About Ascension Yoga

YOUR ECSTATIC STAY IN NATURE

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This tiny yoga retreat is small and very secluded in nature's pristine forest. It caters to just one to four people who get to call this place Nirvana and home for their retreat experience. Some retreats may have more people. You live in the yoga teacher's residence, so in this respect it is a true ashram. And will learn direct from Dhyan how to deeply experience yoga. It is also a chance to go deep into any personal issues affecting your life and work through them with Dhyan using his Ascension Yoga healing. (If Dhyan is not present then an experienced yogi who will guide you). Your retreat will include one on one healing sesssions with Dhyan.

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If you want to get away from people and crowds then this is your place to meet just a few like minded yogis.

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You will be living and breathing life into your temple that is your divine body with the yoga teacher in his forest Lodge deep in the wild Australian bush in a private remote valley surrounded by millions of hectares of gum forest. It was chosen to be in complete seclusion from outside interference to reconnect you to Nature. 

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There are many amazing bushwalking trails with views of sandstone cliffs in order for you to explore the native Eucalypt nature and forest to meditate and connect to the native flora and fauna. Rock wallabies, possums, Kookaburras, goannas, many birds, bats, lizards and frogs.

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YOGA

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The Yamas and Niyamas are taught according to Patanjali. Basic to intermediate Asanas and Pranayama are Ashtanga and Sivananda Hatha mixed together and changed to an Ascension style. Meditation is Tantric Chakra focussed and Vipassana. We will teach to your level which includes yoga philosophy.

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ASCENSION HEALING 

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One on one sessions to heal particular issues bothering you in your life, or blocks be they physical, mental or sexual. 30 years experience in alternative health and yoga, Dhyan has formulated a healing system to resolve many blocks in the spiritual path to release joy and see other options as to how to live using many systems of Yoga to deeply heal. 

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HEALTHY ORGANIC FOOD GROWN HERE

 

Your retreat needs healthy nutritious organic vegetables and fruits grown here at the retreat to nourish your body as a whole. We have mango, pecan, orange, grapefruit, custard apple trees in our own beautiful Orchard. Sadly 2019 bushfires took half the orchard which is being replanted. Cauliflower, broccoli, gourmet lettuce, mortgage lifter tomatoes, parsley, sweet potato, zucchini, pumpkin, bok choy, cabbage, spinach, capsicum, peppers, beans, herbs, dill, thyme, oregano, mint - all are grown here for you to eat.  So you can experience food grown with yogic love and kindness in your vegan feast meals and juices. We pride ourselves on the praise we get for our meals.

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ROUTINE

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• Dawn - Hatha, Ashtanga and Pranayama starting at 5 am will recharge your body.

• Morning - healthy breakfast of muesli and fruits will lead you into some Karma Yoga, helping out at the retreat.

• Lunch -  may be a short Yoga Nidra to relax your body before preparing for the main meal of lunch.

• Afternoon - Relax, bush walk, try Zen art, a holistic massage, or one on one Ascension healing session with Dhyan to work through blocks in your life. After tea more Yoga usually Yin or a talk on philosophy. Depending on your retreat.

• Evening - A light meal, then meditation, kirtan or a lecture on Ascension system.

• Finishes the day at 9 pm to rest in your own room, shared room, or tent under the stars in the deep forest of Eucalypts in Australia. 

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The health retreat is vegan and has much rawfoods including juices. You can do juice or water fasts here.

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The schedule for the weekend program is merely an example opposite. And may vary to suit particular guests needs.

 

RULES Discipline

'Tapas'

 

• You must do the yoga and meditation classes here.

• No alcohol is allowed nor meat, drugs, smokes not even coffee. 

• Do not bring any food at all including snacks here.

• You MUST fill in a HEALTH CARE FORM.

• You MUST help out with the running of the retreat. That can be gardening, cleaning, preparing food, dish washing or maintenance.

• So you connect to NATURE computers, tablets and mobiles are not allowed here. This is your chance to take a break from them. Outside contact is only permitted in urgent situations. This is time to self reflect and take a break from the world. There is no TV here nor internet for guests.

• Take pen and paper. Zen art is taught.

• No books are allowed unless yoga related.

• Strong emotions can arise from this spiritual place where you go deep into the Yoga to Ascend your soul. You need to be able to commit to that process for the full duration of the retreat. No refund if you leave early or do not turn up. 

