Philosophy of Yoga: Exploring Yoga's Roots

What is Yoga?  On the one hand, yoga is a spiritual pathway offering powerful rituals and meditation techniques that help us enter other states of consciousness. On the other, yoga is a system of practical techniques for living life in a healthy and holistic way from proper diet, physical kriya & postures, deep breathing and strengthening our bodies.

Yoga is both of these things and everything in between.

In this weekend intensive, we will explore the entire spectrum to discover the true heart of yoga.

We will:

• Learn about the Four Paths of Yoga: Raja, Jnana, Bhakti & Karma: How does our practice fit into these paths? Which path am I most suited to?
• Explore the Bhagavad Gita: an ancient poem describing a discussion between Arjuna the warrior (us) and Krisha (God) as Arjuna heads out onto the battlefield. This is a core teaching of yoga because it beautifully describes the inner struggle that each of us go through – the struggle that seems to be inherent in being human. When we can really look at it and see the advice given to have the courage to keep going, this is beautiful yoga.
• Explore Pantanjali’s Sutras: This is the other main yogic text that outlines much of what yoga is all about. But most importantly it describes the Eight Limbs of Yoga (Yamas, Niyamas, Asanas, pranayama, pratyahara, dharana, dhyana & Samadhi) which are central to any yogi’s teachings. They are topics that are important on the yoga mat. But they are more important in our lives. They give us techniques that help us to stay focused, become healthy, calm the mind, and ultimately find peace and happiness.
• Learn about many of the yogis who brought yoga to the West.
  
• Go inward using meditation, pranayama & kriyas to integrate the wisdom in these teachings to help us better understand where we are, how we can heal, and where we want to go.

For many people who practice yoga, we don't get a chance to delve deeply into where these practices come from. This weekend intensive is that chance to understand why we do what we do on the mat - to understand where our minds are supposed to be - why do we meditate in "this" way? Why do we practice in "that" way?

This weekend intensive is excellent for anyone who is interested in understanding what yoga is all about and how the ancient yogic texts make sense in our world today.

While this weekend will be a lot of lecture, discussion and group work, we will also be doing a lot of yoga practice – kriyas and meditation – to help us integrate and explore deeper within ourselves.

No yoga experience is necessary. Everyone is welcome.

This is Module VII of SOUL OF A TEACHER Teacher Training.

Instructor: Katrina Bos