Nithya Yoga Teachers Training Retreat

Bidadi Ashram and Tiruvannamalai, South India

Yoga as we understand today is mainly associated as being a set of physical postures we perform to keep the body healthy and the mind clear. Of course there is nothing wrong with people maintaining a regular practice of yoga to enjoy health benefits and wellbeing. However, for practitioners out there who want to understand the deeper meanings of yoga and who believe much more can be experienced through yoga, Nithya Yoga has arrived.

Initially, most may assume that Nithya Yoga is just another 'new' system of yoga surfacing in our ever booming yoga market. In fact, Nithya Yoga is the most ancient system of yoga as originally expressed by Patanjali. Patanjali's Ashtanga Yoga was the system originally designed by the great sage to prepare the body and mind of a yogi to receive, sustain and express the energy of Enlightenment. Preparing the body and mind of the practitioner is the primary purpose of Nithya Yoga. Health and well being are simply side effects.

Nithya Yoga brings the practitioner into the deep awareness that any movement if practiced with a strong intention can be yoga.

'I am not here to add movements to your life. 
I am here to add life to your movements.'
- Nithyananda

Yoga is an intense enthusiasm in uniting the body, mind and being and experiencing the state of nithya ananda (Eternal Bliss). This intense enthusiasm or this beautiful integrated state of yoga can be experienced by any practitioner in a Nithya Yoga class.

A Nithya Yoga class beautifully blends a contemporary dynamic meditation called Nithya Dhyaan, asanas (postures), pranayama, mudra and gratitude relaxation. Whether it be health and well being, mental clarity and peace or to experience the state of yoga itself, as a teacher of Nithya Yoga, you can help your student experience one or all of these. 

Why become a Nithya Yoga Teacher?

Nithya Yoga Teachers Training Retreat - A transformation for you!

You can never describe teaching yoga as being a job. When you become a yoga teacher, you never have to work another day in your life because teaching yoga is a way of life. It is a joy.  

Every time we teach a class, not only do our students walk out as different Beings; so does the teacher. Every class transforms the students and the teacher as well. The student and the teacher grow together. True learning through sharing happens! Sharing yoga is the ultimate way to expand.

The Nithya Yoga Teachers Training Retreat itself is a beautiful process of rejuvenation for prospective teachers. Nithya Yoga teaches that yoga is not just limited to a 90 minute yoga session. It is a complete lifestyle. Teachers will leave the training with a deep experiential understanding of all aspects of yoga. 

You will experience this lifestyle each day at the training by:

View photos from past Nithya Yoga Teachers Trainings

Nithya Yoga Teachers Training and Tiruvannamalai Visit - January 2007

Nithya Yoga Teachers Training - July 2007

Nithya Yoga Teachers Training - January 2008

2 Day Retreat to Tiruvannamalai

Arunachala, Tiruvannamalai South India

Tiruvannamalai in the state of Tamil Nadu, South India is the spiritual nerve center of India. The town lays prostrate at the foot of the mighty hill Arunachala which is believed to be an embodiment of Lord Shiva. This bustling, traditional temple town is the very town in which Paramahamsa Nithyananda, the founder of Nithya Yoga was born. The town is also the place where the birth of Nithya Yoga took place.

Between the age of 3 to 13, Paramahamsa was trained by a highly skilled master of yoga named Raghupati Yogi. He recieved his yogic training essentially to prepare his body and mind to recieve, sustain and express the energy of enlightenment. In the sacred prescints of Arunachaleshwara Temple, Raghupati Yogi trained Paramahamsa from morning till afternoon over a period of 10 years of his young life.

The visit to Tiruvannamalai is included as a part of the Nithya Yoga Teachers Training in India to add richness to the program and for students to experience a deep and essential dimension of Nithya Yoga. This visit and the opportunity for one to meditate in this intense spiritual energy center has the potential to cause a psychological revolution in the individual. There is potential for one to have the non-portable experience which is hugely complimentary for the aspiring teacher after gaining the portable knowledge (gained through books and study) from the other component of the teachers training.

The group of trainees on visiting Tiruvannamalai for 2 days during the Nithya Yoga Teachers Training in July 2008 will:

Visit the Arunachaleswara Temple and have the experience of visiting the very hall (kritikha mandapam) where Nithya Yoga was originally taught to Paramahamsa.

The stone pillars in the kritikha mandapam Paramahamsa was made to climb as part of his yogic training.

Have the opportunity to meditate near the sacred rock and energy center at the base of Arunachala where Paramahamsa had his first spiritual experience at the age of 12.

Witness sacred and traditional Vedic rituals in the Arunachaleshwara Temple including palli arai ellurchi (the ceremony where the God and Goddess are woken at dawn).

Enjoy the girivalam (a walking circumbulation of Arunachala Hill).

Eat and enjoy traditional South Indian food served and eaten in the traditional South Indian style; on a banana leaf and using fingers instead of cutlery!