MAHA SHIVARATRI
Shiva the first Yogi
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MAHA SHIVARATRI
AN INITIATION INTO THE TANTRIC PATH OF YOGA
ROOTED IN THE SHAMANIC WISDOM OF INDIA
11 MARCH | New Moon
20:oo - 23:oo CET | 19:oo - 22:oo GMT
Part 2 of 4 | THE WISDOM SERIES
*A recording will be made available,
if you cannot make the exact date/time.
Please specify by email when registering."
The Teacher of Wisdom Series continues with the second ritual dedicated to the great teacher of the Yogins, that is Shiva. We arrive on the 11th of March at the Festival of Maha Shivaratri, this translates quite literally as ‘the great night of Shiva’. Shivaratri is a Powerful Tantric ritual night. The crescent Moon that appears just before the dark Moon at Sunset is a focal point in this ritual. Indeed, Shiva is known as Chandra Shekkhara, which means, ‘the one who wears the Crescent Moon Crown’.
Shiva has the goddess Ganga – the Goddess of the sacred river – flowing from the top of his head, from the Gangotri point, the pinnacle point that meets the highest and in a river like flow – flows to the deepest valleys. Shiva has the third eye that unites the polarities and opposites by glimpsing the power between.
Maha Shivaratri is the uniting of the mountain heights with the deepest valleys. This is the uniting of Shiva and Shakti. This night is a night of the secret wisdom that is born of their embrace.
Shiva has an endless array of forms that express the numerous facets of his being. He is Adinath – meaning the original teacher of the Yogins. When we meditate upon and look closely at the many forms of Shiva, we may get a glimpse at what lays beneath the eclipsing characters of self and intellect that dance upon the foundation of Wisdom. This in turn might get us to look at ourselves and study our foundations or lack of them.
Shivaratri is the celebration and honouring of the very roots and foundation of Wisdom. The endless forms of Shiva, point to expressions of a character, or a state of being that manifests from the roots of Wisdom and not the peripheral levels of self and intellect. Traveling through the structures unto the foundations and roots of innate wisdom is the reaching of Shiva – from intellect to intuition it could be said.
This ritual night will be an investigation into the original wisdom of the soul that gets eclipsed by other forces, though those other forces are an important part of our lives, they are no replacement for the foundation of being.
This Shivaratri falls upon the lunar constellation (Nakshatra) of Dhanishta. Dhan means ‘wealth, abundance’, Nishta implies rhythmic and constant flow. It is indeed a star of music and has as its symbols, musical instruments. Dhanishta Nakshatra is a Mangala (Mars) ruled Nakshatra and potently brings us the lessons of wealth and fortune through the secret of rhythmic flow. Read more about this constellation and its influence on our dedicated blog post.
REST OF SERIES
Part 1 | 11 February | MAUNI AMVASYA – The Wisdon of Silence & Sound
Part 3 | 24 July | GURU PURNIMA – Honouring the Inner Teacher
Part 4 | 18 December | DATTA JAYANTI – Moving beyond Duality
WHERE & HOW: It’s all Online.
MUST REGISTER IN ADVANCE
The rituals takes place ONLINE, from 8pm until ±11pm Central European Time (CET). *A recording will be made available, if you cannot make the exact date/time. Just specify by email when registering.
BLOG
Teachers of Wisdom Series
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Shivaratri is a Powerful Tantric ritual night.
The crescent Moon that appears just before the dark Moon at Sunset is a focal point in this ritual.
Indeed, Shiva is known as Chandra Shekkhara, which means, ‘the one who wears the Crescent Moon Crown’.
WHAT IS 'WORKING WITH THE SHADOW'?
A short interview with Boonath.
ANCIENT & SACRED
On these healing circles you will practice a form of Yoga that is rarely available and accessible even in India today. You will take part in a sacred Yogic tradition that roots itself in India’s native shamanic wisdom & Tantric lineage handed down orally between generations of Yogis, Babas, Sadhus and Fakirs.
You will be exposed to the old tantric ways of seeking profound healing and spiritual awakening, including practicing in darkly-lit spaces to quieten the mind and awaken the senses to the body’s subtle energy currents, holding simple postures for long periods of time, and engaging in powerful breath-work to open-up the body and take the mind into altered states of consciousness.
GENTLE
The practice draws on postures seldom used in modern styles of yoga, ancient sequences that honour the mother and the divine feminine, gently opening-up the body to its highest levels of flexibility through minimal effort.
Integral to this experience will be the exploration of sound-currents present in the body (Nada Yoga) – perhaps one of Yoga’s greatest secrets and one of the most powerful vehicles through which the karmic patterns stored in the chakras can be accessed and released in pursuit of profound healing.
UNIQUE
Unique to this tradition is its simultaneous employment of Asanas (postures), aerobic & anaerobic Pranayam (breathwork), Mudras (gestures), and Mantras (sacred sounds).
The synergy created by the employment of these various yogic tools will lead you into altered states of consciousness and dream-like experiences aimed at facilitating a greater openness to inward journeying and an easier access to your subconscious.
UNBOUND
Because we are going to play with shamanic yogic traditions, the practice will take place outside of clearly time constraints. Generally, the practice will last about 6 hours, but if the group is ready to practice longer we might carry well into the night.
INCLUSIVE
The Circle is open to those interested in the healing path.
