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 (an experience of unityconsciousness); 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 PERRENIAL 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-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 the body rooting-grounding and blooming-lifting. Explore the energetic effects of beginning asana practice standing, seated, supine, and supported by limbs.

PRACTICE & SHARE PRANAYAMA

Understand prana as energy, life-force, movement, process, and breath. Observe natural breathing and imagine the pancha mahabhutas (five great elements) comprising the body when breathing. Experiment with ujjayi pranayama practice as described in Hatha Yoga Pradipika and GherandaSanmhita.

PRACTICE PRATYAHARA

Practice self-reflective journaling as pratyahara. What does belonging mean to you? To whom or to what have you felt you belonged or not belonged?  What margins or centers do you occupy?  When and how did you understand these social locations? What shared agreement might be helpfulto facilitate who we want to be to each other?

PRACTICE DHARANA

Understand dharana as concentration on and contemplation of fundamental realities, where awareness rests on a particular experience or concept, 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. Consider keeping gratitude journal.

PRACTICE DHYANA

Understand dhyana as meditations on everythingness and nothingness, where awareness rests on interconnectedness and open experience. 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. Explore how personal liberation is bound up in each other. Co-create conscious community agreements. Chant Shanti Mantra (Peace Chant) for nourishing, uplifting, and enlightened study, practice, and relationship. Meet with mentor and peer groups.

CREATE YANTRA

Learn about yantras as mystical diagrams, revelation devices, and explorations of energy. Contribute an item representing something about yourself to co-create ourinitial community yantra. Allow this work of art to be a symbol of the start of our sangha (yoga community). Consider creating a personal practice space (simple, 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

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. Compare spinal regions and curves, identify types of spinal movements, explore the intrinsic equilibrium of spine, ribs, and pelvis.