Yoga in Community: Recipes for Enlightenment – Hawaii
AN ADVANCED YOGA TEACHER TRAINING MODULE (500 HR LEVEL)
Join us on the big island of Hawaii at the Kirpal Meditation and Ecological Center. Yoga in community, Recipes for Enlightenment is an elective part of Yandara’s Advanced Yoga Teacher Training Program. You are also welcome to attend just this module as a retreat or continuing education course. During this 10-day retreat we will explore the many ways in which we are related to nature and each other, and how to bridge this connection, and the deeper practices of Ashtanga/RājaYoga, including Bhakti, Jnana, Kundalini, and Tantra Yoga. The teachers of this module are Bolo Prather (500E-RYT, Ashtanga/Rāja Yoga, Yoga Philosophy/Techniques,) and April Prather Duarte (Bhakti Yoga).
Program Details
YOGA IN COMMUNITY, RECIPES FOR ENLIGHTENMENT
This 10 day Hawaiian retreat is infused with the practices of Bhakti Yoga (devotional yoga) and Atma Vichara (self reflection). For a Yoga Teacher the most important asana is the stretching of the heart and mind in order to connect with our students and greater community. This heart-mind opening is key for Self-realization and the foundation of a Yogic lifestyle. We are calling this retreat Recipes for Enlightenment, meaning recipes of how to be “In the Light of the Moment.”
This is a full participation experience in which we all share in creating a Yoga community or Sangha together. We will share a yogic lifestyle of lovingly preparing meals together, studying yogic scriptures, practicing asana, chanting, meditating, immersing in Hawaiian music and culture, visiting local Farmers’ Markets, enjoying hot springs, and snorkel pristine coral reefs in this exotic tropical paradise, while exploring all the ingredients necessary for an enlightened community.
This retreat is a great opportunity to enhance your cooking skills and explore your creativity while experiencing our interrelationship with the source of food and our environment.
Fun – a big dose of fun is essential for a good time. Since our retreat is about applying Yoga in our relationships, we will be making various journeys, to Hawaiian markets, meeting farmers and vendors, absorbing the Aloha spirit of the Hawaiian culture through its food and music.
You will also have the opportunity to soak and swim in ocean side volcanic spring fed warm pools and snorkel in crystal clear coral lagoons.
Raja Yoga
You will learn the fundamentals of Rāja Yoga as described in the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali. The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali is a central text of Rāja Yoga, meaning Yoga of the Kings – originally referring to the ultimate, “royal” goal of yoga, which is enlightenment or samādhi. We will also explore the practices of Bhakti Yoga, Jnana Yoga, Kundalini Yoga, and Tantra Yoga.
Rāja Yoga incorporates Self-development techniques from many styles of Yoga and it emphasizes the benefits of meditation for the evolution of consciousness. Through the Eight-Fold path of Rāja Yoga, we learn to direct our attention inwardly. The path includes the following:
1. Yama (our attitude towards our external environment): Ahimsa (non-harming), Satya (truth), Asteya (non-stealing), Brahmacharya (moderation in all things), Aparigraha (non-hoarding)
2. Niyama (our attitudes towards our self): Saucha (purity), Santosha (contentment), Tapas (joyful effort), Svadhaya (self-study), Ishvara Pranidhana (surrendering to something bigger than us)
3. Asana: Practice of physical postures
4. Pranayama: Expansion of vital energy through breath work
5. Pratyahara: Withdrawal of the senses inward
6. Dharana: Single-pointed concentration of the mind
7. Dhyana: Meditative absorption
8. Samadhi: Enlightenment, union with the Divine
In that light the focus of this retreat is “Self Realization” and how to apply yoga principals into our daily lives. This feeling I am is the foundation upon which our world is constructed. If we give our attention to this feeling and follow it to the source we rediscover how our individual sense of self connects to and is a reflection of our universal, God-Us self. The main practice is asking oneself the questions… Who am I? And, what are my relationships? How do I uncover my true essential nature and share it with my community?
