Photo by Tit Košir
Ashtanga Week with Laruga: Community, Courage, and the Joy of Practice
At Yoga Hrvatska, our intention is simple: create spaces where we learn something new—skills, concepts, and fresh insight into body and mind. A retreat is the perfect setting for that kind of learning. yogahrvatska.hr
Equally essential is community. Few things are more moving than the way new friendships unfold—women arriving as strangers and leaving as sisters. A week like this becomes a shared container for love, questions, emotions, and honesty. We start on the mat, and the openness spills into the rest of life. There’s no room for illusions on the mat—only presence.
Why Ashtanga Can Feel “Love or Hate”
When we study any method, opinions rush in—“try this,” “skip that,” “do it differently.” Ashtanga offers a counterpoint: a clear sequence with a purpose behind every asana. Modifications meet you where you are, but the path itself is steady. It’s a training ground for humility, attention, and patience—an ego-softener disguised as a practice. Step onto the mat and you’ll see.
Mysore Mornings, Real Bodies
Mysore-style classes honour our differences. Some of us stand in Samasthiti first thing; others arrive earlier to warm joints and awaken breath. We bend the practice toward balance and healing, not perfection. Yoga is for every body, every age, every season.
Photo by Tit Košir
Photo by Tit Košir
The Moon, the Tide, and the Inner Weather
Practice teaches us to notice subtle shifts—the way a full moon can brighten intentions and surface emotions. Grounding sequences help us meet what rises, then release what’s ready to go. In that stillness, clarity grows. yogahrvatska.hr
What We Discovered (Together)
Strength and softness are not opposites; they’re dance partners.
Modifying is not “less than”—it’s intelligent.
Consistency matters more than intensity.
The best learning still happens in person; no screen can replace it.
Photo by Tit Košir
Yoga is really for everybody, regardless the age.
We are all invited to the mat. The beauty of Mysore classes is that valuable space of free expressions of our subtle variety.
Maybe, a younger practitioner will step in Samstitihi first thing in the morning, and I will mostly need to come half an hour earlier to stretch and warm my joints up.
So we adapt our bodies to have our daily practice balanced and healing.
Yoga is a dance between effort and release, inhale and exhale, up and down, bend and flex, right and left.
We have all our life for this dance.
Photo by Tit Košir
And not less important, it is always overwhelming to see this beautiful bunch of ladies so eager to learn about their bodies and mind, manage new skills, and tame their egos by adopting new skills that will help them feel and do better. Ultimately we all strive to live our lives with less stress and damage to us and our loved ones, to perform better in whatever we choose to do and to live more peacefully. So yoga it is the right path to follow for each of us. We are those who believe that the world would be a better place is yoga is widespread practice.
Photo by Tit Košir
Big thanks to our dear partners YOGALINE
with Vanja who prepared fantastic gifts for our participants and small pop-up shop with all yoga gear you can imagine.
and ORNAMENT ZAGREB for the best decorations and fragranced incense and many more Indian goodies.
Big thanks to our dear photographer TIT KOŠIR who made amazing photos with zero preps.
Grateful for the beautiful pottery of PEPEL ZAGREB for our tea break goodies.
And the biggest warmest thank to dear Laruga for accepting invitation to join us in Croatia and share her so valuable knowledge with us. We all feel privileged and blessed to learn from the source knowledge, to admire her life dedication in learning and sharing this powerful wisdom.
As it goes, every ending is the new beginning.
Photo by Tit Košir
Rid your body of its impurities, let your speech be true and sweet, feel friendship for the world,
and with humility seek wealth and knowledge.
-Tirumali Krischnamacharya
CONNECT TO YOUR HIGHER SELF
The practices of yoga and meditation can help us know our higher self a bit better. Taking time to retreat helps us profoundly understand ourselves so we can have the life we dream of.
Our dreams can manifest from imagination into reality.
I invite you to bravely stand up to the parts of you that hold you back and go to that Retreat.
Your soul will thank you.
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