Spring Teaching Tour

At last a new post. Those of you who did subscribe to the RSS feed must be happy that you did not have to check this page for new posts every couple days.

European Tour

In the last few weeks I gave some intensive weekends in Speyer, Frankfurt, and Zurich. I just arrived in Amsterdam where I'll teach thing weekend a program on meditation and I'll be next week in Madrid for an advaita weekend.

More news coming soon.

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Sannyas Initiation Anniversary

Om Sri Sankaracharyaya Namah

It's been 17 years today that I've become a swami. I feel very grateful for this, having found my path and way.

Adi Sankara.

May the next 17 years be full of intense sadhana ind dispassion and the combination of yoga/tantra/advaita bring mosha ASAP!

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First Little Snow

Last night was the first little snow here in Levoča.

No big deal, but I took this nice pic this morning at 7am from my room.

I thought it was a little event until I was this post about snow in Bad Meinberg on the Yoga Vidya blog.

Goes to show that weather in this part of Central Europe is very similar to most of Germany. A bit colder and dryer.

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Entering the Winter

Here is the forecast for the next few days in Levoča. The 'high' temperatures should stay below freezing. Oh well. On the plus side, there is sunshine most of the day most of the days. I think I'm going to like the continental climate quite a bit. Much easier to me than the 'Normandy climate' I grew up with.

And following is the US version, in Fahrenheit.

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My Move to Slovakia

Location Location Location

I reached Levoča (English speakers should pronounce 'levocha') on Saturday afternoon. Levoča is a beautiful, historic city located in Central Europe in the Eastern Part of Slovakia. Should you be interested you can learn more at the town's web site.

I got lucky and since I have been here the weather has been beautiful and warm breaking temparture records for the season. It makes it easier getting acclimated.

The Ashram

As explained in previous posts we got lucky enough to set this ashram in this beautiful old house which has just been renovated, mixing the charm of a historical building with the comforts and convenience of modern construction technology and savvy.

Here are a few photos taken before unpacking the few things I took with me. I don't have a wide lens so these pictures don't truly do justice to the rooms.

The meditation room

A bedroom

Hangout area in kitchen

Stairways from 2nd floor

Bathroom

The way up to my room at the 4th floor. That floor is not visible from front of the house photo.

There is a little ski station just a few miles from town. Much bigger ones are in the high Tatra mountains about 20-25 miles from the ashram.

And the Award for Best Karma Yogi Goes To ...

... everybody. It's not Oscar night but I still feel the strong urge to thank every one I know, all those who have helped me ever, especially in the last 8 years since I've left SYVC, leading to this new important phase in my life.

I won't give names in order to not forget anybody except for two:

• Eva/Daya Devi from Luxembourg for being the main instrument of the ashram finding its new home
• Sita Chaitanya for being the rock on which AYA stands
• Everybody else please don't feel bad I have not mentioned you. You all count a lot in my heart. All contributions are very much appreciated and I pray hard that God gives you back ten-fold what you shared with me and AYA in the form of donations, hard work, hosting, friendship, love, fun, laughter, and much more

Christmas Retreat & Other Emails

Since this previous post several of you have emailed me regarding coming to the ashram for this Christmas.

I have a pile of about 20 emails to reply to. Your answer will come soon. So far everybody who asked me to come in those emails is welcome to visit. Stay tuned to this blog for details and confirmations as well as, ahem, a warning. LOL

Om Namah Sivaya!

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First Reservation for Levoča

I'm still in Luxembourg and gave a mantra initiation to a student last night. She told me that she wanted to reserve her space to visit the Levoča ashram over Christmas. We booked the dates.

Christmas Retreat

There are a couple other advanced yogis who announced their intention to come for Christmas so it could turn out to be a mini-retreat.

Once I'm in Slovakia I will start working on the web pages for the ashram laying out all relevant details.

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Slovakia Ashram

I will be moving to Levoča, Slovakia on November 1st. It's coming up really fast now and I'm so looking forward to settle down there.

I'm in the process of organizing the shipping of my belongings - mostly books and clothes - from Austin TX, Geneva, Bad Meinberg, Liestal CH, and Le Havre France.

Partial view from my future room

One of my new luxuries will be to have all of my books in one place and ready for me to refer to.

Since I haven't worked on learning Slovak yet the big challenge will be to get some type of conversational basics of the language.

The ashram should be equipped to receive visitors sometimes in December. Web pages will then be created to announce the details.

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The Yoga of Web Design

Yoga Teaching Summer

I'm getting to the end of a full-intensive Yoga Vidya teaching summer. Very good experience. I will blog about this later.

Slovakia Yoga

As announced in March last year I'm still planning to move to and open a small retreat ashram in Levoča, Slovakia.

No, it's not Slovenia, which used to be part of old Yugoslavia but Slovakia, which used to be part of Czechoslovakia.

Anyway, the move is scheduled to take place in November. I can't wait for it to happen.

The Vision

This will be a place for sadhakas who want to practice hard in a quiet, sattvic environment, free of distractions and with little karma yoga. Admission will be by invitation only - only sincere, trained sadhakas and old friends can apply.

The best part is that there will be no charge for staying there. It will be all on donation. So this begs the question ...

What About the Money?

Ohlàlà! Webdesigns

My first reflex is to answer this common question with the simple "Don't worry about the money, it will come" adage but this attitude has now led me and AYA to accumulate a fair amount of debts which I'm now determined to pay back ASAP.

So to pay back these debts and support the ashram as well as my personal expenses I've decided, together with Sita, to launch a web development (design + programming) venture:

Ohlàlà! Webdesigns

I do the coding and Sita comes up with jaw dropping designs. We are a good team and we have been putting all the pieces together in the last many months.

Now we are ready to go and just launched the official web site at ohlalaweb.com.

We are specializing in high end, polished, professionally designed and programmed sites for small and medium businesses. If you are interested or know someone who might, please contact us or send them our way.

If you made it to the end of this post, thanks for reading.

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Day Off in 'Le Valais'

On Sunday last weekend I went with a couple good friends on a nice outing in France next to the Mont Blanc and then in Switzerland.

St Gervais les Bains

The first Step was to visit little town St Gervais les bains. I spent a couple kids camps there when I was 8-9 years old. The views in and out of this spa town/ski station are gorgeous.

St. Gervais les Bains

Le Valais

Le Valais is a pretty canton in the heartland of the French part of Switzerland. Even though locals speak French, it's a very different culture than France. So it's fun for us French folks to visit. You've got to resist the strong tendency of French folks to make fun of the locals' accent. I know it's bad but it's in our genes.

Characteristics of the area are awesome sceneries as well as a wonderful micro climates. Therefore there are tons of orchards and lots of fine wine comes from there.

Picnic in Heaven

We had a great picnic in a very quiet spot in a valley. I could not stop taking photos. Little houses and chalets, wild flowers, small stream and of course jaw dropping mountains in the background.

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La Vallée du Rhône

Our next plan was to go to Ovronnaz where there is a nice spa. This entailed a little over an hour car ride going down into the 'Vallée du Rhône'. Eye popping view.

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The Spa in Ovronnaz

I did not take pictures there because I focused intently on relaxing. lol. Most foreigners don't know that in Switzerland you can find everywhere some spas with waters coming from the ground with lots of healing properties. Installations are first class and very hygienic of course. The kicker is you spend half a day in those places for barely more than the cost of a movie at the theater. Less when you count the snacks.

This particular one is located on the top of some mountains shown above on the left of the vallee so you've got views all around while you are soaking. The valley on one side and some high mounts on others.

Typical Restaurant

On our way back I wanted to eat in a typical Valaisan place and eat typical Swiss food - but no fondue for a change. So I had a 'mean' Rösti (pronounce RRRRRReeuuuuuSSSSSCCCCCHHHHHHttteeeeeeeee , but harder, with more emphasis, and a singing voice) with local cheese.

It was a lovely and worderful day.

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On this Day the Adventure Began

Today marks the 20th anniversary of my leaving France to become a full-time staff member in the Sivananda Yoga Vedanta Centers.

My original commitment was for one to two years but it soon became obvious that I'd stay much longer than that. I ended up staying over 12 years. Twelve years of intense training in the different aspects of yoga, especially karma yoga.

