Philosophy, History and Literature of Yoga Course

Philosophy, History and Literature of Yoga Course - 800 hrs

The course will deepen your knowledge of Yoga and assist your spiritual practice and inner growth at the same time. It will stimulate your thinking about Yoga and help you clarify your spiritual goals and/or motivate your daily spiritual practice.

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Course curriculum

1. Welcome
2. Course Materials
3. Required Books and Audios
4. Review and Respond
5. Practical Guidelines for Studying
6. Course Objectives
7. Organization of the Materials in this Course
1. Intro to the Overview
2. Basic Components of The Yoga Tradition
3. Overall Organization of The Yoga Tradition
4. Invocation Before Teaching
5. Yoga Scholar vs Yoga Practitioner by Georg Feuerstein
6. In Praise of Study (Svâdhyâya)
7. For Reflection
8. For Reflection Assignment: option to complete requirements
1. Intro to the Introduction
2. Reaching Beyond the Ego Personality
3. The Yoga of Science by Georg Feuerstein
4. Technologies of East and West (YT, pp. xviii-xix)
5. Reality and Models of Reality (YT, pp. xviii-xix)
6. Yoga Symbolism
7. Further Reading
8. For Reflection
9. The War of the Gods and Antigods
10. Yoga and the Modern West
11. East and West by Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan
12. For Reflection
13. For Reflection Assignment: option to complete requirements
1. Intro to the Building Blocks
2. Building Blocks
3. The Essence of Yoga
4. Dakshinamûrti-Stotra
5. Tejo-Bindu-Upanishad
6. Is Yoga a Religion?
7. For Reflection
8. What’s in a Name?—The Term Yoga
9. Traditional Definitions of Yoga
10. For Reflection
11. Degrees of Self-Transcendence: The Practitioner (Yogin or Yoginî)
12. For Reflection
13. Guiding Light: The Teacher
14. The Washerman and the Lion (story)
15. Select Readings on the Guru Disciple Relationship
16. The Guru: Dispeller of Darkness
17. The Guru Function: Broadcasting Reality (Excerpt)
18. True Gurus, False Gurus, Crazy Gurus (Excerpt_
19. Eight [Verses] on the Teacher (Guru-Ashtaka)
20. For Reflection
21. Learning Beyond the Self: The Disciple
22. Further Reading
23. On Discipleship
24. Giving Birth to a New Identity: Initiation
25. Crazy Wisdom and Crazy Adepts
26. Further Reading
27. Siddha-Siddhânta-Paddhati (Selection)
28. For Reflection
29. Unshakeable Faith (story)
30. For Reflection Assignment: option to complete requirements
1. Intro to Lesson 2
2. The Wheel of Yoga
3. Râja-Yoga: The Resplendent Yoga of Spiritual Kings
4. Hatha-Yoga: Cultivating an Adamantine Body
5. Jnâna-Yoga: Seeing with the Eye of Wisdom
6. The Tripura-Rahasya
7. Jnâna-Yoga: The Path of Wisdom
8. Yoga of Discernment
9. Amrita-Bindu-Upanishad
10. For Reflection
11. Bhakti-Yoga: The Self-Transcending Power of Love
12. The Depth of Bhakti
13. Bhakti-Sûtra of Nârada
14. Bhakti-Yoga
15. Worship Govinda (Bhaja-Govinda)
16. Further Reading
17. For Reflection
18. Karma-Yoga: Freedom in Action
19. Further Reading
20. For Reflection
21. Mantra-Yoga: Sound as a Vehicle of Transcendence
22. A World of Sound
23. Mantra-Yoga: Sounding Out the Depth Within
24. The Gâyatrî-Mantra
25. The Sacred Syllable Om
26. For Reflection
27. Further Reading
28. Laya-Yoga: Dissolving the Universe
29. Further Reading
30. For Reflection
31. Integral Yoga: A Modern Synthesis
32. Aurobindo’s Life and Yoga
33. For Reflection
34. Further Reading
35. For Reflection Assignment: option to complete requirements
1. Intro to Lesson 3
2. A Bird’s-Eye View of the Cultural History of India
3. Further Reading
4. For Reflection
5. The Glow of Psychic Power: Yoga and Asceticism
6. Tapas: Creative Fire
7. Asceticism and Gautama the Buddha
8. Further Reading
9. For Reflection
10. Delight in Nothing: Yoga and the Way of Renunciation
11. Further Reading
12. For Reflection
13. Yoga and Hindu Philosophy
14. Further Reading
15. For Reflection
16. Pûrva-Mîmâmsâ
17. Further Reading
18. For Reflection
19. Uttara-Mîmâmsâ (Vedânta = Jnâna-Yoga)
20. Further Reading
21. For Reflection
22. Reflections on the One
23. The Life of Shankara
24. Sâmkhya
25. Satkârya-Vâda
26. Further Reading
27. For Reflection
