Yoga Psychology in Tureya Foundation???

cosmicjel

Hi,
I was wondering if any of you has visited the Tureya Ashram and Institute. I am interested in their 2-month long Yoga Psychology program but I want to hear more about your experiences before i apply.. How are the teachers, atmosphere, community and how is the city in November and December?
I am studying Expressive Arts Therapy and practicing yoga for awhile.. and i would love to integrate yoga and spirituality to my practice.. It is going to be my first time in India and I am planning to stay for 4 months..
Any recommendations?
Thank you!

Sama

maybe a mod will come along and move this to the Yoga forum where you might get some answers.

__________________
MY INDIA, 2005-2008
"If you have to ask what India is, you'll never know." (apologies to Louis Armstrong)

Mike Thomas

-cosmicjel-

I have spent 2 month at the tureya foundation's ashram to study yoga therapy and get a degree to become a certified yoga therapist. The program was exceptional and went beyond many of my expectation of what I was going to find at an ashram. Before visiting I had never been to India, and I always imaged overcrowded cities and excess pollution (again my misconceptions). While there are many cities in India, there are also many areas of the country that are complete open spaces including the mountains of Kodaikanal where the ashram is located.

I have been practicing yoga for over 8 years now, and I started with hatha yoga and gradually move towards ashtanga. I became a certified teacher in 2001 and have been teaching in Boulder, Colorado since then. I have experienced many forms of yoga and include within my practice the asanas, meditation, and pranayama. But I learned many new things from my stay at the Tureya Ashram as there are many practices and traditions that are not known to the west, many of which are extremely useful for both spiritual life and our overall health. For instances Swami Tureyananda taught many lessons regarding how to cleanse the body and purify the organs for optimum health. They were very practical lessons and started from a very basic and approachable level and moved towards a more advanced understanding.

The ashram itself is very traditional. It is also a smaller community as Swami Tureyananda is not interested in a large number of students at one given time. I liked this atmosphere a lot as it provided me with the space and support to practice the techniques in a peaceful environment. The ashram was mixed with both foreign students and Indians. The teachers were of the same mix, and for the yoga therapy course we had 2 teachers from the ashram, a teacher from America, and swamiji would also guide several courses a week.

The ashram overlooks a massive valley which is perfect for meditation. It is also situated on a large peace of land, much of which has not been developed or renovated which give the ashram a very natural feel.

SitaParityaga

Ah.....I heard the calling for help from a mod

Thread moved to Yoga, etc.

Sama

Mike, I would be very interested in learning more about the yoga therapy program, but there is no info on the website that I found, likes classes, costs, etc.


I tried PMing you but you have no contact info.....

cosmicjel

thank you for the information Mike..
Sama;
you can have info about classes and cost from tureya@gmail.com
or i can forward the e-mail to you if you want to..
their next course for foreign students starts in Nov.. different courses have different prices..

Sama

thanks cosmic -- I sent an email to the American listed on the website as a contact and he responded quickly. quite unlike Yogapoint (yoga vidya dham) where I have never gotten any response to my emails.

he sent me a .pdf file of info, but I still have lots of questions. for $2,200, the lodgings look a tad rustic... and I would like more information about the particular swami....

jai bhagwan!

cosmicjel

Yogapoint (yoga vidya dham) replied my e-mail quickly.. they do not have space till January.. i enrolled their Jan. course..
I am still not quite sure about Tureya.. Information about the classes was not very detailed..

Mike Thomas

hey everyone. I just got back online and noticed all the conversation about tureya and thought I would add my ideas to the discussion. I am new to the forum world but this is a very interesting community oriented network that I am excited to have discovered.

Sama- I am not sure what PM is but feel free to contact me with question or put on this forum and I will visit again soon.

In regards to some of your discussion topics and comments, there are a few things that I think you should know about the tureya foundation. The community is much different than many of the other yoga schools and ahsrams out there. I have not been able to see the most recent program packet they are distributing, but chances are it might have less information than some of the more commercial schools that offer courses in the same way you might take a class at a university or college.

They usually provide less information (at least online) because the courses are taught on a much more individual basis, and while there are some standard practices that are taught for all of the programs, there are many lessons which are designed to work with the individual's current state of spirituality, study, experience, and knowledge. More importance is given to the direct relationship while detracting from the more mechanical style of teaching many students at once. Everyone's spiritual journey is different, and for this reason they start the teaching and practices after meeting you personally and finding out your specific needs.

