As many of you may be aware, I have been offering a monthly workshop on various aspects of yoga philosophy at the studio. These workshops are normally held on the 3rd Saturday of the month. My main objective in teaching these sessions is to share the underlying concepts of the practice of yoga as given in the ancient yoga texts.
I started these workshops with the main intent of discussing the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali. In his Yoga Sutras, Patanjali has provided the very essence of the philosophy and teachings of yoga in a highly scientific and systematic exposition. The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali (YSP) are one of the six darshanas (Sanskrit word for philosophy) of Hindu schools of philosophy and a very important milestone in the history of Yoga. The book is a set of 195 aphorisms (sutras), which are short, terse phrases designed to be easy to memorize. Though brief, the Yoga Sutras is an enormously influential work that is just as relevant for yoga philosophy and practice today as it was when it was written. A study and understanding of the Yoga Sutras can bring about a very positive transformation in one’s life.
I started these workshops about two years ago. In the first go-round, which lasted twelve monthly sessions, I presented the concepts from the yoga sutras at a high level. In these talks I tried to highlight and emphasize how these concepts are applicable in our day-to-day lives.
At a suggestion from many of the students, after completing the study of the Yoga Sutras, I presented a few sessions on the essential teachings of the Bhagavad Gita. Bhagavad Gita is one of the very important texts that is considered to contain the very essence of the teachings of the Vedas and the Upanishads.
Subsequently, I also presented several sessions on the topics of Kundalini, Nadis and the Chakras which are derived from the Tantric philosophical system.
After completing the presentation on the Chakras, I have decided to go back to the study of the Yoga Sutras. This time, however, I plan to go a little deeper into the sutras and discuss some of the major sutras one by one. In the previous go-round, I only discussed the overall philosophy without referring to the individual sturas.
I invite you to join me for these ongoing workshops so you can deepen your understanding of yoga, its philosophy, psychology and the practice and how it can positively bring about a transformation at a deeper level.
Any podcasters out there? I can use your help …
In order for the participants of these workshops to be able to review the material presented after the session, I have been making an audio recording of all the sessions available to the participants. I am now planning to make these recordings available to a wider audience by converting them into podcasts and putting them up on "itunes". That way more people can benefit by listening to and understanding the yoga concepts.
I have been doing some research on the web as to how to make podcasts and publish them online. It seems like there are multiple ways of doing it and each has some pros and cons. At this point in time, I am not sure which approach might be the easiest and the best for me.
If you are familiar with creating and publishing podcasts, I will truly appreciate any help that you can provide so I can decide on the best option for me. I look forward to hearing from you.
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