Ashtanga Yoga "Full Primary"

Growing up in apartheid South Africa led Michael to an early interest in the topic of individual and collective hardship and awakened within him the yearning to address and confront the challenges it brings.
In his youth it spurned him on to political activism and rebellion, sublimated through studies in art and literature, which additionally offered helpful glimpses into the human condition. The discovery of Buddhism in his twenties brought about dramatic life changes resulting in his departure from the west to the east and long years of studies in yoga and Buddhism in Asia. After discovering satipatthana meditation with its direct application of mindfulness to progressive stages of development, he started studies in short- and long-term retreat formats with Sayday U Vivekananda.
Currently Michael is undergoing a 3-year course in essential psychology, which combines skillful methods developed in psychology with the Buddhism teachings on wisdom, in order to better facilitate development and healing in individuals and small groups. He is deeply grateful to all those that have helped and guided him on his path, particularly Daido Roshi for his acts of kindness, Vivekanada and Baddhamanika for their endless patience, Richard Freeman and Mary Taylor for their insights into approaching practice, Doug Keller for therapeutic body awareness and Wolfgang Erhard and Lama Lhündrup for awakening the Bodhisattva spirit within.
Michael lives with his wife Sabine Glück in Ticino, Switzerland.
For more information please see www.michaelhamiltonyoga.com
 

Brett is an Ashtanga Yoga teacher and practitioner. He began his studies over twenty years ago in New York City with Sri K. Pattabhi Jois, R. Sharath Jois and Eddie Stern. After many years of close study and apprenticeship with his teachers, including long periods of study over many years in Mysore, South India, he began teaching internationally, throughout Europe, Asia, Australia, and North America.
Brett teaches in English.
Brett: „Yoga has profound effects on our physical bodies; it purifies our internal organs and brings health, strength and vitality. Even deeper and more meaningful can be the wisdom gleaned through practice about what this very life is, who we are, what we are doing here and where we are going. It is indeed essential to approach yoga with a sense of adventure. Yoga is about raising consciousness and living with greater awareness and sensitivity towards oneself and with the environment around us. It is the greatest teacher because our knowledge and understanding is a consequence of our practice and rests on our very own direct experience. Yoga is radical because it will invite us out of the shadows, it will show us the masks we wear and the ways worldly delusion impedes our true path, purpose and contentment in life. It teaches us about our own patterns of psychology. It challenges the very bedrock of our attitudes, assumptions and compulsions so that we can see ourselves and ultimately come to understand how to live with greater skill and cooperation in our lives. It teaches us whatever is uniquely required by us as individuals. It is the diamond hiding in the rough of this life. The lotus flower that is born of the dross and muck. The elixir. That is why I love it and can’t imagine life without it.“

Growing up in apartheid South Africa led Michael to an early interest in the topic of individual and collective hardship and awakened within him the yearning to address and confront the challenges it brings.
In his youth it spurned him on to political activism and rebellion, sublimated through studies in art and literature, which additionally offered helpful glimpses into the human condition. The discovery of Buddhism in his twenties brought about dramatic life changes resulting in his departure from the west to the east and long years of studies in yoga and Buddhism in Asia. After discovering satipatthana meditation with its direct application of mindfulness to progressive stages of development, he started studies in short- and long-term retreat formats with Sayday U Vivekananda.
Currently Michael is undergoing a 3-year course in essential psychology, which combines skillful methods developed in psychology with the Buddhism teachings on wisdom, in order to better facilitate development and healing in individuals and small groups. He is deeply grateful to all those that have helped and guided him on his path, particularly Daido Roshi for his acts of kindness, Vivekanada and Baddhamanika for their endless patience, Richard Freeman and Mary Taylor for their insights into approaching practice, Doug Keller for therapeutic body awareness and Wolfgang Erhard and Lama Lhündrup for awakening the Bodhisattva spirit within.
Michael lives with his wife Sabine Glück in Ticino, Switzerland.
For more information please see www.michaelhamiltonyoga.com
 

