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Shanti Yoga Ashram Nepal  was born out of a cluster of bungalows on personal land in the village of Machchhegaun. In this small, informal environment reminiscent of the ancient yogic guru-disciple tradition, Yogi Prakash imparted the wisdom of Tantra Yoga to whoever crossed his path. In 2001, he officially registered the ashram with the government. During these early years, in spite of the small scale of the ashram, Yogi Prakash managed to guide 3,000 people, Nepalese and foreigners alike, over the course of ten years. He spent two years spreading his teachings in Thailand, China and Austria. He wrote his book,Tantra Yoga, while living in China as a resident teacher. Despite these successes something was still missing. He felt that teaching yoga was incomplete – he had to bring the practice into the broader scope of social well-being, to take all that he learned and generated from his personal sadhana and offer it to the welfare of society. So he turned his attention towards bringing Tantra Yoga into the educational arena. The first manifestation of this goal took shape in the form of a yoga school for children. In 2001, his family housed and educated children in need, despite their lack of resources. Unfortunately, due to lack of funding this project was short-lived but would leave the seed for a second attempt.

In 2010, an 11 day program of Shiva Puran, the spiritual inauguration of the Shiva temple on the ashram property, instigated multiple changes in the ashram. Hundreds of people gathered around the Shiva mandir to welcome Lord Shiva (in yoga Shiva represents pure consciousness) and breathe change into the ashram. As Chairman of the ashram, Yogi Prakash announced that he wished to donate his family’s land to the cause of yoga, thus transforming the personal land into a trust. Inspired by the energy of the event, over 500 people contributed to program, of which 30 became lifelong members of the ashram.

In 2011, with the relentless determination of Yogi Prakash, his yogic family and relatives, Shanti Yoga Ashram established Divine Yoga School. To ensure this second effort would be successful, Yogi Prakash set out to create a rare kind of educational environment that would integrate the wisdom of yogic tradition on philosophical and practical levels with the more traditional academic skills to enable students to navigate the world with fluency. This philosophy is reflected in the name of the school: the word “yoga” meaning union, brings together the “Divine” and “School” in an unprecedented convergence rarely found in Nepal.

At around the same time as the school emerged, the family began the construction of the building that now stands four stories tall (the fourth floor is the large yoga hall with panoramic views of the Himalayas and the middle floors are for guest accomadations).  Even with the development of Divine Yoga School and the expansion of the ashram well under way, Yogi Prakash found another way to express his vision of yoga in an academic context. In 2012, the ashram and the board of trustees began discussing the prospect of a year-long, university-accredited yoga program. Drawn from the collective vision of the ashram and visits to similarly structured yoga programs in India, the college, once fully implemented, will be the first of its kind in Nepal. As of today, no yoga university programs exist in Nepal and this college will provide academic along with practical teachings, residential facilities in an ashram setting an with a spiritual background.

Yoga Teachers

Yogi Prakash, the founder and chairman of Shanti Yoga Ashram, began studying yoga at the age of 12. At this young age he knew that was what he was meant to do with his life. Initially, his parents disapproved of him learning yoga so he snuck out of the house early in the morning and offered vegetables from the family garden as payment for class. His unwavering determination finally earned his family’s support and he was sent with blessings to India where he completed a teacher training certificate course at Bihar Yoga University and was initiated by Swami Niranjanananda Saraswati.

Returning to Nepal, the land of Tantra, he deepened his knowledge by studying Kundalini and Tantra yoga with Swami Shivalingam for the next twelve years. He  also lived in and volunteered with various projects for three years at an ashram dedicated to helping children, and introduced yoga to the Ashram by teaching classes.

Since childhood Yogi Prakash had a vision to open a school to teach spiritual sciences and in 2001 he established Shanti Yoga Ashram.  Since then it has been attracting spiritual seekers from all over the world for the authentic yogic experience and the deep Tantra Yoga teachings that can not be easily found elsewhere. At the Ashram he leads workshops and teacher training courses. His personal attention and care for every student making everyone feel at home. His magnanimous nature and great capacity to teach allows him to transmit the spiritual essence of Tantra Yoga to his students with joy and love.

