My name is Jean-Bernard Nuaud.

I have been practising yoga with Tara for 14 years now and practising Tantra for 10 years.

In all those years I have learned many yoga techniques, purification methods, meditation methods, breathing exercises which have helped me over the course of those years to become more confident, happier, more disciplined, more social, less stressed, able to understand more the dynamic of life and understanding more the goal of my life.

In all those years, I have never been told what I should do or not, I have been given tools, exercises and techniques that can help me achieve different goals that I wish to achieve, but ultimately it is up to me to put them into practice for them to work.
One of the most valuable methods I got to know from this school is Karma yoga which is explained in the sacred Hinduism text, the Bhagavad Gita.

It is the path of unselfish action, it teaches that spiritual seekers should act according to one destiny without being attached to the fruits or consequences personally.

I have been practising this path of karma yoga with Tara for many years now, first in spiritual retreat/camps that the school would organise. I would take holiday from my everyday work to go there and offer my skills as a chef and nourish my soul through this action. I would of course be able to participate to the activities of the camp when the cooking and cleaning is done. It has always been a pleasure to offer my skills in this way and I have always gained many insights into my own being which I believe is the goal every spiritual seeker is after, no matter the methods one chooses to use for that end.

In recent years, Because I wanted to deepen this state of karma yoga and wanting to help the school more I offered more time on a weekly basis, managing reception of the Tara centre in London. This helped me grow and learn that what I knew as a chef can be applied in different ways.

Because of my desire to become a better human being, and the realisation that I cannot attain this by myself I also asked to live in an ashram, which is a place where there are specific rules, yoga practice together, meditation practices, and community building.

I lived in one ashram for over seven years, and I am so glad that I made this decision. I would not be here speaking with you with all that happened to me without it. It is hard at time of course but so rewarding after all.

In such an environment I have been able to practise different methods that I have learned in the yoga and tantra courses without having to justify myself or feeling awkward.

For example I decided a few years ago to experiment with the purification technique called vamana dauti. It consists of drinking lukewarm slightly salted water on an empty stomach, and to regurgitate it after a few minutes. I did this technique every morning for seven weeks, then every other day for seven weeks then every three days for another seven weeks and so on, until I did once a week for seven weeks.

The results were amazing – I experienced having more will power, feeling my abdominal area more relaxed, pure and healthy. It helped me become more aware of what I eat and how I eat.

I did it because I wanted to transform something in me and I choose from many of the techniques we learn in the course. I did it all from my own initiative without anyone telling me I had to do it.

The way I see it, each and everyone of us are free to do as we wish and to experiment with what we think is best for us.
Sometimes we may want to ask for advice to someone we think has more knowledge than us but always remembering that it was simply advice, and if we decide to follow it, we should take responsibility for the action we choose to do no one can force us to do anything if you do not wish to do so.

Tara school has helped me become the person I am today and has helped me meet amazing people I can call friends.
I wish that all that read this testimony will find such a wonderful community.

Tara and its teachings have been continuously transforming my life since I joined the school over three years ago. The place is truly remarkable; you can feel its loving and positive energy from the moment you enter the centre. Teachers are wonderful, creating a safe and supportive space for anyone seeking deeper spiritual knowledge, self-transformation, or inner healing. It is clear teachers practice what they teach, and their wisdom comes from direct experiences rather than just theoretical knowledge. It’s not easy to find authentic spiritual and tantric schools these days, so I’m very grateful for being introduced to Tara . I cannot recommend this place enough to anyone looking for a genuine tantric and yogic teaching surrounded by a supportive community of open-hearted people.

My journey at Tara started in October of 2019. I can say without exaggeration that joining Tara has been one of the most beneficial decisions I’ve ever made in my life. What is taught at Tara is techniques for living life holistically and more joyfully.

Some of the characteristics I like about Tara are:

1. The teachers are students themselves, which means that they share from their own experiences and practices, making it much easier to connect with what is being taught.

2. The teachers have so much love and respect for the students, and will go out of their way to help students.

3. I can discuss the toughest situations of my life with the teachers, without fear of being judged, knowing they will give me the best advice possible.

4. The weekly aspect of classes makes it easy to reconnect to the teachings and reignite the inspiration, even if one goes through an “off” period at times.

5. There is a strong community at Tara, consisting of both students and teachers. In fact, I have formed some of the deepest friendships of my life at Tara.

