On February 15th 2018 finally the day has come and Pratham Yoga could celebrate it’s first Opening ceremony in the new Yoga Shala (Hall) of Pyramid Yoga in Laxmanjulha, Rishikesh. 5 lovely students  from all over the world gathered together this morning in all white clothes for this special event to take place at our Yoga Teacher Training in Rishikesh. Special thanks to the 2 priests Ashok Bhatt Ji and Neeraj Ji who created this sacred space to make the ceremony in a very beautiful and mindful setting. Why to do a ceremony? The opening and closing ceremony of a Yoga teacher training course is very important according to the tradition, because through the ceremony positive intensions and blessings towards this wonderful course are set. The fire pit (Hawan) is lighted up with small branches or wood and various natural offerings of all elements are given to the sacred fire during the ceremony while the priest is chanting the mantras continuously. Through the smoke of the burning offerings the hole Yoga hall is cleansed which also brings a fresh environment for practice. You may know the practice of smudging, where houses are cleansed with holy sage and other herbs/tree sab, this works very similar. Through the ceremony it is also believed that the subtle energy bodies are cleansed and negative vibrations are vanishing.   Why to wear white clothes? The students wear white clothes for both ceremonies to strengthen the Sattva Guna during this sacred ritual. Sattva Guna is one of the 3 Gunas (qualities) described in the yogic philosophy, the other Gunas are Rajas and Tamas Guna and together the built up the whole universe (Prakti) but differ in proportions and contexts. Through wearing of white clothes we are inviting Sattvic energy to be present during the ceremony. Sattva Guna represents qualities like clarity, purity, goodness, balance, harmony, devotion, constructive, positive and peaceful. I will write more about the 3 Gunas in a seperate blog post.  

Sunrise at the mountain

After each wonderful week of practice the group is going on Sunday trips to a few very special energetic places in and around Rishikesh. One day we went to the well known Kunjaburi Devi Temple on the mountaintop (1676 m)to see a breathtaking sunrise together in the early morning.