Workshops, Seminars & Lectures

Available as individual workshops, or in ongoing series.

Workshop on Patanjali Yoga Sutras (Raja Yoga) and Classical Hatha Yoga Texts

Science of Yoga, its definition, purpose and benefits for all ages. Different types of Yoga
Yogic Psycho-Physiology/Pancha Kosha (Five levels of human personality)
Nature of Human mind-Its four fold functions.(Manas, Buddhi, Chitta, Ahamkara)
Concept of Tri-Dosha. Body type: Vata, Pitta and Kapha
Concept of Kleshas (Cause of human pain and suffering, Avidya, Asmita, Raga, Dwesha, Abhinivesha)
How to permanently eradicate the causes.
Yama and Niyama (Universal Values that makes human nature Divine)
Theoretical/practical aspects of Asana and Pranayama and Yoga Nidra
How is ignorance Avidya caused in a human being.
Different methods to concentrate (dharana) the mind. how to distinguish different degrees of concentration.
Methods to deepen meditation (dhyana)--Benefits of meditation
What is Samadhi ecstatic communion or super conscious experiences? How to attain samadhi?
Stages of Samadhi.
Experiences that different stages of samadhi unfold

Nature of Human mind

Antahakarana Chatushthaya--Its four fold functions (Manas, Buddhi, Ahamkara, Chitta)
Pancha Vritti--Five fold experiences of the mind (Pramana right knowlwdge, Viparyaya wrong knowledge, Vikalpa fancy, Nidra sleep and Smriti memory)
Concept of klesha--Five prominent cause of human suffering (Avidya ignorance, Asmita egoity, Raga attachment, Dvesha repulsion, Abhinivesha, fear of death)
How to permanently eradicate the causes.
How is ignorance Avidya caused in a human being.
What is Pranayama or control of Life force. Different techniques of pranayama.
What is Pratyahara or with drawal of consciousness from the senses. What is its benefits?
What is Dharana or concentration of the mind? Different methods to concentrate the mind. How to distinguish different degrees of concentration.
Methods to deepen meditation (dhyana)--Benefits of meditation.
What is Samadhi ecstatic communion or super conscious experiences? How to attain samadhi?
Stages of Samadhi.
Experiences that different stages of samadhi unfold.
Pancha Kosha--Five sheaths or five bodies covering the Soul and functions of these bodies.

Workshop on Tantra Yoga and Kundalini Yoga

Explaining the system of Nadis, (the astral nervous system) and Granthis (Energetic Knots)
Chakras their name, location, characteristic properties, purification and activation
Kundalini Energy, its location, function and properties
Different techniques to awaken and experience the benefits of Kundalini energy.
Experiences of awakened kundalini.

Workshop on Bhagavad Gita (Song Celestial)

Introduction to Lord Krishna and the gist of the teachings
Life an inner and outer battle. How to fight this battle of life correctly.
Law of Karma: How the law binds us, creates pain and suffering
Karma Yoga: Understanding one’s own duty and dharma in life and doing it correctly
Explaining the Laws of Re-incarnation of human souls, and its purpose and goal
Bhakti Yoga: The Nature of God, why He creates the Universe. The Yoga of love
Gyana Yoga: The Yoga of Wisdom. The Nature of the Soul and how to attain self-realization
Concept of Gunas: Sattwa, Rajas and Tamas, and their effects on the body and mind
Central teachings of the Bhagavad Gita and how to apply them in our present life.
How do we attain wisdom and experience God love in our hearts.
How past karma is cleansed and balanced.
How present Karma is to be done to prevent wrong consequences
Specific kriyas that destroys sub conscious habit patterns and wrong tendencies.
Spiritual experiences and how to expand them
How to attain and enjoy ecstatic one ness.

Experience of Cosmic Consciousness as given by Lord Krishna to Arjuna.

