Welcome to Mata Shakti Ashram
Mata Shakti’s mission is to provide a place of refuge, using the tools of yoga, meditation, and the wisdom traditions of the world, as well as healthy food and co-creative gardening.
We offer Kundalini and Restorative yoga. Kundalini yoga is a safe and comprehensive system which combines breathing, stretching, movement, meditation and more for the experience of spirit and to heal your life. Restorative yoga is calming and healing for the body and nervous system.
No experience in yoga is necessary for you to participate fully in this work. Everyone is welcome.
Mata Shakti recognizes that it rests on land originally tended by the Occonneechi band of the Saponi Nation.
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I watched my body transform...
HarDarshan’s yoga classes opened up so many possibilities for me. I accessed strength that I didn’t know I had, over and over which built up my self worth and also gave me the courage and strength I needed to raise my baby daughter as a single mom. I watched my body transform over a year into a lean, powerful and beautiful form that looked forward to each class and each breath eagerly.
- Shannon O’Connor, Chapel Hill, North Carolina
What does “Mata Shakti Ashram” mean?
MATA
MATA
The word “Mata” means “mother” in India. In Portuguese and Spanish, the word “Mata” means wood or forest, and Mata Shakti Ashram is located in a quiet wooded setting.
SHAKTI
SHAKTI
The word “shakti” means empowerment and primordial cosmic energy. Shakti represents the dynamic forces of feminine divine energy that move through the entire universe.
ASHRAM
ASHRAM
The word “ashram” means the locus of activity for spiritual practices.
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Like finding the source for the Fountain of Youth...
My life changed internally and externally when I started practicing Kundalini Yoga at 55 years old. The paradigm shift from a traditional focus on “exercise” to a more spiritual, internal ordering of the body and mind allows for each yoga practice to be its own experience for me.
Kundalini yoga works me at a body consciousness that I am not always aware of, but my body is. Kundalini yoga practice is unique. Learning to be tuned in, to open the body through breathe of fire, to grow in a harmonious relationship with the body that my spirit occupies is enlightening and ever renewing.
Kundalini yoga has been like finding the source for the Fountain of Youth.
- Anne F. Goiran-Bevelhimer, Boulder, Colorado
What is Kundalini Yoga?
Not just a physical discipline, Kundalini Yoga encompasses the whole person: body, mind and spirit.
Kundalini Yoga is designed to cultivate energy, endurance, stress mastery and the development of personal resources for the active lifestyle of our times. With a broad spectrum of techniques, classes can be tailored to achieve many results:
- Overall health: strength and flexibility, enhancing your respiratory system and circulation, improving your digestion, strengthening your nervous system, invigorating your glandular system, building up your immune system and maintaining a youthful appearance.
- Reducing stress and creating deep inner calm
- Improving concentration and memory
- Awakening the Spiritual Self: the experience of unity through yoga brings you into contact with your infinity, your link to the universe.
- Creating prosperity
- Removing fears and traumas
- Mastering the self and increasing self-confidence
- Improving relationships and marriage
If the scheduled group class times do not meet your needs, and/or you would like more individualized instruction, private classes are available.
What is Restorative Yoga?
HarDarshan is certified to teach Restorative Yoga, which is a great way to reset your nervous system and allow the body to open without stressing muscles or joints.
Poses are held from 5 – 20 minutes and have been designed specifically for healing. This is a great evening practice to prepare you for sleep, but can be done anytime!
If the scheduled group class times do not meet your needs, and/or you would like more individualized instruction, private classes are available.
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Purity of a True Spiritual Seeker...
When I was 21 years old, I prayed for a spiritual path and a master teacher. HarDarshan Kaur arrived in my life carrying the teachings and blessings of Kundalini Yoga which she taught – always emphasizing my autonomy and connection to spirit as the true healer.
She helped me tremendously through several years of personal transformation and healing using the subtle, yet powerful, flower essence sessions, aromatherapy, and intuitive guidance. Her healing style and presence reflect the purity of a true spiritual seeker and wise woman, a rare gem in this age.
I recommend a session with her, or several!
- Hari Mandir Kaur Khalsa, Ms, Carlsbad, California
About Your Teacher
HarDarshan Kaur Khalsa, MA, LCMHC, Lead Teacher/Trainer has been studying yoga for over 40 years, including restorative, traditional hatha, Iyengar, Insight Meditation, and Bikram.
In 1983, HarDarshan discovered Kundalini Yoga and Meditation and knew that she was “home.” In 1985, after the births of her two children, she began teaching Kundalini, and was certified in 1987.
For most of the past 40 years, she lived and taught in the Raleigh/Durham area of North Carolina, and founded the New Light Center yoga studio and healing center. She moved to Boulder in 2003 and lived and taught at the Kundalini Yoga Center of Boulder ashram. She also taught Kundalini Yoga and Meditation techniques to cardiac and pulmonary rehab patients at the Health and Healing Center of Exempla Good Samaritan Medical Center, where she was a chaplain.
HarDarshan’s classes are challenging yet heart centered, active and yet meditative. Come and experience these classes which lead you to the Heart of Healing!
Retreats at Mata Shakti
Mata Shakti can host individuals or small groups of up to four for overnight or day long retreats.
This space can be reserved for personal quiet time, (beautiful walking paths in Battle Park are close by), or you can also request additional services such as private yoga, healing, or spiritual direction sessions with HarDarshan, healthy meals or juices, etc. Inquire for details.
ACCOMMODATIONS
All bedrooms share a bathroom, and have access to the yoga/gathering space and kitchen. Private entrance.
Stay overnight
Overnight accommodations include:
“The Maharani”, very comfy queen bed and a loveseat.
“Two’s Company”, with two single beds and a rocking chair or two!
“Sacred Space”, with a full size bed and comfy chair.
Find your way back to your soul.
Chapel Hill, North Carolina
