Parinamah: Cycles of Change and Renewal within Yoga

• Format: YTT Short Course
• Chose four Short Courses to create an Eclectic Weekend Module
• Also part of “Virya: The Spiritual Warrior Within” YTT Themed Intensive Module
• Instruction Time: 3 hours

Transformation is a constant dynamic within the life process. How we change is the variable. Cycles of nature come and go. We observe some while others go unnoticed. Yet, our bodies are rhythmic by nature and desire connection to the larger cycles around us. Cycles bring change, both large and small. Every sensory phenomenon has a beginning, middle and an end. So does a single thought or an entire life span. We cry with joy over the birth of a life, a marriage, or a business. We do our best to maintain things in the middle, and yet we grieve and go unconscious at its end. In yoga as a reality-based spirituality, these powerful transitions are the real work. We observe that every death is followed by a new beginning. How do we stay conscious through transitions? Why do we numb ourselves to change? How do we keep it real? Come and explore reality-based spirituality as a powerful direction in contemporary yoga.

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

Course Outline (3 hrs)

THE CYCLES OF CHANGE: EXPLORING THE NARRATIVE Q&A

• What Does Change and Renewal Mean to You? Q&A

TRIMURTI:  THE THREE FORMS OF THE CYCLE OF CHANGE

• Trimurti
• Views within Hinduism
• Shiva: Destroyer versus Benefactor

GANESHA:  TRANSITIONS IN HINDUISM AND REALITY-BASED SPIRITUALITY

• Reality-Based Spirituality
• Ganesha
• Obstacles, New Beginnings and Renewal
• Spiritual Bypass: Spiritual Shortcuts, Resisting True Inner Growth

MANIPURA: TRANSFORMATIONAL FIRE IN THE BELLY

• Manipura Chakra and the Seat of Transformation
• Ming Men: Seat of Fire in Taoist Yoga
• Awakening the Ahamkara
• Virya Rasa and the Heroic Impulse

NATURAL CYCLES IN AYURVEDA: OUR NATURAL BIORHYTHMS

• Kala Parinaama: Time and Transformation
• The Six Master Cycles
• Dinacharya: Daily Presence
• The Lunar Cycle

RITUCHARYA AND RITAM: SEASONAL AND UNIVERSAL RHYTHMS

• The Birth, Peak, and Decline of all Things
• Ritucharya for the Seasons
• Ritusandhi: Seasonal transitions Routines

THE FOUR VEDIC ERAS: AND THE KALI YUGA

• The Four Eras (Yugas)
• Kali Yuga

APPENDIX:  CHANGE EAST – WEST

• The Six Stages of Change