Yoga for Transformation: Journey to OneSelf

Friday, December 2, 2011: 6 pm - 9 pm, Journey to OneSelf
Explore the nature of human experience at every level, and the means and methods evolved in the Yogic and Tantric traditions to help us overcome suffering, achieve our goals, and realize our true nature. Teachings will draw from: the Upanisads, Sankhya Karika, Patanjali Yoga Sutra, and the Hatha Yoga Pradipika. A comprehensive set of yoga techniques will be used including: asana, pranayama, chanting, and meditation. The practices and experiences of the workshop are intended to nourish the physical, energize the vital, educate the intellect, refine the personality, and fulfill the heart. Don't miss this opportunity to explore these teachings which function in an integrated way, rather than as discrete and separate practices.

Saturday, December 3, 2011: 10 am - 1 pm, Anna Sakti: Breath-Centric Asana
For many of us today, asana practice has been a valuable tool to help us understand our anatomy and achieve a greater degree of structural integrity including stability, strength, and flexibility. But asana in the context of the integrated practices of yoga and Tantra offers more than this valuable anatomical integration. We'll focus on asana postures as "prana pumps," designed to deepen your breathing and remove obstructions to the flow of prana throughout the body. Integrated practice and discussion.

Saturday, December 3, 2011: 2:30 pm - 5:30 pm, Prana Sakti: The Nervous System and the Mind
Pranayama practice is one of the greatest and most unique methods developed by the yoga and Tantric traditions. Pranayama helps us create sympathetic/parasympathetic balance and thereby optimize our physiological well-being. At the same time, the practice helps us gain control over our mind's ever-changing thoughts and emotions. We'll focus on pranayama as a means to stabilize our minds and balance our emotions. Then we'll use asana and pranayama in an integrated practice to serve this end. Integrated practice and discussion.

Sunday, December 4, 2011: 10 am - 1 pm, Mano Sakati: Language, Chanting, and Mantra
When we are disconnected from our senses, consciousness is drawn into the twists and turns of memory and the complexity of our past, which conditions our thoughts about ourselves, our attitudes, our priorities, and our goals. Meditation begins as we master the fluctuation of our attention and can begin to direct our minds rather than be "pulled along." Once we begin to gain this control, we can set a new direction for our lives. We'll integrate asana, pranayama, chanting, and mantra to support us in meditation, including inquiry and self-reflection, as a way to re-align our actions with our priorities. Integrated practice and discussion.

Sunday, December 4, 2011: 2:30 pm - 5:30 pm, Buddhi Sakti: Mantra and Meditation
Language is at the root of our experience of ourselves and the world around us. So it's no surprise that yoga and Tantra masters, who were searching for the knowledge that would help humans transcend suffering and achieve freedom, developed methods using language to change conditioning and gain knowledge that leads to freedom. We'll use asana, pranayama, and chanting in an integrated way to move toward this end. Integrated practice and discussion.

*This course is also available for one unit of academic credit for CIIS students

Read Gary Kraftsow's Biography