Upcoming Trainer meetings, Digital Certificates, Simplified Competencies forms, and new ATA role of Sponsor
Learn more about the new role – ATA Sponsor
We are excited to share a new possibility in assisting a teacher to enter the Academy! You don’t have to be a Mentor to guide a teacher in their first steps entering into the Academy. If you are an Associate, Professional or Lead trainer, you can now SPONSOR an intern to enter the ATA. Learn more about this new role by reading the Sponsor Role Description HERE
Interested in being a Sponsor, let us know by clicking HERE.
NEW Competency Evaluation Form for all roles
As part of the implementation of the approved proposal to “Simplify and Streamline the ATA Documentation” all the Competency Evaluation Forms (CEF) were reviewed. They are now unique for each role, and it is important that all trainers now work with the new versions, which can be found by role on the Trainer Support Website. If you are a candidate for a new role in the Academy, DO NOT use the CEF on the portal.
KRI has worked on a DIGITAL version of the KRI certificate! It is NOW available as a more affordable option for those requesting for a L1 Reprint (reprints only – NOT the certificates your students get when they complete their Level One) and are NOW the version received by practitioners requesting L2 certificates. SINCE March 1st, the cost of the Hard copy of a L1 reprint OR L2 certificate is US$35.00, while the Digital version is FREE for L2 certificates and US$11.00 for reprints.
In-Person Trainer Forums at Summer Solstice and the European Yoga Festival!
We are so excited to be back in person with all of you who are able to make it to these amazing community events. We will have trainer forums on Thursday 15 Juneat Ram Das Puri, USA (a one day event), and on 4 August and the morning of 5 August (a day and a half event) at Chateau Jambville in France.
Please, if you can, plan your travel to attend these forums. Registration will be open soon! We are working on the agendas for each event and want to know what is important for you to talk about, experience and share.
Please email Ravi Prem Kaur at [email protected] to share your thoughts and/or if you are willing to participate in a meeting of 1.5 hours for that.
Online Summit: “The Alchemy of Local & Global=Glocal”
An opportunity to gather with the Global ATA community and keep deepening fundamental conversations and skills. We hope to see you there! REGISTRATION SOON
Amendments to the Level Two trainer pathway – the Professional Development Committee is taking the feedback and re-working the proposal. A new version will be submitted for a vote shortly.
White Tantric Yoga
Courses are starting up again! Check out the 2023 schedule here, with possibly more cities being added soon, and with Summer Solstice and the European Yoga Festival also planning to host courses as well. You can encourage your Level One students to attend if they can. And please try to not schedule other workshops or trainings in the same city at the same time as at tantric course.
In-Person Trainer Forums at Summer Solstice and the European Yoga Festival!
We are so excited to be back in person with all of you who are able to make it to these amazing community events. We will have trainer forums on Thursday 15 Juneat Ram Das Puri, USA (a one day event), and on 4 August and the morning of 5 August (a day and a half event) at Chateau Jambville in France. Please, if you can, plan your travel to attend these forums. Registration will be open soon! We are working on the agendas for each event and want to know what is important for you to talk about, experience and share. Please email Ravi Prem Kaur at [email protected] to share your thoughts and/or if you are willing to participate in a meeting of 1.5 hours for that.
Online Summit: “The Alchemy of Local & Global=Glocal”
An opportunity to gather with the Global ATA community and keep deepening fundamental conversations and skills. We hope to see you there! Registration opens this week!
– April 22 & 23, Asia – Oceania Time Track Centered
– April 29 & 30, Occident Time Track Centered
February 23, 2023 – Trainer Update also avaiable in:
The Aquarian Teacher, 6th edition, now available in Spanish!
We are happy to announce that the 2020 edition of The Aquarian Teacher Level One Manual and Textbook is now available in Spanish. You can either buy them for your students in physical format or ebook through the Trainer Store or with your local distributor. If you would like a complimentary digital copy of the Aquarian Teacher in Spanish for yourself, please email HariShabad Kaur at [email protected].
Trainer Discount Store changes
The Trainer Discount Store is being merged to the MAIN KRI store and this process will be complete in the next following weeks. Since L1 and L2 Program manuals are sold ONLY to trainers and their administrators, a membership permission will be granted to ALL active trainers and some known program administrators. Please USE THISLINK to allow access to any Administrator/Organizer that should be able to order your program manuals.
