3 Day Somatics Training for Yoga Teachers with Charlotte Watts in Forest Row, East Sussex, UK
Somatics Training in the UK for Yoga Teachers
Whether you simply need the therapeutic effects of a weekend of deeply nourishing somatic practice or want to take this into your teaching, this will be a retreat of deep connection, self-compassionate practices, and embodied awareness.
Meet the instructors
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Highlights
- Certificate of completion
- Teaching skills specific to somatics
- Sequencing classes to focus on or integrate somatics into yoga
- Somatic practice with exploration of transitions
- Sound bath session on Saturday night
- Open to yoga teachers, yoga therapists, and anyone else interested
- 2 nights accommodation in single rooms
- Fresh, delicious, homegrown, and cooked food
Yoga styles
Accommodation
Facilities
- Garden
- Kitchen
Places on the retreat are all for single rooms, which are within a large, separate accommodation block within the lovely grounds of Emerson College. They are pleasant and clean, with shared bathroom facilities and a communal kitchen where you can make your own tea, coffee, and store any snacks or specialty foods you may need to bring.
Program
This teacher training retreat is open to yoga teachers, yoga therapists, and anyone else interested with at least a year’s yoga experience (although you will need to be a qualified teacher to continue the full module).
It can be attended as part of Charlotte’s teaching therapeutic somatics course, or simply to experience somatic practice and restore resources. It even includes a sound bath event on Saturday night!
The Somatic teachings for the weekend will be, by their nature, fluid, explorative, restorative, meditative, and influenced by Feldenkrais, Qigong, and other practices that step away from an emphasis on reaching particular forms or goals within asana.
Through embodied awareness, there will be an emphasis on recognising and offering kind attention to the habits and expectations that you may have been spending your time on retreading - in your work and personal life. For each session, there will be a short introduction as well as time for discussion and question and answer at the end.
This retreat also incorporates material from the two-day workshops on these key facets of guiding others in somatics practice:
Teaching skills specific to somatics
You will explore different ways that you can use, focusing on skills of guiding compassionate, fluid practices of curiosity, exploration, and allowing experientially, as well as with talks and discussion.
Sequencing classes to focus on or integrate somatics into yoga
You will bring to life how you can weave fluid and explorative movements to work in harmony with physical and subtle yoga practices - with focus on transitions, fascial anatomy, and fluidity towards stability and strength.
Please note, if you have done a previous somatics training retreat without this content, you can still do the workshops separately up to spring 2024 or send an inquiry to Somatic Therapeutic Yoga Training and you can come to the new format weekend with a discount.
The course can be taken simply for 15 hours' CPD experience and understanding of somatic practice or as part of the total 70 CPD hours of the teaching somatics course for yoga teachers.
This course also includes an online course with videos of the practices on the retreat (taught and with a teacher’s commentary) that can be purchased before or after, either to complete the full course or simply for your own practice and learning.
Daily schedule
Friday
- 15:00 Arrival
- 16:00 - 18:00 Introduction and somatic practice
- 18:15 - Dinner
- 20:00 - 21:00 Somatic practice
Saturday
- 07:30 - 08:00 Somatic practice
- 08:00 - 09:00 Breakfast
- 09:15 - 12:45 Talk and discussion: What are the skills you need to teach somatics?
- 12:45 Lunch
- 14:30 - 16:00 Talk and diads: Guiding anchors to sow through a class
- 16:00 - 16:30 Break
- 16:30 - 18:00 Somatic practice with exploration of transitions
- 18:15 - Dinner
- 20:00 - 21:00 Sound bath with Ruth Summers
Sunday
- 07:30 - 08:00 Somatic practice
- 08:00 - 09:00 Breakfast
- 09:15 - 10:15 Somatic practice with exploration of sequencing (five-minute transitions)
- 10:15 - 12:45 Talk and discussion: Physical and other aspects that guide sequencing choices
- 12:45 Lunch
- 14:30 - 16:30 Groupwork: Stories, themes, and threads of a practice—to cohesion
- 17:00 Departure
Instructors
Charlotte Watts
Charlotte is an award-winning nutritional therapist with nearly 20 years’ experience and a senior Yoga Alliance yoga teacher and trainer, teaching since 2007. She has written many books, including her latest Good Mood Food, Yoga Therapy for Digestive Health, and The De-Stress Effect. She gives copies of whichever of these is most suitable with all consultations in her nutritional practice, to guide clients through as they investigate and explore their individual needs. Her consultation approach melds where mindfulness meets nutrition.
