Hello Folks,
We hope this email finds you well, safe and healthy.
This Friday at 12 noon we will have the fourth online meeting of our Yoga Sutra discussion group. Please feel free to join even if you haven't attended the earlier ones. The notes for the first classes can be found here.
The Yoga Sutras are a collection of teachings on Yoga that were codified by the Rishi Patanjali somewhere between 200 and 400 CE. The teachings of Ashtanga Yoga and Kriya Yoga are taught in this text, as well as many other valuable practices and insights into the meanings of—and how to practice—yoga
This Friday we will cover sutras 1.5 and 1.6. These two sutras give an important insight into the underlying nature of the mind, and what the distinction is between mind and its activities.
Citta is the word that yoga uses for the mind, and specifically the internal power of cognition. We are all knowing agents, or conscious beings, and it is through the power of the mind that cognition can occur. However, most of our habitual cognition is external, and external cognition is colored by the immense limitations of our sense organs. It is not the only type of cognition that the mind is
capable of: we are also capable of internal cognition, and yoga (which also means meditation) is one of the many practices that teach us how to sense, feel, and listen within, and to experience a deep sense of being that is not limited by the perceptions of sense organs.
A vritti is a conscious mental state, and specifically refers to the changing states of mind that are sometimes called fluctuations. In this class we will discuss citta, the different types of vrittis, and what a citta-vritti is. The sutras are like maps to internal states of consciousness that can help guide us through what sometimes feels like difficult territory: our own
mind.
Register for this free (or by donation) class here.
Other News and Stuff to Check Out
My sister Kara puts together an amazing weekly newsletter for educators, called Remote Learning Weekly. Check it out here!
Another sister, Amanda, has a fabulous podcast called Bookable, a must for readers! Check it out here!
Another sister, Rebecca, has a great collection of non-fiction essays for middle-grade readers, Breakfast on Mars!
Music
I absolutely loved this collaboration version of "Times Like These" by the Foo Fighters. Timely and beautiful, with artists whose voices are so tremendously awesome to hear—especially raw and in their living rooms.
Apps
Keep on the look out: next week a simplified and improved version of The Breathing App will be available. How could we make something that is already simple even simpler? Well, we did. Upgrades include the breathing ball and sounds synchronized, fixed time and sound glitches, and a new breathing space
background.
Podcasts
I've been graciously invited onto a few podcast over the past month. Two recent ones are below, on slightly different topics, in case you want to listen.
2. Coping with COVID, an interview I did with Deepak Chopra, for the Hindu American Foundation (be warned, the camera angle is bizarre and I look mighty strange. The red glasses didn't help, but the interview is good!)
Inner Peace Conference
With over a year of planning in the making, the Inner Peace Conference is almost here, and will be held online on May 8th and 9th. We have a phenomenal group of teachers including Sri Radhanath Swami, Sharon Salzberg, Rick Hanson, AnnaLynne McCord, Judy Lief, Tiokasin Ghosthorse, Bob Roth and more. We have room for 1,000 people, and have 800 registered. If you'd like to sign up, please follow this link here. It's going to be great!
That's all for now. As mentioned earlier, we'll be sending one informational email every two weeks, and one about yogic teachings and musings every other week. This is the informational one :)
With love,
Eddie, Jocelyne, and Lili
(and Ithica)
