What is yoga? Where does it come from? Why do we do it? Where is it taking us?What is yoga? Where does it come from? Why do we do it? Where is it taking us?This workshop is an introduction to the ideas and history of yoga. We will explore some key definitions of yoga, locate them in history, and interrogate them in relation to our practices and priorities.
Foundations Workshop
This workshop is designed both for people who have never explored yoga history or philosophy before and those who would like to revisit the foundations.
The workshop will include
• Chanting
• Definitions of yoga through historical stages
• Key Sanskrit terms (yoga, karma, saṃsāra, mokṣa)• Introduce texts such as Pātañjali’s Yogasūtra, the Bhagavad Gītā, and the Haṭhapradīpikā
Whilst some information will be presented as a lecture, plenty of time will be devoted to your questions – what intrigues you. And drinking tea.
Resources
Texts will be provided. No prior reading is expected. If you do want to read something try Hamish Hendry’s 2014 Yoga Dharma.
The eleventh century Amṛtasiddhi teaches, for the first time, bodily practices that become central to haṭha yoga. The startling teachings are explained systematically, in terms of the nature of the body, the practices, and the results of the practice in this tantric Buddhist source text. In this course we will read the Sanskrit and discuss in English the section on ‘the body’ as set out in the first four chapters of the Amṛtasiddhi. The course comprises four online sessions and one in-person workshop in London.