Category Archives: Courses

A Sweet Retreat by Matrika (Marlene) Gast

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Marlene Gast

Matrika (Marlene) Gast

As a yogi who teaches Svaroopa® yoga, I plan my retreat and training vacations. I do ruminate about spending time on the beach or in the mountains instead, and some years I am fortunate enough to have time for both. But if I must choose one or the other, I go for the yoga. And I have never ever regretted the choice of that gift for myself — and my students.

If you are still making summer plans, take a look at “Enliven & Advance: Level 2,” July 5-9. If you have completed YTT Level 2, this course refreshes your “current standing” date, plus you will receive so much more. Last year, I interviewed yogis who took “Enliven & Advance: Level 1.” They found this EYTS course to be a sweet retreat as well as a great way to refresh pose alignments and adjustments as well as learn new and exciting ATT variations.

Mary Carpenter said, “I was amazed again at the subtly of Svaroopa® yoga. Just a hint of support can give a huge release…experiencing layers and layers of depth in my own opening as well as gathering new information and experience with the poses.” When she registered for the course, Mary was looking forward to being a student, and her expectations were fulfilled, “We had a bunch of classes in which we could just be the student. As we were in one of these classes, I realized the pose could support me rather than me working in the pose. In the inner space that opened from not efforting, and releasing the desire to get any kind of effect, I experienced the pose as a kind of cocoon to nurture and support me…more like a spa treatment than a training class. The course was a great sweetness that provided a space of openness for the pose to grow inside you!”

Kathy Gardner said, “The first day, Vidyadevi asked, ‘Why are you here?’ and I answered, ‘To be fed.’ I felt like a dried-out sponge. Then the tailbone poses opened things up for me. Those poses were very freeing. Not only was there an awesome physical opening, but there was also the immersion in community. It was so nice to be a student again and to be with other Svaroopis.”

Joe Yezzi especially liked the “sense of Oneness.” He said, “We were all there for one reason — to deepen our openings, and experience such a high energy level.” Joe continued, “In terms of the actual teacher training, it helped me get back on track. Regarding drift, I found I wasn’t that far out, but neither was I as on target as I had thought with alignments. Yes, drift happens, and the course brought me home.” As we teachers have all experienced, through those deep openings, knowing arises. Joe said, “The course reinforced my knowing that I was meant to be a Svaroopa® yoga teacher. Svaroopa® yoga is powerful, very powerful – and so easy, so simple – just softening, less is more.”

level 2 poses 1In this training, you can look forward to being trained by Vidyadevi and Karobi. Jim Totin said, “It’s really a pleasure to take class from Vidyadevi. Whatever comes up, she knows how to answer and what to do; I am confident that she will have an answer for anything. This goes for Karobi, too…. And I am always in awe of Swamiji pulling all of this together; it’s unbelievable – I tell people this is a real gift from God. I can’t imagine life without it, and wouldn’t want to imagine where I would be without this yoga.”

How about you? Is it time for Continuing Ed? Or do you just want to treat yourself to the most splendid of vacations? How wonderful that you can do both in “Enliven & Advance: Level 2” from July 5 -9 at The Desmond. You will return home having given yourself just what you needed — refreshed on all levels, with more to give to your loved ones, to your students and to your own life as a yogi.

Teacher Training: A Turning Point by Matrika (Marlene) Gast

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Marlene Gast

Marlene Gast

I took Foundations in 2005 and I’ve been teaching as a fully certified Svaroopa® yoga teacher since 2009. Deciding to go on from Foundations to Level 1 was the best life choice that I’ve ever made.

It took me awhile to make that decision. After Foundations I had changed so much in body and mind that I didn’t feel the need for more. As a yoga teacher in another style, I already had several classes of devoted students, and I’d learned enough in Foundation to turn them on to Svaroopa® yoga. I loved the experience of finding bliss through opening my spine, and the new pose sequences were delighting my existing students.

