Chitta Prasadana: Yoga Therapy for the Emotional Body

• Format: YTT Short Course
• Chose four Short Courses to create an Eclectic Weekend Module
• Also part of the “Yoga Psychology: The Mind of Freedom” YTT Themed Intensive Module
• Instruction Time: 3 hours

In the Chitta Prasadana course, we will explore yogic practices used to calm, heal, and awaken the mind and emotions. In Yoga Psychology, manas is the aspect of the mind responsible for sensory perception, the necessary sensory-motor responses, emotions and instincts. It provides us our subjective “feeling” experience of the world through the senses and emotional body. Yet, when unstable it gives rise to unhealthy conditioned reactions (OCDs, ADD, ADHD), chronic fight-or-flight stress patterns, addictions and emotional patterning.

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 (shuddhis) used to clean and steady the mind and emotions, 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.

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

Course Outline (3 or 14 hrs)

YOGA AS EMOTIONAL THERAPY: Exploring the Narrative Q&A

• Are you suseptible to episodes of overwhelm? Where does your mind “go”? Q&A

THE KLESHAS: Suffering and the Yoga of Staying Calm

• Causes of Suffering, by Swami Shankardev Saraswati

VRITTIS:  The Unstable Mind

• Connections Made to Modern Science
• Vrittis of Tantric Chakras
• The Four States of Consciousness
• The Five States of Mind, by Brian Alger

CHITTA PRASADANA: Clearing Vrittis, Calming the Mind

• Manas Shuddhi
• Cleansing and Fasting in Yoga and Ayurveda
• The Yogic View: A Word on Self Discipline
• The Ayurvedic View

EARLY HATHA YOGA: Cleansing Body and Mind

• The Shatkarmas: Classical Yogic Cleansing and the Mind

MODERN ASANA: Nadi Shodhana Through Movement

• Asana as Nadi Shodhana
• The Nadis: Streams of Prana
• Cleansing the Nadis
• Channel Pathology

PRATYAHARA: MIndfulness within Yoga

• Types of Pratyahara

CHITTA PRASADANA Practices

• Antar Mouna: The Cultivation of Inner Silence
• Chidakasha Dharana: The Tranquility of Inner Space
• Trataka: Concentrated Gazing
• Ajapa Japa: The Internal Mala Practice