“Beyond The Asanas:
Intermediate Yoga Philosophy and Terms”
with Paul Emerson, Ph.D.
Wednesdays: June 14 – July 5, 2023
6:30pm – 8:00pm
Cost: $80.00
Yoga philosophy can be complicated-different concepts, different language, different practices. Moreover, Indian philosophy is not a single entity but a variety of complementary views. This class will provide a road map and tools for further exploration of yogic texts. We will start with the timeline of Indian literature (week 1), discuss samkhya metaphysics on which the Yoga Sutras are based (week 2), explore the Yoga Sutras (week 3) and finally delve into some of the hatha yoga sanskrit texts (week 4). The overall focus will be on how to make these concepts practical and relevant to our own sadhanas (meditation practices). For texts we will use portions of Swami Rama’s The Royal Path, Swami Veda’s Philosophy of Hatha Yoga as well as various on-line texts.
Paul Emerson, Ph.D. is a biomedical engineer who has worked on dialysis, respiratory and cardiac products. At various times he has been a research scientist, manager of clinical research with a major biomedical company, software engineer and a university instructor. He holds 12 patents in the areas of dialysis, sleep therapy and implantable cardiac devices. For the Meditation Center he has been the local go-to person on the physiology of breathing and is a scholar of the ancient yogic texts. He has been teaching yoga and related subjects since 1976 and was certified in 1980 by the Rockford School of Yoga.
