Agama Yoga

[yamuna]

I stayed at agama yoga/ananda wellness in august 09. I went there to check for their 'course of university-level quality'.

I have to say, as much as I appreciated the lecture of one of the teachers, kushru, & the hatha yoga class of another, jason, as much was I not sure about the seriosity of the whole business - and business it seemed to be. from a 'client's' point of view I would expect that if someone is inquiring about a yoga teacher's course & is willing to shell out more than € 2000 for three months (exl. food and accomodation) they should get decent & thorough information, find someone to talk to for more than 2 minutes in between & have their questions answered satisfyingly, not to speak of an inquiry into the potential qualification of the candidate - unfortunately none this seemed to happen.

as yoga is a serious affair you would not want to be tought by anybody, in particular if you are approaching it with a spiritual rather than a physical motif. if someone claims the status of a guru, than they should also belong to an established sampradaya, which is a succession of masters/disciples, at least in the (still valid) context of indian spiritual traditions. one bcomes a disciple proper by being initiated which is not something you are granted on the fly, but usually only after a lengthy period of time of service to your master, which then deems you worthy of receiving initiation - or not.

with the 'guru' swami vivekananda obviously not belonging to any of the established sampradayas (according to what I had learned from one of the teachers upon inquiry), his not being accessible (you know, he's so busy), and initiation obviously watered down to a mere 'transfer' of a particular 'energy' pertaining to a particular level of development or capacity, I was not so sure whether this is not just a good way to make money, exploiting the naivite of (obvioulsy mostly 20-something) uninformed spiritual seekers. with the fashionable measure of 'tantra' thrown in together with the promise of shakta/shakti courses & festivities in the advanced courses the portfolio promises rather a good source of income than a reliable source of spiritual knowledge.

I am sorry to have to say this, but I think yoga is too important a path to be left to the charlatans.

unfortunately the ananda resort that hosts one of the agama yoga halls is not the best place to be - another one is further up the beach, but not really enticing to stay there either. with prison-cell like rooms at 500 baht/night, the main road passing right in front of the compound plus a rather indifferent staff & overprized food (though in general decent) doesn't perhaps make the resort your favorite place to stay.

anyhow, after having moved from there to the sanctuary at had tien bay I met a number of people again that I had seen at ananda's & there was unanimous consent about what I just written about.

so if you're into doing lifestyle yoga for some time this is probably a place where you can go about doing this (if you find the place to your liking or you are looking into long-term rentals in the vicinity of the centre), but if you are into seriously studying yoga - or tantra for that matter, I recommend that you look somewhere else.