Instructor:
Scott Petrie
Winter semester
2010:
Level 2:
Wednesdays 7- 9pm, starting 1/13/10
Level 1:
Thursdays, 7-9pm, starting 1/14/10
Cost: $300 plus GST
per 10-class semester
Click here to register online.
Description:
The Advanced Yoga Philosophy
Program is a series of 10 week courses which will enrich
any student's practice and appreciation of
yoga. These studies are for everyone who wishes
to gain a deeper understanding of yoga's
history and central ideas. It provides
insight into where yoga came from, what yoga
is today, and how one can use this information
to develop a meaningful yoga practice for
one's self.
The AYPP provides students with an overview
of the ancient tradition of yoga through
discussion and comparative analysis of its
history and philosophy. This course both
looks to yoga's past as it looks to its future
- recognizing that we are all modern
practitioners, and that modernism has
much to offer to the of understanding of yogic
philosophy - comparing yogic philosophy
with contemporary philosophies of mind
including: psychology, psychoanalysis,
physics, biology, religion, and ancient and
contemporary western and eastern philosophies.
The AYPP asks students to develop a deeper
relationship to the ancient ideas of yoga in
the first hour of class. This
is accomplished through practical application
and study of the texts, language and
techniques of yoga so that every
student's practice will be firmly rooted in
the foundation of traditional teachings. In
the second hour, the central theme of that
week's class will be expanded upon and
critiqued in light of modern theories as we
analyze yoga's evolution in the modern world
and its journey to the West.
Level One:
Week 1-2
A Self Divided: the theory that we are of
two minds/natures. Which self rules? Is yoga
the union that heals this divide? Yoga Sutras:
in defense of reason. Bhagavad Gita: an
argument against reason.
Week 3-4
Rta: Change is the Only Constant. The
desire of permanence in yoga. Krishnamurti on
the impermanence of Truth. Sri Aurobindo
on the Divine as evolving.
Week 5-6
Love and Attachment: The yogic ideals of
isolation and detachment vs. compassion and
dharma. Attachment as a positive force:
Kramer/Alstad the Passionate Mind. The
Brahmo Samaj and the yoga of social action.
Week 7-8
The Physics of Yoga: Samkhya: The ancient
understanding of nature and our place in it.
Modern physics and the yogi: the relationship
between yoga philosophy and science. Kashmiri Shaivism
and the power of sound. Siddhas, super powers
and seeing beyond physics.
Week 9-10
TBA. Will be determined by student input
once the course has begun.
Level Two:
The fourth semester of the AYPP will focus
upon the history and philosophy of Modern
Yoga. This short period, from 1850 to the
present, is responsible for the most rapid
changes and innovations to the practice and
philosophy of yoga in its long history. We
shall look at Yoga's journey beyond India's
borders, its encounter with the West,
science, modernism, consumerism.
We
shall also discuss the development of
numerous new schools including Sivananda,
Self-Realization Fellowship, Theosophy,
Vivekananda, the Brahmo Samaj, Kundalini,
the Himalayan Institute, Sri Rama Krishna,
Integral Yoga of Sri Aurobindo and the
Mother, Transcendental Meditation, Kripalu,
Krishnamurti, Siddha Yoga, Krishnamacharya,
Iyengar and Patabi Jois, and the many
others. Some overarching themes we will use
to help us tie together our investigation of
this highly dense period of yoga history
will include the idea of freedom, the
practitioner as individual and consumer, and
democratic and anti-social idealism in
modern yoga.
AYPP: A General
Perspective
What can we learn from the history of yoga? What are the deep and challenging questions that yogic philosophy tries to address? How do these ideas and traditions apply to my life, community and world-view? This course has been designed to encourage and develop your ability to apply yogic thought to your life and to your self-understanding. Only through knowledge of who we were can we come to know who we are and what we must become.
The AYPP is not a course which favours a single lineage or tradition, but encompasses the whole of yogic thought as we know it. For this reason, it is uninterested in rote learning, or justifying religious/traditional dogma, but instead seeks to inspire students with the wisdom of the past in order to nurture and further the evolution of yogic philosophy. This course was designed not only to deepen one's personal practice, but to sustain, nurture and advance the philosophy of yoga itself in an age were the physical practices of Hatha Yoga predominate. Ultimately, this course aspires to graduate teachers and students of yoga who are informed and
knowledgeable about the yoga tradition, but who are also free and
independent thinkers able to critically understand, apply, and adapt the wisdom of the past to the world of today and contribute to keeping this tradition alive and meaningful for coming generations.
