AshtangaNepal

By cultivating both meditation and philosophical insight, we aim to carry a broader perspective into our daily lives—a greater scope of awareness, intention, and compassion.

Link in bio

www.ashtanganepal.com

When I launced my first yoga retreat back in the 90´s it was a simple one. We rented a cabin from the University of Oslo´s Student union and headed for the forest.

I assigned a friend as cook handing him a vegetarien cookbook. After sweeping away the remainder of the students parties, and clearing the floor of furniture, we had ourselves a yoga shala with a fire place and nature views. Apart from the intervention of mice during the night, we had a lovely retreat, swimming in the lakes, walking in the forest and practicing yoga together. The “cook” also did a fantastic job in spite of the simple conditions.

Fast forward to 2026 and I can offer something slightly upscale: A 5 star beach hotel in Greece, a retreat among the olive grooves in Southern Italy and a Chateau in Suthern france…

The spirit of retreat, however, remains the same: it is about grounding together through yoga and meditation, its about renewing the relationship to ourselves and others. Its about discovering the beauty and simplicity of nature and nurturing new friendships.

Tsum Valley March 30-April 13th

Greece May 11-18th

Ashtanga yoga York May 29-31st

Italy, Yogapulia August 8-14th

Astanga France August 29-September 5th

Kathmandu Valley September 30- October 9th

Www.ashtanganepal.com

Monastery years:
Can you spot the blissed out girl in the picture?
Here I am in the company of Dharma friends and my teacher, Tulku Lodro Zangpo, in front of the celestial palace of Guru Rinpoche, ཟངས་མདོག་དཔལ་རི་ (Zang Dhok Palri),at Palyul monastery, Mysore.

The year is 2005 and my trip to KPJAYI i have befriended a Buddhist nun who has started teaching me Buddhism. In the coming year i often looked at this picture to recall the sense of peace from this moment, and in 2007 i moved to India to live near the monastery.

I stayed for three years attending ceremonies, studying Tibetan and helping out with the many minors in the monastery. These were blissful and also lonely years. The Golden Temple under Penor Rinpoche´s leadership, was a magic place that attracted hundreds of visitors every day. There was a thriving monastic university, excellent scholars and elaborate week-long Pujas attended by thousands of monks, nuns and the sangha of lay people.

The monastery iself was a beautiful manifestation of the buddha Dharma with the Mandala Guru Rinpoche, artwork and gardens.

Every year we would travel to Bodhgaya for a Month. I would sit under the very three where the Buddha attained enlightenment and watch people falling into spontaneous meditation.

I would do hundred thousand prostrations reciting the refuge prayer. In the company of other practitioners

Throughout these years I maintained my Ashtanga self practice and i also received Initiation int Tummo, secret Tibetan Yoga, which was a lot more challenging (and prone to bruising my shins!) than my Ashtanga practice.

There was no lack of embodied practices, but it would still take me some years to bring them all together intellectually and physically. I had little understanding of what I was doing- except for the fact that it felt meaningful an radically different from my previous life

Notes on Life and Yoga:
The first time i came to Mysore was in 1997. I stayed for three months studying with Pattabhi Jois in Lakshmi Puram. What impressed me more than the yoga shala experience, was the world of Indian Philosophy and the Yoga Sutras that I studied the with Shankara Narayana, a local Brahmin teacher.

For me, new concepts like Karma, Samskaras and liberation resonated deeply: I wanted so badly to be free of this troublesome life struggling as I was with self deprication and eating disorders. I remember crying for an entire day after being told that in my present incarnation i had no chance of escaping Samsara. I first had to take birth as a Brahmin. ”You cannot even pronounce the mantras correctly in your present body." So I was told.

