Friday 22 March 2024
Session 1 - Introduction to the eight limbs in the context of Patañjali’s Yoga Sūtra (6-8.30pm)
Saturday 23 March 2024
Session 2 - Body-based exploration of key aṣṭāṅga* practice principles (10am-12.30pm)
Session 3 - Yama-niyama and a compass to live by - part one (2-4.30pm)
Sunday 24 March 2024
Session 4 - How the yama-niyama compass can guide and empower our physical practice (10am-12.30pm)
Session 5 - Yama-niyama and a compass to live by - part two (2-4.30pm)
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Deepen your understanding of the foundation principles of yoga, experience how the eight limbs work together and how you can work with them in all aspects of daily life and all types of yoga practice technique during this weekend of workshops with James Boag.
James has been studying and practising Patañjali’s Yoga Sūtra for over twenty years and works direct from the original Sanskṛt. He is renowned for his capacity to bring the ancient scriptural teachings of yoga to vivid life so you can make them your own and work with them skilfully and authentically in your own lives and practices.
The eight limbs of classical yoga - the aṣṭāṅga - constitute a cohesive and robust body of practice: eight members of a single body, eight constituents of a whole. This immersive weekend offers the rare opportunity to work closely from the original Sanskṛt teachings in an active, pragmatic, accessible and highly inspiring learning environment.
Over the weekend you will learn and deepen your understanding of:
The eight limbs as a frame/structure/support for ongoing, deepening practice;
The vast practical teachings encoded in Patañjali’s description/presentation of the eight limbs in the yoga sūtra;
How the eight limbs fit into the yogic method established in the opening chapter of the yoga sūtra and elaborated in chapters 2-4;
How to work with the eight limbs in daily life, and when working with different yoga practice methods and techniques;
The essence of all haṭha and physical/energetic yoga practices as distilled by Patañjali in the aṣṭāṅga section of the Yoga Sūtra;
The eight limbs as essential members of our personal practice team.
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Friday 22 March 2024
6-8.30pm Session 1 - Introduction to the eight limbs in the context of Patañjali’s Yoga Sūtra
Practical introductory session including simple movement and practical exercises with thorough introduction to the eight limbs in the context of Patañjali’s Yoga Sūtra working from the original Sanskṛt.
Whether you are new to practical yoga philosophy or have been steeped in it for decades you will leave this opening session with a richer understanding of the eight limbs and how we can work with them in all aspects of life.
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Saturday 23 March 2024
10am-12.30pm Session 2 - Body-based exploration of key aṣṭāṅga* practice principles
NB This is not ashtanga-vinyasa practice but applying the eight limb principles to broad spectrum yogic movement, principles that you can use to inform, support and enhance any āsana, movement or physical practice!
Some people have said that Patañjali says very little about yogāsana. It is true that he only devotes three sūtra-s/twenty-eight syllables to āsana, but in these syllables so much is encoded. We will apply this in a practice exploration to help us understand how we can work skilfully with these time-proven principles to maximise the holistic benefits of āsana, movement and embodied practices.
Expect principle-based yogic movement work that can inform and support all types of physical practice.
2-4.30pm Session 3 - Yama-niyama and a compass to live by (part one)
The yoga sūtra can be considered a user’s guide to a human incarnation. It works with the map that is set forth in Sāṅkhya - a perspective/darśana that yoga texts assume familiarity with.
In this session you will deepen your familiarity with this Sāṅkhya-Yoga map in a very practical way, through active, pragmatic learning and exploration. You’ll then further explore and deepen your understanding of the yama-niyama principles.
The eight limbs and yogic meditation: working practically with the principles of yogic meditation as laid out by Patañjali in the Yoga Sūtra. Building a meditation practice that can continue to deepen and support you through the travails of life and as practice asks you to refine and go into previously uncharted realms.
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Sunday 24 March 2024
10am-12.30pm Session 4 - How the yama-niyama compass can guide and empower our physical practice
Yogic movement: yama-ing and niyama-ing our pulsating, cycling energy and power.
How the yama-niyama compass can guide and empower our work with the miraculous powers of our own bodies, senses and awareness. Harnessing physical practice and exploration for more robust vitality and balance, all life long.
Expect dynamic movement work stimulating reflexes and recruiting multiple intelligences to foster neurogenesis and renewal.
2-4.30pm Session 5 - Yama-niyama and a compass to live by (part two)
What to do when we don’t know what to do?
This is one of the main concerns of the yogic perspective. Building on your explorations thus far and your understanding of the Sāṅkhya-yoga map of the human condition, you’ll dive deeper into the rich supports of yama and niyama and how you can work with them as a compass to stay true to your deepest longings and draw on deeper wisdom through the inevitable ups, downs and whirlings of life.
Kīrtan, sound practices and the eight limbs: yui’ll close the weekend with the nourishing practice of kīrtan, yoga singing, with an understanding of how it can work with the aṣṭāṅga principles to invite the harmonising power of yoga deeper into our being.
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Weekend Immersion Costs
Weekend Immersion £215 (15% saving)
Full Day - Saturday or Sunday £99 (10% saving)
Single Session £55
To book Full Day please email judi@merchantcityyoga.com
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About James
Originally from Yorkshire, UK, James brings thirty years of teaching experience in language, literature, sports, fitness and yoga, and twenty years totally immersed in holistic yoga from the heart of the Indian tradition and in direct relationship with the original Sanskṛt texts.
He’s known for his storytelling, his rich kirtans, deep meditations, principle-based approach to āsana and movement, and for bringing the timeless wisdom of the traditional scriptural teachings vividly into the context of our lives today. James has been teaching yoga since 2003 and leading integrated programs on applied yoga philosophy around the world since 2009. He regularly returns to Mysore in South India where he completed his MA in Sanskrit, to lead courses on the Bhagavad Gītā, Yoga Sūtra-s and Indian Mythology.