28. Yoga
29. Vaisheshika
30. Nyâya
31. Further Reading
32. For Reflection
33. Yoga, Âyur-Veda, and Siddha Medicine
34. Indian Naturopathic Medicine
35. Alchemy
36. For Reflection
37. Further Reading
38. Yoga and Hindu Religion
39. For Reflection
40. Further Reading
41. Questionnaire: option to submit
42. For Reflection Assignment: option to complete requirements
1. Intro to Lesson 4
2. Pre-Classical Yoga
3. History for Self-Understanding
4. Jean Gebser’s Contribution toward a New Epistemology
5. Further Reading
6. For Reflection
7. From Shamanism to Yoga
8. For Reflection
9. Further Reading
10. Yoga and the Enigmatic Indus-Sarasvati Civilization
11. The Indus-Sarasvati Civilization Revisited
12. Further Reading
13. The Language Behind the Indus Glyphs
14. For Reflection
15. Sacrifice and Meditation: The Ritual Yoga of the Rig-Veda
16. Of Seers and Ecstatics
17. The Four Vedas by Georg Feuerstein
18. Further Reading
19. Rig-Veda (Selection)
20. Spells of Transcendence: The Magical Yoga of the Atharva-Veda
21. Further Reading
22. Atharva-Veda (Selection)
23. The Mysterious Vrâtya Brotherhoods
24. Further Reading
25. For Reflection
26. For Reflection Assignment: option to complete requirements
1. Intro to Lesson 5
2. The Whispered Wisdom of the Early Upanishads
3. For Reflection
4. The Brâhmanas
5. Sacrifice (Yajna)
6. The Âranyakas
7. For Reflection
8. Dawn of the Upanishadic Age
9. The Extent of the Upanishadic Literature
10. For Reflection
11. The Brihad-Âranyaka-Upanishad
12. For Reflection
13. The Chândogya-Upanishad
14. For Reflection
15. The Taittirîya-Upanishad
16. For Reflection
17. Other Ancient Upanishads
18. For Reflection
19. The Early Yoga Upanishads
20. For Reflection
21. Further Reading
22. The Universal Wisdom of the Upanishads
23. The One and the Many
24. Further Reading
25. Early Upanishadic Meditation: Upâsanâ
26. For Reflection
27. For Reflection Assignent: option to complete requirements
1. Intro to Lesson 6
2. Historical Overview
3. Further Reading
4. Vardhamâna Mahâvîra
5. The Twenty-Four Tîrthankaras
6. Short Biographies of Rishabha, Nemi, and Pârshva
7. The Sacred Literature of Jainism
8. Further Reading
9. Hemacandra: Philosopher, Statesman, and Yogin
10. For Reflection
11. The Path of Purification
12. For Reflection
13. The Seven Categories of Existence
14. For Reflection
15. The Jaina Ladder to Liberation
16. For Reflection
17. Jaina Yoga
18. For Reflection
19. Further Glimpses Into Jaina Yoga
20. Haribhadra Sûri
21. Yoga-Drishti-Samuccaya (Selection)
22. Nonharming According to Jaina Yoga
23. The Fivefold Salutation Prayer
24. The Jaina Universe
25. Anekântavâda: The Jaina Theory of Nonabsolutism
26. The Path of the Lay Follower in Jainism
27. For Reflection
28. Questionnaire (option to submit)
29. For Reflection Assignment: option to compete requirements
1. Intro to Lesson 7
2. The Birth and Evolution of Buddhism
3. Further Reading
4. For Reflection
5. The Spreading of the Buddha’s Teaching
6. Further Reading
7. For Reflection
8. The Great Teaching of the Small Vehicle: Hînayâna Buddhism
9. Further Reading
10. For Reflection
11. The Four Noble Truths
12. Further Readings
13. For Reflections
14. The Doctrine of Dependent Origination
15. Further Reading
16. The Yogic Path of Hînayâna Buddhism
17. Studying the Buddha’s Pali Sermons
18. Further Reading
19. For Reflection
20. Wisdom and Compassion: The Great Idealism of Mahâyâna Buddhism
21. Further Reading
22. The Doctrine of Emptiness
23. Further Reading
24. For Reflection
25. Prajnâ-Pâramitâ -Hridaya-Sûtra
26. Further Reading
27. For Reflection
28. Doctrine of the Three Bodies of the Buddha
29. For Reflection
30. The Mâdhyamika School
31. Further Reading
32. Mahâyâna-Vimshaka of Nâgârjuna
33. Stray Thoughts on Mâdhyamika Philosophy
34. The Life of Nâgârjuna
35. Further Reading
36. For Reflection
37. The Vijnânavâda and Yogâcâra Schools
38. Further Reading
39. For Reflection
40. Mantrayâna
41. For Reflection
42. Sahajayâna
43. Song of Master Bhusuku
44. Further Reading
45. For Reflection
46. Kâlacakrayâna
47. Further Reading
48. For Reflection
49. Kâlacakra-Mandala
50. Further Reading
