Certification
Students who complete the training are eligible to register with Yoga Alliance as Registered Yoga Teachers (RYT®).
Why Tantra?
Tantra is the natural evolution of yoga. It is an integral system that consists of five yoga systems, as taught by Lord Shiva to Parvati, the origin of yoga.
Tan means expansion, and tra means freedom. Tantra is the art to be free from all physical, mental, and spiritual bondage through the expansion of energy.
Unlike many other systems of yoga, Tantra takes a liberal approach, embracing life in all its facets and using life as the ultimate teacher. Through acceptance of all that is, you find yourself gradually liberated from limitations and conditioning, which allows you to step fully into your personal power and the joy of being fully alive.
Tantra yoga emphasizes the development of power latent in the chakras in a systematic manner to heal and balance all aspects of the self - including the physical, emotional, vital, mental, and spiritual bodies. This eventually leads to supreme consciousness, the ultimate aim of human life.
What makes the training special?
Tantra itself is a special - however, misunderstood - science. It is an ancient system of activating the dormant potential inside each and every one. This training is not just to make you a good yoga teacher, but also to give you what you require to blossom fully into who you are meant to become in this lifetime.
What makes this training special is you. Each of you is unique, and when you all come together for this higher purpose, a positive energy is created that will shape your course in its own beautiful expression. Sheltered in an ashram on the hills of Nepal, you will find yourself in an expansive environment that encourages you to find your own inner yogi or yogini.
This course is an immersion in the yoga lifestyle and community that will strengthen you in ways that you never knew possible. The spiritual depth of this course is naturally conducive to self-empowerment and inner transformation.
Moving beyond the physical aspect of yoga, however important, Shanti Yoga Ashram also places utmost importance on transmitting authentic yoga in all its fullness and glory, so that you may develop your own inner capacity of truly living in yoga.
It is upon this foundation of spiritual strength and wisdom that a genuine yoga teacher may emerge. They aim to provide you with the foundational building blocks needed to teach with confidence and ease as soon as you graduate.
Lineage
The teachings of this ashram are a combination of Tantra yoga as taught by Swami Nirajananda, the successor of Swami Satyananda of Bihar School of Yoga, as well a Swami Shivalingam, also a student of Swami Satyananda, who taught the ancient hidden secrets of Nepalese Tantra to his disciple Yogi Prakash, or Guruji, as he is known, the founder of Shanti Yoga Ashram.
Nepal is the land of Tantra, where Shiva himself taught this science to his other half, Parvati. It has been preserved in its pure form from Guru to disciple ever since.
It is Shanti Yoga Ashram's intention to transmit this wealth of knowledge, through adapted practices and by providing a good structural means for conducive learning and integration.
Ashram benefits
Shanti Yoga Ashram teaches to promote experiential learning, and while you will receive comprehensive teaching in the theoretical and philosophical aspects of yoga, they feel that it is imperative for you to experience yoga in order to teach and take your own practice to the next level.
Yoga is much more than just the practice of asana. It is a lifestyle. At Shanti Yoga Ashram, they prepare students to live yoga, not just do yoga.
The daily activities provide a balanced mix of all the aspects that a great yogi embodies: disciplined daily practice, knowledge, devotion, action or work, healthy food, rest, nature, service, and community. As you fully immerse yourself, you will find an openness to the process of deep learning and self-evolution.
Shanti Yoga Ashram is confident that the experience will not only prepare you to teach yoga, but also give you all the tools you need to maintain a harmonious balance in your daily life.
Course curriculum
Tantra's five yoga system
Tantra yoga starts with the gross level, the body, and gradually transitions to the most subtle level: consciousness.
This teaching system offers the evolutionary process from Hatha yoga, meditation through the body; to Ashtanga yoga, meditation through the mind; to Mantra yoga, meditation through sound vibrations; to Kundalini yoga, meditation through the chakras; and ultimately, to Shiva-Shakti yoga, meditation through the internal masculine and feminine energies.
Hatha yoga
The foundation of Tantra, classical Hatha yoga aims to balance your solar and lunar energies. When the body is balanced, the energy can flow properly, resulting in good health.
Shatkarma
The first step in Hatha yoga, shatkarma is the internal yogic cleansing to prepare your body and mind for practice. It is an essential part of Hatha yoga, so prana can flow through clear channels without toxins.
Asana
Hatha yoga asanas include sun salutations with deeper esoteric meaning while incorporating chakra awareness. You will learn how to incorporate breathing, awareness, and movement along with enjoyment.
Pranayama
Sensitizing, vitalizing, balancing, and tranquilizing, you will learn not only techniques, but also gain the ability to use your breath to direct your own pranic flow.
