Swami Umapuri tours Australia – Sydney
After visiting New Zealand and Fiji, Swami Umapuri has begun a tour of Australia, starting with programs with Yoga in Daily Life devotees, teachers and students in Sydney from 2-7 March 2023.
SYDNEY
The ‘Healthy Living Workshop Series’ was run on four weekday evenings with a program consisting of a yoga class for a healthy back and neck, followed by a Satsang.
Each day covered one of the four principles:
AHAR – how food and our eating habits impact our life
VIHAR – how the company we keep influences our life
ACHAR – the impact of our behaviour, habits and daily routines on our life
VICHAR – the power of the mind and thinking patterns in shaping our life
Satsangs
We enjoyed inspiring satsangs with Swami Umapuri giving spiritual teachings by sharing stories and traditional songs every evening. Yoga teachers, devotees and students attended in person and others around Australia and in New Zealand joined online.
Many of our local Yoga in Daily Life students fell in love with Swami Umapuri’s nurturing energy, kindness, loving heart and wisdom. Most of those who experienced a class and satsang once, decided to accept the invitation to “come again tomorrow” and ended up continuing to come again each evening, for the rest of the program.
Our youngest bhaktas (devotees) have learned how to do the puja prayer ceremony at the altar and give the prashad, blessed food offering. The Sydney ashram is now looking forward to using this momentum and continuing with the regular weekly satsangs and give thanks to Swami Umapuri Ji.
Workshops
A daytime Hatha Yoga Kriyas Workshop with Swami Umapuri took place on the Saturday and included explanations and practice of the jal neti and kapalbhati cleansing techniques.
On Sunday morning, students practised shankprakshalan kriya, thorough cleansing of the digestive tract. Participants had the rare opportunity to hear about the hatha yoga kriyas in detail and practise them under expert supervision. Everyone received instructions for the specific post-kriya diet and became inspired to continue with healthy eating habits.
On Sunday afternoon, Swami Umapuri led a Yoga for Healthy Back and Neck Workshop where participants learned how poor posture and incorrect movement habits place undue pressure on the spine, resulting in muscular tension and pain. They learned particular yoga asanas (postures and movements) targeted for maintaining a healthy back and neck and were encouraged to practice them systematically every day.
Visiting Temples
Swami Umapuri also visited Dungog, the rural property where Yoga in Daily Life used to have an ashram. The Shiva Temple is still there and the new owner has respectfully agreed that it will remain.
Our Yoga in Daily Life community in Sydney is very diverse, with teachers, members and students coming from different parts of Australia, several European countries, the Middle East and Asia. The origins of our Hindu bhaktas (devotees) is also diverse and includes India, Sri Lanka, Fiji and Bangladesh.
On her last day in Sydney, Swami Umapuri visited some local Hindu temples such as the Sydney Murugan Temple, Sri Durga Devi Devasthanam, and the Sydney Shakti Temple, conveying her devotion to the diverse Hindu heritage, as expressed in the motto of Holy Guruji Sri Madhavananda Ji, "One in All and All in One."
While visiting the city, Swami Umapuri was also taken to the iconic Sydney Opera House, which sits between the Sydney Harbour Bridge and Royal Botanical Gardens on the harbour foreshore.
The Yoga in Daily Life Sydney community of friends and practitioners is looking forward to hosting Swami Umapuri Ji again and next time learning from her expert skills in a cooking workshop, warmly inviting her to return to them in Sydney soon.
