Bharti and Duccio’s long and profound understanding of this yoga is evident, and you’ll benefit right from the first asana: “A course equivalent to two and a half months of weekly sessions, it can create profound transformation both in body and mind. In a single week, students have found a flexibility they thought impossible, healed old physical blocks and opened to a state of peace never experienced before.”

“We fondly remember the lovely stories that Duccio told us during relaxation and the kindness of Bharti helping us to enter into the most complex movements.”

F.L., Brighton

Bharti and Duccio have a loyal following in Italy and we’re fortunate that they decided some years ago to settle in Urbino, of all places (fifteen minutes from The Hill)

This will be a very special week with two outstanding teachers. We feel very lucky to be welcoming them to The Hill for the second time – and highly recommend you book early for this week.

All our yoga holidays are designed for all levels. As on other weeks, there is one session in the morning and one late-afternoon.

Bharti Roopanand and Duccio Alessandri are something else.

Bharti was born into a family where the daily practice of yoga was of vital importance (and most probably done to the accompaniment of Indian classical music, as her father was a famous musician). She has been teaching yoga for 27 years, and trained directly with Shri B.K.S. Iyengar in Pune, India.

Duccio, her husband, has studied meditation in the tradition of Yogananda for 25 years and also trained directly with Iyengar.

If you don’t know the famous Iyengar style, it is the style on which many of the western forms have been based (B.K.S. Iyengar was probably the most important Indian teacher in bringing yoga to the west in the 1960s and ‘70s).

The practice centres on familiar asanas and pranayamas (using the breath), but with a strong emphasis on correct body alignment: both to prevent pain and injury and encourage healing of current problems (Iyengar details the healing benefits of different asanas). This yoga exercises all muscles, stimulates the endocrine system, improves the immune system and develops a beautiful and elastic body, free of tightness.