Teaching Yoga as a Liberating Discipline.

Shanti Yoga School Ltd was conceived in 2001, born in 2002 and begun its first course in 2003 in January. Andy Thomas had a dream after finishing osteopathy training in the early 80’s, to start a healing centre in Spain. 20  years later conception of Shanti Yoga School  took place in Spain—but it followed the realisation that a centre could be a knowledge place rather than having to be an actual building.. The stimulus to “ do it our way” was probably born during the time spent teaching at the Yoga for Health Foundation at Ickwell Bury, now sadly no longer with us. Many thousands attended the training courses and lots of these were experienced teachers who had acquired great anxiety and fear about yoga. Much of the teaching time spent there was devoted to unpicking the effects of  fear. Hence our statement that yoga teaching  should be aimed  liberating the person from fear. What should not occur is the inculcation of more anxiety---so we set out to provide the opportunity for you , the student, to examine and remove the blockages in your minds,

 All the teachers are adventurous in their own practice, having been through the same process,  and will take you through this same adventurous place so that you too can be freed. We teach yoga as the art of the possible—not as something which will  add constraint but which will  remove constraints. To do this  requires proper KNOWLEDGE  and not guess work. This is what we call our unique knowledge , gained from thousands of therapy hours on patients as well as seeing all the normal physical  problems suffered by humans in our yoga classes.  We pass on this unique knowledge. We know that today as never before, teaching schools are adding layers of fear to intending teachers and implicity restricting what should be taught in yoga classes . For many yoga students attending regular classes, yoga is now a shadow of its earlier way. The restrictions have been CREATED by ignorance and fueled by the unknowing.

 We take you through yoga processes in the way we  believe is the true spirit of yoga. Much criticism of " modern" yoga has appeared in many newspaper and magazine articles--the criticisms range from yoga practitioners being money-grabbing to having lost the plot completely.

We cannot identify with this notion of yoga in our own teaching. All Shanti teachers have walked the red hot coals of fire , as the saying goes;- none is a theorist and all seek to free students from the things that bind them whether  this is mental anguish or fear of the future.  Our source of joy is in the transmission of this wonderful system--none of us has any real interest in money  and none seeks fame nor social prominence. We offer to you ,the potential student ,the true heart and spirit of yoga sincerely and with completly honest intent. There are no personal agendas to subscribe to nor any egos to polish.

 What stands out, we are told, is that we encourage each individual to take the path most suited to them, in the same way that the enlightened parent  permits each child the luxury of just being themselves without any attempt to mould or distort -- no brainwashing ; the very notion, fills us with a mighty dread!!  People know what they want and our job , as we see it, is to assist this  movement along the chosen path, whilst shining some light onto the map and sometimes holding out the compass and occasionally holding your hand!., Certainly we wish each participant to go off down the cul-de-sac and have a good look and wander off down little lanes of exploration. It is only when the participant is in charge of the process themselves that true enlightenment can take place. There is a wonderful saying---" humans are like stained glass windows--when the sun shines on them they look very bright but when it is grey outside it is only the light from within that makes them bright." We subscribe to this--so you will not find prescriptions, nor certainty, ---you will not find exclusions nor fears repeated, nor reasons to NOT do something. Yoga is a CAN DO discipline--there is no room for CANT . It is the art of the possible. But this ability to pass on without fear comes from KNOWLEDGE and is not mere coincidence!

If this fits with your way of seeing life then it is highly likely that you will like our way. If you are not sure then do attend one of the many Shanti teachers classes or attend one of the foundation course sessions and meet the current students.Equally, if you have a look at where Shanti teachers are running their own classes and attend one of these you will quickly pick up whether the "attitude" suits you.