But then I began to sense there was “more.” It was an inkling, a hunch. And Level 1 was scheduled for summer. So why not let it be my summer vacation? Of course, signing up for Level 1 meant also enrolling for Level 2. That would be another big step. Would I need to go that far? I looked over the program description, which talked about backbends, abdominals and standing poses. These poses piqued my curiosity. What would it be like to experience that next level the Svaroopa® yoga way? How would that affect the teaching that I so loved to do?

Led forward by mere hints of something more, I found myself in Level 1 in August 2007. I began in earnest the remarkable and fully absorbing journey of finding and expanding my core physically, mentally, spiritually. My misaligned sacroiliac joint, which had previously put me belly down on the floor in pain, began to heal when Vidyadevi gave me a Sacrum Press in Half Frog. Poses, poses, poses — learning so more about primary spinal openers, both technically and physically in my own body was a huge part of my experience daily. Morning chant and meditation transported me to previously unknown depths within, and the Teacher Trainers’ anatomy and philosophy talks opened my eyes to the true wonders and possibilities of life as a human being on Earth.

Truly, if I had the time to write about the new experiences in mind, body and heart that unfolded within me each day, I could easily fill a book. Upon returning home from Level 1, I gave the Cure-All Knee Press adjustment that I’d learned to family members. They melted. Some had been skeptical about my being away for more than a week and about the cost. But what I heard after that Cure-All Knee Press was “worth every penny” and “when will you be going to Level 2?” Level 1 turned out to be a most important turning point for me, for my family AND for my yoga students, who have clearly received benefit upon benefit over the past seven years.

If you are a Foundations Grad, June 2014 is your time for a major turning point in your life. Step firmly onto the path of this yoga that you already love! Embrace this opportunity of a lifetime. Click here to enroll today.

Prepare To Dive Deep! by Marlene Gast

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47No matter where you live, Swamiji makes it possible for you to dive deep. You have just two weeks to register for “Guru & Self” — our new yearlong programme.  Over the span of an academic year, Swamiji explains, the teachings will help you “make sense of the experiences you are having. They also open you up to deeper levels of experience because the teachings help you understand where you’re going inside.” Swamiji recalls, “Baba gave these teachings every night, a piece at a time,” and says, “If everyone lived nearby and came to satsang weekly, these teachings would be presented in a less concentrated form.”

But we don’t all live near the Ashram. Through multimedia distance learning programmes, we who don’t live in or near Downingtown can receive these priceless teachings through our virtual Ashram. So take advantage of the great good fortune of yearlong study with your teacher and fellow yogis. Day by day, as well as on calls, this will enhance your experience and understanding of the teachings, yourself and your Self. Once you are on a call, even in your own home, you will feel an immediate closeness to your teacher and bond with your group. While the wide world shrinks into a virtual classroom, your access to Self will vastly expand.

You have just two weeks to register for “Guru & Self” — Swami Nirmalananda’s new yearlong programme, with two enrollment options:

  •  Option #1 — Friday or Saturday — monthly teaching articles, audio recordings by Swamiji, and phone conference calls (about 2 weeks apart)
  • Option #2 — Friday or Saturday — all of the above PLUS a weekend retreat October 24-26, 2014 with Swamiji.

The two call-in times are Friday mornings or Saturday afternoons (links are above). Enroll for the Friday calls through April 10th and Saturday calls through April 18th.

If you haven’t taken a phone course before, you’ll probably be surprised by the intimacy of the experience. True, you cannot see everyone, but crystal clear voices and authentic discussion ease you into the experience of Swamiji’s teachings with your fellow yogis.  Call our Enrollment Advisors for registration or information at (610) 806-2119.

Easy Access to Deeper Teachings by Marlene Gast

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swami4Have you registered yet for Swami Nirmalananda’s free phone call on Saturday?  Call in for a taste of her year-long Guru & Self programme, which starts soon.  You are eligible if you have either of the prerequisites: Shaktipat Retreat or Shishya Membership. The FREE Introductory Phone Call is Saturday, March 15, 4:30 pm to 6:00 Eastern Daylight Time.  Register today for a preview of the deep learning you will experience in the nine-month “distance learning” course, the length of a traditional school year.