51. The Ch’an or Zen School of China and Japan
52. Further Reading
53. For Reflection
54. The Jewel in the Lotus: Vajrayâna (Tantric) Buddhism
55. Further Reading
56. Tantric Buddhism
57. Further Reading
58. The Tradition of Tibet
59. Branches of Tibetan Vajrayâna Buddhism
60. The Nature of Buddhist Tantra
61. Aspects of Vajrayâna Buddhism
62. For Reflection
63. Sacred Gestures (Mudrâ)
64. Further Reading
65. For Reflection
66. Mandala
67. Further Reading
68. For Reflection
69. Maithunâ
70. Further Reading
71. For Reflection
72. The Great Adepts of Tantric Buddhism
73. Further Reading
74. The Six Yogas of Nâropa
75. Further Reading
76. Vajrayâna Buddhist Yoga
77. For Reflection
78. Karma
79. For Reflection Assignment: option to complete requirements
1. Intro to Lesson 8
2. Premable
3. Overview
4. Further Reading
5. For Reflection
6. Heroism, Purity, and Asceticism: The Râmâyana of Vâlmîki
7. Further Reading
8. Understanding the Râmâyana
9. Further Reading
10. For Reflection
11. Immortality on the Battlefield: The Mahâbhârata Epic
12. Further Reading
13. For Reflection
14. Befriending the Mahâbhârata
15. Further Reading
16. For Reflection
17. The Bhagavad-Gîtâ: Jewel of the Mahâbhârata
18. Further Reading
19. For Reflection
20. The Mystical Activism of the Gîtâ
21. Further Reading
22. For Reflection
23. Bhagavad-Gîtâ (Selection)
24. Ethics, Sacrifice, and Action
25. For Reflection
26. The Yogic Teachings of the Anu-Gîtâ
27. Further Reading
28. The Liberating Gospel of the Mahâbhârata Epic: The Moksha-Dharma
29. Moksha-Dharma (Selection)
30. The Sixfold Yoga of the Maitrâyanîya-Upanishad
31. Further Reading
32. For Reflection
33. The Intangible Yoga of the Mândûkya-Upanishad
34. Further Reading
35. Morality and Spirituality: Pre-Classical Yoga in the Ethical-Legal Literature
36. Further Reading
37. For Reflection
38. Yogic Teachings in the Legal Literature
39. For Reflection
40. General Character of India’s Ethical-Legal Literature
41. Ayodhyâ
42. For Reflection
43. Questionnaire (option to submit)
44. For Reflection Assignment: option to complete requirements
1. Intro to Lesson 9
2. The History and Literature of Pâtanjala-Yoga
3. Further Reading
4. Patanjali—Philosopher and Yogin
5. Hiranyagarbha
6. Further Reading
7. For Reflection
8. The Codification of Wisdom—The Yoga-Sûtra
9. The Yoga-Sûtra of Patanjali
10. Further Reading
11. For Reflection
12. Obstacles on the Path According to Patanjali
13. For Reflection
14. The Elaboration of Wisdom—The Commentarial Literature
15. For Reflection
16. Further Reading
17. For Reflection Assignment: option to complete requirements
1. Intro to Lesson 10
2. The Philosophy and Practice of Pâtanjala-Yoga
3. Further Reading
4. The Chain of Being: Self and World From Patanjali’s Perspective
5. For Reflection
6. The Kriyâ-Yoga of Patanjali
7. For Reflection
8. Who or What is the Self in Self-Realization?
9. For Reflection
10. The Eight Limbs of the Path of Self-Transcendence
11. Further Reading
12. For Reflection
13. Spiritual Discipline
14. For Reflection
15. Ethics
16. Further Reading
17. Yoga Begins and Ends with Virtuous Action
18. Is Nonharming an Old-Fashioned Value?
19. For Reflection
20. Self-Restraint
21. Further Reading
22. For Reflection
23. Posture
24. Further Reading
25. For Reflection
26. Breath Control
27. Further Reading
28. Breath and Soul
29. For Reflection
30. Sense Withdrawal
31. Further Reading
32. For Reflection
33. Concentration
34. Further Reading
35. For Reflection
36. Meditation
37. What Is Meditation?
38. Further Reading
39. For Reflection
40. Ecstasy
41. Further Reading
42. For Reflection
43. Liberation
44. Further Reading
45. For Reflection
46. Liberation by Georg Feuerstein
47. Questionnaire (option to submit)
48. For Reflection Assignment: option to complete requirements
1. Intro to Lesson 11
2. Overview
3. Further Reading
4. Shiva: The Ultimate Good
5. For Reflection
6. The Left-Hand Followers of Shiva: ”Skull-Bearers,” “Phallus-Wearers,” and Other Ascetics
7. The Pâshupata Tradition
8. For Reflection
9. The Kâpâlikas
10. The Kâlâmukha Order
11. The Aghorî Order
12. The Lingâyata Sect
13. Further Reading