Tantra and Yoga practitioners, and those seeking healing, practitioners of the mystic arts. Both advanced and beginners will find a place in this circle.
If you have had or are having psychosis please get in touch directly with us as this is important to know about in this work. The same goes for those with strong mobility issues. Drug and alcohol users also need to inform us of their condition. Thank you.
The practie usually takes place in the dark or darkly-lit spaces.
The pictures below were taken in daylight to capture the flow of a practice.
BOONATH
BOONATH was born into a life of yoga. He grew up between Europe and India and was introduced as a child to yoga through his grandparents who were on both sides yoga practitioners.
His grandparents took him on his first Himalayan pilgrimage when he was just seven years old and he has been exposed to the world of yogis ever since.
Boonath has taken initiation into the left hand path (that’s the path of the heart) and specialises in the branch of Chandra Parampara, that is a secret style of Moon practice that works with the night forces. It is a style of tantra that goes very deep into the subconscious roots It is first and foremostly a Healing System. Most of his family still lives in India and he has been travelling there regularly throughout his life in pursuit of yoga. He has worked closely in apprenticeship with elders in the line of Siddha systems of healing and holds much knowledge in the use of rituals, mantras and body/spirit healing methods among other things.
Boonath has been working in this line and helping people with the implementation of these techniques for over 25 years to successfully overcome mental and physical problems, from chronic pain to addiction.
Boonath’s healing and yoga work sees him travelling across the whole of Europe to give workshops and healing sessions. His travels and yoga workshops continue to benefit people in deprived circumstances.
In recent years Boonath has been living and teaching yoga in Germany where he has a network of students. It was in Berlin that Boonath met Kim, with whom Boonath co-founded Working with the Shadow in 2014.
Formal studies and encounters have all left their impression on Boonath, but his teachings are deeply rooted in the Shamanic traditions of the mystical Babas and Fakirs of India, with whom Boonath has been studying closely since childhood to the present day.
KIM
KIM is an Eco-Activist turned Yogi and the founder of Healing in the Willows, the retreat company hosting Working with the Shadow, which he developed in 2014 in collaboration with Boonath, who he assists with the teaching. Kim discovered Yoga in 2005, following a burn-out at work that brought him onto the path of ‘Yog’. Kim had spent over 10 years coordinating international environmental campaigns in Brussels, Amsterdam and Berlin for major environmental NGOs, including Greenpeace, WWF, Friends of the Earth, ActionAid, and many others.
Kim practiced Yoga with many teachers from several modern styles of Yoga (including Iyengar, Astanga, Vinasa, Bikram, Sivananda, Scaravelli, Kundalini) all over Europe, India and further afield. In 2011 Kim set up a first yoga collective in Berlin, which he then expanded to a new location in 2013, in one of the economically deprived areas of town that was undergoing gentrification. The collective brought together a variety of local teachers to promote yoga on a donation basis within the surrounding community unable to afford the increasing cost of living. It was there that Kim met Boonath and, through Boonath, that his understanding of what Yoga is and what Yoga can do shifted entirely. Boonath’s rare and ancient Tantric lineage revolutionised Kim’s understanding of Yoga and initiated him into a mystical healing journey that impacted strongly also on Kim’s activist work.
Since then Kim has been collaborating with Boonath on developing Working with the Shadow through the retreats, workshops and online classes.
“It shifted my understanding of what Yoga actually is,
on a fundamental level”
Joe
Farmer & Activist | UK
REGISTRATION.
A recording will be made available,
if you cannot make the exact date/time.
Just specify by email when registering.
TO BOOK A PLACE ON THE ONLINE SESSION…
STEP 1 | Make the payment
either via Paypal or bank transfer (see below).
STEP 2 | Send a proof of payment
(a screenshot will do) to info@healinginthewillows.com
We will then:
STEP 3 | Send you a confirmation email confirming your registration.
STEP 4 | The day of the event, we will send you an email containing:
– all the technical details to connect to the class online,
– suggestions on how best to prepare for the practice (foods and drinks to avoid),
– how to set-up your room for the practice,
– props you might need during the practice (blankets, cushions, etc).
PANDEMIC-FRIENDLY PRICE
FEES VARY ACCORDING TO INCOME
Please choose the amount matching your current economic situation,
whether you are unemployed, low income or high income.
Please remember that we depend entirely on peoples’ fees for the carrying out of this work:
UNEMPLOYED
€25 / €80
1 ritual / all 4 rituals
LOW INCOME
€35 / €120
1 ritual / all 4 rituals
HIGH INCOME
€50 / €170
1 ritual / all 4 rituals
PAYPAL
kim.bizzarri@gmail.com
BANK TRANSFER
Account holder: Kim Bizzarri
Iban: IT91A0200870691000003926096
Bic/Swift: UNCRITM1CEC
Bank: Unicredit
*
PAYMENTS ARE TO BE MADE BEFORE
& NO LATER THAN NOON
ON THE DAY OF THE EVENT
*
THE SESSION WILL HAPPEN ON ZOOM
We will send you the links and passwords necessary for joining the practice.
All your need your end is a computer / tablet with a camera (preferably, but not essential – it’s important that you can see us), a microphone (so that we can hear you, but it’s not essential) and good speakers / audio,
as it will be fundamental that you hear the instructions.
*
IF YOU HAVE ANY QUESTIONS
T: +39 3298456532
@: info [at] healinginthewillows.com
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