One of the things that can make or break a yoga teacher is their ability to authentically and genuinely tap into the profound and ancient tradition which they represent.
A big part of that effort is learning how to pronounce the names of the poses correctly. In this workshop, we will have an intensive immersion into the magic and mystery of the Sanskrit alphabet. This introductory course will acquaint you with the Sanskrit alphabet, so you can learn to pronounce each phoneme perfectly. This will supercharge your ability to name the poses. But more than this, learning how to recognize the alphabets (i.e, read Sanskrit) will give you access to the primary sources (Yoga Sutra, Bhagavad Gita, Upanishads etc.), so you can come to your own conclusions about what these ancient texts of wisdom are saying and not rely on translators interpreting along the lines of their own (sometimes incomplete) understanding. But even more important than this, the Sanskrit language has "mantric" power. That is to say, learning just the alphabets and understanding how they are arranged in a sequence has the transformative effect of changing your entire life. Come and see how!
While the main portion of this weekend will be devoted to Sanskrit and Tantra (see workshop description below), we'll also devote some time to understanding the basic foundational principles of Ayurveda, the ancient science for well being that is a sister-art to yoga!
Tantra Workshop (Included):
Everything we know and love about modern postural yoga comes from Tantra. The poses, the breathing techniques, the meditative visualizations, the hand gestures, the mantras, the iconography, the life-affirming world view, the embodied practice approach, cakras, kundalini...most of it -if not all of it - comes from Tantra. And yet, isn't it interesting that the word "tantra" is one of the most misunderstood, misappropriated, and maligned words of all time? In India, "tantra" often connotes black magic at worst or a dangerous and occult spiritual path at best. In the West, "tantra" means hedonistic pursuits of pleasure. In this workshop, we're going to set the record straight. The what, why and how of Tantra, all in one training weekend!
A 200 hour teacher training is highly recommended before participation in this full weekend
About Nish
Nishanth Selvalingam spent the first few years of his life learning yoga philosophy in his grandfather’s ashram in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia where he grew up. A devoted Saivite Tantrika, Nishanth’s grandfather worked tirelessly to plant the seeds of reverence in his young heart. Years later, while visiting Sai Baba in India, Nish had an experience singing kirtan with the other devotees. He couldn’t really tell you what happened except that he felt the awakening of an appetite for religious philosophy. That day, he went to the ashram bookshop, purchased a commentary on the Gita and devoured it promptly.
The seed that his grandfather had planted flowered into a deep love for philosophy that has stayed with him since. He returned to the Upanishads and Vedas with a renewed curiosity which only doubled when he took up the study of scriptures from other religions. Eventually he found his way to Los Angeles, California to study Philosophy at UCLA where he continued to find parallels between Plato and Patanjali, Aquinas and Shankaracarya. He coached college debate at UCLA and developed a love for teaching. Nish now spends his time playing guitar in rock bands, coaching middle school debate and teaching yoga. His calling is to share the philosophical traditions that were handed to him by his teachers because he believes with all his heart that for the practice of yoga to blossom into the fruits of Liberation and Joy, there must be a strong grounding in the philosophical frameworks out of which those practice emerged.
Dates:
January 26 from 6 to 9pm (Zoom)
January 27 from 11am to 6pm at ODD Echo Park
January 28 from 9am to 5pm at ODD Echo Park
Cost: $395
*$350 for TT alum - please email oddytt@onedowndog.com to sign up and claim discount
