Self-Discovery through Yoga Course
RATIONALE OF THE COURSE
What do we mean by Yoga?
We take Yoga to be an exploration of the astonishing fact that one is alive and conscious. If intelligently undertaken, this exploration uncovers an already-present beatitude, a peaceful yet energetic ease and connectedness with things. This enables the individual human being to flourish immensely and thus become a force for good in the world. We take it that intelligent exploration celebrates all aspect of the human being and accordingly we utilise the intellect, the mind, the emotional faculty (heart) and the physical body in our enquiry. We also recognise and utilise the essential embeddedness of the individual in a web of relationships with their community, culture and nature.
What do we mean by self-discovery?
Descriptions of self-discovery always fall short. It must be experienced to be fully understood. But this much can be said: the peace that Yogis and spiritual teachers have spoken of for millennia is very close to us. It is always and everywhere present and in fact it is our self. Therefore it cannot be cultivated or forced to reveal itself. We can however discover it through a subtle discipline of letting-be-with-awareness.
CONTENT OF COURSE
The course is delivered through talks, discussions, practice sessions involving easy Hatha Yoga, simple meditations, deep relaxation, group and partner work, and by simply absorbing the atmosphere at Parkdale. There will also a small Karma Yoga contribution to the housework made by students - some washing up and food preparation. There will be a homework component involving reading, practice, creative and reflective activity (e.g. journal writing) and certain focussed engagements with everyday life.
Each weekend deals with a theme and the themes evolve one from the other as the course progresses. Very briefly, they are as follows:
WEEKEND ONE: The Anatomy of Escapism: Suffering, Sex, Death, Conflict and Change
This is an enquiry into suffering and the way it motivates us not only to seek practical (and necessary) solutions to the problems it poses but also the way it causes us to develop elaborate psychological denials and comforting metaphysical narratives. We will explore what it is to be without such consolations and what is entailed by saying "Yes" to life exactly as it is. Naturally, these enquiries and explorations will involve all aspects of our being and will not be aridly intellectual despite the inevitability (and, indeed, necessity) for thinking.
WEEKEND TWO: Letting-Go and Time
Though there is absolutely no obstacle to the beatitude of Yoga, in practice we don't "get it" because we have learned to tense ourselves against it. (We are tyrannised by the residual impressions of our past and thus become anxious about the future.) We will encounter the physical, mental, emotional and cultural aspects of this tension and experience letting go of it.
WEEKEND THREE: Is-ness: Meeting What Is
Once tensions are released and metaphysical comforts seen through, we realise that Is-ness in all its spaciousness, luminosity and energy was always there and can never be lost. We will explore this through the senses, through movement, through self-acceptance and though encountering ourselves as the confluence of events which allows the universe to see itself.
WEEKEND FOUR: The Practicality of Ease
We will discover just how practical the deep ease of Yogic beatitude is in our ordinary everyday lives. All is empty, particularly the concept of emptiness itself. Welcome to the garden of the real!!!!!
WHO WILL BENEFIT FROM THE COURSE?
This course is for Yoga practitioners and teachers of all styles of Yoga and with any philosophical and/or theoretical bias or none. It will also be useful to meditators from other traditions or those who have a yearning for self-discovery but little experience of formal spiritual discipline. The course is also a mandatory part of our teacher training.
REQUIREMENTS
You will need an open mind, a readiness for a profound challenge and a willingness to explore what is. You will need to be in a reasonable state of physical and mental health.
WHERE AND HOW LONG?
The course consists of four residential weekends held at the Parkdale Yoga Centre over about eight months. Accommodation is in simple but comfortable double and treble rooms. Prior to the course, one residential Foundation Weekend would be necessary in most cases to enable the candidate to ensure that the course is right for them and for the course teachers to ascertain that the candidate will benefit from the course. The Foundation Weekend will also lay the ground-work for the course proper.
HOW MUCH?
Both the foundation weekend and the Self-Discovery Course weekends cost £150 each. The fee for the Foundation Weekend is payable in advance. Fees for the Self-Discovery Course are also payable in advance. (If this is difficult for you, please get in touch.) Payments cover accommodation and all drinks and meals. All food is organic vegetarian or vegan. Arrangements can be made for students needing to pay in instalments: please ask. The payments are non-returnable, but we have a reasonably-priced insurance scheme which will enable students to recoup most of their fees should they have to cancel through such valid reasons as their falling ill or the illness or death of a close relative, being called for jury service or being made redundant etc.
DATES
First weekend
date TBA. Further dates agreed at convenience of students - bring your
diary! (Next
Foundation Weekends - 12th & 13th July 2008 and 13th & 14th September 2008.)
about the parkdale yoga centre
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Contact:
The Parkdale Yoga Centre
10 Parkdale West
Wolverhampton
WV1 4TE
Phone: 01902 424048
