Our team
SAMADHI TEACHERS
TEMPLE BAR
SAMADHI TEACHERS
DROGHEDA
Greg Walsh
IYENGAR YOGA TEACHER AND OWNER/DIRECTOR OF SAMADHI
Greg Walsh Has been teaching yoga since before some of his students were born! He set up Samadhi in 2005, having run Prana Yoga Centre for 3 years. Greg is deeply passionate about yoga, as a practice and as a subject. He has taught yoga all over Ireland, Europe and the USA. He loves providing space for good yoga.
Greg says:
I was introduced to yoga in my mid 20’s whilst traveling in Nepal. I didn’t think it would be for me, but in fact I really took to it straight away. I initially practiced Satyananda yoga, but on my return to Dublin I was introduced to Iyengar yoga. Its strong physical challenge, focus on strong body awareness and attention to detail appealed to me immediately. I have studied primarily Iyengar yoga for 20 years, and really appreciate its clear physical focus.
I was awarded my Introductory Iyengar Teacher Training Certificate in 2002 after 2 years of intensive teacher training. In March 2016 I received my Intermediate Level 3 Certificate. I have stepped back from using the Iyengar name, as I often teach in a more exploratory and less pedantic way than traditional Iyengar yoga is often presented.
For me, yoga is not a physical practice, it is an exploratory philosophical and energetic practice which uses the body to access the inner essence. We use yoga to gain control and mastery of our body, we use our body to access the breath, and we use the breath to gain mastery of our thoughts, our mind, our consciousness, our whole being.
Contact Greg: greg@samadhi.ie
- EXPERIENCE
- Teaching yoga since 1999
- Certified Iyengar Junior Intermediate Level 3
- Yoga Alliance Professionals SYT (senior yoga teacher)
- Yoga Alliance E-RYT 500 Certified
- Yoga Alliance YACEP (Yoga Alliance continuing education provider)
- Diploma in Anatomy & Physiology
- Formerly co-owned and co-managed Prana Yoga Centre 2002-2005
- Owner/Director of Samadhi
Grainne O'Kane
HATHA YOGA TEACHER
Hi I’m Gráinne here’s a bit about me and my yoga journey. I recently turned 54 and I feel better and younger than I did in my 40’s and my 30’s and I want to share this with everyone. I especially want to share it with men and women who have stopped moving their bodies and who feel that getting older means we move less. I came to yoga late in life and I get a real soul connection from teaching I love seeing people come to class from a busy or stressful day and how it helps them to completely calm down. Not only are they calming down but they are also keeping their bodies moving which is so important as we age with grace. My class is loving, nurturing and it’s also light hearted. I’m a big fan of the great outdoors and the elements of nature, so if it’s sunny then the sun will be part of the class. If it’s raining, the rain will be part of the class.
On a final note: I came to yoga due to a serious mental health challenge and I believe that yoga can really support you if you are going through depression, anxiety or other mental health crisis. I remember so well how one simple yoga pose brought my mind into Santosha, inner contentment during my crisis. I simply had to explore that further.
I have my first qualification from The Yoga Room in Dublin and I have a further cert for Satya Yoga at the Macalla Farm Yoga Centre on Clare Island & I have a cert for Yoga for Sport with the I’m also a Heal Your Life facilitator and I have hundreds of hours of training with my meditation teacher through mantra so I always weave sound into my classes too. I find that my name Gráinne guides my teaching, Grá means love and it’s also the first three letters of Gratitude.
Karen Jeffares
VINYASA, PRENATAL & POSTNATAL YOGA TEACHER
I have been practicing yoga regularly for over 10 years having taken my first class while backpacking in India in my early 20’s. My first yoga classes were at sunrise in a palm frond covered yoga studio at the top of a spectacular cliff edge – I have practiced in a multitude of settings ever since. The image of the sun rising up over the cliff edge and the birds soaring by at almost eye level during the closing series still comes to me from time to time and makes me smile. It was such a peaceful and magical experience.
