USA Retreat September 1 – 3 Session Details

Power of Relaxation

Friday, September 1st

Yogi Ashokananda will examine what is meant by true relaxation – a state that leads to self healing, good health, happiness and increased productivity. 

Harnessing the energy of your subtle body and acquiring self-knowledge are key to relaxing into your true self and realizing your inner power.  Yogi will highlight the traditional yogic beliefs that have influenced the meditation & mindfulness techniques and practices and will delve a little deeper into: 

  • Importance of yoga & posture
  • Effects of relaxation on the nervous system
  • Power of Self-realization
  • Breath & Prana

You will be guided through basic relaxation practices, a fully guided meditation and Yogi will provide you with techniques to help you on your journey of self-discovery by encouraging self-examination, self-awareness and self-acceptance.  

These practices will allow you to relax into your authentic self without the pressure of having to be “happy” all the time.  When this pressure is released, you will feel more content and fulfilled.  You will become more aware of your own patterns of behavior and the split between your material personality and your spiritual self is healed.  As life around you becomes increasingly frenetic, it is increasingly important to find inner stillness.  

The practices are based on embracing the whole self and trying to create a sense of humanity, through accepting and transforming the lower three chakras, concerned with grounding, rootedness, mental and physical constipation, anger, sexuality, self-confidence, greed and lust.  

Your spirit or soul is already perfect and whole; it does not require healing.  All it needs is space for you to experience your highest self.  You can accomplish this by clearing the physical and emotional pathways to it and rid yourself of samskaras (the imprints on your personality of unused emotions from experiences).   

Finding peace at the physical level and not running away from yourself in your mind is key.  You will take away from these session practices to help you find a long-lasting peace within yourself that allows you to be with all your emotions and feelings without the veneer of “positive thinking”.  In this way, you can be your true, authentic self, connected and compassionate with yourself and others.


Body Awakening – Himalayan Hatha Yoga

Saturday, September 2nd

This practice will allow you to experience the essence and authenticity of true Hatha Yoga with Yogi Ashokananda’s signature style of Himalayan Hatha Yoga. 

During this session you will understand precise alignment and its effect within the asanas to stimulate correct engagement of the muscles and the importance of breath attention to open the body for awakening.

Awakened body through Himalayan Hatha Yoga practices brings ease into your day-to-day life,  allowing the body to channel the energy and to embrace the emotions to live mindfully in everyday activities.  An awakened body is anchored and balanced physically, mentally & emotionally.

This session is suitable for all levels, focussing on joint & ligament health, alignment strengthening the muscular system through the balanced sequences of Himalayan Hatha Yoga Series 1 & 4. 

Himalayan Hatha Yoga is a strong, yet supportive form of yoga, working through the entire body, cleansing and revitalizing through a combination of physical & subtle body practices and special sequencing, each sequence with its own emphasis.

The focus of Himalayan Hatha Yoga is on inner body strength, breath, accuracy and alignment of the asanas, with consistent regard for a safe, healthy and balanced practice.  To achieve this requires a strong connection with the breath and the body, which evolves over time through discipline and practice.  

The philosophy is embedded in the practice itself, and the spiritual benefits occur through the physicality of it.


Atma Kriya Meditation

Saturday, September 2nd

Yogi Ashokananda’s Atma Kriya Meditation holds the same transformative qualities as Prana Kriya Yoga. As a meditation it draws the energy inwards and an ecstatic and all peaceful state of being can be experienced. It moves the prana (life force) through the body into your higher consciousness by using the breath, gentle concentration of the mind and subtle awareness of the process. In Atma Kriya Meditation you offer up your energy to your higher self. 

This meditation is one of the best remedies for improving concentration and memory as it fine tunes the mind. It also affects your nervous system, which feeds your organs and renews you from the inside out. It is highly effective for erasing depression, anxiety and stress giving you greater self-awareness and self-love. 

Atma Kriya Meditation is not about going somewhere else, about imagining ourselves on a beautiful beach or a mountain summit.  We are here. It is about staying here and going deeper. Deeper and deeper into the depths of ourselves. Journeying right down into the center of self (Atma).  

This practice will help you calm your mind, relax the nervous system and let you feel positive overall in life while creating a positive and healing vibration for your body.

Atma Kriya Meditation will renew your energy, heighten intelligence by awakening and altering your perceptions, help you to have greater self-awareness, feel a connection to yourself, to others and to a source greater than you. 

Each one of us is entitled to feel greater inner peace, love, joy and fulfillment, happiness, freedom and success and this meditation will allow you to have access to the source within YOU from which these experiences can develop and make them a natural part of your life and who you are. It will help you to feel a connection to the energy of the universe.


Breath Healing – Prana Kriya Yoga

Saturday, September 2nd

This session will allow you to experience the essence and authenticity of true Kriya Yoga with Yogi Ashokananda’s signature style of Prana Kriya Yoga.

Regardless of your physical strength and ability, Yogi will expertly guide you so that you can experience the layer of your highest consciousness by focusing on the fundamental principles of the practice. In this energetic and empowering session, we will go into fascinating detail and experience of Prana Kriya Yoga, the physical and subtle body alignment, stimulating the energy with the breath to channel throughout the body. 