As part of my participation at Tara’s classes and workshops, I have gained so many benefits, so of which are:
I have learned what it means to love and live life from the heart. I can’t emphasize enough how transformational this has been for me.

The quality of my relationships, both romantic and platonic, have improved tremendously.

I have a deeper understanding of myself, my internal processes, and life in general.
I am so much more confident.

I can put together my own daily practice of asanas, pranayama, and meditations, depending on what I need at a given time and what I’m dealing with.

And according to those who have known me since before I joined Tara, I physically look better. I feel more alive, more at peace, and more radiant.

I’ve been attending yoga classes at Tara for the last 17 years and have been practising yoga for 21 years.
My experience at Tara has been life-changing, I have met amazing, heartful friends who have been supportive, true friends and this beautiful and unique circle of people have helped me enormously in my growing as a person but also as a spiritual being.
For me yoga is a sacred practice where one learns about how to be a better person, how to go through life’s challenges and be able to live a wonderful and rich life.
I must admit that mostly everything I know I have learnt through practising yoga and applying the teachings of this unique spiritual school.
Tara also offers other types of classes like astrology and angel groups. These have been very special for me as I always loved the stars and planets and could not imagine my life without the presence of angelic beings.
I will always be grateful for all the knowledge and direct experience I have gone through and will continue to, because they are so enriching. I know that I will always have these teachings as a priceless spiritual foundation.

I’ve been a student at Tara for 4 years.
 
I have also had the experience in my late teens of actually being in a spiritual school that was actually a cult and so I am quite familiar with what cult traits are and how they look like and can say with confidence today that Tara is not a cult.
 
I actually started my journey in Tara being suspicious of it being a cult, expecting to find many of the familiar traits the other school had of brainwashing, coercion, psychological manipulation, bribe, promises of some amazing afterlife on Earth, pressure, rules to obey, karmic penalties for not obeying them, not feeling free to choose without some negative option as a consequence, blind faith, non-sensical ideas that I had to accept without understanding, feeling that I wasn’t allowed to have doubts, question, use my own discrimination at all, or that meant I was on the wrong path, etc…
I never saw any such traits in Tara Yoga School.
No one ever forced me, coerced me, or made me feel bad for anything I did, think or didn’t do, or felt in this school.
 
Finding Tara Yoga Centre was a bit like a dream come true in fact, that I only realised with time. I had the desire of being part of a genuine spiritual community, of meeting other like-minded people who had the same intense aspiration for higher consciousness as I did in my childhood, and teenage years and life… I didn’t know I was going to find that, and a juiciness of life that I always felt lacking in our today’s world, amazing experiences with the Divine as I applied the teachings and practices, wonderful friendships, and a sense that this is how life was always meant to be lived, in this school.
 
There’s a night and day difference between what Tara Yoga Centre is and what a cult is.
We do things by personal choice, no strings attached, that is free psychologically and on every level.
I had struggled with guilt, and conflict for leaving my other school as if I would be destroying my life, as anyone who dared to leave would incur in a terrible karmic penalty of future lifetimes… forever.
With Tara, I could leave tomorrow, conscious free, no problem if I wanted… but I really don’t want to. Why leave a place that as the journey continues everything just keeps getting better, and better and from a place within, where there’s very little human interference, and that translates to life externally? Why leave a place that makes your life juicier and juicier, that takes you on a truly exhilarating adventure that fills your life with incredible sublime passion and wonder?
It’s almost like all that we humans chase in the life out there in the world, can not only still be chased to some degree, but now you actually taste the full luscious, delicious pulp of life in every second if you only open yourself to those high inner dimensions. All you need is to contact a deeper side of you, no one will do it for you, no one can, and access, activate a hidden inner power(s) within your Spirit. Is that simple, and is that beautiful simplicity that Tara offers to its students.
 
I also had contact with people who told me a lot of negative things about Tara, but my experience never encountered anything that they reported to me. In fact, I realised that some of those people had more of a tendency to give excuses, than making any spiritual effort (meditation, yoga, contemplation), there was a lot of talk, not much action towards really growing internally, … some also didn’t seem very open-minded to different opinions from others, than the ones they held…
I decided to follow my Spiritual heart instead which was what led me out of the cult and has allowed me a journey of inner discovery with incredible experiences that I did not imagine I was entering when I joined Tara Yoga School.
 
This is in my opinion and experience, the invitation of Tara Yoga Centre does: “Come discover a deeper Truth about yourself, by yourself, one that can never be imposed, or taken away from you, and is yours forever.”