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!
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