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ABOUT RADIANCE RETREATS, THE YOGA & RADIANCE TEAM
About Radiance Retreats
Established since 2002, Radiance yoga health retreats are offered in beautiful natural destinations around the world including Byron Bay, Bali, New Zealand, Spain, France and Italy. Each yoga retreat is based upon the foundation of twice daily yoga and restoration, meditation, yoga nidra, core strength, nature immersions and stillness along with delicious and nutritious meals. The different retreats offer a range of unique daily rituals and joyful experiences including stunning beach and nature walks in Byron Bay, awe-inspiring hiking in New Zealand, Spain and France, luxurious spa journeys in Bali plus a range of cultural tours, activities and healing art classes for deep rest, inspiration and renewal. Yoga and nature lovers from all walks of life have travelled to Radiance Retreats around the world with many returning year after year.
Click here to read what people have said about their Radiance Retreats experience.
About Jessie Chapman
Your wellness retreat hosts are Jessie Chapman and a highly-attuned team who have been leading Radiance Retreats in Australia, Asia, New Zealand and Europe for over 20 years.
Jessie Chapman has been practicing yoga for 30 years and teaching for 27 years. She is the author of 4 Yoga Books including Yoga Postures for your Body, Mind & Soul (HarperCollins) as well as the co-creator of the Radiance Yoga Series launched by The Sydney Morning Herald.
Jessie loves creating space for people to deepen in yoga and to be inspired in beautiful natural surrounds. Scroll down to find out more about the Radiance team.
About the Yoga
Each Radiance Retreat is based upon the foundation of morning and afternoon yoga classes along with a range of other healing art practices to relax, energise and inspire.
The morning yoga classes are an inspired journey of full body loosening, joint limbering, breath awareness and natural stillness followed by gentle warm up sequences, core awareness and holding postures longer to cultivate and develop strength, flexibility, stability, alignment, and one’s personal yoga practice. Jessie’s teaching experience, along with the yoga adjusters, allows everyone to be supported and challenged according to their individual needs and level of practice. Variations of the postures are demonstrated to suit different energy levels and physical conditions with yoga props often used to give support along with an abundance of nourishing yoga adjustments from the Radiance facilitators.
The afternoon Restoration yoga classes combine slow gentle stretching and opening along with Restoration yoga postures to deeply rest and relax the body, to overcome exhaustion and fatigue and to restore energy levels. Jessie loves to share the many and varied Restorative postures and practices and their powerful healing benefits. Restoration yoga naturally cultivates an open body, relaxed full breathing, stillness and connection.
Other yoga practices and classes throughout the retreat may include pre-lunch Restoration Yoga, Core Strength, Guided Sitting in Stillness, Slow Mindful Walking, evening Yoga Nidra, Sound Healing and Chanting.
More about the Radiance team
Meet Jessie Chapman - Radiance Retreats Founder, Yoga Teacher & Author
Australian yoga teacher, Jessie Chapman, loves creating spaces for people to deepen in yoga, relax and connect within. Jessie is a best-selling author of 4 yoga books (HarperCollins Aus & Ulysses Press USA) including one of Australia’s bestselling yoga books Yoga Postures for your Body, Mind & Soul . As well, she co-created the popular Radiance Vinyasa Yoga DVD series for at home practice filmed on Byron Bay beaches.
Jessie has been practicing yoga for over 30 years and teaching for 27 years and is Yoga Alliance RYT500 certified. She has been featured in magazines and newspapers around the world including Asia Spa, Australian Yoga, The Sydney Morning Herald, Wellbeing and Virgin Inflight Magazine to name a few.
Today, Jessie continues to learn and study with leading teachers, particularly in the Iyengar Yoga method and offers private yoga classes in Byron Bay where she lives with her family.
