In Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras, the Niyamas are put forth as "personal disciplines” - suggested as a means to help maintain our mental stability and reduce confusion. This group of practices have been on my mind a lot in the last year. At some point, I realized that the niyamas encapsulate many of the challenges we’ve each faced during the covid era: Cleanliness (both hygiene, and moral cleanliness), Contentment, Personal Discipline, Self-Study, and Surrender to forces greater than ourselves.

I know that a 5-week class on “personal disciplines” doesn’t immediately sound appealing! That said, my vision for this course is an opportunity for us to learn more deeply about yoga philosophy and ourselves, in a quiet and personal way. These practices are not merely intellectual concepts - in fact, they are very useful suggestions that we can apply immediately to daily lives . We can acknowledge the areas where we routinely face challenges, and also acknowledge our strengths... and learn how to support ourselves with compassion and structure.

In this philosophy class, we'll examine each of these principles through in-depth sutra study, reflection, and discussion. We'll look at each practice and how we can work gracefully with it in our own lives. Just to be clear, this is not an asana class!