From āsana to sādhanā

Infusing modern yoga with spiritual practice and the goal of true liberation

Do you yearn for your yoga practice to be the spiritual balm that you thought it would be? Did you take a 200 hour yoga teacher training hoping that you could finally get into the REAL yoga and understand the roots, only to spend 70% of your time (or more!) practicing asana and learning about physical anatomy? Surely, the training deepened your practice and gave you some amazing experiences, maybe even spiritual experiences that really inspired you, but left you wondering how to integrate that into your own practice and teaching when what you learned is really primarily asana. So you show up to your mat everyday, maybe to the studio where you teach, and you teach or practice what you know: mostly asana with some breathing practices and a few inspirational thoughts or themes. And yet deep inside, you know that yoga has more to offer. 

This program focuses on that “more.” Through seated meditation, thorough study, discussion and application of The View of non dual śaiva tantra (NDST), embodied meditation, somatics, mantra, pranayama and more we create a community of seekers who practice and study together with attention and vigor. 

You must have graduated from a 200 hour YTT or have equivalent practice experience (please document in 2-3 paragraphs.) 

You must have a basic familiarity with most āsanas, and be able to guide yourself through a one-hour physical yoga practice. This is primarily because we are not going into any depth about āsana in this course. At times you may be instructed to “do a few sun salutations on your own.” There is no test, and your knowledge will not be graded or assessed, but you should be comfortable with this. No one will be teaching you how to do a sun salutation here.

You should have some experience with meditation, though extensive experience is not required. You should have interest in meditation and be excited about a training which focuses almost entirely on the spiritual path, with extensive use of physical embodiment. Practicing with Shiva online will also be a good preparation.

Please note there are no specific spiritual requirements for this program, other than that the descriptions on this website appeal to you. You need not have any prior spiritual experience or attainment.  

We will meet in-person at 3 retreats over the course of 13 months. They will take place in Boulder, CO in an intimate and beautiful studio with amazing views of the flatirons.

The tentative schedule is as follows:

September 21-28, 2024 – Boulder, Colorado

April 12-19, 2025 – Boulder, Colorado

Sept 27 – Oct 4, 2025 – Boulder, Colorado

Each retreat starts at 4pm on the evening of the first day, and ends at 7:30pm on the evening of the last day. 

All three of these retreats, in consecutive order with your cohort, are required to receive your 300 hour Yoga Alliance certificate. If you miss a retreat, you may attend a later one IF AVAILABLE, but there is no guarantee that a later one will be held. If certification is not a priority for you and you are only interested in the experience and immersion, you may take any retreats in any order you wish. 

Sample Daily Schedule as provided above is subject to change depending on the needs of the group. 

FIRST DAY SCHEDULE

4pm arrival – opening circle

6pm – 7pm Dinner (provided)

7pm-8:30 Mantra & Meditation

We will meet twice monthly over zoom for the year of the program to practice together, for community support of our daily practice, Q&A with Shiva, and discussion of the required reading list and whatever books and articles we’re reading that are a part of this program. This will also be a chance for you to lead an embodiment session and have practicum where you receive feedback on your teaching. The zoom calls are a precious way for us to stay connected and support each other in between retreats. They are required, as these live hours are a part of the 300 total and they are recorded so if you must miss one you will be able to catch up easily. There will be an orientation zoom call before the first retreat. 

You will have the opportunity for one-on-one work with Shiva, if you choose. Not required, these sessions will be offered 3 times throughout the year, included in your tuition. If you take advantage of this offering, a one hour zoom session will be scheduled for you and Shiva. These private sessions will be an opportunity for you get specific feedback on your sadhana and to ask questions. Recordings will be available for you to review.

Homework will be detailed in our first zoom meeting (which will take place before our first retreat) but will generally consist of reading and watching spiritual material, and daily practices including insight and awareness meditation, chanting, pranayama, and embodiment. We will also have an online forum or group chat to support your process where you will be encouraged to check in weekly. Some kind of daily practice is required for the duration of the program.

The time required could be as little as 20 minutes per day of practice and 2-3 hours per week of study, but as with anything the more you dedicate yourself to it, the more you will get out of it.

Tuition: $4500 paid in full by May 1st, 2024

         or $5050 paid in installments:

$600 by May 1st, 2024 or upon registration

$1483 before each retreat (1-Sep-2024, 1-Apr-2025, 1-Sep-2025)

Tuition includes – all teachings and classes on retreat, vegan and gluten free brunch and dinner each day of retreat, all zoom calls, all handouts, audio recordings of most of the retreat content, 3x one-on-one sessions, plus a membership to Shivā’s online classes for 13 months.

Tuition does not include – travel expenses, lodging, books.