A marvelous poetic expression of Cosmic Consciousness in Sanskrit language by Veda Vyasa the author of the Bhagavad Gita.
Lord Krishna opens the Third Eye for Arjuna
Experiencing an infinite ocean of dazzling Light of Pure Consciousness.
Experiencing the different planes of existence and their inhabitants.
Experiencing the laws governing the Universe.
Experiencing the good and the bad aspects, the dualistic conditions of Creation.
Understanding one’s own Dharma, duty in life and fulfilling that duty.
Steps in God or Self realization for advanced seekers.

Workshop on Kriya Yoga and Meditation

Introduction to the great Himalayan Guru lineage
Definition and purpose of Kriya practices.
How is it different from other meditations.
Kriya magnetizes the spine, activates the chakras, improves intuition and third eye capability.
Helps to destroy desire seeds and access the superconscious level of the mind.
Helps to achieve attunement with the soul.
Basic Kriya techniques their benefits and experiences.
Advance Kriya techniques their benefits and experiences.

Workshop on Advaita (Non-Dual ) Vedanta Philosophy

Nature of the soul and ego.
Qualifications for the study and practice of vedanta philosophy.
Definition of Maya (Universal Illusion).
Methods to remove the veil of Maya.
Signs of enlightened beings

Concept of Maya

Why does the Higher Self/Soul in human beings forget its self awareness?
What does the word Maya in Hindu Philosophy generally translated as illusion really mean?
What is the nature of this illusion? What is the characteristics qualities of this illusion?
What causes the illusion?
How is the illusion finally overcome leading to Self awareness.
Techniques adopted to overcome the illusion.

Workshop on Yugas (Cyclic World Ages) or Cyclic Nature of Time

The Sun’s movement around an unseen Star, probably a black hole, in one arm of the Milky Way galaxy, creates Yugas or Cyclic world ages. Like the four changing seasons there are four Yugas which keeps changing in an ascending and descending cycle. In the descending cycle the Yugas change from Golden to Silver, to Bronze to Iron. In the ascending cycle they change from Iron to Bronze to Silver to Gold.
Just as each season has its own specific characteristic qualities affecting human life, similarly each Yuga has very specific characteristics that affects the evolution of not only human life, but human civilizations. We are now in ascending Bronze age or Dvapara Yuga that unfolds a vast potential and quickens growth of human consciousness. The subject explains in great detail the precise direction and what characteristics will come into play, in the evolution of human civilization in the coming decades and centuries.

Kundalini Workshop

Today we are experiencing a time period called Dvapara Yuga. A time period when a very quick expansion of human consciousness is taking place. More and more people are awakening to very unusual experiences, occurring within themselves, often in explicable but very soul satisfying and uplifting. In this scenario, the ancient wisdom of Tantra and Kundalini that talks of higher and higher planes of existences, existence of higher super human beings and man’s evolution from human beings to saintly beings to angelic beings and finally to Divine beings take on new meaning.

In this workshop Yogacharya Dharmananda will explain the following:

The characteristics of the Astral body,
Detail explanation of the Nadi system,
The characteristics of the Chakras and their functions.
How chakras are the portals to entrance to higher dimensions.
What are the characteristics of Kundalini energy, its process of awakening, the problems and difficulties that invariable accompany the arousal.
How to purify and activate the chakras, explaining the techniques in detail and all the numerous experiences, sometimes fearful, scary but mostly very inspiring and uplifting, that a seeker of Spirituality has to go through.

Kriya Kundalini Workshop

In this workshop Yogacharya Dharmananda will explain the following:

Kundalini experiences in old age, terminal sicknesses, death and dying.
Color patterns depicting emotional blocks in the Astral body,
How chakras are the portals to entrance to higher dimensions.
Higher spiritual experiences of Kundalini awakening.

