Yoga Immersion Welcome
Welcome Friend.
You are about to embark on an incredible journey. It is a journey that will take you to the vast inner landscape of body and soul. Through this course, you will experience changes that will extend into every aspect of your life. You will work physically with the practices of asana and pranayama. You will work mentally as you read through sacred texts and embark on the practice of svadyaya, self-study. You will be faced with personal challenges and great victories of self-empowerment. This course will be your guide, not just in written word, but as a personal environment of self-discovery. It is a concise guide. Each of these topics could be an entire book. This course will give you an overview of key concepts important to teaching yoga and will serve as a reference guide. In addition to this work, there will be reading assignments and homework tasks. The homework is designed to offer you the practice of self-study, an important concept in the practice of yoga.
This guide is provided for information and reference only, and is not intended to offer legal, financial, medical, or psychological counsel. Please be sure to seek the advice of your doctor and or other medical professionals before beginning a personal practice, to make sure the practice works for your individual needs and medical concerns.
Feel free to click on the lesson titles that are interesting to you. You do not need to go in order of the lessons. Take your time, and let this course blossom in its own time.
May this course help you to manifest your goals in this ancient practice of yoga, and offer you practical tools to navigate your life with unity of body, mind, and soul.
With joy and compassion from your guide and teacher, Angie
You might like to expand on your learning with this additional reading list!
Recommended Book List
Read this introductory section- downloadable PDF link
Yoga: Body, Mind, Soul
Links to course pages
Access Your Primary Course Sections At These Links:
Yoga History and Philosophy
Elements and Ayurveda
Energetics and Mantra
Structure and Methodology
Personal Practice
Immersion Conclusion and Resources
What is “Myriad Yoga?”
"Myriad: 10,000, or a great number" ~ Merriam Webster Dictionary
Tao Te Ching, Chapter 1
"The Tao that can be told is not the eternal Tao,
The name that can be named, is not the eternal name. The nameless is the beginning of heaven and earth.
The named is the mother of the ten thousand things. Ever desire-less, one can see the mystery,
Ever desiring, one can see the manifestations..."
Yoga is an ornate tapestry of forms and practices. From its historical roots to its modern day expression, there are as many varieties and styles of yoga as there are people practicing and teaching. We human practitioners come from diverse experiences and backgrounds. We have many different colors, many different shapes and forms, and many different textures of personality. Each of us adds to the sculptural creation of yoga, the great unifying practice.
Myriad Yoga is the name I give to my teaching style and training school. Myriad Yoga honors the individuality of each person. While alignment and safety are honored and practiced, it is recognized that each body needs its own unique alignment strategy. Like the ancient sister practice of Ayurveda which states that what is medicine for one person could be poison for another person, alignment in yoga asana is not a "one size fits all" situation. In Myriad Yoga you are encouraged to explore each pose, and find what works best for your ever-changing body. Our cells are constantly regenerating, and what worked or did not work yesterday, may offer us a whole new possibility today!
Myriad Yoga is about being present in the NOW. Do not hold onto a story about yourself, letting your past hold you down, or projecting ideas about what you should be into the future. It is about being present to this one moment, and honoring your needs at this time.
The Tao Te Ching and Sankhya philosophy both state that we come from one source and divide into the "myriad things.” I equate this idea to both the process of evolution and to our one cell self that divided numerous times until it formed our one human self. As our lives unfold, we take and follow many forms, but ultimately, we unite again with the source. The yuj, the yoking that the practice of yoga offers us, will make us feel whole and at peace.
A Few Words about Sanskrit Terminology
Chanting, mantras, and terms of yoga are in the original Sanskrit, the ancient language of India. Sanskrit is a root language (like Latin) and is the base language to many modern languages in Asia and Europe. It is said that because of its ancient origins, Sanskrit holds higher vibrational energy than our modern day languages. Many words in the practice and teaching of yoga are written in Sanskrit. Studying and understanding this ancient language can help you to become a more knowledgeable teacher. Sanskrit study is not a requirement for teaching yoga; most students will not have an understanding and awareness of this language. You may come across Sanskrit terms written in three ways:
1. Devanagari – literally, “the writing of the gods.” You will not need to learn how to read Devanagari, but you may encounter it in some texts (mercifully, usually followed by an easier to read version). Devanagari is readily identified by the strong bar across the top of the letters.
2. English with diacritical marks – Sanskrit is a very precise language, and each and every aspect of a letter indicates meaning and pronunciation. Scholars capture this precision by using diacritical marks to show the exact letter, and therefore the exact pronunciation, captured from the original Devanagari.
3. Phonetic English – Sanskrit can be written out phonetically, so you see the way the letters would be pronounced. This is (by far!) the easiest way to read Sanskrit words, and will be used throughout this manual.
Here is an example of all three ways of writing Om Shanti Shanti Shanti (Om, peace, peace, peace)
Original Devanagari:
ॐ शािन्तः शािन्तः शािन्तः
English with diacritical marks:
Om śāntiḥ śāntiḥ śāntiḥ
Phonetic Sanskrit:
Om Shanti Shanti Shanti
In this course, in an effort to keep the text simple, I have used phonetic Sanskrit. For more information and further study of Sanskrit, I encourage you to seek out the teacher Manorama, of Sanskrit Studies, https://sanskritstudies.org/, or The American Sanskrit Institute, http://americansanskrit.com. May this course spark your curiosity and desire to seek out more scholarly writing on these topics.