I asked Swamiji, “If you are a long-time Svaroopa® yoga teacher, why would you want to take this course?  Didn’t you get all the teachings in your YTT philosophy talks?”  I have to say, her answer gave me pause.  She said, “This is the stuff that I left out of Svaroopa® yoga teacher training.”

A moment later I was propelled to make plans for this next step as a yogi.  Now I have just one lingering question: how could it have taken me so long to recognize the importance of registering for a year-long programme with my teacher? I don’t yet have an answer, but I suspect that it will come through this programme along with personal yogic growth — and, as always with Swamiji, more than I could ever have imagined.

Here’s the course description:

“You need a Guru, yoga says, repeatedly emphasizing this in the ancient texts. Why? Explore the mystery of the Guru with Swami Nirmalananda, teaching from the Sanskrit texts, as well as classical teaching stories and personal experiences. Swamiji explains the pivotal importance of the Guru in our Shaktipat tradition and illumines the secrets hidden in the traditional ceremonies and practices. Learn how your Guru serves you as a teacher, as a guide, as a mentor, as a role model, as an exemplar and as a mirror in which you see your Self.

“Your stories and experiences are an integral part of this course, through the group discussions with Swamiji. She helps you discover how to serve as an agent of Grace, uplifting others through your sharings, while deepening your understanding of your own experiences. With each personal story, Swamiji offers teachings and insights that enhance your inner blossoming. Extra phone conference calls are included in the schedule so you find a time that works for you.

Two enrollment options are available:

Option #1 — monthly teaching articles, audio recordings by Swamiji, and phone conference calls (you get something about every 2 weeks)

Option #2 — monthly teaching articles, audio recordings by Swamiji, and phone conference calls PLUS a weekend retreat Oct 24-26 2014

Not only do you have two course content options, you also have two days of the week from which to choose the call that you want to join:

Fridays from 10:30 am – 12:00 pm

OR Saturdays from 4 pm to 5:30 pm.

Register now for the March 15th FREE Introductory Phone Call.

You may go straight to full registration:

Option 1, Fridays

Option 2, Fridays

Option 1, Saturdays

Option 2, Saturdays

Enroll Now for the April Svaroopa® Yoga & Meditation Retreat by Ute Reeves

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Ute

Ute Reeves

No matter my motives, I can assure you that you will be in for a wonderful treat.  Who knows what can happen when you open yourself to grace to such a degree? In my experience, spending a week with Swamiji, receiving her teachings on several levels, and letting the yoga take me deep, without distractions, nourishes me immensely. The benefits I took away from previous retreats were so much more tangible and permanent than the fleeting “workshop high” from other kinds of spiritual retreats.

When I first thought of enrolling for this retreat, I felt that my life is much too complicated right now to go away for a week. I am the primary caretaker for an elderly family member with serious health issues. Some very serious planning and arranging has to happen to cover my absence at home. But then I realized that I need this retreat exactly because life is demanding right now.  In order to serve my family best and without getting frazzled, I need to come from my deepest Self. A retreat like this helps me cultivate access to the deepest levels of my being.

And, of course, it doesn’t matter what goes on in my life or doesn’t go on in my life; it is always a good time to luxuriate in the bliss of my true Being.

In fellowship,

Ute

Becoming a Svaroopa® Vidya Meditation Teacher by Marlene Gast

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47Meditation Teacher Training, which brings forth new Svaroopa® Vidya Meditation Teachers, began on February 18.  It is in progress now at The Desmond through March 2.  Yesterday, students, along with Swami Nirmalananda and Trainers who are assisting, lunched at the Ashram, and Swamiji shared an update on this course.  She said, “We’re now halfway through the course days, but all the teachers-in-training are already fully deepened — as far as any group has gone before. I’ve been able to teach sections from the sutras that I always left out in the past. Their talks are so good, it’s as though the angels came in at night and wrote for them while they were sleeping — yet it is the elevated understanding their minds are reaching and the warmth their heart puts into it. I am once again in awe of these yogis, as I have been with each group before; yet this group is doing more. I’m sure the extra Trainers help: In addition to myself and Vidyadevi, we have the loving support of Rukmini Abbruzzi and Devi McKenty, so each group of students gets more coaching support on developing their talks, and from very well experienced Teacher Trainers, who are also trained as sutra teachers.

