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INDIA RETREAT 2017!

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YOGARASAYANA INDIA RETREAT:
into the stories
 FALL 2017
KERALA, SOUTH INDIA, NORTH INDIA
September 28 – October 17
with
Arun Deva and Jutta Hecht

Yoga, Ayurveda, Temples, Palaces, Forts, Taj Mahal, Regional Cuisines, Tiger Reserve and more…

India is a land full of ancient stories, myths, parables and other ways of conveying deep truths. Through stories called puranas the deep philosophies of yoga are shown as mythological events.

This Retreat is about experiencing some of India’s sights, sounds, colors, smells and immensely alive canvas.

We will also share some of these stories to heighten the experience of the places we visit… 

ITINERARY:

SOMATHEERAM AYURVEDIC BEACH RESORT:

Sept 28: Arrive Trivandrum early morning: transported on to Somatheeram/Manaltheeram
Sept 28-Oct 2: 5 days of rejuvenation massages, yoga, ayurveda, sightseeing and yummy foods. And of course stories in the evening.
Soak it in as you get acclimatized!

The resort is spread lushly over 15 acres of greenery on a hilltop overlooking Chowara Beach, south of Kovalam and a short drive away from Trivandrum. The gently sloping grounds are sprinkled with traditional thatched cottages and Kerala style wooden bungalows, nestled among native medicinal plants and coconut groves. We will stay in the Special and/or Garden Cottages; independent thatched huts rooming two people.

It is a short walk down to the beach for swimming, morning or evening walks. Along the way down is the swimming pool where you can rest during the day sipping fresh coconut water! The resort has outdoor and indoor yoga rooms. Climbing up the hill you arrive at the Rejuvenation Center with a full staff of Ayurvedic Doctors, where you will receive your daily treatments including abhyanga and shirodhara, Kerala style!
The resort has a thatched restaurant with a panoramic view of the ocean, and delicious Ayurvedically prepared meals (3 vegetarian, dosha specific meals a day are included)

Finally, we will visit Kanyakumari, the southernmost tip of India for a breathtaking sunrise!

SOUTH INDIA:

Oct 3/4: Fly to Chennai and make our way to Mahabalipuram. Stay overnight overlooking the beach. Next morning visit the Beach Temples and Great Chariots and discover the magical stories behind them, including from the Mahabharata. After a late lunch, continue on to Pondicherry, a short drive away.

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Oct 4-7: Pondicherry, the once French enclave, home to Aurobindo, the iconic yogi and great freedom fighter who became a living saint. This quaint town has much beauty and some of the best foods to share with us. We will visit Auroville, a visionary eco-system global city that inspires us to live in harmony with nature and each other: wherever we may be from. Here too we will sit in lush gardens between massive banyan trees whose roots walk on to make new trees themselves. And the spaceship-like golden Matra Mandir for a deep meditative experience.

Oct 7-9: On to Arunachala the sacred mountain, said to be Lord Siva himself! Boy, will we share stories here in the little town of the world famous saint, Ramana Maharishi. Along the way we will visit a small Hanuman temple and a left over temple complex that is not on the beaten track.

Oct 9: After an early morning climb to Ramana Maharishi’s cave of enlightenment and a hearty breakfast we drive back to Chennai to catch out flight to Delhi.

NORTH INDIA:

Oct 10/11: Vrindavan! Famous as the home of the cowherd Lord Krishna. Long before he became the Teacher of the Bhagavad Gita and it is here we will here stories from his life and the message of love and unity hidden deep in the Gita for all to find. Visit the sacred cows at the Neem Karoli Baba Ashram and you will see the love in their eyes when they come to greet you. Next day, hop in the bus for a quick ride to the Taj Mahal in Agra. If you have never been here, it is easy to feel awed by it. Or wander around to your hearts content in the home of Lord Krishna if you have already seen the Taj.

Oct 12: We drive to Sawai Madhopur/Ranthambore to visit the jungle and its inhabitants:


Oct 13/14:  colorful, exotic birds, the spotted (and other) deer, antelope, wild boar, crocodiles, possibly leopards and bear. While it is never guaranteed, this is the best National Park to see the majestic tiger. We will also visit a hilltop fort with a stunning view, a beautiful Ganesh Temple and an off the path Tantric Kali/Shiva Temple to do puja in.

Oct 15: Drive to Jaipur, the Pink City. The very heart of this magical land called Rajasthan.

Oct 16/17: Amber Palace by elephant if possible, City Palace, and our favorite place to stay: Diggi Palace. Yes we end our trip very royally. Majestically. And of course, the stories of the romances of the Rajasthani princesses and heroism of their men.

