Mahalaya Nepal

22/04/2020

"Over 80% of retreat centers have suspended operations, and some have closed permanently. Only 1% are open as usual; about 12% were open with people sequestered within their center’s confines. 17% of centers are in danger of dissolving if restrictions continue for 3 months. 50% are in danger of dissolving if the situation continues for 6 months."
Interested in the impact on the retreat sector as a result of Covid19? This genuinely useful report from RetreatGuru has some eye-watering data that at least makes us feel less alone in how it has ripped the mat from under our feet ☹️

Shortly after the World Health Organization declared a global pandemic, operations at retreat centers around the world ground to a halt. Now is the time to come together in our collective wisdom. We wanted to share the information we have been able to collect about the impact that the COVID-19 globa...

24/03/2020

24/01/2020

We love yogis who inspire us. But we also love *anyone* who inspires us. Here's one.

02/01/2020

Wishing you a 2020 of "all you ever dreamed of!" or "full of joy and abundance!" is well intentioned, but it just isn't how a year works. A year has moments of such beauty that you'll be glad you're alive, and such hurt that it changes you forever. It has times of growth and grief, and celebration and tedium, and loss and healing. These are part of the tapestry of a year: I don't wish you clichés that devalue this. Instead, I'd like to share this plaque that I found in a barn yesterday, as the decade closed, because this speaks truth, strength and hope.

25/12/2019

“The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.”
Finding a quiet moment for reflection on this beautiful Christmas morning back home.

Merry Christmas to you all 🎄

04/11/2019

"It can be easy for yoga practitioners to mistake joint pain, which means they should stop the movement, for stiffness, which they should push through."

Pushing their bodies to repeat the same yoga positions is leading to a rise in hip problems among teachers, a leading physio warns.

18/10/2019

My artwork was about appropriation. San Francisco's Asian Art Museum tried to appropriate it.

17/10/2019

Kickin' back, chillaxin', playin' some Carrom. Mini monks reminding us that kids be kids the world over 🥰

16/10/2019

Happy birthday to this toppest of birds! I type this from a retreat she helped to organise, where we were asked to think about who brings out the best in us, who enables us to truly be ourselves. Thanks for being that friend for me, Lizzie. Have a gorgeous first birthday as a mummy ######x

08/10/2019

Those who have listened to my etiquette chat at the beginning of retreats will know my bumbling attempts to ask guests to minimise use of loo roll. This article explains it better than I can - the Western habit of using paper to clean ourselves post-loo really IS odd to the rest of the world!

Many Westerners take morning showers, toilet tissue and sitting toilets for granted. But in much of the rest of the world, these habits are rather strange – and may be less hygienic.

06/10/2019

A hot free cup of tea can turn pretty much any experience into a happy memory. This morning the monks brought tea for us as we joined their puja 🥰. Even better, it was Himalayan yak butter tea - my favourite treat, and making an adorable moment as the students sweetly kept neutral faces as what they thought would be chai turned out to be this salty acquired taste...

05/10/2019

An incredible week to be at the monastery, where we and our practices are still welcomed even as the monks are in a week of deep ta***ic puja to honour the passed rinpoche. It is incredibly rare to see and live among spiritual ceremonies like this.

04/10/2019

So massively waggy-tailed to have these two back in Nepal!! Their retreat is starting tomorrow, and just an hour over coffee this morning was enough to remind me why everything about them makes for a perfect retreat 🤗

26/09/2019

A photo that sums up perfectly our amazing teacher of last week's retreat, Ellen Johannesen: guiding complex physical assists while her head is off somewhere in deep spiritual contemplation 🤣🤣

25/09/2019

Here's one of Roald Dahl's most wonderful quotes, on the 100th anniversary of his birth

24/09/2019

In Tibetan Buddhist monasteries, you'll see offerings of Tormas, made from barley flour and butter. Highly elaborate and hand-crafted, you might think flowers and fruit would be easier. But in the snowlands of Tibet, fruit and flowers were never easy to come by. Flour and butter are though. So this craft was born, to offer something worthy. And when their role is performed, they're destroyed, regardless of the effort to create them. But then... all things are eventually: thus they also act as a powerful reminder of impermanence and non-attachment.

29/08/2019

Where I'm from in the UK, death is not a topic we handle well. Nepal is different - not perfect (there is so little counselling support) but it has a much healthier attitude to the inevitability of death. Cremations are public. Mourners wear white and men shave their heads, unmistakable symbols that means everyone - acquaintances and strangers - know they are in grief and show kindness and compassion. During mourning, neighbours and friends drop by informally and just take care of all the everyday needs so the grieving family can cut themselves off from the daily routine - no offers to "just call if I can do anything": it is simply done. And earlier this month was the Gaijatra festival, remembering those who died the previous year with humour and joy. When we borrow from Hindu ideas for our yoga practices, perhaps we can broaden what we learn. There is just so much good to be gained from cultural exchange.

Gaijatra was celebrated on Friday to relieve the grief of those families that have lost their relatives in the past year.

