Srivatsa Ramaswami's 200 hour VinyasaKrama TT Program June/July 2010

Just received conformation that I'm on the course.

From March 2010 Newsletter

Teacher Training Program in Vinyasakrama Yoga

There are scores of Yoga Teacher Training Programs and almost every

promoter(me included) claim that his/her program is unique. The 200 hr

program I offer (registered with Yoga Alliance) is designed to give

a broad exposure and some in depth coverage of my understanding of

Yoga as I have learnt from my Guru. I must admit that my guru had the

uncanny knack of teaching what he considered to be important and

relevant to the particular student. Hence all his student –teachers,

though they have studied with the same preceptor, show different yogic

characteristics in their teachings that are obvious to even casual

observers. A three decade study under him helped me to assimilate a

lot of what he taught me, practice and reflect. What he taught

appealed to me profoundly. And I thought it might to a few others

with requirements and tendencies similar to mine who would be

interested in and may benefit from the Yoga I imbibed from my Guru.

Hence this 200 hr Vinyasa krama Teacher Training Program. Here are the

details.

1. The 60 hr Vinyasakrama asana course runs for 20days, three hours

per day. It consists of 10 major sequences broken into more than 120

or so subsequences built around well known asanas. There is a flow of

asanas/vinyasas with each slow movement synchronized with the

appropriate (brahmana and langhana) aspect of breathing. There are

about 700 Vinyasas. It is a systematic way to learn asanas. Even

though one may not be practicing all these asanas and movements in a

daily workout, it is necessary for a yoga teacher and serious students

of yoga to learn all asanas and vinyasas in a systematic manner. A

teacher or a yoga therapist has to have in her/his arsenal all the

yoga movements and asanas so that one can design an appropriate

program for one’s own practice and for varying individual requirements

of others. The word Vinyasa is widely used in several arts like music,

etc. In fact one meaning of Vinyasa is art itself and so vinyasakrama

would mean doing asanas as an art. Vinyasa is an artful expansion of

the physical culture called asana within certain specified parameters.

There is a certain nicety about Vinyasakrama approach. The sequencing

is a logical progression of Vinyasas. It is a yogasana gift from my

Guru and in it there is something, nay, everything (almost, that is)

for everyone (almost, that is) from a toddler yogi to the consummate

yogi.

2. The 20 hr Pranayama program is spread over 10 days of 2 hr

sessions. My Guru, as the old Hata yogis did, gave considerable

importance to Pranayama, which is another name of Hata Yoga. Orthodox

Indians as they do their rituals to the Sun, do a minimum of 40 mantra

pranayamas every day. It is considered a prerequisite of meditation,

dhyana. In this course the theory and practice of different types of

pranayamas will be taught and the various parameters. Practice is an

important aspect of this course. Many participants end up making

pranayama an integral part of their daily yoga routine.

3. The third subject will be Mantras and Meditation another aspect of

daily yoga practice. Mantras are a convenient and powerful vehicle for

taking the mind along the path of one pointedness. Sanskrit alphabets

also known as matrukas, or mother mantras, along with some of the

important mantras like Gayatri will be taught. Using mantra, a step by

step approach to meditation will be taught and participants will be

given the opportunity to practice meditation on these lines. It is a

20 hr program--10 sessions of 2 hrs each. Participants will also be

introduced to Sanskrit recitation, another form of meditative

practice, an important aspect of Sri Krishnamacharya’s teachings

4. There is a 25 hour segment of Yoga for Health. It consists of 10

hours of Anatomy and Physiology, a requirement of Yoga Alliance with

which this program is registered. 5 hrs of subtle anatomy will

explore the conceptual basis of the human system from the yogic point

of view and will be discussed in some detail, based on old texts like

Yoga Yogyavalkya, etc. and attempts will be made to relate these

concepts with modern ideas. My Guru was a great exponent of Cikitsa

krama or the therapeutic approach of yoga. In the 10 hr session of

Yoga for Internal Organs, the six main kosas** or organs and the

systems they support will be gone into in details and the yogic

practices that are beneficial to these systems will be discussed.

(**hrudaya kosa or heart and the circulatory system, svasa kosa or the

lungs and the respiratory system, anna kosa or stomach and the

digestive system, garbha kosa or uterus and the reproductive system

etc.)

5. A 25 hour segment is reserved to study Yoga as a darsana or a

philosophy. In this 5 hrs are allotted to learn to chant some of the

yoga sutras. In the remaining 20 hrs, the entire YS (Yoga Sutras) will

be gone through word by word and sutra by sutra, so that during this

first reading the participants will learn to stay close to the text

and get a good understanding of the sutras and the thought process

contained in this ancient text.

6. Sri Krishnamacharya’s works is the title of this 20 hr program.

Even though my Guru is well known, his works remain somewhat hidden.

In this course reading of his works, “Yoga Makaranda” and “Nathamuni’s

Yoga Rahasya” will be taken up. It will hopefully help the

participants to have a first hand view of some of the concepts of

Krishnamacharya’s Yoga.

7. In this short segment, 5 hours will be allotted for Yoga Business

and 5 hours for Teaching Methodology

8. A twenty hour program titled “Visesha Vinyasas” made up of 5

sessions of 4 hrs each completes the 200 hours of instructions. In

this special sequences like Sun Salutation, Salutation to Directions,

etc. will be taught. It will also cover all the parameters required

to be considered to design individualized programs based on these

courses. Sri Krsihnamacharya’s ingenuity lay in his ability to offer

what the students or patients needed . Yoga takes care of the needs of

everyone, all through the life--to everyone according one’s changing

needs. A teacher has to equip herself/himself with as much information

as possible in a logical way. Yoga is a comprehensive subject and has

enough breadth and depth to meet the evolving requirements of everyone

all through the life.

Well, the program is scheduled to start on June 15, 2010 and runs for

five weeks at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles. You or one

of your friends may resonate with this program. Registration is open

and for details please contact:

Alana Bray

Yoga Coordinator,

Loyola Marymount University

1,LMU Drive, Suite 1840,

Los Angeles, CA

Yoga@lmu.edu

(310)338-2358