Travels to Yoga Vidya

Just recently I came back from a three week visit to Haus Yoga Vidya in Bad Meinberg, Germany. My main reason for going was to attend some yoga courses led by Swami Atma, and boost my yoga practice. Here are some photos and thoughts about the trip.

Frankfurt

My first and last nights in Germany were spent at the very nice Yoga Vidya center in Frankfurt. Maheshwara and Krishnapriya were generous and gracious hosts. I much appreciated the expert guidance on navigating the German train system from staff member Tarpan, and the excellent food and conversation with Maksim.

Haus Yoga Vidya, Bad Meinberg

The next day I travelled by train to Bad Meinberg. The yoga center there is untraditional in the sense that from the outside it looks like a hotel, but on the inside functions as a very efficient and most excellent ashram.

The center is quite comfortable and the spiritual energy is very high. The staff were all extremely nice and helpful. The food was delicious, lots of variety and tons of different options accommodating all kinds of vegetarian diets.

Located around the center are lots of hiking and nature trails.

The setting is mostly rural which you can see from the upper floors of the center.

And really they are quite surrounded by a peaceful and traditional farming community.

Hatha Yoga Pradipika

The main course I attended while I was at Yoga Vidya was the Hatha Yoga Pradipika Advanced Teacher Training Course. The advanced pranayama techniques portion of the course was expertly led by Sukadev, the main teacher at Yoga Vidya. The lecture portion of the Hatha Yoga Pradipika text was led by Swami Atma.

Altogether there were about 50 students in the class, and so we used the main hall where they also do satsang. The course was translated into english and german by Reinard depending on which teacher was speaking. I learned a lot more than I expected and had a wonderful time making new friends as we traversed through the rigorous schedule.

Students attending the center are also assigned an hour or so of karma yoga per day. This is selfless service helping out the ashram with the goal being to help purify the aspirant. My karma yoga this time was straightening the Sivananda Saal with Jagadamba.

After the Hatha Yoga Pradipika course ended, I also took an asana intensive led by Swami Atma and translated by Klaus. After that I attended a weekend intensive on the Secrets of the Mind, also led by Swami Atma and translated by Klaus.

Satsang

One of the main events at an ashram is satsang. These are held twice a day and include meditation, chanting, lecture and arati. Every Saturday night Yoga Vidya has an extra-long satsang where there is a lot of chanting and special guest speakers.

One interesting thing for me was seeing someone play a tambura. This is a traditional Indian instrument that you sometimes see pictured with Swami Sivananda. I had never seen one before in person, and there was more than one person at Yoga Vidya who could play it.

The Yoga Vidya center is the largest in Europe, and at the big Saturday night satsangs there may be as many as 400 people attending.

English Teacher Training Course

The all-english Teacher Training Course began towards the end of my stay. This is a month long program where the students learn how to become yoga teachers. This year there are about 20 students going through the program. The main teachings are being given by Swami Atma, assisted by the very knowledgeable Bhavani.

I was able to attend the first couple of days of this program before leaving.

Puja for Mahasamadhi

The night before I left was a big puja celebrating the Mahasamadhi of Swami Sivananda. This is the anniversary of the day in which Swami Sivananda left his body, and is typically celebrated with a worship ceremony called a puja.

The puja was led by Sukadev and all guests and staff members were able to participate if they wanted.

Recommendation

Overall I had a fabulous time on my trip. I definitely recommend visiting there if you would like to seriously boost your yoga practice. Yoga Vidya is currently making a big effort to reach out internationally and they offer more and more courses in english and spanish. If you want to go but feel intimidated because you don't speak german, there are so many helpful German people who speak english that I never felt lost or out of place.

Thank You

Finally a big thank you to Sukadev and Suguna who went out of their way to make my stay at Yoga Vidya special. Om Namo Bhagavate Sivanandaya!