INTERVIEW WITH COEN VAN DER KROON FOR LIGHT ON AYURVEDA JOURNAL
The Academy of Ayurvedic Studies, The Netherlands, was founded in 2004 as a subdivision of the European Institute of Vedic Studies in France. This initiative came after a period during which I had been teaching at another ayurvedic school in the Netherlands for two years. This school ran into its own limitations in terms of professional set up, such as providing a good curriculum as well as study and course materials. I myself have an academic background (with an MA in Classics, the subject of my MA thesis in 1989 being Ancient Hippocratic Gynecology – with a comparison between ancient Greek and Ayurvedic medicine), and consequently I was very keen on setting up another school with a good, more academic framework. In that way Ayurveda could be served best, according to me, i.e. by providing students with a good and thorough curriculum, with high standard course material and as much as possible contact hours, given the fact that it is a part time 5-year training. At the same time my wish for a school was, it to be a place of transformation and healing, not just a place of technical learning. I first explored a possibilty of starting the school under the wings of a Dutch school of natural medicine, but they were lacking this last aspect, so I decided that that was not appropriate. Inspired by both my academic background as well as the atmosphere of healing and transformation as I experienced it at the Ayurvedic Institute of Dr. Vasant Lad, where I studied for two years, I founded the Academy of Ayurvedic Studies. The school has grown over its 5 years of existence into a small institute with almost 15 people in the teaching staff as well as many more visiting teachers.
The Academy of Ayurvedic Studies offers several programs and courses (all part time): a 4 or 8 month Ayurvedic Nutrition Diploma Course, a 1 year Jyotish Training, a 1 ½ year Anatomy & Physiology Diploma Course, a 2 year Ayurvedic Massage Diploma Training, a 3 year Prevention & Lifestyle Diploma Course, a 3 year Ayurvedic Yoga Teacher Training (strats next year), and a 5 year Ayurvedic Practitioner Professional Training and a 6 year Ayurveda Practitioner Plus training (Bishak Track). The last – and most extended programs, of 1000+ contact hours – consist of a mixture of classes, in which the intellectual and scientific part as well as the intuitive and transformational part of the students is being addressed. Obligatory subjects in this training are: Philosophy, Sanskrit, Ayurvedic Yoga, Sutra singing, Dravyaguna, Samprapti, Chikitsa, and internships both in India and at our modest school clinic. We regularly invite international Ayurveda experts to come and enrich the whole study experience with short seminars: Dr. Vasant Lad, Dr. David Frawley, Dr. Robert Svoboda, Claudia Welch, Mukunda Stiles, Dr. Sunil Joshi, Atreya Smith, Donald Vanhowten, Chitra Giauque, and others. Our school could be characterized as an personal, intimate, and yet international place of study, learning, healing and transformation in the field of Ayurveda and Yoga.
The founding, running and expanding of the Academy of Ayurvedic Studies has been a positively challenging experience for me. Over the years I saw a community coming into existence, a group of human beings that is committed to Ayurveda and its sister sciences in a way that honours the deeper qualities of life represented by those same sciences. The whole process of an expanding institute – a living organism of teachers, students and other staff – has been rewarding to watch, though sometimes difficult and exhausting to manage. It taught me that ‘good relations’ – in the deepest sense meant by, for example, the native americans – amongst everyone involved, are very, very important. It also taught me that Ayurveda dances through the whole process as a living entity, an inspiring deva, with sometimes her very own plans and time schedules! And last but not least, that life is love and love is life, the true core of Ayurveda – simple and straightforward, but sometimes all too challenging to our complex personalities.
My vision for our school is that it will develop into a grown up professional institute, while keeping its feel of family and intimacy, since only in such an environment the soul can blossom. Science is not worth a penny without a soul, and hence this combination is important for Ayurveda to keep blossoming, growing and expanding. Profesionalising the school will be an ongoing challenging process in the European field of developments, with many more rules and regulations to come. Good spirit and a n Ayurvedic profession taught and practiced with integrity, will be key to steering this process in Europe and elsewhere in an ever positive direction.
Coen van der Kroon
The Academy of Ayurvedic Studies offers several programs and courses (all part time): a 4 or 8 month Ayurvedic Nutrition Diploma Course, a 1 year Jyotish Training, a 1 ½ year Anatomy & Physiology Diploma Course, a 2 year Ayurvedic Massage Diploma Training, a 3 year Prevention & Lifestyle Diploma Course, a 3 year Ayurvedic Yoga Teacher Training (strats next year), and a 5 year Ayurvedic Practitioner Professional Training and a 6 year Ayurveda Practitioner Plus training (Bishak Track). The last – and most extended programs, of 1000+ contact hours – consist of a mixture of classes, in which the intellectual and scientific part as well as the intuitive and transformational part of the students is being addressed. Obligatory subjects in this training are: Philosophy, Sanskrit, Ayurvedic Yoga, Sutra singing, Dravyaguna, Samprapti, Chikitsa, and internships both in India and at our modest school clinic. We regularly invite international Ayurveda experts to come and enrich the whole study experience with short seminars: Dr. Vasant Lad, Dr. David Frawley, Dr. Robert Svoboda, Claudia Welch, Mukunda Stiles, Dr. Sunil Joshi, Atreya Smith, Donald Vanhowten, Chitra Giauque, and others. Our school could be characterized as an personal, intimate, and yet international place of study, learning, healing and transformation in the field of Ayurveda and Yoga.
The founding, running and expanding of the Academy of Ayurvedic Studies has been a positively challenging experience for me. Over the years I saw a community coming into existence, a group of human beings that is committed to Ayurveda and its sister sciences in a way that honours the deeper qualities of life represented by those same sciences. The whole process of an expanding institute – a living organism of teachers, students and other staff – has been rewarding to watch, though sometimes difficult and exhausting to manage. It taught me that ‘good relations’ – in the deepest sense meant by, for example, the native americans – amongst everyone involved, are very, very important. It also taught me that Ayurveda dances through the whole process as a living entity, an inspiring deva, with sometimes her very own plans and time schedules! And last but not least, that life is love and love is life, the true core of Ayurveda – simple and straightforward, but sometimes all too challenging to our complex personalities.
My vision for our school is that it will develop into a grown up professional institute, while keeping its feel of family and intimacy, since only in such an environment the soul can blossom. Science is not worth a penny without a soul, and hence this combination is important for Ayurveda to keep blossoming, growing and expanding. Profesionalising the school will be an ongoing challenging process in the European field of developments, with many more rules and regulations to come. Good spirit and a n Ayurvedic profession taught and practiced with integrity, will be key to steering this process in Europe and elsewhere in an ever positive direction.
Coen van der Kroon
