Ayurveda Weekend - The Science of Life

What if you could learn the wisdom of Ayurveda not just from a manual, but through your senses, your breath, and every bite on your plate? Across this immersive 20-hour weekend, our leadership team—featuring guest chef and Ayurvedic expert August—guides you through a felt, responsive approach to healing. Every meal, snack, and herbal tea is fully included and chef-prepared as an edible lesson in elemental medicine. You will taste the doshas in action, explore guided silent eating rituals, and learn to fluidly adapt movement, breathwork, and lifestyle practices to meet the real-time energy of your students and your own life.

This training is offered as an intimate immersion: while anchored within our advanced 300-hour cohort, we have opened a limited run of just 8 guest spaces for outside teachers, wellness practitioners, and dedicated seekers.

What We’ll Explore

• Culinary Medicine with Chef August: Fully integrated Ayurvedic meals, specialized midday snacks, and medicinal teas. Learn how spices, flavors, and mindful eating rituals actively shift physical and energetic states.

• Ayurvedic Foundations: Understand Prakriti (constitution) vs. Vikruti (current imbalance), the 20 attributes, and how to use the law of opposites to restore equilibrium.

• The Three Doshas in Depth: Dedicated explorations of Vata, Pitta, and Kapha—examining their daily rhythms, stages of life, and the physical habits that reveal when an element is out of balance.

• Adaptive, Embodied Practices: Experiential sessions focused on grounding, cooling, and energizing the body. Learn to fluidly integrate asana, mudras, and pranayama to meet students exactly where they are in the moment.

• Practicum & Integration: Synthesize your weekend experience into actionable teaching skills, closing rituals, and a clear framework for your practicum hours.

Event Logistics

• Dates: Saturday, October 3 & Sunday, October 4

• Schedule: Saturday 8:00 AM – 6:00 PM | Sunday 7:00 AM – 3:30 PM

• Investment: $500 per person (Includes 30 hours of curriculum, all adaptive practices, and all chef-prepared meals, snacks, and teas).

• Availability: Limited to 8 guest spots to preserve the intimate, conversational nature of the cohort.

GUEST CHEF AND AYURVEDA COACH:

Augustus Taylor - www.augustustaylor.com

Augustus Taylor is an intuitive guide and conscious caterer whose work lives at the intersection of science, ancient healing traditions, and modern self-study. Holding a B.A. in Biology, Augustus has spent years deepening that scientific foundation through continued study in Ayurveda, yoga, meditation, breathwork, Reiki, sound therapy, and Non-Violent Communication — drawing from practitioners and traditions across the globe.

Augustus serves the community through catering health-based retreats and private events, as well as through mentoring and private cooking under Solace Eats and Augustus Taylor Coaching. This work is rooted in the belief that the way we eat, cook, and nourish ourselves is inseparable from the way we live — and that food, when prepared with intention, becomes a practice of presence, restoration, and connection.

Through customized ayurvedic wellness plans and conscious catering collaborations, Augustus creates meals designed to support the body's natural rhythms, helping guests slow down, reconnect with their senses, and experience a deeper sense of rest and clarity. This approach is guided by three core values — respect, courage, and authenticity — the belief that every life experience is unique, that peace requires honest self-reflection, and that true essence goes beyond persona.

Over the past decade, Augustus's path has moved through cultures, health traditions, and personal transformation, integrating ancient practices with modern therapeutic approaches to build a life — and a body of work — centered on self-awareness, compassion, and authentic expression.

GUEST LEAD AND AYURVEDIC PRACTITIONER:

KEELY DICKENSON - RYT 200, Professor at Maharishi Ayurveda and Integrative Medicine, Consciousness Advisor

Keely Dickenson lives in Buffalo, Illinois.  She has two children, Charlie and Liam, who are the light of her life. A lifelong lover of nature and animals, she shares her home with several rescue pets and a wonderfully unpredictable stream of animals in need.

Keely earned her BA in Communication in 2007 and her MA in Human Services, Child and Family Services in 2015, both from the University of Illinois. She later earned her MS in Ayurveda and Integrative Medicine from Maharishi International University.  Today, she works as an Ayurvedic Practitioner, yoga instructor and instructor for MIU's Physiology and Health Department, Maharishi Ayurveda and Integrative Medicine graduate program.

A U.S. Army combat veteran, Keely served for eight years as an Aviation Operations Specialist with a Black Hawk helicopter unit, including an 18-month deployment to Iraq from 2003 to 2005. After her military service, she spent 12 years in a senior human resources role with the State of Illinois. She eventually took a leap of faith, leaving her established career to care for and homeschool her son and to pursue a more meaningful path centered on healing, consciousness, and service.

Keely is a certified Consciousness Advisor through Dr. Tony Nader’s Consciousness Campaign, a Registered Yoga Teacher (RYT-200), and the Illinois State Ambassador for Veterans Yoga Project (VYP).   Her yoga training specializes in mindful resilience for trauma (MRT).  A longtime practitioner of Transcendental Meditation, she first discovered TM while searching for clarity and healing from post-traumatic stress.

Her work brings together her experience as a veteran, mother, educator, and practitioner. Keely is especially passionate about supporting fellow veterans, neurodivergent children, and others affected by trauma by sharing the healing potential of connecting to Consciousness through time in nature, Transcendental Meditation, yoga, pranayama, and Ayurveda. Her ultimate goal is to help make these practices compassionate, practical, and accessible to the people who need them most.

YOUR FACILITATORS:

Jenn Robb of OM Home – C-IAYT, E-RYT 500, YACEP, RYS 200, RYS 300

Jenn is a total pro in the yoga world, with C-IAYT, E-RYT500, YACEP, RYS200, and RYS300 certifications under her belt. She's also a Sound Therapy Practitioner, Ayurvedic Nutritionist, and Mindfulness Coach. She works with Veterans Yoga Project as a Teacher Development Specialist and helps facilitate their Mindful Resilience Programs. Before going all-in on yoga, Jenn started out in 2004 as a Professional Organizer, helping folks get a handle on their time, space, and thoughts. After her amazing yogi mom passed away from cancer in 2015, Jenn really dove deep into her yoga practice, focusing on grief, PTSD, and trauma-informed approaches. She's super passionate about sharing these invaluable tools.

Courtney Sutherland of Unlocking You Yoga Therapy – C-IAYT, E-RYT 500, YACEP, RYS 300

Courtney is a Yoga Therapist who's been teaching yoga full-time since 2007. With over 1000 hours of training, 13 years managing studios, and more than 10,000 classes taught, she brings a ton of knowledge to this Teacher Training. What really gets her going is empowering yoga teachers to confidently share their unique spin on this transformative practice in their classes, workshops, and private lessons. She's incredibly passionate about making sure teachers have the understanding they need to create classes that truly serve their students' needs—body, mind, and spirit—while letting each teacher's individual creativity, joy, and love for yoga shine through.