I still see myself in the plane from Paris to Montreal. I did not speak a word of English. I had taken TTC the year before. I was as enthusiastic a yoga student as you can be and was very aware that I needed to learn much. Heartfelt thanks to all swamis and senior staff members who taught me so much.

I'm so happy I got to do this. No regrets whatsoever. Would do it again in a moment. I'm still as far to the goal as I was then though. So much work remains to be done.

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A New AYA Affiliate in Zurich

I just arrived in Luxembourg and am in the middle of a teaching tour. My last stop was in Zurich where a Friday satsang plus a weekend intensive workshop on 'The Philosophy of Oneness' were held.

It all went well. I had a lovely time and there is a small group of enthusiastic yogis in Zurich which is developing into a strong community.

AYA Zurich

Gauri, who is running the Mandala Yoga Center, has decided to join the AYA family and to become an AYA affiliate. Welcome to Gauri. It's nice to have a connection with Switzerland. For several years Maria was teaching in Basel and Liestal but she has moved on to Australia quite a while ago already.

Friday night I will be giving a lecture and this weekend a whole weekend intensive on bhakti yoga at the Centre de Yoga 'La Source' in Walferdange, Luxembourg.

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Leaving Snowy Bad Meinberg

Om Om

I'm leaving Bad Meinberg this morning. I had a wonderful stay as usual. Next I'll be teaching tonight in Saarbrücken.

Below is the view from my room as it's snowing this morning.

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The Fresh Swami of Bel Air

Most readers of this blog know I will be moving to Slovakia in September 2008. I do look forward to it but of course I'm a bit scared of facing the Central European Winters so for my last Winter before that I thought that would be a good idea to spend some time in Southern California.

Thanks to karma and generous friends, it came true yesterday when I landed in LAX and quickly drove up to my temporary residence in Bel Air.

I'll be here for about 7 weeks where I'll be able to fully focus on sadhana and web programming karma yoga.

On January 12th I'll be giving a yoga class and satsang here in LA.

More news later.

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In the Middle Of Teaching Tour

First of all this web site and blog have been down most of the weekend. I ran into some problems with the server while deploying some major update.

It seems to work now but there are still a few things I feel nervous about. If the site happens to be down again please wait a while and try again later.

The update in question is the new login system, so when you need to access your special AYA features such as your profile or the 'in development' online spiritual diary you should go to new login page based on the universal login system called OpenID.

Last Thursday I gave a program to the 2nd year teachers training course group in Mainz on the classical systems of philosophy (darshanas) as well as a few other side topics. I led a weekend intensive on 'advaita vedanta' in busy yoga center in Frankfurt. We went through every verse of the 'tattva boddha' scripture. We all wished we had a bit more time to discuss the teachings but that was good anyway.

In the end of the afternoon Shakti from Speyer picked me up and we drove to Speyer where I gave a satsang in the evening to a dedicated and focused group of students. Well spent day.

I will keep teaching every day until Sunday altogether visiting seven cities in eight days.

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Diwali, Swami Vishnu-devanandaji's Mahasamadhi & Yoga Kongress

I'm about to leave the Yoga Vidya ashram in Bad Meinberg where I have stayed a week and had a wonderful stay as usual.

The occasion was the annual Yoga Kongress (conference) touching the topics of yoga, meditation and peace.

It was my first time being and teaching at this conference. Altogether there were about 500 folks in the ashram including the staff. The attendees had up to 11 or 12 consecutive yoga classes or lectures to choose from in some time slots. Very exhilarating with many Ph. D.s and bright speakers in action.

I got to speak the first evening about Swamiji and how his life was a merging of yoga, meditation and peace.

At the beginning of the weekend we had a puja since it was Diwali and it coincided this year with Swamiji's mahasamadhi, so it was all very auspicious.

On Saturday afternoon I gave a talk on the 'secret of mind control' which was very well attended even though there were 10 other attractive lectures at the same time.

In conclusion it was a very good experience and I'm really glad I came. The weather was quite cold and miserable this week but this morning we had the first 'real' snow and it's kind of white on the roofs, cars and fields but not on the roads.

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Still Alive

I haven't posted anything in a while and the news is even worse than that on the email front. I have let my e-mail pile come up to an unhealthy level.

Many of you may be mad at me and waiting for me to address important issues. My apologies to all. I will start diving into the pile this weekend. I ask you for a little more patience. To save time I'll probably try to call some of you instead of writing.

Om Namo Narayanaya

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Can't Connect :-(

The last two weeks have been very hectic for me. Traveling a lot, staying outside ashrams and yoga centers, and sadly not being able to connect reliably and consistently to the Internet.

So if you are waiting for some e-mail answers or some blog posts please stay put until mid next week.

In the meantime thanks to Sita and Lalita for publishing interesting posts until I get back in touch. I'll conclude with an inspiring quote by Master Sivananda

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My Teaching Whereabouts

I'm still here in Germany in the middle of a teaching Summer.

Right after I completed the 'Hatha Yoga Pradipika' advanced teachers training course I hopped onto a train (3 trains really) to go to the Westerwald ashram. That very evening I started the annual 'Sanskrit Introduction Intensive' program. They were 18 students. The most so far. We had much fun and everyone did really well and could read the texts and mantras by the end. So mission accomplished.

After a few hours break I started an 'Asana Intensive Weekend' with around 30 students. Long classes, with long holding of asanas and a fair amount of variations.

Sukadev playing tablas

Since then I have been in Bad Meinberg intensifying my practice, working hard on the computer and taking some nice, long walks in the rainy German country side. I feel healthy these days. All is good.

Four-week Teachers Training

Tomorrow night will be the beginning of the 4-week teachers training in English. Around 20 students are registered and I very much look forward to this course.

Om Namo Narayanaya

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Hatha Yoga Pradipika Advanced Teachers Training

Om Namah Sivaya!

Lord Siva, the first and original hatha yoga teacher

For the third consecutive year I'm teaching at this time of the year this advanced course in Bad Meinberg.

It's a nine-day course and the topic is 'Hatha Yoga Pradipika'. During every lecture we are going through the whole tantric scripture, verse by verse.

The course started last night and there are 45 students, counting the Yoga Vidya staff members attending the course full time. Everyone has extensive experience with yoga, having taken many programs and trainings and most are teaching yoga already.

So it's an ideal set-up and I feel blessed to be part of this.

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Programs in Luxembourg

I just left Luxembourg where I taught my first program in Europe for the Summer.

We had a lovely time with this full weekend intensive on the Kundalini Yoga. Quite a few students from the group were returning from my previous visits there so we are building a nice group dynamic as we get to know each other more and more.

This time the whole program took place at the "Centre de Yoga 'La Source'" itself as opposed to a place we sometimes rent for the weekend. The energy was so much better so I enjoyed the teaching even more.

Now I'm on a teaching break, focusing on some other karma yoga projects. Between now and my next program in Bad Meinberg I'll be spending time here in Sunny Berlin and in Normandy.

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On My Way To Luxembourg

Om Namah Sivaya

Well I've a very good (shreya) and pleasant (preya) stay in Austin.

I'm now embarking on a journey to Luxembourg, where I'll be teaching on Friday, via Dallas, Chicago and Frankfurt.

Thankfully I'll stay overnight in Frankfurt to rest a bit and get over the jet lag.

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Real Weather

As I am working on my computer all of a sudden a real thunderstorm broke out. There have been quite a few since I'm here but just now big sized chunks of hail fell furiously. I took a pic.

Hail falling in Austin and reflecting back the flash light - Enlarge

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Meet Austin, Texas

Om Everyone,

I have been in Austin for a few weeks now. I'm having a good, relaxing time, sharing my time between doing some sadhana, some reading of good books (thanks for all of you who sent me books from my wish list), doing some work for the web site and getting some pure R&R.

You Think You Know Texas But You Don't

I wanted to share some impressions from my stay here.

Most foreigners don't realize that the state of Texas is bigger in size than France and twice as big as Germany. Consequently there are a few major climates in the state and Austin being in the middle of the state, it's influenced by all these climates and one could argue it's the best area of the state.

