Chakra - In Depth Retreat at Ask Retreat Centre
The Chakra Course has been a popular in depth course in the Yoga School of Bergen in many years. This retreat is for you who would like to use one year to do something which do you good.
One extended weekend every second month - and through out the whole course - you are participating in a proces which cleanses the body and the mind. Gradually the energy will flow more freely, the awareness and the ability to act will increase and the Stillnes will root itself as an inner reality.
Free Introduction to the Course
The Yoga School in Bergen:
Thursday 9th of Sept. at 7.30-9 PM. at Georgernes Verft 12, 4. floor in Bergen.
Ask Retreat Centre:
Friday 10th of Sept. at 6.30-9 PM. Free accomodation to Saturday if desirable.
Physically seen the Chakras are associated with the nerve system and the endochrine glands in the body. These glands are the main centres of control in the physical / mental organism with vital influences on these. Many yoga techniques does have a powerfull and positiv influence on one or more of these glands.
By concentrating on the Chakras - either in an yoga asana or as part of a meditation - you will stimulate the flow of energy to or through the chakras. This will awaken the sleeping part of the brain which is associated to the different chakras. It is just like putting light on in a dark room. You don't go to the lamp to lightened it; you turn on the switch on the wall connecting electricity to the lamp and look; there is light!
Who can participate?
This retreat is for you who would like to use one year to do something which do you good. One year with development of your self through the use of the deep reaching methods of yoga and meditation. You gradually discover who and what you truly are and establish that more and more as your fundament. You don't need any knowledge beforehand and you don't need to be very flexible or in a good shape to participate on the course. The starting point for the course is yourself just as you are.
We encourage yoga teachers, therapist and others in the health sectors to participate. As professionals your load is different than that of others. In your situation it is important that you take care of yourself as well and get new replenishment… The methods you are learning is useful tools in your day to day life.
The teaching...
Every extended weekend has focus on two of the 8 chakras: you will work with cleansing exercises, physical yoga asana, breathing exercises, energy awakening exercises, relaxation and meditation related to these spesific chakras. In the course of the whole retreat you will be working your way through all of the eight chakras. In addition you will do the Intestinal cleansing (Shankprakshalana) the second weekend. Kirtan, chakra singing, sufi dance, karma yoga and mauna (silence) will be partly practised in some of the weekends. Through out the course you will learn the advanced chakra meditation Ajapa japa and the Antar mauna meditation (Inner silence).
A course day may look like this:
|
From |
To |
Activity |
||
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
6.00 |
- |
6.30 |
am |
Awakening yourself, toilet, nose cleansing |
|
6.30 |
- |
7.00 |
am |
Concentration techniques |
|
7.00 |
- |
9.00 |
am |
Physical yoga and breathing techniques |
|
9.00 |
- |
9.30 |
am |
Breakfast: Fruit, porridge and tea |
|
9.30 |
- |
10.45 |
am |
Karma Yoga - practical work |
|
10.45 |
- |
11.30 |
am |
Yoga Nidra deep relaxation |
|
11.30 |
- |
12.30 |
am |
Ajapa japa Meditation |
|
12.30 |
- |
4.30 |
pm |
Lunch and free time for taking a walk, canoeing, sauna etc |
|
4.30 |
- |
5.30 |
pm |
Short yoga program, breathing exercises etc. |
|
5.30 |
- |
6.00 |
pm |
Inner Silence Meditation |
|
6.00 |
pm |
Supper |
||
|
8.30 |
- |
10.00 |
pm |
Chakra singing, lectures, meditation, Sufi dance or Kirtan (mantra-singing) |
|
10.00 |
pm |
Good night! |
The tearchers
Bjarke Jørgensen and Audhild Naustdal.
Homework
You gain the most out of the course if you make room for 1/2-1 hour a day to work with the methods of the course.
Practical information
Location of the retreat: Ask Retreat Centre, a beautiful setting by the sea on the island of Askøy, 2 miles north of the capital of Bergen. Accommodation in single, double or multibed room in the Alexander Cottage, the Cottage and the Alcove. We will do Yoga and meditation in the Yoga room or in the Pyramid.
Canceling your course booking: Cancellation must be done in writing either per mail or email. When cancelling later than 1 month before the course you will have to pay 25% of the course fee. Later than 14 days 40% and later than 1 week before 60% of the course fee. If you cancel the booking after the start of the retreat you will have to pay full price. Cancellation due to illness: Attach medical certificate or doctors statement which verifies your illness, and you don’t have to pay for the retreat.
