Bhakti Yoga Retreat with JAYA!

May 6th to the 16th 2012 Join us for 10 days of fun and inspiration at Yandara Yoga Institute in Beautiful Baja Mexico.

We have designed this course in order for you to fulfill your required "Yoga Alliance" Continuing Education Credits (CEC).

Dreaming of a Class Reunion?
This is a wonderful opportunity for you to re-connect with your former classmates. It is also a chance to introduce your friends & family to the Yandara experience! Living in nature, and practicing the Yogic lifestyle.

 

The intent of this Bhakti yoga retreat is to harmonize and connect with nature. Using our voices, music & sacred theater to express the natural devotion in our hearts & rekindle the fire of inspiration in our lives.


The practice of Bhakti Yoga is to transform emotion into devotion. To open our hearts and focus the energy that previously was given to fear, self defense and anger and offer this energy to the beloved. Who or what is the beloved? One simple way to look at this is, by opening our hearts we allow ourselves to be-loved.  In Meditation we allow these sensations to relax, reveal and then release! This is done by simply being aware of the breath coming in and going out. Images and mental pictures long stored in the subconscious will arise and yoga gives us tools to help in this process. Often Bhakti Yoga is associated with rites, rituals and personifying the formless. All of these things can help point to the reality which is within.

You can learn more about Bhakti Yoga in the first edition of the "Yandara Villager Newsletter." Download the PDF Here

Tuition is $1,600 USD ... Price includes meals and deluxe tent accommodations.
Private cabana and casita upgrades are available upon request.

Please schedule to arrive May 6th and depart May 17th. Airport ground transportation is $35 each way. See registration page for payment information details.
 
Discounts Available

Early Registration~ Save $200 when you register before March 1st or save $100 by registering before April 1st 2012.

Pay it Forward~ Once registered... save another $200.00, for each person who registers & comes by your recommendation. If you can get 4 of your friends to join you could come at our minimum cost per person which is $500 USD!

We really want you to come. So, if it's cost prohibitive for you, let us know what is within your budget and we will do what we can to work with you in order to make it affordable.

Register for Bhakti Yoga Retreat
Please use the form below to register for our Bhakti Yoga Retreat
A $300 deposit secures your space. The balance is due in full upon arrival

If you would like to register, please email us at yoga@yandara.com
 
 Ground Transportation from the airport is available at $35 USD each way.
 
The arrival airport for Baja, Mexico is San Jose Del Cabo (SJD). The Bhakti Yoga Retreat officially starts on the evening of May 6th. Please make your travel arrangements so that you arrive the day of the program listed start date before 7 pm. Dinner is served on the listed start date at 6 pm and the program officially starts at 7 pm. The Bhakti Yoga Retreat ends on the evening of May 16th, allowing the next day as a departure and travel day. Breakfast will be served on the travel departure day.

For more information,
Email us at: yoga@yandara.com
Phone us at: (877) 490-9883


Bhakti Yoga Retreat Schedule:

May 6th Arrival Evening:
4:00 - 6:00 pm:     Registration
6:00 pm: Dinner
7:00 - 8:30 pm:     Satsang/orientation

Daily Schedule

7:30 AM to 9:00 AM	Morning Sadhana ~ Meditation, chanting, etc.~ Bolo & April
9:00 AM  Breakfast	Herbal tea, papaya, banana and trail mix. Oatmeal is served every other day
11:00 AM to 12:30 PM	Yoga Asana Class ~ Sarasvati & Amber
12:30 PM  Lunch	Vegetarian meals (including dairy and eggs) are served buffet style
1:30 PM to 3:30PM	Afternoon break
3:30 PM to 5:30 PM	Kirtan Class & Individual lessons ~ Learn to lead a kirtan, play harmonium, tamboura or dotar ~ Mercy
6:00 PM  Dinner	Vegetarian meals (including dairy and eggs) are served buffet style
7:30 PM to 9:15 PM	Satsang ~meditation, music, kirtan, yoga philosophy, sacred theater & sound healing ~ All

May 17th  Departure Day:
7:30 - 8:00 am:    Breakfast
Shuttles to the airport

What to Bring:

• Watch
• Toiletries and towels
• Writing materials
• Headlamp/Flashlight
• Alarm clock
• Swimsuit
• Sun hat
• Layers of comfortable clothing.
• Yoga mat
• An instrument (optional)
• Craft supplies for mask making/costumes (optional)

Note: The yoga school is a smoke free environment. No drugs or alcohol allowed for the entire duration of the program, including days off.

