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An interview with Vineeta (Wendy Vermeulen) about her experience of Intensive 2.
In 2009, Vineeta participated in Ashram Yoga’s 500-hour training programme at the Ohui Retreat Centre. We asked her to speak about her experience and let us know what impact it had on her life.
[Photo of group]
Vineeta says Intensive 2 definitely changed her life and that overall it was an awesome experience. It was so interesting, fun and transformative that she wishes she could do the course again.
Ashram Living
Being able to live in an ashram really made it a powerful experience. She says that the ashram environment allowed her to let go of her worldly responsibilities. Commitments to work, family and friends were on hold – she didn’t have a cell phone constantly distracting her. So she was able to commit 100% of her attention to the course.
Just this break from her normal life benefited her a lot though she says it wasn’t a holiday. Intensive 2 is a focused course designed to help you move through your personal boundaries. In the beginning she found this new routine challenging, but in a short while she began to settle in and appreciate the new diet and daily schedule.
Vineeta says about the course in the ashram environment, “We were living it, eating it, breathing it all the time and discussing it with everybody else.” She thinks this is a great way to learn yoga and that this level of intensity would not be found on the part-time course.
The fulltime course gave them the space to investigate more subtle aspects like Swara Yoga (an esoteric breathing practice).
The Course
Vineeta really enjoyed doing Level 2 and 3 together saying that the first part prepared them for the second. She says that it was a really good progression – moving through deeper and deeper layers with each new layer building on the last.
Level 2 was full of practical material, but Level 3 was at another level – it really was a step up in intensity. She says that settling in during the first twenty days prepared her for the jump to Level 3.
Level 3 made up the last ten days of the course. During this time they got up earlier and were expected to live like spiritual aspirants. They studied the more esoteric aspects of yoga. Vineeta says that this time was the highlight of the course.
She says the course was a lot of fun, but there were challenging parts as well.
Life Changes
Vineeta says that the discipline of the course really changed her life. She had a daily yoga practice before the course, but afterwards it was a lot more structured. She also totally changed her diet. The food on the course had a very positive impact on her and made her feel amazing, so she decided to continue with it.
Vineeta was already teaching yoga before the course, but afterwards she says she is definitely more confident and able to teach from a place of much deeper understanding.
Advice to Others
Vineeta definitely gives this course a 100% recommendation. She wishes that she could somehow unlearn it all so she could go through the whole experience again!
She adds that Intensive 2 is very good value for money.
Did it change your life?
Definitely.
How?
Actually it definitely did. It was really awesome actually. I think the fact that we were …well your basically living ashram life. And the fact that we could all commit 100% focus on our studies which is different to doing the month by month thing. That’s all you are there for.
Also enjoyed the opportunity to step out of your own life for a while.which was very hard in the beginning because you have ties, but after a while everyday just seems like another day.
Then you really get the relief. There’s no cellphone so people can’t ring you. You don’t have to go to work, so you don’t have to worry about your work commitments. There are no family commitments. All your normal everyday commitments. That was an amazing part of it too. It’s not very often that you get to do that.
Was it like a holiday?
No. not at all. But you could see it as a spiritual holiday. What I really enjoyed about doing 2 & 3 together is that it is a really good progression. 2 was 3 meals a day, lots of practical stuff. When we got to 3 we took it to a whole new level. I really loved the last 10 days of the course. Because we went to two meals a day and got up an hour earlier and became spiritual aspirants.
It was really like that too. We did lots more esoteric stuff at that level. And Shanti really pushed us a lot more - me especially – that level 3 part of it was really a highlight, I really loved it.
Why was 3 so different. We had already been there for three weeks. Some people came just for level three. You could definitely tell who had already been there. For the others it took them longer to get there. They had to wind down.
I wish I could do it again. I’d love to something like that again. Different than going to India because we were learning and progressing. We are Challeneging ourselves.
because it is a progressive course you keep doing deeper and deeper in the layers because you learning the next thing and you can add on to it.
How did your life change when you left the course?
Massively because of the discipline. For me it was the discipline of getting into the daily practice. I already had a daily practice but not in the same way. I have a much more structured daily practice since then. And just the diet. Totally changed my diet. Because you get the opportunity to that for a month as well. Eat like that. Not like having normal outside food. You realise how amazing it felt, how good it is. That was a big part of it. A big part of it is that you are completely living yogically for a month.
Would you call it fun? Yes, totally. It was a lot of fun, but there were challenging parts as well. A lot of fun. It gave us an opportunity to experiment and touch on things like Swara Yoga and really apply it. That we probably wouldn’t cover and a part time course. Because they were there there was the opportunity to incorporate that into the programme.
And so I think that we got a lot more out of it than if we were doing the weekend one. The main thing is that you are living it for a whole month. That adds another level of learning.
And you would recommend this course to other people?
100% I would do it again. Would want to do it again, but without the knowledge so it was all fresh. Doing it again and knowing it is not the same. I wish I could go through that whole expereicne again.
Did you have background knowledge before you went? How familiar we you with the material?
Yes, I had been teaching, but there were all different levels there. But it was much more than what I knew going in. thoroughly recommend it and thinks it was definitely value for money. And the content of the course is amnazing and you definetly get confident and begin to teach with a really deep yogic understanding. Rather than just superficial knowledge.
In 2009, Vineeta (Wendy Vermeulen) participated in Ashram Yoga’s 500-hour training programme at the Ohui Retreat Centre. We asked her to speak about her experience and let us know what impact it had on her life.
(Vineeta is in the back row, second from right)
Vineeta says Intensive 2 definitely changed her life and that overall it was an awesome experience. It was so interesting, fun and transformative that she wishes she could do the course again.
Ashram Living
Being able to live in an ashram really made it a powerful experience. She says that the ashram environment allowed her to let go of her worldly responsibilities like commitments to work, family and friends. Because she didn’t have a cell phone constantly distracting her she was able to commit 100% of her attention to the course.
Just this break from her normal life benefited her a lot though she says it wasn’t a holiday. Intensive 2 is a focused course designed to help you move through your personal boundaries. In the beginning she found this new routine challenging, but in a short while she began to settle in and appreciate the new diet and daily schedule.
Vineeta says about the course in the ashram environment, “We were living it, eating it, breathing it all the time and discussing it with everybody else.” She thinks this is a great way to learn yoga and that this level of intensity would not be found on the part-time course.
The fulltime course gave them the space to investigate more subtle aspects like Swara Yoga (an esoteric breathing practice).
The Course
Vineeta really enjoyed doing Level 2 and Level 3 together saying that the first prepared them for the second. She says that it was a really good progression – moving through deeper and deeper layers with each new layer building on the last.
Level 2 was full of practical material, but Level 3 was at another level – it really was a step up in intensity. She says that settling in during the first twenty days prepared her for the jump to Level 3.
Level 3 made up the last ten days of the course. During this time they got up earlier and were expected to live like spiritual aspirants. They studied the more esoteric aspects of yoga. Vineeta says that this time was the highlight of the course.
She says the course was a lot of fun, but there were challenging parts as well.
Life Changes
Vineeta says that the discipline of the course really changed her life. She had a daily yoga practice before the course, but afterwards it was a lot more structured. She also totally changed her diet. The food had a very positive impact on her and made her feel amazing, so she decided to continue with it.
Vineeta was already teaching yoga before the course, but afterwards she says she is definitely more confident and able to teach from a place of much deeper understanding.
Advice to Others
Vineeta definitely gives this course a 100% recommendation. She wishes that she could somehow unlearn it all so she could go through the whole experience again!
She adds that Intensive 2 is very good value for money.
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