Devatā Yoga

Teacher: Gary Kraftsow

Dates: May 18-21, 2025

Where: Sivananda Ashram Yoga Retreat, Bahamas 

The Ancient practice of Devatā Yoga uses the symbolism of the Vedic Gods and Goddesses as a means of helping practitioners realize and actualize what the tradition calls our “innate Divine potential.” Devatā Yoga explores and works with transpersonal and archetypal forces that influence us and reveal our own innate higher potentials —
what the Ancients called our Divine Human Potentials — at the level of desires, feelings, thoughts, and behavior.

Devatā Yoga works with these forces through the symbolism of the Deities — the Gods and Goddesses — to help practitioners:

  • cultivate a living relationship with these forces
  • actualize within themselves the potentials that the Deities both
    contain and reveal

Each session will include:

  • relevant teachings about the Vedic Deity that will be the focus of our
    Devatā Yoga practice
  • learning to chant the specific Gāyatrī Mantra for that Deity
  • Nyāsa, gestures of the hands toucan the body with the Mantra for
    the purpose of making the body a seat for, or a temple of, Deity
  • Central Channel prāṇāyāma with that Gāyatrī Mantra
  • Manasa Pūjā, meditation in the ‘Cave of the Heart’, on that Deity.

In addition, the longer afternoon sessions will include a fully integrated practice that incorporates chanting the specific Gāyatrī Mantra in āsana and prāṇāyāma to support the Manasa Pūjā at the end of the practice. In this retreat, we will work with the symbolism of the Gods and Goddesses of the Trimūrti and the Tridevi. The Gods of the Trimūrti are paired with the Goddesses of the Tridevi:

  • Brahmā with Sarasvati
  • Viṣṇu with Lakṣmī
  • Śiva/Rudra with Pārvatī/Gaurī/Kālī (also worshipped as
    Durgā)

Offered as three satsangs and three workshops (subject to change).

The presentations associated with this Yoga Vacation Program begin with an 8pm satsang on the first day of the program and conclude with a 90-minute noon workshop on the last day of the program.  Click here to read more about the Yoga Vacation Program details and view the ashram schedule for yoga classes and meals during your stay. We suggest you arrive at least one day prior to the start of your program for the optimal experience.