"I dedicate the merits of my practice for the spiritual liberation of all sentient beings. Through this merit may I quickly reach enlightenment, and bring all beings without any exclusions to the same state of consciousness."
- Andrey Lappa
A mystic scientist of yoga
Founder of Universal Yoga, Andrey Lappa is one of the most qualified and influential masters of yoga of the modern times. His entire life has been a journey into the depths of Tantrik Yoga. Born in Kiev, Ukraine, he has spent a significant time in eastern countries: Mongolia, India, Nepal, Burjatia, Siberia and others. Throughout, he learned and developed skills from world renowned yoga teachers, and rare esoteric Hindu and Buddhist ascetics. His understanding of Yantrayana, Mantrayana, Tantrayana, Hatha, and Raja Yoga has led to the most sophisticated and intelligent systematization of such practices within Universal Yoga. His books: "Dynamic Practices in Classical Yoga" and "Yoga: Tradition of Unification" became best sellers in 1999-2000 in ex-soviet countries. With a PhD, Andrey is a scientist and has designed software programs for teaching the ancient Shiva Nata.
Andrey's psychic-energetic abilities mixed with his scientific precision is the basis of Universal Yoga. The practices of this lineage capture the true essence of ancient Tantrik practices of Shaivism and Vajrayana Buddhism and applies methodology and multi-dimensional geometry giving practitioners effective, external and internal practices towards Kundalini awakening, and eventually achieving enlightenment. Andrey's gift to the modern practitioners is his method to wake up their power of spirit and knowledge, to overcome Kleshas and achieve Karmik liberation.
“It’s all yoga all the time with Andrey Lappa, president of the Kiev Yoga Federation, and founder of Universal Yoga. It’s impossible to even scratch the surface of what’s covered in these fascinatingand perplexing lectures; Lappa has something provocative — and often original — to say about asana, prana and pranayama, mudra, chakras and kundalini, mantras, sense withdrawal (pratyahara) and meditation, internal cleansing exercises (kriyas), yogic powers (siddhis) …”
- YOGA JOURNAL
“You don’t have to face in just a single direction for practice. (This limitation is senseless, the product of unthinking habit.) You don’t have to consistently work one side of the body and then the other. (You waste valuable class time shifting from one side to the other, time you could profitably use for more postures and deeper sequencing.) “Given” sequences, like the astanga primary series, may not actually be all that good energetically or functionally. (The primary series provides distorted coverage of the body’s range of possibilities. Why do only “longitudinal,” or frontal, vinyasas? Vinyasas can be done on the back, on the side, and so on.) The poses don’t necessarily “belong” in the axis in which you first learned them. (Additional useful effects can be gained by rotating some of them. Gravity is a creative element in this yoga.) Ujjayi breathing may be good for some movements, but certainly not for all, nor for an entire class. (Why breathe the same way for forward bends that contract the middle and those that contract the upper back?) - Andrey Lappa”
- YOGA CHICAGO, 2002