YTT Themed Intensive Module

Yoga Psychology
The Mind of Freedom

Yoga Psychology

  • Format: YTT Themed Intensive Module
  • Instruction Time: 14 hrs (200-hr), 14-30 hrs (300-hr and 500 hr, or Cont Ed)

The Yoga Psychology program is a transformational journey into the recurring psychological conditionings that limit us in life, and what yoga as a psychological practice offers to free us of limitations and unleash a true and lasting healing. We will learn how to recognize and witness our limitations (denial, lethargy, attachment, arrogance, insecurity, avoidance, self-deception, addiction, and fear to name just a few), to embrace our truths, to be present in every moment, to resolve inner and outer conflict effectively, and to grow more authentically on the yogic path. Students will learn simple pratyahara mindfulness and self witnessing practices that heal and calm the mind and free us emotionally and spiritually.

From Patanjali’s “Yoga Sutras,” to the classic Tantras, the mind in all its forms is a primary focus on any yogic path. At once, the mind is either the greatest tool to our growth, or the greatest obstacle. In Buddhist yoga, rather than bliss out, the mind is made sharp and clear like a diamond. Karmas are both created and destroyed via the mind, as the mind alone stands as the deliverer or the executioner of our spiritual development. In yogic psychology the mind is more than the sum of the brain and nervous system. The mind is prana, life itself. The mind is Shiva, the cosmic witness. It is the heart, which loves and reels with empathy. It is that which both sees and chooses our life’s dharma. In it’s highest form, it is the guru within. In ayurvedic psychology, the mind is considered the cause of all disease, and many treatment modalities are available to keep the mind clean and vibrant.

The Yoga Psychology course is an introspective review of yogic and ayurvedic psychology and the role of the mind in our capacity to heal, to self reflect, and to evolve on the yogic path. Students will also learn simple healing practices that heal and clean the mind and a short form of the Antar Mouna pratyahara practice to improve self witnessing skills.

Weekend Structure

The Yoga Psychology intensive is a Themed Weekend Program split into five independent, but related, courses: a Friday evening 2-hr introduction into the life teachings of pratyahara and antar mouna practice, followed by four 3-hr courses divided over a Saturday and Sunday on the core topics of the yoga psychology, healing the emotional body (manas shuddhi), psychological and spiritual liberation (moksha), the role of karma, and the embodiment of the spiritual warrior archetype (virya). With up to fourteen hours dedicated to the subject, more time is available to explore the material in a personal manner, allowing time for students to both learn theory and practice as well as inquire into the uniqueness of their own lives.

Though the course is designed as a long weekend themed course with benefits to taking all four courses, students are free to take any course or all four courses depending upon their own unique interests and time constraints.

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

Course Sections

Friday Eve Program
PPRATYAHARA:  Mindfulness within Yoga  (2 hrs)

Offered Friday evening

So few practitioners and teachers of yoga are practicing the traditional pratyahara practices, considered the actual doorway into the deep subconscious mind and the realm of the inner silence, that pratyahara is often referred to as the Lost Limb of yoga.

Patanjali describes eight limbs of yoga, of which pratyahara stands as the sensorial gateway between the physical (asana, pranayama) and the subtle (mind, soul). Pratyahara guides us through the fundamental experiences of sensory witnessing and control. In the conventional sense, the mind was designed to engage the busy world of sensory information by seeking and interpreting stimulation, but on the yogic path meditation inquires into it’s counterintuitive opposite – inner silence. How then do we turn off the mind? Pratyahara practices such as Antar Mouna will be reviewed and taught.

Course 1
YOGA PSYCHOLOGY: The Mind in Yoga (3 hrs)

Offered Saturday morning

From Patanjali’s “Yoga Sutras,” to the classic Tantras, the mind in all its forms is a primary focus on any yogic path. At once, the mind is either the greatest tool to our growth, or the greatest obstacle. In Buddhist yoga, rather than bliss out, the mind is made sharp and clear like a diamond. Karmas are both created and destroyed via the mind, as the mind alone stands as the deliverer or the executioner of our spiritual development. In yogic psychology the mind is more than the sum of the brain and nervous system. The mind is prana, life itself. The mind is Shiva, the cosmic witness. It is the heart, which loves and reels with empathy. It is that which both sees and chooses our life’s dharma. In it’s highest form, it is the guru within. In ayurvedic psychology, the mind is considered the cause of all disease, and many treatment modalities are available to keep the mind clean and vibrant.

The Mind course is an introspective review of yogic and ayurvedic psychology and the role of the mind in our capacity to heal, to self reflect, and to evolve on the yogic path. Students will also learn simple healing practices that heal and clean the mind and a short form of the Antar Mouna pratyahara practice to improve self witnessing skills.

Course 2
MODERN MOKSHA: Liberation and the Clash of Karmas (3 hrs)

Offered Saturday afternoon

A dialogue has been taking place for thousands of years between the yogacharyas of Yoga and the vaidyas of Ayurveda, sharing the insights and wisdom of each tradition, both exploring the fullest potential of life and spirit. In spiritual living a powerful duality (tension) often arises between the desire to transcend the limitations of the ordinary human bodymind, with the twin urge to maintain it, to care and heal the body and mind. In short, whether to conform to nature or to trascend it altogether. In practice, yoga teaches us to dissolve karmas while our householder tendencies create and reinforce new ones by necessity. As yogis become more skilled, tension often arises between the desire for moksha (liberation) and the responsibility for family and work in the world. The vision of the Modern Moksha course is to help students to better integrate the impulse for liberation with the householder lifestyle needs of the modern western yogi. This course is designed to help sudents to explore the narrative and nature of this overarcing story in order to find the middle path where the two disciplines can share the wisdom of life.

Course 3
CHITTA PRASADANA: Yoga Therapy for the Emotional Body   (3 hrs)

Offered Sunday morning

In the Chitta Prasadana course, we will explore yogic practices used to awaken the mind and heal the emotional body. In Yoga Psychology, manas is the aspect of the mind responsible for sensory perception, the necessary sensory-motor responses, and instincts. It provides us our subjective experience of the world through the senses. Yet, in the absence of self witnessing (mindfulness) skills, it gives rise to unhealthy conditioned reactions (OCDs, ADD, ADHD), chronic fight-or-flight stress patterns, addictions, and ruminating emotions. Prasadana refers to a body of practices that “clear” or calm an aspect of the subtle body or mind. We will look at physical, subtle, and spiritual exercises (sadhana) used to clean and steady the emotional body, including Pratyahara practices (Antar Mouna, Chidakasha Dharana, Trataka), Ajapa Japa meditation, and other ayurvedic approaches used commonly to address the clearity of the mind.

This course is a practice-based followup course to the Yoga Psychology and Pratyahara programs. More details and practices will explored that were not available in the other courses.

Course 4
SANKALPA: Revealing the Mantra of our Life (3 hrs)

Offered Sunday afternoon

Life is a journey across the waters of a great river. Some of us are waiting to step from a stone we’ve been on too long, while others are in wild waters. On this journey, some get lost while others have a clear intention and plan. Sankalpas are expressions of our personal dharma that define and guide our life’s spiritual journey. Like cognitive affirmations that help us to avoid core negative beliefs about ourselves, sankalpas are deep somatic resolves found at the soul level and are to be revealed, not created. Join us as we explore the process of revealing our personal sankalpa as the maha (great) mantra (word, verbal formula) of our life purpose. Bring pen and paper, an open heart, and an appreciation for self reflection.