Brett is an Ashtanga Yoga teacher and practitioner. He began his studies over twenty years ago in New York City with Sri K. Pattabhi Jois, R. Sharath Jois and Eddie Stern. After many years of close study and apprenticeship with his teachers, including long periods of study over many years in Mysore, South India, he began teaching internationally, throughout Europe, Asia, Australia, and North America.
Brett teaches in English.
Brett: „Yoga has profound effects on our physical bodies; it purifies our internal organs and brings health, strength and vitality. Even deeper and more meaningful can be the wisdom gleaned through practice about what this very life is, who we are, what we are doing here and where we are going. It is indeed essential to approach yoga with a sense of adventure. Yoga is about raising consciousness and living with greater awareness and sensitivity towards oneself and with the environment around us. It is the greatest teacher because our knowledge and understanding is a consequence of our practice and rests on our very own direct experience. Yoga is radical because it will invite us out of the shadows, it will show us the masks we wear and the ways worldly delusion impedes our true path, purpose and contentment in life. It teaches us about our own patterns of psychology. It challenges the very bedrock of our attitudes, assumptions and compulsions so that we can see ourselves and ultimately come to understand how to live with greater skill and cooperation in our lives. It teaches us whatever is uniquely required by us as individuals. It is the diamond hiding in the rough of this life. The lotus flower that is born of the dross and muck. The elixir. That is why I love it and can’t imagine life without it.“

Ettie was born in Israel and grew up in Switzerland. She started dancing at the age of three, is originally a dancer, dance teacher and founder of the dance style Orientbeatz®. In 2001 she came in contact with yoga. During her stay in Miami for several years, she enjoyed a yoga teacher training in 2009, where she quickly found her style in Ashtanga through David Keil. At the Miami Life Center she studied daily with Tim Feldman, Kino McGregor and Greg Nardi. Since 2011 she lives again in Switzerland with her husband and two children. Here she practiced with Michael Hamilton and today with Brett Porzio.
Ettie taught Vinyasa and Ashtanga inspired yoga lessons in Miami and Zurich. She studied at the Rosenberg Academy of Ayurveda, is an Ayurveda-specialist and Ayurveda psychological counselor. Additionally, in 2021 she has completed her training as a Natural holistic Ayurvedic Practitioner (‘Naturheilpraktiker’) with a specialty in Ayurvedic Medicine. She works independently in her practice in Zurich. She independently teaches private lessons and small groups in yoga and assists Brett Porzio at AIRYOGA.
Ettie believes in the manifestation of individual realizations through the magnification of one's own but also the collective consciousness. To attain this, yoga is a great gateway.
More info under: https://www.orientbeatz.ch
Ettie teaches in English and German.

Brett is an Ashtanga Yoga teacher and practitioner. He began his studies over twenty years ago in New York City with Sri K. Pattabhi Jois, R. Sharath Jois and Eddie Stern. After many years of close study and apprenticeship with his teachers, including long periods of study over many years in Mysore, South India, he began teaching internationally, throughout Europe, Asia, Australia, and North America.
Brett teaches in English.
Brett: „Yoga has profound effects on our physical bodies; it purifies our internal organs and brings health, strength and vitality. Even deeper and more meaningful can be the wisdom gleaned through practice about what this very life is, who we are, what we are doing here and where we are going. It is indeed essential to approach yoga with a sense of adventure. Yoga is about raising consciousness and living with greater awareness and sensitivity towards oneself and with the environment around us. It is the greatest teacher because our knowledge and understanding is a consequence of our practice and rests on our very own direct experience. Yoga is radical because it will invite us out of the shadows, it will show us the masks we wear and the ways worldly delusion impedes our true path, purpose and contentment in life. It teaches us about our own patterns of psychology. It challenges the very bedrock of our attitudes, assumptions and compulsions so that we can see ourselves and ultimately come to understand how to live with greater skill and cooperation in our lives. It teaches us whatever is uniquely required by us as individuals. It is the diamond hiding in the rough of this life. The lotus flower that is born of the dross and muck. The elixir. That is why I love it and can’t imagine life without it.“