Yoga4unity

VERONIQUE NICOLAI is the Director of the Heartfulness Yoga Academy and the coordinator of the Yoga4Unity platform. As a pediatrician, she is also passionate about mental and physical well-being for all ages, especially children. Here, Veronique speaks about Yoga4Unity – 100 days of Yoga. What’s on offer and how can you join up?

In traditional Yoga, you have the Kriyas. There are proper cleaning practices, starting with Jal Neti, washing the nose, and the Kunjal Kriya, which are practices for the digestive system. Then you have the Asanas, which clean knots of energy in your shoulders, your hips, etc.

Movement also allows energy or prana to flow without any hindrance. This is what we mean by cleaning. We let energy flow from the gross, the physical, to the more subtle with Pranayama, which cleans the nadis. The nadis are channels of vital energy flow. Prana flows through the nadis, and when we do Nadi-Shudhi (alternate nostril breathing) the nadis are cleansed.

Beyond this, there are deeper, subtler layers that can be accessed with the inner practices of Heartfulness. We have an every-day cleaning practice that purifies the field of consciousness and the emotional load of the day.

So, Heartfulness Yoga covers all the layers of your being – from the physical to the mind, and then to the core, the heart. It’s the only practice that allows a beginner to start working on all the layers from day one, rather than after many years of practice.

That’s a revolution! Many other schools already teach Asanas and Pranayama. But Pranahuti (Transmission) and the Cleaning practice add depth to the practice of meditation, which in my experience is the need of the hour.

Meditation enables the values that are intrinsic to a human being. We need people to genuinely feel that they don’t want to fight each other, and that comes from the heart. If we can clean the heart, which Heartfulness Cleaning does, if we can nourish the good qualities of the heart, which Transmission does, we grow naturally into confident, balanced human beings, and that will change the world.

Meditation enables the
values that are intrinsic
to a human being.
We need people
to genuinely feel
that they don’t want
to fight each other,
and that comes from
the heart.

We’re also running a project of unity. Unity is the meaning of the word Yoga. First, unite within yourself. Then, you grow by your neighbors also growing. There’s a need to take care of the entire population. We grow together, and that is the idea behind this program, Yoga4Unity – 100 Days of Yoga. The beauty is to recognize that we grow together. People have started practicing Yoga for that reason. They want to grow, they want to change. When they feel the change, the magic of yoga, they want to become Yoga teachers.

You can start wherever you want in yoga. Start with Asanas if you want, or start with meditation. First know that there’s a science behind it, which is ancient and universal. It has nothing to do with religion. It starts with the Yamas and Niyamas, and moves toward Samadhi. We all agree on the same ancient texts, which are the base of the science of Yoga. It is being adapted and re-introduced in the present times, and this is not something we can do working in our own corners in isolation. We need to unite.

Fortunately, when we invited some of the great mother Yoga schools of India to join us, such as Parmarth Niketan, Iyengar, Sivananda, Kaivalyadhama, Krishnamacharya, and the teachers abroad, they all said, “Yes, we will give our time.” In this second year, we’ve consciously built the program together and we have a 100-day curriculum for four different audiences. There are programs for the elderly, for children, for enthusiasts, and for Yoga teachers.

Unity is the meaning
of the word Yoga.
First, unite within yourself.
Then, you grow by
your neighbors also growing.
There’s a need to take
care of the
entire population.

The directors of all the schools have 30 to 40 years teaching experience. They offer what they can in these sessions. It’s an opportunity, it’s free, and it’s online. You can register whenever you want to. The content is put up, and you follow it at your own pace. It is a 100–day course culminating in June 21, the International Day of Yoga.

The Heartfulness Yoga Academy is based in Kanha Shanti Vanam, Hyderabad, at the international headquarters of Heartfulness. It’s a super place. The Academy offers regular yoga classes and meditation training free of charge, both in situ and online. We have introductory Yoga programs, and short trainings for people who want to add to their meditation, for example, yoga on the chair and simple breathing practices.

The Academy also offers teacher-training programs, and other educational, paid programs, with the curricula and criteria needed for certification in India and abroad. You can become a certified international Yoga trainer or a yoga professional by taking one of these programs.

The best time to practice is early in the morning, but simply start whenever you can. Just do it and things will fall into place. It will change your life. Let the magic of yoga happen.

Nowadays, there’s a lot of lightness in the way I look at life and the way I handle difficulties. My yogic practice gives me a line of support, a lifeline to manage any situation I feel uncomfortable with. One of the enormous changes I feel is that I have learned to manage anger. I used to have a very angry side to myself, but I don’t have the energy to be angry anymore. It’s a waste of time. There are other ways to deal with disappointment. I’m sure other things have changed too. I feel that I have cultivated lightness and softness, but you would have to ask my husband and my children, and the team here at the Heartfulness Yoga Academy. 

Please join us! Thank you.