• INITIATOR TRAINING, 2009 •

A Message from Thom

Dear Vedic Meditator,

I want to invite each and every one of you to consider the possibility of joining me and your colleagues in Vedic Meditation to become an Initiator, a teacher in our wonderful tradition.

In a long life, occasionally opportunities present themselves for us to challenge all our assumptions and to take a leap of progress that becomes life changing. This invitation to you – to let me train you to do what I do, to allow me to show you how you can be a master of Vedic knowledge – is one of those lifetime opportunities.

The demand for more teachers, Initiators of this meditation, is increasing day by day. As an Initiator you will join me in bringing this great, important knowledge to the people of the world. This is the urgent need of our time.

In addition, Initiator training gives you a career in teaching something for which there is an inexhaustible demand, since the numbers of non-meditators in the world today is in the billions! You can never run out of people to teach.

Life as an Initiator is life in the tidal waves of joyfulness, life in bliss-consciousness. Please consider seriously my offer to train you. Study carefully what is involved, but don’t hesitate to say “yes”. To do so is to accept and to claim your heritage; to have the best, to be the best, and to do the best for yourself and for the world.

Jai Guru Deva,

Thom Knoles


To All Prospective Initiator Training Participants:

Initiator Training is a dynamic and transformative process designed to train practitioners of Vedic Meditation to be professional Initiators—teachers in our Vedic tradition.

Initiator Training will commence concurrently with the Rishikesh Retreat in India on February 1st, 2009. Please click here for details of the Rishikesh Retreat. After the ten day Rishikesh Retreat, Initiator Training will pause until March 1st, 2009, re-commencing in Flagstaff, Arizona and continuing full-time for 12 weeks in residence concluding May 24th, 2009. Due to the intense character of the Initiator Training program, you must be prepared to have all outside distractions arranged for and dealt with before arriving in Flagstaff. There will be no time-off until graduation day. Acceptance by Thom to undertake training with him is not a guarantee that you will become a teacher (Initiator) of Vedic Meditation.

The information below contains all the details regarding Initiator Training 2009. Please read it carefully. If you have further enquiries, please contact:

Limor Babai
Telephone +61 2 9328 2003
Cell: +61 430 249 999
Email: info@doublebaymeditation.com.au

Course Fee: 12,900 USD per person


Registration Steps

If you wish to take Initiator Training, there are specific steps which must be completed:  

1. Knowledge Prerequisites:
   
   You must have:
   - been practicing Vedic Meditation for 1 year or more.
   - completed Exploring the Veda Part One thru Part Six and then complete Exploring the Veda, Part Seven, which begins in Rishikesh, India on February 1st, 2009. This means you must make travel arrangements for the final days of January, 2009 in order to arrive in Rishikesh, India on time. If you have not already done so, click here to register for Exploring the Veda, Part Seven in Rishikesh in February.
   
   
2. Pay a deposit of half (USD6,450) or all (USD12,900) of the course fee by 15 January 2009, by bank wire transfer to the account below:
   
   BANK WIRE TRANSFER INFORMATION:
   COMPASS BANK ROUTING NUMBER: 122 105 744
   ACCOUNT NUMBER: 2510406594
   ACCOUNT NAME: "THOMAS M. KNOLES IV"
   COMPASS BANK
   2 EAST BIRCH AVENUE
   FLAGSTAFF, ARIZONA 86001
   UNITED STATES of AMERICA
   Please ensure your name appears as the reference on bank transfers.
   
   a. Please make sure that you take into account all bank fees, currency exchange rates and charges that may accrue so that your net deposit is equal to one of the amounts quoted above.
   
   b. If you have already made a deposit toward Initiator Training, please send additional funds to bring your deposit up to one of the amounts quoted above.
   
   c. You will need to have completed full payment by commencement on 1 March 2009.
   
   
3. Fill out the application form which you will find here. All instructions for its completion and where you must send it are included.

Essential Information About the Course

Arrival in U.S.A. and visas:

Once you have completed the 10-day Rishikesh Retreat in India, you will need to make arrangements to arrive in Arizona U.S.A. in time for the 12-week Flagstaff phase commencing on March 1st, 2009. Non U.S. citizens will need to acquire the appropriate tourist visa in order to stay for the duration of the course. Our experience is that tourist visas are sufficient, since Initiator Training is not yet recognised by the U.S. authorities as satisfying the criteria for an educational visa. Therefore, it is advisable to apply only for a tourist visa that will permit you a 3 month visit for the purpose of touring and sightseeing.

Practical Matters:

In addition to the training, your course fee covers room and board (breakfast served by the hotel, dinner by our vegetarian chef). You will be responsible for your own lunch. Each suite comes with a kitchen, and arrangements will be made for you to get groceries once per week.

We will be staying at the Residence Inn, 3440 N. Country Club Dr., Flagstaff AZ 86004. Phone: US + 1 928 526 5555. The hotel is 15 minutes from the airport, about a USD20 cab ride. You should check in between 2:00 pm and 5:00 pm on 1 March 2009. We will be meeting in the lobby at 7:00 pm for our first meal together and your official welcome to Initiator Training.

Initiator Training will finish 24 May 2009 so you should plan to leave either late that night or the following day.

Each suite will be shared by two people. You will each have your own bedroom with ensuite bathroom, and you will share a common living room and kitchen.

On the course, there may be some changes to your regular program of daily living. For example:

1. We will be eating an exclusively vegetarian diet.


2. There will be no extreme exercising during the course. Exercise will take the form of our hatha yoga in rounding and slow walks outdoors.
   
   
3. We will have no coffee, though black tea is permitted.


4. Celibacy will be observed by all course participants.

If any of these examples present to you a problem, then you must tell us in your application form prior to your acceptance for training.

1. Yoga mat for rounding.


2. Comfortable clothing.


3. Twelve notebooks and pens.


4. You should budget approximately, USD10 to USD15 per day for lunch. (We will have access to New Frontiers, an organic food/health food grocery store. We will shop there our first week and from then on, we will be able to have things delivered on a weekly basis.)


5. March is the month of greatest snowfall in Flagstaff, and even in April and May, snowfall may occur day or night. Therefore, you will need to bring clothing that is appropriate for some sunny days but to be prepared for winter conditions.