Course Descriptions

Morning Sadhana - For Bhakti Yogis cultivating our inner relationship with the beloved and opening our hearts  is a daily spiritual practice called Sadhana.  Our morning Sadhana  is our way of beginning each day with a renewed intention. Our morning practice will include chanting and meditation on Om, pranayamas, kirtan and mantra.  
 
Yoga Asana Class- (needs to be written by Sarasvati & Amber)

Kirtan Class - One of Bhakti Yoga's most fundamental practices is chanting the many forms of the Divine name. In our daily class we will learn to chant kirtans and mantras; focusing on the heartfelt devotion of the sanskrit meanings, and learning to accompany our singing on an instrument. Private harmonium lessons are included and available for those who choose, or you
may choose to learn tamboura and/or dotar. Then, at our evening satsangs, we will open our hearts together by leading the kirtans and mantras that we have learned and practiced. We are here to serve you in your devotion, there will be many opportunities to share and chant together.

Satsang is the expression of yoga in community... It is, the company of yogis observing and experiencing truth, practicing union in relationships, through singing, dancing, remembering, and sharing the stories of wisdom expressions throughout the ages. By inspiring each other and experiencing the deep silence that is union, the stream, river and the sea joined together.  Satsang is the coming together in order to ride on the wave of now! In rhythm and pulse with that which reverberates through, nature and the universe.  Satsang is the doorway which connects us to ALL beings and Sanghas... to all the prayers being prayed, to all the songs being sung in the name of love, peace and ecstatic union.

Sacred Theater & Dance - Life is what you want it to be! We will explore ways of liberating ourselves from a fact based reality, by using music, dance, and theater. We will be exploring and acting out inspired stories, such as,  the Ramayana and/or the Bhagavad Gita. During free time mask making & costuming for performance night is encouraged. We invite you to be creative. We will have a limited amount of face paints and craft materials available, so, if you would like to bring some to share please do!  

Sound Healing - The Divine sound current flows throughout all manifestation. We will learn many ways to use our own unique voice to attune to the healing aspects of sound. We will explore Tibetan bowls and bells, and vibrational healing tuning forks, learning to apply them to the chakras and our energetic bodies. We will play with indigenous instruments that connect us to the elements and Mother Earth. We will create together, a time to experience sound and light sacred body activation.

 
Satsang explores the roots of yoga connecting us to everyone and everything. This wonderful power to unite is called... Love!  But, the word itself and any attempt of describing the divine are the musing's of those questing for a way to share the ineffable vision... and a way to communicate it! Poets swim in it, grasping for a breath, long enough to give form... some sound, some color, some taste, some touch... to enlighten the senses, and the truth of our oneness. The Sangha is where our truest self is realized!


         
JAYA! means victory of the spirit; victory and celebration to the unification of the love vibration!

JAYA! is the in-house kirtan band that plays at Yandara Yoga Institute. Currently, and for the last four years, we help create satsang, four nights a week, for the students who come here for their Yoga teacher training. Our main focus is heart centered group participation, including chanting, meditation, mudra, yoga dance, as well as, the dances of universal peace.

Our instrumentation includes harmonium, electric and acoustic guitars, autoharp, flutes and harmonica, banjo, dotar, sitar, dilruba, mandolin, tamboura, bass, hand drums and percussion, electronic Roland Handsonic percussion, tibetan bowls, didgeridoo, and a fun assortment of other things. We have 3 vocalists,  who are also songwriters in the group, and do our own material (original kirtans and east/west blends) as well as traditional mantra and kirtan. We do some slow, very beautiful songs, with 3 part harmonies, and also get into a good funky rockin'  dance groove, with instrumentals and soulful vocals. Our music moves from creating a very devotional mood to having a whole lot of fun.

You can acquaint yourself with the music of JAYA! by visiting www.sutros.com

...where you will find a collection of Yandara Satsang Recordings by JAYA! Including songs like "Love Ball," "Move Over," the "JAYA Chant," and more...  All songs are free for downloading!

Daniel Prather, aka "Bolo"

Bolo is a singer, songwriter, on the yogic path who writes songs of life, transformation, love & unity. Bolo means to sing or chant. He plays lead guitar, harmonium, dotar, banjo, djembe & Native American flute. He has written more than 100 original songs, ranging from unplugged sweet melodic ballads, kirtan, & gospel, to rockin' electric guitar solos. Bolo says "My goal is to use poetry in song to reflect the experience of being alive." Bolo started playing guitar & writing songs at the age of 16.

His yoga teacher training began in 1972 at Yogi Bhajan's Kundalini Yoga Ashram in San Rafael, CA, where he lived and soon became head cook for 75 people, and here had his first introduction to devotional music and kirtan. During his karma yoga he volunteered in San Quentin Prison, teaching yoga to inmates, and worked for Rock Med, volunteering at concerts in the San Francisco Bay area.

