Hari Om Friends and Yogis!
We have been home for a few weeks now and enjoying being back on beautiful Vancouver Island. Our trip to the Ashram took us also to Nelson to visit good friends and then a slow meander up the Slocan Valley to Revelstoke, my old home town. It is refreshing to venture away from the usual and I certainly feel rested now and ready for the next season of classes. It is only the beginning of August but already time to make plans for the fall session.

With all of this time to reflect on changes that I would like to make in the program and in my personal life I have come up with a few thoughts that I would like to share. Each summer I undertake to immerse myself in a yoga program, either another teacher training or a retreat. This has been an essential part of my journey, especially as one teaching yoga. After an immersion in yoga like this the challenge is always to keep the practice and ideals alive in ones regular life. I know many of you face the same challenge. A weekly class gives us connection to others with similar ideals as well as a renewal to the practice, yet sometimes there still needs to be more.

Most teachers will recommend at least a three week stay yearly in a spiritual environment like an Ashram as a break from the distractions of everyday life and an opportunity to go deeper into the practice of yoga. What I realized for myself on this short summer excursion was that for me it is time to return to India. It has been almost five years since I have been there. This will affect the program here just a little. I will leave early in December and return early in January. My destination is Rikhia, at the Alakh Bara(place of sadhana) of Paramahansa Satyananda and the Festival called Sat Chandi Mahayagna, an uplifting, powerful and auspiciuos event with a tantric fire ceremony called Raj Sooya.. I will stay on at the Ashram after the event and be involved in further training in Kriya Yoga and Tattwa Shuddhi. If you are interested in knowing more about any of this please visit www.yogavision.net There is still apparently a little accomodation left at the Ashram, if anyone would like to join me, now is the time to make the commitment as it will be full soon. This is a very exciting opportunity! continued. .