The area around here is called Hill Country and is full of hills with lots of trees and green all around. So while the Western part of the state is really hot, dry and desert-like, just like you visualize Arizona, it's not like this everywhere.

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Austin

Yogis need to know that Austin is culturally 50% Texan/50% Californian rather than purely Texan. Most of us see this as a good thing.

Also like many modern American cities it has sprawled like crazy, but did not fill up yet. Which means there are vast expanses of nature between the neighborhoods. To connect it all together Austin has almost more Autobahns than Germany - ok, not really but it does feel like it.

The photo above which I took a few days ago on my daily walk shows an area where lots of deers live. If you walk in this neighborhood early in the morning you can see deer families in the actual streets and sidewalks, hanging out on people's front yards. Very cool.

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Programs in Frankfurt & Mainz

Frankfurt

Sunday night I gave a lecture on Advaita Vedanta in Frankfurt, followed by a nice satsang. During the lecture I talked about general concepts of Advaita and during the satsang gave the students 3 techniques to practice.

Although the topic can be off-putting to Westerners and especially less advanced yogis, it went over well with these groups.

On Monday I visited Frankfurt briefly and yesterday traveled to Mainz. I enjoyed the Frankfurt center very much. Thanks to Maheshwara and staff for hosting me and making the center such a pleasant place.

Here are a couple photos I took in Frankfurt.

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Mainz

Mainz is the biggest Yoga Vidya center. I taught a lecture and yoga class last night to a group mostly comprised of the ongoing 2-year TTC. The topic was Raja Yoga. All went well.

This morning we had a power satsang led by Atmarama, the director of the center. There are 8 intense yogis living here and the shakti is very strong. The altar in the meditation room is very impressive

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Teaching Again

Luxembourg

Since my Slovakia trip, I taught a weekend intensive program in Luxembourg on the theme of 'Kundalini Yoga'. I enjoy every time teaching there, meeting the enthusiastice students brought in by Shankara (Fredric) and Denise, and spending some time with them.

Amsterdam

Then I went to Amsterdam and led a Meditation Weekend Introduction Intensive. About 15 students attended and they are probably all meditating every day by now. We covered all the basics, putting much emphasis on how to setup a good, inspiring meditation spot.

Geneva

Then I took a 10-day break Collonges sous Sal

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My Slovakia Trip in Photos

Just thought of narrating this trip I just made via photos. The explanations will come before the photos.

Sunday night, a week ago, I flew in from Germany and my first contact with the Slovak language was the arrival sign at the Bratislava airport. Feels already like a long time ago. I was young then.

From Bratislava, the capital, we flew in to Kosice, the country's second largest city, and from there Jozef picked us in the middle of the night to drive to Levoča (English speakers should pronounce it like 'levocha'). The next morning, on Monday, we went to town and had a look at the house that is to become the AYA ashram.

This beam on the 3rd floor dates back to 1747.

View from 3rd floor.

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Then we went on a walk in town and here is a view of the town square. Generally speaking the architecture is gorgeous even though a good number of buildings in town need renovation.

On that first afternoon we went back to visit to the house to discuss what each room would be used for. The natural choice for the meditation room was on top of the house on the 4th floor. The spot for the altar jumped out at me and the next morning, in the presence of the electrician, I found myself planning where to put the outlet and dimmers for the lights in the meditation room. Everything went so fast.

As described in a previous post we connected with the local, very active, yoga group and on Tuesday afternoon Hanuman Puri, the leader of the group, showed us their local yoga center/ashram and also drove us to the near-by hill where they are building an ashram for advanced students wanting to do meditation retreats. The view from there is breathtaking. Below is a view of the high Tatras, the range of mountains located about 25 kms (16 miles) away. Highest peaks are around 2,600 meters (9,000 feet).

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On Wednesday two major events took place. First was the hike in the high Tatra Mountains. I could describe how pretty and fun it was but I'll let the pics do the talking.

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The destination of our little hike was this refuge high up in the mountains. We had a nice mountain meal before going back down.

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Here is another view.

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On our way down we saw another refuge where, for Christmas, they had made a nativity scene in the snow/ice. At mid-March, it had only just began melting.

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It was a really a good and intense day since I gave a satsang to the local yoga group. There 40 attendees, some of them coming from as far an Kosice, about 1 1/2 hours away by car. It turns out they are the Slovak branch of the Yoga in daily life group.

Here we see the conclusion of the satsang. We sang their beautiful Arati.

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And then of course came the distribution of prasadam.

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Thursday was my last day there. We first took a 5-hour train ride to Bratislava, had a good lunch there and then proceeded to do some sight-seeing before I flew back to Luxembourg via Germany.

Below are a couple of pics from Bratislava so that you can realize what the world is missing by not knowing more about this special country and its capital.

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No matter where I go I can't seem to get away from paparazzi.

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Lots of Yoga in Levoča

Wow!

This trip in Slovakia is going as good, or even better, as it could have.

I wish I had more time to share my impressions and photos here but today will be a busy day again.

As soon as I arrived at the Bratislava airport I felt somewhat comfortable in these surroundings. Everybody I meet via my 'guide' Eva is friendly and engaging. Since then I have been under the charm of this great example of Slavic culture.

The gist is that everything feels so right and the house that Eva owns and showed me fits so well our purpose is that I will move there sometimes next year when the house renovations will be done.

So besides the yoga and meditation center in Austin and the few affiliates the Advaita Yoga Ashrama will have a tiny ashram in Levoča, Slovakia.

This is our future home. Posing are Eva, the owner of the house, and Jozef, friend and the one fixing up the house. You can see the new windows. Work still remains to be done on the front and inside.

Teaching a Satsang Tonight in Levoča

But besides this, in only two days we were treated to bigger surprise. We learned through a friend that the local pharmacist had been to India a number of times. Furthermore we saw a sign in town pointing to a vegetarian restaurant. Unexpected but very welcome surprise. Upon eating there we learn that the restaurant and the pharmacy were linked by a common owner and that the local yoga community was behind this restaurant.

Anyway to make an amusing story short, we met with the gentleman who runs the restaurant and pharmacy as well as the local yoga center. Not only a yoga center but a place where people practice true 'spiritual' yoga as opposed to just exercise.

We visited the local ashram in construction in a wonderful spot on top of a close-by hill and with a stunning panoramic view. During a walk we took in the hills I was invited to give a meditation/satsang to their group. So tonight we'll have a program together.

Near Levoča, with Slovak Yogis

More news and more photos later.

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On My Way to Slovakia

I'm about to leave to Slovakia for a few days. I'll visit the Eastern part of the country. I may or may not be able to connect from there.

Om Namo Narayanaya!

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Fron One Course to Another

This morning we just completed a 5-day Yoga & Meditation Intensive. It was a fun course to teach with a group of 11 students of varied levels but with an equal eagerness to learn and practice.

Tonight I will be starting a weekend intensive on 'Secrets of the Mind'. Actually for me right now is more like 'secret of the title' because I'm not sure of the exact meaning of the title and course descriptions which I have only seen in German so far.

Otherwise all is well at the ashram here. Lots of sincere yogis working hard and practicing sincerely, with a good sense of humor for the most part.

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More Photos

Not much time for writing posts these days but I'm trying to keep posting a photo daily. This first one is from satellite, copied from Google Maps.

And a close-by spring taken during this morning's daily walk.

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Arrived Last Night

Following a quiet train ride with two stops, I got to the ashram around 5 pm.

All is well here, very much going like usual, which means tons of people of activities.

Tomorrow the 'Ayurveda Congress for Health and Spirituality' will be starting. We expect about 180 folks.I'll be giving 3 programs on Saturday.

Below is a photo I took last night.

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On My Way to Bad Meinberg

This has been a very pleasant stay at the Westerwald ashram. Only little regret is that the constant rain/drizzle prevented me from taking my usual long walks in the woods. Oh well.

Today I'll be taking 3 trains on my way to Bad Meinberg.

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News from Westerwald

I got to the Yoga Vidya ashram in Westerwald on Friday at 5:30pm and started a weekend intensive at 8pm.

I have been to this and Bad Meinberg's ashrams numerous times during the Summer and it was the first time I was scheduled to see the places in the Winter time. Every one told me it would be a very different feeling but alas, it feels more like spring time these days in all of Western Europe.