Digital KRI Certificates
KRI has worked on a DIGITAL version of the KRI certificate! It will be available as a more affordable option for those requesting for a L1 Reprint (reprints only – NOT the certificates your students get when they complete their Level One) and will be the version received by practitioners requesting L2 certificates.
AFTER March 1st, the cost of the Hard copy of a L1 reprint OR L2 certificate will be US$35.00, while the Digital version will be FREE for L2 certificates and US$11.00 for reprints.
Trainers and National Associations collaboration – engage in the focus group
KRI and IKYTA are collaborating to help to create a focus group of trainers and leaders from the National Associations. Some essential purposes of this group are to come up with a proposal for creative solutions or possible changes needed in the associations to support them being sustainable, to inquire into how (or not) Lead trainers can deepen their support of the associations both financially and through community leadership. READ the full definition of the Focus group here (translations available).
As you all know, The Aquarian Trainer Academy team is working towards a better way to make ALL academy and program administration documents available to trainers. These documents have restricted EDITING permissions and if you need to EDIT any document to use with your personal information some simple steps can be taken – Find a short video about this process HERE.
We encourage all of you to help us improve the translations. To do that, simply make the translation improvement as a COMMENT in the document itself, so it can be approved and reflect in the original document.
Online Global Trainer Summit 2023 – Save the Date!
In April 2023, we will have our next Online Summit. Please Save the Date! Registration will be open soon. We look forward to see you there
April 22 & 23, Occident Time Track Centered
April 29 & 30, Asia- Oceania Time Track Centered
Apply for Grant from Kundalini Beyond Borders
Are you, or any of your students, working to bring Kundalini Yoga to underserved populations? Would you like to be considered for a cash grant to support your work? The Kundalini Beyond Borders Program does just this, and we’d love to support you!
We are now accepting applications for grants of up to $2,000, to be awarded in March 2023. The new deadline for applications is now February 28, 2023 to be considered for funding. Before completing the application, kindly review the requirements to be sure that your project qualifies and to learn how to apply.
Voting on two proposals, SSSC election delayed, and apply for a grant!
VOTING IS OPEN
Please use this multilingual SurveyMonkey to cast your vote on the final versions of these two proposals. In a change from last time, this vote will be a simple yes or no vote.
We will let you know as soon as they announce a new timeline
Online Global Trainer Summit 2023 – Save the Date!
In April 2023, we will have our next Online Summit. Please Save the Date! Registration will be open during January. We look forward to see you there
April 22 & 23, Occident Time Track Centered
April 29 & 30, Asia- Oceania Time Track Centered
Apply for Grant from Kundalini Beyond Borders
Are you, or any of your students, working to bring Kundalini Yoga to underserved populations? Would you like to be considered for a cash grant to support your work? The Kundalini Beyond Borders Program does just this, and we’d love to support you!
We are now accepting applications for grants of up to $2,000, to be awarded in March 2023. Applications need to be submittedby January 27, 2023, to be considered for funding. Before completing the application, kindly review the requirements to be sure that your project qualifies and to learn how to apply.
KRI has listened to your feedback and made a lot of changes to almost all the ATA documents. The intention has been to make them all simpler, less bureaucratic AND to reduce, where appropriate, the top-down hierarchical components. At the same time, the documents now also reflect the NEW Level One ATA pathway (that was approved in the fall of 2021 by the ATA). Please make sure to understand what is new in the L1 Pathway! Machine translations to several languages are being gradually completed and will be found inside each Original English document. We invite all users to contribute with the improvement of these translations.
Final Proposals for your Review and then an online vote
Please review and comment on Sutra the final versions of these two proposals. Starting January 24th, we will hold an online vote where all ATA members can vote on the adoption, or not, of them. In a change from last time, this vote will be a simple yes or no vote.
Some small changes were made the top part of the Communication Policy to make the intent clearer, and a new Code Principle 9 was added to recover a piece that was in the previous code and we just discovered was missed in the new. The additions are highlighted in yellow.
Save the date!! Our next ATA gatherings by region will happen in January, so Save the date! Registration will open soon.