Each retreat will take place at 3825 Iris Ave #310, Boulder, CO 80301 in a beautiful and intimate studio space with views of the iconic Flatirons. The studio is equipped with yoga mats, blocks, chairs, etc so you do not need to bring any mats or props with you, other than anything you specifically prefer for your seated mediation practice. You can expect to be meditating 30 minutes at a time, twice a day. 

Please arrive no later than 10 MINUTES BEFORE class starts in the morning, so that you can settle in and arrive and we can begin promptly at the start time. We frequently begin with meditation and interrupting this to set up your sitting space will be disruptive to everyone. Please help us create a strong and supportive container with your on-time presence. 

You will be provided with two bountiful vegan, gluten free meals per day, as well as tea and fresh fruit and nuts to snack throughout the day. If you have additional nutritional needs or preferences, feel free to bring whatever you wish. We have a full size refrigerator and microwave for our use in the studio. Our breaks are short, please plan to use them for integration, walking outdoors, or sitting in the park. It is unlikely you’ll have enough time to drive out, get a meal, and make it back in time and even if you can, this rushing energy may not serve your retreat process in the best possible way. 

We will have an altar set up for our retreat space, I’d love for you to bring something sacred or something you wish to make sacred to place on our community altar.

While the closest place to find lodging is in Boulder and will put you at a 5-15 minute drive away, there are less expensive options in Longmont which is about 25 minutes drive away. We will be happy to create a WhatsApp group to connect people looking to share lodging and transportation to economize. 

The below descriptions and plan are subject to change based on the needs of the group and how quickly we progress through the material. They are general guidelines for our progression and flow, but not set in stone.

September 21-28, 2024 – ALIGN

This first retreat will focus on establishing view teachings and helping us to clearly understand the fundamental life orientation that is required for awakening and liberation, as well as precisely understanding what we mean by those terms and looking deeply into our motives for spiritual practice. We will also engage in lively discussion to help us root out wrong-view. This is not to say that anyone’s opinions or experiences could possibly be wrong. But there are ways of viewing our experiences that can prevent us from ever moving past them and opening up to a way of relating with the world that is free from past conditioning. This will be done in the spirit of deep self-inquiry. There is no dogma that you must adopt, no beliefs that you must hold.  You must only be willing to question every belief and every thought. My philosophy is that you do not have try to make any specific changes, you only need to try to see with as much clarity as you are able, and those changes that you desire, and more that you can’t even imagine, will begin to happen of their own accord.

April 12-19, 2025 – PURIFY

Once we have reset the compass of our souls, we can actually begin on the spiritual journey. This middle retreat is designed to assist you in the deep process which has already taken hold of you. We will engage in purifying practices such as meditation, mantra, movement, vocalization dance. All of these things we practiced in the first retreat also, but at this point in the process the focus is more on going deeply into these practices as a way to let go of what is ready to be shed, to go into the fire of tapas and to burn up in the hot fire of the light of pure awareness. There is an intensity we will bring now that we have established our community and we are supporting each other fearlessly. We will invite further inquiry to reveal our conditioned patterns and beliefs and begin to deconstruct them as necessary. “Nothing true can perish.”

Between the second and third retreat our home practices also take a turn towards the more refined and disciplined. You will have the opportunity to release old habits and practices that no longer serve you, as well as distractions and coping mechanisms that may have dulled your capacities. 

September 27 – October 4, 2025 – SURRENDER

Through ALIGN and PURIFY we have done so much work, directed primarily by our minds, now is the time to let all of this go and really allow the Goddess to take the wheel. Here we immerse deeper into practices which go beyond the mind and really allow the śakti or power of awakening to move through us however it wants to. Letting go is not something you can learn how to do. It’s a non-doing. And at the same time, we can invite and do our best to relax and release. This retreat will be all about what arises in each moment and meeting that with our open hearts and clear minds that we have cultivated throughout the year. It is also the crowning celebration of our year of arduous practice. 

Using the texts of the Pratyabijna Hridayam, Vijnana Bhairava Tantra, Tantrasāra, The Shiva Sutras, Vatulanatha Sutras and more we will study the non-dual view of Kashmir Śaivism. This form of tantra is what informs most of hatha yoga today, but without much serious study it can be hard to follow the teachings. You have heard the metaphor that you cannot dig a bunch of shallow wells and get any water. We are digging a deep well, and what we will get is a map, a view, that will lead us to a destination – that destination is liberation, or awakening. We will fully address the following: 1 – what is awakening? 2- What are the obstacles to awakening? 3 – What are the ancillary yet indispensable practices that will indirectly lead to awakening? 4 – Why can’t you actually want awakening? 5 – Why the common use of the words enlightenment, awakening and liberation are all misunderstood. And so much more!

