Joshua Param Sevak
I slept and dreamt that life was joy.
I awoke and saw that life was service.
I acted and behold, service was joy.
Rabindranath Tagore
My spiritual exploration began during a spontaneous experience of Samadhi in 2005. After that immense awakening, I committed my life to fully understanding the spiritual nature of reality. I began practicing Hatha and Kundalini Yoga at 19 years old, which eventually led me to the Byron Yoga Centre in Byron Bay, Australia. I became a certified Hatha Yoga Teacher in 2006, and I haven't stopped teaching or learning since then.
After many more years of Yoga Trainings in Kundalini, The Mind and Meditation, Vipassana Meditation, Indian Classical Music in India, Unified Field Theory with Nassim Haramein, Living in the Heart with Drunvalo Melchizedek, and striving to follow in the path of Guru Nanak, I have been inspired to create many Spiritual gatherings of service around the world.
With our first Yoga Teacher Training Class in Austin, Texas in 2010, I co-created the largest public meditation organization in the world, MedMob. Subsequently, I was inspired to lead Himalayan Love in 2011 and 2012, a yoga retreat/festival that served both Tibetan refugees in Dharamsala and children in the poorest part of Delhi at the Bhatti Mines School. Shortly after acquiring a harmonium, I co-created the Austin Bhakti Tribe in Texas, and have since led Kirtans and Yoga classes at Oregon Eclipse, Envision, Bhakti Fest, Summer and Winter Solstice Sadhana, Lightning in a Bottle, Cosmic Convergence, and many other studios & festivals around the United States and Europe. I also had the joy of leading 6 Yoga Convergences at Jacob's Well in Wimberley, Texas, aligned with the Solstices and Equinoxes. In May of 2019, Petra and I graduated the 15th Kundalini Teacher Training Class of Kundalini Instructors here on Lago Atitlán.
In the last 2 years I have led 3 Embodiment Ecstatic Dance Festivals here at Gaia, and raised over $17,000 to help feed people when Covid first began, built two houses for our Mayan neighbors here, bought new roofs and beds for 11 families, sponsored 10 kids from Tzununá to attend a local trade school for a year, sponsored 20 new family gardens, distribute corn to hundreds of families here, and led music classes for kids at the local Community Center.
Throughout 18 years of teaching & continuously following my heart around the world, I have become a Kirtan Artist, Yoga Teacher Trainer, DJ, and Conscious Festival Producer. Now, I am 5 years into building a life-long dream; a Holistic Learning Center, Organic Farm, and Permaculture hub in the mountains of Tzununá. Our Mission is to provide abundant super-foods to feed malnourished children in our village, host evolutionary educational events, and make yoga & permaculture available to people of all tribes & cultures.
Petra Shakti is a Kundalini Yoga instructor and the founder of the Forest.ink project, which works with responsible ecotourism. Over the past 4 years, she has lived mainly in South and Central America. Following a call to share the golden light of Kundalini, Petra moved to Guatemala to become initiated as a teacher at the Golden Temple.
Petra also travelled to India, studying all aspects of traditional hatha and tantric yoga at Satya Loka. During this time, she birthed her spiritual body of pure devotion.
She also studied the Moon course at the Metaphysical center Las Pirámides del Ka.
Petra received great inspiration for her practice at the Guru Ram Dass Puri community in New Mexico, where Kundalini Yoga tradition currently has its widest base.
She is also a practitioner of Vipassana, Hridaya and Transcendental meditation.
Petra is fascinated by in-depth work through the dynamics of the masculine and feminine principles that lead to an increased quality in our life and relationships. She participates in White Tantra festivals where these dynamics can be further explored. White Tantra practice provides an opportunity to change our understanding of sexuality and to perceive it as a natural part of our being. Petra is currently teaching at Pohled Pracoviště in Prague and is co-organizing the Kundalini Yoga Festival Liliovník. She also organize series of workshop Snake Serenade, which is about discovering true identity through kundalini yoga and voice.
As a little girl, Petra was fascinated by the mudras and kriyas she saw in library books. She discovered yoga, meditation and dreamwork at a young age and began to cultivate a deeper awareness. Her grandmother was the village healer, which created a deep foundation of love and respect for the ancient rituals of indigenous cultures. She made a promise of freedom to herself and left her home at the age of 16, to visit foreign lands and study mystical practices.
At the age of 26 she first visited the Ecuadorian Amazon where she entered into a deeper communion with Mother Earth. As a result, she founded the wildlife protection and reforestation NGO, Forest.Ink, which has continued success in conserving the rainforest. Working with the ancient craft of tattooing, Petra inked her way through South East Asia, California, Hawaii, Latin America and other places.
Marking her designs on the bodies of people she met, and achieving international acclaim for her magical tattoo art, she then turned her focus to her first love; yoga.