Antaranga Yoga | The Key to a Beautiful Life

How does one live a life where one can act with honour and live in peace? How does one awaken songs of Healing, Love & Beauty? How can a one re-envision oneself in response to a radically changing world?

All of us are confronted with questions like this. These are questions that become vitally important as we move into a world that grows more complex and hurried. Ritambhara Ashram and …. have come together to enable the seeker to immerse themselves in the wisdom of Patnajali’s Yoga Sutras to find the principles and practices that we can help one answer these fundamental questions.

The Emerging World

Leaders and professionals in all walks of life are confronted with a world where change is commonplace. The psychological process of preparing the self and the capacity to transform continually are critical to developing a robust response to this challenge. These professionals and leaders go through programmes that help them acquire skills and competencies to cope with the new demands of performance, often without creating the inner foundation to live through the constant change. It will be obvious to any serious observer of the situation that this is less than optimal.

The Arthashashtra recommends that all leaders must be yogis. The Natyashastra, the Vaastu shastras and a host of other texts recommend a practice of Yoga as the foundation for excelling in the profession. The reason is very simple. Yoga practiced in a holistic fashion ensures that a person becomes capable of being the best he or she can be in spite of changes in the context and across time. Leaders and professionals need to strive continuously to perform at their peak capabilities in the context of flux. This means a continuous investment in one’s competencies, one’s inner well being and one’s health.

What is Antaranga Yoga?

The branches and leaves of a tree are its most visible parts but, they are surely not the whole tree. Without the roots that go deep into the earth, the branches and leaves will become dry twigs and decaying leaves. Aasana & Praanayaama are the most visible parts of the body of yoga but they are not the whole practice. When they are not rooted in self-reflexivity, they are mere exercises for the body. They do not address the core intent of Yoga namely, ending duHkha and discovering Ananda. They are the more superficial and easily demonstrable aspects, the more tangible of the “bahiranga saadhana” (the outer practice). While the “antaranga saadhana” (inner practice) is referred to as meditation and has caught the popular imagination, it is also distorted and trivialized as a relaxation or a mind control methodology. The behavioural components of Yoga namely, Yama & Niyama (interpersonal ethics & intrapersonal discipline), pratyAhAra redirecting one’s prANic energies and dhyAna profound attentiveness are often neglected.  Meditation is then reduced to simplistic visualization techniques. Yoga is a profound & holistic practice and an approach to life; it cannot be practiced or adopted in fragments. Yoga is to be lived in the flux of reality though it can be learned in the tranquility of an ashram.

Antaranga Yoga- The key to a beautiful life

This exploration into the foundations of Antaranga Yoga will provide an opportunity for participants to:

• Introspect upon and clarify one’s life purpose.
• Introspect upon the relationship between outer expression and inner processes.
• Discover practices that will help one discover one’s healing energies.
• Discover inner energies and potentials and uncover one’s heroic self.
• Develop a foundation of interpersonal ethics and intrapersonal discipline.
• Introspect upon the way one holds and gives meaning to spirituality.

Design of the Programme

The methodology of work will be a flowing rhythm between an exploration into one’s inner processes and working with outer expression, through a combination of practices and dialogues. This exploration will help to integrate the individual’s inner experience with the action choices he / she makes in the work and family spaces.

This unique approach to Antaranga Yoga allows the participant to discover a personal practice and initiate their unique spiritual quest. Each participant will be enabled to design a personal practice that will help them act with intensity and conviction as well as evolve inwardly. The Antaranga Yoga exploration thus offers the following:

1. A ‘here and now’ encounter with oneself
2. A contemplative context for self reflection
3. An experiential learning about the insights of Yoga
4. A framework for developing an enduring personal practice.

