UNLOCKING THE YOGA SUTRAS - WHAT TO EXPECT

These classes will combine Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras with practices derived from Yoga Tantra, and theory from Samkhya, and Vedanta. 

Of all the Indian philosophies, Samkhya is the most important to enable us to understand Patanjali’s system of yoga. While Yoga is a practical philosophy, Samkhya provides the theory that guides your ability to use the practices of yoga and tantra to achieve your goal. 

Sāmkhya developed over 3,000 years, from 2,500 BCE up to 500 CE. It’s attempt to solve the problems and suffering of humanity back then are eerily familiar to today’s problems  

Sāmkhya states, "Everything within and around us is constantly changing. Everywhere we turn we are faced with uncertainty and a lack of permanency. We often feel dissatisfied with the way things are and wish that our circumstances could be different. Sometimes we want more of one thing and less of another. But life is the way it is. Sāmkhya and Yoga offer us the means for bringing about the absolute and permanent end to our suffering by developing the discriminative wisdom to experience the difference between:

• Consciousness, the highest Self or the Seer (purusha): the absolute knower of everything, and        • Nature (prakriti): the infinitely diverse creations witnessed by the Self.” 

When Patanjali defines Yoga as the cessation of the fluctuations of mind (chitta vritti nirodha) you need to have the theory of Sāmkhya to understand exactly what chitta is and that chitta is one of the 4 organs of mind, all of which need to be managed if you are to achieve higher states. Also, to understand what vrittis are and how they operate under the power of the 3 great forces of nature, the mahā gunas.

You also need to understand the timeline in history in which Patanjali’s system developed, and how to apply this ancient system to modern times to raise your consciousness.

All of this will be explained in these classes and I hope you join us!