- LIVE ONLINE PROGRAM
July 25 – October 10, 2021
Japa Meditation: Shift Your Vibration through Mantra, Nada, and Bhakti Yoga
Certification Course with Rukmini Chaitanya and Guest Presenters
12 WEEKLY SESSIONS, Sundays, 11am-1pm ET
Course Description:
Join Rukmini Chaitanya and a line-up of guest presenters to experience the powerful effect of Japa meditation and Mantra yoga. Each class will include an experiential session of meditation and other mantra practices, along with theory of sound, Mantra, Nada and Bhakti yoga.
Swami Sivananda explains that Japa is the repetition of any mantra or name of the Lord. It is considered the best of all spiritual practices in this modern age, and it the easiest too. The divine name alone will give you success and bestow the highest spiritual attainments. You will reach the highest goal by Japa or recitation of the Lord’s name alone.
In this certification course, each lesson contains new teachings and highlights different aspects of the practice of Japa Meditation. It is meant for experienced and new students alike.
Students will receive guidance on their personal practice. Those who choose to will be invited to maintain a spiritual diary and can receive feedback and suggestions from Rukmini Chaitanya in the process of developing their commitment to their daily practice.
Our guest teachers include Dr. Menas Kafatos, quantum physicist, cosmologist, and teacher of Kashmir Saivism, Dr. John Beaulieu, Naturopathic Doctor and renown sound healer, Silvia Nakkach, a Grammy-nominated musician, composer, and voice-culturist, Graham M. Schweig, leads workshops, seminars, and lectures on yoga and religion, Steven Halpern, Grammy-nominated recording artist, visionary composer, and pioneering sound healer, Vasudha Narayanan, a scholar on Hindu Traditions, Gina Sala, a kirtan devotional singer, Atmaramadasa, a devotional singer and composer of sacred music, Swami Brahmananda, senior teacher of meditation, Swami Paramananda, senior teacher of Hatha Yoga. These great teachers will share from their knowledge, practice, and experience and will help you to enhance your own practice, expand your mind and experience unity in diversity.
*To receive the certification, you will be required to take a short quiz after each class (quizzes can be taken at your own time)
What you'll learn:
Nada Yoga (the yoga of sound)
- Discuss Nada (sound), Nada yoga, and how we can attain the goal of life through the yoga of sound
- The science of sound how sound is related to form and meaning
- Discuss Anahata sounds (the mystical sounds coming from the heart chakra)
- Understand how the connection between sound and image can enhance your meditation practice
- The four stages of sound
- Music as therapy and music as yoga
Bhakti Yoga (the yoga of devotion)
- Philosophy of Bhakti
- Who God is and how to see God
- Discuss faith and how to cultivate faith and remove doubt
- Prayer, surrender and worship
Japa Yoga
- The power of sound and the Divine Name
- Mantra practice and Mantra initiation
- Meaning of Mantra and selection of Ishta Devata (your personal way to relate to the Divine)
- Hatha yoga (asana and pranayama) as preparation for Japa practice
- Japa and Karma yoga
- Proper diet for Japa practice
- Overcoming obstacles in Japa practice
I fell in love with Japa again. Life is becoming so joyful for no reason.”
stones. Along with the teacher is a diversity of experts that share their knowledge inspiring you to delve deeper into the practice of
meditation.”
knowledge of Rukmini always was kind, deep and true.”
Additional Information:
Offered as 12 weekly sessions on Sundays, July 25, Aug 1, 8, 15, 22, 29, Sept 5, 12, 19, & 26, Oct 3 & 10 11am-1pm ET
This program is offered live through Zoom webinar with the availability for students to interact through Q&A with the presenter.
For enrolled students, a video recording will be available after each class in the event you miss a class or would like to review the content.
It is possible to register and take the course at any time. You can catch up on any classes you miss with the recordings.
Requirements and Recommendations:
- No experience necessary. This program is open to beginners as well as advanced practitioners.
- Viewing Device: Desktop or laptop computer will provide the best experience, although you can also connect via a tablet or smartphone.
- Internet connection: High-speed broadband wired or wireless is best.
- Video: Download Zoom to your computer, or install the Zoom app to your device. For interactive group sessions, a webcam or integrated camera will allow others to feel more connected with you.
- Audio: Headphone speakers are recommended. If you wish to participate vocally, a headset with a microphone will be ideal.
Course Includes:
- 24 hours of live video classes
- Lifetime access to the video recordings
- Course manual and PDF handouts
- A certificate from the Sivananda Ashram Yoga Retreat
Rukmini Chaitanya
Rukmini Chaitanya is a senior staff member of the Sivananda Ashram Yoga Retreat Bahamas, and the personal assistant to Swami Swaroopananda, the Acharya, or spiritual director of the Ashram. She regularly teaches the Bhagavad Gita during the Sivananda Yoga Teacher training as well as other courses on the Bhagavad Gita, Vedanta, positive thinking, meditation, and yoga philosophy.
Rukmini Chaitanya is known for her enthusiastic and inspiring teaching style as well as for her devotion to the lineage and the scriptures. She is dedicated to each of her students and has an innate desire to share knowledge with them. She brings a great deal of clarity to every topic and is highly appreciated for her capacity to unfold complicated topics and present them in a coherent and pure way.