Asia-Oceania, Monday 16th January 8:00 am Beijing Time, 11:00 Sydney Time
Europe-Africa-ME-Russia, Wednesday 18th January, 17:00 Lisbon, 18:00 CET, 19:00 Israel & South Africa; 20:00 Moscow
Latin America, Thursday 19th January. 15:00 Mexico City; 16:00 Colombia, Peru, Ecuador; 18:00 Uruguay, Argentina, Brazil and Chile
US-Canada, Friday 20th January, 14:30 Los Angeles, San Francisco, Vancouver; 15:30 Albuquerque; 17:30 New York, Boston, Montreal and Toronto
Online Global Trainer Summit 2023 – Save the Date!
In April 2023, we will have our next Online Summit. Please Save the Date! Registration will be open during January. We look forward to see you there
April 22 & 23, Occident Time Track Centered
April 29 & 30, Asia- Oceania Time Track Centered
Apply for Grant from Kundalini Beyond Borders
Are you, or any of your students, working to bring Kundalini Yoga to underserved populations? Would you like to be considered for a cash grant to support your work? The Kundalini Beyond Borders Program does just this, and we’d love to support you!
We are now accepting applications for grants of up to $2,000, to be awarded in March 2023. Applications need to be submitted by January 27, 2023, to be considered for funding. Before completing the application, kindly review the requirements to be sure that your project qualifies and to learn how to apply. The application links in several translated languages can be found at the BOTTOM of the document.
Check HERE to see a list of some KRI E-Learning Center courses to contribute to the Teacher Trainers’ pathway throughout the Academy. The courses have been SUGGESTED in relationship with the Competency Evaluation form and the Units of Study Content Credit Form.
January 9, 2023 – Trainer Update also avaiable in:
Wow there is a lot of stuff in this week’s update email!
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Recent Trainer Meetings
If you were not able to attend to last Trainer Meetings in 13rd and 19th November, here you can find a direct link to see the recording. The conversations were deep, thoughtful, and impactful. The primary tone shows that our community of trainers is growing able to coexist and even thrive with a diversity of perspectives on Yogi Bhajan.
Because there was some confusion about the framing for these meetings, and confusion around KRI’s stance, here is a short video clip from the beginning of one of the meetings that hopefully will make it clear. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lo0xsPiPHRA
Recent updates to The Aquarian Teacher textbook and yoga manual
The internal KRI editorial team has just made some improvements to the English version of The Aquarian Teacher Level One textbook and yoga manual. This new version is currently what is available in VitalSource, and will be printed into physical books at their next printing. These updates are also being shared with translators.
TEXTBOOK:
Updated the Ethics section in Chapter 22 to include new Code of Ethics, links to online version of the Code of Ethics, updated 10 Rights of a Kundalini Yoga Student, updated and revised EPS Page. Additional Code Principles of the Code of Ethics have been placed in the new Appendix 1.
Added Appendices 1-3:
Appendix 1 – KRI Code of Ethics — Code Principles 2-8, ethics article Understanding Power Imbalance in the Student-Teacher Relationship: A Yoga Student’s Guide
Appendix 2 – HISTORY/PHILOSOPHY CHART: AN OVERVIEW & KEY CONCEPTS IN YOGA HISTORY – Overview includes the key concepts and important texts from each historical period, a teaching or study aid. Downloadable link on p. 47.
Appendix 3 – BIBLIOGRAPHY & FURTHER READING FOR THE HISTORY/PHILOSOPHY CHAPTER
Added comprehensive new index with more than 1150 yogic terms with sub-indexes on yogic anatomy such as chakras and ten bodies, western anatomy, history and philosophy of yoga, and other important topics
Consistency updates & minor spelling corrections, website link updates
YOGA MANUAL:
Added comprehensive new index with over 300 postures and yogic terms, with updated sanskrit terms for yoga postures
Changes to Tratakum meditation section, focus on general Tratakum practices such as candlelight Tratakum
Couple of kriya corrections
Consistency updates & minor spelling corrections, website link updates
Improved access to ATA documents
The Aquarian Trainer Academy team is working towards a better way to make ALL academy and program administration documents available to trainers. In that process, you may have noticed that we have inaugurated the use of Google Drive documents, sharing with trainers a LINK where the most updated version and all the available translations could be found. These documents have restricted EDITING permissions and if you need to EDIT any document to use with your personal information some simple steps can be taken.
New Tools For Assessment Between Mentors And Mentees
The Mentoring Development Committee created two new tools to foster authentic assessments from each perspective between Mentors and Mentees. These tools were adapted from the Indiana University School of Medicine. We recommend that they are used as a conscious communication mechanism within the mentor-mentee relationship annually.
