What lessons do the traditional yoga texts have to teach us in this modern-day life?
The two texts typically covered in yoga teacher trainings are Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras and Svatmarama’s Hatha Pradipika, but there’s a wealth of texts that influence the yoga practice beyond these two compilations. Often it is hard to understand the link between these seemingly esoteric books and our modern day lives, but in this immersion we will dive in and explore the practices shared by the rishis from the bizarre to the extremely practical. You’ll find that some techniques you already practice, and you’ll discover others that provide benefit to your daily routines and rituals. As we look closely, we’ll examine how the limbs of yoga shift from text to text, and that we’ve lost some of the preparatory techniques and practices as we’ve distilled the meditation practices to fit our modern lives. Discover the roots of the asanas we still practice today, and find a few new ones that provide benefit to your yoga practice.
What’s Covered
- Understand the categories of Vedic and post-Vedic texts and where current texts often referred to by the yoga world fit in.
- Explore the structure and history of the texts most applicable to our modern-day yoga practice, including the Sutras, the Pradipika, and the Samhitas of Gheranda, Goraksha, and Shiva.
- Dive into the practices shared in these ancient works and discover the preliminary practices we have done away with and the abbreviations or changes that have been made to our modern-day yoga, meditation, and self-care routines.
- Learn and experience asana practices, pranayama practices, and meditations directly from the texts and understand the beauty and the limitations of practicing from a codified set of instructions
- Understand that there is no one way; even among a short canon of texts you’ll learn that everything varies, from names of practices to the number of limbs yoga has (it’s not always eight, and it’s not always the same eight!).
Pre-Requisites
- Completion of a 200-hour YTT program OR completion of two Om Fairy® immersions
- A serious interest in the content of the immersion.