Is developed through SchoolYoga Institute support and partnership with JUSTA (Justice, Unity & Sustainable Trade for Artisans) to run a holistic health and nutrition program in the small village of Chacaya, located near Mystical Yoga Farm on Lake Atitlan, Guatemala. The program, Comida Vida Tradicional, is a month-long [...]]]>

Comida Vida Tradicional

Is developed through SchoolYoga Institute support and partnership with JUSTA (Justice, Unity & Sustainable Trade for Artisans) to run a holistic health and nutrition program in the small village of Chacaya, located near Mystical Yoga Farm on Lake Atitlan, Guatemala. The program, Comida Vida Tradicional, is a month-long series of nutrition classes for students in the Chacaya Middle School. The program´s mission is to promote health education on physical, mental and emotional nourishment.

Each class is taught by a local Guatemalan expert in each classes´s theme. The first class discusses what is nutrition and malnutrition and the local superfood Chaya. The second class analyzes sugar, diabetes, and the local super food Chia Seeds. The third class introduces local medicinal herbs and their remedies, as well as the local super food Amaranth. The fourth class includes recipe-making and the local super food Cacao. The fifth class is focused on personal health, women´s health, and sexual education. The class also includes recipes with the local super food Ramon Nut. Each class focuses on a different super food and includes a cooking component to provide natural, sustainable, and accessible alternatives to unhealthy and processed foods that have replaced local and traditional foods in the daily diet.

This program is organized by JUSTA, a fair trade project dedicated to supporting indigenous artisans through social entrepreneurship and sustainable development. In Spanish, justa means just or fair which are the guiding principles and forefront of JUSTA’s work. JUSTA provides continuing education opportunities such as business and computer skills, language and writing, health and nutrition, and environmental stewardship.

The Comida Vida program is based on the idea of Holistic Empowerment, which refers to the inter-connectivity of all aspects of the mind, body, spirit, environment, and community in creating happy and healthy individuals and communities. We focus this initiative in Guatemala, where the national malnutrition rate is 5 out of 10 children, and here in Lake Atitlan that number is 7 out of 10 children. Comida Vida is run in a country that has the fourth highest rate of malnutrition in the world. Through efforts by SchoolYoga Institute and JUSTA, we are aiming to change these statistics, one meal at a time.

How to Apply: View Here

Mystical Yoga Farm is seeking a Garden an Facility Supervisor for their yoga retreat center and permaculture farm on Lake Atitlan in the highlands of Guatemala. The Garden Supervisor will be responsible for assisting the director of the in leading the small [...]]]> Opening: Now Hiring

How to Apply: View Here

Mystical Yoga Farm is seeking a Garden an Facility Supervisor for their yoga retreat center and permaculture farm on Lake Atitlan in the highlands of Guatemala. The Garden Supervisor will be responsible for assisting the director of the in leading the small spiritual community in accordance with the intentions of the farm.

The perfect candidate will have experience in permaculture and organic, bio-dynamic farming. Experience in a yoga center, farm, or similar facility is necessary. The Garden supevisor must be capable of and have a willingness to step into any required role necessary to the functioning of the farm. Experience teaching yoga, meditation, cooking, and experience with guest services are also necessary.

Candidates for this position should be self motivated, organized, with good communication skills, and a strong interest in the healing arts. Moderate Spanish skills and basic computer skills are necessary.

The garden supervisor will have a positive attitude, a calm approach to challenging situations and leadership skills to guide the community in accordance with the intentions of the farm.

Expectations

• Maintain gardens: planting, harvesting, compost ad designing beds
• Teach courses in permaculture, bio-dynamics and organic gardening to the locals and to groups of farm visitors
• Oversee apprentices daily work schedule
• Give garden and farm tours.
• Couples welcome to apply

Required

• Work commitment of 3-6 months
• Must commit to living a yogic lifestyle while living at the farm
• Strong interest in community living with a community of 4 to 10 or more people
• Must agree to promote the vision and mission of the farm
• Previous experience in supervisory roles
• Strong involvement in your local or international yoga community
• Work day: 6-8 hours, One day off a week, One Rest day a week.

