Tag Archives: Sādhanā

Become an Ashtanga Yoga professor thanks to the training given by the Ashtanga Yoga Institute in Brussels

The Ashtanga Yoga Institute in Brussels perpetuates the teachings of Sri K. Pattabhi Jois. Since 1973, Jean Claude Garnier trains students, in Europe and Asia, to deepen their knowledge about Yoga. Some of the students will find a calling and become a Yoga Professor and in turn, transmit the art of Yoga.

The Institute is open to different currents of Yoga. Jean Claude Garnier pursues the transmission of Ashtanga Yoga as taught by Krishnamacharya and his disciples B.K.S. Iyengar, and Sri K. Pattabhi Jois.

Sri K. Pattabhi Jois

Sri K. Pattabhi Jois

Training and recycling as a Yoga professor, who is concerned ?

  • People who practice Yoga and wish to deepen their self-knowledge in order to obtain a better body and mind balance
  • Those who wish to deepen their approach of the tradition of Yoga
  • Future teachers who wish to teach Yoga in Europe – this requires a commitment to a course of minimum 5 modules
  • Existing Yoga teachers who wish to broaden their personal knowledge with an ancient and dynamic method
  • Yoga teachers who have the obligation to improve and develop their existing skills

How does the training with personal monitoring take place ?

  • You deepen your knowledge of the practice of Yoga: first, second and third series
  • You study Yoga and its philosophy
  • You learn to observe during classes (group and private classes)
  • You progressively assist the teacher during classes
  • You will be supervised as of your first class, in order to answer your questions.

How to obtain a diploma

The Yoga teacher training consists of a set of modules.

At the end of each module there is a practical and theoretical evaluation.

Once you have successfully passed a module, you can move on to the next one.

You need to complete a minimum of 5 modules (A, B, C, D, E, F) and write a thesis which summarizes your studies and research on one of the aspects of Yoga.

This diploma is a requisite to :

  • Practice the profession in European countries
  • Teach in a recognised Institute
  • Register to the national professional database
  • Get an insurance
  • As an asset for your students

 European PDF laws

European Yoga Union: http://www.yogaeurop.com/index.php?categoryid=21

Proto Shiva, of the Indus civilization

Proto Shiva, of the Indus civilization

 Content covered during the training

Theoretical documentation will be given to you at the end of each module in electronic version (with an access to “training”)

 Topics

  • Anatomy
  • Physiology
  • Psychology
  • Pedagogy
  • Professional ethics
  • History
  • Etymology
  • Indian sacred texts

Also discussed: communication, oral and written expression, dietetics, lifestyle…

 Course content of Training Module A

  • Postural practice first & second series (Sádhaná Yoga)

Postural foundations, supports, reviewing and improvement of postures and their variations; breathing techniques in postures (pranayama); development of concentration, letting go, individual work and group work, workshops, first trials of teaching.

 

Theoretical courses

  • Classical Indian Tradition through its Vedic origins
  • Invocations (prayer at the beginning of the class): explanation, its significance and its meaning.
  • Theory and practice of Ashtanga Yoga (Mula Bandha, uddiyana, Ujjayi Pranayama, Vinyasa)
  • Knowledge of anatomy related to postural practice
  • Importance of stretching during Yoga postures
  • Use of Sanskrit during courses
  • Religious festivals
  • The creation of the world (Taittiriya Aranyaka viewed by Veda)
  • The life, work and education of Sivananda, Sri Ramakrishna, Swami Ramdas, Yogi Ram Surat Kumar, Sri Yukheswar, Alain Danielou, Krishnamurti.

Check the PDF files to see the content of the other training modules

Admissions

The admission procedures are common to all schools of the National Federation of Yoga Teachers

To enrol in the first year of training you must:

  • Have practiced Yoga for at least 2 years with one or more teachers and have one of the teachers complete a sponsorship record
  • Be over 18 years old
  • Have a general level of education or equivalent vocational training at high-school level.

When and where:

  • India: the longest training (one month)
  • Greece: condensed training (two weeks)
  • Belgium: all year long (10 weekends from September to June / July)

Invocations or chants in Ashtanga Yoga practice

According to Sri K. Pattabhi Jois’ teachings, this prayer expresses the wish/desire to liberate oneself from illusions (Māyā) in order to obtain the reach the Supreme knowledge (Satcitānanda). It is always recited by yogis before the Ashtanga yoga practice.