14. The Power of Love: The Shiva Worshipers of the North
15. Northern Shaivism
16. The Pratyâbhijna School
17. Lallâ—Love Poetess Extraordinaire
18. Further Reading
19. Shiva-Sûtra of Vasugupta
20. Vasugupta’s Shaiva Yoga
21. Further Reading
22. For the Love of God: The Shiva Worshipers of the South
23. Further Reading
24. For Reflection
25. The Life of Abhinava Gupta
26. Reflections on the History of South India
27. Further Reading
28. The Âgamas, Yoga, and Tantra: Âgamas and the Vedic Tradition
29. Further Reading
30. Tamil Shiva-Bhakti
31. Further Reading
32. Sex, Ascetism and Mythology
33. Further Reading
34. For Reflection: option to complete requirement
1. Intro to Lesson 12
2. God Is Love
3. Further Reading
4. The Âlvârs
5. For Reflection
6. Further Reading
7. The Bhâgavata-Purâna
8. Further Reading
9. Uddhava-Gîtâ (Selection)
10. The Alchemy of Hatred
11. The Devî-Bhâgavata
12. The Goddess
13. The Divine Mother: A Philosophical and Personal Quest
14. Further Reading
15. For Reflection
16. The Gîtâ-Govinda
17. Further Reading
18. For Reflections
19. The Bhakti-Yoga of the Vaishnava Preceptors
20. The Life of Râmânuja
21. Further Reading
22. For Reflection
23. Tears of Love
24. Surrender in Vaishnava Devotionalism
25. Jnânadeva and Other Saints of Maharashtra
26. For Reflection
27. Further Reading
28. The Minstrel-Saints of Medieval Bengal
29. For Reflection
30. Further Reading
31. Popular Love Mysticism of the North
32. Further Reading
33. The Vaishnava Schools
34. Further Reading
35. For Reflection
36. Questionnaire (to submit)
37. For Reflection: option to complete requirement
1. Intro to Lesson 13
2. The Naked Ascetic
3. Yogic Teachings in the Purânic Encyclopedias
4. For Reflection
5. The Mârkandeya-Purâna
6. The Yoga of the Linga-Purâna
7. For Reflection
8. Further Reading
9. For Reflection Assignment: option to complete requirement
1. Intro to Lesson 14
2. Overview
3. Mind Only: The Idealistic Approach
4. The Yogic Path
5. Yoga-Vâsishtha
6. Reflections on the Teachings of the Yoga-Vâsishtha
7. Further Reading
8. For Reflection
9. For Reflection Assignments: option to complete requirements
1. Intro to Lesson 15
2. Overview
3. Sounding Out the Absolute
4. Light
5. Sound, Breath, and Transcendence
6. Photistic Yoga
7. Cutting Through the Knots of Ordinary Awareness
8. Bodily Transmutation: The Upanishads of Hatha-Yoga
9. Further Reading
10. For Reflection
11. For Reflections Assignment: option to complete requirements
1. Intro to Lesson 16
2. Main Points
3. Further Reading
4. For Reflection
5. Questionnaire (option to submit)
6. For Reflections Assignment: option to complete requirements
1. Intro to Lesson 17
2. Bodily Pleasure and Spiritual Bliss: The Advent of Tantra
3. The New Approach of Tantra
4. For Reflection
5. Goddess Worship
6. Further Reading
7. Mahâlakshmî-Stotra
8. For Reflection
9. The Little Mothers: Mâtrikâs
10. For Reflection
11. The Tantric Antiritualist School
12. Further Reading
13. Sarahapâda
14. For Reflection
15. Further Reading
16. The Tantric Literature
17. A Comparison Between Hindu and Buddhist Tantras
18. Further Reading
19. The Hidden Reality
20. For Reflection
21. Tantric Ritual Practice
22. The Erotic Universe
23. Tantra and Neo-Tantrism
24. The Magic of Powers
25. Further Reading
26. Kula-Arnava-Tantra
27. Further Reading
28. For Reflection
29. Questionnaire (option to submit)
30. For Reflections Assignment: option to complete requirements
1. Intro to Lesson 18
2. The Enlightenment of the Body: The Origins of Hatha-Yoga
3. Styles of Contemporary Hatha-Yoga (trigger warning)
4. Walking the Razor’s Edge: The Hatha-Yogic Path
5. For Reflection
6. Âsanas for the Body and the Mind
7. The Literature of Hatha-Yoga
8. Goraksha-Paddhati
9. Further Reading
10. Questionnaire (option to submit)
11. For Reflections Assignment: option to complete requirements
1. Intro to Lesson 19
2. Nineteenth-Century Yoga (New chapter; not found in YT)
3. Further Reading
4. Swami Vivekananda’s Speech at the World’s Parliament of Religions
5. Twentieth-Century Yoga (new chapter; not found in YT)
6. Final Practical Assignment
1. Completion Options
2. Certificate of Completion
3. Moving Forward

