Eka Yoga Institute
A Yoga Therapy & Education Centre
Which Yoga
We teach the yoga of Professor Krishnamacharya and his son, Mr TKV Desikachar.
Yoga originated in India over 4000 years ago.
It is a self-empowering healing system that helps one to maintain or restore health and to pursue
a journey of growth and personal transformation. A broad range of powerful methods are available,
to be implemented under the supervision of a competent teacher.
Some of these tools are:
physical exercises and conscious movements (āsana)
regulation of energy through the breath (prānāyāma)
symbolic gestures and hand placement (nyāsa)
visualization (bhāvana)
meditative practices (dhārana and dhyāna)
self-enquiry (svādhyāya)
sound and chanting (non-religious)
Our Work
Yoga Studies
We conduct a Teacher Training and Personal Development course in two parts:
For a total of 500 hours (RYS 500)
We believe that becoming a yoga teacher should be a slow maturing process, that is the reason why we do not offer “fast-track” training courses: the basic 200 hours’ certificate takes 8 months to complete, and the additional 300 hours leading to the 500 hours’ diploma takes another 10 months. We consider this as the bare minimum for growth and evolution. The next 300 hour course will start on September 11, 2019. The next 200 hours Foundation Course will start in October 2020.
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Mentoring
A major aspect of our teaching method is mentoring. How does it work?
Teacher trainees and committed students are assigned a mentor who will supervise their practice, guide them in their studies, and generally be there to support them in other areas of their life. This relationship will strengthen over time and may last for many years, or even for life.
Each mentor has their own mentor, and so on. Because we are still first and foremost students of yoga ourselves, we treat our students with the same respect, care and friendship that we experience with our own mentor.
Read our Code of ethics | Download a copy
Yoga Therapy is an empowering transformation process that puts you, the student, in the driver’s seat
one to one customized practice
Typically, yoga therapists in Kirshnamacharya’s method are yoga teachers certified at the 500 hours level who have completed at least another 3 years of rigorous training to achieve this level of certification. They learnt how to combine a full range of tools into a unique practice customised only for you, to evolve with you. Since you do your practice on your own, some supervision and adjustments will be necessary from time to time.
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Retreats
SAVE THE DATE AND PRE-REGISTER. Our next annual retreat in India will be at the Cauvery Sannidhi for Indian Culture, from February 15 to 22, 2020. It is located on the banks of the Kaveri river in Mysore, in a secluded location. This small school promotes Indian Culture for young women in a joint program with the University of Mysore. It is also run by young women.
Our 6-day program will be taught jointly by Valerie Faneco and Anne Poirier, both senior teachers in T Krishnamacharya’s tradition for many years. You will experience yoga at the source in the town where Professor Krishnamacharya began to teach. The topic will be announced at a later date.
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Valerie Fimat – Faneco
About Valerie
Valerie started to practice yoga in 1994 and has been teaching for two decades. She completed more than eight years of training with her mentor Frans Moors in Belgium and at the KYM in India with Mr Desikachar and other senior teachers.
Through these long studies and decades of personal practice she has gained expertise in the following areas: postures and their modifications (āsanas), breathing techniques (prānāyāmas), energetic seals (mudrās), the use of sounds and mantras in yoga practice, visualisation techniques, meditation, counselling, Yoga philosophy, and the pedagogy of teaching people of all ages and abilities, including pregnant women, children and athletes. She is also fond of Vedic chanting and practices almost daily.
As a Yoga Therapist, she teaches her students how to incorporate realistic yoga programs in their daily life, dealing with all sorts of health conditions or simply giving them tools to stay fit.
For the past several years she has also coached executives and athletes to help them cope with physical, mental and emotional stresses. Her experience brings her referrals by word of mouth and from the medical community. Valerie was twice assistant senior teacher at the former annual KHYF Global Yoga Summit in Austria.
She has lectured for various schools and organisations in Singapore such as the Singapore Air Force, the Singapore American School, and more recently True Yoga and Touch the Toes.
In March 2012, the book Liberating Isolation: the Yoga-Sūtra of Patañjali (Frans Moors) was translated into English by Valerie and published in India. She occasionally contributes articles to yoga magazines in the region.
Read the interview with Valerie on Yellow space
Workshops & Group Classes
Vedic Chanting
Join us on this weekly class to practice non-religious chants from the Vedas and the Yoga-Sūtra. Instruction on chanting techniques and accurate pronunciation is given on an regular basis. Participants are encouraged to come as often as possible and to practice on their own with the support of our recordings, and improvement will soon be made.
Day and time: Tuesdays 2:00 – 3:15 pm
Location: @Bukit Timah location
Investment: $35 per class
Please contact us if you are interested in joining. All are welcome, suitable for beginners
Term 3 (2019): September 3rd – December 3rd (term break: no class Oct 22nd and 29th)
Yoga Group Classes
Not everyone is interested in personal practice and individual classes, and that is fine! Group classes are a wonderful way to discover yoga. Our approach is progressive and always safe. You will get a feel of how yoga practice in our tradition integrates several tools (postures, breath, visualisation, sound, and more) to yield subtle yet powerful effects, with an emphasis on the breath and great respect of each person’s limit. Whilst I only teach one weekly group class on Monday mornings (currently wait-listed), several teaching partners are offering classes in the same tradition.
