Mysteries of Yoga

Symbology may be a fictional aspect of Dan Brown’s novels, but in Yoga, symbology is a potent technique – and I’ll help you see, decode and use it.

Yoga Sciences Institute’s Mysteries of Yoga workshops reveal the webs of meaning that lie just beneath the surface of yoga’s most basic practices and ideas. Our first two courses are currently being offered at locations in the Bay Area; a third, Secrets of the Serpent, is due for release in January 2011. Check our Events calendar for dates, times and venues.

I.  Seeing Samadhi: Discover the Secret of Concentration

*SUN, JAN 30 1-4PM: SUN ROOM, 2390 MISSION STREET, SF (Suggested Tuition $25) REGISTER NOW!

At the summit of the yoga path lies the great secret of samadhi; here you’ll find a gateway to entirely new experiences and realities.  Samadhi happens when a yogi concentrates so completely that mind and matter, internal and external, fuse together.

Yet it can be difficult to understand this master key to yoga solely through flat, linear language.So in this workshop, we’ll explore samadhi in a totally new way.

First, you’ll see what samadhi looks like symbolically, from both the ancient yogic and the modern scientific perspectives.

Then, we’ll use simple, practical yoga techniques to see samadhi experientially.

What You’ll Learn

1. How to understand samadhi as a kind of psychological ‘fusion’
2. How to ‘see’ samadhi with Yoga art traditions
3. How to practice a ‘fusion’ of postures with Safe Sun Salutation
4. How to eliminate tension without strain with Breath Freeing
5. How to practice gazing or tratakam to focus the mind
6. How to use the dream state to explore samadhi
7. How to use yantras, meditation diagrams, to steady the mind

All of this powerful information in a single three-hour seminar!

II. Perceiving Prana – Explore the Subtle Sensations of Yoga

Great discussions of yoga will often refer to something called prana, and almost every yoga class incorporates the practice of pranayama, control of the breath. Yet prana is much more than the breath – it is what yogis recognize as the ‘life-force.’

This is not an abstract concept. In fact, prana can easily be perceived  through attention and awareness.

The purpose of this workshop is to give you simple but powerful techniques that will allow you to perceive what the yogis call prana directly. Practically, you’ll learn pavana-mukta series, an easy, powerful way to release prana from the repeating patterns of muscular and mental tension in which it has become stuck.

Through the fascinating *symbolic language of the yogis,* you’ll master the images and concepts that express prana across time, space and culture

Experientially, I’ll show you how to use prana-awareness to discover that place where perceived inside and outside come together…

III. Secrets of the Serpent: From Symbol to Kundalini

Coming Soon: Decode the Symbology of the Serpent in Hatha Yoga thought and practice!

Upcoming Workshops

Each of the following workshops are in development, and will be released shortly.

I. Asana Practice and the Microcosm: “Unroll the mat, create the world”

II. Prāṇāyāma and the Serpent in Yoga Symbolism: “From Kuṇḍalinī to Ananta (Infinity)”

III.  Pratyāhāra and Corpse Symbolism: “Deep Relaxation in Yoga Practice ”

IV.  Dhyāna and the Lotus in Yoga Symbolism: “Be more like a plant!”

V.  Samādhi and the Fractal in Yoga Symbolism: “Holograms as Pictures of Concentration”

VI.  Mudrā and the Seal in Yoga Symbolism: “Where Meditation meets Physics”

VII.  OM: Master Key to Yoga Symbolism: “Where the beginning is the end…”