Desired Interests

• Yoga and Spiritual Leadership
• Cooking
• Organic, or bio-dynamic farming and permaculture
• Spanish language skills
• Carpentry/handyman skills
• First Aid

Benefits

• Free accommodations & food
• $150 monthly stipend
• 10% discount on any SYI Yoga Teacher training for each month you are at the farm. (up to 50% off)

Feb. TTC 2012

The Sun dawns over the Mystical Yoga Farm, rising up from behind the Atitilan and Toliman volcano’s, the rays of light glimmering across the morning sky, as the lake’s morning mist floats up to meet them. It is the first day of the cycle of the Eagle, the Condor. [...]]]>

Feb. TTC 2012

The Sun dawns over the Mystical Yoga Farm, rising up from behind the Atitilan and Toliman volcano’s, the rays of light glimmering across the morning sky, as the lake’s morning mist floats up to meet them. It is the first day of the cycle of the Eagle, the Condor. The one who teaches us to soar high above, spreading our wings to fly, while having a keen sense of the seen and the unseen.

It has been a magical experience assisting the Feb. TTC with Randi and Jed. Such a blissful blessing, to unify as one and share the joy and the beauty with our amazing trainees as they embark on such  trans-formative experience of Self; a process that occurs for all the souls that find their way to this place of the mystical abyss, where everything is nothing and nothing is everything, where all you need is all you have, and all you have is all you need.

Today marks the beginning of the last end, who opens each person here to the beginning of their own epic journey, into that unknown place, where all things can be dreamt into reality.

OM TAT SAT-Anjili

The 500-hr Mystical Yoga Teacher Training has given me the tools to connect with my highest self and my truest nature. I have learned to connect with my own inner wisdom and to allow that essence and knowledge to be my foundation for being a teacher to myself and to others. This is [...]]]>

The 500-hr Mystical Yoga Teacher Training has given me the tools to connect with my highest self and my truest nature. I have learned to connect with my own inner wisdom and to allow that essence and knowledge to be my foundation for being a teacher to myself and to others. This is a unique training that is based on co-creation and the sharing of knowledge. What you get out of it depends completely on how much you are willing to let go, shed the mind, embrace the journey and soar to meet your self as you’ve never seen before.

- Anjili

(Photo by Christina Chandler)

Dear Finca Family,

I left the Mystical Yoga Farm early this morning. It was dark, silent and peaceful. The farewell vibrations of the singing bowl are still with me now. As I rode across the lake in the lancha with Guillermo, my attention was drawn to the powerful silhouette [...]]]>

(Photo by Christina Chandler)

Dear Finca Family,

I left the Mystical Yoga Farm early this morning. It was dark, silent and peaceful. The farewell vibrations of the singing bowl are still with me now. As I rode across the lake in the lancha with Guillermo, my attention was drawn to the powerful silhouette of vulcan atitlan against the backdrop of the early morning starry sky.

I am so grateful to be a part of the finca (farm) family and to be able to spend time on the yoga farm. Everyday on the yoga farm is such a beautiful experience. Living simply, appreciating the small things. Loving being alive. Swinging in a hammock. Meditating on the dock. Practicing yoga in the shala. Gardening, cooking, cleaning, reading, creating. Satsang and sauna. Being part of a community, working together to sustain each other physically, emotionally and spiritually. This was my second visit and each time I leave a more conscious human being… mindful, compassionate and content with what is. Om Tat Sat.

Blessings of love and light to all who have visited the farm, who are there now and who will come in the future!

Sabrina

To try and put my experience into words like like trying to explain the concept of formlessness. As soon as you talk about it, you give it form and its just not something that can be [...]]]> As rainy season comes to an end, so does my stay at the farm for the time being,

To try and put my experience into words like like trying to explain the concept of formlessness. As soon as you talk about it, you give it form and its just not something that can be easily put into words, labels, and boxes (even though at the farm, thats what i love to do… label things!)I returned back to the farm in May and was set to stay until the end of the Yoga Teacher Training in August. After some time though, I quickly extended my stay until through September. The thought of leaving just was not an option.

I have been to the farm multiple times and have seen the place transition and  grow with every new energy that comes through it. People come and experience the joy and beauty of this land along with a like mind in organic farming and a yogic lifestyle. Nick Anderson, our project specialist and farmer,  Julia Randall, our garden goddess, and I, who looked over finances, guest relations, and spiritual facilitator, worked together over the last 5 months to really create this manifestation of a spiritual intentional community that people can come to and completely let go, be themselves, and transform to find their true essence.

Rainy season doesnt bring too many people around, but everyone who did has come through and touched our hearts and souls in one way or another and we have appreciated their presence and energy towards working together in community and making the farm a better place.

