Booking is essential to secure your place in these popular yoga workshops. Class sizes are limited to ensure personalised attention.
read this
Yoga’s journey is one of innovation and adaptation, from Indian visionaries like Swami Vivekananda and Paramahansa Yogananda, who introduced yoga to the West, to the Mysuru Asana revival of the 1920s and 30s, which shaped modern postural yoga. Today, our evolving understanding of movement and anatomy continues to influence how we practice. Read more.
“Yoga is not about discipline or obligation. It’s an invitation to play. To twist, stretch, and move for the sheer joy of it. A body holiday, a meeting of earth and sky in the same moment.” Inspired by Vanda Scaravelli.