pranayama & breath trainings

Svaru­pa offers a vari­ety of pos­si­bil­i­ties for Yoga students/teachers that want an in-depth explo­ration, prac­tice and study in the pro­found tra­di­tion of Pranaya­ma, Breath­work in the Tra­di­tion­al, Ancient and Mod­ern Forms.

Stephen Thomas has been study­ing, prac­tic­ing inten­sive­ly and teach­ing for 20 years. He brings a deep wis­dom and com­pas­sion to this work. He has taught hun­dreds of stu­dents and teach­ers over the past decades in a hum­ble and clear way — with the inten­tion that peo­ple can make this prac­tice an effec­tive and trans­for­ma­tion­al part of life.

The over­all cours­es cov­er the fol­low­ing topics:

  • In-depth tech­nique of the Tra­di­tion­al Pranaya­mas and Kriyas of Hatha Yoga
  • In-depth look at var­i­ous Med­i­ta­tion tech­niques relat­ed direct­ly  to breath
  • In-depth study of Band­has, Breath Holds (Kumb­hakas), Breath Tim­ing, Ratios
  • Diverse Tech­niques which cre­ate dif­fer­ent men­tal, ner­vous sys­tem or spir­i­tu­al effects.
  • Pranaya­ma vs. Breath­work vs. Mod­ern per­for­mance breath techniques
  • Sequenc­ing for your­self — how to grow your prac­tice over time, respond to sea­sons, life, etc
  • How to prop­er­ly open the body  to influ­ence prop­er full free breathing
  • Merg­ing Asana and Pranaya­ma together
  • Work­ing with com­mon chal­lenges (eg. tight­ness of breath, , Asth­ma, ADHD, anx­i­ety, poor sleep)
  • Morn­ing ver­sus Evening con­sid­er­a­tions, work­ing with Moon Cycles and Seasons
  • Using the Inter­nal Cleans­ing Kriyas  to feel brighter and clear­er in body and mind
  • Ayurvedic per­spec­tives rel­a­tive to breath
  • Anato­my of Breath
  • Pranaya­ma and the Ner­vous System
  • Seat­ed vs. Supine (lay­ing down) Pranaya­ma and Savasana tech­niques plus Yoga Nidra
  • Mantra and Med­i­ta­tion in the tra­di­tion of Pranaya­ma as a gate­way to the sub­tle world

faculty

Stephen Thomas

Pranaya­ma, Kriya, Med­i­ta­tion, Breath Relat­ed Asana

Helena Hefti Wenger

Wim Hof, Buteyko, and Oxy­gen Advan­tage Mas­ter Instruc­tor www.jala.ch

Claudia Greco

Body Ther­a­pist
www.yoga-schoenau.ch

Brigi Thomas-Moog

Ayurve­da,
Breath Relat­ed Asana

Dates 2025

Online Pranayama & Breath Course

avail­able March 01 until course start

Pre course dig­i­tal work (8 hours of detailed prepa­ra­tion work in 60 min seg­ments that give an excel­lent start before the stu­dents arrive in the week­end modules.

Foundation Module

April 4th — 6th, 2025

Fri­day April 4 — 14.00 — 19.30 with short pause
Sat­ur­day April 5 — 8.00 — 11.30 & 13.00 — 17.00
Sun­day April 6 — 8.00 — 11.30 & 13.00 — 16.30

Even if you have stud­ied Breath and Pranaya­ma before, this is an excel­lent in-depth foun­da­tion course that real­ly cov­ers the full spec­trum of Breath and Pranaya­ma and changes how you expe­ri­ence this prac­tice. There are many tech­niques cir­cu­lat­ing around the mod­ern world and often promis­ing “quick fix­es”, but what you learn here is how to real­ly do these things effec­tive­ly and safe­ly and how to grow Slow­ly accord­ing to your nature, your stage in life and your con­di­tions so that things becomes ground­ed and sta­ble in your ner­vous sys­tem, mind and body. A trans­for­ma­tive week­end mod­ule that serves as a back­bone to a stu­den­t’s life in breath. Man­u­al included. 

Max. 20 stu­dents — stu­dents must make an application

Progress in Pranayama

May 16th — 18th, 2025

Fri­day May 16 — 14.00 — 19.30 with short pause 
Sat­ur­day May 17 — 8.00 — 11.30 & 13.00 — 17.00
Sun­day May 18- 8.00 — 11.30 & 13.00 — 16.30

Once the stu­dent has com­plet­ed the Foun­da­tion Mod­ule, the course expands to include a deep­er explo­ration of the breath and kriya tech­niques, effec­tive breath holds, the ther­a­peu­tic tech­niques, breath for per­for­mance vs. breath for med­i­ta­tion and more. It also dives into the world of Restora­tive Asanas with prop­ping which puts the body into a vari­ety of forms to cre­ate effects which cre­ate a more open breath, a stronger, more bal­anced res­pi­ra­to­ry, hor­mon­al and diges­tive sys­tem. The Pranaya­ma forms the basis of the week­end, but guest teach­ers also help to explore the world of longer breath holds (Apnea) and the recent devel­op­ments in using breath for enhanced men­tal and phys­i­cal per­for­mance (Oxy­gen Advantage).

Max. 20 stu­dents — stu­dents must make an application

Pranayama & Restorative Retreat

Octo­ber 22 — 26, 2025, Casa Cor­vo Novaggio

More Info com­ing soon

Dur­ing the appli­ca­tion process it will be defined if stu­dent needs first to absolve Online Pranaya­ma & Breath Course pri­or to tak­ing the In Stu­dio Cours­es. The entire course is rec­om­mend­ed

If you wish to apply for an indi­vid­ual mod­ule only, please indi­cate in appli­ca­tion and we will get back to you for a short interview.

Pranaya­ma Train­ings take place at Svaru­pa Yoga Lor­raine and in the Svaru­pa Cave, both in Bern.
Stephen and Fac­ul­ty offer these cours­es in con­densed week­end for­mats. Live- in-stu­dio study is the best way to study.

For remote stu­dents that can­not trav­el to Bern, there are dig­i­tal cours­es which can be pur­chased and done at your own tim­ing from home. For dig­i­tal cours­es click here.

Stephen also offers com­pre­hen­sive Train­ing sup­port for Yoga teacher train­ings around the world that want to have this exper­tise as part of their pro­gram (write to Stephen directly)

Fees, Application, Testimonials & Further Requirements

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