This 9-month course offers an introduction to the philosophy, history, and practices of Indo-Tibetan Buddhist Yoga, or the Vajrayana. Special emphasis is placed on meditation and the foundational teachings and perspectives as expressed in the life of the Buddha, the Four Noble Truths, and yogic mind training. We will address fundamental questions such as what yoga is as both a goal and a practice

A major component of the course is compassion meditation. What is compassion, and how can we become more compassionate? What has recent scientific research revealed about the cultivation of compassion? What contemplative practices and what activities deepen our empathy and compassion, and what are the results?

At the completion of the course students will have a strong foundation on which to build a personal practice.

 This 9-month course offers an introduction to the philosophy, history, and practices of Indo-Tibetan Buddhist Yoga, or the Vajrayana. 

The foundation of Vajrayana is based on the understanding of the Two Truths, that is the “relative reality” how things appear and the “ultimate reality” the inherent nature of all things. The idea of yoga is how to realize the interconnectedness of these two realities and experience them, but in order to do that we must first understand what they are. In this course we will explore these two topics and thus gain a deeper understanding of what exactly we are trying to accomplish with our yoga practices.

“Vajrabody”, our unique 200-hour Teacher Training Program is based in Buddhist Yogic principals and practices, specifically the Hatha Yogas of the Vajrayana. Through this course we will discover the philosophy and methods of this ancient yoga lineage. 

To study yoga is to study the self. A Tibetan word for Buddhist is Nang La, or “insider.” This is symbolically understood to mean that if you practice yoga then you are interested in going inside your body-mind complex to learn or “wake up” to your primordial self. To study the mind is yoga. To bring the mind into harmony with the body is the goal of Hatha Yoga. Thus, the methods of Hatha were created to achieve such ends. This is the goal of our program, to share the tools necessary to go within and begin to study the self.

The Vajrabody program is also unique in that there is little expectation for students to become teachers in a studio setting. It’s our view that learning, contemplating, and deepening our own understanding of practice comes first. Those that want to go on to teach in a studio setting will certainly be more than prepared to follow that path. However, more broadly speaking we encourage students to think outside the box and re-imagine what it means to teach. Effectively, this means that if you study yoga then you are a teacher, in the sense that you become useful to others who are interested in learning about their own body-mind complex. By learning about our own mind we become more capable of helping and teaching. Therefore, all sincere students are also teachers. To share yoga can be done anywhere and anytime and this is the idea of our program.