Śaraṇaṁ
:
Refuge
:
शरणं
:
Śaraṇaṁ : Refuge : शरणं :
Katherine Freeland
Jivamukti Yoga Teacher
Śaranam means a refuge, a shelter.
In the chaotic landscape in which we find ourselves as Truth Seekers in the modern, predominantly materialistic age, finding a spiritual shelter is critical if we wish to experience our innate happiness and freedom. Often we attempt to find shelter in coping mechanisms, dubious social norms, our work, other people, or things, perhaps even unconsciously. While I have unsuccessfully dabbled in all of that, after 10 years of practice my personal shelter is a wide variety of classical yoga practices and a personal devotional relationship with the divine.
Yoga practices encourage us to turn inwards to experience a joyful reality within and I feel infinitely blessed that my teachers have gifted me with the empowerment to share what has dramatically transformed my life into something light and good.
Katherine Freeland is a Jivamukti Yoga Teacher, professional lifestyle photographer, creative designer, & communications artist.
Katherine practices and teaches yoga with an emphasis on becoming fit, as her beloved teacher Sharon Gannon puts it, to be an instrument of the divine. She started to practice yoga at the gym in summer 2013 seeking peace and alignment in her life. She quickly found and fell in love with Jivamukti Yoga when she moved to New York City that fall. The spiritual magic and athletic asana practices of the lineage completely captured her heart and in the past decade she has studied with her teachers in New York, Europe, and India. She feels blessed to teach the transformative Jivamukti method, which gives the practitioner a sense of integrated yoga lifestyle through vigorous vinyasa flows, plus five tenets of ahimsa (compassion), bhakti (devotion), nada (yoga of sound/mantra), dhyana (meditation), and sastra (scripture study).
In her classes, Katherine offers authentic and playful insight on how to take the practices we learn on our mats into the real world. She weaves together supportive experiences of precise alignment and breath to eclectic, high vibe playlists, weaving in classical yoga philosophy, personal stories and examples, plus if you’re lucky, bad jokes :) She plays harmonium and is a joyful kirtan singer. She is kind, humble, humorous, and relatable as a teacher. Her spiritual life is established in Bhakti Yoga, and she is interested in interfaith dialogue, because she believes that ultimately, God speaks to us in many ways so that all hearts have the possibility to understand divinity, regardless of cultural background.
Katherine earned her BFA from Pratt Institute in Fine Art Photography in 2015. She was first certified in Vinyasa Yoga with the loving guidance of Christina Rufin in 2017, then in 2019 completed the very first 75HR Jivamutki Yoga Teacher Training in New York City with Rima Rabbath and Claudia Debs. She completed the 300HR JYTT in 2021 at Menla with her dear teachers Lady Ruth Lauer-Manenti and HaChi Yu, mentored by Monica Jaggi. She participated as an alumni in 2022 in Italy with Yogeswari and Moritz Ulrich. She completed the first Teacher’s Refinement Course emphasizing Art of Sequencing and teaching Bhagavad Gita in 2022 with Yogeswari and Lady Ruth. She completed the 2023 Teacher’s Refinement Course in Mysore, India, emphasizing the Yoga Sutra, Transcendental Meditation, and Hands on Assists with Yogeswari, Dr. MA Jayashree, and Professor Narasimhan. She regularly practices with her teachers Rima Rabbath and Monica Jaggi via livestream and at their Souk Studio in NYC whenever possible. She recently left a long time organizational position for international Jivamukti Yoga Teacher Trainings to fully invest in her practice and local community.
Bhagavad Gita 9. 18
gatir bhartā prabhuḥ sākṣī
nivāsaḥ śaraṇaṁ suhṛt
prabhavaḥ pralayaḥ sthānaṁ
nidhānaṁ bījam avyayam
“I am the goal, the sustainer, the master, the witness, the abode, the refuge and the most dear friend. I am the creation and the annihilation, the basis of everything, the resting place and the eternal seed.”
What I Believe: Firstly, I believe that yoga and meditation are divinely designed to infuse us with Bhav (the divine good mood) independent of any particular creed, belief, or religion. I believe there can be amazing yoga classes with little or only subtle references to yoga philosophy and the practitioner will still experience all the subtle and spiritual benefits. Āsana (the postures of yoga) can be practiced alongside any personal belief system or with no belief in any God at all. Chanting in Sanskrit, whether it be holy names or other wisdoms, has a profound affect on our mind and spirit, even without detailed understanding. However, when coupled with understanding, knowledge of Vedanta, faith, and a personal devotion to the God which makes most sense to you, the practices take on a whole new dimension of possibilities for wellbeing on many levels through an increasingly steady connection to Source. I believe God is One and everything that exists and has ever existed is a manifestation of this God, who is Love itself, and has expressed itself in many ways throughout the ages so human beings, if they choose, may experience the joy of Oneness with the Creator, who is unlimited and expansive beyond our normal mind’s understanding. I believe in the eternal struggle between darkness and light, light will always prevail. I am committed to the study, practice, and teaching of yoga as it has been handed down teacher to student through the ages and do my best to faithfully teach what i have been taught. The main scriptures I study are the Bhagavad Gita and the Yoga Sutra of Patanjali. My spiritual point of view is informed by the Path of Grace, as taught in the West by Shyamdas.
