Practical Philosophy
Practical Philosophy Autumn 2024/Spring 2025 series:
•Yoga and broader Indic perspectives
•Veda and Upaniṣad-s, Yoga and Tantra, Haṭha Yoga Pradīpikā, Mythology and Teaching
Deepen your understanding of foundation principles of yoga to empower your work with yoga techniques and all aspects of Life.
Sessions are open to everyone. Each session works as a stand alone body of teaching. It is highly recommended to commit and attend the whole series.
These sessions also constitute part of the Yoga Immersion/Teacher Training/Two Year Yoga Education Program
September Sessions
September 2nd
Let’s begin - the ‘opening mantra’ The ashtanga ‘opening mantra’ - vande gurūṇām + ābāhu puruṣākāram
- Have you ever wondered what the opening mantra is all about?
- Why do we recite at the beginning of practice?
- How can it help set an energetic blueprint and powerful yogic intention?
- What are some of the rich layers of meaning it encodes and invites us to explore through our practice?
- What are some of the rich layers of meaning it encodes and invites us to explore through our practice?
In this session, we’ll learn how to pronounce the opening mantras with clarity, confidence and feeling, exploring their rich layers of inviting meaning and how they can serve to empower and expand our practice.
September 23rd
Zero, One, Two, Three, Pūrṇamadaḥ
Consciousness, Nature and the Human Experience.
The yogic vision and understanding of where we have come from.
Cultivating oneness, connection in this world of duality, nuance and multiplicity.
Fullness and Emptiness, Totality and the Void, with reference to the pūrṇamadaḥ peace mantra from Īśa Upaniṣad
September 30th
Three is a Magic Number
Guṇa-s, Doṣa-s, Three-fold definitions of reality: saccidānanda, satya-ṛta-bṛhat, kriyā yoga: tapaḥ-svādhyāya-īśvarapraṇidhāna, three-fold path: karma, jñāna, bhakti.
October Sessions
October 14th
Four Aims and Stages of Life
Puruṣārthāḥ – four aims of life, four stages of life, and freeing ourselves from karmabandhana – the binding influence of action
October 21st
Five Acts of consciousness
Working skilfully with the gifts of incarnation.
Five Tantric āgama-s, pulsation, cycling, everything is the means
October 28th
Six Schools of Orthodox Indic Philosophy and How Yoga works
Six Schools of Orthodox Indic Philosophy and How Yoga works with and links them all Darśana-s – perspectives, yoga – perception, learning, knowing Pramāṇa: means of valid knowledge and the cultivation of deepening discernment.
Orthodox Vedic and non-Vedic ‘schools’.
November Sessions
November 4th
Seven days a week
The nature of yoga practice, with reference to Yoga Sūtra and Bhagavad Gītā.
Working with cyles. Qualities of the days/planets for practice.
Tailoring a sustainable, evolving practice.
November 11th
Octopus Yoga
Eight Limbs, One Body and Passing Through the eye of a needle.
Introduction to the aṣṭāṅga yoga from Yoga Sūtra
November 18th
Eight Limbs Continued
The essential practice, the aṣṭāṅga as the elaboration of principles already encoded in Chapter One of Yoga Sūtra.
Pratipakṣabhāvana – what to do when tendencies that would pull us away from yoga rise up
November 25th
Navarasa, Nāṭyaśāstra and Nāṭarāja
Yoga: Cultivating dynamic equilibrium in the dance-drama of Life.
Rasa and Bhāva, feeling, flavour and drinking deep from the cup of Life