🎉 The Essence of Yoga: Making Yoga Philosophy Accessible - now available On-Demand! 🎉
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The Essence of Yoga:
Making Yoga Philosophy
Accessible

with Jivana Heyman & Anjali Rao


NOW AVAILABLE ON DEMAND

16 hour pre-recorded 8-part online course

Enrollment includes 1 year of access to course replays, recorded live in Nov-Dec 2023, and accompanying resources

*Completion of this online short-course will make RYTs eligible for 16 Continuing Education hours through Yoga Alliance.


$315-$395 USD Tiered Pricing
Partial scholarships available

REGISTER NOW

The Essence of Yoga:
Making Yoga Philosophy Accessible

with Jivana Heyman & Anjali Rao


NOW AVAILABLE ON DEMAND

16 hour pre-recorded 8-part online course

Enrollment includes 1 year of access to course replays, recorded live in Nov-Dec 2023, and accompanying resources

*Completion of this online short-course will make RYTs eligible for 16 Continuing Education hours through Yoga Alliance.


$315-$395 USD
Tiered Pricing
Partial scholarships available

REGISTER NOW

How can we engage with Yoga philosophy in a respectful and yet effective way that allows us to truly embody the teachings?


Join Anjali Rao and Jivana Heyman for an eight-part live online series exploring the key elements of Yoga philosophy, and how we can bring the richness of Yoga philosophy alive.


On-Demand enrollment includes access to course recordings and resources for a whole year, via our online course portal.

This course will synthesize the teachings from the Upanishads, the Bhagavad Gita, and the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali to find the major themes in the ancient teachings. Although, we’ll spend most of our time considering the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali. We’ll delve into intentionally selected topics that are meaningful in our modern lives to explore and reflect on.

The goal is to make these sometimes esoteric teachings accessible and applicable so they can support us in our spiritual journey. These are teachings that have been kept alive by practitioners for thousands of years, and our earnest study and practice will awaken them within our lives as well.

Each session will include asana and/or meditation practices so that we can connect our practice directly to these essential philosophical themes.

What Will I Need?

  • A sturdy chair, or yoga mat
  • A blanket, pillow or bolster
  • A designated or suitable practice space

Recommended Resources to accompany this course:

There is no required reading, however we recommend the following texts:

  • * The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali
  • * The Bhagavad Gita
  • * The Upanishads
  • # Yoga Revolution: Building A Practice of Courage & Compassion by Jivana Heyman

* Free digital versions of these texts are available
# Discount available for trainees via Shambala

>> Download Jivana's list of recommended translations of the Sutras & the Bhagavad Gita (PDF) <<

Excerpted from Yoga Revolution: Building a Practice of Courage & Compassion by Jivana Heyman

This course will synthesize the teachings from the Upanishads, the Bhagavad Gita, and the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali to find the major themes in the ancient teachings. Although, we’ll spend most of our time considering the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali. We’ll delve into intentionally selected topics that are meaningful in our modern lives to explore and reflect on.

The goal is to make these sometimes esoteric teachings accessible and applicable so they can support us in our spiritual journey. These are teachings that have been kept alive by practitioners for thousands of years, and our earnest study and practice will awaken them within our lives as well.

Each session will include asana and/or meditation practices so that we can connect our practice directly to these essential philosophical themes.

What Will I Need?

  • A sturdy chair, or yoga mat
  • A blanket, pillow or bolster
  • A designated or suitable practice space

Recommended Resources to accompany this course:

There is no required reading, however we recommend the following texts:

  • * The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali
  • * The Bhagavad Gita
  • * The Upanishads
  • # Yoga Revolution: Building A Practice of Courage & Compassion by Jivana Heyman

* Free digital versions of these texts are available
# Discount available for trainees via Shambala

>> Download Jivana's list of recommended translations of The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali & The Bhagavad Gita (PDF) <<

Excerpted from Yoga Revolution: Building a Practice of Courage & Compassion by Jivana Heyman

The Essence of Yoga:
Making Yoga Philosophy Accessible

On-Demand Course Outline

Class 1: Introduction to our Sources

with Anjali Rao

We will learn about the texts that inspire and inform this course; the Upanishads, the Yoga Sutras and the Bhagavad Gita so we can locate the teachings in context to the study of Yoga. Each of these influential compositions have a distinct and unique flavor and context that have inspired millions of everyday practitioners and thought leaders in the eternal quest for liberation. We will gain a bird’s eye perspective of the teachings so we can dive deeper as informed practitioners.

Class 2: Ethics: Yama as Personal & Collective Action

with Jivana Heyman


Ethics form the heart and the foundation of the yoga teachings, both in terms of making the practice more effective on a personal level, and in terms of creating a safe and supportive yoga community. Living ethically cultivates a peaceful mind that is not in constant conflict and struggle. In turn, this makes the practice of turning within much smoother and more easeful. As members of a community of practice, ethics offers guidelines to cultivate a safer container for the personal transformation that yoga provides, supporting each of us on our journey individually and as a collective.

