I first began taking part in the weekly Arkaya Community Class and Satsangh in October 2021 and since then, the weekly classes have become a grounding force in my week and in my life. I am so grateful to be part of such a wonderful, supportive and authentic community guided and led by Maitreyi. I have been practicing and teaching yoga for many years now and as soon as I met Maitreyi, I knew that I wanted to study further with her. Her gentle presence, deep wisdom, and compassion, combined with her playful nature and humour make her classes and teachings so accessible and relevant to our modern, busy world.
I first began the Foundations for Life Program and then in the fall of 2022, I started the On-line 500 Hour Arkaya Awareness Teacher Training. Through Maitreyi's teachings and the Arkaya Community, I have grown and deepened in so many ways including:
I feel a deeper sense of contentment in my life than I ever have before. This contentment (Santosha) is like an underlying thread that runs through my days, that supports me even in my more challenging moments. The hard days somehow just don't seem quite as hard anymore. It is like the practice and deepening of contentment is a net to catch and cradle me during the challenging times.
I feel more connected to myself and am better able to tune into and honour my inner needs. This is helping me to set more healthy boundaries in my life.
I am more aware of my reactive patterns and am more able to catch them before they slip out. During the times that I don't catch them, I have more compassion for myself and tools to reflect upon what happened and growing edges.
Maitreyi offers so many tools through the Arkaya practice that are easy to integrate into daily life to support self-awareness, self-compassion, and self-nurturing and presence. I really appreciate all of the contemplative practices as well as these help me to truly integrate the deeper dimensions of authentic yoga and understand them through my lived experience. I feel new depth and richness to my own practice and the classes that I teach.
The on-line format for the 500 Hour Teacher Training has made it possible for me to participate. I appreciate being in the comfort of my own home and not having to worry about traveling or finding accomodation. Even though we are online, I feel very connected to Maitreyi and Ross and the other participants. I also really value having the recordings of the classes available as reference. This allows me to be more present in the live online classes as I know that I will have the recording to refer back to when needed. I also watch/do the classes again and know that I will continue to view the recordings even once the training is over. Each time I view them, I find new information and gems of wisdom that stand out.
I look forward to the continued unfolding of my Self through my connection to Arkaya and Maitreyi and highly recommend this Teacher Training, both for those who want to teach yoga and for those who are wanting to deepen into their own practice.