I’ve lived in several monasteries and ashrams before. The main point of living in an ashram is to build the life around practice. You start the day with meditation right after you wake up and the day continues with various practices. Since you are away from the many effects of the outside world, seeing yourself becomes easier. Besides, everyone is after the truth one way or the other, so being among the people with the same intention motivates you to stay on your path.
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Usually, there is a “To go away and live in a monastery” idea with the practicing yogis. Of course, the benefits of staying in a monastery to your practice is undeniable; but you are wherever you need to be and whoever you need to be together with. These are what will nurture you and help you to grow. Therefore you may not be living in an ashram but that doesn’t mean you cannot bring that practice into your life.
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YogaKioo is a collaboration/unity which is founded by many yogis from all around the world getting together with the intention of passing on the knowledge from teacher to students as so in the monasteries. While we were establishing YogaKioo Turkiye, to act with this intention and to bring a school into being where we can share all these knowledge and practices and luckily everything happened in line with our intentions.
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Daily life a YogaKioo is no different than a day in an ashram. Every moment present is full of practice. The aim is always for you to see yourself, to move in the path that goes toward yourself.
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There is no one at YogaKioo under the name “Employee”; there is always a teacher-student relationship and everyone does what in her/his power; so there is an all-day karma yoga practice. Everyone who wants to do meditation practice can do it anytime in the meditation hall. All day long you can see people there who meditate or want to do another practice.
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Also us, as YogaKioo Teachers, practice together daily; asana, pranayama, and many more practices. Just as we see the institute as our home, our school where we practice, also our students who come to the YogaKioo (even the ones who have started a yoga practice or the first time), adopt the institute as a place where they get closer to their true selves. How lucky, when the hearts and the intentions are one, everyone coming to the institute becomes a part of the YogaKioo Family.
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There are always various teachings at the institute, you can check them at www.yogakiooturkiye.com . One of the best examples of them is the Fundamental Astrology Training. When you come to YogaKioo, if you see people with astrology maps in their hands, talking about houses and planets, and studying, you can be sure they are from that group 🙂 And if you think to yourself, do I hear it wrong or is there drum sounds coming from somewhere, probably you run into one of the shamanic rituals. Especially, in the weekends YogaKioo gets very lively. Asana practice in one studio, Tango dancing in the other, and then Teacher Training in another; so different experiences take place on each floor. Family roots study, craniosacral therapy, bioenergy, reiki and many more. But the aim is always same; to spread the knowledge and the love…
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In addition to these various trainings, almost every weekend there is Hatha Yoga Teacher Training in the institute. As I mentioned earlier, ancient yoga knowledge is shared with the students. It is very very important for us that our students also adopt the institute as their home, a school like we do. They also practice karma yoga when they are at the institute.
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So, in the middle of İstanbul, among the skyscrapers, indeed we live in an ashram every day. Every day the knowledge lasting for thousands of years come to life at YogaKioo again and again. The light of the knowledge continues to shine and lead the way.
