Shanti Griha Retreat Centre - About us


Brian was born in Glasgow in 1951. He has been practising Yoga since 1972 and teaching full time since 1992. He ran Edinburgh’s first Astanga Yoga Centre before becoming director of Union Yoga in Edinburgh. Brian started Yoga teacher training courses in 1999, which are widely regarded for their high standards. He is currently coordinator for Union Yoga Teacher Training and a consultant for Yoga Alliance UK. He divides his time between Shanti Griha and teaching in Edinburgh and throughout the UK.		Brian’s first experience of ashram life was in Rishikesh where he stayed for six months after leaving university. He lived in Zurich for four years, working in industrial research, before returning to Britain in 1985 to do a doctorate in bioengineering, which was followed by a job in Southern California. While living in Frankfurt 1993-95 he established an Astanga Yoga school and also began to practise and teach Thai Massage, which he had learnt in Thailand, where he obtained his advanced diploma. workshops with Brian: www.briancooper.eu


Kathrin was born in Zurich in 1960. She studied linguistics in Zurich, followed by a doctorate in cognitive science in Edinburgh. For seven years she worked as a researcher and lecturer. Before leaving academia she spent three years exploring the linguistic landscape of Nepal and wrote a description of Dhimal, an endangered Tibeto-Burman language of Eastern Nepal. Kathrin came to Buddhism early in life due to the influence of her paternal grandfather, Max Ladner, one of the Buddhist pioneers in Switzerland.		In recent years she has published fragments of her grandfather’s writings. In 1982 Kathrin took up Zen meditation in the Zurich dojo of Deshimaru’s International Zen Association and she continues to do Zazen to this day. For a time she was an active member of the Glasgow Zen Group and later she ran a small Zen meditation group in Frankfurt. Kathrin also practises and teaches Tai Ji (the long Yang form as taught by Master Chu in London and Frieder Anders in Frankfurt). Kathrin does the cooking at Shanti Griha.


		Shanti is a cross breed. She was found in a dog home in Glasgow in 2002 and named after Shanti Griha.

Shanti Griha, Scoraig, Dundonnell, Wester Ross IV23 2RE, Scotland - Phone +44 (0)1854 633 260