Mantra is the repetition of words and syllables for the purpose of ritual, puja, and worship. Mantras are the sonic bodies of the deities. This is actually not a metaphor. We’ll learn the basic Sanskrit alphabet and pronunciation using diacritical marks so that you can read and correctly pronounce Sanskrit words, including mantras. We’ll learn many common mantras like the Gayatri, Maha Mrityunjaya, Purnamida, Nondual Invocation, and many many more. Devotion is not something you do, it’s something that happens to you. We create the conditions under which it is likely that devotion or Bhakti will arise. We’ll invoke the spirit of devotion and chant and sing, sometimes through bhajans or kirtan, the sacred names of god. 

Meditation practice – the ability to sit still and allow and be with whatever arises – is the absolute cornerstone for any spiritual practice. You will be given specific instruction, regular feedback, support and guidance, so you can rest easy that sustaining a meditation practice will be guaranteed for you. This foundation of the ability to be with what is will make your entire spiritual path possible. 

If your spiritual practice is limited to the mind, you will never experience the integration of your spiritual insights into your daily life. Sitting on the cushion is not where most things happen. By bringing our practice to the body – movement, stillness, vocalization, focus on sensation – we integrate our transformations into our daily life. What is usually called yoga practice (āsana or physical postures only) is just one small part. Our aim here is to make the physical practice actually part of our spiritual sadhana. Instead of practicing many poses in a linear fashion one after the other, interspersed with thoughtful ideas and quotes from the masters, we will endeavor to experience the leading edge of reality through the body and the senses. Authentic Flow and Somatic Tantric Embodiment Sadhanas are used to break free from the sequence oriented vinyasa yoga and allow us to experience the body in its own freedom. Ecstatic Dance is also a part of our practice, where we surrender any control and allow our bodies to be moved by the goddess. 

While the majority of this program focuses on the previous four elements of Tantra, Mantra, Meditation and Embodiment, we spend a significant amount of time breaking down what it takes to teach from the experiences that you have. Rather than focus on a method or formula for teaching, we focus on integrating your own experiences and discovering your own unique way of expressing and sharing those experiences in a way that will help others. Authentic Expression focuses on how to bring our alive insights not only to the classes we teach in the form of words, but how these insights can inform the very structure and function of the class. What is the purpose of a yoga class? What gifts can we offer to our students? Is it actually our job to keep them safe and injury free? How can we contribute or detract from creating a safe space in our classes? Is it important for the students to follow our instructions? You will learn how to hold space for the arising of conscious awareness. We question all the assumptions we have as yoga teachers to bring a freedom and humility to our space holding capabilities.

Pain Science is an emerging field that has many new evidence-based understandings that can inform our teaching. Knowing how pain works in the body and how we can be an ally or an enemy based on how we used our language and interact with the nervous systems of our students will give you a new perspective on your role as an embodiment facilitator. 

Yes and No. This is primarily a training in spiritual practice, self-inquiry, and living a radically authentic life. If you are a teacher, I promise going through this will allow you to blossom into more effective and joyful teacher, if that is an authentic expression of yourself. It is just as likely to allow you to let go of teaching if you find it no longer aligns with your truest inner values. We do not focus on teaching techniques because I feel they are not very useful until you have done this deep inner work. Although we do spend time on practice teaching and authentic expression, and the pedagogy of a yoga class, the majority of the benefit you receive as a teacher will come from investigating your own process and finding out what works for you as a student, and seeing what works for the other students in the program. For this reason, 95% of the program will be applicable and interesting even for those who will never go on to be teachers. However, the Yoga Alliance 300 hour registration is available to those who complete all three modules in order, and the required homework. When combined with your prior YTT 200, this will make you eligible to register at the 500 RYT level. 

The short answer is no. This is a specialized program focused on spiritual practice, through movement, stillness, and philosophical study. It is designed to be one of several 300 hour specializations that you may take in your journey to become well rounded, if you choose to. Other specialized 300 hour programs I recommend are Yoga & Biomechanics (Jules Mitchell), Mantra and Bhakti (Anandra George), Professionalism & Teaching Techniques (Jason Crandell). This specialization allows us to go very deep and give you more than a foundation, or a breadth of knowledge and to put you on the road to actual mastery. 

But there is also some nuance to this answer. In going really deep in one direction, there are places where the other paths of the anatomy and physiology, or teaching techniques intersect with our studies. So we will touch on those things, and you will gain skills in things like teaching with your own authentic voice and understanding how the anatomy of the body works in different poses. However these will be side effects of our studies, not something we tackle head on. The program is ultimately highly specialized and not well-rounded, but you will come away with new experiences, knowledge and understanding in many different topics by the end of our work together.