REL1980-04.Topics: Intro to Yoga Thoughts.Sp15.Van Wyk,Alan

Yoga is at once an ancient and orthodox tradition of Indian religious thought and a globally popular contemporary fitness program. It is a spiritual discipline that is claimed by Hindu nationalists while also being taken up by American and European counter-cultures. It is also a physiology, a psychology, a cosmology, an ethics, and a practice of liberation. In this class we will undertake a study of yoga as a form of religious thought and as a practice. We will begin with the textual history and religious philosophy of yoga in ancient and modern forms. We will look back to yoga’s historical roots and forward to the modern dominance of asana – postural practice – as yoga travelled out of India to the rest of the world. Along with the textual and philosophical study of yoga we will enter into our own yoga discipline, learning basic asana postures, pranayama breathing techniques, and meditative practices as the embodiment of yogic religious thought. Throughout this course we will question the relation between religious belief and practice, between religious tradition and experience, and the ways in which traditions travel through history and across national and cultural boundaries