Although it's the dead of winter the ashram is very busy with several consecutive programs running including a month-long TTC with 45-50 trainees. We were close to 100 last night in satsang and that's always a great feeling.

The Ashram's House

The only problem to report is that a number of staff members are sick with the flu so it's tough for them. Besides that all is well here. Let's wish them to get well fast. Please say 3 'om tryambakams' for them.

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Starting a Weekend Program Tonight

An hour ago I got to the Yoga Vidya ashram in Westerwald. I just had dinner, met a couple familiar faces among the yogis here and at 8 pm is going to be the beginning of a 'seminar' as they say here, which is basically a weekend intensive on 'Yoga & Meditation'.

More news tomorrow.

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Bye Bye Le Havre

Tomorrow morning I'll be leaving by train to get to the Yoga Vidya ashram in Westerwald and I thought it would be nice to conclude my stay here with a little 'photo essay'.

Yesterday I went for a walk and took close to 100 photos. Here are some which came out ok.

Clicking on each photo brings you to a larger version.

Eglise Saint Vincent

Conciergerie of a castle that was never built.

Port Entrance.

Cultural center designed by famous architect Oscar Niemeyer and irreverentially known here as 'le pot a yagourt'.

Le Prieuré de Graville.

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Le Havre

I've got a new, more portable but with a higher resolution camera so I should be posting quite a few photos from now on. I intend to learn how to take good photos is it goes.

Fountains in Le Havre - Enlarge

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A Special Church

Church of St. Denis de Sanvic, Le Havre

This is where I was introduced to spirituality. I took a break for a number of years and then came the real adventure when I discovered yoga and vedanta

Walked by this morning during my daily walk.

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News

For those wondering and interested, I spent a couple months in Collonges-sous-Sal

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This Blog is Back. Well, Sort Of

It took me a month to figure out how to restore the database and reactivate the blog.

All the data was succesfully restored from the server's hard disk failure but I still need to fix a few things.

At the time of this writing the header and a couple of other graphics and functions don't function well.

Thank you for your patience.

I will start posting actually interesting and fun things as soon as I fix these bugs.

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Yoga Vacation in Spain

This morning we are flying from Basel, Switzerland to Malaga, Spain.

That will be my first time at the Casa El Morisco and our first retreat there.

I'm very much looking forward to it. It will pretty much be yoga, meditation, swimming and sun bathing.

I might not be able to connect to the net for the week.

Om Namo Narayanaya.

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Soccer Fever in Berlin

I arrived in Berlin yesterday and right away I could see the atmosphere of the city has changed much on account of the soccer world cup which is due to start at the end of this week.

For those who don't know this is the single most important sporting event in the world, except may be for the olympics.

The olympics involve many more athletes but the fan interest is problably more intense for the world cup in the world's most countries.

At the airport there were special large special displays. Same thing in the train station. And then you step into the city and every billoboard is about soccer, every store's window is about the cup and so on.

On top of that there are tons of tourists, coming from many parts of the world. It definitely brings a different energy here.

As if were not enough there is a big Cyclist race in the neighborhood where I'm staying (by the zoo): "The tour de Berlin"

On the minus side, the weather is pretty bad for the season: coldish and greyish :-(

In this way, it's same good old Berlin.

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Silent Meditation in Texas

We are about to leave from Austin to start the silent meditation retreat week

I'm of course VERY MUCH looking forward to this.

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Playing With Google Maps

I was playing with Google Maps and I thought I'd share this satellite photo of where I'm staying these days (2 months altogether).

In Venice Beach, right by the ocean. Enlarge by clicking here.

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New York

I'm flying to New York today to give a program in Chestnut Ridge, outside Manhattan, at my friend Mahadev's place.

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MTTC Testimonial

Just added a glowing testimonial about the MTTC course.

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Starting With The Best One

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Since I arrived in Venice I must say that I feel like I'm home again. Among all the traveling, Los Angeles is the place I have been most during the last 20 years and having left three years ago, I immediately felt very good as soon as I got here.

No worries I'm not thinking of moving here again but I will cherish the upcoming couple months.

Went for my 'usual' walks to Santa Monica and Marina Del Rey and already was tempted to take many photos of the area for this blog.

I decided to start with the best and most sattvic picture of the area. For those who know Venice beach, this statue is on the quieter side of the boardwalk, on the South part, very close to Marina Del Rey.

The Buddha is meditating there, facing the beach and the Sun and people routinely come to offer him flowers and other things.

I happen to be staying just a few houses from this statue.

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Brahmacharya Initiation

Yesterday, March 17th '06, Sita took the vows of brahmacharya.

Her name is now Sita Chaitanya. Congratulations to her. May Master Sivananda and Swami Vishu-devananda's blessings be with Sita always.

Being initiated and becoming a brahmachari or brahmacharini makes one officially a student in the field of brahma vidya. One vows to dedicate all energy to the pursuit of Truth and the Absolute. A noble adventure indeed.

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Collonges sous Sal

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MTTC Report

The 2005 AYA MTTC (meditation teachers training course) ended yesterday.

It was a success in all aspects. Wonderful experience for all of us who were involved. Following are a few random thoughts and a couple photos to illustrate.

The Location

The Margaret Austin Center
It was our first AYA event in this location and we have been very happy with the place.
It's a haven of peace and quiet located on 40 acres of beautiful land.
The accommodations are very simple, quite rustic but the whole energy is so spiritual there that it's a real treat to stay for any length of time.
They rent to only one group at a time so even though our group was very small this year we had the place for ourselves and we felt very much at home right away.
Located 45 minutes from Houston this part of Texas is quite green and has many trees. Very pleasant.

There is a fairly large meditating labyrinth on the grounds and I made a point to use it everyday. Sadly I must admit I did not have any really powerful, significant or meaningful experience. I know these things really work for many people but it was enjoyable nevertheless.
We enjoy the place so much that we have scheduled a few more programs there, the next ones being a week-long silent meditation retreat on May 26th and a weekend retreat in October.

The Course

Like the first edition this course was an intensive with a lot of practice and even more theory. Much emphasis was placed on training the apprentice teachers to deliver lectures and to be able to explain most concepts in just a few words or a few minutes. They are now feeling very confident in teaching general concepts and important teachings such as the yamas and niyamas.

Left to right: Linda aka Shri Devi; Jamie, Suzanne aka Jagadamba; & Swami Atma

The Students

There were only three students but there were all 3 my favorite type of students: dedicated, open minded, there to learn and practice hard
Furthermore the atmosphere was friendly and I think we all had a good time.

The Teachers & Staff

I was teaching all the lectures, workshops and satsangs and gave a few hatha yoga classes as well.
Sita, who among many things organized the whole course and coordinated the logistics on all levels, taught some yoga classes and cooked some meals. She drove from Austin almost every day back and forth (3 to 4 hours round trip).
Janaki from Houston cooked most of the meals and also taught some yoga classes. She is a great chef and her love of cooking is being felt as you eat.
Hilde, manager of the Margaret Austin Center, cooked a couple delicious meals as well. Thanks to her to welcome us in this parcel of heaven in the heartland of Texas.

Jamie, Shri Devi, Swami Atma, Janaki, Sita & Jagadamba

That was inspiring and enjoyable all at once (good and pleasant). We can't wait for next year's edition.

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Grand Opening

In a previous post Sita announced the grand opening of the new AYA yoga center in Austin.

Today is the first day and this morning was the first class. Four students showed up and enthusiastically took the center's very first class.

Other open classes will take place this week according to the normal weekly schedule and I will be teaching three sessions as well as described in the special events page.

If you live in Austin make sure you come this week and check out the gorgeous new yoga/satsang room.

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Bye Bye Winter

This has been my first 'full' winter in a long, long time and honestly, I have been ready for it to end.

I got in Texas two days ago and yesterday the temperature was 84 deg. F/28 deg. C.

It supposed to cool off some in the upcoming days but still, if I'm lucky it won't freeze in the next couple weeks until I leave Texas for California (my next destination).

