Beyond the Asana. History, Myth and Ayurveda.

Ayurveda comes from the Sanskrit words ayus for life and veda for science.  

Ayurveda is the science and study of life.

The word Yoga comes from the Sanskrit word yuj which means to yoke or union.

Ayurvedic Medicine and its sister science, Yoga, are approximately 5,000 years old.  By yoking in the wandering mind the Yogi or Yogini (male and female Yoga practitioners, respectively) started down the pathway of self discovery.  These ancient sciences have given current practitioners the gift of thousands of years of introspection within their personal practice and then passing on those discoveries to a newer generation of seekers.   

Yoga and Ayurveda are not religions, although they have the ability to lead the practitioner towards God-realization within the practitioner's own personal religion or spiritual belief system if the student so chooses.  Yoga can also be just Asana and Pranayama based (Yogic postures and breath manipulation) in which Yoga and Ayurvedic Medicine are tools to keep the practitioner's body healthy.  That's the pure beauty of both sciences is that you choose how deeply you want to learn more about yourself and the cosmos.

The next Yoga workshop I am teaching is titled, "Intro to Yoga:  Beyond the Asana.  History, Myth and Ayurveda."  

Foundations: Saturday Yoga Workshop Series

In the course of the 3 hour workshop we will attempt to fit in:

~OM (or the more advanced AUM); the cleansing power of the chant

~the Invocation to Patanjali; some background on the mythical creature Patanjali and then we will learn the "call and respond" chant

~Asanas (Yogic postures) will be incorporated into the class.  This is not a full 3-hour only Asana class but there will be some stories and imagery within the class to give a historical perspective behind the Asana names.

~Prana means life force.  We will end with some cooling poses so that we can do a little Pranayama at the end of the workshop.  The gentle breath manipulation is powerful stuff when approached gently and with keen observation.  We will go over the basics of this powerful Yogic tool.

I know this won't be your usual Yoga class and that is the beauty of it.  


It is time to learn a little more about those Yogic postures that you have been performing at home and in class.  You will learn to integrate a simple but profound mantra into your daily life.  Infuse a new curiosity and playfulness into your Yoga home practice.  You may even want to start a journal about how Yoga affects you.  Anything is possible if you are receptive......and quiet.