DISTANCE
LEARNING: NEXT SESSION BEGINS MID-SEPTEMBER, 2010!
Thank you
for your interest in Everyday Nectar, the
distance-learning option. We're very proud
of our distance programme -- it's comprehensive,
intimate, evolving, and it builds
community, as well as a life-long standard for
future learning. A full
description of the course and registration
information is here.
This page speaks directly to the
distance-learning option.
The success
of distance learning really depends on
developing a feeling of
immediate contact with the teacher, the
teaching, and others, like yourselves, who share
a fascination with integral knowledge.
We've designed this programme with this goal at
heart, with streaming lectures that change with
every section (because the course should fit the
students, not the other way around!), a discussion
forum, and supporting teleclasses.
Click the
player below
to listen to Matthew, the course instructor,
speak about how distance learning works, as well
as his general approach to Ayurveda. (It's
also good to sample the voice and manner that
you'll be engaged with for the 30+ hour course!)
Click here to register online.
Note: If you do not see
the player or its controls, you might not have any audio player installed. If you are having this issue, you can safely (and freely) install an audio player like QuickTime from
http://www.apple.com/quicktime/download/
You can also
email for more information, or phone 416-920-4520 to arrange to
speak with Matthew directly about this course.
DISTANCE LEARNING AT RYA: FAQ
note: many of these questions are covered by
the audio intro, above...
How do I listen to the lectures?
The lectures are posted in streaming audio, in
the same fashion as the one above. You
will have to be at a computer with a live
internet connection and Quicktime installed to
access them.
Can I download the lectures to my Ipod?
No. Not that we wouldn't want to make it
more convenient for you, but because the
lectures are live and unedited, we can't release
them as transferable files, because of the
possibility of mistakes, lack of context, etc.
What if I miss a lecture?
The live lecture takes place in Toronto on
Thursday night, and it's recorded and available
for you to stream on Friday morning, and remains
available to you throughout the course. So, you
can't miss a lecture, really. Our
distance programme is a combination of live (teleclasses)
and recorded elements (the lectures). The idea
is: you're not here, so it can't be live. But --
you're actually alive, so you shouldn't
get something dead (canned). Our intention
is to make each round of this course unique to
its participants, whether they're here in
Toronto or not!
How do I learn the physical practices through
audio streaming?
Oral instructions
are given for all home practices, and there are
some visual aids as well... We have chosen
for the time being to not move this course into
video mode. In general we spend too much
time staring at strangely-lit screens. At
this point in our history, the oral medium
probably holds more juice.
I live in Jerusalem -- do I have to take the
teleclass at 2am?
You could, but this would be unhelpful, from the
perspective of Ayurvedic daily routine!
Matthew will field 2 private phone calls of 30
minutes each, at prearranged times, with those
students who live more than 5 hours ahead or 10
hours behind EST.
How do I get my course materials?
As soon as you register, we ship the lecture
manual, and the course texts (if you have
ordered them). We will make every effort
to have them arrive at the same time as the
first lecture is posted. This of course is
easier for us if you register at least 5 days
before the posted course date. Later than
this, and the materials might not arrive quite
on time -- which is okay, since you have a week
to absorb each lecture. It's not uncommon
for distance students to fall a little behind,
and then catch up.
For how long are the lectures available?
In general, we leave them posted until they need
to be cleared for the next round. So --
fall lectures are available till mid-January,
and winter lectures are available till the
following fall. This means that you have
ongoing access to the materials for months after
the live course finishes.
How much time should I budget for my studies?
The minimum study commitment weekly (assuming
that you were keeping pace with the live
section) would be 3 hours of review, reading,
and testing -- above and beyond lecture time.
There is no hard maximum, of course, but if you
were to accomplish all the suggested tasks of
the programme, including the readings,
contemplative assignments, homework projects,
and weekly practice suggestions, you might find
yourself working with this course for 90 minutes
daily. So -- minimum would be 5.5 hours
weekly with the lecture, and the full possible
effort would be 12-15 hours weekly with the
lecture. Most students find their
appropriate commitment level somewhere in
between these two.
