Living in the moment on Inishbofin

Lifestyle – Yoga teacher Christine Stewart has close ties with Inishbofin and organises regular retreats on the scenic Connemara island, aimed at helping people to relax and re-energise. She tells Judy Murphy what’s involved and why Bofin is an ideal setting.

There are better ways to approach the Downward Dog pose in yoga than with a walloping hangover.  From an ideological perspective it’s frowned upon and from a purely practical level, it’s hell.  In fairness, ending up hungover while attempting the Downward Dog had never been the plan.  We’d travelled to Inishbofin Island for a Solstice Yoga Weekend full of good intentions. But on the Friday night after dinner in the Doonmore Hotel, we’d been so busy living in the moment, that we totally forgot ourselves and had too much wine.

Not a great start to the day-long retreat.

However, under the guidance of our yoga teacher Christine Stewart (who didn’t know at that stage about our spontaneity the previous night), all came good. Within a couple of hours, balance and serenity had been restored.

Christine Stewart has been giving yoga retreats in the cosy function room of the family-run Doonmore Hotel on the stunning Inishbofin Island for the past four years. Before that, she taught classes locally.

Normally based in Boyle, Co Roscommon, where she runs The Yoga Shack with reflexologist and homeopath Mags McLoughlin, Christine was first introduced to the North Connemara island nearly 30 years ago by her then boyfriend, Neil, who became her husband shortly after. She’s been a regular since.

Bofin was where Neil’s family went for his childhood holidays and he and Christine have continued that tradition with their family. Her love of the island is palpable as she describes its magic.

“It just seems right to teach yoga on Bofin. It’s such a beautiful place, and there’s something about the energy.”

Energy is a word that resonates with Christine who took up yoga 26 years ago while pregnant with her second child, Rebecca. She immediately realised “the huge amount of potential it offers for self-care” and it became fundamental to her life. Soon after, she began teaching it.

“I took it up as a job to justify the amount of yoga I was doing,” she says with a laugh, adding that she’s done “a crazy amount of training”.

Christine teaches Anusara, a version of the traditional Hatha yoga-form that works with the breath to strengthen and relax the spirit, mind and body, allowing the person to align with the universe.  She also teaches Vinyasa, a more flowing practice. Her many classes in Boyle include sessions for teenagers and pregnant women, and she also travels to Sligo and Leitrim, giving classes to people with special needs, which she loves.

Christine is also interested in other complementary practices, believing that “we need to be more inclusive and take a more holistic approach to self-care”.

She’s a walking advertisement for that philosophy. Graceful, grounded and fun, she radiates calm. And, from my personal experience of different yoga teachers and yoga practices, she’s one seriously good and encouraging instructor.

For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.

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