Dear Sanga, It's been too long, and I'm so happy to communicate with you all once again. Post-pandemic, most teachers and students have grown comfortable with online classes. And yet, when we reopened our in-person study retreats, the richness of learning has grown exponentially! There is a strong felt need to go back to in-person community engagements, deepen our learning and practice of yoga. Therefore, we intend to move into a larger physical space in Chennai where we can conduct more classes, training workshops, and community-based activities. As we enter the 10th year of YogaVahini in Chennai, we want to rejoice and celebrate every milestone. We are grateful to our teachers, students, mentors, and friends who continue to support our work in many visible and invisible ways. It feels like something within contracted, hibernated and is now ready to sprout and expand, digging the roots deep into the earth and reaching up to the sky with immense possibilities. A warm welcome to our dear Sanga to come together and start again… |  Inhale or exhale? Saraswathi has fun grilling the YITP trainees | | In the last week of June, we welcomed the first post-COVID, in-person batch of Yoga Instructor Training Program trainees at CREST, Bengaluru. It was heart-warming to start meeting students face-to-face. Rajeev Natarajan, one of the attendees, says, "Doing a teacher training at YogaVahini has been a dream that I've held for about five years now. The three-day retreat was everything one could ask for: a gentle, yet intense start to the 10-month commitment. We had 14-hour days peppered with small group discussions, pop quizzes, and puzzles. CREST Bengaluru provided the right kind of atmosphere to embark on a journey like this." These retreats are open to our entire Sanga. The next retreat is scheduled for:
24 – 27 August 2023. Please find more information about the retreat and the registration link here. |  Left: Sirsasana, guided by teacher Shakuntala; Right: Acarya trainees experience quiet time with their breath | | We convened again at the CREST ashram in the first week of July for a long-pending in-person meeting with our Ācārya trainees. We lived, learned, and shared together over six days, creating a beautiful capsule in time and space. Deepti Khanna, one of the trainees, said meeting her colleagues for the first time almost felt like Alice in Wonderland, as "...we were either larger or smaller than how we had perceived each other on screen." Her key learnings were:
"* Recognize one's strengths as much as the areas one needs to improve upon.
* Give clear and simple instructions, maintain a rhythm in the delivery, and one's complete presence while instructing.
* Know the goal of the practice and design the practice accordingly.
* Keep the question "Why am I on the path of yoga?" alive." |  Our Vaidya trainees with their teachers. Pic: Binu Jha | | In June, we had the long-awaited study retreat marking the culmination of the first year of the current Yoga Vaidya batch. Our 27 students from different parts of the country and the world came together with their teachers and mentors in the peaceful premises of Babuji Memorial Ashram, Manapakkam, Chennai. Students re-affirmed their learnings of the therapeutic process and approach with hands-on practical training, group reflective activities, and case study presentations. They worked directly with people seeking therapy, guided by senior therapists and mentors. Students found the two-week-long retreat deeply nourishing and inspiring, strengthening their resolve for self-care and helping people heal through yoga. |  Senior teachers instruct the practice to camp attendees | | We held a day-long health camp as part of the Vaidya retreat. It gave an opportunity to the trainees to meet people with various health conditions in a real-life situation, assess them, and come up with practices specific to their needs. Over 70 men and women of the age range 8-75 attended the camp. Their conditions ranged from hypothyroidism, neck, back and knee pain, injuries, menstrual issues, post-stroke, hypertension, and diabetes. Six senior teachers and three support staff guided the Vaidya students in history taking and consultation. The senior teachers did the Darśanam, reviewed the students' consultation notes, and gave the practice guidelines. The trainees taught the practice and drew it out. Each Vaidya trainee taught an average of three camp attendees. Students sum up their key learnings and experiences from the Vaidya retreat and the health camp: "The training was hands-on, allowing us to really observe and learn from senior therapists, rather than from lectures."
-- Jennifer "We learned how to do a thorough yet appropriate history taking; listen deeply; stay present and learn to flow with changes to the plan."
-- Aishwarya "I was able to understand how to be present even in a crowd. I observed the senior therapist doing the consultation in a short span of time."
-- Sathya "Can I learn 'how to heal'?
Maybe not … maybe not alone…
But with your compassion I can remember
Who I am.
