This 30-hour, comprehensive overview of the
shared principles of these two intertwining
spiritual paths is unique in depth and
practicality. We wanted to lay out the basic
strategic information and practical advice
that would be most useful to the practitioner
of Yoga (on any level) who wants to use
spiritual naturopathy to support their journey
of self-awareness. Yoga teachers, and
yoga-influenced physiotherapists, pilates
instructors, and bodyworkers will find this
material to be of particular interest and
meaning to their personal and professional
lives.
This course is the 6th of 9 courses in RYA's
Ayurvedic Health Educator Certification
Programme. There are no prerequisites,
although a grasp of Ayurvedic language and
familiarity with the Yogic worldview will be
of help. If you wish to attend this course
but have no previous Ayurvedic learning, we
will advise on supplementary reading before
the course begins to acquaint you with basic
Ayurvedic principals.
The 12 class outlines are as follows (all
lectures are given by Matthew Remski; all
asana classes are instructed by Dennison
Smith):
Class One: The case for the
union of Yoga and Ayurveda though shared
world-view and goals
- What Patanjali's mother knew
- The false separation of 'spiritual' and
'worldly' concerns
- The difficulty of householders digesting a
renunciate tradition
- The need to sort out money, food, and sex
before spiritual life can go anywhere
- Overview of Ayurveda, Tantra, and Yoga as
distinct but interpenetrating worldviews
- "You don't send me flowers anymore" - how
Ayurveda and Yoga have drifted apart in their
Western migration and why they must be
re-integrated.
Class Two: asana: focus on
the stability of earth and water elements; the
building qualities of kapha
- Essential techniques for grounding the
femurs, balancing the pelvis, anchoring the
shoulder girdle, and standing with strength
and equipoise
Class 3: Reading Patanjali
Through Ayurveda
- Patanjali's greatest hits seen through the
eyes of Ayurveda (Ayurvedic translation of
verse 1: "Ayurveda is used to pacify the
patterns of rajas and tamas as they manifest
in the body-mind and disturb the elements and
doshas.")
- Sickness as the first of all obstacles to
spiritual practice.
- The physiology of tapas (spiritual
sweating).
- The concept of the antidote applied on
dietary, mental, and spiritual levels.
- 4 levels of karma: is constitution and
spiritual predisposition determined or
self-guided?
- The herbs of Yoga.
Class 4: Krsna and Ayurveda
- The Bhagavad Gita on the senses
- radiance, passion, and inertia
- Yoga and personal dharma
- The endless sacrifice: inhale into exhale,
food into fire, fire into perfume
- Ayurvedic tips from Hatha Yoga Pradipika
Class Five: asana:
opposing actions, and the function of pitta,
tapas, agni
- The physical antidote: extending the
peripheral body by grounding the centre
- Invigorating fire on all levels through
intelligent backbending
Class Six: Asana and Ayurveda
- general support practices and considerations
- Is instruction in asana complete without
Ayurveda?
- Ayurvedic Theory of exercise
- Ayurvedic support for asana practice:
herbs, etc.
- Health conditions best treated through
asana
- How does asana manage vata dosha?
- How is constitution reflected in movement
patterns?
Class Seven: Asana and
Ayurveda 2 - details and focus on the vayus
- Good asana strategies for vatas, pittas,
and kaphas, depending on skill level, season,
and personal circumstance
- Heating and cooling properties of asanas
- Asana: tonifying or purifying?
- The five movements of prana and their
functions
Bringing Ayurveda into your teaching practice
Class
Eight: asana:
architecture of the breath
- movements of the 5 vayus in standing
postures and sun salutations
- pranayama on the 5 vayus
Class Nine: Yamas and Niyamas
- Interpersonal ethics that purify the body
and mind
- Internalized attitudes that are difficult
to cultivate in our culture
- Getting specific about stealing: in what
ways to we steal from the Earth?
- Getting specific about non-grasping and
contentment: is modern credit-culture ethical
or sustainable?
- The political and physiological economics
of extraction (oil, refined sugar, labour),
and addition (estrogenic culture, nutritionism,
and the ideas behind steroids)
- Sex and modern Yogi
Class Ten: Samyama
- Purposes of meditation
- Styles of meditation and their
appropriateness according to constitution
- 5 qualities of the mind
- 5 modes of mental activity and/or focus
- Tips from the Tibetans: preparing for
meditation, obstacles to meditation and their
antidotes
Class Eleven: asana: putting
it all together
- Experiencing all 3 bio-spiritual functions
- Sublimating vata, pitta, and kapha into
prana, tejas, and ojas
- yoga nidra on the sankhya tattvas (from
subtle to gross and back again)
Class Twelve: how yoga
practice develops over time and life cycle:
idealizing your daily routine
- The ideal day: waking hours, eating times,
career objectives, hygiene, elimination,
contemplative practice
- The doshas and the stages of life
- The Vedic stages of life: 4 ashramas
- Template of personal evolution
- Yogic retirement planning: life-cycle
transformation and cleansing
- Asana as therapy for aging
- What to do when you become really and
perhaps irreversibly sick
- Falling in love with your mortality
