Integral Yoga® Classes
in Austin TX
Integral Yoga Hatha
Integral Yoga is a complete system for personal transformation – physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual. The Integral Yoga Hatha class works with inner awareness and the breath, fostering an individual experience. This takes each student to his or her own limits, yielding maximum benefit and preventing injury. Thus, Integral Yoga can be practiced by anyone of any age or condition. Core poses tone every organ and system of the body, while optional poses challenge and strengthen. A unique sequence of poses, followed by deep relaxation, breathing practices and meditation, leads to the experience of one’s own true Self.
Each class includes asanas, deep relaxation, breathing techniques, chanting and meditation.
Instruction provides is as taught by Sri Swami Satchidananda.
Karuna Kreps, Instructor
Registered Yoga Teacher® 500
Karuna has a long history of teaching Yoga and is a member of the Integral Yoga Teachers Association. She was privileged to meet and study with Sri Swami Satchidananda in 1967, when she was a teenager. He was one of the very first gurus to come to the United States and is revered worldwide as a Yoga Master in the tradition of his teacher, Swami Sivananda of Rishikesh.
She was initiated into Yoga meditation, received the Yogic name “Karuna,” (meaning compassion and mercy), and taught classes of all levels at the Integral Yoga Institute in New York from 1968–1982. Karuna was responsible for maintaining IYI teaching standards in the early 1970s. She has traveled with Swami Satchidananda, staffed Yoga retreats, lived in the Integral Yoga Institute, and visited the Satchidananda Ashram. In 1986, she was awarded the title of “Guru Tattwa Ratnam” or “Jewel of the Guru’s Teachings” by Sri Satchidananda. She is certified by the Integral Yoga Institute to teach Intermediate and Advanced classes.
She owns and welcomes guests to her BnB in the Yogaville Community. Please see Karuna Kutir.
She is also known as Karen Kreps, the president of a Web development company, Net Ingenuity. She built the original websites www.swamisatchidananda.org, www.lotus.org, iyta.org, and for the documentary film, Living Yoga: The Life & Teachings of Swami Satchidananda. For a decade, she helped to edit Integral Yoga Magazine and maintain integralyogamagazine.org and sent out the “Weekly Words of Wisdom from Sri Swami Satchidananda.” More recently, she built Yoga-related websites lightinnerlight.com and yogicendolife.org. You can reach her via email at yoga@netingenuity.com.
Yogic Breath of Life:
Breathing, Chanting and Meditation
Breathing
The yogic science of pranayama enables one to gain control over the breath and all the subtle energies that activate the body and mind. The breath is our constant companion, but little do we realize how powerful a tool it is for healing the body, calming the mind and realizing the Spirit. The breath both reflects what is happening within, and by controlling the breath, we can affect our physiological and psychological wellbeing. We can increase our vitality, optimize our health, manage pain, and skillfully handle stressful situations. We can overcome and transform negative emotions. We can gain mastery over the mind and experience deep states of inner peace. This class introduces practice you can use for a lifetime to attain increased health by building a strong immune response, a balanced nervous system, and a calm and peaceful mind. Four core pranayamas are taught plus a short version of deep relaxation.
Chanting & Meditation
The very words that holy men used to record sacred texts twenty-five thousand years ago have been passed in the form of Sanskrit mantram from teacher to student.Sanskrit was used to describe and explore the subtle and complex realms of metaphysics, cosmology, theology, the workings of the mind and soul. By applying ones breath in the repetition of Sanskrit chants you can create a meditative atmosphere and raise your understanding of the Self and the nature of the universe.
All of life’s difficulties in today’s fast-paced, hectic world can be overcome through the practice of meditation. Meditation techniques for stress reduction will be taught. The class will motivate and inspire you, especially if you’re starting, or if your regular practice needs a tune-up.
What About Asanas?
This class does not include the physical poses that most people think are all Yoga involves. The poses, or asanas, are part of the practice of Hatha Yoga. Hatha Yoga is one facet of Raja Yoga (the Yoga of self discipline). So are breathing techniques and meditation. In addition to Raja Yoga, the other main branches of Yoga are Karma Yoga (Yoga of action and selfless service), Jnana Yoga (the Yoga of self-inquiry and scriptural study) and Bhakti Yoga (the Yoga of devotion, which encompasses all religions). Chanting is a practice of Bhakti Yoga.
….More about Integral Yoga
Visit LOTUS
Learn about Swami Satchidananda
Subscribe to Integral Yoga Magazine.
Take classes online from the Integral Yoga Virtual Studio
Find links to everything Integral Yoga.
The Golden Present
Find daily inspiration from Swami Satchidananda.