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About the course Learn the millennials-old teachings behind attaining the highest levels of focus and mental clarity. Vibhuti pada, or the Chapter on Practice, is the third chapter of Patanjali’s Yoga Sutra and the very heart of yogic wisdom. This chapter presents the final three of the eight limbs of yogic practice as the three deep states of meditative concentration. When these three practices are combined into one “team”, sanyama in Sanskrit, they unlock the promise of Yoga's insight and power. Of essential importance in this chapter is Master Patanjali’s coded references to the major elements of the subtle body - the winds, channels and drops. Given this map to the inner world, we arrive at realizations that are both rare and supreme. In addition to Geshe Michael's teaching, YSI staff will lead daily meditations, yoga asana classes, and hold an in-depth study group. As well, the incomparable John Cambell will again lead us in Sanskrit classes.

Learn the millennials-old teachings on the final stages of the journey to the state of kaivalya, or Total Purity. Imagine, your whole life you’ve been wearing tinted sunglasses--ones that make the whole world, everything, seem red. But the problem is that you don't know that it is the glasses that are making the world appear red. You think the world really IS red. This is how misunderstanding infects every single perception we’ve ever had and leads in turn to every single negative thought and negative emotion that we have ever experienced. So how are we going to fix this problem? If everything seems red, how can we see not-red? How are we going to use the broken instrument of the mind to fix itself? How can the problem also be the solution? How and why would we ever take the glasses off?

Who was Lady Niguma? Lady Niguma is considered one of the most important and influential yoginis of 10-11th century India. The woodblock prints of her asana system were recently rediscovered, and are now considered to be the oldest known recorded yoga asana sequence. Why study her system? Mastery of Lady Niguma’s yoga has the ability to radically transform a practitioner’s experience of the world in a very short period of time. By combining the outer methods of the physical elements of yoga with the inner practices of the traditional and ancient systems, results manifest more quickly.