Based in Leichhardt, Hatha Yoga Desha (HYD) is Sydney's only Shadow Yoga school. All HYD teachers are certified Shadow Yoga teachers, and they are registered with Yoga Australia.
Penny Cuthbert, the owner of HYD, has thirty years of teaching experience, twenty of which have been in Shadow Yoga. Penny is a Shadow Yoga teacher trainer.
Penny Cuthbert
Penny opened HYD in 2003. Introduced to yoga by her father (a devotee of Baba Muktananda), she attended regular yoga classes from 1989. Her studies with Sundernath started in 1993. Penny continues to train under the guidance of Sundernath and Emma Balnaves.
Suzanne Cohen
Suzanne Cohen began her yoga practice in 1999. She completed her teacher training with Penny Cuthbert and is a registered teacher with Yoga Australia. Her practice is enhanced by Sanskrit with Dr Stephanie Majcher, Anatomy and Physiology with Simon Borg Olivier, and Trauma Sensitive Yoga studies with Edwina Kempe. She continues to learn under the guidance of Sundernath and Emma Balnaves.
Shadow Yoga
Shadow Yoga is a dynamic, traditional form of Hatha Yoga based on the knowledge and traditions of the Kanpatha Hatha Yogins of Nepal - descendants of Sri Gorakhnath, and his Guru Sri Matsyendranath.
Shandor Remete (Sundernath), an initiate of the Kanpatha Hatha Yogins, co-founded Shadow Yoga with his wife Emma Balnaves. The practice is taught in stages through a series of vyayamas (restraining drills).
The six Shadow Yoga vyayamas
Bala Krama - Prelude 1 (Stepping into Strength)
Chaya Yoddha Sancalanam - Prelude 2 (Churning of the Shadow Warrior)
Karttikeya Mandala - Prelude 3 (Garland of Light)
Asana - Angahara linear arrangements
Asana - Angahara circular arrangements
Nṛtta Sādhanā
About the vyayamas Practiced sequentially, the vyayamas are movements that help breakdown the blockages and habits that exist in the physical, subtle and causal bodies.
These movements comprise of squats, viraparampara (warrior/martial stances) and suryanamaskara (sun salutations), sitting postures and yoga-asana.
The full practice format includes warm ups, squats, prelude, related seats and yoga-asana, inversions, then conclusion.
Students eventually learn to apply an-argula-reti (freestyle) practice which is guided by intuition.
Marmasthana and Shadow Yoga Shadow Yoga uses the principles of Marmasthana, (the Indian system of the 108 vital junctions of the body), to achieve appropriate combinations of positions and rhythmic movements. This cultivates the circulation and penetration of breath and life force.
Teaching Shadow Yoga/Nṛtta Sādhanā All Shadow Yoga/Nṛtta Sādhanā teachers undergo rigorous training for a minimum of three years and are certified to teach by Sundernath and Emma Balnaves.