Brahmacharya: Sexuality within Yoga and Ayurveda

• Format: YTT Short Course
• Chose four Short Courses to create an Eclectic Weekend Module
• Instruction Time: 3 hours

It could be said that the meaning of life is to bond. While certain traditions within yoga encourage surrendering the human bond in favor of the divine bond, the human sexual impulse is a powerful karma to overcome. No subject has been more controversial within yoga than sex. Entire lineages have risen and fallen over the matter, and yet the impulse of human sexuality endures. Tantric lineages refuse to dicuss the matter, and yet new age workshops abound on Tantra as a sexual practice with no traditional literature supporting it.

The brahmacharya celebacy practices of yoga strongly discourages sexuality with the intention that prana (vitality) that would normally be depleted in sex is better used for spiritual persuits. Redirecting sexual energy to the higher chakras is supreme in the realm of the sanyas renunciates of yoga. Ayurveda’s vajikarana sub-specialty system, on the other hand, recognizes the need for healthy sexuality within householder society and provides practices to increase fertility and the quality of sexual tissues needed to produce strong vital offspring. In Ayurveda it is considered unnatural to deny the natural urges of the body, including sexuality. Why are the two systems at odds? Which path is healthiest for the modern yogi? How are we to relate to our own sexuality?

Some insights can be found in the Taoist sexual health philosophies of China which agrees with the logic that sexual energy is best preserved internally and redirected throughout the body to increase power and intellect, yet the orgasm is not discouraged, but locked with secret techniques that will be discussed. We’ll look closely at how yogis retaine sexual energies in order to preserve one’s ojas (the sacred sap of longevity), and the relationship between our deep reserves of ojas and youthful longevity.

This course will open the topic for discussion from the perspective of three great systems of sexual wisdom to clear the air of confusion and to help integrate aspects of sexual restriction (brahmacharya), while intentionally cultivating the potential of maximum fertility within every cell of our being (vajikarana). Practical techniques will be discussed . . . and encouraged at home.

Yoga Alliance: This program satisfies Yoga Alliance requirements for anatomy and physiology, philosophy, lifestyle and ethics, and elective hours.

Course Outline (8 hrs)

• Historical Background of Sexuality in Yoga
• Tantric Renaissance and the Human Body
• Brahmacharya: Broader Meanings and Celebacy
• Brahmacharya and Intimacy
• Diety Yoga and Sexuality
• Sexual Yoga
• Four Stages of Life: Brahmacharya, Grihastha, Vanaprastha, and Sannyasa
• Sexuality and Spiritual Life
• Brahmacharya the Yama: Patanjali, Discipline, Right Living, and Unbound Energy
• Yogic Techniques of Brahmacharya
• Diet and Brahmacharya: A Look at the Gandhi Diet
• Ayurveda Speaks to Natural Urges
• Vajikarana: Subspecialty of Ayurveda: Fertility, Virility, Sexual Energy, and Healthy Sexuality
• Increased Shukra = Increased Ojas = Youthful Aging
• Ojas and Intimacy
• Virilization Therapies
• Aphrodisiacs: Foods and Herbs
• Taoism, Yoga, and Sexual Health Philosphy
• Taoist Sexual Practices: Joining of the Essences
• Distinguishing Shukra, Ojas and Jing
• Raising the Yang Jing to the Million Dollar Point
• Conservation of Essence
• Ojas/Jing and Longevity
• Causes of Ojas Loss in Men and Women
• Le Petite Mort: The Little Death of the Male Orgasm
• Conservation and Supplementation of Ojas: Why and How?
• The Benefits of Conservation on Life, Vitality and Yoga
• Techniques for Men: Frequency, Secret Locking Methods
• Techniques for Women: Deer Exercise, Kegel exercises, and other techniques