Read more on the page about Practical Information and the page on Location and arrival.
Conditions of Participation
Prepared to accept the following:
You are required to attend all classes / activities at the scheduled times – willingly come 5 minuttes before the agreed time!
Only eat the food served at the meal. Do not smoke on the school’s premises.If you must smoke, then take a walk alone.
During a retreat you take a break from your usual influences and impressions. You retire for a periode to gain an overview and get some peace to do what you have come for: to work with yourself.
During a retreat you will not read newspapers, watch TV, use your mobile for talking or SMS or recieve visits. Leave your mobile telephone, minicall, CD-player, audio player, clock radio, computer and anything similar at home or turn it off during your stay. Inform your family and friends that it is not possible to contact you during the retreat. If an emergency arise in your family they can contact you through phoning the retreat centre at phone +47 56 15 15 00.
Do not persuade others...
...to come with you on the course, not even your partner, unless they themselves are completely motivated to participate. Come for your own sake.
Come because you want to discover and work with yourself.
Welcome to the retreat!
Download our brochure about the Chakra course in Acrobat PDF format.
Inspiration and more reading
On yoga poses:
Yoga - article from Bindu no 3
Not a word about sweat and effort; with yoga it is a question of well-being built on other principles.
Yoga and the finer energy - article from Bindu no 4
Even though the «small wind and tension releasing exercises» is the first programme you meet on our courses, it is not just for beginners, it has also a deeper effect. Pawanmuktasana, as it is also called, is viewed from a knowledge of the vital energy, known as prana in India and Chi in China.
On breathing exercises, articles from Bindu no 13:
Why hold your breath?
The yogic breathing exercises have a thorough and precise effect.
Plenty of oxygen
The doctor was nervous: Is there a lack of oxygen when I do breathing exercises and hold the breath? So he investigated the matter.
Breathe through your nose!
This provides more oxygen to the blood, strengthens the immune system, and is also beneficial for the heart.
An EEG study of the brain during Nadi Shodana
An improved balance in the brain makes you clear, optimistic and extrovert.
About Neti, Nose Cleansing:
Read more about Neti, Nose Cleansing in Bindu no 3.
About Shankprakshalana, Intestinal cleansing:
Read more about Shankprakshalana in Bindu no 8.
On Deep Relaxation, articles from Bindu no 11:
Meditative deep relaxation
A short introduction to Yoga Nidra.
Pictures of the brains’s activity during Yoga Nidra
A new chapter in research on meditation, it was called, when the scientists published pictures of yoga teachers doing Yoga Nidra. The research was done with one of modern medicine’s most advanced instruments - the PET scanner at The State University Hospital in Copenhagen.
Tantra and Yoga Nidra
Swami Janakananda writes for the first time about the knowledge and methods in Tantra which lie behind Tantric rituals and which make Yoga Nidra so uniquely effective and deep - about Nyasa, Chakras, consciousness and the resolution in Yoga Nidra.
What on earth do they use it for
People’s very different experiences with Yoga Nidra...
On meditation and relaxation:
The Twilight Hour - from Bindu no 6
Did we have a living meditation tradition in the North? Did grandmother meditate? Maybe, without knowing it was meditation - she called it something else.
On Inner Silence Meditation:
Harmony between the experiencer and the experienced - from Bindu no 8
An article about the Tantric meditation Antar Mauna (Inner Silence) - and its ancestors and cousins. A pearl of a meditation - the most basic and advanced at the same time. It opens with methods that make you independent in relation to influences - inner as well as outer.
On the ability to experience - from Bindu no 3
«Say the troll’s name, and it disappears», goes the old fairy tale. The teacher’s foremost task is to awaken the student into being able to experience - perhaps the most releasing and curative ability we possess.
On The Source of Energy Meditation
The meditation The Source of Energy - from Bindu no 4
Using meditation over a longer period of time can have an enduring beneficial effect on your brain activity. One who meditates regularly experiences a lasting relaxing effect in daily life.
Psycic energy - from Bindu no 5
Energy is more than a discovery in our technical age. «Prana», «Ki», «Mana» - the psycic energy has been known through all times. Now it is being discovered by us.
On Expanding the Awareness - from Bindu no 13
On the path to a greater awareness
How does the yogi handle an expanded awareness - a discussion with the residents of Håå Course Center - based on a text by Swami Satyananda.
