Nayaswami Gyandev McCord Director of Ananda Yoga

My sincere apologies for the long hiatus between newsletters. The last 6 months have been the wildest of my life, made wild by:

• An intense summer teaching schedule (including teaching the Gita week during YTT - thank goodness our YTT staff is larger these days)


• Videoing a whole bunch of Ananda Yoga classes (more on that below).


• A lot of Yoga Alliance service, plus two classes (including a keynote address) at the Yoga Alliance Leadership Conference.

And as if that weren’t enough, Diksha has been videoing her online vegetarian cooking series in our kitchen at home, so I’ve had to be tidier than usual—and absent from home more than usual. But I’ve been permitted to sample the scrumptious food, so it’s worth it.

Anyway, let’s talk about Ananda Yoga—in particular, two conferences at which Ananda had an important presence, as well as the above-mentioned videos.

In September, Nayaswami Mangala, Nicole DeAvilla, and Lalaan Hickey represented Ananda at SYTAR: the Symposium on Yoga Therapy and Research, put on each year by IAYT (International Association of Yoga Therapists). The hottest topic at the conference was standards for yoga therapists, and Mangala will bring you up to date here:

Moving Toward Standards for
Training Yoga Therapists.

At the beginning of November, Nayaswami Diksha, Timothy and Lalaan Hickey, and I went to the first-ever Yoga Alliance Leadership Conference. You'll find my report on that here:

Reflections on the 2011
Yoga Alliance Leadership Conference.

Now for some other important news:

Last May, Swami Kriyananda asked me to plan and record Ananda Yoga classes for a worldwide English-language TV channel. Through God’s grace and the tireless help of an inspiring array of talented, heroic, and selfless volunteers, we filmed 48 Ananda Yoga classes (45 minutes each), 56 asana instructional clips, and 2 entire sadhanas—all in just one month of shooting, preceded by weeks of set design and construction.

I led each class, and an assistant (a YTT grad) helped with modeling. For a pictorial look at the project, check out “The Ananda Yoga Series
in the Photos section of facebook.com/anandayoga. Or simply click here. And while you’re there, please “like” the page.

Now, it’s just a “small matter” of video editing. I hope some of this material will be available as DVD’s early in 2012. The asana instructional clips will eventually live on the web. I’ll give you more information as this process unfolds.

The YTT Assistantship lives on! We had thought to replace it with a 7-day Assisting & Adjusting course, plus another course to make up the difference in hours. But for now, we’ll keep the Assistantship, although we won’t offer it as often: Spring and Summer only in 2012.

More good news: Past Assistants can enjoy a free 13-day stay at The Expanding Light. You’ll help with morning classes in the January or October YTT, as you did in your Assistantship. (No special Assistantship classes, and there might be a few other small tasks.) To apply, please contact Maitri.

Speaking of changes, the Ananda Yoga Intensive, which changed its name last year to The Deeper Teachings of Yoga, is now Experience the Higher Teachings of Yoga. The course format remains the same: exploring yoga scripture experientially through asana, pranayama, meditation, discussion, and introspection. We apologize for any confusion.

The 2012 offering is going to explore The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam, same as in 2011. The topic was so inspiring—and fun!—that we (Gyandev & Diksha) look forward to doing it again, June 23–29. That’s right, it’s Saturday through Friday, so it will dovetail with Ananda’s Anniversary Weekend, at which we hope Swami Kriyananda will speak.

AYTA members get a 10% discount on Level 2 courses and Yoga Therapist Certification courses. If you need financial aid, please contact The Expanding Light for an application.

	= required for Level 2 AYTT certification (and therefore also for Level 2 Yoga Therapist Certification)
	= required for Level 1 Yoga Therapist Certification

1/8–21			AYTT Assistantship (this one is for past Assistants only)
2/8–12			Kriya Yoga Preparation
2/9–21			Ayurvedic Healing and Yoga Retreat In Kerala, India
3/11–17			Principles of Yoga Therapy
3/17–20			Yoga Therapy for Seniors and Osteoporosis
3/20–23			Restorative YTT
3/23–4/1			Meditation TT—Level 1
4/1–14			AYTT Assistantship
6/6–10			Yoga Teacher Renewal
6/10–16			Principles of Yoga Therapy
6/16–24			Musculoskeletal Yoga Therapy
6/23–29			Experience the Higher Teachings of Yoga
7/6–15			Meditation TT—Level 1
7/15–28			AYTT Assistantship
7/22–28			The Essence of the Yoga Sutras
7/29–8/5			Advanced Pranayama
9/12–16			Spiritual Counselor Training
9/28–10/1			Restorative YTT
10/2–5			Ayurveda and Yoga Therapy
10/5–12			Yoga Therapy Specialty Areas I
10/12–21			Meditation TT—Level 1
10/21–11/3			AYTT Assistantship (this one is for past Assistants only)