Among millions of avenues, roads, highways leading to dead ends finding the narrow path of renunciation leading to the opening of the heart, to the path of Love and Compassion is a blessing ! Living from the Heart, spreading Cosmic Love and Compassion on this planet by assisting for the Common Good is the shortcut.

These challenging times are calling for collaboration on the physical level of all the truth seekers. It’s not the right time to escape from life and to isolate in a monastery. The over-righteous ascetic may discipline and torture his body, but if his heart remains silent he will live in a spiritual desert…So instead of escaping from life it’s better to refine and transform all our feelings and emotions into the highest beauty. Feelings of love and friendship toward one’s family and all near ones are teaching us the most beautiful and the highest. They are the necessary steps that lead us toward Cosmic Love and everyone who realises his great destiny may approach this Love.”

Many Sages gave teachings in different languages and they were living in distant parts of the planet.  Despite the physical distance between them and the use of different terms the essence behind their teachings,  was the same. In our times already the Vedas are coming together with the teachings of Buddha and the words of Christ with the Teachings of all the Enlightened Teachers who are pointing the Heart Path.

We are easily able to bring together Buddha’s Path of Compassion with the hymns on Love of the Vedas, or the precepts of Plato on Love and Beauty with the words of Jesus “love others like thyself. “We do not discern differences between Teachings emanating from the One Source.” All these Teachers are coming to teach humanity about the Cosmic Laws, especially the Law of Cosmic Love. To update this undeniable Truth.

The realisation of the cosmic significance of love, can bring clarity to love’s highest function. Which is the awakening of all the highest emotions and feelings, as well as of all the creative abilities? “Precisely”, Helena Roerich affirms, “this awakening is the chief purpose and the true keynote of love.”

True love is Cosmic love. It can be experienced once the Anahata Chakra, the heart chakra, is open, subtle, fiery, pure. The heart chakra can be refined by praying, meditation, silence, forgiveness, gratitude, higher thoughts, ethical living in accordance with the Cosmic Laws, service for the Common Good, and most importantly by strengthening the connection with the Enlightened Teachers, with the Highest!

Sacred inspiration, and a flow of love descends through direct communion with the Highest. This is the main condition to receive the flow of love of the Highest:  respect and love for the Teachers of Light. It creates this direct link, this direct communion. this flow of love!”

AUROYOGA PRACTICE

This is the purpose of Auroyoga. To remind you of how to use your conscious energy to harness that love. To remind you to love yourself, the others, our planet, the Universe, the Highest, the Teacher deeply, with all your heart, with all your consciousness. Then you will always feel loved, protected, guided, blessed! Then the Heart Path will be accessible to you.

Our teachers embody the highest ethical standards of Auroyoga. They are open-hearted, deeply ethical, well educated, cultivated, refined, well traveled, they abstain from consuming alcohol, drugs, meat. They invest themselves wholeheartedly, in the Auroyoga teaching to ensure that practitioners attain the highest level of personal practice, wisdom as far as yoga philosophy is concerned and ethics and self-growth skills.

What if we were taking seriously Agni Yoga’s prompting: “Let us speed along the summits. Moving from summit to summit will make it easier to encounter all those who dwell in different lands and wear different clothes but live by one heart…”

How can we distinguish these people, how can we discern those souls that live by one heart? Plotinus, the Ancient Greek Neoplatonist philosopher, affirms that beauty is the garment by which we can distinguish them.   He suggests : “Withdraw into yourself and look.  If you do not as yet see beauty within you, do as a sculptor of a statue that is to be beautified: he cuts away here, he smoothes it there, he makes this line lighter, this other one purer, until he disengages beautiful lineaments in the marble. Try to do this, too.  Cut away all that is excessive, straighten all that is crooked, bring light to all that is overcast, labour to make all one radiance of beauty. Never cease working at the statue until there shines out upon you from it the divine sheen of virtue, until you see perfect goodness firmly established in the stainless  shrine. Have you become like this?  Do you see yourself, abiding within yourself, in pure solitude?

