MODULE 1
YAMAS & NIYAMAS
OBSERVING COLLECTIVE ETHICS & PERSONAL INTEGRITY
CONNECTING WITH ENVIRONMENT - EXPERIENCING COMMUNAL HARMONY
STUDY YOGA HISTORY & PHILOSOPHY
Explore the various meanings of the term “yoga” including: (i) yoga as an invitation to feel fully alive; (ii) yoga as a superconscious state of being; and (iii) yoga as certain perennial practices that, taken together, distinguish yoga from other wisdom traditions. Learn the story of Abhinava Gupta.
ENGAGE WITH A PERENNIAL YOGA PRACTICE
Learn about the eight perennial practices of yoga. Understand the yamas as collective ethics practiced externally, in relation to others, and the niyamas as personal integrities practiced internally, in relation to oneself. Consider how observing collective ethics and personal integrities connects us to community and the experience of harmony with our environment.
OBSERVE YAMAS & NIYAMAS
Imagine the yamas and niyamas as intuitive guides that ask us to continually self-reflect on our relationship with life and relational causes and effects. Compare the yamas and niyamas in Yoga Sutras of Patanjali with those in Hathayoga-Pradipika. Discover how linking-up specific yamas and niyamas creates a dynamic and diagnostic connection between the two.
PRACTICE & SHARE ASANA
Learn and teach integrating postures, including: samasthiti-tadasana, padmasana, virasana, dandasana, savasana, balasana, bitlasana, and bidlasana. Compare the energetic sensations of rooting-grounding and blooming-lifting. Explore the energetic effects of beginning asana practice standing, seated, supine, and supported by limbs. Experience supine yin postures.
PRACTICE & SHARE PRANAYAMA
Understand prana as energy, life-force, movement, process, and breath. Observe natural breathing, noticing the “felt sense” of the breath. Feel into where in the body you most naturally connect with the breath (i.e. nose, heart, or belly). Notice the difference in temperature, texture, and length of inhalations and exhalations.
PRACTICE PRATYAHARA
Understand pratyahara as an inward gaze - turning attention away from external input and toward internal thought and feelings. Practice self-reflective journaling for Module 1 as a form of pratyahara. Consider the audacity of rest – how it is counter to our cultural programing. Explore your feelings about rest.
PRACTICE DHARANA
Understand dharana as concentration on fundamental realities, where awareness rests on a particular experience and attention is directed to a single focus. Explore hasta mudras (hand gestures) that represent the five great elements as a point of focus for dharana. Practice gratitude meditation.
PRACTICE DHYANA
Understand dhyana as meditations on every-thingness and no-thingness, where awareness rests on interconnectedness and impermanence. Learn the three forms of dhyana practice: dhyana-maha, dhyana-abhava, and mantra. Understand mantra as energetic patterns inviting transformation. Chant the Om Mantra as collective community experience.
CO-CREATE CONSCIOUS COMMUNITY
Consider what it means to co-create a welcoming space. Reflect on conscious community agreements and how they impact co-creating a “strong container” capable of holding vulnerabilities and fostering connection. Chant Shanti Mantra (Peace Chant) for nourishing, uplifting, and enlightened study, practice, and relationship. Meet with mentor group.
CREATE YANTRA
Learn about yantras as mystical diagrams, revelation devices, and explorations of energy. Finger paint a small yantra that’s part of a larger community yantra. Allow this work of art to be a symbol of the start of our sangha. Consider creating a personal practice space devoted to your well-being – a “space” yantra. It can be simple, yet intentional - at home or in nature.
STUDY AYURVEDA
Explore ayurveda as the science of life that offers us a way of living in harmony with nature. Learn its origins. Consider how interconnectedness is a basic tenet of ayurveda (we have individual existence, but we are not independent of the whole) and how we are subject to internal and external forces of existence - the pancha mahabhutas (five great elements).
STUDY ANATOMY, PHYSIOLOGY & BIOMECHANICS
Consider benefits of yoga that are supported by science. Become familiar with biological individuality and the spectrum of human differences. Learn how Paul Grilley influenced the teaching of asana by highlighting the great range of anatomical variation. Explore the spine as the body’s central axis.