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Yogic Studies  Satyananda Style: A day in the life of a karma yogi - Mantramurti

Having practiced yoga regularly for some years now I was keen to expand my knowledge of some of the deeper aspects and experience of yoga and decided to take the Yogic Studies course at the Satyananda Ashram in Australia.

Initially, I had been thinking about taking the same course in India or Europe but eventually decided on Australia both because I had never been there before and it fitted well with the amount of time I had available. The full course in India is four months full time and so therefore a serious time commitment. In the rest of the world it is split into Yogic studies 1 and 2 and one does two weeks in the ashram for each course followed by around 4 months of home practice and study submitting assignments and doing quizzes over the internet.

I got a direct flight direct to Sydney which wasn’t as long as I thought it would be and came in at about 12 hours. The Ashram is about 2 hours north of Sydney in a beautiful place called Mangrove Mountain. Its basically surrounded by farmland and so well away from the hustle and bustle of the city.

I was given my blankets and a map to my room which I would be sharing with some other people on the course. In this regard there were various room options ranging from a single room through to dormitary style room with 4 or 5 people to a room. The pricing is also cost adjusted for countries with weaker currencies like ourselves and therefore very reasonable. I had opted for a sharing room and found it to be luxurious when compared with the ashram in India !!! The beds had normal mattresses, the floors were carpeted and there was even a heater which was pretty helpful given it was the middle of June and the Ashram is in a valley which doesn’t get much natural heating.

Despite what I might have thought, I adjusted to the new time zone fairly well although did wake up at about 2am the first couple of days which proved a great time to go and do some sadhana in the sadhana halls.

The ashram routine starts at 5:30am during the week and 5am on weekends. At 5am, one is gently awoken by a singing alarm clock reciting Sanskrit mantras to set up harmonius vibrations for the day ahead. Non studying ashram residents typically either do their own sadhana or go to a class at this time whereas the yogic studies students do a mandatory class which changes each day as one moves through the various practices which form the basis of the course.

Breakfast is at 7am and in general I found the food to be excellent being simple, tasty and nutritious vegetarian fare. Over the 5 weeks I was there I lost 5 kilograms even though I was often having two helpings of food !!! My body seemed to auto-adjust to the amount of food it required over the period I was there.

Following breakfast was the morning chanting session which being mantramurti I made sure I never missed. I had heard Swami Niranjanananda talking about “setting up your vibrations for the day” but hadn’t really experienced it before. In the ashram I was very aware that the morning songs put me into and helped to keep a positive state throughout the rest of the day. I guess all of us have had this happen with a pop tune but obviously sanskrit songs and mantras have been composed for this express purpose and are therefore much more likely to set up the right kind of vibrations.

Understanding karma yoga

From the chanting session one moves onto the morning’s karma yoga which for the students is half an hour of general ashram cleaning of whatever one happens to be allocated on a given day. This is generally preceded by a quick two minute talk with the idea of directing the awareness to be active whilst doing the karma yoga. This stands out for me because although I have never objected to doing karma yoga, I have always thought of it more as a service than a yoga practice in its own right. In class we were in fact advised to look at it as an opportunity to practice awareness rather than to think of it as service which the ego can become attached to. Quite often the work itself was of no real consequence either way and the ashram has to be creative finding work for students to do.

Classes started at 9am and the first session was always a review of the early morning’s practices to connect the practices up with the theory and to prime the awareness to be alert during the following day’s practices. Subjects include the various branches of yoga, the history of yoga, asana, pranayama and meditation theory and practices as well as an extensive section on anatomy and physiology.

The academic material is balanced out by an afternoon karma yoga session from 3:30 to 5:00pm and each day we were given a different point to fix our awareness on whilst doing our karma yoga. There was a great variety of karma yoga projects including painting, working in the garden, the grounds etc. etc. The sessions went under the formal title of working with others and this proved to be very telling for me especially when one of the guys dropped a 3 metre long railway sleeper on my foot. I had protective boots on which are advised for the course and so the only thing that was hurt was my ego. So this was where I really saw the value of karma yoga in being able to observe my mind and mental dialogue in reaction to such an incident.

After karma yoga there is a quick review session and then dinner is served at 6pm followed by a short clean up session and then the evening meditation practice. The day ends at about 8pm and silence is observed from then until after breakfast the next morning as well as during meal times on Wednesdays.

A big highlight for me were the kirtan sessions on Friday and Saturday nights and I even got to lead a couple of kirtan’s on the harmonium. For those who have never experienced it, kirtan is a musical form of devotional call and reponse chanting which elevates the emotions and transcends the mind. It has even been said that kirtan is the best method for spiritual evolution in the current age, but that is another story.

I spent a total of 5 weeks at the ashram doing the residential component of both Yogic studies 1 & 2 in what is called the “back to back” option. One has a free week in between YS1 and 2 and I elected to stay in the ashram during this time barring one day when I went out with one of my mates in Sydney and indulged in some coffee and chocolate !!!

Coming home

Once one returns home each day’s practice at the residential is repeated for one week and so 12 days becomes 12 weeks of practice to complete a single module. One’s observations during these practices are written down and submitted weekly via the internet. There are also reading assignments, writing assignments and quizzes to be completed over the course of about four months following the residential.

Having just finished the home practices for Yogic Studies 1, the effects have been profound. In discussions with other students many of us found that the practices shifted a lot of emotional material for us. I became aware of a certain rigidity within myself that was masquerading as spirituality but probably a bit more like suppression. So the practices loosened me up on a psychic level. I also found that the practices have made me much more aware of the movement  of energy both within myself and in the world in general.

I will be starting on the practices for yogic studies 2 in February next year and am looking forward to furthering my yogic experience through them.

Satyananda Yoga in Australia have had the full teacher’s training course (Yogic studies 1-4) certified as a formal teaching diploma by the Australian government.

For more information :-

http://www.satyananda.net/Training/

http://www.yogavision.net/byb/courses/ys_4mth.htm