What I find so amazing about this Yoga Philosophy course at CIIS is that we are being taught by folks that literally "wrote the book." In the case of Richard Rosen, Director of Piedmont Yoga Studio in Oakland, CA, and contributing editor here at Yoga Journal, the book was Pranayama Beyond the Fundamentals. When I was first interning here I picked it up in the YJ library after realizing it was written by the same guy that teaches our Thursday afternoon yoga class. I remember reading it and thinking Rosen was fully living his dharma by writing this book.
I have since learned that Rosen has written a couple more books, and is a highly respected teacher in the Bay Area--which is why he was chosen to squeeze the entire history of yoga and its westward migration into three, two-hour classes for the program. Daunting task, but superbly accomplished! From the Rig Veda to modern day yoga fusions, we all sat in a circle and talked about yoga. And now I am thinking I need to talk to more people about yoga more often. Yoga Salon? Who's with me?
I don't know why I never thought of it before. I suppose usually I have a book with me (my preferred method of escape) when I ride the bus to and from work everyday. But this morning I forgot to grab one from the pile that resides by my bed and was, gasp, bookless on the MUNI!
My choice was to either stare out of the window and try to pretend the person a few rows away wasn't flicking boogers at other passengers, or close my eyes and breathe. Gauging myself to be out of flicking range, I took a deep breath, sat up in my seat, and closed my eyes. Deciding mantra meditation would perhaps be best to drown out the incessant coughing, sniffling, grumbling and shuffling of my fellow Monday morning commuters, I settled into my breath with So 'ham (or Hamsa). It didn't happen instantly...but little by little the sounds of the bus ceased to be distinguishable from the sound of my breath. The techno-country-metal orchestra streaming from various i-pods, the periodic "move back," the panicked "back door please!," the "stop requested" bell...all faded into my inhaled so's and my exhaled ham's. And wouldn't you know it I opened my eyes just in time for my stop!
I think perhaps tomorrow I just might forget to slip a book into my bag again...
Jim Ryan, a professor of Sanskrit and Indian Philosophy at
CIIS for the last 26 years, has a charming little giggle that bursts out whenever
he speaks of the Divine Mother--which happens quite often even though he is lecturing us on the fairly patriarchal Yoga Sutra of Patanjali.
A little giggling is essential, as the Sutra can be quite challenging to study. This is especially the case when one's Sanskrit skills leave much to be desired, and one is not a Brahmin boy sitting devotedly at the foot of a master who can expertly expound upon the poetic little threads of yogic instruction. We have to take the translators' words for it, and confound it if they don't all use different words! And what's in a word? Well, everything and nothing, according to Ryan!
Take for example, Sutra 1.2, the most famously quoted of the lot.
"Yogah cittavritti nirodhah." This sutra is usually translated as "yoga is the cessation of the thought-waves of the mind." It is also often translated as "yoga is the suppression of the thought-waves of the mind." Cessation, suppression--totally different things, by the way! In the former, thoughts have completely stopped...which sounds an awful lot like death. In the latter, thoughts are being suppressed, insinuating man can possibly suppress Prakrti (the Universe), which is in Ryan's view a pretty arrogant suggestion. Ryan, in agreement with scholar Ian Whicher (also one of our esteemed teachers for this course), suggests defining it closer to the concept of pratyahara, a withdrawal. So instead of struggling to "think of nothing" we instead concentrate on being selective with those thoughts that do come, and cultivating them. So who is right? Everyone and no one, of course! I am beginning to sense a theme...
Let's just get right down to it, shall we? Here is our problem: We are unchanging, pure, radiant beings who unfortunately identify ourselves with our always changing mental and physical realities. This misidentification is the source of all suffering. Our goal is to realize our true nature and become established in our authentic selves. This seems reasonable enough. As soon as I really think about it, though, I get stuck.
I like the idea of releasing all the negative ideas I have about myself: I am not this jealousy I feel towards my good friend who can play any instrument beautifully. I am not this big zit on my forehead, nor am I that pulled adductor muscle in my thigh that prevents me from getting anywhere near the floor in Upavistha Konasana. Sweet. I didn't want to be any of those things anyway.
But what about the stuff I really identify with? I am not the mother of a beautiful 7 year old girl? What about the person I have known for the last 31 years...that blonde woman who collects books she may never read, who loves big earrings and bracelets that jingle, and listens to sweet reggae music? This I am not me business is crazy. If I am not who I thought I was this whole time, then just who am I?
An unending source of awareness. Oh yes. I keep forgetting. And that is why we are here.
Last weekend's 3 day workshop with Gary Kraftsow, founder and director of the American Viniyoga Institute and the first American to be certified by T.K.V. Desikachar, was what I would call an "awareness immersion." Through the simultaneous practice of asana, pranayama, mantra and visualization, we "directed our awareness through intention via attention" (Kraftsow). I can't tell you the last time I concentrated so hard on so many levels...childbirth, maybe? This kind of sarvanga sadhana (a practice for the whole body, not just individual parts) results in a level of awareness I have never felt after 108 vinyasas!
Kraftsow says, "Through the application of intelligent intention you can direct change in a positive direction." This Yoga Philosophy course at CIIS is supplying me with that intelligence, the intention I have, and the application...well, it's called practice for a reason. Satchitananda, here I come! .
Well, I did it. I took the leap, Hanuman style. I dove into the icy cold of waters unknown. I got up off the couch of comfortable complacency and hopped a little education validation train, destination unknown. Katherine Rae...is back in school!
But this, my friends, is no ordinary school. This is a magical land where, in the company of world renowned scholars of yoga I can read, discuss, and experience the roots and foundations of this yoga thing that seems to be gently but firmly directing the course of my life. Yoga &mdash I know I need it, and I know it's good...but what I would really like is to be able to explain why this is so. Coherently.
Enter the California Institute of Integral Studies' (CIIS) Yoga Philosophy Certificate course. This 150 hour program is taught by nine of the most respected teachers in their fields, and is designed to shed light upon the philosophical and psychological teachings of yoga by studying the ancient texts. What is particularly refreshing about this course, and a large part of why I am here, is the focus on building a community of support for the ultimate goal of personal growth via the cultivation of a sustainable spiritual practice. This is also why I am scared, because although I am well aware that ignorance is not bliss, it certainly doesn't require difficult applications of commitment and discipline! So here's to getting up earlier, and going to bed later...I hope you'll join me on my journey!
Om Namah Shivaya &mdash I bow to the end and to the beginning!
For more information on CIIS and the Yoga Philosophy Course, contact:
Katherine Elizabeth Rae was born in Frankfurt, Germany, but was raised mostly on the East Side of San Jose, CA. Extended stays in Santa Cruz and Hawaii sent her running towards the electric hum of San Francisco, where she now resides in a "cozy" apartment in the Western Addition with her wickedly talented daughter Talia Lehua, and another radical mama/monkey duo. Katherine can't help but smile every day that she reads the Yoga Journal placard on the wall next to the front door of the office where she works full-time as Sales Assistant in the Advertising Dept., even and especially on those mornings when her aforementioned little princess refuses to get out of bed for school, and then her bus swipes the fender off of a garbage truck (true story!). A certified yoga teacher, Katherine is still searching for that studio that only needs her to teach one sweet Sunday morning class a week.
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