28/08/2019

We've been scouting for intoxicating new places to take you on the retreat daytrips, and came across this gorgeous treasure: a temple reclaimed by nature, the tree swallowing it whole but the ancient innards still visible inside the roots. It's like Siem Reap, but 30 mins away from my home. Can't wait to share this virtually unknown little discovery with our guests!

27/08/2019

The Kundalini L2 retreat series doesn't help you to get away from it all. It helps you to process it all - and through that, to finally be free.

On my first Kundalini L2 retreat in 2017, I attended as the Mahalaya host – there to handle logistics and generally be charming. As an Ashtangi, I eyed warily the practices of the Kundalini tradition. Yet by the end of the ninth day, as we emerged blinking back into real life, things had shifted in ways that still shape me.

It’s why Tonie At Kyc is now the teacher who teaches the most with us. It’s why we host his whole L2 programme, and repeat it. It's why we've also added in his 12-day meditation course for 2020. It’s why typically a third of the students are returners.

Outside of the Kundalini world, L2 teaching means advanced practices reserved for experienced teachers. Kundalini is different.

L1 Kundalini teachers learn to teach. The L2 courses are about learning to become a better person – a person more balanced, more healed, kinder, in tune with and authentic to themselves, able to process life’s turns more honestly and fully, and to communicate with compassion and clarity.

THESE are things that make for a more complete teacher. But they make for a more complete person too.

So regardless of whether you are pursuing certification, register with us and tell a bit about yourself and your interest in the course. We look forward to welcome you to join and expand your capacities.

Below is the schedule to Tonie’s retreats to the end of 2020.
16-24 October 2019: Authentic Relationships
20-28 March 2020: Conscious Communication
20-31 May 2020: 21 Stages of Meditation
4-12 Sept 2020: Lifecycles & Lifestyles

"I’ve gained too much to put into words. I feel strengthened, more confident with the renewed awareness of how I can shape my world, life, and destiny with a mental shift. I almost don’t recognise the strength I see in myself at the end of this week. It seems new but I understand it was a potential I just didn’t realise I had."
~ Participant of Mind & Meditation L2 course with Tonie Nooyens, Nepal, May 2019

16/08/2019

ENORMOUS thanks to the team at the monastery, who hitched up their robes and helped us to carry our ludicrous amount of stuff out of storage ready for the coming season. A job we thought would take a few days was done in a few hours. The kindness we experience from our friends there is a constant reminder that our Western habit of independence misses a trick. So much more joy and heart-lifting comes from community.

13/08/2019

Two days after posting the details of his next retreat with us, and John Scott's Mustang retreat is already half-filled. This video of the Kali Gandaki Gorge gives a sense of the incredible other-worldly place we'll be going to...

06/08/2019

30/07/2019

As I get older, everything is becoming more doughy, more dimpled, and a lot closer to the ground. I used to think my practice would keep the changes at bay, but now I realise it gives me something so much better: an equanimity with the changes, and even appreciation for what they represent. My body is like that because it's been in use for a long time now, silently undertaking millions of extraordinary processes daily to keep me and my daughter well. If Nepal had a beach, I'd wear my dimpled dough with pride this summer.

29/07/2019

Don’t miss this very special opportunity to explore Nepal with someone who has dedicated her life to exploring its spiritual traditions. Live in a Tibetan Buddhist monastery and engage in the transformative practices of Ashtanga yoga and Buddhist meditation with Buddhist scholar and senior Ashtanga teacher (KPJAYI level 2 cert) Ellen Johannesen. https://www.mahalaya-nepal.com/programs/ashtanga-yoga-buddhist-meditation-retreat-ellen-johannesen/

28/07/2019

Our beautiful Nepal 💕

26/07/2019

Absolutely the best explanation of the relationships between the Hindu deities that I've seen - massive kudos to the person who took the time to create this!

A sort of plausible family tree of (some of) the Hindu gods, demigods, and avatars.

24/07/2019

For me, this photo pretty much sums up our retreats... The gorgeous monastery venue, the world class teachers, and having such a fabulous time that we just can't stop laughing through the official End Of Retreat portrait 🤣🥰

23/07/2019

A Yoga retreat is a very special opportunity to take time out and explore your practice in a different environment, explore new ideas and perspectives maybe with new teachers, create space and wind down.

Who do you work with and where do you go?

If you want a retreat rather than just a holiday, you need an environment conducive to spiritual practice.

If you want to explore new ideas and perspectives on your practice then do this with experienced teachers who have the deep understanding and insight that only many years of practice and teaching can bring. You might also want this to be a small group so that you can get the attention you deserve on a retreat

If this sounds like the kind of retreat you are looking for then don't miss October's retreat with Helen McCabe and Andy Gill.

It has a truly special environment, in a working Tibetan Buddhist Monastery just outside Kathmandu. It will have a small group of no more than 16 students, supported by 2 highly experienced teachers with over 30 years of teaching experience between them.

Click on below for more info on this unique and special retreat experience, or contact us.

22/07/2019

Oops (twitter.com/katelynn_rae01)