In 1974 he became a devotee of Baba Hari Das, who founded the Hanuman Fellowship, which later became the "Mt. Madonna Center" in Watsonville, CA. During this time he acted in and wrote songs for the yearly Ramayana play production for 20 years, and was able to work with a choreographer from Cirque De Soleil. As a member of the community there he led kirtan at weekly satsangs and for retreats. His other interests include hosting hot springs nature retreats, solar cooking, writing, painting, gardening, sacred theater & dance. Bolo's been in several music groups, including, The Bolo Band, Soul Circus, Concrete Buddha, and Medicine Web. He has many archived recordings that can be found on www.sutros.com.

Currently, Bolo is a member of "JAYA!" in house band at "Yandara Yoga Institute," Baja, Mx., and has contributed many of his original songs to their CDs, including 3 original kirtans on the new recording, "Jaya Guru Om." He helps lead the satsangs, and adds his wisdom and flavor to the chanting and dancing, specializing in stories from the Ramayana and choreographed group yoga dances.

Mercy Ananda

Mercy Ananda is a yogin/musician/healer, and feels that experiencing the Divine sound current is a way to create healing and love. She helps facilitate the nightly satsangs at Yandara where she teaches meditation, mantra, and kirtan. "To find our true voice and then to join with others is such a delightful and soulful way to share our time together here on Earth."

Mercy is a member of Jaya, Yandara's resident band. In addition to presenting traditional kirtans and mantras, she contributes her original songs and chants, and plays various instruments, including harmonium, acoustic guitar, sitar, dilruba, mandolin, tamboura, and Tibetan bowls.

Mercy has a Masters degree in music with a focus in ethnomusicology, composition, and electronic music. She has studied East Indian music with Ali Akbar Khan and Deepak Ram. She has a Reiki Master level degree, and uses Tibetan bowls in Reiki/Chakra Alignment sound healing. Mercy is also a Yoga Alliance certified yoga instructor.

"I feel so much gratitude to the many teachers that help us all on this spiritual journey. Let's enjoy sharing and experiencing the Divine in All."


Shiva Das Runk

Shiva Das started playing drums at the age of eleven and spent his teenage years in love with
rock and roll and the psychedelic awakening of consciousness. When he was 21 he was exposed to Eastern philosophy and religion and fell in love with its devotional music, especially, kirtan, mantra, and bhajan. Since then, for more than forty years, he has been writing and playing both eastern and western spiritual music, professionally as well as just for the love of it. Mainly a singer and percussionist, he also plays autoharp and bass guitar.

Shiva Das feels his life has been mostly a spiritual quest. He has studied and been involved in Buddhist, HIndu, mystic Christianity, Native American, and Shamanistic practices. In 1977 he discovered Astrology and found it to be the vehicle through which the mysteries of the Universe are most clearly revealed.

At Yandara, since 2007, Shiva Das has been part of the Jaya band that provides the music for
the evening Satsangs. He feels his job is to create good vibes. He also offers to the students his thirty years of Astrology with an introductory talk about Astrology in general and private readings for those who wish. He is currently finishing his book, Divine Love Astrology. His approach to Astrology reveals he spiritual lessons a person has incarnated on Earth to learn and teach.

April Prather Duarte

April's yoga training began in 1973 with a remarkable teacher in high school, Lyn Nichols, who taught meditation and asana practice. In 1990 April began teaching yoga in a small organic farming community in Capay Valley, CA. where she raised her 3 children, who she says were her greatest teachers. Her asana practice has continued throughout her life and last year she completed the 26 day teacher training at Yandara Yoga Institute in Baja, MX., and is certified with Yoga Alliance. April has also been meditating and practicing bhakti, nada & raja yoga every day for about 12 years. Her devotion is rooted in the teachings of Thich Nhat Hahn, Shri Anandamayi Ma, Paramahansa Yogananda, Swami Vivekananda and Swami Muktananda.
   
Music has always been a big part of her life. She took piano lessons and played recitals at age 10, and now plays harmonium. She later picked up guitar and mandolin. Growing up in the San Francisco Bay Area April started going to concerts in the mid 70's, and has always been a dancer. She became an usher at Grateful Dead concerts, which eventually led to doing their backstage flower arrangements. In 1985 she started working for the Strawberry Music Festival doing hospitality for musicians. She was also head of  backstage security for the High Sierra Music Festival for many years.  In 1998 she learned African drumming and started playing the djembe, dotar and tamboura.

April  is currently a member of JAYA! and plays tamboura & bass guitar on JAYA!'s CDs. She plays 4 nights a week at Yandara Yoga Institute's teacher training satsangs, and says... "I'm loving it!

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