Workshop: Mind its nature and how to get rid of ego habits

What is soul and its characteristics?
What is ego and its characteristics? How ego creates misery. How to bring it under the control of the soul.
Contents of the mind, the childhood wounds, traumas, abuse and how to get rid of them.
Why so much pain in human life and how to get rid of it.
What are Sanskaras? How they are formed in the mind. How they enslave us. How to dissolve them.

Workshop: Mid-life crisis

Purpose of human life.
Stages of human life.
Duty and responsibility at each stage.
Understanding crisis to be an opportunity for awakening.
What to be done for the awakening.

Maximizing spiritual growth in the second half of life

(Based on the teachings of the Bhagavad Gita)
Review of the first half and seeking answer to the question--Do I feel satisfied, contented, and fulfilled in life?
A clear knowing what am I here for? What is the direction my spiritual growth needs to take?
A clear knowing how the ego blocks and distracts me from that growth.
Methods to speed up that growth.
What is the loss if we slacken the effort?

Workshop: Essential teachings of Sanatana Dharma (Eternal Wisdom).

Mind its essential characteristics and impurities.
Definition of Ego (Ahamkara) and Soul (Atman)
Law of karma and Karma yoga.
The stages through which the study of Vedanta philosophy progresses. Sadhana Panchakam.
Concept of Pancha Kosha. How the Koshas evolve through the different kingdoms of nature.
Concept of Maya, Ignorance. How the Gunas in Nature create the ignorance.
Concept of Varnashram Dharma. Duties according to the stage of life and your inner nature.
Qualifications to study and practice Advaita Vedanta Philosophy.
What is Samadhi its nature and various stages of experiences.
Qualifications of a Self –realized sage an Avadhoot.

Workshop: Characteristics of the Astral Body

Composition of the astral body.
The astral nervous system, nadis their functions and characteristics.
The chakras their functions and characteristics.
Methods for the purification of the chakras.
Kriyas or techniques to activate the chakras.

Workshop: Law of Karma and how it affects human life and spiritual evolution

What constitutes Karma or action? What is right action, wrong action and non action?
Right and wrong being very relative term. How to correctly determine whether an action is right or wrong before I perform it. Wrong actions needs to be avoided.
What is a wrong way of doing a right action? This wrong way has to be avoided.
When a right action is done the right way it becomes a Non action.
Karma binds us to a life in the physical plane. Non action frees us from that bondage.
How law of karma and the law of re-incarnation are connected.
How these two laws acting together, explain so much of the pain, suffering and evil we see around.
How individual karma, family karma, social karma, national karma and mass karma of the world affects our lives.
What exactly the law of karma states? How the law affects our lives.
Good and bad karma their respective effects. How the effects can be delayed.
How wrong karma creates painful ongoing suffering.
How to remove childhood traumas, hurt feelings and wounds.
How Karma Yoga leads to a life of peace, harmony, freedom and deep satisfaction.

Workshop: Science of Pranayama

Location of prana and its functions in the physical body.
Explaining nadis and chakras that allow the free flow of prana removing the blockages.
Tantric methods to purify the prana.
How prana can be used to heal and vitalize the body.
Learning to reverse the flow of prana and concentrating it at the Agnya chakra.
Learning how to make prana enter the Astral spine the sushumna nadi to experience Higher consciousness and Samadhi.

Workshop: Meditation

What is meditation?
What are the different purposes for which people meditate?
What are the physical and psychological benefits that accrues from meditation?
How many types of meditation techniques are there?
Why do we have so many techniques?
Some popular meditation techniques are Trancendental meditation, Kriya yoga meditation, Vipassana meditation, Breath awareness, Mantra meditation, Kundalini meditation, Devotional meditation, Chakra meditation etc.

Meditation: Its benefit in all stages and aspects of life

What are the inner needs that drive a person to resort to meditation.
What is the purpose of meditation?
Why there are so many different techniques?
How to know which method is good for me?
What immediate and long term benefits accrue from meditation.