“But for me it all comes down to Baba. I walk in the room, and it feels like I’m in his meditation hall. I see the students absorbing weighty philosophy with the ease of a toddler eating cheerios from a plastic baggie. I start a chant, and the students respond; it’s all in real time and it’s all more real than real usually is. It’s all Baba.”

This 12-day immersion trains yogis to teach from the “Mantra Syllabus,” which Swamiji designed after receiving sanyasa initiation (taking monastic vows). This course is for yogis who are learning to teach meditation as well as yogis who were trained in the Master Yoga “survey syllabus” course and certified as meditation teachers through Master Yoga before 2011.  The 12-day MTT is offered every two years.  If you have already been teaching from the original survey syllabus, however, you don’t have to wait two years if you are interested in enhancing your meditation teaching now.  Swamiji’s next MTT Upgrade course starts April 30, 2014, in just over two months.  If you are still teaching from the original survey syllabus, of course you know it works beautifully, as far as it goes.  But I would encourage you to take the next giant step toward Self recognition for yourself and your students this spring: Sign up for MTT Upgrade without delay.

I recommend the MTT Upgrade based on my own experience with this combination phone course and weekend retreat. In spring 2011, when Swamiji first offered the MTT Upgrade, I wasn’t interested. In 2009 I had completed the original MTT and had been teaching from the survey syllabus for year and a half.  Students from my continuing Svaroopa® yoga classes eagerly signed up for my meditation course, and even a friend of 40 years took the course!  For me, the training itself and then the homework firmly established daily practice.  It was all wonderful!

So I didn’t see the point of an upgrade.  Yes, I knew Swamiji was now empowered to empower us meditation teachers to teach from the updated Mantra Syllabus and offer to our students the mantra from her Baba — Swami Muktananda.  But I had no idea of the power of this change — until my local Svaroopa® sister Karuna (Carolyn) Beaver returned from her MTT; it was the first MTT immersion based on the Mantra Syllabus.  To support Karuna in her MTT homework, I signed up for her series. And, as they say, the rest is history.  My experience meditating with the new mantra propelled me deeper than I ever imagined, clearly into profound levels that had I had perhaps glimpsed before or had only heard about.

The day after my last class with Karuna, I signed up for the MTT Upgrade course that was to begin in September 2011.  The phone calls were deep.  The learning was profound.  It was my first phone course with Swamiji, and, once again, I had completely underestimated the depth of the experience and the learning that I would receive — on the phone!

In February 2012, the retreat weekend that concluded the MTT Upgrade not only took me once again deeper into Self, there was an ease about it that could only have been the support of the Grace of this lineage.  In my first MTT, writing the talks was not easy.  I remember one original MTT student saying that her experience was staring at a blank page, and then looking up at the clock to notice an hour had passed with nothing being written.  I struggled in a different way — writing and revising — trying to make my talks sound elevated.  But in the MTT Upgrade, the talks simply flowed from heart into my hands and onto the page.  Now, in teaching from the Mantra Syllabus, that effortlessness continues.  Last month I taught a series, and the course filled without my even advertising.  I’m still awed by that. Of course, it’s most delicious to be in the presence of those meditation students beginning to open inward to Self from the moment they sit down for their first class.

Swamiji’s next MTT Upgrade course starts April 30, 2014, in just over two months. Allow yourself to honor that undeniable yearning to go deeper and to share this path with your students. Sign up for MTT Upgrade and then enjoy the marvelous journey.

Most Influential by (Margie) Wilsman

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swamiWhy did I enroll in the Guru and Self course starting next month?  Let me begin to answer by describing a personal inquiry practice that I have used for myself as well as my students in teacher education.

