Info

Date
30.5. - 1.6.2023 (Tue-Thu)

Price
6000 Kč (full workshop)

2500 Kč (3x morning lesson or one full day) 
4200 Kč (3x afternoon lessons)

900 Kč (single morning lesson)                                                              1500 Kč (singe afternoon lesson)

Venue Address
Tenis Cibulka - Jóga v Korunách

V Stráni 485/11, 150 00 Praha 5-Košíře

Booking & Info
Zuzana +420 727 816 606
E-mail: info@astangaceskyraj.cz

Pranayama and Kriya

Imagine how great it would be to have a switch that, when operated, would enable you to consciously choose between your right and left brain hemispheres, intuitive and analytical intelligence, sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems, fight/flight reflex and rest/relaxation, and between the male and female, solar and lunar, aspects of your psyche. How great it would be if, when required, you could switch from being compassionate to doggedly determined. Or from charged with energy to completely relaxed within a few minutes. Or from extrovert (physically present, expressive and outgoing) to introvert (reflective and absorbing) within a short time. This switch does in fact exist and it is not at all hidden. It is the prominently protruding olfactory orifice right in the middle of your face: your nose.

Pranayama includes some of the most neglected but yet most powerful methods of yoga. Pranayama is the vital link that connects asana to meditation without which the combined benefit of both cannot be harvested. Learn how to use pranayama to harmonize the doshas (humors of the body) and thus attain a state of health and balance as well as how to still the mind, enabling spiritual insight.

The kriyas are predominantly methods of purification of the body. They support the work of postures and are especially important for people who live in large cities. They aid in removing contamination from chemical, environmental, electrical, biological and electromagnetic sources. 

Yogic Meditation 

Different to Vedantic or Buddhist meditation, yogic meditation contains the same structural elements as yogic postures and breathing and was designed to form together with those an integrated whole. Meditation is the method of bringing your mind into a receptive state
 so that you can receive higher knowledge that is already there. Yogic meditation is a collection of scientific methods to bring about such awareness. To accelerate spiritual evolution yogic meditation employs many means amongst which the prime ones are mantra, mudra, bandha, chakra-visualization and Kundalini-raising techniques. The yogic chakras are representations of evolutionary brain circuitry with the lower three chakras representing our reptilian, mammalian and primate ancestry respectively. By understanding the chakras and skillfully meditating on them yoga offers the opportunity to activate higher brain centres and propel the evolution not only of the individual but of society as a whole. Kundalini-raising techniques consist of a combination of all other yogic means to raise the life force (prana) to a level where meditation is easy and spiritual insight becomes spontaneous.

Yoga Sutra, and Sanskrit chanting

"The Yoga Sutra entered my life 39 years ago and since then it's been a constant companion. It took me a long time to completely understand it but once this had happened it ended all confusion I had about yoga. Understanding the Sutra gave me complete confidence in how to apply my practices diligently and that I would succeed in due time. The Sutra changed yoga for me from a faith and hope-based system to a science with predictable and repeatable outcomes. It is exactly this confidence and certainty that I would like to pass on to my students. The workshop will be interactive, with ample time for participants to ask questions."

The Yoga Sutra is the operating manual of yoga. It is only when we understand the why's and how's of yoga that we will practice with confidence and beyond doubt. In this class we will chant selected stanzas in Sanskrit and a detailed commentary based on Gregor's four decades of practice and study will be given. The commentary will retain the depth of the ancient treatises but will be fun, relatable and applicable to modern urban life. 

Why do I study with Gregor?

What to expect when you meet Gregor for the first time? Precision in analysis of every question with a detailed verbal description as well as comments that you would have hardly ever imagined when you asked that question. I believe it is due to nearly half a century long yoga practice. This is exactly what got me hooked on to his teachings even before I met him in person in 2019. Since then, I consider him my main teacher of pranayama, kriya and meditation, as well as yogic philosophy. I hope he won't be offended if I compare him to my yoga Wikipedia, because I turn to him with every difficult question and he always answers swiftly quoting ancient texts. But if he doesn't know, he is not afraid to admit it. Gregor is no Guru, he's a regular guy who considers himself a student of yoga, but compared to most of us he's at least a step ahead in his sadhana. Come and see for yourselves. 

Zuzana