In August, we were full of action! I was lucky to have been there to facilitate the 200hr Yoga Teacher Training Course at the Mystical Yoga Farm. There were 12 students, one apprentice, Korken who quickly became part of the family, Julia who did all the cooking for us, and Nick, who maintained the farm while I was in teaching mode. It was such an incredible experience with incredible people. Again, words cant really describe and here I am trying to… We were lucky to have Vedantin with us for 10 days as well during the course sharing his love and light with us.

September came around, and it was quiet at the farm again. Heavy rains started to come down in the afternoons, cleansing our days with fresh summer rain. Bryan came down for a visit and that was great!

Experiences you will have at the farm are life changing, transformational ones, and it is just a beautiful space to come, relax, be surrounded by a loving, intentional, and spiritual community, who share the love and interest in farming and yoga!

Love and Light,
Randi
Mukshiya

More Photos on Facebook

I had the great fortune to take a trip down to the Mystical Yoga Farm in Guatemala last week. I had 5 free days and I wanted thought, what better way than to spend it at the farm. It was so nice to see the progress that [...]]]>

More Photos on Facebook

I had the great fortune to take a trip down to the Mystical Yoga Farm in Guatemala last week. I had 5 free days and I wanted thought, what better way than to spend it at the farm. It was so nice to see the progress that Randi, Nick, Julia  and Korken have made with the improvements to the farm.

It is such a peaceful place and such a rich spiritual community. Each morning, Nick woke us up with a song on his flute. We poured some tea and walked out onto the dock on the lake. It was hard to close my eyes to give up the view of mist over the water and the two volcanoes across the lake, but we eventually settled into beautiful silent meditations. Yoga classes were taught by Randi and Julia- such a pleasure to see SchoolYoga graduates sharing their practice of yoga with others. It is so nice to practice yoga with a group everyday.

I spent each day talking with a different person about their roll at the farm and what projects they are working on. Nick has built a new grey-water system, installed a professional composting system and created a gorgeous fish pond with native fish and plant species taken from the lake! His future projects are building a new floating dock, and a new composting toilet among other things.

Julia showed me around the garden. They have grown some amazing things such as passionfruit and pomegranates. She also shared about her experience cooking for the yoga teacher training course that we hosting in August. I heard nothing but great things about her cooking and we have decided to have her for all future groups at the farm. She is amazing. I hope she will post some of her recipes on the yoga cookbook site very soon.

Randi showed me around the farm as well and we talked about how we can continue to improve the reservation and booking system. We now have wifi at the farm, so she is able to Skype with people and to return calls and emails quite quickly. She has done such a great job over the past several month handling all the inquiries and greeting guests as they come. Not to mention, the many amazing yoga classes she has shared with visitors, apprentices and the other staff. If you have not taken a class with Randi, you are in for a treat. She really knows how to give you a workout and at the same time make you feel totally blessed out by the end of savasana.

Korken, one of the apprentices, share about his experience at the farm. He said that he has taken so much away from his time there and that he would not trade it for anything.  I did a video interview with him and hope to post it soon. He also did a little comedy talk on the farm (he is an actor from LA) and I may post that too once I edit out and of his non-pg segments. He is a funny guy and it was great to meet him during my stay at the farm.

Thanks everyone for making my stay a joy and a blessing. Such a beautiful would we live in! Thank you for making the farm a beautiful place and for sharing your energy with everyone who stops in.

I encourage everyone to take a trip to the Mystical Yoga Farm. It will be one of the best decisions can make. And, if you have visited the farm in the past, I encourage you to post about your experience below. I would love to hear about your stay.

Om Tat Sat.

-Bryan

More Photos on Facebook

As we meditate in silence, allowing the meaning of the words to bubble up through the boards of the dock, the sun [...]]]> This morning, before our meditation, we each take turns to choose from a bowl containing thirty small prayer cards, each describing a virtue.  Despite the randomness, four people get the word harmony.

As we meditate in silence, allowing the meaning of the words to bubble up through the boards of the dock, the sun rises higher over the volcano and bleeds red through our eyelids.  Even at 7am it is warm enough to simmer the skin.  The birds, as every morning, fill the periphery of our awareness.  Under the aural hallucination of deep meditation, the sounds morph into strange parodies of electrical ringtones, wooden flutes and the repetitive squeaking of a child’s swing.