*Suitable age group 21 years and above

The Details of the Retreat are as follows:

Date & timings: Starts on the morning of Friday, 30^thJune, 2023 at 10.00 am and concludes on Sunday, 02^th, July, 2023, 1.30 pm

(Note: Participants are requested to arrive by 29^th June (Thursday) evening or latest by 30^th June (Friday) morning by 8:00 AM)

Retreat Fee: Rs.15,000/- per person for Indian national and for foreign national $190 USD. The fees in inclusive of boarding, lodging and teaching.

Accommodation: Shared accommodation will be provided

Food: Simple sattvik food with fresh grown vegetables from the farm

Venue: Indica Ritambhara Retreat, No. 69, BMTC Layout, Adjacent to Kammasandra Village, Lakshmipura Hobli.

The Retreat, located just on the outskirts of Bangalore city, is a small beautiful space dedicated to Yoga & spiritual studies and practices in a simple and clean environment adjacent to a farm of its own.

Reaching the Retreat Venue: The venue is about 22 kms from Majestic Bus Stand and is accessible through Magadi Road and Tumkur Road preferably through own vehicles. The retreat center is very close to ‘Kamadhanu Kshetra’ – a highly popular Raghavendra Swamy temple in last few years. It would take about an hour to reach the retreat venue from the heart of the city. Participants have to make their own arrangements. If any assistance is required Indica Yoga Team will help.

Facilitators

Sri. Raghu Ananthanarayan

Co-founder, Ritambhara Ashram

Three extraordinary teachers mentored Raghu Ananthanarayanan when in very difficult phases of his life, namely; J Krishnamurti, Yogacharya Krishnamacharya and Pulin K Garg. He was intimately involved with them for more than a decade from his late twenties. This engagement not only transformed him, it evoked from him his service orientation, his sadhana. His work revolves around helping individuals, groups and organizations discover their dharma, and become the best they can be. This he believes aligns with his own personal sadhana. Raghu has applied his deep understanding of Indic Psychology in his work with organizational alignment and leadership. He has been in immersive involvement in questions of dharmic living in all his endeavors.

In academic areas, he has been Cofounder of the Sumedhas Academy of Human Context since 1995, and of the Barefoot Academy of Governance with TISS since 2012. He is one of the Directors of the Centre for Consciousness and Inner Transformation, an initiative of Indic Academy. As Director of Flame Tao Knoware Pvt Ltd Raghu spans the commercial world of consulting by helping redesign the client organization for greater alignment and synergy. Raghu has authored several books: Antaranga Yoga- The Foundation of Indian Psychology, Learning Through Yoga, The Totally Aligned Organization, Leadership Dharma- Arjuna the Timeless Metaphor, Organizational Development and Alignment: The Tensegrity Mandala (as co-author with Gagandeep Singh). Currently his wife Sashi and he, donning their role as Chief Mentors are working on nurturing people on a Sacred Quest at Ritambhara Ashram, situated in the beautiful Nilgiris.

Mr. Ankush Vij

Co-Facilitator

Ankush Vij is a chartered accountant and specialises in M&A advisory. He is associated with Ritambhara since 2017 and is working towards deepening his abhyasa of Yoga and Vedanta and its application in inner work for individual and organisation development. He is engaged in long term study of yoga sutra and citta vidya with Raghu and other senior teachers in Sri Krishnamacharya tradition. In 2017, Ankush studied Vedanta (Prasthana Trayam) and Sanskrit language over three years under guru shishya parampara at Arsha Vidya Gurukulam, Nagpur.

Mr. Ankit Chhabra

Co-Facilitator

Ankit is a seeker in the wisdom traditions of India. The core of his work includes creating dialogic spaces where people can look within and see the connection between their inner and outer lives. Inspired by the likes of Gandhi, Aurobindo, Vivekananda and Guru Gobind his experiments in service took him back to his roots in Punjab where he is creating a community-led model of higher education which is open, inclusive and accessible for all. Ritambhara for him is a space for engaging in a community which is committed to a DHramic life. He anchors his work of learning and leadership in the Antaranga Yoga Sadhana and the humanistic wisdom of Mahabharata.