IGOR KUFAYEV 

“As it developed, my involvement with Igor and his community (sangha) is first and foremost based on my heartfelt relationship with him: I love and honor Igor as an exalted realizer of the highest order, as well as a brilliant aesthete and artist, a glorious human being, and a dear friend.  I love the way he does his work as a spiritual teacher and am most grateful to be a member of the sangha of devotees that has arisen around him.  

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During retreats, which he calls Immersions, Igor conducts group meditations that begin with focus on the breath, and that open up into collective exultations of involuntary vocalizations and movements which Igor calls kriyas.  During these meditations participants relax to enable spontaneous unintended actions, including shouting, weeping, laughing, singing, glossolalia (speaking in tongues), asanas (yoga postures), mudras, grimaces, trembling, rhythmic movements, as well as inner sensations, emotions, visions, sounds, flows of energy, trances, transcendent states of silence, and even catatonic samadhi (inner absorption.  These activities and inner experiences release accumulated stresses, including, I believe, deep early life traumas, balance the physiology, and expand awareness.

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I was fortunate to happen to have attended the first Immersion in which Igor offered meditation in November of 2014.  From what I have personally experienced and have seen in others so far after having practiced this relatively new technique with groups for less than 45 days over the last two years, I regard Igor’s meditation as the most effective transformative process that I have encountered during a lifetime of spiritual exploration.  As I rejoice in remarkable awakenings that I see in other members of the sangha, I feel that my awareness has made enormous leaps from mind to heart and that my vision and wisdom are opening in unprecedented ways..."

I remember my first encounter with Igor in a very energetic way. We sat together and I felt incapable of speaking, as all words would have just felt untrue. But there was something else cutting through the discomfort of my mind. Beneath that speechlessness lay a deep communication, an understanding beyond words, a flow of such knowing and resonating, an exchange of information words would never achieve.

This is the power of transmission. Before I even knew what that term meant, I experienced the deep communication between Hearts — not as the place of emotion and feelings — but as the abode of the Soul. A place where the mind cannot enter. A place that knows already. And this is, as I know today, how I was brought into the hands of my Teacher — by the calling of my Soul...

From my perspective, this transformative work, known as “The Path of the Heart,” is intensely personal and individual, and cannot really be conveyed or understood through verbal or written teachings. It is orchestrated by Divine Grace, with our Teacher, Igor ~ Vamadeva, acting as the vessel or Principle through which that Divine Cosmic Power — Shakti — flows and is transmitted, thereby initiating and enlivening the process of divine energetic transformation within each of us. This process expands and becomes more refined over time, as that unfathomable relationship — that Heart-to-Heart connection between Teacher-student — is established and grows deeper and stronger. Simply put, it is quite literally Love pouring into Love, and is that portal through which Grace continuously and effortlessly flows from Teacher to student. This is the very essence and core of this life-changing work...

This is the path of joy and heartbreak and joyous heartbreak. It is the path of finding trust by finally giving up hope for ever finding something different than what is. The path of the utter freedom found in the inability to escape from yourself. The Path of the Heart allows no bypassing, no laziness. Eventually every shadow is brought to the surface to be dispelled by the increasing light of awareness, which is the light of Love. This is no mere philosophy; no smug meeting of “awakened” ones who use their “understanding” to distance themselves from their own suffering. On this path we are finally given the means to answer the constant call of the Heart to be ripped open once and for all, to meet the beauty and terror and joy of life with a new face of constant amazement. To birth ourselves anew not just once, but again and again until there can be no more forgetting because there is nothing to remember — only newness and the eternal radiance of Love. And it is from there that we start to learn a new way of living on the Earth...

There have been stages and phases along the way: In the beginning, passionate, obsessive, all-consuming love and longing. Then an intense “dark night of the soul,” the fruits of which, among many, were a maturing where I “saw” my Teacher in a fuller, more human view. Now, at this current moment, (October 2016) I experience this Teaching, even more than ever, as a priceless gift and also a challenge: Can I use and allow this Relationship, this undeniable knowing that this is my Teacher and this is my Path... still, can I use this as the support, the driver, the motivation to offer up, to let go of, all that obstructs and covers my own Self, my own Heart, into the fire that purifies and burns through to Essence? It is a painful process and requires faith, trust, courage; requires continual returning to, and resting in the Heart. And the Teacher is the Heart...

I can only touch the deeper meaning of this path from deep inside my Heart. Every time I try to write about it, I’m amazed in which direction the words flow this time. As if the very presence, the very power inherent and alive in this Teaching does not want to be captured in the same words twice. To me this very presence is the Great Mother Herself, Ma. She has a thousand different faces and endless possibilities to express Herself, or if She wishes, to veil Herself. She is pure Love. I can see Her awe-inspiring dance in the Being of my Teacher. He is the empty and overflowing vessel for Her sacred energies, the embodiment and powerful conduit for Grace. If you ask me, I would say, Vamadeva himself is the path. That’s what he truly is. He himself is the Teaching. Since I met him the first time, I never left his presence again. Wherever I am, I sit at his feet. And through his I Grace recognized that there is no Teaching outside of my own Self...

“This work is direct, alchemical, and powerful. This is a confluence of all paths which lead to compassion, love and union with our divine nature. Grace is the touchstone. The work is as magical and raw as childbirth. Igor is that midwife to the birthing consciousness. He is that catalyst which transforms us to full maturity in this process of Self-realization.”

“This work is a journey into the great mystery of the Heart. It is a surrendering of preconceived ideas about who we are, what is right or wrong, life's purpose, and even what transformation is all about. Its aim is to birth the Self in all its glory, revealing as it does so the true nature of that Self and allowing Life to be lived from the awakened Consciousness of the Heart.

An adept at facilitating the awakening of Heart-centered consciousness in his students, Igor Kufayev brings a dynamic union of heart and mind to this work that is at once beautifully tender, passionately fierce, and unapologetically Real. His dynamic power, embodiment of the awakened state, and keen awareness of the needs of each of his students on the path to Self-Realization enable the simultaneous melting and strengthening of the Heart, necessary to the goal. This transformational process is further supported by Igor's unfathomable depth of knowledge and utter commitment to those who themselves commit to this work.”

“I believe his voice and presence is really needed in our community. I wish I could put into words the value and importance of what he offers.  Working with Igor moved me from the life of a seeker, to Life itself.  And beyond my own flowering, I see Igor as part of the rising of the Divine Feminine in our world. I believe he hasn't yet been fully recognized for what is he and what he is doing, because we - collectively - are still very caught up in an outdated mindset that doesn't always allow us to know what we are seeing.  We don't yet have the eyes to see or the ears to hear, although that is coming. Igor's is the voice of Shakti, rising within Shiva to enliven our awareness. The path that Igor teaches is one of deep respect for the power of the Feminine, for that infinite life force that is the source of all spiritual practices and traditions. It is a path of Grace, of beauty, of innocence - sometimes graceful and gentle, sometimes fierce and powerful - like the Mother.”