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@noselfnofunThey have the Sadhanapada each year and it starts in July. So you can also try it next year. But you can always just go and stay at the Ashram as a volunteer anytime. Just write an email to info@ishafoundation.org. However your schedules will probably be different from that of the "Sadhanapada" group, I am not sure.

Leo is right that in most of these places you will be spending time doing non-meditative things. However if you are okay with it, there is a 7 month long program offered in Sadhguru's ashram called "Sadhanapada" for free of charge including food and accommodation. You basically get up at 5:30 and the day ends at 9:30. You do yoga practices in the mornings and evenings and during the rest of the day you do volunteering work. This work could be anywhere from working inside the Ashram to working for their Social Outreach programs(like planting trees, helping poor kids with education, restoring drying rivers etc) to going to villages nearby and helping people there. To my knowledge, the idea is also that you get to dissolve your ego through a lot of these volunteering work. The program is from 12th July 2019 - 21 Feb 2020. Feel free to ask any questions. The video below will explain the retreat very well EDIT:- I just saw that you mentioned about "Sadhanapada" in your question, but I will leave this reply either way for anyone else to learn more

How do you know that?

I just completed Inner Engineering along with Shambhavi Mahamudra a bit more than a month ago. I was practicing Kirya Yoga before that. I have to say I saw immediate changes as I continued my practice for the past month. Shambhavi itself could be a practice towards liberation and so is any form of Yoga. The question is which one is more direct and therefore faster/slower. If you are looking to potentially be liberated quick(even though there are many factors to it), I would just do Kriya Yoga by Lahiri Mahasaya. But... If you are looking to take a much more smoother path to liberation along with a great level of health, mental clarity and have a constant sense of joy and peace, I would try Shambhavi Mahamudra. It is really good at eliminating any mental or physical ailments and cutting down your sleep quota as well, so it is worth it in that sense too. Apart from all those benefits, the Inner Engineering event which is completely done by volunteers is a very special way to interact with a lot of stage green people as they are the majority of people who attend these events. The event was a very unique and amazing experience by itself, from personal experience and I would highly recommend it. You don't get to see such things in everyday life, so I would say it's definitely worth it. With that said, to my knowledge Shambhavi Mahamudra falls under the Kriya Yoga category as well, it's just not the same teachings taught by Lahiri Mahasaya but is still effective

Well he did Yoga not necessarily meditate. He actually got into Yoga for the wrong reasons, he wanted to be fit and agile but he didn't realise he was actually unknowingly doing a spiritual practice everyday from age 12 to 25 before his enlightenment experience happened

@Devansh Saharan You said you were initiated by him into a Kriya. Were you at the London event this year?

Hatha Yoga is different, it is a very subtle process of aligning your whole body in a certain way with the 'cosmic' geometry and you have to be personally corrected by a qualified teacher.

True, in his case it was his life's mission which was the Dhyanalinga

Hatha Yoga is a great way for spiritual growth through body awareness. The Hatha Yoga Leo spoke about in the video was the westernised version of it which you find everywhere but there are still very authentic forms of it taught if you know where to look for. If done properly it could be very powerful The Isha Foundation offers very authentic programs of classical Hatha Yoga and I highly recommend it. Since there are 5 main practices under Hatha Yoga, the practice called "Surya Kriya" is a complete spiritual practice if you are interested. I have seen tremendous benefits both spiritually and physically since I started my practice. Please feel free to ask any questions. Hatha Yoga Surya Kriya

In Sadhguru's case he had been doing Hatha Yoga since the age of 12 everyday until his enlightenment happened at 25. The specific style of Hatha Yoga practice he was doing is called Angamardhana. Basically his path for everyone to enlightenment is through Yoga and he offers various programs for it. Starting from a beginner level all the way to advanced levels. His beginner level program is called Inner Engineering and you can find a link to it below. They are quite effective from personal experience. https://www.innerengineering.com/ieo-new/total/

Hatha Yoga is not just simply about breathing techniques but involve various body postures that have to be very precise. It might be difficult to put into a book. That's why it's primarily taught one-to-one. You can find an independent Isha Hatha Yoga teacher here https://www.ishayoga.org/hata/teachertraining/teacher-finder/

