By Swami Nirmalananda

An organization dedicated to transformation will undergo transformation.  Those dedicated to spiritual upliftment will transform and change.  Since an organization is made up of the people who participate in it, as they change, the organization will change.

Athleticism is leading the Western yoga world, so the emphasis is no longer on the spiritual growth envisioned by the sages of India.  Fortunately, working on stronger and ever more impressive poses gives the payoff of brief spiritual highs.  These highs happen whether you’re climbing mountains, jogging, lifting weights, playing tennis or doing Sun Salutations.

Transformation means “a new form.”  Is it possible to take a purely spiritual yoga and fit it into the athletic mold?  Yes.  That’s what I did when I taught in yoga conferences, so now I’ve done it with our Teacher Training.  While Svaroopa^® yoga is a spiritual science, it provides you with distinct and tangible physical changes.  To place the benefits center stage and shine the light on them is easy.

Transformation means the underlying premise of our Teacher Trainings has been metamorphosized, like a butterfly in a chrysalis.  The same DNA turns out an entirely different creature:  a butterfly instead of a worm.

Previously, my approach was to present each pose in its fullness.  Now our trainings are about the interlinking between the poses.  This is actually how learning works.  You don’t learn all 21 variations on AltLeg in your first yoga class.  The basic AltLeg does so much for you!  All your other poses improve, as does your inner state, an opening all the way into your essence.

We’ve always focused on this opening, but do you need 21 ways of getting it in AltLeg?  No.  You only need to learn them if you want to teach advanced classes or if you want to be a yoga therapist.  Thus, our new Teacher Training gives you these opportunities without forcing them on you.  You learn each variation only when you need it.

Applying this premise to the structure of our training turns our Eiffel tower into a geodesic dome.  Instead of a pointed structure reaching for the sky, we have a dome rounding into itself, with each triangle supporting all the others.  Every pose supports all the others, and together they support you.  Every Svaroopa^® yoga YTT or ATT course you’ve taken will still give you full credit toward your Continuing Ed and new certification levels.  And we’ll have more easily accessible certifications and new poses coming in.  Full information and the 2017 calendar is coming for you next week!