RECIPES FOR ENLIGHTENMENTMENT CURRICULUM:
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Morning asana Practice
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Study of Yogic Philosophy
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Techniques: Asanas of the heart: pranayama exercises, chanting, sitting and walking meditation.
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What is Bhakti Yoga?
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Learn to guide students in mantra practice
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Learn to accompany simple mantras with traditional yogic instruments.
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Dance, stories and theater…
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Walking and hot spring meditations in nature
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Snorkeling, exploration of rich coral reef system, plants and marine aquatic life
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We will share great food, handpicked and lovingly prepared together
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Immerse ourselves in the local culture via farmers markets and visiting a local farm
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Ecstatic dance at Kalani Retreat Center
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Night time viewing of lava flow Kīlauea, Hawaii Volcanoes National Park (optional)
Morning asana classes will be inspired and taught by you (the students). As experienced teachers this offers an opportunity to experience many different teaching styles and techniques!
Teachers:
Bolo Prather
Bolo began his Yoga Teacher training in 1972. For more than 35 years, Bolo has been a yoga teacher, and workshop leader. He lived at Yogi Bhajan’s Ashram in Marin, California, and with Baba Hari Das at “Mt. Maddonna Center”. Baba Hari Das initiated him into the classical teachings of Ashtanga Yoga where he studied, in depth, yoga philosophy, led Kirtan, cooked for 100’s at retreats and performed annually for more than 20 years in a play called “The Ramayana”. Bolo is also a chef and co-owned a still successful restaurant in Santa Cruz, California called “Dharmas”. His other interests include writing, painting, gardening, sacred theater & dance, as well as hosting hot springs retreats. He is a singer, songwriter, poet, story teller and chef on the Yogic path, “receiving” songs from life, of transformation, love & unity. Bolo means to sing or chant. Bolo started playing guitar & writing songs at the age of 16. He plays lead guitar, harmonium, dotar, banjo, djembe & Indian flute. He’s written more than 100 original songs, ranging from unplugged sweet melodic ballads, Kirtan and Gospel, to Rock’n’Roll electric guitar solos. Bolo says “My goal is to use poetry in song to reflect the experience of being alive.”
Bolo currently teaches at Yandara Yoga Institute in Baja, Mexico and is a member of the in house band called JAYA! Link for more information. http://www.yandara.com/about/jaya-band
Bolo has been in several bands & has many archived recordings, find them at http://sutros.com/lotusmother?page=6
Bolo also has a YouTube Channel Journeyinthemoment at link www.youtube.com/channel/UCJ1Ueb5Dz528yzLViVFi14g
Bolo will be assisted by his wife, April Prather Duarte:
April is also currently a member of Yandara’s in house band, JAYA! She plays bass guitar, tamboura, and djembe. In 2010 she completed the 26-day teacher training at Yandara Yoga Institute in Baja, Mexico, and is Yoga Alliance certified. April is a talented chef, yoga, music and food preparation have always been a big part of her life. She Grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area in the mid 70’s and became an usher for Grateful Dead shows, which eventually led to doing backstage flower arrangements and hospitality for musicians for the Strawberry Music Festival. April was also head of backstage security for the High Sierra Music Festival for many years.
April’s yoga training began in 1973 with a remarkable teacher in high school, Lyn Nichols. April says, “Lyn completely changed my life! She taught me meditation and asana practice and I finally felt like I had found a meaningful path in life” April has studied the teachings of Thich Nhat Hanh, Swami Muktananda, Vivakananda, Yogananda, as well as, the teachings of Eckhart Tolle. She went on to teach yoga in a small organic farming communities in Capay Valley, California, where she raised her 3 children, who she admits “were my greatest teachers”! Her love of nature inspired her to help start the Davis Waldorf School where she taught gardening. Her other interests include, travel, hiking and Feng Shui, a Chinese philosophical system of harmonizing everyone with the surrounding environment.