24

Days

12

Hours

06

Mins

Vajra Yoga 300 Hour Teacher Training 2023-2024: Fall Immersion

November 06 - November 13, 2023

Michele Loew

Robert A.F. Thurman

September 22, 2023 to April 19th, 2024Course kick off online September 22nd, weekly livestreams and online.In-Person Fall Practice Immersion at Menla:  November 6-13th.Use this link to register for the in person event!Schedule for In-Person RetreatMonday, November 6
  • 3 - 6 pm Arrival & Check-in
  • 6 - 7 pm Dinner
  • 7:30 - 9 pm Orientation with Bob and Michele
Tuesday, November 7 - Sunday, November 12
  • 7 - 8 am Meditation & Nejang Practice with Michele Loew
  • 8 - 9 am Breakfast
  • 10 am - 12:30 pm Asana Training, Technique/ Teaching Methodology with Michele
  • 12:30 - 1:30 pm Lunch
  • 1:30 - 3 pm- Free Time for Relaxation, Self- Study, or spa healing.
  • 3 - 6 pm  Philosophy with Bob & Michele
  • 6 - 7 pm Dinner
  • 7:30 - 8:30 pm Yoga Nidra/ Yin/ Restorative Yogas.
Monday, November 13
  • 7 - 11 am Check-out of Rooms
  • 9 - 10 am Breakfast
  • 10 am - 12 pm Closing Practice with Bob & Michele
  • 12:30 - 1:30 pm Lunch & Departure
*Please note that the schedule is subject to change.

Vajra Yoga explores the philosophical and experiential interface between Hatha Yoga and Indo-Tibetan Buddhist Vajra Yoga traditions.  If you are looking for a Yoga Teacher Training course that is non-sectarian and brings in yoga & the meditative sciences from both traditions, this is the course.  The journey is deeply educational and spiritually transformational while giving you the practical skills to support other students on their path. 

Working with Vajrayana practices and Hatha yoga, we aim to support His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s 4th aim to bring back the Indian Inner Sciences, “Adhyatma Vidya”  and the teachings of yoga & Buddhism back to India supporting human beings’ inner awakening for happiness & freedom.   This course is a deeply contemplative & embodied investigation into the yogas of Vajrayana & Hatha Yoga practices with Michele Loew in person, and online livestreams and recordings with guest teachers, including Richard Freeman, Dr. Nida Chenagtsang & Mary Taylor, John Campbell & professor Emeritus, Padma Shri Robert “Tenzin” Thurman.  Tenzin Bob has curated this course and recorded extensive teachings for our students to study.  He will be making guest appearances and Q&As during the course to clarify teachings.The 300 hr course will run from October 2022 - May 2023.  Students can take the course entirely online, but attending the in-person course immersion events is highly recommended if your intention is to teach yoga or gather assistance in your personal practice. This is a rare opportunity to study, in the context of a yoga training, with Professor Emeritus, Padma Shri Robert “Tenzin” Thurman—Vajracharya in the lineage of H. H. the Dalai Lama, world renowned scholar & authority on Indo-Tibetan Buddhist Science, Indic spirituality, and world philosophy. He will elucidate the Buddha’s teachings and offer inner scientific, philosophical, and spiritual inspiration for our yoga practices. Michele Loew—in the Hatha yoga lineage of Krishnamacharya and Richard Freeman and also Kalachakra and Tibetan Trulkhor yoga practitioner—has trained many yoga teachers in her long-established Yoga Alliance certification courses and will utilize the deep investigation of yoga from a classical lineage perspective to build an intelligent foundation that can be applied to any style of yoga. The yoga practices will be built mindfully and progressively from the ground up with deep attention to physical and subtle body alignment.   We will practice and learn to teach both the Hatha and Tibetan Yogas and learn to develop Intelligent Vajra Yoga Sequences grounded in a spirit of enlightenment. WHAT TO EXPECT:
  • This course includes study and contemplation of traditional texts and practices from Indian and Tibetan traditions, including but not limited to:
    • The Yoga Sutras of Patañjali and selected Pali Suttas, such as the Samaññaphala.  Dr. Thurman will teach from the excellent Yoga Sutras  translation by P.P. Gokhale supporting the connection between Buddhism and classical yoga. 
    • The Mahasatipatthana, and the Aggañña Suttas
    • The Yoga Vasishta and the Vimalakirti and Flower Ornament Sutras
    • The Bhagavad Gita and the Lalitavistara Sutra
    • Shankaracharya’s Yogataravali and Shantideva’s Bodhisattvas Career
    • The Hatha Yoga Pradipika and the Mañjushri-nama-samgiti
    • The Tibetan Book of the Dead
    • Various works by Jey Tsong Khapa and the Dalai Lama on Deity Yoga and on the Inner Science of the Esoteric Community and the Kalachakra.  
COURSE FORMATThis Teacher Training program has over 300 hrs of teachings divided into 3 sections, combining two  7-day retreat intensives and 9 months of self-study, online material, complete with regular live-stream asana practices and live-stream Q+As with the teachers.Ongoing Weekly Zoom Philosophy sessions with on-demand replays with Robert Thurman Fridays 11am-1pm Eastern Standard time. Dates listed below.Ongoing Weekly Vajra Yoga practice and meditations/ philosophy Sessions with Michele Loew 10am-12:30pm Eastern Standard Time. Dates listed below.Module 1:September 22-November 17thFall In-Person Immersion at Menla November 6-13th9  Week Term of Weekend Live Streams with Robert Thurman on Friday, and Michele Loew on Saturday. Self-Study via Teachable:Lamrim Teachings, Yoga Asana including Standing Poses / Core / Forward Folds, Tibetan NeJang Yoga, Pranayama, Meditation,  Introducing the Philosophies of Yoga, Dualist and Non-Dualist, The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, The Book of the Dead, Module 2:December 1-January 19th9 Week Term of Weekend Live Streams with Robert Thurman on Friday, and Michele Loew on Saturday. Self-Study via Teachable:The Bhagavad Gita, Mahayana teachings, compassion, Bodhicitta, Shantideva, Mantras, Basic Pranayama, Yoga Asana- Mirroring Subtle Body Fluency, Back Bends, Hip Joint / Spine Twists, Tantric Tsalung Trulkhor YogasModule 3:February 9-April 12, 2024
  • Moving Inner Energies within the Subtle Body
  • Expansion into the Perfect Stages
  • Inner Fire, Tummo, Vajra Yoga sequences.
  • Pranayama Practices Deepened
  • Yoga Asana: Inversions, Shoulders / Head / Neck
  • Kalachakra Yoga & Anuttara Yoga introduced.  

ABOUT THE TEACHERs

Michele Loew

Michele Loew is an international yoga teacher and the founder and director of The Yoga Space in Portland, Oregon.  She is known as a teacher’s teacher and is respected for her 200 Hr. & 500 Hr. Yoga Schools and her ability to combine Western knowledge of the body (anatomy & ph...

Robert A.F. Thurman

Robert Thurman is Professor of Indo-Tibetan Buddhist Studies at Columbia University as well as co-founder and President of Tibet House US and it's Menla Retreat & Spa. A world-wide lecturer on Tibetan Buddhism, activist for the plight of the Tibetan people, translator of Buddhis...

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