But India and its Darshanas still impacted me and changed my outlook on on life forever. Karma, I thought, made perfect sense to the extent that I mockingly adopted the artist name Karma Consultant which was one of my stage characters. I even won a price for my solo-performance about Karma called “Pain and Again.” The story line went something like this:

An angel, allergic to feathers, rips out her wings and becomes the Snake of Paradise. After tempting Adam and Eve, God condemns her to a life of eternal misery. But over time, as people loose faith in God, she spots a new career opportunity: she takes over the Heavenly Office for Forgiveness -which is "out of service" due to lack of applicants. She then reinvents herself as the Karma Consultant and, as karma never fails, starts handing out Karmic retribution according to peoples actions

New Course starting February 7th

Yoga Philosophy from the Buddhist Perspective introduces you to the world view that is the foundation and driving force behind Buddhist practices such as Loving kindness, compassion and mindfulness meditations, aligned with the wisdom that recognizes the transient nature of all phenomena. These qualities of wisdom and compassion are embodied on the Buddhist path to offer a greater scope of practice. They are also innate human qualities that can be practiced by everyone and enable us to live in the world with dignity and purpose.

Through a blend of textual study, meditation and discussion, you will gain an understanding of Buddhist philosophy and how its practical application may complement and enrich your yogic path

Sangha - AshtangaNepal This program is for anyone who wants to walk the path of Yoga and Buddhism together

1. Although Buddhism and Yoga adress the same existential problem (suffering) and share many practices, they are different ontological systems and therefore, the solution to the problem is rendered differently in each tradition. At first glance they may look the same but there are important distinctions


2. More likely the opposite. At the time Patanjali composed the Yoga Sutras, Buddhism had been around for 800 years. The Yoga Sutras seem to borrow extensively from Buddhist Abhidharma teachings, which Patanjali must have been familiar with. This is weell known among scholars but less known in the Yoga community


3. This is what I thought as I started practicing yoga. However, early Buddhism and Yoga are both concerned with meditative practices and don´t pay much attention to the body. Later, from around the 8th century, both Buddhist and Brahmanical schools engaged in physical practices of Hatha Yoga. Tibetan Vajrayana Buddhism developed elaborate physical practices of channels and winds. However, those require initiation and were kept secret until the recent time


4. In fact Yogic practices have through time been used within a wide variety of traditions: Brahmanical, Buddhist, Jain and Moslem. As I see it, modern physical yoga develops discipline and awareness of the subtle body, which is a prerequisite for meditation and the deeper transformative practices that Buddhism offers. But Ashtangis tend to get caught up in the sublime kinetic experience of the practice, while many meditators lack an embodied practices. As a spiritual path requires both embodied practices as well as contemplative ones, it would be optimal to practice them both together!

But what is really at stake here- at this moment in time - is to acknowledges our deeply shared humanity, on an embodied and cognitive level. This means to bring compassion and wisdom onto our yogic path, for which Buddhism offers very practical and sublime methods!

A few facts about me for new and old followers:
I trained at London Contemporary Dance School and the Academy of Arts in Amsterdam. I worked as a professional dancer until 2014

I first encountered Ashtanga in 1994 and went to India in 1997 to study with Pattabhi Jois. I was authorized and opened the first Mysore studio on Norway, Ashtanga Yoga Oslo

My interest in Buddhism brought me to Bylakuppe, Mysore, where I spent three years in. Tibetan Buddhist monastery

I continued my studies at Kathmandu Univesity, earning a Master's degree in Translation, interpretation and Philology. I also worked as a translator for Tibetan lamas

I opened a Mysore studio in Kathmandu, where I taught until 2020

I currently live in Oslo, Norway, mostly teaching YTT's retreats and online courses. Each year I offer custom made retreats and pilgrimages to Nepal providing unique insight into the county's unique spiritual traditions

My most treasured places are Mustang and Tsum valley - one, the "Wild West" of Nepal, the other a "hidden land" and spiritual refuge

More about me: www.ashtanganepal.com

The coldest and longest month of the year may be a good time to bring in the light: in these workshops we approach the Ashtanga practice as a shared practice, as grounding and embodiment that remind us of our shared humanity. Inspired by Buddhist teachings we engage explore our inter-being through practices of compassion, joy, love and equanimity