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Back in the US

Yesterday I flew back from Switzerland to the US. I am now staying with my good friends in New York City, recovering from the jet lag and getting ready to teach the Meditation Teachers Training Course taking place in Texas and starting at the end of the week.

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Snowshoeing in the Jura Mountains

Today I got to experience something new: Going to the Jura mountains for the first time and snowshoeing in the gorgeous powdered snow.

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It was easier than I thought it would be. Fun, healthy and very sattvic.

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Weekend in the Cotswolds

I arrived Friday in London and straight away I was picked up at the airport and we drove to the Cotswolds, outside London, for a quiet weekend.

The program has been mostly R&R with a visit at a close-by natural "farm", home of a high-end organic food store, natural clothes, furniture, a home decoration shops and a health center with various activities such as massage of different kinds, natural treatments and yoga classes.

This visit may lead to me giving a few programs there in the future.

Many thanks to my hosts.

Below are a few photos of the area.

As usual the photos don't do justice to the real thing. I'm thinking of making changes to the layout of this blog to allow me to post bigger pictures. Basically I want to make the blog design wider. Any objections, anyone?

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Getting Ready for Our Grand Opening

I just finished working on all the web pages for our brand new AYA Yoga & Meditation Center.

Construction is still going on but it should be finished soon. As soon as we have it, we will announce the Grand Opening date on this blog and on the web site.

If you live in or near Austin, make sure to get all the info and come visit us soon.

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Merry Christmas

I would like to wish you all a Merry, Merry Christmas.

And as a special Christmas gift is this link to an entertaining video (a new twist on Christmas decorations). This link was sent by Sita.

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Taken This Morning

These photos were taken during my morning walk.

Fresh Snow in the Forest

Liestal church top

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Liestal, Switzerland

Beautiful Liestal

You may know that in the last couple years I have spent a lot of time in Switzerland. These days, I'm here for a few weeks teaching a few yoga classes a week. Most visualize Switzerland with the high Alp mountains and lots of snow in the Winter.

I happen to be staying in the Northwestern part of the country No mountains close by here but it does snow occasionally in the winter.

Liestal is a charming small town which is the capital of the the canton of Basel land. Only a 9 minute train ride from Basel where I can get my fill of city atmosphere I'm just a few minutes from the deep woods. It's basically perfect.

Part of my daily routine is to take a one to one and a half hour walk in the woods. Photo of the path below.

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Three Days in New York

Over a week ago, on my way back from Texas to Switzerland I stopped by in New York for 3-4 days and had a good time.

First picture or so with my new "used" camera - not too bad for a beginner

Besides spending some nice time with good friends I did a few cool things.

But first of all, an odd fact. Doing quite a bit of walking in the city during these few days I must report that I did cross 2 or 3 New Yorkers who did NOT have an ipod!!!

The New York Public Library

I got to visit the awesome New York public library. The building is truly gorgeous outside and inside and we got to visit two interesting exhibits.

Forgot how this is called. Let's call it the main study room.

The first exhibit consisted of over 100 ancient manuscripts. We are talking masterpieces hand written several centuries ago, many of them dating to the 1,200s. Most volumes were of the religious kinds, many of them actual bibles. In our modern days of computers and automation it's just mind boggling that these works were done by hand.

The precision and detail of both the calligraphy and the illustrations were impressive. The illustration below gives a fair idea of such works but does not quite do them justice.

The second exhibit called "treasured maps" showed originals of some of the first world maps. It was fun seeing how good they were while having a lack of precision, or some big parts of the world which were just missing as they did not get a chance to go there yet. Quite fascinating.

Other good maps were some of Manhattan 100 years or more ago. One of them had illustrations of existing trees, houses and other buildings and you can clearly tell that 60th street and above was just like country side. Quite a change now.

The Radio City Music Hall

The Radio City music hall is another landmark and historical building. It has been completely renovated in the last few years but they have preserved it and restored so that it still looks like it did at the beginning.

The guided tour was instructive especially because, as an ignorant swami, I did not even know what it was before so I learned things on different levels.

About every big star in the last century went through that place and at one point we were sitting in a screening room and they said that may be Hitchkock or other "big" people were sitting in the same seat we were in. I first got impressed and then my mind told me that the same thing probably happened many times when I sit at airports.

The Soup Nazi

This last bit will only be interesting to the readers familiar with the "Seinfeld" sitcom. Since the readership of this blog is mostly divided between American and European demographics, the Europeans need to know that Seinfeld is the best sitcom ever and is very, very funny.

A famous show took place at "the soup nazi" restaurant, a joint that used to serve excellent soup but according to many customers, the owner had quite an attitude. They made fun of this on the show and also created the nickname.

That original restaurant closed a couple years ago and now they opened this first place of what may become a national chain. You read it here first. This is where we went for lunch. The actual "soup man" was not in the store but you had employees selling expensive soups like there is no tomorrow. What about the attitude, you will ask? Well it's mostly showing through the sign below which is a bit curt.

... and we all complied

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Just Left Texas

I flew yesterday from Austin to NYC and during this short stay in Texas I could not keep myself from noticing the incredible amount of flags everywhere.

If you want your business to strive there it's quite important to not only put a post with the US flag but also the Texas flag for good measure.

But since everyone is doing it how do businesses stand out of the crowd. Easy! By displaying a ...

... BIGGER FLAG!!!

Case in point this flag from a car dealership.

Now that's a big flag! The picture does not do it justice.

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Deaf Yoga Lecture

Evening lecture interpreted by Lila

Saturday night I was invited by AYA affiliated teacher Lila to give a lecture at the Deaf Yoga Retreat.

Lila is the founder of the movement called "Deaf Yoga" which is growing fast. Regular yoga classes have been held in Austin but this endeavor has many projects. The newly formed community is establishing a new yoga vocabulary in ASL and this yoga retreat was the first event of this kind. There were about 15 participants for the whole weekend, about 2/3rd being deaf and 1/3rd hearing.

Satsangs were held twice a day, same for yoga classes and vegetarian meals.

I gave the evening satsang, first leading the silent meditation and then giving a lecture on vedanta philosophy and a stimulating Q&A session.

I truly enjoyed the experience even though I was a bit nervous to give my first lecture to a deaf group. The students were eager and attentive and the energy of the retreat was very focused and peaceful.

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I'm a Texan Now

Howdy,

Y'all need to know that my new residence is in Austin, TX.

Some months ago I had let my California Drivers License expire so I had to take the written AND driving tests yesterday for getting my Texas license.

I passed both and am now officially a Texan or more precisely a resident of Texas. My new, permanent, US address is in Austin but it's a bit ironic that this happens as I am preparing to spend much time in the United States of Europe (EU).

The Austin Capitol

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Navagraha Malas

We have recently added a new item to our online store: navagraha malas

In Vedic astrology the navagrahas are the nine main influences sometimes called 'nine planets' even though most of them are not actual planets.

In everyone's chart these navagrahas exert benefic and malefic influences. The nine gems of these malas help counteract their malefic influences.

As an additional bonus, they look very good.

Disclaimer:
To be honest the shape of the gems does not make these malas very convenient for japa. Besides this drawback I think they are amazing and that's why we have imported a bunch of them from India.

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Big News

Programs

After a stay in Europe which was longer than planned I came back to Texas Thursday night, last week.

On Saturday I taught a yoga class in the morning and a lecture on "advanced hatha yoga - kundalini awakening" in the evening. Both programs took place at the Texas Yoga Retreat.

Yesterday (Sunday) Morning we had a nice AYA satsang. It was good seeing again regular students and serious yogis.

This coming Sunday at 10 am I will be leading a Puja at the same location in North Austin.

There are two new developments regarding AYA and myself:

1. AYA is opening the "AYA Yoga & Meditation Center"
2. I'm moving to Europe

1. AYA is opening the "AYA Yoga & Meditation Center"

At last we will have a location to claim our own. A place to teach with our own energy and vibrations. Sita is converting the upstairs of her house in North Austin into a teaching space where Yoga classes, satsangs, workshops and more will be held.

There will be a regular schedule of yoga classes and a number of one-time events.

The opening date is not official yet since some construction work has to be done before this dream comes true.