The session is suitable for all levels, focusing on gentle and subtle Kriyas in combination with the breath, primordial sounds and mudras, to create a healing effect on the physical and subtle body.  

Prana Kriya Yoga harmonizes and unites the flow of the physical movement in our bodies (kriya) with its energetic power helping you become aware of your creative potential.

This form of yoga is one of the most effective means by which to achieve your goals and aspirations, material, emotional and spiritual, and bring your actions in line with your mental and emotional state. Prana Kriya Yoga has also long been highly regarded among many great masters and yogis to hold the key to slowing down the aging process. It achieves this by recharging the blood with oxygen and decarbonizing it, thus rejuvenating the brain and spinal center and preventing the decay of tissues in the body.

It awakens the hidden energy (kundalini) within you allowing you to transform and free yourself from limiting beliefs and old behavioral patterns that hold you back.


Master Q&A

Saturday, September 2nd

The opportunity to discuss with Yogi any questions you have from the day.  

The Q&A sessions quite often lead to sharing experiences along with storytelling from Yogi’s own personal experience.  It is never surprising how one individual’s question is relevant to the majority of people.  It is a good opportunity to discuss topics with Yogi, the person who has been living a yogic lifestyle as integral to his life since a child. 


Puja – Sacred Vedic Fire Ceremony

Saturday, September 2nd

Yogi will lead the Puja – fire ceremony with the focus on a specific intention, in this case the puja will focus on self-healing & awakening.

The fire is prepared with specific items to support the intention, participants will be guided by pujari, Yogi Ashokananda, through the vedic rituals, including mantra chanting and offerings engaging each of the senses and elements.   

Participants are invited to receive a blessing, represented by a specially prepared Puja Chandan Tilak (powder) as a symbol of loyalty, devotion, and commitment. Yogi will invoke the blessing with a mark on the forehead (at the ajna chakra), to recognize your own intellect. 


Create Mental Balance & Stability – Pranayama  

Sunday, September 3rd

Today’s session will begin with Pranayama (control of the prana). The breath carries the life force known as prana into each person’s body and is the physical manifestation of this vital energy. As we breathe, prana is the inhalation and apana is the exhalation, and the time between the two is called samana.

We will be practicing various forms or pranayama to bring prana to every part of the brain and thereby improving your mental balance and stability. 

We will create awareness of the body on an energetic and physical level.


The Power of Inner & Outer Alignment 

Sunday, September 3rd

This session will allow you to experience the Power of Inner and Outer alignment as we explore the connection of the mind, body and breath through asanas, bandhas and the managed breath.    

The physical asana practice will leverage Yogi’s Himalayan Hatha Yoga, a strong, yet supportive form of yoga, and will follow the basic principles of this practice including breath, bandhas and mudras. 

We will explore the alignment of the body, breath and mind connection in the postures, while re-energizing and rejuvenating the body.  

Yogi strongly believes that it is not muscle that enables you to hold the posture but is the mind that creates the balance, and the breath gives you the ability to hold it.


Restore & Revive

Sunday, September 3rd

The Himalayan Hatha Yoga restorative practice will explore a limited number of asanas, using the mind and breath to take you deeper in the posture allowing you to truly let go.  Once you let go, the restoration can take place. 

The restorative practice will include asanas that bring your mind to a state of calm and stillness, lessening the strain on the nervous system, with less engagement of your physical body.  The postures will be done either seated, lying down on back or stomach.

All the parts of the body are being used in such a way where the mental approach to them means you have less strain on your muscles so that the flow of the blood happens effortlessly and releases the tension from your nervous system for healing.

This type of restorative practice will give energy to the body and recharge you.


Self-Contemplation / Free Time

Saturday & Sunday

Take time out, go for a walk following your meal, explore the natural surroundings of Golden Light Healing Retreat Center before we continue with the afternoon sessions together.

Invest in yourself, spending very precious time to connect to yourself for Self-Contemplation.  Yogi will discuss the importance of Self-Contemplation and techniques to support this aspect of the practices.  

Self-contemplation is a key practice during our time together and your empowerment towards self-discovery and healing.  It is an essential take-away from the retreat as you will develop an understanding of the concept & techniques that can continue beyond our retreat time together.

Self-contemplation helps you to refine the process of thought development, the further you go, the freer you can become.  

Spend time with yourself, getting in touch with your senses.  Make a conscious decision to understand how your senses are reacting to everything around you.  Realign your awareness to your senses, it is important to fine tune this ability to hear and see yourself.  

Connection to self through nature is natural, as we are made of the same 5 elements – Air, Space, Water, Fire & Earth.  Each of these elements exist here at Golden Light Healing Retreat Center supporting your connection throughout the retreat.   Where is your Nature when you return home? 


Q&A and Closing

Sunday, September 3rd

The closing remarks from Yogi, summarizing the techniques to take home and how to continue the practices beyond the weekend.  There will be more opportunity to discuss with Yogi any questions you have from the retreat.  


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