Scripture & Oral Lineage Teachings Featuring Gitte Bechsgaard RP PhD CIYT-III
Iyengar Yoga Asana & Pranayama Integration Teachings Featuring Gloria Goldberg CIYT-IV
$200.00USD Early Bird Discount Expires Tuesday, November 5th
Within the Yoga Upaniṣad, the Tantric scriptures, and the powerful precepts of The Vibhuti Pada, a common thread is grasped.
Every āsana, each prāṇāyāma, meditation and every great ability of the sages & sadhus…
Simple sadhanas and the esoteric practices of the Yoga Tradition alike all act in accordance with the intricate workings of the chakra system.
What The Sages Called Your Suksma Shariram – Your Subtle Body of Energy.
Before I met my guru Sri Krishan Mantriji, I believed myself to have a fairly comprehensive understanding of The Subtle Anatomy & The Chakra System of Yoga.
Every book I’d come across from any Western source of repute was studied as deeply as I could manage.
The system with its rich and layered symbolism and beauty spoke to me intuitively.
Yet I simply didn’t know how to properly interpret the multi-facetted use of symbols, color, sound, sacred geometry, and ritual portrayed in the classical texts on chakras.
Much less have the oral lineage teachings required to decrypt what I’d later realize were incredibly esoteric writings.
The teachings of the Chakras just like many teachings of Yoga & Mysticism are considered as “open secrets” in the Eastern Traditions.
Yes, you and I can perhaps open a text and read the scriptures word for word, yet they express one of the world’s oldest forms of encryption known as “Guhyam” or that which is “hidden and secretive” in the Sanskrit tradition.
To translate the traditional meanings, teachings, spiritual lessons, and maps of the chakras, a Guru gives you the key.
It is through the oral lessons passed down from Guru to initiated disciple that the true teachings of the scriptures reveal themselves.
The practices shared serve to develop and purify the mind and energy systems.
In studying with Mantriji I came to understand that the teachings on the Chakras are less linear and coherent than many of the classical Yogic texts, which themselves are very esoteric.
Scriptures that explored the Sacred centers were scattered here and there within various Tantric texts and Yoga Upanishads.
The ancient map of the chakras was not laid out as simply as the yogic path, it instead needed to be assembled from the puzzle pieces of many texts and oral teachings.
And even once the puzzle was assembled, the picture within it had seemingly infinite attributes.
I never before realized how many layers of esoteric meaning, knowledge, and lessons were hidden within each individual chakra.
It took years of study to navigate the dozens of symbols alone within each individual chakra.
Much less all the stories, spiritual lessons, and unknown maps that I’d never learned in the books.
My private studies with Mantriji spanned 16 years, so of course some teachings over those were more meaningful than others.
It’s these lessons of the Eastern Chakra system that transformed the way I view the human being and each and every soul forever, more than most teachings I ever was gifted.
As my friend and colleague Gillian McCann and I write in our book Yoga & Alignment:
“The chakra system represents one of the most sophisticated maps ever created to depict the process of spiritual development and transformation.
The practices it outlines serve to develop and purify the mind and energy system.”
Once you immerse yourself in the deepest teachings of the Chakra Anatomy, you never see things the same way.
A whole perspective is gained on the wealth of virtues and extraordinary abilities (Siddhis) witnessed in the greatest spiritual beings seen throughout the world across all different traditions.
You’ll forever see life through this symbolic lens of the archetypal journey.
It’s extraordinary as you realize we have seven sacred centers which allow you to live anywhere between the vibrational extremes of living as animals to living as saints.
And to discover in detail how each chakra’s energy subtly and tidally pulls upon the rest.
There’s a progression, yet when there’s an awakening you’ll witness how certain saints and masters express primarily through a single chakra.
What the Tantras ascribed to certain samskaras from a previous life.
“In his seminar on the topic of Yoga Jung refers to the lower chakras as a nursery, writing that god is asleep at this level of existence and we remain largely unconscious “
McCann & Bechsgaard “Yoga & Alignment: From the Upanishads to BKS Iyengar”
Shared by Sri Krishan Mantriji many years ago, these teachings provided incredible insight and context into the many different maps, approaches, and traditions of the different pillars of the yogic tradition.
Beginners & advanced, spiritual seekers & driven yogis alike will find this understanding to provide tremendous insight and clarity on the many paths of life & yoga.
Gloria Goldberg & I are delighted to welcome you to this program which has been many years in the making.
For the first time in our 22 year history at Vidya Institute we will offer a full-year curriculum on the foundations & practices of the chakra system – integrating essential theory, maps of scripture, and practical iyengar yoga asana & pranayama practices alike.
Passed down by Sri Krishan Mantriji many years ago, these teachings provided incredible insight and context into the many different maps, approaches, and sadhanas of the different pillars of the greater Yoga Tradition.
Beginners & advanced, spiritual seekers & driven yogis alike will find this understanding to provide tremendous insight and clarity on the many paths of life & yoga.
Even through the lens of BKS Iyengar’s philosophy, you cannot discuss the ancient Chakra system without an in-depth discussion of Kundalini Yoga.
BKS Iyengar once defined kundalini as “the divine cosmic energy in our bodies as the latent energy which has to be awakened.”
This is because kundalini shakti is the spiritual energy that will rise from its dominant state once the chakras awaken. The discussion of the Kundalini Yoga within the Yoga Cudamani Upanishad is said to be for the most advanced knowers of yoga.
Once you begin to really understand the Chakra system and the Kundalini yoga, it is then you look at the asanas and pranayamas most essential for the awakening of the Kundalini and the opening of each of the 7 chakras.
Practices which include chanting the Bija mantras – “seed syllables” – associated with each center, along with visualization and meditative techniques.
The union of Shiva and Shakti is celebrated as the supreme goal, flooding the body and chakra system with Divine Nectar, the kula-amrita, also known as soma.
In this year’s comprehensive chakra course you will explore Tantric Shatra, The Hatha Yoga Pradeepeka, and various relevant Yoga Upanishads. We will also thoroughly examine how the exposition of the Siddhis in the Vibhuti Pada of Patanjali’s Yoga can be understood in the light of the chakra system.
Sources from Sri Krishan Mantriji’s oral lineage teachings, Upanishadic texts, and western works enables within this curriculum a seamless blending of Eastern spirituality and Western, particularly Jungian, psychology.
Some Of The Many Teachings This Full-Year Program Will Explore Include:
Starting this November, you will join together live online each week with yoga teachers and practitioners, spiritual seekers & integrative academics alike for a combination of classical wisdom teachings in integration with tailored mantra chanting and Asana-Pranayama Sadhanas specific to each chakra & its state of being.
After each day’s class you’ll receive a video recording in your email inbox which you’ll have the following 14 days to review.
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