The upcoming AYA Yoga & Meditation Center

2) I'm moving to Europe

In the last few years I have been spending most of my time in the US with regular visits to Europe, principally Germany, teaching at the Yoga Vidya ashrams intensively during the Summers.

I will now be reversing this schedule, staying in Europe most of the time and visiting the US twice a year for programs at the AYA Yoga & Meditation Center and retreats such as our upcoming Meditation Teachers Training Course and Silent Meditation Retreat. My exact home base is not confirmed yet but it should be known soon.

It's quite exciting and while for many years I would have never thought that I would spend the rest of my life outside the US, a number of things contributed to this change. I feel very good about it.

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Yoga Retreat in Spain

I just finished the web pages for the yoga retreat taking place in Spain this coming June.

The retreat's pool

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Drawing

I mentioned in a recent blog that at the end of the recent hatha yoga pradipika course the students gave a bunch of their favorite jokes in a notebook.

Most of them I haven't yet translated but among all the jokes there was a drawing that a student made during one of the lectures. So here it is.

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Photos, More Photos

You may have noticed that in the last few days I have tried to include good photos with every post. I think it enhances every blog entry and I'll try to keep up with this habit.

Just a few years ago buying stock photos for little projects was prohibitively expensive but in the last year I discovered one of those low-cost stock photo suppliers. The photos are royalty-free, the quality goes from semi-pro to professional and the choice is quite good and improving every day. There are a few such services out there and the one I use is http://istockphoto.com/.

The cost is only $1 for a low res photo (good enough for web publishing), $2 for medium res (good for putting in a newspaper ad or small photos in inkjet printer) and $3 for high res (you can make decent 8" X 10" photo realistic quality prints).

Sometimes I can't find good photos there so I have lifted a couple of them from the web. I don't feel too comfortable with this but I figure this blog has such a small audience that it's okay and I don't do it at all on the rest of the web site.

It would be peculiar not to add a photo to this post so I'm attaching a photo that was given to me by a yogini at Westerwald yoga vidya ashram. Thanks Kumari.

Shiva Lingam

I used it to make a gorgeous wallpaper for my laptop. Generally I don't like black backgrounds because of the energy they create but I think it really works in this case.

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I Got My Wish! Or At Least One of Them

A few weeks ago I started a wish list with Amazon.com. I kept it low key and did not even announce it in this blog. I did not know whether these things work at all.

Well it did. Not only did a generous soul buy one of the books but 3 copies of it actually!

Naturally I felt emboldened by this charitable and generous gesture and added a number of books to the list as well as an expensive dream item for the ashram, just in case.

I assume you are dying to see the list, so here it is.

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Sanskrit Course in the Forest

In the ancient Upanishadic times, yoga was taught in ashrams. Typically these ashrams would be quite small in size but very high in spiritual wisdom. My vision for the upcoming AYA ashram has been to build such a small community in the middle of the woods.

The Yoga Vidya in Westerwald (Forest region in the West part of Germany) gives you exactly the right feeling. A few buildings located in the middle of the woods and lots of dedicated yogis and yoginis. I could almost picture myself in ancient India except for the fact that everyone speaks German all the time, and, to my BIG surprise, taking a walk by the ashram I stumbled upon a horse ranch and in the middle of it lies ...

... An American flag. It's Texas all over again! Turns out the ranch is owned by an American lady and is filled with American, saddle-bred horses.

This horse in not from the Westerwald ranch since I did not take my small digital camera with me in Europe.

The "Introduction to Sanskrit Course" had six students. Turned out 3 of them had already gone through the basics so the level was high. The new ones followed along very well so we had time to cover the basic Sivananda mantras including those for meditation and almost a full chapter of the Gita.

Several students expressed interest in the upcoming follow-up course in which I will be teaching the grammar and vocabulary of Sanskrit by way of learning the Gajananam and Tryambakam mantras. I will start developing this course in the Fall, God willing.

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Hatha Yoga & Kundalini

A couple weeks ago I led, together with Sukadev, an 9-day advanced teachers training course on the topic of "hatha yoga pradipika".

This has been a very enriching experience. By studying and teaching this most enlightening scripture I have reconnected with my first love of pranayama and advanced hatha yoga. Also this experience gave me the opportunity to discuss different ideas and methods of advanced hatha yoga with Sukadev and it's has been very good for me.

To be honest hatha yoga is taught here at Yoga Vidya much more liberally than SYVC. I now feel emboldened to adjust both my practice and my teaching, somewhat departing from the overcautious approach which I have followed in the last several years.

This will most likely lead to AYA offering hatha yoga/kundalini intensives in the near future.

The group was enthusiastic. Starting out quite serious and then the advanced and lengthy pranayama sessions produced a mass-giggling-hysteria of sorts. Let's just say that by the end of the program there were many happy yogis and yoginis.

The good part about being here at yoga vidya is the contact with so many sadhakas who take their practice seriously.

At the end of the course, having picked up on the fact that I like to collect and tell jokes, the students individually wrote their favorite joke in a notebook. Since some of them were not quite fluent in English, they told their stories in German. To help me deal with this obstacle they also offered me a German/English dictionary. I'm still working on translating the jokes and am also using the dictionary to expand my vocabulary at the break-neck speed of about one word per day. The gifts were a very sweet gesture.

May we all practice hard to awaken the kundalini shakti, the Supreme Power within ourselves!

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The Best Talent Show Ever !?!

The last couple weeks have been rather hectic. I'm due to write blogs about the hatha yoga pradipika intensive course I taught and the same for a sanskrit course and an asana intensive weekend.

Anyhow I could not wait to post an entry about this course's talent show. We are starting the second week of a 4-week TTC in English. There are 20 students, the group is lovely and the bonding between students has been tremendous and it all came together with this one-of-a-kind talent show.

A few days ago I have given a lecture about the Mahabharata with a number of stories leading up to the great war about to start at the beginning of the bhagavad gita. Saturday morning the students were told about the talent show and they did not even know at that time what a yoga talent show was like: what's allowed, what's not etc.

Before I continue here I must say that over the years I have been to many, many talent shows. Most of them had very talented artists, unbelievable comedians, musicians, actors etc. I still have in memory quite a few individual acts. Also the New Years talent shows in Nassau were repeatedly topping all others as far as comedy is concerned with expert MC Arnold and ex-professional comic Jaya among many others. But last night's performance truly amazed us. Us, the audience, were just three: Misha the hatha yoga teacher and seminar-planning liaison for the course; Matsyendra, a 14-year old accomplished yogi whom I met last year in Westerwald and who was the official photographer of the show; and myself.

When you attend them as much as I have, a downside of talent shows is that there is a lot of repeat creativity. All in all, there are all the same. But this one was different.

So anyway the first surprise was that every single student was involved with the performance and nobody was left out. They decided to stage the Mahabharata story in a very lively and authentic manner. The casting was fantastic with every "actor" playing its part with total enthusiasm even when the action was away from them. Although a few students led the way as far as the original idea, the direction, the choregraphy and other aspects are concerned, we were told, and it was quite obvious, that each and all came forward with ideas and creativity.

Lord Krishna

The result was a very lively depiction of the Mahabharata. You could appreciate the virtuous conduct and character of the pandavas, despite Yudhistira's temporary lapse of good judgement during the game of dice, be disgusted by the evil nature of the kauravas and revolted by their treatment of Draupadi. Krishna was extremely sattvic. Even the live set brought life and realism to trees, mountains and animals from the jungle. It's hard and unfair to single out anyone or any aspect of the play but a few instances stand out in my memory. There are:
- Duryodhana. Played by Suresh (Indian student of the course) he was extremely evil and deceitful. I enjoyed how he shrewdly deceived the pandavas during the game of dice. He had a lot of good lines with perfect timing. For example when trying to lure Yudhistira into upping the antes of the game, he said to his brothers: "if he takes too long may be we will take back our offer." or at the beginning of the game: "we have a nice little game here, very honest". His arrogance when asking for Krishna's favors before the war was also highly comical.

- Draupadi. My favorite moments include when she was bidding good bye to her 5 husbands (the 5 pandavas) by kissing them on the cheeks (Mathilde is a French actress). While the pandavas were at the Kaurava's palace, she would brush her hair in a delicate way or chant Krishna chants from the yoga vidya chantbook. Very sattvic.