Oct 17: Afternoon flight to Delhi. Straight to the Friends Colony N Block Market for a last minute shopping frenzy. An amazing final Indian dinner. Rest up at the hotel. And for most an early morning of the 18th flight home.

Registration opens April 15.

Write adretreats@gmail.com for a pre-Registration Special of $100 off the Early Bird Price. (Valid for all email inquiries received by April 1)

Early Bird Special: $3900
(Deposit of $500 will hold your space and price till May 31. (After that the deposit will be applied towards the next applicable tier)
Regular Price: $4450
(Applicable to all deposits made after May 31 and all payments completed by June 30)
Late Registration: $4700
(Payments made after June 30. Space available)

2 Week Retreat options available: write adretreats@gmail.com

Sivananda Yoga Farm, Grass Valley, CA. April 7-9, 2017

photo
This time around, it is less theory and almost all practicum. So, you actually get a taste for why I keep teaching this stuff. This Emotional Intelligence Stuff. The stuff that when functioning clearly, innocently, joyously leads to clear, innocent, joyous thinking and thus actions. Those that support us instead of bushwhacking us. Every. Single. Time.
REGISTER HERE FOR GRASS VALLEY RETREAT

COMING UP LATER THIS SUMMER:

 GREECE 2017!
A YOGA & AYURVEDA RETREAT
JUNE 26 – JULY 6, 2017

greece-ocean

“FREE FALL IN LOGIC: THE STUDY OF VINYASA KRAMA YOGA
W/SPECIAL REFERENCE TO AYURVEDA

WITH ARUN DEVA
ASHLEY FIALA
VIVI LETSOU

AT ZEN ROCKS, MANI, GREECE

HOSTED BY NYSY YOGA, ATHENS
AVOCADO VEGETARIAN CAFE, ATHENS
ARUNACHALA YOGA & AYURVEDA, LOS ANGELES

$2250 Early Bird Price/$2550 After April 30, 2017.

A deposit of $500 will hold your spot and price till April 30.
After that, your deposit will apply only towards the Full Price*.

INFORMATION: ADretreats@gmail.com

REGISTER HERE
(Once we receive your Registration Form, a link for payment through Paypal will be sent to you. If you wish to pay by check, please note that in your Registration Form along with your telephone number.)

The Details:

Vinyāsa Krama literally means the methodology of a fluid practice within set parameters. There are 10 primary and one auxiliary sequences that make up the logic and freedom of the Vinyāsa style of practice in yoga. Within this logic happens the exhilaration of a free fall! This is the possibility inherent within the flexibility of the variations. Then there is the pranayama’s, the chanting, the meditations.

Ramaswami teaching Anjaneya asana advanced version

 

 

 

Ayurveda: So as not to get injured when the practice is not based on a sounder personal logic, the magic of Ayurveda makes sure we stay on the correct trajectory of our free fall: the health and wellbeing we are all seeking to create in our yoga. We will also practice daily living modalities from Ayurveda and study its basic principles.

Nadi Pariksha in Greece

Nadi Pariksha in Greece

 

Source: Based on the teachings of Srivatsa Ramaswami as transmitted to him in over 33 years of personal practice with the legendary TKV Krishnamachārya and understood by Arun Deva over a decade of practice. Infused with the understandings of Ayurveda through Arun Deva’s over two decades of Ayurvedic practice comes this Free Fall Within Logic.

At dusk
Mani at dusk
 

Practice: In this unique place we will have a very rare opportunity to practice all 11 Vinyāsa Krama Yoga sequences that comprise the basis of all Vinyāsa Yoga Practice. These teachings will be infused with important secrets from Ayurveda that add knowledge and insurance to our practice as Yoga Teachers and practitioners.

After practice in Mani 2014
After practice in Mani 2014

VIDEO: VINYASA KRAMA WITH ARUN

VIDEO: ASHLEY AND ARUN DISCUSS THIS RETREAT IN TEMECULA

INFORMATION: ADretreats@gmail.com

REGISTRATION LINK*
(Once we receive your Registration Form, a link for payment through Paypal Link will be sent to you. If you wish to pay by check, please note that in your Registration Form along with your telephone number.)

 acropolisSCHEDULE:

  • June 26: Drive to Mani and settle in. Evening, welcome and orientation.
  • June 27-July 5 (9 days):
  • 7:30-9:15AM: Morning Practice
  • 9:15: Light morning repast: Fruits, cereals, porridge, tea/coffee
  • 10-11:30AM: Ayurveda lecture.
  • Noon: Lunch
  • 1-4: Free Time
  • Our one group beach excursion will be on one of these days and will start after lunch and extend into the late evening.
  • 4-6PM: Afternoon Practice
  • 6:30-8PM: Dinner.
  • 8-10PM: Satsang (led in turns by Vivi (meditation), Ashley (kirtan), Arun (talk on yoga/tantra/ayurveda)
  • July 6: Morning practice. Brunch and closing circle. Drive back to Athens

 

greece-2017-usa

Arun Deva

QUIETNESS

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Dear friend,

It has been a while since I have written. There is so much being written and shared out there anyway, so the ability to just listen for a while got to me.

Also, there was not much to share in terms of events in the life of Yogarasayana, my alter ego. Or rather, my teacher and practitioner persona.

It is not that there has not been a lot going on. We finished the Yogarasayana India 2016: Forest Sage Retreat auspiciously. A lovely group of students and friends sharing some yoga sutra of Patanjali, some jungle time, some Ganges time and some all around good times.

On coming back, I headed to Phoenix to spend time with the students of the lovely Mary Bruce and Lorilee Gilmore, my hosts. The topic was Psychology of a Sage. So you can see where my head is these days…On coming back, I headed to Phoenix to spend time with the students of the lovely Mary Bruce and Lorilee Gilmore, my hosts. The topic was Psychology of a Sage. So you can see where my head is these days…
Read the related article Psychology of a Sage: Activating Higher Functional States here.

And of course the LA Ayurveda and Yoga Therapy Clinic has been in session and has kept me busier than ever.

Then of course there has been all the other stuff that we all shared. The uncertain becoming even more uncertain, definitely a disturbed vata trend. And I believe to some extent, we are all a little shell shocked and a little worn out by events not just here in the USA, but all around the world.

Storm Clouds

Perhaps some quiet is called for. Some time to turtle up, huddle into a shell and examine who we are in there. I feel fortunate that in these difficult times, I have these ancient yogic teachings that I can fall back on. Those that talk about who I am when I move past who I am sure I am: because I know I am flesh and blood, lifeforce, a mind, some intelligence and even some happiness when I allow it. When I say to myself, yes indeed this is me. But it is not lasting. This is the mortal me. It changes just like my world changes. And it is best not to get too attached to this me nor to the world it lives in.

Best to go looking for the me that is not mortal. The one that does not suffer. The one that is also you. It is there we fall in love with each other and everything else mortal. In fact, that is the simplest description I can give of Tantra, of Buddhism, and of the Upanishadic Vedanta. And it is from that place that I continue to grow this love that trumps all the hate I may exude, share, witness when I do not allow myself to be. Just. Quiet.

Arun File - 03

Even in this conversation we are having. To encourage you to join me in this quiet. Where we are a shared Being. Not separate except in our mortal lives. And that is as it should be. Where we can enjoy each other, admire each other, help each other and give each other space when we get under each others skins.

But this is getting long in the tooth. So I will stop here.

I have a quieter year planned for 2017. We shall see how that plays out. Perhaps I will still come to your hometown. However, I do encourage you to join me in any of the below and meet each other too.

There are three teaching Retreats planned:

April: Yoga Practices for Emotional Intelligence: CLICK HERE
Sivananda Yoga Farm, Grass Valley, CA. April 7-9, 2017


photo

This time around, it is less theory and almost all practicum. So, you actually get a taste for why I keep teaching this stuff. This Emotional Intelligence Stuff. The stuff that when functioning clearly, innocently, joyously leads to clear, innocent, joyous thinking and thus actions. Those that support us instead of bushwhacking us. Every. Single. Time.
REGISTER HERE FOR GRASS VALLEY RETREAT

June/July: The Art and Practice of Vinyasa Krama Yoga with Ayurveda: Zen Rocks, Mani, Greece. REGISTRATION COMING SOON! INFO: ADRETREATS@GMAIL.COM

Ever since I started studying with Ramaswami Sir, back in 2004/5, I knew I would need to teach this miraculous way of practicing. But I also knew I had to wait till it came in my voice. Obviously Ayurveda infused. Here we go. Serious Practitioners and all Yoga Teachers. This is for you.

Sept/October: Yogarasayana India Retreat 2017! Into the Stories.