Years ago I picked up the practice of assessing who in my life has been most influential in my continued growth and adult learning.  This is an end-of-year review practice. When I first started it was fun to name an elementary or high school teacher, a family member, best friend, the priest who led the CYO group, a camp counselor, or a first employer.

In this practice, the next step is to write why — what about that person made them an influential “teacher”?  Why did I “learn” more readily from that person than others?

I also used this tool in my undergraduate teacher education classes to help perspective teachers realize that they have had many experiences with great teachers and many experiences with learning, which color their beliefs about teaching and learning — mostly experiences outside the school classroom.  When examining theories of teaching and learning and teaching, we continuously compared them with their learning experiences and most influential teachers.

Personally, I do this practice to see how my experiences with teachers and learning change.  It’s a dynamic process for all of us!

Why did I enroll in the Guru and Self course starting next month?  You guessed it!

The past few years, Swamiji has radically changed my experiences with learning from a most influential teacher; and she has continuously been on the top of my yearly list.  The monthly 8–12 page course readings from phone courses that I have taken with Swamiji are like receiving a gift wrapped in gold tissue and tied with silk threads.  In most fields of study, the “old” ideas are examined in history courses or tangentially in other courses.  Not so with the study of yoga’s “ancient” ideas from sages of old and our love-filled modern sage, Swamiji.

Each article is so filled with truth, with knowledge of who we are on the inside, deep inside, and how we come to experience this depth of knowing the truth.  Swamiji shares so many of her own experiences in the readings and even more in the audios.  Then in the monthly phone calls we share our experiences and hear from one another. I have first met many new yoga buddies through these calls, and then deepened our relationship at the final retreats in the year-long programme.

Teaching as clarity in delivering the ideas from ancient texts; using multiple texts for examining the same idea, providing multiple personal examples, as well as teaching as revelation — the flow of grace between student and teacher through the ideas and experiences.

Learning as experiencing the revelation again and again, experiencing the love that flows between Guru and students.  Experiential knowing as a deep level of knowledge and truth that transforms your life and view of what is most important and who is most influential.

All this and more are the reasons that I have enrolled in the Guru and Self course.  I hope you will join me for this year-long programme, whether it’s your first online, multi-media course with Swamiji, or you will be a returning yoga buddy.

Landing In Your Mailbox Soon by Marlene Gast

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new_certificatesJust mailed out! Swami Nirmalananda reports the mailing out over 50 new certificates, for yogis who completed their trainings and their paperwork in the last few months. When the Ashram stepped into the process of handling courses, there was a backlog of certificates due. It took a few months to gather the information, plus create the NEW Ashram certificate.

These certificates have been mailed out in a “Certificate Party Pack,” created, packaged and prepared for mailing by sevites, including Nandini Mermet-Grandfilleas well as Amala (Lynn) Cattafi, Board President and Swami Nirmalananda.

Describing the certificate mailing task, Amala says, “I went up to the Ashram for the day to assist Swamiji. She doubled the enticement (as if I needed any enticement!) by saying she had a sweet seva for me to assist with. How lovely to find that it was to assist her with the party packs holding the certifications for newly certified Svaroopa® yoga teachers and Embodyment® therapists. While Swamiji and I sat at the dining room table in the Ashram, she signed each certificate personally, and then I put them in the individual party packs. Before I sealed each one, into it I whispered our mantra – OM Nama.h “Sivaya – to send all of the love, power and blessing that the mantra carries.”

If you are one of the recipients of a certificate proclaiming your new achievement, heed the cover letter: It invites you to celebrate this recognition of your great achievement, and supplies streamers, balloons and confetti. Give yourself a party, small or large! You have earned it, and have patiently awaited the day.

More certificates will be coming soon, so if you know a yogi who is waiting (or you are the yogi), please keep breathing and repeating mantra…

Can Continuing Ed Be Bliss by Marlene Gast

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Marlene Gast

Marlene Gast

For me, meeting Continuing Ed standards has always turned out to be, not a chore, but a wonderful indulgence. I would say, in fact, Continuing Ed = Bliss.