And then we might dig together
The way to your Light."
-- Petra | Continuing our monthly study of prāṇāyāma along with Yoga Therapy Australia, in May we revisited the Brahmānandavalli Bhāvana of a bird to understand the role of the vāyus. We also went into the vinyāsa krama for prāṇāyāma and outlined the step-by-step progression from the gross to the subtle and then moving from the subtle back to the gross. | In June, we looked at saṅkalpa, bhāvana, and the preparatory steps for a dhāraṇa practice. A participant asked, "What is the connection between saṅkalpa and bhāvana?" To this, Saraswathi answered, "Saṅkalpa helps us draw a boundary for our mind and say, 'Until I finish 40 breaths of prāṇāyāma, I'm not going to get up.' However, bhāvana goes beyond imagining and visualizing. It is to fill our minds with that quality, to feel it, to embody it and to completely integrate ourselves with something so that that has the power to take us forward." And when someone queried if they could skip the steps of a technique and simply drop into a more subtle prāṇāyāma, Saraswathi said they could absolutely do that. But, "...sometimes when you climb one step at a time with great attention you may be able to discover something more..." Would you like to come along for the next session of prāṇāyāma exploration? Please click here if you live in India and here if you live elsewhere. | If you have ever experienced the power of your breath, every day is practice day! However, despite our best intentions, we sometimes fail to persevere. But it's never too late to start anew. What better day to renew our commitment to our practice as a collective, than the 85th birth anniversary of our teacher Sri TKV Desikachar? On International Yoga Day, which is also Sri TKV Desikachar's birthday, YogaVahini organized an online master class from Saraswathi with the message, "Renew your commitment to your daily practice." We had close to 100 registrations on Zoom from a varied group of first-time practitioners, yoga students, senior teachers, and long-time practitioners. Many more watched the session live on our YouTube channel. It was a wonderful experience to do a live practice collectively under Saraswathi's guidance. Starting with body and breath awareness, we learnt how to befriend our breath, again! Saraswathi led us through a mindful practice, incorporating the first line from the Yoga Sūtra – Atha Yoga Anuśāsanam – into the āsana and prāṇāyāma practices throughout the session. You can watch the session here. | Yoga class at Adyar Cancer Institute |  Saraswathi instructs the practice to the staff of Adyar Cancer Institute | | Saraswathi was invited to give a talk to the doctors, nurses, and interns at Adyar Cancer Institute, Chennai. She invited the participants to practise and experience the benefits of a yoga practice. She helped them explore the breath through simple movements to give them an idea that even a 20-minute practice can help with stress relief, reducing the physical and mental strain of their jobs, and improving their energy. A total of 86 staff members between the ages of 25 to 50 attended the session. | Yoga class for over 200 teenagers |  School students go lateral in Jyothi Shanbhag's class | | Jyothi Shanbhag is one of our senior teachers who comes alive when she's teaching children. She, along with seven teachers from YogaVahini, readily took up the opportunity to instruct over 200 teenagers at Manapakkam, Chennai. Most of the students were new to yoga, but aware of Heartfulness meditation. Says Jyothi, "We began with yama, niyama, āsana, and prāṇāyāma. Āsanas were kept simple to help them understand how the body can move beautifully in different directions with the breath. We observed the breath and talked of the right technique to breathe. The children were mostly silent except for the occasional giggles and whispers. Maybe because they were Heartfulness Abhyasis. For us teachers, it was a happy, fruitful reunion. At a short notice, our teachers came from far off locations to support this event. We are grateful for their effort." |  Dr Meera and Dr Sudheer, Sreehareeyam Ayurveda | | We are coming to the last session in the series on Ayurvedic approach to healing presented by Dr. Sudheer and Dr. Meera. Since the sessions have been practical with case study discussions, learning has been rich, inspiring and shows immense possibilities for a Yoga Vaidya in being a healing companion for a person seeking yoga therapy. Watch this snippet from one of the sessions. You can join the concluding session next week and get the recordings of the previous sessions as well. We hope we can do more such work integrating the wisdom of Ayurveda into our work, this is a great beginning! | Until we meet next time… – Be with your breath,
Saraswathi Vasudevan | | |
