Liberated Mind/Enlightened Engagement in Patanjali's Yoga Sutras March 6, 2009

Liberated Mind and Enlightened Engagement in Patanjali's Yoga Sutras
Day 1 - Yoga: Freedom From the World
Day 2 - Yoga: Freedom For the World

In this workshop, we will challenge the often held radically dualistic and isolationistic interpretations of yoga, and suggest that as it is classically envisioned yoga does not lead to the condemnation, abandonment or mere transcendence of material life but, rather, to an enhanced engagement with the world that seeks to enrich human interactions. Rather than approach Patanjali's thoughts from the perspective of dualistic metaphysical assumptions derived from classical Samkhya, we will pursue a reading of the Yoga Sutra that privileges the experience of yoga over metaphysical abstractions. Drawing from the classical tradition, we will explore how yoga can culminate in a balanced integration of the spiritual and material dimensions of human life and incorporate clarity of awareness with integrity of being and action.

Ian Whicher, PhD, is a Canadian and earned his doctorate from the University of Cambridge, England. A longtime yoga practitioner, Whicher is a professor in the Department of Religion at the University of Manitoba in Winnipeg, Canada, and specializes in philosophies of India and the yoga tradition. He is the author of several books and articles that include The Integrity of the Yoga Darsana (1998), and is coeditor of Yoga: The Indian Tradition (2003). He is currently engaged in a project on "The Reconciliation of Contemplation and Action in the Yoga Tradition."

Day 1 - Yoga: Freedom From the World $150; Day 2 - Yoga: Freedom For the World $150; Both workshops $250.

Official Website: http://www.ciis.edu/publicprograms/spring09/march.html