- A big shocker was after Yudhistira (Markus from Germany) lost his wife to the Kauravas by gambling it all away, all of the pandavas were up in arms and sorrow but one of them, let us say sahadeva, said to console them: "don't worry, we'll get another wife". This highly politically incorrect line was improvised by a female actress (Faye from South Africa)!!!

- Krishna (Emanuel from Berlin) was so sattvic and so immersed in meditation that he almost failed to save Draupadi from being disrobed in the Kaurava's palace.

- Even the set took us by surprise. While depicting the jungle many actors did the tree pose and it was very evocative to the actual jungle, especially when we heard realistic sounds of jungle animals going from tree to tree. The sound effects were provided by Tanya (originally from Russia). Then they proceeded to depict the mountain where Arjuna fought Siva before receiving the Divine weapon, the Gandharva bow.

- My apologies to those I haven't named but a big reason the play was so enjoyable is that there was a lot going at all times and you never had time to stop laughing and be surprised. This is because all students gave it all.

The conclusion was perfect with everyone chanting 'om shantih' and individually saying peace in their own language. See future blog about the international flavor of this course.

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BIG Satsang

Saturday night is the night when all the groups meet at the Yoga Vidya ashrams for a big satsang with longer chanting. There were probably 250 or so devotees last night. Very inspiring.

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Started ATTC Course

Last night we started an Advanced Teachers Training Course with over 30 students.

The theme of this 9-day intensive is "hatha yoga pradipika". This morning the series of lectures began with verse 1! Hopefully I'll pick up the pace soon.

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News at Last

Things have been rather hectic for me lately. Upon my return from Hawaii I stayed in Austin for just under 24 hours and proceeded to fly to Europe. I stayed in Normandy for two weeks and yesterday traveled to the middle of Germany.

The Yoga Vidya ashram

I arrived last night at the Yoga Vidya ashram in Bad Meinberg which is a lovely spa town in the old cure tradition of Germany. Sadly, the government having stopped paying cures to every citizen who asked, Bad Meinberg suffered quite a bit from this.

Every negative has always a positive and this allowed Yoga Vidya to start a big ashram there last year. This has proven so successful that they are already thinking of expanding in town. It may soon become a yoga town!

For those not familiar with the concept a town can be called "Bad-something" here if several requirements are met. Bad means bath. One such requirement is there must be some special natural and healing property to the area. Here the specialties are the water and the moor. The "bad meinberger" is a local water very high in mineral which comes with different rates of bubbles going from a moderate amount of bubbles to a very high amount of bubbles with a very strong taste.

Last year we tried, to no avail, to translate the word moor from German to English. It's not mud, clay or whatever. This time I just gave in and decided to go to the online translator service from Google. For the German "moor" they come up with the English "moorland". Dictionary.com tells me that "moorland" is a synonym for "moor" and the definition is: A broad area of open land, often high but poorly drained, with patches of heath and peat bogs.

Since I don't really understand this definition I will leave it up to you to sort it out. Anyway last year I did do a moor bath where you sit for quite a while in that warm "mud" (it's not mud it's moor) and it was good. It is said to be very healthy (gesund).

Another requirement is that there must be beautiful nature and parks in town and plenty of space for the folks to wander around in slow walks. These days the average curist must be somethig like 85 years old so the walking is really slow.

>
The close-by, beautiful, ancient and dolmen-like Extern Steine

An interesting but little know requirement to be a "Bad" (pronounce like bat) town is to have a live orchestra setup outdoors. Chairs are setup there and curists come every day for an hour or two of listening to some live music which is rather ancient.

The gist and I'm sure you got that is that I am going to have a very healthy time here as it's all "sehr gut f

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Wrapping It Up

Yesterday Saturday I taught my last program at the yoga intensive organized by Yoga Rasa and I drove to Kona afterwards. This morning there was a triathlon going on here. Unfortunately it has been raining a lot since this morning. Tonight I will be flying to Austin and from there to Paris.

Two students completed their 250 and 500-hour teacher trainings and the rest is getting closer to their goal. The graduation was fun.

After spending a few days in France, I will head to the Yoga Vidya ashrams in Germany where I wiil be teaching 7 weeks straight. I am looking forward to this extended stay in a Sivananda type ashram.

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The Big Island

Aloha!

Friday afternoon I arrived at the Tara Yoga Center on the Big Island in Hawaii.

The yoga intensive organized by Yogarasa was already started and there is a good group of 10 cheerful and dedicated students. I have been teaching some satsangs, sanskrit classes, lectures on the gita and I alsa led a Ganesha puja. Tomorrow we will do a kriya workshop and the day after we will go swim with the dolphins.

The Tara Center is a beautiful 40-acre property with view on the ocean.

All is well.

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Just Sent E-newsletter

I just sent the AYA e-mail newsletter. I hope that it will, among other things, bring fresh blood to the forums< and create more discussions.

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First Visit in Tennessee

I had an excellent weekend.

In the last few months I reconnected with old friend Dattaatreya. Dattaatreya has been a disciple of Swami Vishnu-devananda for a long, long time and during my last few years in the Sivananda Organization we spent a few weeks together for a number of times, principally at the Yoga Retreat in the Bahamas and the Yoga Camp in Canada.

So this weekend I was leading a yoga retreat at the Stone Door Yoga Retreat, located a couple hours East of Nashville. The topic was "Advaita Vedanta". All students had experience with yoga but half of them did not know much about advaita. We covered the basic tenets of the philosophy and discussed some of the techniques of jnana yoga. We all had a great time.

Besides the positive experience with the yoga retreat, I enjoyed spending some time with Dattaatreya and I was impressed by Tennessee. The state is incredibly beautiful and lush. So many varieties of trees and plants. It's all very green and luckily the yoga retreat is located right next to the Stone Door State Park with its 14,000 acres of woods in a canyon. Imagine a small "Grand Canyon" but all green and full of trees. On Sunday night we visited the park and the actual Stone Door used by the Native Americans to go to and from the bottom of the canyon.

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Avatars Are Working

Just enabled the avatar feature at the yoga fora (forums :-) )

Members can either upload their own or choose from a few galleries. This can be done through your profile.

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Forum Avatars + MTTC Testimonials

Karma yoga update.

The yoga forum is picking up its activities with some nice posts having come up already. I'm still working on enabling the uploading of avatars. That feature is not working yet.

On the web I just created a new page with the latest MTTC testimonials.

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The Yoga Forums are Up and Running

As discussed in previous posts the AYA is now expanding its activities with the creation of an online discussion forum about such topics as yoga, meditation, yogic diet, advaita vedanta philosophy, teaching theory and methods plus much more.

It's my hope that it will become a fertile ground for constructive, positive and open-minded discussions about the classical teachings.

I would appreciate if you helped jump start the bulletin board by starting topics about issues that have been in your mind lately regarding your sadhana and teaching. Of course replying to existing topics is also much needed, although there are no active teaching threads yet. ;-)

Please take a few minutes to register and join in. It should be fun.

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MTTC Graduation

Last night we had a lovely graduation satsang/ceremony.

Our four graduates are now ready to go out to the world and spread the divine teachings of meditation and advaita vedanta.

Congratulations to Sita, Radha, Lalita and Ramie for graduating and being such good students. As one of my teachers used to say:

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Breaking News from AYA

With the completion of the first Meditation Training Course, the AYA is ready to expand its scope and activities. The following projects will take place in the upcoming days or weeks:

1. The creation of a bulletin board on the web site. There will be discussions forums about the teachings of meditation, yoga and all aspects of spiritual life in the classical tradition of India. The main viewpoint in the discussions will most likely be the Sivananda approach to the teachings but the intent is to create a positive and constructive dialogue among a large community of sincere yogis of all creeds.

2. The creation of the AYA Meditation Teachers Association (AYAMTA). Its purpose is to unify the meditation teachers who have had training in the Sivananda tradition and to create a reference for students traveling around the world and wanting to find meditation teachers and satsangs anywhere they go.

3. The creation of the AYA Yoga Teachers Association (AYAYTA). Similar to the above but aimed at bringing together yoga teachers of different groups and trainings such as Advaita Yoga Ashrama, Sivananda Yoga Vedanta Centers, Yoga Vidya, Integral Yoga Institute, Divine Life Society, etc.

