Saturday · 10am ET2.5hours
The Open Session
A complete, standalone workshop on one pedagogical theme. You don't need to teach, or intend to, for it to change how you practice.
Open to all year-long Sādhana School students
Sādhana School · Teacher Formation · 2026–27
Sahṛdaya Upāya
A 100-hour apprenticeship in Sahṛdaya Meditation and Subtle Liberation-Based Teaching, held alongside the Sādhana School year. For teachers, facilitators, therapists and scholar-practitioners who want to teach from the ground of their own practice.
Applications close: Fri, Oct 16 · The year begins: Wed, Oct 21
200
hours in all: 100 in Sādhana School, 100 in the apprenticeship
8
weekend immersions, November to May
9
monthly one-on-one mentorship sessions with Jacob
1
certificate in SLBT and Sahṛdaya Meditation
Subtle Liberation-Based Teaching
Nothing is acquired. Consciousness is already full.
A theory of education drawn from the Non-Dual Śākta-Śaiva tradition
In a yoga marketplace saturated with fitness, SLBT starts from a different premise. A teaching is liberatory when it removes what obscures the knowledge that was always there, not when it installs new information.
SLBT is both a theory of education and the pedagogical model behind Sādhana School. It treats our inherited model of education as one object of study among several, and it trains teachers to transmit from experiential knowledge earned through sustained sādhana, rather than to perform scripts or repeat doctrine.
The pedagogy
Rigorous, relational, revelatory
The training is rooted in the liberative aims of kriyā-yoga. Each of its three limbs shapes how an apprentice studies, practices and teaches.
Tapas
Deep practice
the heat of daily sādhana
A personal Sahṛdaya practice every day, sustained across the year. The pedagogy can't be transmitted by anyone who isn't practicing.
Svādhyāya
Textual study
reading the sources closely
Root texts of the Pratyabhijñā and Śākta traditions, read alongside historical scholarship and articulated in group sessions.
Īśvara-praṇidhāna
Inquiry into reality
turning toward what is
Philosophical reflection on what teaching is for, who is teaching, and what a student is being formed into.
Why now
Yoga teaching has outgrown the model it inherited
The drop-in class as the basic unit. The 60-minute fitness session as the product. The student as a customer whose commitment is entirely optional. That model offers real stress relief, but it asks nothing of us with regard to yoga's deeper framework, and what asks nothing of us cannot change us.
Meanwhile, the origin myths that carried yoga through the 2000s have expired. Many teachers who took the new historical scholarship seriously have quietly lost confidence in what they are teaching.
Some will stick to the script.Same class, same cues, less conviction.
Some will leave the profession.The ground gave way and nothing replaced it.
Others will refine, integrate and expand.Sahṛdaya Upāya is for this third group.
The premise of the program
If the crisis of education comes from focusing on information rather than being in-formation, any serious response has to begin with how a student is actually formed.
How each immersion works
One weekend a month, in two halves
Each immersion opens with a workshop for every Sādhana School student. Apprentices stay for a second session where the teaching is practiced and rehearsed.
Sunday · 10am ET2hours
The Practicum
Saturday's teachings become exercises. You rehearse, embody and translate concepts into teaching skill, with supervision and feedback from Jacob and the cohort.
Sahṛdaya Upāya apprentices only
The curriculum
The eight immersions
Each weekend takes one theme from the craft of teaching in a living tradition, and trains one of the competencies SLBT asks of a teacher.
Fall Nov–DecWinter Feb–MarSpring Apr–May
Nov
14–15
Beneath the Pose
Guiding movement practitioners into the subtle
i
Dec
5–6
Tasting the Real
Rasa theory as a contemplative method
ii
Feb
6–7
Two Tongues
Teaching the subtle in secular rooms
iii
Feb
20–21
Shadow Speech
The ethics and philosophy of ferocity, discomfort and discernment
iv
Mar
13–14
Dying Before Death
Embracing dissolution on the path of sādhana
v
Apr
10–11
Grace & Initiation
Śaktipāta, dīkṣā and the timing of transmission
vi
May
8–9
Cult or Community?
Authority, consent and dependency in spiritual groups
vii
May
29–30
The Spectre of Authenticity
On inheriting a tradition you were not born into
viii
Benefits of the mentorship
What apprentices receive
Weekend immersions
Eight practicums
A supervised cohort practicum after every Open Session, across the year.
One-on-one
Mentorship
Monthly 45-minute check-ins with Jacob for mentorship and articulation support, over nine months.
On completion
Certificate
A 100-hour certificate in SLBT and Sahṛdaya Meditation.
Resources
75% off
Any Tarka Journal issue, translation or printed teaching resource from Embodied Philosophy Press.
A year of formation
What the year asks of you
To complete the program, apprentices carry these six commitments across the year.
Every day
Daily practice
A personal Sahṛdaya sādhana, sustained across the year.
Ongoing
Study
Assigned readings, integrated and articulated in group sessions.
Monthly
Reflection
A written post on what is ripening in your practice and your teaching.
Between immersions
Peer practicum
Partnered and small-group languaging practice.
Summer 2027
Retreat practicum
Teach workshops at the Sādhana School summer retreat, in person or online.
Spring 2027
Final project
A 60-minute teaching, delivered live and recorded, plus a reflective essay on lineage, positionality and your application of SLBT.
Time commitment
About 2–3 hours a week, on top of Sādhana School
Immersion weekends carry the most. Between them, the time goes to peer practice, study, your monthly reflection and your one-on-one with Jacob. Expect more in the spring, as you prepare your final teaching project.