Mudra
Create a flow of prana through different gestures, an essential element of Tantra yoga.
Bhanda
Learn to lock and release different parts of the body to direct the energy as needed.
Astanga yoga (Raja yoga) - Eight limbs
There are practices in each of these limbs that help one evolve to the next.
Yama and niyama
These involve development of personal character by imbibing certain lifestyle regulations for upliftment.
Bhakti yoga and Karma yoga are included here
- Bhakti yoga (yoga of devotion) - Embodying divine qualities
- Karma yoga (yoga of selfless service) - Doing something good for humanity that reaches beyond your own borders
- Asana - Become still and comfortable in your own skin, so that the cosmic life force may flow through you.
- Pranayama - Learn to expand the space between the breaths to come fully into present moment awareness; preliminary stages of meditation.
- Pratyahara - Can you fully relax and go within? Learn to withdraw your senses and find your true home, inside of you.
Yoga Nidra and other techniques will be practiced regularly
- Dharana - Concentration - Esoteric practices to create the strength and focus necessary for meditation
- Dhyana - Meditation, which will occur naturally with the preparatory practices
- Samadhi - Blissful state of enlightenment - A glimpse will be possible as the soul begins to shine out and feel real peace
Mantra yoga
Once the body and mind are balanced, you will be ready to invoke the divine energy through sound vibration, the most subtle of all manifestations.
- AUM chanting - There are many ways to chant Om to awaken different energy centers. Om can be chanted to either elevate or ground the energy.
- Kirtan - Chanting together to invite cosmic energies and express your devotion to the divine
- Mantra initiation - You will receive a mantra to use for japa and to connect to the yoga lineage
- Yantra, mantra, and Tantra - Visualization and manifestation
Kundalini yoga
This is the yoga of awakening the sleeping potential of the human being, through purifying each chakra, using a variety of Tantric methods. It is an integral practice that will evolve throughout the course. You will also spend time understanding and working with each chakra individually.
- Kriya yoga - Working inside of the asana to circulate prana from one chakra to the next, a process of purification
Shiva Shakti yoga
Requiring the use of all the yoga systems learned previously, it will be your goal to make you a master of your own body, mind, and energy systems. You will learn how to become an embodiment of divinity and balance your own internal masculine and feminine energies.
- Ritual and ceremony to celebrate and honor the divine feminine and noble masculine
- Connecting the three main power centers
Ayurveda
The art of living in harmony with yourself and the natural world
- Philosophy and practical application
- Circadian rhythms and natural cycles
- Self-care and daily routine
- Ayurvedic diet and conscious eating
Jnana yoga
The yoga of knowledge and the path of self-realization
- Integration of the philosophy of yoga into the experiential or vice versa
- The power of the mind / directing one's perception accordingly
- Self-inquiry, the transmission of Ramana Maharshi works on non-dualism
Energetic principles
- Discovering your intrinsic connection as microcosmos in the macrocosmos
- The Pancha Kosha - five energetic layers or sheaths that move from the outermost layer of skin to the deep spiritual core
What to expect?
Next to a lush green forest, surrounded by the abundance of Mother Nature and the Himalayan breeze, students will come together for the experience of a lifetime.
They will engage in a dedicated and disciplined daily practice within the context of a warm loving family of like-minded friends with the same aspiration: to learn and embody all the facets of yoga and to evolve into yoga teachers.
Ingredients to become successful yoga instructors
- Personal reflection, inner transformations to reveal higher states of consciousness
- Establishment of a daily sadhana
- Theoretical understanding of yogic philosophy
- Experience a yogic lifestyle (nature-based, healthy diet) (staying in a traditional ashram setting)
- Physical and energetic comprehension of postures
- Personal guidance and a family-like group atmosphere
Benefits of Tantra yoga teacher training
- Enhance your physical and emotional health
- Detox from the worldly way (technology included)
- Gain wisdom into the feminine and masculine energy
- Experience your energy centers/chakras
- Understand the science of Tantra
- Reveal your true self and ability to express this worth
- Develop awareness and the capacity to direct your energy
Daily schedule:
The daily schedule will create structure, giving you the space and support to let go of attachments and fears while surrendering to the process of transformation.
- 04:00 Morning chanting in temple (Sanskrit mantra)
- 05:30 - Havana (Fire ceremony, Tantric ritual)
- 07:00 / 7:30 - Yoga class (asana, pranayama, mudra, bandha)
- 09:30 - Breakfast
- 11:30 - Lecture
- 14:00 - Lunch
- 16:00 - Practical class (teaching, techniques)
- 17:00 - Meditation class
- 18:00 - Aarti (temple ceremony)
- 18:30 - Dinner
- 19:00 - Kirtan (chanting) or retire to bed
