Born in Bratislava, Slovakia, Matej is of western Slavic origin. At the age of 20 he became deeply inspired by the book "Light on Yoga" by B.K.S.Iyengar. He began practicing Yoga, incorporating Yogic and Tantric techniques into his own daily sadhana practice, as well as adopting the eight-limb concept of Ashtanga Yoga as explained by the sage Patanjali.
For over 3 years Matej lived and traveled in India spending extensive time in Mysore studying with Shree Bharath Shetty. He is inspired by Hindu mythology, tantra, and bhakti.
After being inspired by a vision that came to him in a dream, Matej started dedicating more and more time to the studies of shamanic healing, following ancient Slavic shamanic practices worshiping Slavic pagan gods, conducting ceremonies using drums and other different musical instrument to achieve shamanic state of being.
Matej recently spends extensive time every year in the rainforests of Peru partaking in devotional practices to deepen his knowledge of shamanic healing. He has also undertaken a very strict shamanic diet which lasted almost two years.
On special occasion, Matej also uses ayahuasca in his ceremonies. (He will be conducting one ayahuasca ceremony during the Conference).
Matej is known world wide for his very accomplished asana practice along with his ability to ever refine the more subtle practices that comprise yoga. He has shared his experience through workshops, retreats and classes since 2001 in Germany, Slovakia, Spain, Cambodia, China, India, Japan, Malaysia, Nepal, Vietnam, Singapore and Thailand.
He teaches all levels of yoga with equal dedication and passion, promoting spiritual and mental inquiry to cultivate personal manifestation. He is devoted to Mother Earth, environmental and ecological solutions, social justice and peace.
Matej is the founder of Shrivatsa Yoga - a unique method of realizing the full human potential through Yoga and Shamanism as the vehicle.
During the Conference, Matej will be conducting a workshop about Yoga and Shamanism, for more information click here.
more information about his work can be found on www.shrivatsayoga.com