Workshop: Samadhi

Definition and explaining the nature of Samadhi.
How does meditation lead to Samadhi.
Benefits that accrue from Samadhi.
Different types of Samadhi.
Stages through which Samadhi progresses.
Experiences that different stages of Samadhi unfold in human consciousness.

Workshop:Death and dying

Preparation for death.
Death is only of the body. I do not die.
Death is not to be feared rather welcomed.
Death is freeing not an end.
Death is freedom. It is a rebirth in a Heavenly world.
Death is a healing process. Many wounds inflicted on each other are healed.
Death is an important experience in life. It is not the end of life.
Importance of the moment of death. Thoughts at the moment of death. They create the blue print for the future existence.
Life after death full of love and bliss.
Return to human life.

Spiritual Education and Healing Modalities

Open discussions on diverse spiritual experiences manifesting in recent times.
How color patterns in the aura reflect emotional blocks and techniques to release them.
How chakras are balanced and activated to act as portals to higher dimensions.
Reconciling ancient wisdom and modern New Age psychic experiences
Discussing spiritual education, for children, teenagers, young adults, mid-life crisis, retirees and the elderly.

Awakening the mind in Superconscious Experiences

What is Super consciousness, Christ consciousness, Cosmic consciousness?
Scientific techniques and methods to attain super consciousness states.
Factors that obstruct the mind from entering the super consciousness states.
How to distinguish an experience from mental imagination, delusion and wrong interpretation.
Can the highest spiritual growth be handled on one’s own effort.

Experience of Cosmic consciousness –( Paramahansa Yoganandaji’s explanation)

Vedic hymns that helps in deepening devotion
Mantras to purify the Nadis and the chakras.
Sanskaras the inner karmic tendencies how they need to be eradicated.
How to practice emotional stability.
How to awaken to Super conscious experience.
Kriya Yoga meditation leads to superconscious awareness.
Feeling God’s love and blissful awareness.

Ramayana - Lord Rama’s questions to his Guru at a time of spiritual confusion

I have given up much yet I feel am not established in wisdom--why?
I wish to restrain my mind but am unable to do so--what should I do?
How do I get to that state of mind where I do not experience grief?
How do enlightened people live in this world filled with so much suffering and misery?

Healing through Meditation and Spiritual Wisdom

Simple Yogic breathing, visualization, positive affirmations and meditation for relief from stress, fatigue, lack of sleep, high BP, emotional distress and peace and stability in the mind.
Also good for those who are recovering from serious ailments.
Good for those gracefully aging.
Brings strength to those in mid life difficulties.

Resurrection of a Modern Yoga Master

Swami Sri Yukteshwar’s appearance to Paramahansa Yoganandaji, 19th June, 1936.
Recreating a physical body that can not only be seen but also touched and felt.
Human Soul encased in three bodies. Physical, Astral and Causal bodies.
Physical body gives us an experience of the Physical dimension/worlds.
Astral body gives us an experience of the Astral dimension and the worlds
Description of the Astral world, the life and activities there and astral karma.
Explaining the cause of the Soul’s revolving in a cycle of birth and death between the physical and astral worlds. How that cause is eliminated through meditation.
Life and activities in the causal worlds/dimensions.
Freedom in the transcendental dimension.

Sacred Scriptures of the Hindus (Vedas, Puranas and Darshanas)

In this workshop I will delve into compelling narratives of sacred Scriptures, containing not only timeless Spiritual Truths but also far reaching insight into contemporary theories regarding evolution and interaction between dimensions as well as with other planetary cultures. I will specifically discuss:

Past human civilizations their rise and fall.
Scientific discoveries of ancient civilizations including warfare.
Interaction of human with Angelic beings including frequent marriages.
Human life span and power developed through mental concentration.
Why so much talk about giant beings both benevolent and demonic.
Cyclic ages—concept of dark and golden ages.

Sacred teachings from the Upanishads

A eight year boy Nachiketa’s journey to Self realization.
Obstacles and temptations encountered.
Questions to the Lord of death.
Technique received and mastered.
What lessons do we learn in our personal search for peace and wisdom.