As every resident will tell you, the farm is in a continuous state of flux.  The departure of Amanda in mid-May left the farm gently craving her presence, but Randi’s arrival shortly after was welcomed in the fluid way that we have come to know.  This week also sees the departure of our much-loved Jacky, who has served the farm selflessly and with a great deal of love, implementing much-needed systems in both kitchen and finances and touching everyone with his warmth.

With new people and new energy constantly flowing through the space, we find ourselves perpetually learning and exchanging, but one thing is constant: each person who passes through the farm lets go of stale layers of themselves, leaving the farm renewed and inspired, their soul nourished.

June’s rainy season, rather than bringing dreary grey, simply casts dramatic contrast over our days.  Every morning the sky chooses a different shade and the sun beams straight over Santiago.  Every afternoon the clouds roll over, providing relief for the baby plants and a homey embrace to the farm.  Within the rhythms there is room for the unexpected; violent orange streaks that paint the farm in technicolour; a spray of stars after an afternoon of storms. Sometimes we look out at the lake and realise the ridge has been enveloped in fog, and all of a sudden we are on a tiny island in the middle of a lonely sea.

The macrocosm continually reflects the microcosm.  The rain washes away the dust of the dry season, making way for new shoots, carpeting in greens of every shade. Growth and birth is everywhere.  Two weeks ago we went into the greenhouse to find that a stray dog had given birth to four puppies under the seedlings. In reflection of our yoga- and satsang-circles, we shape circular plots across the farm, angled to catch the rain, and plant seeds next to each other to balance their nutritional needs.  And so the harmony spreads across the land.

As April closes, the rains move in, filling the skies with emotion and palpably charging the atmosphere.  The mornings remain breathtakingly [...]]]> Today we offer up inspiring visions and news from Julia Randall our garden coordinator (a.k.a. Garden Goddess) and big thanks to one of our current farm residents and artist Andrea Giaier, for sharing her stunning photographs.

As April closes, the rains move in, filling the skies with emotion and palpably charging the atmosphere.  The mornings remain breathtakingly colourful but the afternoons are marked by a creeping shadow and chilly winds that, on the most dramatic days, certainly blow the dust from the mind.  The season is creeping in early and although we are excited about the change, there is a lingering nostalgia for those wide skies of March.

Gaia of the flowers!

Not so in the garden, however.  Look closely at the ground and you will see billions of tiny green heads, an army arching up silently and swiftly, carpeting the ground.  The deluges every few days are slowly remoisturising the dusty soil, reawakening sleeping seeds, and a new order of manure is slowly nourishing tired ground.  The garden is truly coming alive.

Months of love and hard work by a string of residents has fed a green haven here on the yoga farm.  As if to prove it, the hummingbirds have really made it their home, hovering like green jewels over Amanda’s lovingly tended flowers.  And the intention continues to shape the land, showing its strength in everything from bulging beetroot to a newly created spiral garden.

Sprinkles of color fill the landscape

From the first step off the dock, the happily bobbing leaves of lettuce, chard, cabbage and baby pepper plants leave the visitor in no doubt that this is already a producing garden.  The first crop of strawberries and yellow squash bring the colour of summer to the kitchen.  There is sufficient here for fresh salads every day; enough herbs to warrant a ‘tea guide’ for the wall.

Follow the path up the central spine of the garden and see yellow-painted stones identifying vegetables and baby fruit trees,delineating areas where seeds lie germinating.  Freshly tilled earth awaits coverage by the crawling shoots of watermelon and native zucchini.  With the rains looming on the horizon we find ourselves planting every day, aiming to fill all the plots and bind the earth.  It will be just a couple of months before the pantry explodes with fresh produce.

Cleaning the place up!

But the soil contains much more than just seeds.  Nick is close to finishing the grey water project, soon to be buried under the first terrace near the sauna, after days of close contact with the less attractive parts of the farm.  And the garden is no longer simply a driver for the kitchen.  Grass is planned along one terrace and a Zen Garden, shaded by coffee and avocado, awaits the explosion of green that will soon provide a tranquil space for residents to sit outside and absorb the energy of this beautiful space.

As the elements cleanse us, the joy the garden feels at the building rains is felt by everyone here.  Only a few days ago, the entire community rushed outside to inspect a baby pomegranate, nestled in amongst a chorus of impossibly red flowers.  Here sing the fruits of the future…