Retreat location
Emerson College is situated on the edge of the beautiful village of Forest Row (nearest station is East Grinstead) in the Ashdown Forest, where the Winnie the Pooh stories were based.
It sits within a 22-acre botanical garden with beautiful ponds, lawns, and flower beds, a vegetable garden, an apple orchard, and a wood full of bluebells in spring. It has many rare trees and over 100 medicinal plants. All the land is managed biodynamically and is fully Demeter Certified.
You are encouraged to wander around the estate, with its medicinal herb garden and many sculptures and flow forms created by students—a very relaxed environment for anyone visiting.
There is a kitchen garden (small biodynamic vegetable garden) on campus, providing fresh greens, lettuces, spinach, tomatoes, flowers, and much more. For everything else, Tablehurst Farm—a community-owned biodynamic farm with a great shop and lovely outdoor cafe—is just next door and can be visited over the fields on foot.
You can also walk across the fields to Forest Row, which will take about 20 minutes. There are also many great country walks in the area, including Ashdown Forest, and bikes to hire for the national cycle route Forest Way.
This Yoga Retreat is vegetarian-friendly
Click to see more vegetarian-friendly Yoga Retreats
Food
Since ethical, sustainable living is central to everything they do at Emerson, their food is made from seasonal, locally sourced, organic produce wherever possible. Much is grown in their own biodynamic garden and green houses. All the meals need to be pre-booked, which minimizes their food waste. They also actively compost to support the soil health of the garden.
Fresh, delicious, homegrown, and cooked food is prepared daily with love and care by the experienced kitchen team there at Emerson. All their meals are vegetarian, with a vegan and gluten-free option.
They have set mealtimes as they believe that food brings people together. The ringing of the gong announces that lunch or supper is ready to be served, calling people from classrooms, offices, and houses.
Special diets
Emerson College's meals are vegetarian, and they can also cater for the diets listed below:
- Vegetarian: No meat, fish, or any products derived from slaughtered animals (rennet, gelatine, lard, fish oils, etc.)
- Vegan: As for vegetarians plus no product from any living animal such as milk (cows’, goats’, or ewes’), cheese, eggs, cream, lactose, honey, etc.
- Gluten-free: No product containing gluten, such as wheat, oats, spelt, rye; suitable starches used by Emerson are buckwheat, millet, rice, and potatoes
- Dairy-free: dairy products, dairy products, and milk products are products derived exclusively from milk obtained from animals that include cows, goats, sheep, and buffalo; Emerson always has alternatives to milk as standard, e.g. rice or soya drink
Unfortunately, the venue is not able to cater for further allergies and intolerances. You will have use of self-catering facilities if you need them.
The following meals are included:
- Breakfast
- Lunch
- Dinner
The following dietary requirement(s) are served and/or catered for:
- Vegetarian
- Vegan
- Gluten Free
- Other dietary requirements on request
What's included
- Certificate of completion
- Yoga sessions
- Training as advertised
- 2 nights accommodation
- All food
What's not included
- Airfare
- Airport transfers
How to get there
Recommended Airports
Gatwick Airport
17 km away from your destination
Airport transfer
Transfer not provided
Arrival by airplane
Please book your flight to arrive at Gatwick Airport (LGW), the closest airport to Emerson College. It is situated approximately 15 miles away (about half an hour by car).
Arrival by train
From London, take a train from Victoria Station to East Grinstead. Trains leave once or twice an hour at around 20 minutes and 50 minutes past the hour. The journey takes about an hour and costs 13 GBP single and 19 to 23 GBP return, depending on the time of day.
From East Grinstead, take a bus or a taxi to the college (which is about four miles away).
From Heathrow Airport (LHR), the cheapest option is to catch the underground train from Heathrow to Victoria Station in London.
To get to Victoria, you will have to change trains once, and the easiest change would be at Hammersmith station. Then, follow directions from London as above.
