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How the centre was founded

Inspired by a love for Yoga & Meditation

 Ireland's first yoga retreat centre

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Yoga teacher Dave Brocklebank was drawn to  The Burren to setup the first residential yoga and meditation retreat centre in Ireland in 1999.

Dave’s background was psychology combined with a passion to faciliate people to work towards their potential. 

Dave began practicing meditation in 1978 at the age of 19 and he believes this enabled him to get in touch with deep subtle inner energies so that he could follow his life’s work of inspiring and faciliating others to practice yoga and meditation.

He began practicing yoga in 1988 and was drawn to practice Satyananda yoga which incorporates all limbs of yoga including meditation, asana, pranayama, yamas, niyamas and pratyahara.

About 10 years later, Dave’s teachers suggested that he train to become a yoga and meditation teacher and he undertook his first 2 year long teacher training.

 Inspirational teachers

Prior to this, in 1990 Dave came across an inspirational Tibetan Buddhist Lama Panchen Otrul Rinpoche who escaped from Tibet in 1959 and began to attend Buddhist teachings. 

Over the years he began to recognise that Buddhism had developed within the background of yoga and meditation in India about 2,500 years ago, and that the teachings of both Buddhism and Yoga were both mutually supportive and integrated very well together.

Both call for a process of self exploration and self discovery which lead us to get in touch with our true self. 

Almost all spiritual teachers of many traditions give the teaching of ‘Know Thyself’.

This process of self discovery led Dave to meet many great teachers including

  • Swami Chetanmurti (Satyananda yoga)
  • Swami Shraddhamurti (Satyananda yoga)
  • Panchen Otrul Rinpoche (Buddhist teaching)
  • Swami Nishchalananda (Satyananda Yoga)
  • Orla Punch (Iyengar yoga)
  • Elizabeth Connolly (Iyengar Yoga)
  • Dalai Lama (Buddhist teaching)
  • John Scott (Ashtanga yoga)
  • Granville Cousins (Ashtanga yoga)
  • Danny Paradise (Ashtanga yoga)
  • Graeme Northfield (Ashtanga yoga)
  • Swami Vedanta (Satyananda yoga)
  • Swami Satyananda (Satyananda yoga)
  • Swami Janakananda (Satyananda yoga)
  • Kevin Gardiner (Iyengar yoga)
  • Richard Spahn (Ashtanga yoga)
  • Khenpo Karpo (Buddhist teaching)
  • David Muehsam (Ashtanga, Iyengar & Satyananda)
  • Sotantar (Kundalini yoga)
  • Ringu Tulku (Buddhist teaching)
  • Garchen Rinpoche (Buddhist teaching)
  • and the list goes on…

 

Although Dave’s own path includes Buddhist Teachings, the yoga and meditation retreats focus purely on yoga and meditation. 

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 When the right conditions came about...

sea wild flowers Burren

Through the years Dave maintained his daily meditation practice supported by his growing daily yoga practice.

He had a strong urge to help people to work towards their potential as well as another aspiration that he would love to setup a retreat centre where people could come to take time out of their busy lives.

In 1996 he bought a beautiful piece of land at the foot of the Burren hills.  And this was when Dave’s aspirations combined with his love for yoga and meditation came together to build a residential yoga and meditation retreat centre in the Burren.

When one follows one’s inner subtle feelings, and have pure motivation to help others, the Universe can lend a hand to allow the right results to manifest.

 

 RTE Video 2008

This was an RTE Nationwide video made in 2008.  The quality is not good, but Dave speaks a few words in it.

 3 essential ingredients

kalachakra-mandala-restored

Through coming in contact with different traditions, Dave believes that one form of yoga is not better than another, and that each form has it’s own benefits to offer each person depending on where they are at in their life.

Dave realized that yoga and meditation were the two most powerful and transformational practices that he had ever come across, and to cut a long story short, The Burren called out to Dave to found a residential yoga retreat which would provide very high quality yoga retreats using the best yoga and meditation teachers.

Dave was fortunate to have come across some inspirational teachers, and very quickly the Burren Yoga and Meditation Retreat became synonimous with high quality yoga teaching.

The second essential ingredient that Dave believes is very important, is time spent in Nature in the unspoilt landscape of The Burren.

And the third ingredient is the amazing vegetarian food that the centre is now famous for.

 The 4th Ingredient

Dave’s vision was to setup Ireland’s first residential yoga and meditation retreat using those 3 ingredients.

He ensures that the retreats are suitable for everybody from complete beginners to advanced practitioners, for young and old, fit or unfit.  

The retreats are designed so that the practices are taught within a very easy going, friendly, fun environment.  

His intention is to make the whole experience so enjoyable, and to keep the practices authentic, that when guests experience the fantastic feeling doing the daily practices, that they will bring them home to begin or deepen their own daily practice.

After many years of planning, perseverence, sacrifice and hard work the 4th amazing ingredient of the ‘state of the art’ retreat centre with en-suite bedrooms and glass walled yoga studio and many other fantastic features finally manifested.

The new centre finally opened the doors in June 2021.

Dave hand-picks all the exceptional yoga and meditation teachers who teach on the retreats, and ensures that the quality of the retreat experience is continually improving.

 More recent video

 Dave teaches a

30 day online meditation course

Dave has put all his meditation experience into

a 30 day online meditation course.

Click the button below…

30 Day Meditation Course 1024
30 day course

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