Guest Presenters:
Vasudha Narayanan
Vasudha Narayanan is Distinguished Professor in the Department of Religion at the University of Florida and director of the Center for the Study of Hindu Traditions at the University of Florida. Educated at the Universities of Madras and Bombay in India and at Harvard University, she is author or editor of several books including The Vernacular Veda, Hinduism, and The Life of Hinduism and has received grants and fellowships from several institutions, including the National Endowment for the Humanities.
Dr John Beaulieu
John Beaulieu, ND, PhD, is a naturopathic doctor, counseling psychologist, board-certified polarity therapist, composer, pianist, and sound therapist. His career spans over 40 years of creative arts, healing arts, and martial arts. A world leader in the use of integrative energy medicine for healing, Dr. Beaulieu is the author of four books including Human Tuning, and Music and Sound in the Healing Arts. He is an instructor of sound science and sound therapy at the California Institute of Integral Studies.
Silvia Nakkach
Silvia Nakkach, MA, MMT, is a Grammy-nominated musician, award-winning composer, and voice-culturist. A former psychotherapist and academic programs consultant, she is an accredited authority within the fields of sound in yoga and transformation of consciousness.
For more than 35 years, Silvia has studied and performed the ragas and North Indian classical music under the guidance of the late maestro Ustad Ali Akbar Khan and other renowned masters. She teaches raga singing in retreats and universities throughout the world, as well as in her international school, Vox Mundi School of the Voice. Her most recent book is Free Your Voice.
Dr. Menas Kafatos
Menas Kafatos, PhD, is a quantum physicist, cosmologist, and climate-change researcher who works extensively on consciousness. He has 44 years of experience in undergraduate and graduate teaching and research, and he holds seminars and workshops for individuals and organizations on the natural laws that apply everywhere and are the foundations of the universe.
Menas is the Fletcher Jones Endowed Professor of Computational Physics and Director of the Center of Excellence of Earth Systems Modeling and Observations at Chapman University in California. He is an international scholar with the Division of Environmental Science and Ecological Engineering also serving as an advisor on the BK21 Plus Eco-Leader Education Center at Korea University in Seoul, Korea as well as an affiliated researcher at the National Observatory of Athens, Greece.
Graham M. Schweig
Graham M. Schweig, PhD, E-RYT 500 | YACEP, is a meditation and heart-centered yoga practitioner for more than 50 years. He leads workshops, seminars, and lectures on yoga and religion in the United States and Europe, and has travelled to India twelve times and lived in India for a year on a Smithsonian funded research grant.
Graham holds a doctorate from Harvard University in comparative religion with a specialization in sacred Sanskrit yoga literature. He is a professor of philosophy and religion and director of religion studies at Christopher Newport University and a distinguished teaching and research faculty at the Graduate Theological Union, Berkeley.
Over the past thirteen years, Graham has been invited by the Smithsonian Institution to deliver more than three dozen lectures on religion and yoga at its museums in Washington, DC.
Steven Halpern
Steven Halpern is a Grammy-nominated recording artist, visionary composer, and pioneering sound healer. His music activates healing of body, mind, and spirit, and is used worldwide in healing centers, spas, corporate wellness programs, and schools. His classics, such as Chakra Suite, the best-selling Deep Alpha, and more recently Deep Theta 2.0 (featuring Jorge Alfano), help anchor inner peace within each of us.
Gina Salá
Gina Salá has been chanting since her early childhood living in an ashram. Her repertoire spans 23 languages and her performance credits include Cirque du Soleil and the United Nations. With warmth, humor, and devotion, she shares Indian classical singing, Sanskrit, stories, and sound Tantra through classes, CDs, kirtans, and retreats.
Atmarama Dasa
Atmarama Dasa is a devotional singer and composer of sacred music. For the past 25 years he has been residing in Vrindavan, India, the holy birthplace of Lord Krishna. His unique style and sincere desire to share his spiritual understanding creates an atmosphere of profound spiritual vibration. Through his ecstatic kirtan everyone can relish the mood of transcendental joy and bliss. His CDs include On the way to Krishna, Radha Govinda, and many others.
Swami Brahmananda is a monk and senior teacher of the Sivananda Yoga Vedanta Centers and is the current Manager of the Sivananda Ashram Yoga Retreat in the Bahamas. Swami Brahmananda joined the Sivananda organization in 1999 and was initiated into Sannyasa (monasticism) in 2006.
A long-time practitioner of yoga, meditation and philosophical studies, he regularly teaches meditation and yoga philosophy for the Sivananda Yoga Teachers’ Training Courses as well as the Advanced Yoga Teachers’ Training Courses. He also teaches online courses on the Patanjali Yoga Sutras and Vedanta. Swami Brahmananda is a much-loved, inspiring, and knowledgeable teacher.
Swami Paramananda
Swami Paramananda is a monk and senior teacher of the Sivananda Yoga Vedanta Centers . Swami Paramananda joined the Sivananda organization in 2006 and was initiated into Sannyasa (monasticism) in 2016.
A long-time practitioner of yoga, meditation and philosophical studies, he regularly teaches in the Sivananda Yoga Teachers’ Training Courses as well as the Advanced Yoga Teachers’ Training Courses. He also teaches online courses and guides students from around the world in their practice and study.
Swami Paramananda is a much-loved, inspiring, and gifted teacher.