In the book "More than a life" it is written how Sadhguru's past life version of him consciously planned to return back as a human being to complete his mission. Eventhough he didn't do it to prove reincarnation it seems like its possible if its true. I guess returning to complete a mission is a better reason than to prove a point about reincarnation itself. I also saw in a video eventhough I am not sure if it's authentic, that he had planned it precisely to the very womb to which he will be born in his current life so that his mission could be completed

Yeah many mystics and gurus seem to look down upon Psychedelics not being useful in the spiritual path. I feel like it might be on of two reasons in Sadhguru's case. 1) His perspective of Psychedelics could be influenced a lot by the general public opinion of them being just another 'drug'. 2) Eventhough he knows they could be beneficial in the spiritual path, he doesn't want people to easily misinterpret what he says and start misusing psychedelics and maybe he doesn't want people to claim that he encourages the use of 'drugs', which could be harmful for his "image" he consciously maintains as a guru and also for his foundation With that being said, I could be totally wrong on this but that's what I think becauce his teachings about everything else about life and spirituality seems to be just top-notch, except for this ?

Thank you for the answer Leo. I have tried both and I think they both have same ultimate 'goal' but I agree that Kriya Yoga is more direct. Hatha Yoga seems to take a much more smoother and maybe slower path to ultimate liberation but I can't stress enough on the 'smoothness' as it really makes the body like a vessel for the divine by clearing it up in many ways.

I've been doing Isha Hatha Yoga for about 2 months now and inner engineering for a month. Before that I was practicing Kriya Yoga as Leo and many others here. My mind chatter definitely went down and I feel a certain oneness with my surrounding, specially when I'm outside and mainly my body feels much lighter and healthy. I am easily able to feel at a much deeper level that I am part of a much bigger cosmic system. I am much more aware of my inner body and more aware of my surroundings and my thoughts. Hatha Yoga by itself can be a path to liberation but I think Kriya Yoga is a very direct path nonetheless. It's just that Hatha Yoga trains your body to handle higher energies, so that if you do happen to have an enlightenment experience, the body will not break but will be able to handle it. On top of that, your physical and psychological health is guaranteed.

What do you think about his programs personally? Have you tried it? I personally am doing it right now along with a Isha Hatha Yoga practice and it has directly worked for me as I am definitely more conscious. I want to know maybe another perspective about it from you

Would you consider it a psychedelic?

@arlinIf you are looking for a classical Hatha Yoga teacher, I highly recommend finding a teacher from the Isha Foundation. In my experience, their yoga is classical as classic gets. There are many different Hatha Yoga practices which they offer, each having a certain strength of its own. Some are more on the spiritual side and the others are more on a physical health side. You can pick what suits you best. Anyways you should be good as long as you do any Hatha Yoga practice regardless. I personally practice Surya Kriya, which is more on a spiritual side. Other examples include Angamardhana(more on the physical health side) , Yogaasanas, Bhuta Shuddi etc Learn more here https://www.ishayoga.org/hata/teachertraining/ Find a teacher here https://www.ishayoga.org/hata/teachertraining/teacher-finder/

Sadhguru will be visiting Melbourne in July so you can get initiated into the Shambhavi Mahamudra. I just got initiated into it in London last month by him. I highly recommend it. https://ishayoga.org.au/sadhguru-in-australia Once you practice this technique for a while you can get initiated into more advanced techniques like Shoonya, Samyama. Hope this helps

Thank you for that because I can see how my mind could possibly fall into the trap of guru worship and becoming dependent on Sadhguru solely. I am keeping an eye out for that from now on

Thank you! I actually ordered 'More than a life' book a couple of days ago. Waiting for its arrival

@Leo Gura I got a question regarding the third book in the "Meditation and Yoga techniques" section in your book list. I don't want to name the book titles here but it says in the descriptions that this book is about Yogananda's teachings. However that particular book is clearly about Lahiri's teachings as I have read it myself. Was a bit confused about that, could you please clear it up? Cheers

I would very much love to and trying my best to go there whenever I get the chance. However for now I try to attend the Isha courses given in Europe. What about you? Any plans?

Quite a late reply from me but glad it was helpful. Did you by any chance look into Surya Kriya afterwards?

Yes, besides Kriya yoga I also practice Hatha Yoga (Surya Kriya to be precise) and also Shambhavi Mahamudra. Both of these are by Sadhguru. Did you look into Hatha Yoga?