As a studio owner living 2,000 miles from PA, I admit to never relishing the task of finding subs for my classes, coverage for the studio phone, and an affordable airline ticket to Pennsylvania. Yet once I have the “excuse” of taking a program to be in Current Standing, for serving as a Svaroopa® yoga teacher, I find that all of the potential obstacles resolve, and I am full of joy at the prospect of reviving skills and opening deeper in body and mind — and more.

It turns out that the “requirement” gives me the support I need to do what I deeply want to do: Take more training, recover from inevitable drift away from protocols, and receive for myself what I offer to students and clients — reliable opening of my spine, releasing layers of tension, immersing in the Bliss of Being. I am not alone in this experience.

Last month, during the legendary East Coast winter, Rob Gold flew from Maui to PA for Embodyment® Yoga Therapy, specifically to return to Current Standing.  Look for his full account of his increase in skill, as well as the “more” of yoga, in the SATYA! E-Letter coming to you next week. Rob was motivated by his expectation of receiving the “more” of yoga — and once again, he found the experience of a Svaroopa® yoga teacher training program to be life-changing.

So don’t delay!  Let Continuing Education standards serve you as your support in taking the step where you really want to go.  Register today for a course that qualifies for CE credits:

  1. ATT — any Advanced Teacher Training course focused on poses.
  2. YTT  — any Yoga Teacher Training course, including:

Foundations of Svaroopa® Yoga

YTT Levels 1, 2, 3 or 4

Experiential Anatomy

Embodyment® Yoga Therapy 

3. EYTS — any Enrich Your Teaching Skills course that includes poses, including:

Embodyment® Weekend

Enliven & Advance – Level 1

Enliven & Advance – Level 2

Deceptive Flexibility

Foundations Review

Intro to Teaching Gentle Yogis

4. TTT — Training as a Teacher Trainer courses and interning with pose reviews

5.Pose Clinics – Complete 4 full-day Pose Clinics within 2 years.  Pose Clinics are scheduled when Teacher Trainers have available dates, offering reviews of poses you have studied in levels of training you have already completed.  To invite a Teacher Trainer to offer a Pose Clinic in your area, email us at MYX@svaroopayoga.org.

Click here to open our Events Calendar and find the course you want.

Your New Home Away From Home

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After conducting much research photo%2014and analysis into which local center would best support you during your trainings and retreats, we are very excited to announce your new Svaroopa®  home away from home. The Desmond Hotel in Malvern will be hosting you in 2014. An independent, family-owned hotel with a B&B feel, the Desmond is clean, inviting and cozy. You first step into a warm, open reception area desmond2where you are greeted by the joyful, family-like hotel staff and 2-story floor-to-ceiling views of the spacious outside patio. Bedrooms are fresh and pleasant within-room baths and refrigerators at request. Shared rooms feature two queen beds and singles have a 4-poster or canopy king bed. The building has free wi-fe as well as a computer room, swimming pool, exercise facility, restaurant, photo%2013and outdoor walking trails.   

While this would make it a nice place to stay, what really makes it supportive for you is your retreat & training space. Your retreat & training hall is a real room with real walls (not sliding dividers!). While the space is shared with others participating in conferences on the same floor, it is distant from regular hotel traffic and offers around the clock staff  support. desmond1Just outside your retreat & training hall is a well-stocked lounge area where hot breakfast is served in the morning, afternoonsnacks (including hot hors-d’oeuvres), around the clock coffee (including latte/cappuccino drinks), filtered hot and cold water and Tazo teas, soda, juice, flavored water, etc. are served; there are men & women’s restrooms and a spacious charming outdoor balcony with tables. It’s ideal for a retreat environment as everything you should need (including outside access for fresh air) to support yourself is only steps away from your retreat & training hall.photo%208

A special thank you to Master Yoga Board Member, Marlene Gast, for her in depth research to find the most supportive facility for you.