. yoga
Meet the Teachers
Marc J Acquaviva
... is Director of Studies and founder of the AcquaViva School of Yoga.
Marc has been passionate about yoga since his early childhood, 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.
Marc began to develop his own unique take on the work after suffering from a prolapsed disc whilst training to become a teacher. 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 and of the proprietary AcquaViva approach to this work (Creating the Conditions ©).
Marc creates and structures the content of the courses, and leads most sessions both Brighton and in Glasgow as well as on the Acquaviva Intensive Retreats.
He is also runs weekly online class support sessions for Foundation and TT students and is available for 121 support with all things related to body and Yoga.
My practice gives me an unexpected window into the true nature of being - and this new vision has given me both purpose and an expanding sense of joy.
My purpose is that I must share the beauty and the simplicity of this work wherever I can...
The Course Facilitators
Abigail Acquaviva
... is the Co-founder of the School, administrator and Co-facilitator on the Courses, offering 121 practical support for those that go through the teacher training process . Having delved deep into other trainings, including; the Esther Myers School in Toronto, pre & post natal pregnancy yoga training, Doula work, as well as a MSc in Engineering, Abigail brings her own experience and nurturing to the work. She helped found the School so that she could go through a training with Marc herself, and has been working with him ever since to bring to fruition the vision that they both hold for this Yoga and for the School.
She has also developed 121 yoga treatments, and other therapeutic healing skills through integrating this work with her experience.
As well as running administration of the Courses, Abigail is also the main support for those on Foundation and Teacher Training. She facilitates separate Teaching skill and Student teaching sessions, as well as offering direct 121 ongoing support for the TT content and homestudies.
During Marc's Course sessions in Brighton she co-facilitates with hands-on support, and often runs a review class over the weekend to help consolidate the content (with Marc available for hands-on help).
She also runs the early morning be-kind-to-yourself sessions on the Acquaviva intensives... offering a straight-forward way of sharing the content as well as a lovely way to start each day.
Yoga is my soothing, my challenge and my pleasure. My delight is to guide students in their own practice so that they listen and trust in their own body wisdom.
Jane O'Haire
....began working with Marc in 2002, joined his his first training in 2011, and once she was qualified, she continued to attend, offering her help in whatever way she could to support and spread the work.
Jane has increasingly become an essential part of the school
She has also continued to study with Gordon Ewing of the Long River Tai Chi Circle: Da Lu, Sensing Hands, Sword Form and Fencing. So as well as bringing unique skills from her many years in education, Jane has a broadness of perspective from her ongoing explorations of Tai Chi.
For several years now, she has been co-facilitating Courses in Scotland, holding Sunday afternoon review sessions as well as offering hands-on assistance during Marc's sessions. She also assists on the weekly online support classes, and she co-facillitates the Acquaviva Intensive retreats, teaching some of the afternoon integration sessions.
Jane offers her own support and is available to Acquaviva students, online via Zoom, or you can visit her at her home in Denny for 121s (about half way between Edinburgh and Glasgow). She also holds small groups at her home for those taking part in the Acquaviva process.
I practise
The nothing
Finding
The place where nothing is
Where nothing
is
Substantial
Where touch
is support
Where support
Transforms
Pete Blackaby
... Yoga Teacher, Osteopath, Naturopath & Author of 'Intelligent Yoga', Pete Blackaby was the first of Marc's significant teachers when he came back to yoga as an adult.
Pete has brought the spirit of investigative inquiry to the world of Yoga in the UK, and his insistence that the ideas and intentions behind yoga practice should be under constant re-evaluation by the individual, has been both fuel and support tor Marc's natural propensity to innovate and investigate the truth of things.
So every year, the School hosts a workshop for Pete at each of the Course's venues, so that he can share his common-sense look at functional movement within the context of yoga practice.
Usually, these workshops are over weekends the beginning of the year at both venues, with Pete teaching the first day, and Marc running the second. We make them open to the public so that people can both get to understand the fundamental principles behind the work, as well as experience what can happen when applied to practice from two very different perspectives...
My approach has its roots in understanding as clearly as one can the rationale for yoga practice, and then to encourage practice with attentive curiosity.
So that practice becomes your own, and you grow to be your own teacher