This Retreat is in the Planning Stage but this is how it is shaping up:
Two sections:
A Southern India portion that includes Somatheeram Ayurveda Beach Resort, Kerala, for a week of pampering and Ayurvedic treatments and then a week of travel around some of my favorite places down south. Such as Mahabalipuram, Pondicherry, Arunachala.
A Northern India portion that starts with the birthplace of Lord Krishna; continues to the Taj Mahal and then wanders into Rajasthan, and into some legendary temple, wildlife and archeological sites. Along the way we will talk about the teachings of Lord Krishna in the Bhagavad Gita, the meaning of Tantra which in itself can be quite evasive to pin down and stories from India’s mythological past.
A total of two weeks in Southern India. And one week in the North. Do just two weeks or do it all.

If you are interested in this Retreat, please write to adretreats@gmail.com and you will be put on an Early Announcement Letter with a Special Price Offer.

Meanwhile, I bask in your friendship,

Arun Deva

ANNOUNCING INDIA 2016!

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Dear friend,

Greetings from the forests of India. It has been a long time wish of mine to teach the yoga sutra’s. In their own environment. The forests of India. This year, yogarasayana does just that. We are very excited to announce the “Forest Sage India Retreat 2016!”

We will locate ourselves in a very remote but amazingly beautiful, fully equipped, rustically luxurious Retreat Centre deep in the heart of India’s most beloved Tiger Conservancy National Park.

Run by people as in love with the forest as I am. We will visit its animals by jeep safari, by elephant safari and by foot. We will eat sumptuous locally grown organic meals put together by our hostess, who I must confess, understands Ayurvedic cooking better than many who have trained years in it 🙂

But most of all, we will practice the yoga sutra’s.

Yes, practice them. They are not meant for armchair reading. They must have deeper meaning that touches our own lives intimately. That is what I have yearned to teach. Please come join Jutta Hecht, Anjali Deva and me for this. Oh, and you will obviously get an Ayurvedic spin for all of it too!

We will also travel to the very abode of the sages: Rishikesh. Where we will visit the sacred Nìlakanțha Śiva Temple, perhaps river raft, do evening Puja’s on the banks of the Ganges and um, visit the Beatles Ashram:)

Details:
Dates: Oct 14-27.

Locations: Corbett National Park & Rishikesh, India.
Space is limited.

Further details to follow shortly. If you would like advance notice (and a special offer) please write to yogarasayana@gmail.com and tell us why you are interested!
Click Here for More Pictures

MEANWHILE:
Soon as I am back Stateside (and have seen Bruce Springsteen play just one more time J) I am off to Phoenix, hosted by the lovely Mary Bruce and Lorilee Gilmore for: The Wise Day It sold out some time ago, but if you are in Phoenix, please do contact Mary to see if we can fit you in.

April is a month I really am looking forward to.
First, I get to present the Saturday Practicum at the NAMA Conference.

My topic is Satvavajaya Cikitsa: The Conquest of Truth as a Therapeutic Tool.
I am really looking forward to meeting old friends. And making new ones.

April 22-26th I am so very happy to be back at the Sivananda Yoga Farm in Grass
Valley to teach the fourth year of Emotional Intelligence Studies through Yoga and Ayurveda.

This year, we have an additional two days of advanced training for those who may have done this before, have studied emotional intelligence elsewhere, are yoga therapists, Ayurveda practitioners…oh darn it, anybody who wants to and feels they can go further, please come!

Later in May, I will be in Salt Lake again. With Jennifer Ellen and In Body Academy as my hosts once more. We are planning a very special weekend Immersion. And of course there will be some days set aside for consults and follow up’s. Details to follow shortly!

June and July are teaching, practicing and being home in Southern California. I will teach for LMU’s Yoga Teacher Training Course. My own teacher, Srivatsa Ramaswami has requested some of his older students to teach part of his training this year and I am honored to teach the Yoga Sutra Chanting and Subtle Body Anatomy.

There is much more to come, including a long weekend teaching in the Lake Arrowhead area with my dear friend, Amy Wheeler Yoga.

As she puts it, a few days of yoga, Ayurveda and fun!

I will also be back in Temecula with TYC and Dana Point with Tam’s Yoga Bungalow.

For now, I leave you with some thoughts on the division coming up between Yoga Teacher Training and Yoga Therapist Training. These are my personal thoughts and not endorsed by any organization or person. There has been much written already and it is all very well thought out and stated. This will not come from the same intent to be rational. Rather this comes from the felt sense. Where we may acknowledge something like this: This does not make me feel good. It is from this place I write.

