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Svaroopaâ Yoga was first introduced to Australia in 1999 by Margaret Howard-Smith CSYT. Margaret studied Svaroopaâ Yoga with Rama Berch in the USA and began teaching the style on her return to Australia. In 2001 she invited Rama to come to Australia to teach the Foundations of Svaroopaâ Yoga and Experiential Anatomy Courses. Since that time Svaroopaâ Yoga has been gradually growing. Rama herself has been to Australia every year to offer a variety of programs for both teachers and their students. We currently have five certified Svaroopaâ Yoga teachers(CSYT) in Australia (all in Queensland) and about fifteen more in training,some of whom have travelled to the USA a number of times to take the courses.

Thanks to the work of this small but dedicated group of teachers we are now in a situation where we are delighted to be able to bring the Svaroopaâ Yoga Teacher Training programs out to Australia from the USA. This will be the first time the courses have been offered outside of the USA and will be happening at Emu Park, Queensland in 2008. For more details on these events see our calendar.

About Master Yoga Foundation

Master Yoga Foundation is a not-for-profit educational organization, committed to changing the world—one body at a time. Our courses and programs plumb the breadth and depth of yoga and meditation. We teach only Svaroopa yoga, a path that leads you to svaroopa, the Bliss of your own Being.

Statement of Purpose

Cultivating our innate yearning for transcendence
Creating personal experiences of the inner truth
Discovering this as a continuing experience in our lives
Applying this in the development of conscious community
Offering our service to support and uplift humanity

Our mission is education. Everything we teach is rooted in the ancient tradition of yoga, specifically Kashmir Shaivism, a world-embracing philosophy and practice. While our enrollment fees are essential to our ability to serve you, they do not cover all of our costs. We rely on your generosity for a significant portion of our funding.

Master Yoga was founded by Rama Berch and a Board of Directors committed to supporting and extending Svaroopa yoga throughout the world. From the beginnings of a one-room yoga studio in La Jolla CA in 1995, we have expanded exponentially:

Trained over 1,400 teachers at various levels of teaching and Yoga Therapy
Provided mentoring for teaching methodology or personal practice in over 3,000 mentorships
Presented more than 1,500 programs nationally and internationally, for yogis at every level from beginner to advanced teacher or therapist
Produced and distributed 3 DVDs, 11 CDs, and 2 books by Rama
Presented 3 national conferences for teachers and Svaroopa yogis
Been reported on by Yoga Journal. Yoga International and other local and national publications
Presented Svaroopa yoga at Yoga Journal conference, Midwest Yoga Conference, Southwest Yoga Conference, Yogini Conference, East-West Conference, Kripalu, Mt. Madonna, Omega, Feathered Pipe Ranch, and many more
Expanded Svaroopa yoga classes into 10 countries: Australia, Canada, Denmark, England, Sweden, Italy, Mexico, Scotland, South Korea, and USA

We continue to train teachers to the highest standard of excellence, and expand our programming content as well as geographical locations. We currently have two training facilities in the USA, one in Pennsylvania and one in California.

For more information about Svaroopa yoga, please click here

For more information about Rama Berch, please click here

About Rama Berch, C.S.Y.T., R.Y.T.

A teacher who is living yoga as well as teaching it, Rama's credentials include certification and training in four schools as a hatha yoga teacher, advanced hatha yoga teacher, pranayama teacher and meditation teacher. Listed in The Who's Who, she is the founder of Master Yoga Foundation and the originator of Svaroopa® yoga.

As a single mother of three, she left her successful career as an accountant in California to undertake training in yoga, meditation, healing, massage and Eastern traditions. After visiting a meditation center in 1976, Rama received a powerful and spontaneous initiation from a living Master.

MahaKundalini initiation shows up differently in every person. In Rama, it manifested in her as spontaneous yoga poses. Most importantly, these movements showed her the power of the spine as a conduit of consciousness, enlivening her knowledge and understanding of the body. Her unique and powerful way of teaching comes from these experiences.

Traveling to India in 1976 for a three-week retreat with her Master, she recognized that this was what she had always been seeking. She moved into the ashram (residential yoga facility) with her three children to study, practice, and live yoga with her Guru in the US and in India. After 14 years of training, she settled in San Diego and has been teaching there since 1987. From 1995-2000, she served as founding President of the national Yoga Alliance; she was also the founding President of San Diego's yoga teacher association.

Teaching since 1976, Rama's style of teaching is to guide others to discover the deeper dimensions of yoga for themselves. She communicates clearly, with great insight and compassion, incorporating the ancient wisdom of the sages into working with the body, breath & mind. She travels widely to teach in courses and in yoga conferences throughout the USA and internationally. She guides others to discover the deeper dimensions of yoga for themselves by communicating clearly, with great insight and compassion.