About Paula
Paula O'Shaughnessy originally trained as a dancer joining Dublin Contemporary Dance Theatre in the early eighties. Giving up professional dance to pursue a career in business she continued to dance attending many related workshops including yoga. Her interest in yoga developed over the years leading to formal yoga teacher training with Yoga Therapy Ireland in 2002. Paula started attending yoga classes at Clonlea studio in 2003 which led to a foundation year in the viniyoga of Yoga approach with Hanne Gillespie. She continued her studies in this approach with Ranju Roy and Dave Charlton of Sadhana Mala and graduated in 2010.
The Sadhana Mala training programme is a 21st century western approach to yoga rooted in the traditional eastern wisdom and principals of practice inspired by the teachings of T Krisnamacharya and TKV Desikachar. This certificate is issued in recognition of successful completion of the course which exceeds 750 hours of study, including the study of yoga philosophy and psychology, the application of yoga postures and breathing, anatomy and physiology, kinesiology and pathology, educational theory, practice and course planning and the therapeutic application of yoga. The course is accredited by the British Wheel of Yoga.
Paula is a qualified physical therapist dip ITEC and Laban Community Dance Teacher. She complements her yoga and continues her personal growth with workshops in the Feldenkrais method with Gunther Bisges and Body Mind Centering/Developmental Movement with Joan Davis.
About Viniyoga
There is a lot of confusion around the term "Viniyoga". It is an ancient Sanskrit word that means "appropriate application" - and as such is not specific to yoga. In fact, you could have a viniyoga of cooking, or plumbing, or any body of knowledge.
When applied to yoga, it is not a style, but an approach to yoga that aims to appropriately apply the many tools of yoga to an individual's specific circumstances - respecting their unique condition, needs and interest. More correctly, it should be called the viniyoga of yoga.
The hallmarks of the Vini Yoga of yoga approach are:
- Careful attention to the breath
- Adaptation of posture
- Dynamic and static posture work
- Careful sequence of postures
Because of the confusion around the term "Viniyoga", in 2002 Desikachar requested that his students no longer use the term. Consequently, the national body inspired by these teachings in the UK changed its name from Viniyoga Britain (VB) to the Association of Yoga Studies (aYs).
However, the term is still in fairly common usage to denote the teachings that have evolved out of those transmitted by T.K.V. Desikachar and his father Professor T. Krishnamacharya of Chennai, India.
*Images courtesy of Teresa Gillespie