Meditation Classes
Transformative Agni Yoga Practices of Inner Light-Fire

A carefully guided approach in which you learn to:

• Focus awareness and attention.
• Experience the inter-connectedness of body sensations, thoughts and feelings.
• Open to the subtle energies from sources within your nature.
• Balance and align the inner energy bodies and physical body with your inner essence.
• Practice healing methods for yourself and for work with others.
• Invoke and open to the wisdom and guidance of your inner allies and teachers.

A group is currently being formed. Please let us know what times and days will work for you and we will schedule according to the needs of those interested.

(845) 353-8332 ~ e-mail
www.SacredRiverHealing.org

Further information about Agni Yoga and Alan Levin:

All yoga teachings have as their essential intention, the realization of harmony and union. Whatever techniques are utilized, physical postures (asanas), breathing practices, chanting, movement or stillness, the aim is towards our true nature from which we experience harmony and union with all life, all that is.

It is a testament to the very difficult and stressful times in which we live, that so many people have sought out yoga and similar practices in an attempt to relieve stress and achieve some kind of balance. The stress that we experience is, from a yogic perspective, a symptom of imbalance or a “knot” in the flow of our life energy. The various techniques and practices of yoga are designed to help us reopen the channels of energy within, and balance and align ourselves with our higher (or deeper) essential self. It could be said, that the storms of psychological and physical toxicity on the planet have reached such proportions, that people are seeking shelter in the forms of these ancient systems. Such is the blessing of our time.

Agni Yoga is a path of meditation practices that focuses directly with the intention towards union; union of the body and mind, the body/mind with soul and spirit, and the harmony that we have with all life forms. As part of the teaching, one learns to focus attention very clearly in one’s body, relaxing and opening to the interconnectedness of body sensation, emotional feelings and thoughts. Our sensitivity can then expand to the more subtle experiences of life-energy awareness.

Life-energy is sometimes called chi, ki or prana In the Agni Yoga tradition, we experience it as the “substance” of the various aspects of our consciousness. In other words, it is the flowing “stuff” of what we experience as love, creativity, strength, vitality, wisdom, and the other aspects of our nature. Agni, meaning fire in sanskrit, is that aspect of life energy which consumes and helps us eliminate what is no longer needed in our life. The other aspect of life energy, light, is that which nourishes and illuminates. One could say that, by nature, our life energy flows through us, eliminating the excess and building up and supporting our body and mind. If only life were that simple.

Along the path between conception and death, we encounter a variety of stimulating experiences that condition us to close down, tense up, build walls and barriers around parts of ourselves and the world. Our life energy becomes obstructed or blocked, and the deep qualities of our soul nature, our beauty and radiance, are restricted and limited. Various patterns of acting out in reactivity to the experiences of life, dig us deeper into the web of confusion and illusion. While talk therapy can be helpful in sorting through problems and giving us insight and understanding of issues, the deeper energetic blockages and imbalances continue to cause us to repeat the same patterns in life over and over.

One way of looking at the obstructions to energy flow, is to understand that they mask our true nature. The metaphor of masks or armor is often used to describe the false personality styles (the face) that we “put on” to present ourselves in the world. We do this, mostly without consciously choosing to do so, to conceal our fears, vulnerability, anger, and other feelings and thoughts. In doing so, we also hide, most importantly from ourselves, the underlying radiance and goodness that is our true nature. We hide from the healing and regenerative forces that sustain our health.

The practices of Agni Yoga heighten awareness of both the subtle energies and the obstructions to their flow. One learns to channel their energy in ways that dissolve or transform the masks that cover our true nature. Since the methods are essentially inner oriented, the Agni Yoga work can be incorporated with most other practices that focus more on body position or movements.

While the Agni Yoga practices are part of the more esoteric traditions of yoga found in many parts of the world, they can be transmitted by experienced teachers in a way that allows students to practice them in the context of other yoga or exercise disciplines.

Alan Levin was initiated and began working with Agni Yoga in 1970 and has taught this path in a wide variety of settings. He studied psychology and became a licensed psychotherapist in 1985 in order to better understand the human dimensions and problems with which people struggle. He teaches with humor and open-hearted sensitivity, the application of these ancient spiritual teachings to modern reality and life. Currently, he lives and works with individuals and groups in the Hudson Valley.