Golden Glow Yoga College – Our Story
RealPeople – The ethos of Golden Glow Yoga College is a beautiful Yogic love story of loving kindness given and received; hard work and commitment. We believe Yoga Teachers can be ‘hard core’ in discipline, and yet loving and compassionate. This will always be an essential component of eligibility to train at our colleges.
History
2006 -The college was organically grown and originally founded in 2006 in Co. Cork by Sharon O’Neill BCL. Sharon taught mainly in schools and for adult education programs fro 2006 and then opened a small Yoga Studio in Carrigaline in 2010. There she offered classes to the general public for all levels. That little cottage studio was a great success, so Golden Glow Yoga got bigger over time and we loved our years practicing weekly with amazing people. Eventually owning three different studios in Cork and Carrigaline in Cork county, Golden Glow Yoga College evolved and we headed to Cork city in 2015 and then also to Galway.
Since 2013 we also focused on providing high quality Yoga Teacher Training from Foundation to Senior level as Sri Radha was appointed Director for Ireland for Yoga Alliance International. There was a growing need to have more classes with our signature styles and routines and we began assisting our long term and advanced students to become teachers themselves. Sri Radha retired from the role of Director for Ireland YAI in 2020 and GGYC is now also hold the Pro Trainer status for Yoga Alliance Professionals. GGYC is now also a YAP registered school. YAP is the largest yoga training organisation in the UK and the support for GGYC student teachers is excellent.
GGYC is widely recognised as one of the most established and professional Yoga Teacher Training Colleges in Ireland. The main office and Private Practice Rooms were moved to Cork City in Oliver Plunkett Street in 2016 and many of you would have met us there. GGYC went on to win the Best Yoga Studio in Cork award from the Luxury Travel Guide in 2017 and Best Contemporary Yoga Studio in Ireland in 2018. We later ran our headquarters and a small studio from 2016 -July 2020 in Spiddal on the Wild Atlantic Way in the Galway. In 2018 we also expanded to Galway City, working from a beautiful studio in Terryland House, The Galway Wellness Studio; Not only teaching our own classes and training but offering the studios to others.
In 2020 the college moved completely to its Terryland studio with great plans to continue to go from strength to strength. Due to to extended Covid restrictions the physical studio has now closed. The good news is the Cork and Galway Courses continued with additonal Cornwall courses with training online becoming an amazing tool to support any travel limitations.
Golden Glow Yoga College Courses are inspired by the timeless teachings of Shri Krishnamacharya, an amazing healer and yoga teacher who was the inspiration behind many modern Hatha schools (Ashtanga, Iyengar, Vinyasa, Viniyoga). Sri Aurobindo and The Mother have been introduced by Swami Vidyanand the Founder of SriMa Transformational Yoga as a great addition to our range of study.
About Your Senior Teacher – Dr Sri Radha Sharon O’Neill BCL Hons PhD Yoga and our Team
BIO
Our GGYC Managing Director and Founder is affectionately known to thousands as Sri (means Highest or Holy -pronounced Shri) Radha (Rad – ha – The favourite wife or love of Lord Krishna ) Sharon, and professionally as Dr Sri Radha Sharon O’Neill BCL Hons PhD Yoga. Sri Radha is originally from Falmouth in Cornwall, but her Father was Irish and she moved to Ireland with her family of five children over 25 years ago, returning to Falmouth in 2021.
Her initial yoga teacher training qualifications began with a 300hr ( YA 200hr ) Diploma with Marie Quail and Yoga Alliance in 2004- 2006. She travelled to Southern India in 2013 and 2014 for Yoga Alliance International Senior training and continued to teach classes in Cork for over 15 years. Sri Radha has accumulated over 12000 class teaching hours and has taught over thirty 200hr Foundation courses in yoga teacher training as well as 300hr and 500hr Senior qualifications.
Sri Radha holds yoga qualifications from
Yoga Alliance 200hr Registered Yoga Teacher Certificate
YAI 200hr Yoga Teacher Certificate, 500hr Senior Yoga Teacher and Grand Master in Yoga Therapy Qualifications, as well as being awarded an Hon Ph.D in Yoga in 2017 by Virtual University India.
Sri Radha is a Yoga Alliance Professionals Senior Teacher and Golden Glow Yoga College is a Registered YAP Training School and Registered Yoga Alliance International training school.
Sri Radha was appointed as the Director for Yoga Alliance International for Ireland by its Founder Swami Vidyanand, in January 2013 and retired from the Directorship in June 2020.
She remains Founder and Director of Golden Glow Yoga College GGYC and also an Ambassador for SriMa Transformational Yoga. She is also a Member of Yoga Alliance and the British Wheel of Yoga.
Sharon holds an Honours degree in Law from University College Cork Ireland . She is also a trained as a Mediator with a Family Law interest.
Dr Sri Radha Sharon has dedicated her later life to the wide study and awareness of the various Hatha schools and the fun and challenge of Vinyasa flow yoga in particular but trains teachers in Yoga for Pregnancy, Yoga for Active Retired, Chair Yoga at Work Programs, and Yoga for Children.
She also trains teachers in the skills required for Yoga for Teens and Yoga Good Mental Health. . Her enthusiasm enhances the teaching mix beautifully, making for the most enjoyable of yoga classes, workshops and courses all with the discipline of loving kindness.
Under her professional guidance, Golden Glow Yoga College Senior Teachers help train 200hr Hatha, Transformational and Vinyasa Flow Yoga Teachers every year in Ireland and now in Cornwall.
Golden Glow Yoga College was awarded BEST Contemporary Yoga School in Cork in 2018 and Overall Winner in Ireland by the Luxury Travel Guide.