A short account of the teachings and studies of

Ram Chatlani.

A Brief Account

Ram Chatlani, Teachings, and Lineage

Some people ask, need to know the context, so here is a version of my life in the work of awakening.

My first formal teacher was the Brahma Kumari Dadi Janki—she passed away in March 2020, at the age of 104. I was invited to meet her by one of her close acolytes during her first visit to Europe in the late 1970s. She taught me the essence of meditation. Wordlessly really. Because it was so simple, because this essence is so simple, it took me another 25 years to truly begin to enter into and experience its simplicity. The method she taught was a great support in the face of many of life’s ordinary and extraordinary challenges.

I had started practicing Hatha Yoga at the age of 8. It felt very natural to an 8 year old boy and an unenforced a family tradition—my great-grandfather was a pearl fisher in northern India. My sister Mohini has been teaching yoga for decades across continents. I continued practicing yoga until I was 25, at which point I began learning qigong and tai chi.

In my twenties, while completing Sri Iyengar’s extensive asana training on my own, I was introduced to Zen meditation, which I practiced daily for many years. During the same period I met and studied with a student of the Gurdjieff system. This eventually led me to meet the Sufi teacher Omar Ali Shah, the brother of the renowned Sufi writer Idries Shah. I left my professional occupation of defence barrister and became a professional storyteller.

In 1991, I met the Taoist master B.K. Frantzis, with whom I studied intensively for over 20 years. He certified me to teach Taoist pranayama, various forms of qigong and tai chi, and ba gua chang. During this time, I was lived for a short while in Mexico, studying with a Toltec school, inheritors of the ancient indigenous Wirrarika people.

These toltec warriors were exemplary. We worked the practical aspects of the Toltec path as elucidated by don Juan Matus in the books of Carlos Castaneda, developing high impact encounters with groups in Mexico, the UK and France. I met and worked with two of don Juan's direct students: Ken Eagle Feather and Merrylin Tunneshende.

In the late 1990s, I began a comprehensive and intensive study of medittion in the Theravada tradition with an emphasis on healing. I completed many of the meditations in vissudhimagga and abhidharma during a training that lasted about ten years. I then began the practices of Vajryana and Maha Ati, to which I had been initiated years earlier, in 1980, when I sat with Tibetan lamas, including Khyongla Rinpoche. More recently, I met with and undertook a short retreat with with Sepa Dorje Rinpoche and was invited to meet and discuss my practices with Chogyal Namakhai Norbu Rinpoche. I also met and worked with Wangdor Rinpoche and his lineage holder, Lama Lena, who visits Tourné, where she has been giving public and private teachings since 2011.

I teach a synthesis of movement and stillness, an eclectic method that honors the authentic source of the Buddha, the shaman, and the Tao. I have not sought public exposure. I taught meditation, qigong, and tai chi at the Lyon Zen Dojo for over six years. Today, I primarily teach in Tourné, Occitanie, where short retreats are offered throughout the year in a wide variety of subjects. Each season, a more intensive retreat is also offered.

Practices are tailored to the student's needs. I remain in contact with many students from around the world who have completed a six-year training program that I wrote and designed as a way to bridge the gap between daily life and spiritual practice.

What interests me most? That we can awaken peacefully and share kindness without judgment.

With a small group of long term students and practitioners we are building an enlightenment stupa at Tourné in accordance with the traditional methods. See our dedicated stupa website here