7-Day Yoga Teachers’ Retreat

Arrangør:	Shy Sayar & Simon Vittus Jasper Hansen
Placering:	Monte Cabeço do Sol, Portugal
Fra:	5/10/2026 kl. 08:00
Til:	11/10/2026 kl. 08:00
Antal visninger:	34

This retreat is an invitation to go beyond techniques and theory, in order to explore the deeper dimensions of yoga practice and teaching. By turning inward, you not only transform yourself—you also expand your capacity to guide and inspire others. Because of the beautiful location of the retreat venue, we will spent time and practice in the beautiful garden areas at the venue.

The retreat is for those who are curious and open to exploring a more personal, transformative approach to both practice and teaching. And for those who already know this experientially, and therefore wish to deepen that approach.

In the world of yoga teaching, there is often a strong focus on techniques and theory; these are beautiful and essential foundations. However, if we wish to grow further—both personally and in our teaching—there comes a point when we need to set techniques and theory aside for a while and go deeper within ourselves. During this retreat, we’ll create space for exactly that. We’ll focus on meditation, process work, and chakra- and energy work. And we’ll use hatha yoga and The Eight Principles Method as a solid foundation fot these meditative approaches.

These practices will support each participant in a profound inner journey, which, in turn, naturally enriches our teaching. As the saying goes: you can only guide others as far as you’ve gone yourself. That said, there will also be dedicated time for theory and learning on a daily basis. The retreat is structured into 4 daily sessions, each building on the previous.

1. FOUNDATION

Guided by Shy

Every deep practice begins with a strong foundation. In yoga, this is especially true.

In this session, Shy will introduce—or deepen your experience with—The Eight Principles Method, a unique approach to alignment-based hatha yoga that has been refined for over two decades. The alignment work, presented by Shy, can be used in individual treatments, in sitting meditation, and in how we use or bodies through our daily tasks. These alignment principles help both teachers and students unlock greater benefits from their asana practice. And the method significantly improves our abilities to make solid corrections in our students’ asana practice. There are two key aspects to this alignment-based work:

Precision in Practice – Bringing clarity and accuracy to each asana, which leads to significant physiological benefits and growth. We simply gain significantly more from our asana practice, when alignment is refined. The same goes for our students.

Presence in Practice – Cultivating a heightened state of awareness and embodiment, turning asana into a meditative, deeply conscious experience. By combining these elements, the body becomes a vehicle for more than posture and movement, but for mindfulness and inner stillness as well. This session also includes savasana, relaxation, and body scanning to integrate the work fully.

2. DEEPENING

Guided by Simon

Building on the foundation from the first session, we move into deep inner work.

This session has two main focal points:

Energy Work – Working with the chakras and introducing healing practices to balance and harmonize the energy body.

Personal Processes – Exploring the whole self, including emotional patterns, and pathways to inner essence and spiritual qualities. Through process work, energy practices and, Simon will guide you into profound self-exploration and release. The deeping session will also include techings on more advanced aspects of meditation and mindfulness. This includes teachings on the core of attention, presence. And the links between awareness and the heart. His teaching is informed by more than 20 years of intensive study, practice and teaching in these fields.

3. EXPANSION

Guided by Shy

With the foundation established and the deep inner work underway, this session is about expanding outward—integrating wisdom, philosophy, and insight. Shy brings a rich blend of knowledge from both the yogic tradition and the vipassana meditation tradition, as well as modern scientific perspectives on yoga and mindfulness practices. In this session, you’ll gain fresh theoretical understanding alongside experiential learning. It includes:

Sitting meditation inspired by the vipassana tradition

Traditional mindfulness practices

Foundational teachings from Buddhism and Buddhist psychology

This session is both a journey inward and an opportunity to expand your intellectual and spiritual understanding.

4. INTEGRATION

Guided by Simon

The final session of the day is devoted to integration—allowing everything you’ve experienced to settle deeply. Here, softness and self-compassion are the guiding themes. We create a caring, supportive space where you can reflect on the day’s practices, theory, and personal insights. This session may include:

Healing practices

Gentle massage

Rest and relaxation

Sharing and witnessing each other’s experiences

Ending our days in retreat in this grounded and self-compassionate way is important. It allows for all learning and processes of the day to really settle in. With experiences of softness, well-being and connection. Which allows you to be ready for the next day.