With 12 years of experience, in 2010 he brought another dream into fruition with the launching of Divine Yoga School; a school for local children whose mission is to equip them with the academic knowledge needed in today’s modern world along with the spiritual wisdom acquired through the practice of Yoga, Meditation and Vedic studies.

In the last few years Yogi Prakash has been teaching throughout Europe, the U.S. and India.  Furthermore, with the intention of making Tantra Yoga available in the west, he has established Shanti Yoga Ashram U.S.A., a non-profit organization dedicated to sharing this profound wisdom. His mission is to preserve the ancient teachings in their pure form and to spread this light of Tantra throughout the world.

International Program Director and Creator

?Since Yogini Gopika was a young girl she was in love with the deep beauty and peace found in Nature.  For her life was always full of magic and mystery.  Upon getting her first “real job” after college, she can remember thinking with a feeling of longing for something greater -“there must be more to life than this”. Upon discovering yoga everything transformed and she made a swift exit from mainstream society in search of life’s true meaning.

After teaching yoga in New York City for about a year she journeyed to India. She spent the better part of 10 years in Vrindavan, the land of Lord Krishna, where every step is a dance and every word is a song.  It is here that she fell in love with the culture of bhakti and where she found her spiritual home.  Her life fell into a rhythm with the Universe and the Divine. Everything became spiritualized as living in this ancient holy place brought about purification of the heart. 

Ayurveda, the art of living in exquisite balance, taught her much about herself and her beloved nature.  Becoming an Ayurvedic Practitioner was a natural compliment to her yogic lifestyle.  Finally she was ready to share her wisdom and has been teaching Ayurveda and Yoga through lectures and teacher trainings for the past 5 years at home and abroad.  All this time she was practicing Tantra, intuitively weaving together spiritual practices with life to create a more boundless and fearless existence.  Her purpose has always been intuitively Tantric – to expand and move beyond limitations to bring out her fullest potential and use her gifts to inspire others to do the same.

?She became a certified Tantra Yoga teacher about 3 years ago through the tradition of Nepalese Tantra under the guidance of Yogi Prakash at Shanti Yoga Ashram, Nepal – the land of Tantra itself.  Since then she has been working by his side to develop the ashram and has been co-teacher in three successful teacher trainings so far.  She is the Ashram's International Program Creator and Director, with the intention of bringing Tantra to the world.  It is her greatest joy to share the light and love that yoga has to offer with other spiritual seekers and inspire them deeply to make real change in their life; so they may embrace a yogic lifestyle that is in harmony with themselves and the world around them.  Hari Om Tat Sat.

Since childhood existential questions have crossed Guillaume’s mind, leading him to traverse the globe and discover the essence of culture, the beauty of life and root of suffering.
He has spent the last 5 years exploring Africa and India, learning from diverse traditions, spiritual masters and seekers. Guillaume has been practicing meditation since his teenage years and has understood its importance in elevating one’s mind and building a stronger foundation with self and society. Yoga became an integral part of Guillaume’s life when one auspicious morning he encountered an elderly man practicing yoga in a forest, he thereby joined this elderly man and practiced with him. Guillaume firmly believes that yoga is a way of peace, harmony and self-reliance. Furthermore, he has been inspired by natural lifestyle, faith, devotion, ancient wisdom, gratitude and hope. The vision of Shanti Yoga Ashram, as well as Guruji’s magnetism and exemplarity, inspired him to become part of the ashram family, and to study, practice and teach Tantra Yoga. 
?Guillaume enjoys learning to play instruments and is also adept in singing bowl therapies and guided meditations, which he considers the most beautiful gifts on earth. 

Claudia-Sam is a student of life, always curious and finding ways to learn. She enjoys being around people and feeds off from their energy. Claudia-Sam is a Hatha Yoga Flo (Vinyasa) and Classical Tantra Yoga Coach from Montreal, Canada with over 500 hours of trainings in North America, Europe, Indonesia, New  Zealand and Nepal. In her classes, students are invited to move with awareness, deep conscious breath, and are guided towards their inner Self. Students can expect to be led through their practice with motivation and empowerment, and to be assisted in postures with hands-on energy transfers. Her classes are balanced with movement (asanas), music, breathing exercises, yoga nidra (deep relaxation), meditation and chanting of mantras. Her classes are influenced by Jivamukti Yoga and Classical Tantra Yoga from Nepal, among others.