About this course

$950.00
561 lessons
0 hours of video content

Traditional Yoga Studies

Philosophy, History and Literature of Yoga Course - 800 hrs

Course curriculum

Getting Started

Overview

Introduction: The Impulse toward Transcendence

Lesson 1: The Building Blocks

Lesson 2: The Wheel of Yoga

Lesson 3: Yoga and Other Hindu Traditions

Lesson 4: Yoga in Ancient Times

Lesson 5: The Whispered Wisdom of the Early Upanishads

Lesson 6: Jaina Yoga The Teachings of the Victorious Ford-Makers

Lesson 7: Yoga in Buddhism

Lesson 8: The Flowering of Yoga

Lesson 9

Lesson 10: The Philosophy and Practice of Pâtanjala-Yoga

Lesson 11: The Nondualist Approach to God Among the Shiva Worshipers

Lesson 12: The Vedântic Approach to God Among the Vishnu Worshipers

Lesson 13: Yoga and Yogins in the Purânas (YT, pp. 295–301)

Lesson 14: The Yogic Idealism of the Yoga-Vâsishtha (YT, pp. 303–310)

Lesson 15: God, Visions, and Power: The Yoga-Upanishads (YT, pp. 311–331)

Lesson 16: Yoga in Sikhism

Lesson 17: The Esotericism of Medieval Tantra-Yoga

Lesson 18: Yoga As Spiritual Alchemy: The Philosophy and Practice of Hatha-Yoga

Lesson 19: Modern Yoga

Completion of the Course

About this course