Does nothing now remain to shatter the interior unity, nor anything external cling to your authentic self?  Are you entirely that sole true light which is not contained  by space,..not diffused as something without term, but ever immeasurable as something  greater  than all measure and something more than all quantity ?.”  If you see yourself in this state, then you have become Love itself.

Only strong spirits can enter this Heart Path, the Path of Service. Becoming the departure point, the platform, the space that creates collaboration, trust, sharing, strength, and deep connection among them. Inspiring and empowering them to serve in collaboration with the Highest for the Common Good! Assisting them to serve the global community.

Our work can inspire and remind individuals to open their hearts, to make more space for love and spread this pure love and compassion all over the planet! Creating thus the conditions for the arrival of this New Era, of Satya Yuga!

Let us become agents of Love and change the actual state of consciousness of Mother Earth! Small Auroyoga groups from the Earthly community can start partnering on some joint New Era initiatives. Healing, through love, compassion, gratitude, forgiveness, firstly ourselves and then the others as well as our planet. Closer interaction and  collaboration between members of the global Earthly community hopefully can contribute to this healing. Through this sharing of love and compassion and close collaboration the emergence of new ideas, thoughts, concepts, global actions for the Common Good can arise.  Empowering the people and aiming to spread more Love, and Compassion,  across the planet.

AUROYOGA PRACTICE

Our practitioners are immersed in the practice of Auroyoga.  Auroyoga was founded by Maria Karastergiou and it was created and perfected with the inspiration, guidance, and contribution of many yoga teachers who reside in Greece, USA,  India, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Indonesia, Burma.

The Auroyoga practice enriches the practitioners with knowledge and  experience of yoga, philosophy of yoga, self-growth skills, practical knowledge of purification, adjustments, with deep relaxation (Yoga Nidra) at the end, and above all it empowers each participant with self-confidence, strength, alignment, inner peace, deep connection with the inner Self or Consciousness.

Auroyoga practitioners are learning how to develop a personal, sustained yoga practice (sadhana)  through a motivated application of the philosophical, spiritual and devotional practice of yoga. They are  instructed also on cultivating communication skills, they are encouraged to cultivate and purify their own character, their creativity and style, and refine their own creative expression.while maintaining the core principles of yoga.

What you can expect in auroyoga classes or retreats?

Learning about most of the fundamental parts of the practice: the Auroyoga asanas, pranayama, and meditation, ujayii breathing, mudras, bandhas dristhis, and much more. The principles of Auroyoga from the basic concepts to the more advanced ones are explained to the practitioners in the first class in detail. Some of them have become yoga teachers after an extensive training and practice, others focus on the inner tools they have acquired to further self mastery in their practice.

The Auroyoga retreats and classes include the following categories of yoga postures:

• Sun Salutations
• Namaskarya ‘A’
• Namaskarya ‘B’
• Backbend series
• Forward-bend series
• Standing asanas and spinal twisting series
• Balancing series
• Inverted Series
• Meditation and Pranayama
• Mudra and Bandha (body gestures / energy locks)
• Advanced Asanas
• Yoga Nidra (meditation)

Philosophy of Yoga : “Yoga Unveiled: the Gate to Enlightenment “

During the Auroyoga classes or retreats, the philosophy of yoga includes:

• Yoga Sutras of Patanjali
• Ancient Himalayan Kalachakra Teaching
• Rig Veda
• Upanishads
• Purana
• Ancient Greek philosophers

We teach the history and philosophy of Yoga in India as well as in Ancient Greece. Providing evidence of similarities between some of the Ancient Greek philosophers’ teachings and the yoga philosophy of India.  The belief in “karma” ( the Law of Cause and Effect) and the Eternity of the Soul, (or “Metampsichosis” according to Pythagoras), Ahimsa (non-violence) and vegetarian food, silent sitting and walking meditation, were eminent beliefs in both approaches. Some of those Ancient Greek philosophers, like Plato, Socrates, Pythagoras, Orpheus are still remembered today. They are considered as the founders of the Western civilization, of Western thought and Democracy, of Western arts and sciences. However, they were not only philosophers of academic knowledge but for over a thousand years they were revered as mystics and sages of spiritual wisdom. Pythagoras visited India and brought back in Ancient Greece meditation, silence, vegetarianism.