I have been drawn to yoga in its various forms ever since and throughout many years of travel, activism and volunteer work overseas in sometimes challenging and stressful situations. I tried other types of movement and physical activity but found nothing else created the same sense of peace and calm. Years later, while studying yoga philosophy and the energy body as part of teacher training course back home in Ireland I began to understand why yoga above all else brought me that ease and clarity. This has allowed me to appreciate its benefits even more and has motivated me to share it with others.
I studied with the senior team at Samadhi in Temple Bar at a 250 hour Hatha Yoga Teacher Training in 2015 and then later qualified as a prenatal (2017) and postnatal (2018) yoga teacher at the Elbow-Room in Stoneybatter. Both courses and the teachers I studied with have influenced my teaching style, as has my Ashtanga yoga practice with Gillian Mooney of Ashtanga Yoga Ireland with whom I continue to practice.
I teach vinyasa flow classes with an emphasis on building strength and alignment in foundational poses. I also work with students to deepen their connection to the breath both on and off the mat. My vinyasa classes are strong and dynamic and also create space for relaxation and connection to the energy body. My prenatal and postnatal classes are gentle and grounding and I seek to support mothers to connect with their bodies and their innate capacities as women throughout this journey into motherhood.
In my own life, I am now mum to a joyful and beautiful little girl who is teaching me more about life (and yoga) than I could ever have imagined possible. Becoming a mother has been a deeply transformative and life-affirming experience for me. It has also been challenging and exhausting at times. Yoga has and will continue to be my anchor on my own journey into motherhood and every time I connect with my practice I can feel a sense of grounding and clear-headedness that I know benefits me and my daughter immensely! We live on a farm in County Monaghan with my partner, 2 alpacas, a horse, 2 pigs, 20 hens, 4 ducks and a cat called Kitty and we are building an environmental education and retreat centre.
Siobhan Flynn
VINYASA YOGA TEACHER
Yoga first came into my life while in college in NYC, my hometown. I loved the effect it had on me. It seemed to bring strength and serenity to both my body and mind.
However, upon my move to Ireland, my yoga practice gave way to other things, namely Pilates. Then, a few years ago, when I needed it most, yoga came back to me. Immediately falling back in love with not only the practice, but the balance it helped bring to my busy life; I began to integrate yoga into my everyday life. With the encouragement and support of my amazing teachers, I embarked upon my yoga teacher training journey. Now a qualified RYT200, I consider myself so incredibly blessed to be able to share the practice with others. While I am a teacher, I am a student first, learning from teachers and students alike, and seeking to expand and deepen my practice.
Tamara Howard
HATHA YOGA TEACHER
My journey to yoga began in 2005, when I wore a heavy tracksuit and hoody to a Bikram yoga class…completely unaware of the fact that the room was about to be heated to 43 degrees. I survived (just about) but was hungry to return and give it a proper go. I still remember how it felt to be that new yoga enthusiast, not really sure where the path led, but curious about the journey. It is this curiosity that spurs me on every day with my own yoga.
I’m based near Drogheda in Co. Meath, Ireland, and when I’m not teaching yoga I run my own consultancy business, so I am passionate about incorporating a grounded approach to yoga. I try always to integrate my practice into my daily life in a way that is realistic and serves a modern, busy lifestyle. To me, yoga is so much more than a physical exercise. I work with my students to draw attention to the breath, physical awareness; tuning in to those subtle internal cues.
I teach with humour, approachability and sincerity and I am honoured to be in a position to share my practice with so many wonderful, unique people.
Slava M
BACK CARE SPECIALIST: ORTHOPAEDIC MANIPULATIVE THERAPY, PILATES AND YOGA INSTRUCTOR AND MASSAGE THERAPIST
My work focus over the last several years is on Spinal Rehabilitation – working with back pain sufferers in group and one-on-one settings stopping various painful spinal conditions.
Spinal rehabilitation is the summit of my intensive work on alleviation such painful spinal conditions as fibrositis, fibromyalgia, slipped disc or herniated disc, acute disc prolapse, degenerative disc disease, arthritis of the lower back, facet joint inflammation, rheumatism, lumbago, isthmic spondylolisthesis, lumbar spinal stenosis and other conditions that may be responsible for lower back pain and sciatica.