“Yoga is nothing if not therapeutic. Yoga is many things. It is union. It is stillness. It is completion and the journey to completion. It is sacred, it is mundane, it is time consuming, it is one hour of asana per week.
What it is not, is a system of exercise in a classroom or gym setting with designer clothes, mats and gossip about our latest smoothie recipes. It is not in competition to other forms of exercise. Tight butts and longer hamstrings are only side benefits and certainly not the goal. Or at least they should not be.
But it can fast become reduced to that. If we let it. Yoga is us. And we cannot be divided and still call ourselves yogi’s. Is a Yoga Therapist different from a Yoga Teacher? No. Just more specialty-trained: in its therapeutic application. They are still only yogi’s. Like you, me and the new person in class.
There are many realities. One is that yoga is by nature, a therapeutic tool. I beseech Yoga Alliance, who has taken on the responsibility of governing this powerful medicine as it transitions into the West, to live up to this responsibility: to keep yoga sthiram-sukham, keep it as authentic as possible. Certainly not declaw it, denature it and create an impotent yoga. When something comes into contact with a hostile environment it can either be strong enough to survive or it mutates to survive. If yoga mutates into nothing but a magazine style set of physical exercises, albeit posing as asana, it will be a great loss for a lot of seekers who will not know how to find its authentic core. Make no mistake, no matter what we do, this authentic core will survive. But let it not come to that. Where the real yoga needs to be once again sought in rare places. It came West to heal us. Let us not allow it to tear itself, and us, apart. ”


Meanwhile, I continue to work hard to bring yoga and Ayurveda together. I believe it is time. Not as an aberration needing correction but as an evolving of sister sciences that end up converging for the betterment of humanity. This work continues officially through NAMA, where our Committee is creating a new Category of Practitioners: Ayurvedic Yoga Therapists. Powerful stuff.

May we find stillness,
Arun Deva

Greece Saga. Indian Beginnings. SLC.

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Greece.  Elections were held while I was there. There was an air of resignation. Sadness perhaps. They voted for their leader who had been battered down by a bigger foe. Yes, they had met the Too Big To Fall. They are weary. But they are Greeks. They go to the Plaka. They feed you. They drink ouzo with you. And behind their tired eyes I see something. They have dignity. They are not down because they are wise. And I think to myself. The Too Big To Fall miscalculated. The world now knows what the Too Big are made of. We bear witness. Clearly, I miss my Greek friends. They have taught me how to be resilient no matter what. No wonder. They have a history of standing up again and again.

 

And now I am in India. Here too there is history. Ancient. And new. And here there is always confusion between the two. But I got to visit the ancient. The sources of painstaking research into the ancient texts of yoga. And walked out with a bagful of books:)

It is good to be with family as I prepare for India 2015! On Oct 9th, my co-leader Jutta will arrive with the Group and I pray Ganapati Bapa will let me have everything ready for them.

You can follow this journey here on Facebook:

Then it is on to Delhi to teach at Om Yoga Studios.

This is a topic that is making the telepathic waves. I am seeing it on other well respected Ayurvedic teachers pages. Almost identical. It is clairvoyance, telepathy, unified field…I do not know, but it all appears in print around the same time and we all know it takes months to get it out there:) I think it means we have borne witness here too. The answers have always been there. Lets not be fooled again.

Jai Hanuman, the breath of the Divine. Serendipity is your play.

November sees me in Salt Lake, my twice a year home. And so happy to work again with my dear long time supporter and lifelong friend, Jennifer Ellen. Hosted by Centered City Yoga. I look forward to seeing all my Utah friends. And making new ones.

To sign up for a Consult, Follow Up or Bliss Treatment: https://clients.mindbodyonline.com/classic/home?studioid=24504

Next year is turning out to be quite exciting too.

Perhaps I will get to catch you in Dallas at Castle Hill Yoga.
Grass Valley at Sivananda Yoga Farm for Emotional Intelligence Through Yoga & Ayurveda with special extended workshop for therapists, practitioners and teachers.  
NAMA Conference in Rhode Island (Presenting the Practicum)
Las Vegas
Temecula
Hemet
San Juan Capistrano…
France perhaps?
Or Gokarna, India to study Patanjali’s Yoga Darshana & then visit Hanuman’s birthplace?
Greece of course:)
And of course in my hometown: Los Angeles.

Two major projects in hand. A book
(There, I have said it. Now I will have to write it:)
And perhaps, just perhaps, a dream come true: a School of Yoga & Ayurveda Integration for Therapeutic Purposes.

As I said before: Jai Hanuman! 

Om Gana Ganapataye Namaha.
With love & light,
Arun Deva