Frequently Asked Questions - Developing your own practice: Sadhaka Program

The Sadhaka Program is intended to deliver a structure whereby Yoga Practitioners can deepen their practice. This happens by incrementally taking on responsibility for their own practice of yoga, away from the classroom.  To support this process,  Sadhaka program participants revisit the Foundation Practitioner syllabus but through a different lens. As new beginners we learn the poses. As Sadhaka participants the poses are studied. Studying the poses systematically helps develop the capacity to practice them independently.

The Sadhaka Program is to develop your practice away from the classroom. While there are many benefits to attending classes, if your engagement with yoga is solely reliant on being in class you will fail to develop an enduring, self directed practice.  That said, it is up to you to decide how many classes to attend during the Sadhaka Program, as long as you are able to complete the practice requirements of the program.  We recommend attending no more than one additional class.  

Yes, attendance in a Led Practice Program is encouraged. If you have a program available in your local area, you should remain involved.  Led Practice will complement your self directed practice and may help you develop a practice community.

The Sadhaka Program has been designed to progress students across the Yoga Mandir Syllabus and to provide the experience of  developing a practice across the year. For this reason, all new enrolments currently commence in Term 1 and continue across four consecutive terms.  In the future, mid-year enrolment may also be available.  Deferrals will only be considered under exceptional circumstances.

While it remains possible to attend an Open Class to make up for a missed class, it is recommended that students who miss a class follow the external student audio files available for that fortnight.

There are two components to the course, a practice based component and theoretical component.  For the practice based component, across the year, students will build up to practising for 1.5 hours a day, six days per week.  For the theoretical component, each term, the course content is delivered via 5 Parts. Each Part spans a fortnight  and is focused on content from the yoga sutras which should take no more than 1 hour to complete. However, optional additional readings are provided which allow students to delve deeper into some of the subject areas if they wish.  

There is no requirement for external students to travel to Canberra to complete the Program.  

If you are going to be away from your home location for part of or even an entire term you can still consider enrolling in the Sadhaka Program.  The Program is designed to help you develop an enduring practice of yoga and your practice should cover times when you are travelling or experience other changes in your circumstances.  If you are travelling with internet access, you could consider following the course while travelling. Alternatively, you may be able to complete the theoretical modules before or after your trip.  You should record your practice while you are away and if you are unable to submit your practice logs during your trip, you can arrange to submit them when you return.  Your logs should document the practice you complete while you're travelling.  

It is still possible to enrol as an internal student if you are unable to attend Led Practice for one term or even for the entire program.  You would attend your allocated yogasana class and then still practise the Led Practice sequence at a time that suits your schedule.