“To my understanding, the ethics and observances known as the Yamas and Niyamas are just as much a practical guide to physical practice as they are to life.

In my personal yoga journey, I have discovered, through practice, that as much as I might have an idea of what certain concepts mean – non-violence (ahimsa), appropriate effort (bramacharya), whole-hearted engagement (tapas) etc. etc. – unless the idea I am working with is accurate, applying it to practice yields nothing particular apart from perhaps a relaxed state of mind.  However, the quantum leaps that I have experienced over the years, have been moments when I can shift into a direct exploration of what principles could actually mean, and measure the accuracy of my inquiry by how the body responds to what I am doing.

This way of approaching posture work has had the effect of changing the way I think about things, together with what feels like a far clearer and deeper understanding of the principles I am investigating… When I land on right thinking, the body responds immediately,  so I have come to the conclusion that the body is innately intelligent, and its restrictions and complaints are mostly responding to things like inappropriate effort, habitual and partial engagement or conflict in action.  Applying principles to your physical practice will challenge the mind, but it will also open you to new depths of practice, as well as offer a way of discovering the truth of things…”  Marc J Acquaviva

Aims of the mornings:

1. To illustrate the difference between goal-centred practice and principle-based application to practice
2. To offer new ways of thinking of the body that makes a principle-based physical practice common-sense and to offer direct experiences of application.
3. To approach a range of familiar postures (as requested by participants) using these principles as the ‘structure’, so that attendees receive a new and direct somatic experience of posture work from this perspective.

Aim of the afternoons:

As above, but with more time to apply the principles directly to practice, and also to show how this can be used directly to resolve long-term physical complications.

Objectives: To inspire those that come to discover new avenues of exploration, and to awaken participants to the potential of Yoga principles applied to the physical as a viable and effective way of directly solving apparent complications in physical practice.   Also to expose teachers to the Acquaviva methodology of ‘Enviro-Somatic Integration’.

Outline plan for both days:

Morning introduction to the theme of the day and to a principle-based practice, followed by practical examples and guidance.  Once established, participants will be asked for asana suggestions so that they can learn to apply the principles to their own choice of postures.

Afternoon session will begin with a Q & A, and Marc will be looking for particular physical issues to resolve for people that ask.   This will be followed by a practical demonstration of application, and group participation in what they see.   This cycle will repeat until approximately 30 minutes before the end, where Marc will guide an Acquaviva-style yoga nidra to end the session.

Marc J Acquaviva has been passionate about yoga since his early childhood (since 1968), and from 1991 he studied and practiced exclusively with people that have worked directly with Vanda Scaravelli, such as Diane Long and Sophy Hoare, as well as with the highly respected osteopaths that have been called to further understanding of her work, such as Pete Blackaby and John Stirk.  During his study years, Marc has also explored and drawn from  other wellbeing practices, such as Feldenkrais and Qi Gong.  He qualified as a yoga teacher in 2000 with Natural Bodies of Brighton doing Gary Carter’s anatomy for yoga course, and develop his own unique take on the work after suffering from a prolapsed disc whilst training.  The prolapse meant he wasn’t able to walk, but he found that it was possible, through his own innate somatic sense of the body-relationships involved, to relieve the symptoms and restore function… He ‘healed’ the prolapse for himself within a few weeks, and has been developing and using his unique approach to help others ever since.

Marc is the author of the course content for his own Acquaviva School of Yoga and of the proprietary approach to this work (Enviro-Somatic ©).  He has run several CPD days for BWY and for Yoga Scotland on various subjects, as well as for Namaste International in Austin US.  He also currently teaches for free online every Tuesday, as well as running small private online groups and courses for students around the world.