Yoga and Indian KNowledge Systems
In 2010 I opened Heart of Yoga School in Carrboro, NC and formed Veda Vinyasa Yoga Teacher Trainings. I led nineteen teacher trainings within an 800 hour program from 2010 - 2018.
In order to expand and connect with more people and get a fresh sense for where in the world I'm needed, I've let go of the school and now live nomadically throughout the US and abroad, growing within the wider community.
I coach and mentor yoga teachers, yoga students, musicians, wanderers, and curious seekers with interest in the peace of mind that Indian wisdom, music, and conscious awareness practices can offer. I'm particularly drawn to working with people in the midst of a rebirth, life transitions, and death.
I'm also keen to enhance communal knowledge and teacher training programs. As a Yoga Alliance Continuing Education Provider, my offerings meet the YA standards as CEU's for yoga teachers.
I imagine one day I'll choose a new location for settling down again, but for now here's an outline of some potential offerings I can bring to your location or Teacher Training Program.
- Yoga with Live Music, Kirtan, Concerts, and Sound Healing
- Sanskrit:
- Alphabet
- Pronunciation
- Reading transliteration
- Unpacking the meaning of words
- Elements of a Complete Life of Practice:
- Practical wisdom for cultivating equanimity
- Weaving together asana, philosophy, mythology, creativity, concentration, meditation, and relaxation
- Developing daily routines that enhance health and wellbeing
- Introduction to Indian Knowledge Systems:
- Forms of Yoga: Hatha, Karma, Jnana, Raja, Bhakti, Nada, etc.
- General Sanskrit Philosophy Vocabulary: prana, guna, indriya, samskara, karma, etc.
- History and Development of the texts of the Indian Spiritual Traditions
- Raja Yoga:
- Introduction to Samkhya Philosophy, the foundation of Patanjali’s Yoga
- Patanjali’s vocabulary for the psychology of the mind
- Patanjali’s methods of concentration and meditation
- Patanali’s offerings on ethics and conduct that support a calm mind
- Bhakti Yoga:
- Indian Mythology and Stories that Heal
- Devotion, faith, humility, and service
- Intro to the Deities
- The anthropomorphication of nature, consciousness, and the elements
- Mantra: Sound and Vibration as a means to direct thought and transform emotion
- What are the traditional practices and how can we create our own devotional practice at home?
- What are the traditional bhavs or moods for devotion?
- Cultural differences in how Bhakti shows up in shaivism, vaishnavism, and shaktism.
- Harmonium:
- Introduction to the instrument: stops, drones, bellows, coupler, keys, etc.
- Proper care and maintenance
- How to pump and allow the instrument to breathe fluidly
- How to play chants and traditional indian scales
- Exercises for dexterity and enhanced improvisation skills
- Taala: Rhythm
- Understand the importance of rhythm as a support for melody
- How to identify the rhythm of a song
- How to count and sing in rhythms other than eight
- Learn some traditional taalas and the spoken rhythmic language called bols
- Pranayama and Sound:
- Breathing exercises to expand breath capacity and allow for greater ease in physical movement and clearer sounding vocalizations
- Indian Music Appreciation:
- Different styles
- Aspects to raga
- Rhythm and Melody are Shiva and Shakti
- How to listen and what to listen for
- The different instruments
- Saptasvara - sa re ga ma pa dha ni sa
- The chromatic scale, the octave, the pentatonic scale, and srutis
- Hatha Yoga:
- Principles of Krishnamacharya’s Methodology
- Asana Workshops: Chakra Restoration, The Art of Handstands, Yoga Nidra and Sound
- Pranayama, Bandhas, Kriyas
- Hatha Yoga Pradipika: the psychotechnologies of India
- Jnana Yoga:
- What are the Vedas and where do they come from?
- Vedangas, Sanskrit, Jyotish (Astrology), and the Vedic Deities
- Upavedas, sciences such as Ayurveda
- Upanishads, meditation, philosophy and spiritual knowledge
- What are the Vedas and where do they come from?
- Jyotish: Vedic Astrology
- Fundamentals: planets, constellations, and houses
- Understanding your own chart: purpose, time phase, current transits
- Nakshatras: specificities within the constellations signified by certain stars