YREC’s Yoga Forest University

For our urgent fundraising about this project, please click here.

Yoga is a truly potent tradition. Yet, in order to unlock its full potency, you must be willing to study and practice Yoga intensively. The benefits you can experience from Yoga are directly related to the degree to which you engage this age-old tradition.

Spiritual practice can undoubtedly be cultivated even in the midst of a busy life. This in fact is the ideal of Karma-Yoga, the path of self-transcending action. Yet, the spiritual process greatly benefits from a beautiful and peaceful environment. It is of course possible to study Yoga in hectic and noisy cities, but our body and mind open up when we can enjoy peace and quiet in a countryside filled with clean air and wooded hills. We feel happier, more relaxed, nourished, and inspired when we are surrounded by trees and bird song, far removed from the hustle and bustle of the urban sprawl. Learning and growing become easier, especially when we are in the company of other like-minded practitioners and also have regular access to accomplished teachers.

This is the vision for YREC's Yoga Forest University opening in September 2003. As the name "Yoga Forest University" suggests, the environment is rural and fully conducive to a contemplative lifestyle. The name also invokes the ancient Indian tradition of leaving town or village behind (at least for a while) to dedicate oneself wholeheartedly to study and practice.

The university is a nonsectarian, interdenominational retreat center serving small groups of Yoga students at a time through week-end and week-long programs. There also is an opportunity to study with Georg Feuerstein and a few other teachers for longer periods.

Whatever type of Yoga they may study and practice, all students will learn to appreciate the richness and relevance of other related spiritual traditions. When they leave, they will take with them the gifts of deep traditional learning and the power of spiritual communion through the practice of mindfulness and compassion. Yoga Forest University will offer spiritual intelligence and a way of life that can help students brave the challenges of our increasingly complex society.

Those who are both practitioners and scholars will have the opportunity to pursue their research at a well-appointed library in an ideal retreat setting.

The activities of the Yoga Forest University are in keeping with YREC's principal goal of preserving and disseminating the traditional teachings of Yoga and making them accessible to sincere students from around the world.

YREC’s Yoga Forest University provides sincere students with the opportunity

• to study Yoga full-time or part-time with the goal of promoting their spiritual welfare

• to benefit from the wisdom, knowledge, and presence of qualified teachers from the spiritual traditions of Hinduism and Buddhism, who will be either residents or periodic guests

• to enjoy a silent meditation retreat

• to enhance yogic practice by cocreating a community of dedicated Yoga practitioners
  
  

The campus, which is on over 40 peaceful acres, comprises

• a beautiful retreat facility with a well-stocked library and archive

• a meditation pavilion (under construction)

• a Yoga asana practice hall (under construction)

For more information about Yoga Forest University and our endowment program, please click here.

To acquire the land with all the buildings, YREC has had to make a major financial commitment. We did so in good faith, trusting that over the years many of our far-flung membership and student body will help make the campus a success.

If you are a Yoga practitioner and have benefited from Yoga, please consider contributing to this pioneering project. Your generous support would be most gratefully appreciated. No amount is too small! You may call our office with your credit card number or mail us a check made payable to YREC. (For phone number and address, please see below.) Remember, your donation is deductible in accordance with the Internal Revenue Code. Please contact your tax advisor for details.

For our other fundraising projects, please click here.