POLICIES
The following policies will be held in place throughout the course, in order to create a strong container for the transmission of tantric yoga teachings.
-
Attendance
This TTC is conceived as a holistic experience, in which every piece builds on others to provide an integrated, multifaceted foundation of tantric practice. For this reason, it is strongly recommended to attend all sessions, both practice and theory.
In order to receive the certificate as an AUM Tantra Yoga teacher, it is necessary to be present for 165 hours. This means it is possible for you to miss up to 35 hours and still receive your certificate.
However, we reserve the right not to award the certificate if you have missed significant content or practice without legitimate reason. For example, a student who skips every morning meditation would not be awarded the certificate, even though he or she may have attended the minimum hours.
Exceptions are made for serious illness, in which case we will provide recordings of the lectures in order for you to stay caught up. If the illness is severe enough that you cannot complete the course, a refund will be offered.
-
No substances
Throughout the duration of this TTC, it is absolutely forbidden to consume any psychoactive substances. This includes alcohol, cigarettes, drugs, cannabis, kambo or any other plant medicines.
The reason for this is that the tantric yoga practice involves working with very strong energies. In combination with foreign substances within the body, this can potentially become dangerous for the practitioner.
If there is an addiction to cigarettes or another substance, or if you have only recently overcome such an addiction, please let us know beforehand. We can help support and offer safe alternative practices.
Any student who is found using substances during the course will be asked to leave, with no refund.
-
Respect for each other
As a group, learning and practicing together, we become a sangha, spiritual family. We are all here to support each other. It is clear than that care and respect for each other is an absolute.
The topic of sexuality especially can bring up many deep-seated patterns and traumas, so we ask all students to be sensitive, mature, and compassionate for others who may be going through intense processes.
The yogic principles of ahimsa (non-violence) and satya (truthfulness) always come first!
-
Follow instructions
This TTC will involve guided practice in hatha yoga and tantric rituals. We ask that you follow the instructions of the teachers precisely.
The way we practice hatha yoga in Aum Tantra Yoga is quite particular and some techniques might differ slightly from the way you may have learned them in other schools. There is, in fact, a subtle science behind all of these techniques, and what might seem a minor physical difference can have significant effects on the energetic level. For this reason, do the techniques in the way the teacher presents them.
In yoga classes, it is important that all students practice together to create a harmonized energetic field. It causes significant disruption if one student insists on doing his or her individual practice contrary to the energy of the group. Alternatives will be offered in the case of physical difficulty with the techniques, but if you are not willing to follow the teacher’s guidance and stay with the flow of the class, you will be asked to leave the class.
GUIDELINES
These guidelines are recommendations to help you get the most out of this transformative spiritual experience. They are inner attitudes that can also guide your practice and conduct throughout the process.
-
Emotional maturity
Any teacher training course is bound to bring up emotional purifications and strong inner processes. In a Yoga TTC, due to the nature of the work with energy, these can be amplified.
It is important to be aware of this from the start and come with a level of emotional maturity: not looking to vent emotional turmoil on others or leech on the group energy, but to handle anything that arises with awareness and self-sufficiency. As teachers, we are very much here to support you, but with the understanding that ultimately we are all responsible for our own mental state.
However, the goal is always spiritual enlightenment, not merely personal healing. We encourage students always to come from the highest perspective on their personal problems: the view from sahasrara, seeing all mental and emotional phenomena as fluctuations embraced within the Divine Consciousness.
-
Beginner’s mind
In Zen Buddhism, they talk about something called “beginner’s mind.”
Often when we first start learning something, we come with curiosity, openness and a sense of wonder. Only later, once we start to feel like we already understand the subject, there comes a sort of shut down where it’s hard to learn anything new – because we think we know it all already.
Zen teachers recommend cultivating the mindset of a beginner, no matter how you advanced you are: to keep that humbleness, enthusiasm and lack of preconceptions.
This is also the attitude that we recommend for this TTC. You may already have a long practice of yoga and tantra, or even be a teacher. Still, we recommend coming with an attitude of complete openness, putting aside what you might already be familiar. After all, if you only want to learn what you already know, why bother with such a course?
After the course, you will have plenty of time to integrate what you learn here with what you already know. But for now, the more you empty yourself the more you can be filled.
-
Embrace the intensity
This TTC period will be intense: long days, lots of practice and lots of information. At times, you might feel like it’s too much. If this feeling arises, we recommend trying to relax into the intensity.
Remember that it is a relatively short period of your of time: five weeks, and then you have the rest of your life to integrate. It might seem like the information is too much to absorb, but trust that your mind will take it in on some level and it will be there for you when you need it. You don’t have to understand everything right away.
Like baking a clay jar, the intensity of the process is what brings the deep transformation. So enjoy it, commit to it, and allow yourself to learn from whatever it brings up.
