Course Overview
In this course, you can expect weekly focus on the other 7 limbs of yoga, with particular attention to Yamas and Niyamas, namely:
Ahimsa (non-harming in thought, word and deed)
Satya (truthfulness)
Asteya (non-stealing)
Brahmacharya (moving in Brahma or 'right use of energy')
Aparigraha (non-greed or non-hoarding)
Saucha (Purity or Cleanliness)
Santosha (Contentment)
Tapas (Self Discipline or the fire of transformation)
Svadhyaya (Self Study)
Isvara-pranidhana (Surrender to something greater than self)
Yoga As A Living Practice
(4.5 hours per week for 14 weeks)
Course Description
Each week we will design classes around these principles, read yogic text, frame these concepts not only in the realm of personal practice, but social justice and societal wellbeing. Through dialogue and special guest lectures we will learn deeper applications of these principles which are so often brushed aside and forgotten in lieu of yogic postures and posturing.
Yoga is challenging, not because we are squeezing our bodies into pretzel-like shapes, but because we are tasked to remember what our minds are conditioned to forget, that we are not separate but unified beings. To engage with the world this way is revolutionary and counterculture. We are asked to confront the divisive conditionings and our own implicit biases that lead to racist, sexist, homophobic, xenophobia even in action or in the most subtle sense of thought. We are asked to pay attention to how we really feel which is not always pleasant.
Each week we begin to see our thoughts, emotions, and bodily sensations and take responsibility for our conditionings and communication with others; and we learn how to balance our daily lives. In this way, the juice of yoga can be integrated into daily living and daily relationship; and the purpose of yoga authentically to transform ourselves and the world in which we live can be realized.
Are you ready to bring a sense of purpose
to your practice?
Take this course if you want to:
Bring depth.
Bring depth to simple practices that are so often left out of “mainstream” yoga. Practices like pranayama and chair yoga as well as discourse around the ethical principles (yamas and niyamas) will set you up to introduce yoga to people who never thought it applied to them or reach those who never felt comfortable in a traditional mat class.
Avoid burnout.
Create the space in your home that supports a life of balance and resilience. Ayurveda is also central to this course. Expand your idea of what practice really means and create a lifestyle that supports longevity.
Transform.
The work of personal transformation opens doors to diverse classrooms, settings, and radical imaginings of ways to spread love.
With Anjali and her team of guest instructors and collaborators, we learn how to live our practice beyond the mat. We can begin to interact with each other with personal and community accountability. We can create a world more inclusive and welcoming to those we may see as different from ourselves. We can feel whole.