Attempting to familiarize the yoga students that participate in these classes or retreats with the ancient Greek mystics, sages, and masters, remembering our ancestors’ spiritual heritage, revealing a spiritual, mystical approach  of the Ancient Greek philosophers brings on the surface beautiful wisdom.

Virtue, Justice, Love, Beauty,  Ethics, and Truth all those concepts of Socrates and Plato are the foundations of our Western thinking. It’s necessary now, with the moral crisis, political corruption, fake spiritualism, New Age false gurus in the West to provide a new perspective on the  influences of the Ancient Greek Western world. Familiarising ourselves with the Beauty of our ancient heritage, and connecting with our ancestors, those eminent sages, great mystics, renown philosophers!

We study and contemplate on the philosophy of yoga in the East as well. There are deep discussions on the “Eight Limbs of Yoga” from Patanjali’s book “Yoga Sutras”. In addition, we study the ancient Himalayan Kalachakra Teaching which will deepen the understanding and appreciation of the roots of the ancient Indian philosophy having its origin in the Ancient Wisdom Teachings of the Enlightened Teachers of the Himalaya.  The latest yoga given to humanity, Agni Yoga, or yoga of Living Ethics, is linked with the Kalachakra Teachings and is It was given to help humanity cope with the transition from the Kali to the Satya Yuga.

During your Auroyoga daily practice you will get plenty of personal assistance and help. We will be encouraging and challenging you to deepen your practice and to set and achieve goals within it.

Practice and Study of Asanas

Once a day, during the retreats there is Auroyoga Practice with the  main teacher. Every student receives personalised help with their practice, adjustments, modifications, encouragement.

Kriyas are cleansing exercises to purify the body and mind by redirecting the energy from the energy centers or Chakras back to the physical body.

Mudras are described as hand positions. Each area of the hand has a reflex reaction in a specific part of the brain.

Bhandhas redirects the energy flow, linking the individual Pranic energy with universal force with the help of Mulha Bandhas, Uddiyana Bandha, Jalandhara Bandha.

Pranayama

You will practice different Pranayama or breathing techniques safely and effectively. Breath techniques include Ujjayi Breathing, Anuloma Viloma, Pratiloma, and Kapalabathi.

Meditation

During the auroyoga classes we regularly practice Meditation which impact the deepest levels of our being and different dimensions of our awareness. We offer guidance on Silent, Standing, Sitting, Sound Healing, Inner Sound Meditation as well as other transformative practices. As the students progress through the classes there are plenty of opportunities for processing and discussing them.

Alignment and Modification of Poses

We believe that Yoga should be modified to suit each practitioner, instead of being a rigid path and method. During the auroyoga classes or our retreats we focus on the alignment and modification of each asana, so that maximum benefit will be experienced during their practice. We will also modify the poses for students with serious illnesses, injuries, lack of flexibility or strength, for beginners, for overweight people, etc.

Deepening Your Practice

We also consider how yoga  can be applied to our daily lives. Our yoga practice provides us and connects us on a deeper level with our Sadhana (daily spiritual practice). So we start daily with our Sadhana. We start with pranayama, meditation, yoga asanas, relaxation, group discussion on different concept every day.

Relaxation

Yoga nidra takes you into deep relaxation guided by the teacher. It releases the tension from the body and mind. Thirty minutes of Yoga nidra is equivalent to three hours of sleep.