BLACK LOTUS YOGA

This is the opening teacher training for Black Lotus Yoga, the new vinyasa system designed to be shared and practiced in the Mysore style. Here we explore the Black Lotus system inside and out. We learn how the system works, how the postures are arranged, how the sequences build upon one another, and how to work with them in the most enriching of ways—to explore the miracle of the breathing body.

The program is designed to enhance your understanding of Black Lotus Yoga, so you may tap its profound potential and explore it with your own inner light. Upon completion, you will be positioned to teach Black Lotus Yoga at a level appropriate to you. You will have a broad overview of the system, a working knowledge of the foundational sequences, and an evolving relationship with the psychodynamic principles of this unique contemplative form.

the yoga

Black Lotus Yoga arose unexpectedly, on a spontaneous movement of the breath, to bring forward a creative power that was ready to blossom. And blossom it did, into this vibrant vinyasa system, which now stands before us, dripping with creative potency, wanting to blossom further through you, and whomever wants to touch it.

In learning Black Lotus Yoga, you become part of this organic blossoming, for you invite the same creative power that shaped the practice to awaken within you, to unfold its petals in your unique fragrance and color, as an expressive opening in your own life. This is what yoga does when you surrender to its natural movement—it quickens and reshapes you from the inside.

In learning Black Lotus Yoga, you are learning something whose origin lies deep within your body. You are becoming an apprentice to the body, and learning to open yourself further to your own natural light.

the training

You need only have such an opening within yourself, then turn and support others in doing the same, by sharing the movements that awaken and celebrate the creative force. That is what it means to be a Black Lotus teacher. That and nothing more. This program is designed to support you in becoming a Black Lotus Teacher. It supports you in having your own opening with Black Lotus Yoga, while giving you an essential understanding of how the system works, so you can return to your community and share the system in an authentic and grounded way.

Upon completion of this program, you will be ready to share the magic of the Black Lotus practice, and you will be encouraged to do the same. And should you choose to seek accreditation as a Black Lotus Yoga Teacher, you will have taken the first essential step. For more on the accreditation program, please see below.

the practice

This training has a strong element of practice, with daily asana, pranayama, meditation and chanting. In morning Mysore practice, we explore the vinyasa sequences that are available to us in several shades or variations, to grasp the deeper movement patterns behind them. Here we refine our practice, learning how to breathe into the forms, how to hold them, and how to draw ourselves out of them gracefully.

In pranayama, we contemplate the movement of the breath with a sense of natural reverence, feeling the breath as the pulse of life. We learn to use subtle postural shifts, together with the crucial techniques of bandha and mudra to support that inner movement, while making room within ourselves for consciousness to breathe.

Meditation practice, for us, must be light, natural and unstrained. So we will luxuriate in short and spontaneous meditation sessions throughout the day. We will understand meditation as an activity of the deeper mind, and hence, not something that we accomplish, but something that we discover within ourselves. Through the practice of meditation, we learn to be ourselves—or more simply, to be.

the philosophy

Aside from learning all the practicalities of the Black Lotus System, we will study philosophies from both Eastern and Western perspectives that are relevant to understanding the creative source from which this yoga springs, and also for understanding what it means to practice this yoga, and to join its lineage stream.

We will give special emphasis in these studies to the theological idea, shared by many world religions, that the body is a sacred site in which the divine presence contemplates itself, and in which we, with that spirit, find ourselves aligned.

At the same time, we will undo our dogmatic attachments to these same ideas by studying related philosophies that emphasize the primacy of seeing and feeling over thinking and voicing, especially as modes of relating intimately to the ground of being.

the program

The heart of this program, of course, is the training that it provides to teach Black Lotus Yoga. Thus we reflect on teaching this yoga from all angles, from giving guiding classes to running a Mysore room. We study the art of manual assisting, and we practice copiously upon one another, to bring some real experience of that crucial art into our hands.

We learn to read the movements of prana and apana on other bodies (after learning to read it on ourselves) so we can understand how the subtle breath wants to move, see where it may be obstructed, and perhaps make some gentle intervention to support the breath in moving in a more natural way.

Furthermore, we learn how to adapt and scale the postures and sequences of Black Lotus Yoga to unique bodies and circumstances, to help the practice come together for others, and help them come alive.

the schedule

The program is organized into four full practice weeks. At a glance:

Sunday-Thursday (7am-1pm)

Friday (7am-10am)

Saturday (off)

Usual Day

7:00-9:00 - mysore

9:00-9:30 - break

9:30-11:30 - alignment/assisting lab

11:30-12:00 - break

12:00-1:00 - pranayama/philosophy/chanting

Guided classes will be held on Fridays. Saturdays will be off for resting.

venue

Our immersion will be held in a quiet, spacious yoga shala, made of wood and metal and glass, nestled in a beautiful, protected piece of forest on the edge of the old center of Sintra. This is an extraordinary venue in an enchanted and historical city, and I am thrilled to have the opportunity to spend a month here with you. Sintra has a full spectrum of options for accommodation (and Lisbon is very near and accessible as well), so you are sure to find something that works for you.

accreditation program

You do not need accreditation to teach Black Lotus Yoga, nor to be an integral member of the Black Lotus Yoga Teacher’s community. You need only be a dedicated practitioner of Black Lotus Yoga, and a generous support to anyone else who wants to learn. Upon completion of this training, you will be encouraged to teach.

But there will be an accreditation program for teachers of Black Lotus Yoga. The program will recognize teachers who advance in their study and understanding of Black Lotus Yoga, and who demonstrate excellence in teaching. The program will support the spread of Black Lotus Yoga and create the highest standards for its teaching community. Accredited teachers will receive official certificates and be recognized on the Black Lotus website, so students can locate and study with them.

Accreditation will be granted at three levels. To receive accreditation, you must have at minimum three months of formal training with Ty (workshops, immersions, intensives, retreats) and this must include the present Black Lotus Yoga Teacher Training. In addition, you must have three years of steady practice experience with Black Lotus Yoga. Then you can then apply for certification. To keep your certification active, you must continue to participate in official Black Lotus Yoga events.

More about the accreditation program will be found on the Black Lotus Yoga website, which will be launching early in 2025.

logistics

Sintra is 25 minutes from Lisbon by car. It is possible to take public transportation to Sintra from Lisbon for around €6 . . . From Lisbon International, take the metro to Oriente Station (7 min), then take the train to Sintra Station (47 min). Then walk or take a taxi to the hotel, on whose grounds the shala awaits . . .

Casa Holstein

R. São Sebastião 5, 2710-592

Sintra, Portugal

cancellations

Regardless of reason for cancellation, deposits will not refunded. Deposit amounts may be transferred to another retreat or workshop, minus a €40 administrative fee, and must be used within one year. Please consider your schedule carefully before booking.

Refunds will be calculated as follows:

• Up to 60 days before start of event, 75% of your payment (excluding deposit) minus €40 admin fee

• Up to 59-31 days before start of event, 50% of your payment (excluding deposit), minus €40 admin fee

• Within 30 days of event, there will be no refund and no deposit transfer to another retreat/workshop.