From Luton Airport (LTN), the easiest option is to buy a ticket at the information desk at the airport to East Grinstead by train, which costs about 31 GBP single.
The first part of the trip will be by bus from the airport to the train station and will take only five minutes. Take the train for Brighton and change at East Croydon Station for East Grinstead, then follow directions above.
The journey should take two to three hours, depending on how long you have to wait in East Croydon for a connection.
From Stanstead Airport (STN), take the train to London, get off at Tottenham Hale Station, and take the Victoria Tube Line to Victoria Station (which is quicker).
Or, you can take the train through to Liverpool Street Station and then take the Circle Tube Line to Victoria Station.
Then, take the train from Victoria to East Grinstead and follow the directions above. The ticket will cost approximately 33 GBP single.
Arrival by taxi
From London, there will be taxis waiting at the station, but they can be more expensive. It is cheaper to telephone (preferably in advance) and ask one of the following taxi companies to collect you. It will cost around 8.50 GBP.
- Roadrunners
- Forest Cars
- Southdown Cars
From Gatwick Airport, if you have heavy luggage, the best way to get to the college is to take a taxi. The current rate for a taxi from Gatwick to the college is about 35 GBP (the price goes up between midnight and 07:00).
If possible, book one of the companies listed above, as they will charge around 20 GBP. It is advisable to check the price before you start your journey and be sure to agree on a set place to meet the taxi, as it is easy to miss people at Gatwick Airport.
From Stanstead Airport, there are taxis waiting at the airport, but they can be three times more expensive. It is cheaper to telephone (preferably in advance) and ask one of the taxi companies listed above to collect you.
The journey takes about an hour and 30 minutes (up to three hours, depending on the traffic).
From Heathrow Airport, there are taxis waiting at the airport, but they can be three times more expensive. It is cheaper to telephone (preferably in advance) and ask one of the taxi companies listed above to collect you. It will cost around 70 GBP.
The journey takes about an hour and five minutes (up to two hours, depending on the traffic).
Please note that if you arrive late at night or have a lot of heavy luggage, the most sensible route to the college would be via Gatwick (the trains run all night from London) followed by a taxi.
Or, take a taxi with the listed companies, though you might need to wait about one hour at the airport before you can get picked up, depending on the time of the day.
Arrival by bus
From London, Number 291 (Maidstone & District) runs from East Grinstead station to Tunbridge Wells, leaving at two hourly intervals. Ask for the first stop after Post Horn Lane, which is one mile beyond the centre of the village of Forest Row.
Walk back from the bus stop for 50 yards and turn up the approach lane, with a sign posted Emerson College. The college lies half a mile up this lane on the left-hand side. This is not a good option if you have heavy luggage!
From Gatwick, buses 100 and 10 go from Gatwick to Crawley Bus Station (they leave every 20 minutes). From Crawley Bus Station, take the Number 291 (Metrobus) through East Grinstead and onwards to the bus stop after Post Horn Lane, Forest Row (see above).
The last 291 bus leaves Crawley at 20:20 on Monday to Saturday and at 17:05 on Sunday. (It costs 5.60 GBP single starting March 2014).
Arrival by coach
From Stanstead Airport, take a coach directly from the Coach Station at Stansted Airport to the North Terminal at Gatwick Airport, then follow directions above. The coach leaves twice hourly, and the journey time is about three hours.
From Heathrow airport, if you have a lot of luggage, the more convenient option would be to catch the National Express coach service from Heathrow to Gatwick and then follow directions above. This costs 25 GBP.
Arrival by car
Find your way to Forest Row via the A22 towards East Grinstead and Eastbourne. In the centre of Forest Row, there is a mini-roundabout. Take the B2110 towards Hartfield and Tunbridge Wells.
About a mile along this road, on the outskirts of Forest Row, you will pass a narrowed part and an electric speed signpost on your left-hand side. The college driveway is about 100 meters further on, also on the left-hand side opposite a wood.
Go up the college drive, following the signs all the way up to the top car park. Reception is signed from there.
Cancellation Policy
- A reservation requires a deposit of 14% of the total price.
- The deposit is non-refundable, if the booking is cancelled.
- The rest of the payment should be paid 30 days before arrival.
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