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Contribution

The retreat is expensive to run. And you receive yoga teachings one to one or in a very small group, having this beautiful place just to yourself or a few other people. For costs see here.

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Volunteer

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If you cannot afford you can volunteer, helping out here. Please become one and you will gain much more https://www.yogaretreat.net.au/volunteer. 

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Organisation

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Unification Organisation of Collective Ascension is the spiritual organisation that the retreat follows. To find out more about this collective please go to the website for the Worldwide Network of Ascension (Australia) www.wna.org.au.

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Renovations

Some renovation work may be going on later in the year, a temple yoga hall could be being built, bush tracks made, camping facilities and the dam is currently filling after undergoing repairs and available for swimming. There is a smaller dam to swim in.  The dams have bentonite in them so are muddy but very therapeutic for the skin and body. You swim at your own risk.

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DHYAN ABHAY - yoga instructor

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I was brought up in a teaching and military family where discipline and hard work were valued in leafy Hawthorn in Melbourne, I went to a top private school called Melbourne Grammar. My family came from founding fathers of Victoria, including Sir Stawell, Chief Justice of Victoria and the Hawkers of South Australia. Towns were named after them, and I was often reminded of the family name and place in Australia's colonial history. But the family had lost most of its wealth. I never felt I was part of the Establishment, but then I never felt I was part of anything. I was badly homophobically bullied in Melbourne Grammar and the rich and famous were on the whole not pleasant people. Often greedy, competitive and cruel. Certainly the Anglican church at the school destroyed my belief in Jesus and even in God. On top of this my parents divorced bitterly and my father had PTSD from combat in the British Army's Gordon Highlanders where he became a major, which made him emotionally cruel and miserly. Consequently I had very low self esteem when I left Melbourne Grammar.

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I became a tax lawyer in KPMG London but something was missing. My life was empty and purposeless. There was no unconditional love, it was all about laws, study, work, tax and money. I had two relationship failures and in that heartbreak I quit my job in 1991 and began soul searching in my late twenties after reading Paramahansa Yogananda's book and spent an amazing Odessey for three years in Northern Europe, Israel, Ireland, the Middle East and finally India. There I found the grace of divine love that I had been unable to find in the guilt, judgement and hypocrisy of my Christian upbringing. I became a Sannyasin of Osho and was initiated as Dhyan Abhay. Since then I have been influenced by Devananda, Muktananda, Sri Prabhupad, Sivananda, Satyananda, Satya Sai Baba, Mother Teresa, Amma, Aurobindo, the Dali Lama, Pattabhi Jois, Iyengar, Goenke and many others spending time in India in their ashrams over the decades. Many of these gurus I personally met on my journey.

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Due to Western lifestyle as a lawyer I had poor posture, a slight hunch back and was very inflexible. I have improved a lot, but some damage cannot be undone. I am not super flexible. I teach more for meditation, not advanced postures. I can teach yoga asanas to an intermediate level. But the goal has always been for me to meditate and seek internal happiness - not body beautiful and amazing handstands or twists. I still cannot do them. 

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I first tried yoga in my early 20s at University and hated it. Continued my legal career. I found yoga again through a spiritual awakening at 27 which was far more real for me in Vienna and had nothing to do with yoga postures, but through Paramahansa Yogananda's book Autobiography of a Yogi, and began to understand. And an amazing journey opened up to me. A huge gratefulness to be ALIVE.

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Taking classes with many teachers including Nicky Knoff, Susi Davies (Zurich Dynamic Yoga), Jacqueline Brumley, Lance Schuler, Fee Zard, Mark Purser and did my yoga teacher training with Vipan in Rishikesh's Rishikul Yogashala. I've trained in holistic massage and reiki. And will guide you into Ascension Yoga. A system I developed after trying almost every style of yoga. I have taken the best from all of them. Then merge them back into the Classical Patanjali's 8 limbs with Tantra to get to the true essence of yoga. That is to attain spiritual truth, to become self realised and to be able to meditate in complete silence without thought, so experiencing ecstatic bliss. The Bhagavad Gita teaches that only through Krisnas' divine ecstatic love can spiritual grace enter the heart.

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I am fully insured with AON against any injury to a student caused by doing yoga and I am registered with Yoga Australia.

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