Spring Awakening: Sound Yoga and Tantra

Spring Awakening is a three-day tantra weekend in Rossatz, in the Wachau of Lower Austria, built around sound yoga, mantra and tantric dance. It is led by Emmanuelle Cueff at Matsya Yoga Centre and is held as spring begins to show itself in the valley. It suits people drawn to Kashmiri Shaivism, the Kaula Path and the Yoga of Sound, and to practice that works through the body rather than around it.

The central figure is Kali, approached as a liberating presence within the body. In this tradition nothing is treated as pure or impure, and there is no need to reject the body in order to know union with the Divine. The weekend moves from the silence of winter toward the vitality of spring, using sound, breath, mantra and dance.

What to Expect

The course runs from Friday morning to Sunday afternoon, with practice in the early morning, late morning and late afternoon.

Friday opens at 10 am with the Yoga of Sound: asanas, flowing movement, mother sounds, tantric visualisation, mantra and meditation. The late afternoon session, from 4 to 7 pm, works with the lemniscate, the figure eight as a symbol of infinity in the body, leading into organic movement, visualisation and mantra.

Saturday begins at 7 am with Shakti salutations, bija mantras, tantric breath and Kali and Chamunda mantras. After breakfast, from 10 am to noon, Felipe, a painter and sculptor, guides an earth session in which you work with clay and let what is inside take shape in matter. It is followed by an instrumental and mantric sound bath with Emmanuelle. From 4 to 7 pm the practice turns to Tandava, the tantric dance of Kashmir, done at extreme slowness, along with Kali practice, bijas, mantras and meditation.

Sunday starts at 7 am with a water ritual at the Danube. After breakfast, the closing session from 10 am to 1:30 pm brings Tandava, a great mantra circle, harmonising pranayama and a closing circle.

About Emmanuelle Cueff

Emmanuelle Cueff has taught the path of the body, energy and sound as a way toward Presence for 16 years. Her fields of exploration include vibration, movement, sound, nature and the mysteries of energy and consciousness. Her teaching draws on her lived experience of the Yoga of Sound, Kashmiri Shaivism and the visualisations of the Kaula Path, with Kali as the ground of what she shares. She is also a tantric musician, and the host of the weekend describes her music as a deep, trance-like passage through the universe.

The Setting

The weekend takes place at the new Matsya Yoga Centre in Rossatz, on the Danube in the Wachau. From Vienna, take the train to Krems and then the bus to Rossatz; the whole trip takes about an hour and a half. Accommodation is included. A kitchen is available for lunch and dinner, and a local grocery shop is nearby.

Before You Go

The teaching is in English. The course fee covers accommodation for the weekend and a light breakfast. Other meals are yours to prepare, so plan to shop for lunches and dinners. Travel to Rossatz is not included.