Teacher & mentor
Jacob Kyle
Founding Director, Embodied Philosophy
Jacob is a meditation teacher, writer, philosophy educator and publisher. His work turns on the conviction that the modern divorce between scholarship and spirituality has impoverished both, and that healing the rift is among the more urgent tasks of our time.
He is a doctoral student at the University of Oxford, researching Pratyabhijñā philosophy with Diwakar Acharya and Monima Chadha, and a devoted practitioner of the Śaiva-Śākta darśana.
DPhil candidate, OxfordMPhil, Classical Indian Religions, OxfordMA, Philosophy, The New SchoolMSc, Political Theory, LSE
The foundation
Every apprentice is a Sādhana School student first
The Sādhana School process of study and practice is foundational to the mentorship. The year's arc is the ground the apprenticeship stands on.
Fall 2026
The Heart of Recognition
Kṣemarāja's Pratyabhijñāhṛdaya. Wed, Oct 21 – Wed, Dec 9.
Winter 2027
Poetry as Philosophy
Utpaladeva's Śivastotrāvalī, the "Garland of Hymns."
Spring 2027
The Many Faces of Kālī
The fierce wisdom teachings on the Goddess Kālī.
Summer 2027
Being With the Heart
The Sahṛdaya Summer Immersion. Sat, Jul 10 – Fri, Jul 16.
- Three 8-week sādhanas of live weekly sessions, with recordings
- A 7-day summer immersion, online or in person
- Saturday Open Sessions at every weekend immersion
- The Sādhaka's Sourcebook, Inner Travelogue and Practice Portfolio
- A community of over 100 committed practitioners
- 100 hours of study, with no Sanskrit required
What is Sahṛdaya Meditation?
The discipline of meeting the good, the bad and the ugly with a heart awake to the wonder in everything: to recognize, to relish, and to remember.
Where most meditation asks you to muscle down the mind, Sahṛdaya Meditation includes the mind's activity rather than transcending it. Its ground is mantra, beginning with haṃsa, the breath-mantra performed some 21,600 times a day. Sahṛdaya names the practice. SLBT names the context in which it is taught.
How enrollment works
By application, in four steps
1
Apply
Tell us about your teaching, training, coaching or facilitation experience.
Due Fri, Oct 162
Enroll
Join the full Sādhana School year and the apprenticeship in one checkout. Apprentices must be year-long students.
3
Hear back from us
Jacob reviews every application. If you're not accepted, you receive a full refund.
4
Begin
The apprenticeship starts with the school year on Wednesday, October 21.
Sādhana School is entering its third year
From past and current students
“
What I feel now is an immense joy, a sense of wonder, that I can be a part of this awesome sādhana group from my home in a small African country called Malawi.
Katherine
Sādhana School student
“
You have created an incredible space, filled with so much authenticity. I loved the mixture between the intense practices and the rich theoretical knowledge.
Jonah
Sādhana School student
“
Your deep knowledge, dedication and commitment to the path is what is needed for such precious information.
Serena
Sādhana School student
Tuition
Sādhana School, plus the apprenticeship
Apprentices enroll in the Sādhana School year and Sahṛdaya Upāya together. If you're not accepted, you receive a full refund.
Sādhana School, full year
$1,7972026–27
- ✓Fall, Winter and Spring sādhanas, live with recordings
- ✓Summer immersion: Being With the Heart
- ✓Saturday Open Sessions at all eight immersions
- ✓100 hours of study
- ✓Open to all, no application needed
Sahṛdaya Upāya
$1,797+$1,300
Sādhana School year + apprenticeship
- ✓Eight Sunday Practicums
- ✓Nine monthly one-on-ones with Jacob
- ✓Private Mentorship space and events
- ✓100-hour certificate on completion
Apply first, then enroll. Full refund if you're not accepted. Pay-over-time options available at checkout.
30-day guarantee
If Sādhana School isn't right for you, refund requests made within 30 days of purchase are fully honored, issued within 5 business days. Write to hello@embodiedphilosophy.com.
Questions
Before you apply
Do I need to be enrolled in Sādhana School?
Yes. The Sādhana School process of study and practice is foundational to the apprenticeship, so every apprentice enrolls in the full 2026–27 year.
Do I need teaching experience?
In most cases. We look for past experience in teaching, training, coaching or facilitation, though some applicants are accepted on the strength of their interest and background. Without it, you're very welcome in Sādhana School, including the Open Session half of every immersion.
What does Sahṛdaya Upāya cost?
$1,300, in addition to the $1,797 Sādhana School year. You apply first, then enroll in both together; if you're not accepted, you receive a full refund. Pay-over-time options are available at checkout.
What if I'm not accepted?
You receive a full refund. If you'd like to stay on in Sādhana School, we simply refund the $1,300 apprenticeship tuition instead.
Is it online?
Yes. The program runs October 2026 to July 2027 online. The retreat practicum can be completed in person or in the online facilitated version.
How much time does it take each week?
On average, about 2–3 hours a week on top of Sādhana School. Immersion weekends carry the most, with a 2.5-hour Open Session and a 2-hour Practicum. Alongside this you keep your Sādhana School commitments: the weekly 150-minute live session during each 8-week term, and a daily Sahṛdaya practice of 20–40 minutes split between two sits.
Do I need to know Sanskrit?
No.
Applications close Friday, October 16
Teach from the ground of your own practice
Apply now, then enroll in Sādhana School and the apprenticeship together. If you're not accepted, you receive a full refund.