E-Learning courses + Competencies and Units of Study Content Credits
To support your growth as a trainer, KRI has many online classes. Most of them directly relate to one of the trainer competencies or one of the content credit areas. We’ve organized a listing by competency and content credit area to help you find resources for what you need to develop.
New Versions of ATA Development tools (IDP, Units of Study, Competency forms – role specific)
Competency Evaluation Form has been simplified and now is specific to each role. When starting an application Process please contact your ATA Regional Administrator to use the Role Specific Form.
Trainer Discount Store changes
The Trainer Discount Store is being merged to the MAIN KRI store and this process will be complete in the next following weeks. Since L1 and L2 Program manuals are sold ONLY to trainers and their administrators a membership permission will be granted to ALL active trainers and some known Program administrators.
Please USE THISLINK to allow access to any Administrator/Organizer that should be able to order your program manuals.
Upcoming trainer meetings, and updates on the 2 proposed new policies
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Updates about the 2 Proposals
The 2 standing committees that drafted them have taken all the input from Sutra and the trainer meetings and edited the proposals. The new versions are now, or will be very soon posted back in Sutra for more discussion, then an online vote will be taken in about 3 weeks.
Next week we start the first of the two tracks of Trainer Meetings.
November 13th (Sunday) at 13:00 Beijing time – Asia-Oceania Time Centralized. You can use this time converter to check the time in your zone.
November 19th (Saturday) at 14:30 New York Time – Occident Time Centralized. You can use this time converter to check the time in your zone.
Any trainer living anywhere is most welcome to attend either or both calls! In both tracks, we will be having the same conversation, with different trainers around the globe!
It will be an opportunity for trainers in different regions to come together to continue the conversations that were inspired by the June Regional Meetings on the issue of branding. Those who participated in these meetings wanted more time to be in discussion with one another on deeper subjects such on what unites us as trainers globally? And the need to experience our capacity to sit in dialog with those that have different beliefs, lived experiences, positions on where we are at this time. We will have the presence of Just Outcomes team this time, who will help us with the methodology for this conversation.
Continuation of the conversation about Level One royalty sharing with the NKYTAs
As some of you know, there have been several recent conversations between KRI, IKYTA, NKYTAs and trainers (especially in Europe) about the royalty sharing of Level One program royalties. KRI and IKYTA have been working on several long term and short term steps we can collectively take as this issue, and all of the associated issues that are also coming up, will require more conversations. A separate email just recently went out to lead trainers in countries with royalty sharing – please email [email protected] if you didn’t get it.
Invitation to apply to serve on the Global Ethics Commission
The EPS Global Ethics Commission is an international and diverse body of Kundalini Yoga Teacher-Trainers, and other Professionals that serves our global Kundalini Yoga communities in terms of adjudicating serious complaints regarding KRI-certified teachers and trainers. Read more about this role, and how to apply, here.
Call for Lead and Professional trainers looking to qualify for Level 2 modules
With the success of KRI’s mentoring training for Level 2 programs in 2022, we are opening a new call for applications for the 2023 Level 2 courses: Vitality and Stress (March 2023) & Lifestyles and Lifecycles (July 2023). If you are ready to teach in a Level 2 and get the mentoring and experience to become qualified to teach in any of these 2 courses, please apply to be a part of the teams.
Adapting to the online yoga world, delayed SSSC elections, and KRI seeking new board members
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Notes about the 2 Proposals
The notes from the 4 regional trainer meetings about the 2 proposals currently under discussion are posted in Sutra (Pre-Recorded Content in Teacher Trainings, and Some Professionals not needing Mentors). The 2 standing committees that drafted them will now take this input and edit the proposals. The new versions will be posted back in Sutra for more discussion, then an online vote will be taken.
SSSC elections are postponed 90 days
You can read the announcement from the SSSC about this here.
November Trainer Meetings
In our November Global Trainer Meetings, we will continue deepening the dialogue regarding the deeper issues surrounding the maintenance or changing of our existing trademark. We will be guided by Just Outcomes through this conversation and we will have two tracks for it, so trainers from different regions around the Globe can gather together. Save the date! (November 13th and November 19th) and Register Here.
KRI is looking to add new board members
KRI is looking for people passionate about our mission who would be willing to volunteer for this important role. You can read the job description here. You can see who the current board members are here. And if you are so inspired, you can apply here. You do NOT need to be a trainer to be a board member, so if you know anyone with the skills and inclination, please share these links with others.
