Wellness Retreats on the West Coast of Ireland
The Burren Yoga Retreat was founded by yoga and meditation teacher Dave Brocklebank in 1999.
This was Ireland’s first dedicated residential yoga and meditation retreat.
Dave began practicing meditation in 1978 and yoga in 1989. He believes that yoga and meditation are the two most transformational practices he ever came across. And he choose his life’s work to pass on the benefits of these practices in the most enjoyable way.
Through the years Dave maintained his daily meditation practice supported by his growing daily yoga practice.
Dave has a passion for helping people reach their full potential, and he has also long aspired to establish a retreat centre where individuals can take a break from 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 has pure motivation to help others, the Universe can lend a hand to allow the right results to manifest.
Through coming in contact with different traditions, Dave believes that one form of yoga is not better than another, and that each form has its 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.
First and foremost, Dave has persnally hand-picked the yoga and meditation teachers who are of the highest calibre and with many years of experience.
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.
Dave’s vision was to set up 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.
And the Burren Yoga Retreat opened it’s doors in May 1999.
Dave has been practicing since 1978 and is one of the most experienced meditation teachers in Ireland.
Dave began his own meditation practice in 1978 in Dublin and began practising Yoga in 1989 when he moved to Galway.
He has over 45 years of meditation experience and over 35 years experience of many different forms of yoga as well as the Buddhist teachings which he has also been following for over 30 years.
He has enjoyed the practices of meditation and yoga right from the beginning and feels that yoga and meditation are the two most transformative techniques or bodies of knowledge that he has come across in his life.
Dave completed the 2-year Satyananda yoga teacher training in 1999 with Shraddhamurti and Chetanmurti in the Galway School of Yoga and Meditation.
He has also completed another Yoga Teacher Training in 2008 with David Muehsam. And also a Pregnancy Yoga Teacher Training with Uma Dinsmore-Tuli in 2010.
Dave has studied with many teachers of various traditions from all over the world including the following;
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…
He attends Buddhist teachings and tries to bring these teachings into his own life.
Dave runs the Burren Yoga and Meditation Centre, co-ordinating retreats, facilitating courses and teaching Yoga and Meditation himself. He also maintains his own daily practice of Yoga and Meditation, and regularly attends Yoga and Meditation workshops and retreats.
Dave aims to teach you a core amount of physical postures, breathing techniques and meditation which you will be able to practice on your own each day after you complete the retreat.
It is through extended daily practice of these techniques that bring the deeper benefits of yoga and meditation which can spill over onto all areas of your life.
