The Buddha defined our current situation in the first of the four great truths: "suffering surrounds us on all sides." Illness of the body and myriad social ills have made themselves achingly real in the past several months. The pandemic and the relentless, centuries-old oppression of Blacks in A...
The Gita is the most prominent wisdom text of India and has been commented on more than any other Hindu text. Making up a fraction of the greater epic, the Mahabharata, it covers, within a short 700 verses, the essential lessons that can enable an individual to live a life that engages body, mind...
Each one of us is born with a unique set of talents and a unique set of challenges. What explains this dichotomy? Why do we go through what we do? Is it all random and a product of chance or is there something deeper that we are missing out on?
Karma is cause and effect. It is the reason for ...
Sanskrit texts were traditionally taught through oral transmission or śruti paramparā. It is thought that through chanting, knowledge can seep into one’s consciousness on a level beyond the literal meaning of the words. There is a specific method to how verses are structured and categorized, and ...
As the architecture of the soul, the chakras describe the underlying psychic structure of of the yoke of yoga, showing how heaven and earth, mind and body, spirit and matter interpenetrate to span the full spectrum of human possibility. As wheels of energy, chakras are like gears that take us on...
As some aspects of Western yoga veer ever further from their South Asian roots (Beer Yoga, anyone?) there is more confusion than ever about which teachings are part of the Indian yoga traditions and which have a Western origin. The very best examples of this confusion center on Tantra and on Chak...
Being in the “Power of Now” is skillfully accomplished with breath techniques offered in the Yogic, Tibetan Buddhist and Zen traditions. There are specific pranayama techniques that reduce thinking about the past and future to establish attention in the here and now. In this talk, we will uncover...
In this one-hour presentation, author-lecturer Joshua M. Greene provides listeners with a unique and exciting way to grasp the Gita’s core concepts and themes. This popular talk includes a summary of the Gita’s 18 chapters, an overview of Gita’s place in the history of spiritual journeys, and pra...
In every game, there is a goal, a purpose behind the game’s actions. It is usually the first thing about a game that we learn. This is because it is only when we understand the goal and keep it in mind that the rules of the game start to make sense. Additionally, the rules – the list of actions t...
Dhanurdhara Swami will explore in depth the concept of devotional surrender to the Lord (Isvara) and show by classical hermeneutics how it is undoubtedly the theme of the Gita and the essence of all yoga practices.
The Gita defines yoga very differently from Patanjali, given the text's emphasis on action in the world. But it does accept and outline a version of Patanjali's citta-vritti-nirodhah type of yoga, which it calls dhyana (and the commentaries call astanga), in its 5th and 6th chapters. There were...
The experience of unity consciousness is enshrined in mantra. Together, we'll explore the importance of mantra sadhana to the modern yoga practitioner and how a long-term committed mantra practice can unfold over time.
The Yoga Sutra has been the "go-to" text for the study and practice of Yoga since the emergence of Yoga in its modern form more than a century ago. This talk will highlight key features of how to use this text in the context of a Yoga class. Particular attention will be given to its ethical conte...
