Sadhana Mandir Ashram
Ramnagar, P.O. Pashulok
Rishikesh, U.P. 249 203
India
OR:
The Meditation Center
631 University Avenue NE
Minneapolis, MN 55413
USA
Telephone: 612 - 379 - 2386, Fax 612 - 379 - 2456
Dear Yoga Practitioner,
You are invited to a rare opportunity to advance your yogapractice, in India. International Yoga Week 1999, will occur on thebanks of the Ganges River, in the holy city of Rishikesh, the gatewayto the Himalayas and home to a hundred spiritual sanctuaries (or isit five hundred?).
The theme of this year's program is YOGA MEDITATIONASSELF-THERAPY. Guided by Swami Veda Bharati, and other teachers fromthe Himalayan Yoga Tradition, you will:
- Experience dimensions of yoga meditation as taught by the GreatHimalayan Sages;
- Learn the principles behind the practices;
- Explore how yoga is self-therapy;
- Practice Hatha-Yoga as primarily meditational;
- Encounter the people and culture of India.
In addition to yoga training, the highly specialized medicalfaculty of the nearby Himalayan Institute of Medical Sciences willshare their expertise on the application of yoga postures, breathing,relaxation, and higher meditational exercises as applied to healingdisease and enhancing health, from a medical point of view.
Yoga Week also features the option of a visit to Corbett NationalPark, a stunning wildlife sanctuary inhabited by elephants, tigers,leopards, and varieties of deer, OR an excursion to the sacredshrines in the mountains near Rishikesh. Even if you were notattending Yoga Week, these excursions alone would make your tripworthwhile.
For the second part of the seminar (February 8 - 13), we havebuilt in additional time for a guided private retreat to practicemeditation. This will be individually tailored by the residentpreceptor, Dr. Swami Veda Bharati, to suit your individual needs. Ifyou elect to extend your stay further (February 13 - on), you mayalso take classes in hatha-yoga, pranayama, meditation and yogicinternal-dialogue, spend time in silence and introspection, anddeepen your spiritual practice.
Please see further explanations in this packet about the Yoga Weekprogram. We hope that you will join us for this unique confluence ofthe ancient and the modern and for a remarkable experience ofspiritual discovery.
Yours in Service
The Organizing Committee at Sadhana Mandir Ashram
The yoga of prana and mind has continued to be taught in anunbroken tradition in the caves of the Himalayas for the pastthousands of years. Very few disciples in the lower altitudes haveaccess to this teaching. From the traditions thus passed on, numerousschools of meditation have developed in all parts of the world, butevery now and then the various streams must be refreshed from theHimalayan fountainhead.
During the International Yoga Week you will experience:
- Some of the lesser-known methods in Shava-asana;
- Guided meditation sessions in mantra yoga, laya yoga andkundalini yoga;
- Methods of producing alpha and theta brainwaves on command;
- Theory and practice sessions on such topics as the symptoms ofthe opening of various chakras (for example, one whose first chakrais open becomes a master of silence as well as of effective speech),and the 360 points of concentration in the chakras.
- Training in Yoga nidra (yogic sleep), from preparatory tointermediate levels as the time and the participants' capacitiespermit. Yoga nidra enables the practitioner to obtrain deep restwhile fully conscious and has other benefits that will be explainedin the seminar.
- The view of yoga as self-therapy from neurosurgeons,cardiologists, master homeopaths, keepers of the Ayurveda traditionand other specialists affiliated with the Himalayan Institute ofMedical Sciences who use meditational methods in prevention andtreatment of diseases.
- After the conference, you may opt for a guided spiritual retreatat the Ashram (at additional cost).
January 30, 1999
Arrival in Rishikesh. Registration at Sadhana Mandir Ashram.
January 31 - February 5, 1999
Training sessions, Practicums, Cultural Events and Excursions:
Training in Himalayan Meditation System(s). Talks and training inthe application of Yoga Meditation in Thepary, Healing, Preventionand Cure of Disease in combination with Tratitional and ModernMedical Systems. A visit to the Himalayan Institute Hospital Trust.Indian Classical Music and Dance performance, including devotionalchanting. One day excursion trip up along the Ganges River.