For me, I was interested to take the yoga therapy for three main reasons; first I wanted to be able to help people through the practice of yoga, especially a large group of my friends who suffered from a many of physical disorders that they were not willing to treat with western medicine (some of my friends are very liberal). Second, I wanted to find a way to integrate my work with psychotherapy with a eastern practice that looked at the human being in a much more holistic way. Finally, I wanted to find my own spiritual life. Only after I had explained these things to the ashram's teachers did we begin the study of yoga therapy. After taking into account the other students need, the general courses were introduced.

Besides this, there was also an evolution process that seemed to occur. As time progressed the teachings were adapted in order to accommodate our needs as individuals and as a group. This did not hinder our overall teaching but rather gave us a chance to fully understand the practice. This might be another reason why you will not find too much information in their practice; it is created as the natural process unfolds.

The ashram facilities themselves were quite sufficient for any westerner, and they are more than enough for any spiritual aspirant to find peace of mind and soul. I have lived in Colorado for most of my life and did not feel burdened by the accommodations which were offered at the ashram; they were enough to accommodate a Hollywood star . Swami Tureyananda always said “we are not running a resort, we are running an ashram for spirituality.” I was not bothered by the course fees either because the ashram offers a large number of services to the local community including food drives, clothing distribution, and educational projects for children. In fact I decided to leave an extra donation in order to help with the ashram’s community service work.

This is my experience of the tureya ashram. I hope that other students may find this forum so that more people can benefit from a more complete view of the community. While I personally found comfort within this style, some people prefer a more systematic style. Hopefully someone will be able to comment from this point of view as well. I know more foreign students have visited the ashram and spent their time studying the courses. If the find this discussion I ask that they please contribute some ideas for other people who are thinking of visiting.

Sama

Mike, your reply is very helpful! and if you change your settings in your profile to allow private messaging, then you can get PMs.

I received a packet of info from them and it looks good, at least to me. I also received a very fast email reply back: "The program will proceed for two months and we will be covering a wide variety of teachings from many forms of yoga in order to develop an integrative and complete look at the practice of yoga therapy. We will be studying many practices derived from the Tantras, Upanishads, Hatha Yoga, Raja Yoga, Kriya Yoga, and other esoteric practices that are complementary to the therapeutic application of these traditional spiritual sciences."

so what you say about the individualized approach sounds great to me because I am not a beginner -- I already teach yoga for therapeutics and have thousands of hours of "formal" training already over the years.

and thanks for the info on the accomodations -- while I'm not a high maintenance type of gal, I don't want to be sleeping with any scorpions either!

kullukid

How about Virgoans???

Doesn't Mike need 10 points before he can recieve or send PM's?
KK

Sama

yeah, I thought I'd get a smart remark right after I typed "scorpions."

let's just say that "scorpions" are my downfall....meow....

once I stopped being a mod I blew all that out of my mind, so can't even remember!

Sama

mike, you can send me a PM and that way you can give me your contact info....we can chat about this ashram and your experience there...

I see from your profile you are a psychotherapist and yoga therapist. I also teach yoga therapy privately and am currently scheduled to do level 1 training in Phoenix Rising Yoga Therapy -- Phoenix Rising having more to do with the emotional body, rather than the physical one.

jeffyb

Hey---this is for Mike Thomas---Mike, I'll be taking the yoga therapy course at Tureya this November. A friend of mine will be coming along to partake in ashram living and to join in some activities there. Within the pdf they sent to us of offered programs, they mentioned therapy camps, yogic holidays, volunteering and more. When you were there, what did these attendees actually do? Were they on a schedule? Were they on their own? Any info for me? I'd really appeciate it! Hari Om Tat Sat! --jeff

machadinha

No, he can't.

(Sorry for this standardized reply): New members do not have the PM (Private Messaging) function yet, neither to send nor receive. It takes a certain nr. of posts + period of membership.

You could create a free disposable webmail address for the purpose, then post it here. Or discuss what you need on the board. Be aware anyone could contact you on that address pretending to be the other. Posting your private email address is not advised, for all the obvious reasons.

__________________
Reading tips, all picked up at IndiaMike : INDAX's A Comprehensive Guide To India / Dinoj Surendran's Desi Humor / ITHVC on Culture Shock & Travel Health / JetLag Travel Guides For the Undiscerning Traveller / India Travel Links