4. The creation of a new category/feature in this blog: "guest writers". First article should come soon. If you would like to contribute articles, reviews of books or even movies, or anything else please comment this blog entry.

We can't wait to see all this take place. We will post the progress made for each project in this space.

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MTTC Nearing the End

First of all, a big thank you to all readers who have let me know that they check this blog regularly and would like to see more posts. It's a huge motivator and greatly contributes to me keeping up or improving the frequency of the posts.

The MTTC is nearing completion. After much studying and a bit of worrying the trainees took the written test yesterday. They felt much relieved afterwards and appear very relaxed today.

All students who did not have a personal mantra until now chose to receive the mantra initiation this morning before sunrise. The initiation was inspiring for all involved and will propell the students into a fuller meditative life.

At 4 pm today we will have a concluding satsang and graduation ceremony. We expect many visitors to join in. If you live in the Austin area, make sure you come.

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MTTC report

The Meditation Teachers Training Course, a very intensive training program, is running full speed now.

The students have already been introduced to a number of subjects such as the life of Swami Sivananda, the theory and philosophy of raja yoga and advaita vedanta, the science of mantras and much more. Several classes focused on the science and art of giving lectures and communicating the teachings in the best way possible. The students have already done some good practice sessions where they are giving mini presentations on a number of subjects.

The meals, cooked by Sita, have been fantastic. The menu plan offers much variety and the meals are both healthy and delicious.

May be I should not say that already because we are still far from the end and because they are reading this blog but the students are wonderful. They have a very positive attitude, are very keen in all classes and perform a lot of karma yoga with the right selfless bhava. The teachers feel immensely grateful to have the honor to teach this group of students for this first ever MTTC course.

More news in a couple days ...

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MTTC Has Begun

The Meditation Teachers Training Course (MTTC) started Friday night in Austin, TX with an inaugural satsang and four students were initiated.

The group is small and intimate and everyone is very motivated and supremely enthusiastic.

The schedule is intense and yesterday some of the classes and lectures took place outdoors to take advantage of the friendly weather and the beautiful garden.

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Web Site Update

I have pretty much finished the new design for Yoga108.org and I have updated a few pages. It should take me at least a few weeks before all pages are reformatted.

I resumed the task of adding items to the online store.

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Web Site Redesign

My main karma yoga lately has still been to prepare for the MTTC but following the start of this blog I became very interested in the latest techniques of web design, especially the advances use of CSS.

So I have been working on a complete redesign of the YogaAdvaita.org home page.

At first there will just be little visible improvements but by changing my template for the whole site and by updating all the pages I expect to reap the following advantages:

1. No more tables, therefore ...
2. The pages will load much faster
3. More flexibility in design for easier future transformations
4. Strict adherence to XHTML and CSS standards so that pages will look good on future browsers no matter what
5. More attractive design without sacrificing speed. CSS allows to create colorful and elegant rollover menus with very little code and no images. I will use this on the main menu on left of page, the context menus on the right side and some tabs for the top menus. Same idea for quotes, photo albums as well as other features.

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Houston, I'm Ready to Take Off!

After spending over six months in Houston, tomorrow I will be moving to Austin.

I had a great time teaching at Yoga Rasa and many thanks to my hosts, Tracie and Harley. I hope I will be able to come back to Houston soon and often.

I look forward to see again many of the students and teachers in Hawaii this coming June for the intensive yoga retreat.

Many Oms!

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Change of Location for MTTC

The Advaita Yoga Ashrama's first big event is the upcoming new Meditation Teachers Training Course which will start on May 6th.

It was supposed to take place at the Barsana Dham ashram but we will not be able to have the course there anymore because of an important religious event that has come up during the time of our scheduled retreat.

Instead we will have the course in a private home in the North part of Austin. The setting will be perfect and intimate. During the little free time allocated during the 10 days, the students will be able to relax in the pretty backyard and by/in the pool or hot tub.

We are expecting the course to be lovely and the main change following this switch of locations is that the course is now limited to seven paying students. That's a big plus as all students will receive individual attention which will make a difference, especially during the "how-to-teach" workshops.

Photos of our new location will soon be posted at the YogaAdvaita.org web site.

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Yoga Retreat In Emmental

For the last couple years I have been leading a 9-day yoga retreat in the summer time in a small village of Emmental, Switzerland. It's organized by Maria Steiner, the AYA affiliate in Switzerland, and takes place in a beautiful chalet in the midst of the rolling hills of Emmental. No need to say the atmosphere there is deliciously peaceful.

Today I have been working on the yoga pages for the retreat which will take place this coming September.

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Book Projects ... Oh my

A while ago I decided to work on a complete yoga book which would give a synthetic view of the yogic lifestyle.

The plan was to create a beautiful book in terms of illustrations and layout but the main idea was to create a book that teaches more than asanas, or meditation for that matter, but to give the readers the tools to totally integrate yoga in their lifestyle. I shared this goal with many of you and am sometimes asked what's up with that.

Well after trying very hard for a few months I remained very dissastisfied with whatever I wrote. I experienced some kind of writing block. I decided to take some time off regarding this project and analyze the reasons it was so difficult and to study some books on the topic of writing books.

The result if my main analysis is that I have some type of complex of inferiority in terms of being a book author which is probably coming from three major sources:

1) the language barrier - I see myself as speaking English (my second language) adequately but not well enough to write properly. Even though I do know consciously that the book will be edited by talented writers who have already volunteered for it, the samskaras are still there.

I guess I am one of those poor bi-lingual speakers: I will never speak English like a native and I have been away from France and not speaking French long enough so that my speaking and writing French are far from what they used to be.

2) Over the years I have been quite critical, in my mind or vocally, of spiritual writers who don't really deserve to be published for one reason or the other. That negative thinking has come back to haunt me in an interesting twist of fate.

3) My lack of academic achievements.

Having identified the above helps me work on those points but of course it takes time to effectively advance.

In the meantime I have been listening to many friends' advice on the matter and read a few books about the subject. I now feel ready to seriously work on all this again.

The gist of what I have learned lately is that one should practice daily and just write, write, write.

The purpose of this blog is partly to offer me some opportunities for writing practice.

Nowadays I am mostly focused on getting ready for the upcoming Meditation Teachers Training Course, formalizing the curriculum and structure and completing the different manuals.

At mid May I will start writing seriously again.

The interesting thing is that in the last few years I have had numerous ideas for good books which address needs not meant by the current publications. I do have now about a dozen book ideas, waiting for some actual writing to take place.

The good news is that one project is on its way and is an exchange of ideas on life, spirituality, the mind and other subjects between me and Dr. James Shiffner, an eminent psychologist. More on this project later.

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Austerity of Speech

So these days I am spending quite a bit of time setting up this blog which is a new project. It should take a few more days before I complete its design and then I will announce its creation in the AYA e-newsletter.

Today I am teaching a Bhagavad Gita class. This is the 10th class out of 11. We will complete the course next week. As usual I took some time in the afternoon preparing for it. Most of the class will focus on the 17th chapter. Here is a verse which I have selected for publication in this post:

The Yogic lifestyle includes control of about every facet of one's being. There are disciplines aimed at controling the body, the senses, the emotions, the intellect etc.

One such discipline is the austerity of speech, as described in this verse by Lord Krishna.When thinking of austerity of speech most students will think of mauna, the vow of silence. While mauna is part of the incredibly broad collection of yogic techniques, it cannot be practiced at all times. So what should we do when involved in worldy and social activities? Limit our speech to words and ideas which will serve a good purpose, will not harm anyone, be truthful, etc. For most of us this wil entail a reduction of 50 to 80% of our spoken words ;-)

Try it for a day or two. If it turns out to be as beneficial as we think it is, you may want to carry on for the rest of your life.

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Karma Yoga

Today I have been working on the AYA online store again. I had not added any item in a while and we have a whole lot to do in this respect so it felt good to be active with this project again.

The item I just added is particularly dear to me since I spent so much time with this book when in my first few years of yoga. The book is the Sivananda Companion to Yoga.

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