February 6 - 8, 1999
Depart for either Corbett National Park or the sacred shrines ofthe mountains near Rishikesh.
February 8 - 13, 1999
Continuation of yoga week seminar at Sadhana Mandir Ashram. Enjoyquiet time with additional instruction and meditation according to aprogram individually tailored for you.
February 13, 1999
You may make arrangements to extend your stay at the Ashram for apeaceful personal spiritual retreat, designed by the Ashrampreceptor, Swami Veda Bharati.
The price of the seminar includes accomodation (January 30 -February 5 and February 8 - 13, 1999), vegetarian yogic diet, yogaconsultation sessions, instruction, and demonstration of yogatechnique and practice.
Transportation and excursion trips are not included in the priceof the seminar.
Cost per person for the seminar package: US $ 600 (Reducedprice for limited dormitory accomodations).
Excursion Fee (February 6 - 8, 1999) includestransportation, accomodations and meals. Cost per person is US $200.
For extended stay at the Ashram following the seminar (February 13on) the price is US $ 20 per night. Accomodations during this timeare dependent upon availability. To receive more information and toregister for the seminar, please call or write to:
The Meditation Center
631 University Avenue NE
Minneapolis, MN 55413
USA
Attn.: Yoga Week Coordinator
Telephone: 612 - 379 - 2386, Fax 612 - 379 - 2456
Who is teaching the seminar?
Swami Veda Bharati (formerly Dr. Usharbudh Arya)
Born and raised in the five-thousand year old tradition of theSanskrit speaking scholar-philosophers of India, and having studiedand obtained advanced degrees from modern institutions of higherlearning, Swami Veda Bharati combines the best of the ancient and themodern. A disciple of the great Himalayan sage Swami Rama, he is aninspired and loving teacher, a prolific author, ecstatic poet, andinternational lecturer. Swami Veda has been blessed by his Masterwith the ability to induce people into deeper states of consciousnessthrough his guided meditations. He is a sought after spiritual guideand spiritual preceptor.
Swami Veda is the Spiritual Director of the Sadhana Mandir Ashram.He also serves as spiritual preceptor for numerous groups and centersin North America, Europe, Southeast Asia and elsewhere. He remains inresidence at Sadhana Mandir Ashram for six months of each year.
Where is Rishikesh?
In the foothills of the Himalayas, where the sacred River Gangesdescends into the plains, there is a town called Rishikesh, literallymeaning "matted locks of sages." It is the gateway to the Himalayasand the seat of more than one hundred spiritual sanctuaries. The holytown of Rishikesh is in Uttar Pradesh, the largest state ofIndia.
What is Sadhana Mandir Ashram?
A flower-filled island of peace, at the banks of the Holy Ganges,surrounded by the foothills of the Himalayas, the Ashram stillvibrates with the energy bequeathed by its founder, Swami Rama of theHimalayas. It is now being served by Swami Veda bharati, on whomSwami Rama conferred one of the higher initiations in the HimalayanTradition in 1970.
The Ashram is an international center for the study and practiceof meditation, and its attendant sciences, texts and philosophies, ashanded down in their traditional purity by the lineages of theHimalayan masters (about whom please read Swami Rama's LIVING WITHTHE HIMALAYAN MASTERS).
What is the Himalayan Institute of Medical Sciences?
The Himalayan Institute of Medical Sciences is a 200-acre MedicalCity developed in the past four years in the Doon Valley in thefoothills of the Himalayas. It provides both general and specializedmedicine and surgery as a service to the populations of the GahrwalHimalayas. It combines ancient Yoga methods with modern technology aswell as such alternative methods as Homeopathy andAyurveda.
Both the Medical City and the Ashram were established by the lateSwami Rama of the Himalayas, author of the famous work Living withthe Himalayan Masters and 45 other books, a master yogi, poet, socialreformer, scientist and master of numerous sciences, both ancient andmodern.
Do consider staying on at the Ashram after Yoga Week is over. YogaWeek is followed by a very special seminar on SriVidya, also taught by Swami Veda Bharati.
Copyright 1999 Museum of European Art