The chant at the start of the class (opening chant)

It is presented as a moment of change, an inner attitude, a rite of passage that goes from the profane time to the sacred time.

Its goal is to produce a change of direction in the senses that in the profane/secular time are turned towards the exteriority, to go towards the sacred time of the interiority in order to reach the feeling of unity with oneself.

It is a time devoted to the awakening of the inner life in the yogi’s heart.

After the agitation of the profane world, this realigning allows us to find « the immobility, the rest, the calm, the inner silence » from the Greek ἡσυχασμός (hesychasmos) « be in peace, stay silent » from the Greek ἡσυχάζω (hesychadzo). It aims at the soul’s peace/inner peace.

« God became man, so that the man could become God »
Athanasius of Alexandria (Αθανάσιος)
298 – 373

अष्गयोग मंत्रम्

वन्दे गुरूणां चरणारविन्दे
सन्दर्शित स्वात्म सुखाव बोधे ।

vande gurūṇāṁ caraṇāravinde
sandarśita svātma sukhāva bodhe |

निःश्रेयसे जङ्गलिकायमाने
संसार हालाहल मोहशांत्यै ॥

niḥ-śreyase jaṅgali-kāyamāne
saṁsāra hālāhala mohaśāṁtyai ||

 

आबाहु पुरुषाकारं
शंखचक्रासि धारिणम् ।

ābāhu puruṣākāraṁ
śaṁkhacakrāsi dhāriṇam |

सहस्र शिरसं श्वेतं
प्रणमामि पतञ्जलिम् ॥

sahasra śirasaṁ śvetaṁ
praṇamāmi patañjalim ||

 

vande gurūṇāṁ caraṇāravinde
sandarśita svātma sukhāva bodhe
niḥ-śreyase jaṅgali-kāyamāne
saṁsāra hālāhala mohaśāṁtyai

ābāhu puruṣākāraṁ
śaṁkhacakrāsi dhāriṇam
sahasra śirasaṁ śvetaṁ
praṇamāmi patañjalim

Translation in English (from Jean Claude’s French translation)

Om ()

I bow to the lotus feet of the Supreme Guru.
Who teaches the Knowledge, awakening the great happiness of one’s own self revelation.
He acts as the
 jungle physician,
capable of dispersing the illusions and the poison of a conditioned existence.

To Patañjali, Adisesa’s incarnation, of white colour, with a thousand radiant faces (under the form of divine serpent Ananta),a human form below the shoulders, holding the sword of discrimination, a wheel of fire symbolising eternity and the conch representing the divine sound.
I bow.
Om

Granit statue prayer

Granit statue prayer

The chant at the end of the class (closing chant)

After the asana practice, it is time for the end-of-class chant in Sanskrit.
After having explored our interiority, we say good-bye to each other.
We leave with the promise of meeting again.
This chant is a way of saying thank you, of thanking the Yoga masters.
Now we reopen our self to the exteriority so that we can share our peace with the world.
Before leaving, lying down on the floor, it is time to integrate the yoga class (Savāsana position).

OM

स्वस्तिप्रजाभ्यः परिपालयंतां
न्यायेन मार्गेण महीं महीशाः ।
svasti-prajā-bhyaḥ pari-pāla-yaṁtāṁ
nyāyena mārgeṇa mahīṁ mahīśāḥ |

गोब्राह्मणेभ्यः शुभमस्तु नित्यं
लोकाः समस्ताः सुखिनोभवंतु ॥
go-brāhmaṇebhyaḥ śubham-astu nityaṁ
lokāḥ samastāḥ sukhino-bhavaṁtu ||

 ॐ शान्तिः शान्तिः शान्तिः
auṁ śāntiḥ śāntiḥ śāntiḥ

 

Translation in English (from Jean Claude’s French translation)

Om

May all men be protected and live in peace.
May those who lead walk on the path of justice.
May the whole world and those who search for truth, be under the Divine protection.
So everyone will have a happy existence.
Om, be in peace, go in peace, share the peace…

 

Om-mandala

Om, the sacred syllable is all, what was, what is and what will be; imperishable, it is beyond the three times. » 
Māṇḍūkya Upaniṣad