The Advanced Yoga Philosophy Program has been
created in order to answer the growing demand
for advanced study of Yoga history and
philosophy in the Toronto community of teachers
and students. The history and philosophy of yoga
as it is currently taught in teacher training
programs is limited by a primary focus on
preparing students to be able to teach asana.
The Yoga Alliance standards for certification
call for only 30 hours of philosophy, ethics and
history - (less than 15% of the total
recommended 200 hr YTT program). And yet, it is
the expansive perspective of reality and
personal evolution unfolded by the tradition's
central texts that will be of deep relevance
long after asana has matured and fulfilled its
purpose.
After YTT graduation, teachers have few local
options available to further their education and
pursue in greater depth those studies which form
the foundation of their practice and their
classes. Students whose main exposure to yoga
comes by way of postural classes also find it
difficult to deepen their understanding of yoga,
often resorting exclusively to books and
self-education. It is for these reasons that the
80 hour Advanced Yoga Philosophy Program AYPP
has been created.
It is the intention of the AYPP to make
available to all practitioners of yoga a
comprehensive overview of the theory, practice,
texts, and history of the yoga tradition. This
program is built upon the necessity of nurturing
deeper personal experience and understanding of
the practice and ideas of yoga. It will offer
teachers an opportunity to broaden their skills
as educators and community care-providers, and
help to maintain the integrity of this tradition
by keeping the heart of yogic practice - its
revelations of self and liberation - accessible,
transmissible, and passionate.
1. An Introduction to Yoga Philosophy. Rooting your Philosophy Practice.
2. Speaking about the Whole: Dualism, Monism, and Singularity.
3. The Long Now: Concepts of Space, Time, and Eternity.
4. The Card Game: Destiny, Free will, and Grace.
5. The Seduction of Maya: Illusion, Wisdom, Knowledge, and Intuition.
6. How can ‘I’ be ‘One’?: The Problems of ‘Self-Realization’.
7. Philosophy of Meditation: Controlling Breath and Overcoming Time.
8. Upanishad: Evolving from Without to Within.
9. Living in Space: Asceticism, Aesthetics, and creating a Yogic Culture.
10. The Branches of Yoga: Jnana, Mantra, Bhakti, Karma, etc…
11. Jainism’s connection to Yoga.
12. Buddhism’s connection to Yoga.
13. Hindu Religions and Yoga.
14. Classicism: Nyaya, Vashiyaka, Mimansa, Purna Mimamsa, Samkhya.
15. Yoga Sutras Part 1. The Philosophy of Yoga: Samadhi Pada.
16. Yoga Sutras Part 2. The Discipline of Yoga: Sadhana Pada.
17. Yoga Sutras Part 3. The Ethics of Yoga: Vibhuti Pada.
18. Yoga Sutras Part 4. The Goal of Yoga: Kaivalya Pada.
19. Divine Madness and the History of Yogic Madmen.
20. Prana: Discovering the Subtle Body: Asana, Mudra and Bandha.
21. The Technology of Liberation: Nature, Reason and Magic.
22. The Concept of Kundalini: the Serpent Power.
23. Transforming Self: Vedic Mythology, Tantric Alchemy, and Modern Psychology.
24. Advaita Vedanta: Shankara and Ramanuja.
25. Kashmiri Shaivism.
26. The Spiritual Body: Post-Classicism, Tantra, Hatha, Asana, Post-Biological Yoga.
27. Yogic Symbolism in the Indian Culture
28. Sanskrit I. Introduction to Reading and Writing.
29. Examining Moral and Ethical Issues in Yoga.
30. Sanskrit II. Introduction to Reading and Writing part II.
31. Pointing at the Moon: The Philosophy of J. Krishnamurti.
32. A Life Divine: The Philosophy of Sri Aurobindo.
33. Sanskrit III. Introduction to Reading and Writing part III.
34. Krishnamacharya and Kuvalyanada: the Fathers of Modern Yoga.
35. Religion, Ethics and Politics: Yoga as Reflection of Culture and Force of Change.
36. The Rise and Fall of the Guru.
37. Vivekanada: the Ambassador of Yoga.
38. Enlightenment in the Age of Enlightenment: India’s Colonial Period.
39. Gender, Consumerism and the Information Culture in Modern Yoga.
40. The History of Modern Yoga Asana Schools/Styles.