SHY SAYAR

Founder of Lifeline Somatics and Tantravaya Yoga, Shy has over 30 years of experience in yoga, training and certifying yoga teachers and therapists and teaching students of all levels. In his doctoral work at UC Berkeley, he studied psychology, analysis and symptomatic reading, but it was even more through his decades of studying and teaching yoga, Chi Gong, meditation and the teachings of Buddhist psychology that he developed his uniquely powerful & effective approach to Somatic Yoga Therapy. Shy specializes in helping adults & adolescents address all forms of mental suffering, chronic pain and self-destructive patterns, as well as working with couples on developing the skills to nourish healthy relationships. His sessions integrate mindfulness and breathing techniques, movement practices and Ayurvedic methods into the therapeutic dialogue, as well as the greater perspective of lifestyle guidance – from nutrition and sleep habits to self-care and relationship skills. Shy’s unique Yoga Therapy method has shown remarkable results in posture correction, pain relief and improved balance, as well as healing emotional trauma and addressing the roots of psychological symptoms, such as anxiety and depression. He prides himself most on being a loving partner and father, and an active, compassionate listener https://tantravayayoga.com/

SIMON VITTUS JASPER HANSEN

MA in philosophy, theory of science and communication. Thesis in the research within meditation and spirituality. External communication teacher at University of Copenhagen. Certified hatha yoga teacher, certified in yoga therapy (both with Shy Sayar). Trained in the internationally acclaimed mindfulness system MBSR (Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction). Certified as a psychotherapist from a 4-year governmental approved training. On a personal level, Simon has been engaged in self-development since the early teenagers (+27 years of experience). Simon is seeing people in individual sessions for psychotherapy, healing and counseling in spiritual practice. And then he leads many retreats annually in Denmark and Europe. He is a dedicated practitioner, towards inner realization. As well as helping others to engage on a deepening path. Finally, he holds a strong conviction that spiritual work – yoga, meditation, healing – play an important role in the global world situation. Perhaps – or even supposedly – doing inner work – yoga, meditation and healing – has never been more important https://simonvjhansen.dk/ (website in Danish)

DATES AND TRANSPORTATION

The retreat runs from October 5th-11th. It’s possible to arrive from the afternoon the 4th to settle in, for no extra cost. We will begin the programme at 4 pm the 5th. And we will end the retreat at 1 pm on the last day, the 11th. The nearest airport is Lisbon (Humberto Delgado Airport), which is 85 km away. From there, it’s possible to arrange shared transpirtation with other participants. We’ will help give all the necessary information for local transportation.

MEALS

We will have one person who is in charge of the preparation of all meals. And all participants will help out in the preparation. Everything will be planned and scheduled each day. Each participant should expect to help out with one meal once a day, or once every two days (depending on the number of participants). The food will be vegetarian and compatible with any allergies.

VENUE

The retreat location is at a private retreat place in the south eastern of Portugal. Monte Cabeço do Sol is a peaceful haven on Portugal’s dramatic Alentejo coast, with expansive 360 degree views to the ocean and several mountain ranges. It offers en suite king bedrooms and twin rooms with extra wide single beds, as well as beautiful camping areas amongst our native cork oaks and incense pines. Our ecological swimming pool is a diverse ecosystem for frogs, fish, dragonflies, lotus flowers and other species, and our extensive food gardens offer organic produce grown in the principles of agroecology & permaculture. It is a short drive to multiple world class beaches, several featuring small waterfalls, and to traditional Portuguese villages and towns with typical as well as international cuisine.

ACCOMODATION AND PRICES

Single rooms, shared rooms and Tents (you birng your own supplies).

Cost of the retreat: 1100 Euro

Cost of accomodation in single bed rooms: 250 Euro

Cost of accomodation in shared bed rooms: 175 Euro

Cost of accomodation in your own tent: 100 Euro

Cost of full catering, all meals: 150 Euro

SIGN UP AND FURTHER INFO

Write an email to Simon – simonvjh@gmail.com.