More about Jessie:
Jessie was first introduced to the practice of yoga and yoga nidra as a teenager by her mother and in 1991 went on to attend formal yoga classes. Yoga soon became a natural part of Jessie’s life and in 1995 she began developing her yoga teaching skills completing a 9-month yoga teacher training course with Yoga Arts in 1997 and going on to teach full time. It was while living in Ubud in 2000-2002, writing her first yoga book and teaching on the Yoga Arts Teacher Training courses, that Jessie and her sister Judy combined their loves of yoga and Bali’s unique holistic spa therapies, to offer the first Radiance Yoga Spa Wellness Retreat. In 2003 Jessie returned to live n Byron Bay and offered the first Byron Bay Yoga Restore Wellness Retreat. Jessie then went on to offer Radiance Retreats in other locations including Thailand, France, Spain, Italy and New Zealand.
Lee Purdie - Yoga Assistant & Yogadance Teacher
Lee has been a part of the Radiance Retreats journeys since 2006 and loves to support and connect with all she meets on the retreats. Lee gives yoga adjustments in the yoga classes and guides some of the beach walks and silent nature walks during the retreats. Lee is a dancer and dance teacher and after completing a Yoga Teacher Training course in 2004, she went on to combine her two passions of dance and yoga to create uplifting Yogadance sequences, which she offers on some retreats. Set to beautiful music, these short, choreographed sequences relax the body and mind, open the heart and are accessible to everyone. Lee lives between Byron Bay and Adelaide with her family.
Anthea Amore - Yoga Assistant, Radiance Spa Services, Therapist & Author
Anthea has been assisting on Radiance Retreats since 2005 in the yoga classes with yoga adjustments and as the Spa Manager coordinating guest spa services. Anthea began practicing yoga from a young age and completed a Yoga Teacher Training Course in 2004. Anthea is a passionate and qualified Massage Therapist, Reiki Master and Natural Beauty Therapist with over 30 years’ experience in the holistic therapies. Anthea is the author of two vegan cookbooks ‘Organic Passion’ and ‘Hungry’ and designs the delicious, abundant, all-organic plant-based menu for our Byron Bay Retreats, with her husband Caspar. Anthea and Caspar live in the Byron Bay hinterland.
Jacinta O'Leary - Yoga Assistant & Mindfulness Drawing
Jacinta adjusts and teaches yoga on some of our European based Radiance Retreats. Her yoga classes cater to all levels of practice and experience with particular focus on developing the foundation of the yoga postures and breathing well. Her classes are of great benefit to beginners as well as more experienced practitioners wanting to refine their practice combining gentle sequencing with dynamic asana work, pranayama as well as deeply restorative yoga for relaxation, healing and stillness. Jacinta is a certified and experienced Iyengar Yoga teacher who also guides Mindfulness Drawing sessions on some retreats. A natural educator, Jacinta writes and tutors in Design for Distant Education in Melbourne where she lives with her family.
Oles - Chanting, Bhajans/Kirtan
Oles has been chanting Sanskrit chants ever since he first visited India over 3 decades ago. Using his experience and training as a professional musician and music teacher he leads the chanting/kirtan/bhajan sessions on some of our Byron Bay Retreats. “Chanting is an ancient and important part of yoga practice. Just as music sometimes allows us to access parts of ourselves that sometimes we can’t so easily reach, chanting mantras gives us the opportunity to lose ourselves, to open up, and in doing so it can allow us to transform ourselves.” Oles. In the retreat sessions there is the option of chanting, sitting in stillness or lying down and simply absorbing the wonderful sounds. Oles lives near Byron Bay with his family and travels extensively to India and beyond.
Kevin James - Chanting, Bhajans/Kirtan
Kevin has been offering Bhajan/Kirtan/Chanting sessions on our Byron Bay and Bali Retreats for many years. With Kevin singing on guitar we’re guided through simple chants in Sanskrit and English. The singing creates an elevated mental condition for practicing meditation and sitting in stillness. People feel empowered and honoured by contributing their voice. In these sessions there is also the option of sitting in stillness (or lying down) and simply absorbing the wonderful sounds. Kevin has more recently moved to Europe with his partner and returns to the Byron Shire at times.