October 17, 2022 – Trainer Update also avaiable in:
In November we will have a Global Follow Up Meeting, to keep Deepening the Dialogue regarding the bigger issues surrounding the maintenance or changing of our existing trademark. We will have a cross-region Reference Team of trainers to prepare that meeting, and the guidance and participation of Just Outcomes as well. Please Save the Date!
Track One (Asia-Oceania Centralized): Sunday November 13th;
Track Two (Western Centralized), Saturday November 19th.
Registration will open soon.
Research papers
We have a new webpage to help you search for and download Kundalini Yoga research papers. There are 2 very newly published ones as well – one showing that Kundalini Yoga can be effective helping people with Lyme disease, and one showing that practicing Kundalini Yoga increases the size of the hippocampus.
KRI is looking to add new board members
KRI is looking for people passionate about our mission who would be willing to volunteer for this important role. You can see who the current board members are here. You do NOT need to be a trainer to be a board member, so if you know anyone with the skills and inclination, please share these links with others.
If you are so inspired and wish to know more about this role, you can apply here.
Three draft proposals for your review
The curriculum committee has worked on two draft proposals – about online Level One teacher trainings, and about the amount of pre-recorded content permitted in Level One and Level Two trainings. And the Professional Development Committee is submitting a proposal for consideration regarding professional trainers who don’t want to become leads not needing a mentor.
All trainers in the ATA are invited to participate in reviewing them, suggesting edits, and eventually voting on them. The first step is an online discussion, beginning now. The curriculum committee will then take any suggestions from these dialogues under advisement and may (or may not) edit the proposals. They will then be brought to the Sept regional trainer meetings, for face-to-face discussion about them. The notes and recommendations from those discussions will be posted online for everyone to access. One more round of online discussion will then happen, followed by an online vote.
Seva website, Annual report, and reminder of the 3 proposals
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Regional Meetings
In a few weeks we will have our third Regional Meeting of this year. We will have an open agenda during the first part, so you are welcome to bring some topics or concerns you may have. You can send them directly to Ravi Prem Kaur at [email protected], or you can let us know in the registration link bellow. We will also discuss around possible proposals. See you there.
US/CANADA Wednesday, September 21st – 17:00 New York time
LATIN AMERICA Friday, September 23rd – 18:00 Chile/Brazil time
ASIA/OCEANIA – Tuesday, September 27th – 9:30 Beijing time
EUROPE/AFRICA/MIDDLE EAST/RUSSIA – Wednesday, September 28th – 16:00 Rome/Paris Time
Check out this new webpage to highlight seva projects being done by Kundalini Yogis. Search for people doing similar work, post your own projects! Inspiring and connecting through our service.
KRI’s most recent annual report
You can find the report on KRI’s activities from 1 July 2021 through 30 Jun 2022 here.
Level 2 Pedagogy Report: Building Sangat Consciousness
Check out what worked and what didn’t in KRI’s recent Level 2 training. KRI uses each training program we run as an experimental laboratory to constantly be improving our teaching methods. We then share the outcomes of these research projects with you. If you missed the first report, you can find it here.
Qualifying to vote in the upcoming SSSC elections
Leads and Professionals will automatically get a ballot to vote. You must be relicensed by 8pm Eastern Daylight Time on 8 Oct to be considered as “Active.” If you still need to relicense, you can do so here. If you are an intern or an Associate, you can still vote, but you will need to register. You can do so here, but this must be done (including getting 3 letters of recommendation submitted online) by Sept 13th.
Three draft proposals for your review
The curriculum committee has worked on two draft proposals – about online Level One teacher trainings, and about the amount of pre-recorded content permitted in Level One and Level Two trainings. And the Professional Development Committee is submitting a proposal for consideration regarding professional trainers who don’t want to become leads not needing a mentor.
All trainers in the ATA are invited to participate in reviewing them, suggesting edits, and eventually voting on them. The first step is an online discussion, beginning now. The curriculum committee will then take any suggestions from these dialogues under advisement and may (or may not) edit the proposals. They will then be brought to the Sept regional trainer meetings, for face-to-face discussion about them. The notes and recommendations from those discussions will be posted online for everyone to access. One more round of online discussion will then happen, followed by an online vote.
