Did you hear about Annie Barrett’s upcoming workshops called “Exploring the Yoga Tradition?”  Here’s a bit more about this opportunity.  Part one starts Jan. 26

YL: Most people associate yoga just with the movement called asana. How will this deepen my yoga practice?

AB: What you say is true.  There are 15 million Americans practicing yoga today.  That is a lot of Downward Dogs!  However, Downward Dog or yoga asana, is just one of the many and varied practices of yoga.  Most people who come to yoga are not just coming to get fit, they are looking for a tool to help them live their life with greater ease, purpose and joy. 

Yoga through the ages has aimed to answer the BIG questions, the purpose and meaning of life: Who am I?  Where did I come from? Where am I going? What must I do?  In Exploring the Yoga Tradition, my aim is to show how through the ages, yoga has sought to answer these questions and to provide tools for individuals to experience these answers for themselves.  Yoga is about deepening our understanding of who we are and our connection to the world.  Yoga’s wisdom is timeless.  Participants in these workshops will not only gain knowledge about the tradition, they will also gain tools for deepening their own yoga practice.

YL: What caused you to study the roots of this ancient practice?

AB: I began practicing yoga asana twenty years ago.  I mainly began taking yoga classes because I thought it would be a good way to increase my flexibility.  Very quickly I discovered that yoga offered me much more than just a means to a more flexible and strong body.  I discovered that when I practiced yoga, I became calmer, more connected to my true core, and more able to make sense of my life.  And, while yoga asana continued to be an important practice for me, I yearned to know more about the tradition at large. 

I began yoga teacher training in 1998, and absolutely fell in love with yoga philosophy!  The timeless wisdom of this tradition had immediate practical values for my life.  The ancient texts spoke to my heart.  Under the guidance of wonderful teachers and mentors, I began to meditate and to incorporate other yoga practices into my life. 

Currently, I have the very good fortune to study with one of the most prominent scholar/practitioners of Tantric Yoga, Dr. Paul Muller Ortega.  My on-going study and sadhana with Paul has opened up the world of yoga even wider.  I have a much greater knowledge and understanding of the history, texts, philosophies and practices of yoga thanks to Paul.

YL: How old is yoga and where did it start?

AB: It is difficult to ascertain exactly old yoga is, but the oldest reference to yoga dates back 5,000 years to the Indus Saraswati civilization in Northern India, the oldest of the ancient civilizations.  Archaeologists have uncovered  a seal called the Pashupati Seal which dates about 3000 BCE portraying a seated yogi.  After this, we have references to yoga in the Vedas beginning about 1200 BCE.  It is amazing to realize just how old yoga is.  However, postural yoga which is the most familiar type of yoga found today is a much more recent tradition.  It is important to understand too that yoga is continuing to evolve and change.  The tradition is not static, it is very much alive and we are part of it!

YL:  “ Exploring the Yoga Tradition” will include study of some ancient texts. What if I’ve near heard of these? 

AB: It is absolutely fine if you have never heard of these texts!  Many Westerners have not.  Nonetheless, these are root texts of the yoga tradition that contain timeless wisdom that is worth our study.  For example the Yoga Sutra of Patañjali outlines the theory of the practice of meditation and is perhaps most well known for codifying the 8 Limbs of Yoga, which include yoga asana (posture) and pranayama (breathwork).  The Yamas and Niyamas listed in the text serve as a code for living well in the world and include observances such as non-violence, truthfulness, non-grasping, discipline and self study.  Very relevant today!

The Bhagavad Gita is an exquisite householder yoga text that, among many themes, elucidates the theme of the yoga of action and the question of dharma, one’s purpose in life.  It may come as a surprise to learn that the Bhagavad Gita was a central text and tool for several extraordinary Western figures such as Henry David Thoreau, Beethoven, and Gandhi.

 YL: Anything else?

AB:I really look forward to offering these two workshop!  I hope that folks will come with many questions and curiosity and that our exploration together will fuel the fire for deepening our understanding and practice of yoga together!  Namaste!

By Doug Adamson