Kriya Yoga Training Course — 11-month residential intensive course September 2011 - July 2012

Mangala practising Kriya Yoga

Course director: Swami Nishchalananda and Rajesh David

This unique course offers a rare opportunity to learn, explore and deepen your practice of this ancient system in an ashram environment.
This course will be directed towards direct personal experience, insight and transformation. Full instructions will be given both in theory and practice.
The purpose of kriya yoga is to transform the life of the practitioner so that it becomes a continuous expression of joy, meaning and positivity. In brief, it brings about the following changes:

• slowly whittles away phobias, fears, depression, misconceptions, conditioning and negative patterns which are hidden in the depths of the subconscious mind, so that the mind is harmonised from top to bottom
• induces a greater sense of well-being
• heightens our level of energy and creativity so that we can do more, but with less tension and more effectiveness
• awakens insight
• opens us up to the mystery of meditation and to the hidden dimensions of our Being

Please read the article on Kriya Yoga for more details.

Practical Information

Venue:

• All programmes are residential and will take place at Mandala Yoga Ashram.

Dates and Number of Days:

• The course will start on the 20th September 2011 and finish on the 26th July 2012.
• There will be a total of 34 days of class tuition and practice over 11 months starting with an 8-day intensive in September 2011, followed by
• 7 weekends from October through to June (excepting the months of December and January) and culminating in a 12-day summer intensive in July 2012.

Course Fee:

• Full fee is £2,700 (reduced to £2,500 if paid by the start of the course).
• This covers tuition and full board for the whole course.
• Deposit: £1350 (non-refundable).

Qualifications for Acceptance on the Course:

• At least 5 years practice of Hatha Yoga and any other form of Yoga.
• A personal interview with one of the course tutors to ascertain suitability.

Since the entire course takes place in the ashram, all potential applicants are advised to take part in some ashram course beforehand to see if the environment suits them.

Application Process:

• Application forms can be obtained from the ashram office.
• Applications are invited from those who would like to commit themselves to going deeper in their practise of kriya yoga.
• On receipt of your application form you will be invited to visit the ashram and attend an interview with the course tutors.
• Applications should be made before June 1st 2011. (Note: receipt of your application form does not guarantee you a place on the course.)

Course Tutors

Swami Nishchalananda, director of Mandala Yoga Ashram, was initiated by his guru Swami Satyananda Saraswati into kriya yoga whilst he was living in India. He spent a number of years practising kriya yoga in the early morning hours. Such was his insight into the practices that his guru asked him to write an encyclopaedic textbook on kriya yoga entitled A Systematic Course in the Ancient Tantric Techniques of Yoga and Kriya. It took him 3 years and the book was subsequently published by the Bihar School of Yoga in India. He taught kriya yoga all over India and then when he returned to the west, in the ashram and in different parts of Europe, such as in Sweden, France and Ireland. Normally, the kriya yoga courses last 2 weeks or a month, but now he is proposing this longer course as a way of giving serious practitioners an opportunity to go deeper.

Rajesh David received his yoga teaching diploma from The Yoga Institute, Mumbai, India, in 1980. He is a composer and singer, trained in Indian classical music. He was a resident of Mandala Yoga Ashram for 4 years, from 2001-2005, during which time he was initiated into the practices of kriya yoga by Swami Nishchalananda. He maintains close links with the ashram, where he continues to teach and give concerts.
With Swamiji’s encouragement, he has developed seminars on nada yoga, as well as courses on classical yogic texts such as the Mandukya Upanishad and Bhaja Govindam which he has taught throughout the UK and abroad. His many CDs include Nadopasana – Practices of Nada Yoga and collections of devotional music inspired by the saint-poets of India and the sacred texts, the most recent being The Music of AUM – Mandukya Upanishad and Shankara’s Bhaja Govindam – The Sacred Chant.