Tag Archives: course

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.

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

If I Could Live Next Door – by Swami Nirmalananda

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swami

I often think how wonderful it would be if I could live next door to you.  There’d be an ease to the day’s activities, with a neighborly support and maybe a bit more.  We’d wave from our driveways or from our kitchen windows. You might share a cup of tea with me on some mornings; we might talk of consciousness into the night periodically.  I created the Year-Long Programmes to make up for the distance between your home and mine.

In the busy-ness of life, I know you cannot easily add a “course” to your week, so I tried to avoid the college course model.  Instead of creating deadlines or exams, I’ve built a program that reaches into your home and into your life, to make your yoga real — to make your Self tangible.

Recently a yogini told me, “I want to study with you more.”  She didn’t want to move in to the Ashram and she was very clear that she didn’t want to take any immersion courses.  So I explained about the Year-Long Programme now getting underway, but her eyes glazed over.  You know that glaze if you’ve spent any time around teenagers; it is a turned off, tuned out, “I’m not getting what I want” look.  Except that what she wants is found in that course!  So I thought I could at least tell you about my design for these programs — why I created this format for you.

Every Guru has a special group meeting, for those who have been studying the longest.  It’s usually a weekly meeting, in person, often in the Guru’s office or bedroom, to discuss subtle points or even current news.  To find the yoga in the yoga.  To find the yoga in life.  It’s a rare and precious opportunity to participate in such groups!

Because I have been serving a widespread community for more than 20 years, I wanted to create the same intimacy, but use technology to dissolve the miles between us.  I also wanted to throw the entry doors wide open, so people could pick their participation level depending on their time and finances.  My plan was to get the Grace in and under your skin, and the teachings so interwoven in your life that you begin to breathe yoga.  For that, frequency is the key!

I knew that weekly might be too much for your schedule, so I opted for 10-day gaps (mostly).  Every 10 days, you get a new communiqué.  First comes an article, usually 5-8 pages of teachings with stories and graphics.  In about ten days, you get an audio recording; it’s like you’re sitting in the room when I’m giving a lecture, except you can press rewind when you want to, and you can listen to it multiple times.  Ten days later we have a group discussion in a conference phone call (not recorded).  Here I ask you questions, so you will describe your experiences and your understandings; I can meet you there and give you a boost to the next level.

It all comes together in the Weekend Workshop near the end of the course.  After studying for months and having such meaningful conversations with your yoga-buddies and me, we gather together for a weekend immersion in the theme.  For me, it’s like starting the program on Day 8 of a 10-day retreat!  Everyone is already so deep:  so deep within their own vastness, and already so deeply bonded with each other at such a profound level.

The retreat is followed by one more article, audio and phone call, smoothing your reentry into a world that you see with new eyes.  The last phone call is so heartwarming, reflecting on all that has been accomplished as well as reveling in the new level you’ve reached — which is the beginning for your next step.

The multiple enrollment levels serve as planned; they give you the ability to choose what works for you.  Perhaps you want only the articles (Option 1).  Or you can add the audios to the articles; this is Option 2.  With the phone calls, you are in Option 3, in the every-ten-day flow with articles, audios and phone calls.  The full enrollment is Option 4 – the whole of it!

I bring this up because, in a few days, you lose Options 3 & 4. I Am Shiva has recently begun, with the first article and first audio already published.  You can still enroll for the whole course, any time before the first phone call, which is Wednesday November 13.  If you miss that date, you may only enroll in Options 1 or 2.  And you’re welcome there, if that level serves you best.

So I’m inviting you to move in next door…  Join me in the “I Am Shiva” course.  Now is the time!