This is a traditional school of Yoga, set in a beautiful village called Pandeshwar, in Karnataka, South India. Here students live with the teacher, the most knowledgeable and humble teacher I've ever had, Dr. Vijaya Kumar Manja. Vijaya, or Guruji as the students lovingly call him, has been practicing Ashtanga Yoga from the age of 16 and has a scholar knowledge of various Indian philosophies, including Advaita Vedanta and Naveena Nyaya (medieval Indian logic). He also holds a Master Degree in Sanskrit and earned his PhD with the subject 'Yoga Cikitsa'; 'curative procedures prescribed in Yoga and Upanishads'. Besides that, he is the local priest and conducts daily pujas at the temple located behind his house, to which students have access most of the time to pray and meditate.

The day at the school starts early. At 4:30am or 5:30am the Mysore practice starts, in a candle lit shala. Breakfast is served at 9:30am by Guruji himself and both his beloved mother and wife. Either after breakfast or in the afternoon there is a Philosophy class, that can last from 1 to 3 hours, depending on the topic. These classes are in-depth studies of scriptures such as the Bhagavad Gita, Yoga Sutras of Patanjali or the Hatha Yoga Pradipika. There is also chanting and introduction to Sanskrit. Dinner is served around 6:30pm. On Sundays and moon days, students usually go to the beach (10 minutes rickshaw drive) or to the nearby towns of Udupi and Manipal for shopping, ice cream and even to watch the latest Bollywood hits at the cinema.

Guruji frequently invites students to attend his own family's celebrations, such as birthdays and weddings, which makes the whole experience much more special. When there is a celebration for a traditional Indian holiday, students can also take part. 

The school is open most of the year, apart from rainy season and when Vijaya has travel commitments. They also run special courses lasting one month (for details of upcoming courses, click here).

I learnt a lot during the month I spent here and had plenty of time for my own sadhana and reflection. The small group and close proximity with Guruji and his teachings are conducive to a more intimate, deeper learning experience and also a fantastic opportunity to get more acquainted with the traditional life style, explore and enjoy the nature surrounding the house and spend time quietly reading, chanting or meditating. I strongly recommend spending a minimum of 2 months to be able to delve deep into the practice and benefit fully from the relationship between teacher-student. I would have stayed longer if I had time and plan to go back for a longer period in the near future. 

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Whilst attending a workshop on Advaita Vedanta in Tiruvannamalai, India, on Christmas day by chance I found Rose and Simon, the teachers behind Yoga Korunta. The greatest gift I could have received! It wasn't my intention to practice Ashtanga in Tiru, but after a couple of Mysore practices with them, I decided to sign up for the whole month and from then on, every single day (apart from the traditional days off on Saturdays and Moon Days) I would look forward to waking up early and get on the mat with them.

Their approach to the practice is straight forward but also gentle and careful. I particularly like the way they do adjustments, observing and respecting the limits of each student and always reminding us that we should not feel pain and not let the ego take over our practice. Because there are two teachers, each student feels looked after and they are mindful and sensible enough to give the practitioners space to go through their own journey in their practice, only adjusting/intervening when appropriate or necessary.

I received the last poses from the Primary Series from them and felt that my practice has improved immensely under their attentive watch. I learnt (and unlearnt) many things that made me stronger, softer and much more aware of what I am doing.

They are both KPJYI Authorised Teachers and travel the world sharing their practice. They were in Tiruvannamalai for the last season (December to February) and many seasons before that, as devotees of Sri Ramana Maharshi and his teachings. They have also taught in Japan, Sweden, China, Indonesia, Holland, Poland and Chile. This year they are based in Sao Paulo, Brazil (Rose's home town), offering Mysore style classes everyday and running occasional workshops.

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Oren Dotan is an established osteopath and developer of the Integrated Craniosacral Therapy method. He also occasionally offers Therapeutic Yoga Alignment workshops and I have been fortunate enough to attend one on Koh Phangan, Thailand.

In the course of intensive 10 days, we gained an incredible amount of knowledge on body anatomy, alignment principles, do's and don'ts, and were able to practice hands-on adjustments, variations and modifications of key asanas.

The structure of the course was quite open. It would usually start with some theory on  alignment principles or muscles or joints, followed by practice and correction of our own postures. But quite often we would all jump on our feet (or our heads) mid theory lesson, when an interesting question arose (and we did have loads of questions) and Oren wanted us to put in practice the concept we had just learnt. This was great as having practical examples helped us memorise whichever principle was being taught.

The course is aimed at more advanced practitioners and yoga teachers and it's a great complement or reinforcement after a 200 hour TTC, especially in terms of learning appropriate adjustments and modifications for different levels and conditions.

Based on my own experience, I can say that this course completely changed the way I practice and teach. During the 10 days, I realised how bad my alignment was in certain postures I had been doing for ages (downward dog was a shock for me) and as I started using the correct muscles (that had never been used before or had been long forgotten) I also started to release whatever was stored in these places. I've had bursts of anger, sadness, frustration, developed rashes and was incredibly sore for a week or so. It was all gone after my correct practice became more established and I felt better and stronger than ever.

As for my teaching, the way I demonstrate the poses and adjust students have improved immensely. But the most important change in my opinion is that I became much smarter and objective at cueing postures and transitions, without having to use any technical language. We do learn and memorise the proper names of the muscles, joints, movements and common conditions, but also learn simple and effective tricks to put the body into correct alignment and how to describe them.

I strongly recommend this course to anyone who wants to improve their own practice and prevent injuries, and especially to yoga teachers who are seeking refining their knowledge of the body and movement and upgrade their teaching skills.

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Comprehensive 200h Yoga TTC in Koh Phangan, Thailand.

Knowledgeable teachers, beautiful yoga shalas, great location on the island. The schedule goes roughtly like this:

7am - meditation (first three weeks Vipassana style, fourth week active meditations)

8:30am - two-hour full class, with the three main teachers alternating classes and styles.

10:30am - Good vegan brunch followed by a welcome break for studying or relaxing

12:30pm - yoga philosophy, asana theory and teaching techniques classes

2:30pm - Another shorter break

4pm - 90-minute yoga class

6pm - last activity of the day, lasting 1 hour. It can be guided meditation, compassionate sharing, anatomy, etc. 

It's an exhausting schedule but it pays off at the end. The main advantage of the programme here is that it offers an internship scheme, where new graduates can teach free yoga classes to members of the public straight after finishing the course, so they get some experience and lose the "fear" of teaching. Most of the time, these classes are really popular and recommended. Furthermore, if you volunteer at the centre (3 hours a day, 5/6 days a week), you get a discount on tuition. I did both (volunteering and internship) and when I returned to the island the year after, I started teaching permanently at the school, where I still teach today.

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