For a moment, imagine that you grew up in rural India, without access to the internet, cars, or even electricity. Next, imagine that one day you were spontaneously dropped in the middle of Times Square, New York. Smartphones, skyscrapers, 100-foot televisions. You’d be awestruck, blown away by the sheer accomplishment of it all, right?
Experiencing the world of Yoga for the first time is similar to this, only their accomplishment lies in the realms of the inner world. Learning yoga is like digging for a pyramid buried in the sand, the deeper you go, the more vast it becomes. The teachings are intricate, precise, and utterly powerful. Within them, you can find answers to life’s deepest, most pressing questions.
It is my firm conviction that these tools have the power to transform lives, relieve mental disorders, and cure “incurable” diseases. Sitting here now, it’s difficult to fully convey the depth and power of this world to you. I would imagine it’s like trying to explain what a rose smells like to someone who had never smelled one. I am confident, however, that this team can show you.
Our vision at East+West Institute is to share direct experiences of yoga with people and to gift them the practical tools to integrate them into modern life. Our mission is for all our students to leave with the tools they need to live a healthy, balanced, productive life — sustainably.
This project was born out of my own struggles. In 2013, plagued with deep anxiety and inner-longing, I traveled to India searching for something precious I knew I had lost, without knowing what it was. I had everything in life, a great job, lots of friends, a beautiful girlfriend, but I was utterly miserable.
One day, I found myself sitting in the foothills of the Himalayas with a man who today many consider one of the best yoga and meditation masters walking the earth. The epitome of radiance, his long, flowing hair merged at his neckline with a thick, black beard, as if sharing a teaching on interconnectedness in his grooming choices.
His kind, radiant eyes were constantly glazed with tears of silent laughter and when he spoke, the sweet, subtle vibrations of his voice lulled me into loving submission. A man who quite literally thanked the earth each time his delicate foot stepped on the ground, whose mere presence sparked a deep transformation in my soul. Simultaneously the most grounded and most mystical person I have ever known, each day with him was a spontaneous adventure into the nature of life, unveiling its poetry and hidden miracles.
This man was Gurumukh Singh, the co-founder and our head meditation & spiritual guide at the East+West Institute, and my best friend. He has been a pillar of radiant happiness in my life from the moment we met. On that day, sitting on the mountainside, we dreamed up the East+West Yoga Institute. We connected over a deep inner-fire for spirituality, a disdain for conventional religion, and a deep desire to help others experience total freedom. Today, that vision continues to inspire us, and students all over the world.
I recall him saying to me one day when we met:
“People come from all over the world to my trainings to get their teacher certification, but they misunderstand yoga altogether. Yoga is not about accumulating information, like in school. It’s not a study but a way of living, and you must see it through your own eyes for it to work – not the eyes of another.”
Yoga must be lived to be understood. This is our founding principle.
These are not idle ambitions, our students experience this regularly. As the first student of the school, I can attest to it first hand.
Yoga cannot be shared through textbooks and theories, it must be known through our direct experience with life. This is the true teaching of spiritual masters throughout time, the key to cutting through dogma and reaching total internal freedom in this life. It is also our firm conviction that these great masters were no different from you and I. You have access to the same experiences and ways of living they had.
When yoga is learned this way, it sinks deep down into your heart, it changes the way you see, think, and feel. You begin hearing its whisper everywhere. And while it cannot remove you from all sadness and pain, it alters our grain of reality, raises us above the surface of life and allows us to know who we truly are. It gives life meaning, allows us to participate in something eternal, and to know something much larger than ourselves. This is a gift, the greatest gift you`ll ever have from life, and no one can take it away from you.
Perhaps you share this inner fire, this deep intuition that a more harmonious existence exists. You are right. Perhaps you are suffering from a mental or physical affliction and believe you have the tools to heal yourself. You can. We hope to help you on this path.
And this is only just beginning. The next chapter is yours to write.
Namaste.
– Adam & Gurumukh
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