India’s greatest modern Saint Sri Ramakrishna Paramahansa

His birth—a Divine miracle.
His Divine intoxication at the Kali Temple.
His first experience of the Divine Mother as Kali.
His joy filled Kundalini experiences.
Tantric teachings from his female Guru Bhairavi Brahmani. Their importance to us.
Intense Vedantic Sadhana under his naked guru Totapuri. How do we benefit from this?
Practicing Christian and Islamic methods of worship.
Training his disciples. Important aspects of the training.
Forecasting the time and date of his Mahasamadhi, conscious exit from this world.

A systematic study of the Vedas

What do Vedanta or the Upanishads teach?
What are the stages through which vedantic study proceeds?
What are the scriptural study material in each stage?
What are the spiritual practices at each stage
How do I know what is the best study material and practices for me?

A systematic study of the Sacred Scriptures the Upanishads

Essential principles of the perennial, ageless philosophy.
The sublime mystical teachings enunciating the spiritual perspectives of life.
The scientific process of inquiry into the nature of the Self the Atman.
The ultimate cause that creates all forms of human pain and suffering.
How limited ego consciousness is transcended.
How the essential bliss, peace and wisdom of the Self can be experienced in life here and now.

"A celebrated ancient story in the Hindu Epic Mahabharata. Arjuna goes to Heaven to bring back Divine weapons to fight the impending Mahabharata war."

Analyzing this story in the light of modern day ET communications.
Arjuna had a human mother but non human father. Understanding this in the light of present day interactions with ETs and so much talk about Hybrids.
What do the scriptures means by Divine weapons? What were their characteristics?
Arjuna went to Heaven. Where is this Heaven located? Can the Heaven be a physical Planet and not necessarily a higher Dimension.

Powerful, Energetic Mantra Meditation

(On the auspicious occasion of Vijaya Dashami Mahotsava)

Explanation of Devi Sooktam´ Sacred Sanskrit Hymn to the Divine Mother Durga, and Navarna mantra.
How loud chanting/devotional singing of this mantra releases deep-seated emotional blocks of guilt, unworthiness and fear.
How Satsanga helps in overcoming depression, loneliness and fills the heart with peace and serenity.
How meditation leads to right understanding of the reasons for one’s negative experiences in life.

Living by inward joy

Science of Kriya Yoga Pranayama and Meditation from Paramahansa Yogananda
The spinal column/sushumna nadi/astral spine is an inner battlefield. Ego vs Soul needs.
Ego dominating the mind pulls it downward and outward for its need of external sensory enjoyments as a means for self-satisfaction.
Soul/Atman desires to pull the mind upward and inward to give it an experience of unalloyed soul bliss.
How Kriya/Spinal breathing helps to pull the mind inward and upward and reduces the rate of breathing.
How reduced breathing rate or breathless states help in expansion of consciousness and experience of soul bliss.
From joy we come, in joy we live and in sacred joy we will melt away.

What happens to the Soul after death?

Where do the souls go when they die?
What is the life like in Heaven?
What is the purpose of life in Heaven?
Is life in Heaven eternal or they come to an end.
What factors causes re incarnation?
What is the purpose of re-incarnation?
Is there a final place where Souls live eternally free of re-incarnational cycle.

Science of Mudras

What is a mudra and what is its function?
Different hand mudras and their healing abilities.
Advanced mudras used for activating the chakras and balancing hormonal secretions.
Jyoti Mudra for activating the Third eye—technique and practice.

How does Hinduism address the bad things that may happen to earth’s creatures human and otherwise?

Things such as:

The death of innocents, such as babies from illness, circumstance, or war.
The extinction of whole phylum of creatures from the earth.
The purposeful and organized genocide of human beings because of their race, color or religion.
The seemingly indiscriminate distribution of disease and disabilities across the human population.