Vajra Yoga & Yoga Alliance Teacher Training: Module 1

Module 1: Foundations in Mind and Body Yogic Practice: The Free Void Womb of Compassion

Join us for this totally unique yoga teacher training, exploring the philosophical and experiential interface between Hatha Yoga and Indo-Tibetan Vajra Yoga traditions in the pristine hidden mountain valley of Menla—a Medicine Buddha land. This will be an intensive immersion designed for students and teachers of Indian and Tibetan yogas wishing to take their practice and teaching to a deeper level. A principal of the approach is to move the context of the yogas into the domain of the mahāsiddhas—their trans-denominational Indic spiritual sciences (adhyātmavidyā–nangi rigpa). 

Daily practice of yoga asana (harmonizing Hatha Yoga, Vajrayana yogas–especially Kalachakra and Tibetan Trulkhor yogas), meditation, pranayama, chanting, instruction, contemplation, discussion, sleep and dream yogas, such as yoga nidra, will be offered to create a deeply transformational journey of self-discovery.  We will also gain a strong foundation in yoga teaching methodology, practicum, & technique as well as applied anatomy and physiology that will empower those aiming to teach yoga in a universalist and science-based setting to do so with confidence and poise. The course is for those who wish to advance their knowledge and experience of yoga, whether they choose to teach or not. All serious students are welcome to participate.  

This is a rare opportunity to study intimately and extensively, in the context of a yoga training, with Professor Emeritus, Padma Shri Robert “Tenzin” Thurman – Vajracharya in the lineage of H. H. the Dalai Lama, world renowned scholar & authority on Indo-Tibetan Buddhist Science, Indic spirituality, and world philosophy. He will elucidate the Buddha’s teachings and offer inner scientific, philosophical, and spiritual inspiration for our yoga practices.  Michele Loew—in the Hatha yoga lineage of Krishnamacharya and Richard Freeman and also Kalachakra and Tibetan Trulkhor yoga practitioner—has trained thousands of yoga teachers in her long-established Yoga Alliance certification courses and will utilize the deep investigation of yoga from a classical lineage perspective to build an intelligent foundation that can be applied to any style of yoga. The yoga practices will be built mindfully and progressively from the ground up with deep attention to physical and subtle body alignment.  

This training is a Yoga Alliance certified training through Michele Loew and her longtime program through The Yoga Space in Portland, Oregon. Menla is listed as a location for this program. For students with an existing 200 hr certification, the requirements for a Yoga Alliance 500 hr (300 hr +) certification will be met upon completion of all three modules.

Students seeking continuing education can apply each 100-hour module as credits for continuing education (CEU’s). There is no formal agency yet like Yoga Alliance for Buddhist or Vajra Yoga, so Menla is developing an equivalent program and will gradually seek to agree with other reputable organizations on it. Our certification will have to do with:

1) The achieved wisdom or understanding demonstrated by the candidate students in an oral examination, based on the curriculum of classical texts critically read and experientially mastered to some degree of insight in sutra and tantra fields

2) The achieved contemplative expertise demonstrated by the students as observed by instructors in asana, pranayama, contemplative endurance, etc.

3) The achieved ethicality demonstrated by the students in terms of commitment to the precepts in renunciative, altruistic, and dedicational categories.

This course includes study and contemplation of traditional texts and practices from Indian and Tibetan traditions, including but not limited to The Yoga Sutras of Patañjali and selected Pāli Suttas, such as the Samaññaphala, the Mahāsatipatthana, and the Aggañña Suttas, The Yoga Vasishta and the Vimalakirti and Flower Ornament Sutras, the Bhagavad Gita and the Lalitavistara Sutra, Shankarāchārya’s Yogatārāvalī and Shantideva’s Bodhisattvas Career, the Hatha Yoga Pradipika and the Mañjushrī-nāma-saṁgītī, the Tibetan Book of the Dead, and various works by Jey Tsong Khapa and the Dalai Lama on deity yoga and on the inner science of the Esoteric Community and the Kalachakra.  

This intensive-studies program is taught in three 10 day 100 hr. immersion modules.  For those seeking a 300 hr. certification, all 3 modules must be completed. Each 10 day immersion is a unique and complete course, so they do not need to be taken in order.  Course completion could take place the following year or two. Students wishing to just take one or two of the modules are welcome to do so.

Module 1:  Foundations in Mind and Body Yogic Practice – The Bliss-Void Womb of Compassion 

Yoga Asana:  Standing Poses/Core/ Forward Folds;  Tibetan NeJang Yoga; Introducing the philosophies of yoga, dualist and nondualist, Shiva and Kalachakra Yogas

Module 2:  The Creative Art of Re-envisioning Mind and Body – Mandala as Empowering Space of Practice

Visualizations; Mantras; Prānāyāma; Yoga Asana Mirroring Subtle Body Fluency—Back Bends, Hip Joint/ spine Twists;  Yin Yoga; Tantric Trulkhor Yogas/ Kalachakra Yoga

Module 3:  Expansion into Perfection Stages

Moving Inner Energies within the Subtle Body;  Inner Fire; Sleep and Dream Yogas Intensified; Prāṇāyāma Practices deepened; Yoga Asana—Inversions,  Shoulders/ head/ neck; Kalachakra Yoga

*Please note that this is an accommodations only registration.

To apply and reserve your space in this program please visit micheleloew.com

Schedule

Thursday, September 3

• 3 – 8pm Check in
• 6 – 7 pm Dinner
• 7:30 pm Welcome & Introductory Class

Friday, September 4 – Saturday, September 12

• 6:30 – 7am  Meditation
• 7 – 9am  Pranayama & Asana Practice
• 9 – 10am  Breakfast
• 10:30am – 1 pm  Asana Technique, Assists, Applied Anatomy & Physiology
• 1 – 2pm  Lunch
• 2 – 4pm  Free time for Spa Treatments, Hiking, Self-Study
• 4 – 6pm  Chanting, Meditation, Philosophy/Psychology
• 6 – 7pm Dinner
• 7:30 pm  Philosophy/Psychology Discussion, Yoga Nidra, Restorative or Yin Session

Sunday, September 13

• 6:30 – 7am  Meditation
• 7 – 9am  Pranayama & Asana Practice
• 9 – 10am  Breakfast
• 10:30am – 1 pm  Asana Technique, Assists, Applied Anatomy & Physiology
• 1 – 2pm  Lunch and Departure

*Please note that schedule is subject to change at any time.