AN SANCTOIR - Part 1

Part one of three parts......look out for episode two and three later on !

Some 30 years ago, in rural Ireland at least, there was reportedly only one recognised/qualified yoga teacher here in West Cork, with a handful of practitioners, or shall we say regular new budding practitioners. There are stories of one or two people meeting each week for their practice outside a farmhouse or caravan, others copying the pictures from a book or magazine at home. Greatly different from today’s yoga boom.

 The enthusiasm from the local practitioners grew within this community of like-minded people who found yoga inspirational and therapeutic and fun..amongst others things. This led to a group of individuals coming together from a wider area with a mission to start a yoga centre - not just to rent somewhere - but to buy land and to build one. Ambitious and indeed inspirational! The group included one yoga teacher, one architect, an artist, a writer/gardener, a musician and others - you get the picture.

The vision, drive and passion they shared was to bring yoga to others in a dedicated space with land around to share all things yoga. Their dedication and tenacity seemed to know no bounds as a project like this would be quite an undertaking. The idea grew towards gaining a purpose-built Hatha Yoga centre and it would be called the 'SATSANG ASHRAM', which means a sacred space to be together in truth.  The budding yogis and yoginis found a site and raised considerable funds.   Together with generous loans (to be repaid at a later time), the group  forged ahead and purchased a site south of Ballydehob by the sea, planted trees and held ceremonies.  Planning permission was sought for the yoga space and turned down.  Undeterred the group sold the site, at a profit due to the boom, and the search was on again . . .

See episode 2 in a few weeks time !