Class 3: Niyamas

with Anjali Rao 


The Niyamas are practices of cultivating an inner compass that can directly impact our lives in all dimensions. These potent teachings direct our interactions with the world and  build capacity for engagement with integrity, and compassion. We will explore the Niyamas with discernment, in context to our unique positionalities and the times we live in.

Class 4: Cultivating a Non Binary Approach to Dukka (Suffering)

with Anjali Rao


Who are we? Why do we experience suffering?  Is happiness the opposite to suffering? What is a non- binary approach to dukka? In this session, Anjali offers insight into these questions that have been contemplated upon and studied through history. Ancient wisdom from yogic texts such as the Upanishads, the Bhagavad Gita and the Yoga Sutras delve deeply into the mysteries and  mastery of the mind, and have influenced the development and practice of Western psychology.

Class 5: Practice & Non-attachment: Finding Freedom & Peace

with Jivana Heyman 


We are all searching for freedom and peace, but often we’re usually doing so without reflecting on what true freedom and peace represent and how they can be found. The yoga teachings are clear that peace is an expression of our true nature, and that freedom comes from connecting with that peace. The way to do this is by finding a balance of both practice and nonattachment, the yin/yang of yoga. Practice is an effort toward steadiness, and nonattachment is letting go of misunderstanding that peace and freedom come from outside of us.

Class 6: Considering Duality and Nonduality

with Jivana Heyman & Anjali Rao


Within the yoga teachings we find multiple layers of theory and philosophy. After all, we're talking about an enormous group of teachings that span millenia. In particular, some of the larger spiritual questions and perspectives can sometimes seem contradictory or at odds with each other. In this insightful conversation, Anjali and Jivana will take a fun and challenging look at the two main philosophical approaches: duality and nonduality. They’ll explore how these theories are different and where they overlap.

Class 7: Yoga in Action: Practice, Reflection & Surrender

with Jivana Heyman 


Kriya Yoga, yoga in action, is a group of three practices found in the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali that offer guidance for bringing practice off the mat into our daily lives. The three practices are tapas, discipline, or learning from our pain; svadhyaya, honest reflection; and isvara pranidhana, surrender to our vision of the divine. These three practices combined offer a path to finding peace in the midst of our chaotic lives.

Class 8: Series Summary & Integration

with Jivana Heyman & Anjali Rao 


In our final session, Anjali and Jivana will offer some reflections on the yoga teachings and some of the themes found within this diverse and complex philosophy. What’s so powerful and beautiful about yoga is that it’s a living tradition, that is ancient and yet still contemporary when we apply the teachings in our lives. 

REGISTER NOW

Want to get to know our course facilitators,
Anjali Rao & Jivana Heyman, and why they are offering this course?


Check out the REPLAY of our FREE mini-workshop & info session:

Who Me? Unraveling
Imposter Syndrome with Yoga

 

Access the workshop replay, recorded live and online, October 25th, 2023

GET THE FREE WORKSHOP REPLAY

Imposter Syndrome stops so many of us from putting ourselves out into the world and pursuing our true purpose. Yoga philosophy has a lot to say about this in terms of the way our minds work and how to serve in the world.

Check out the replay of Anjali and Jivana's conversation about how we can engage with the yoga teachings to address imposter syndrome.

This includes resisting dominant culture conditioning; exploring the teachings as a path of knowing yourself; and peeling back the layers that hold you back.

They also discuss their upcoming course, The Essence of Yoga: Making Yoga Philosophy Accessible, now available On-Demand!

Jivana Heyman, on embodying
yoga philosophy in your teaching


"Many yoga teachers think that incorporating yoga philosophy into their teaching means giving dharma talks and explaining what the concepts mean. But, if you truly want to embody yoga philosophy in your class, focus on the way you’re teaching. This is especially true when it comes to ethics, which is the heart of yoga philosophy. Ethics creates accessibility..."

 

"...If you want to teach about ahimsa, non-violence, start by reflecting on the way you teach. Giving a little talk about ahimsa is great, but first make sure that you’re not causing harm. If you want to teach about satya, or truthfulness, first be sure to work within your scope of practice. There are so many ways that we can embody the yoga teachings, and become an example of them, rather than just talking. The benefit of approaching teaching in this way is that it becomes a practice, and we get to continually grow and learn."

REGISTER NOW

Meet Your Facilitators

Jivana Heyman wearing brown glasses and a gray shirt.

Jivana Heyman

Jivana Heyman (he/him), C-IAYT, E-RYT500, is the founder and director of the Accessible Yoga Association, an international non-profit organization dedicated to increasing access to the yoga teachings. He’s the author of Accessible Yoga: Poses and Practices for Every Body, Yoga Revolution: Building a Practice of Courage & Compassion (Shambhala Publications) and the upcoming book The Teacher's Guide to Accessible Yoga: Best Practices for Sharing Yoga with Every Body (January 2024).

Jivana coined the phrase, “Accessible Yoga,” over ten years ago, and it has now become the standard appellation for a large cross section of the immense yoga world.

He brought the Accessible Yoga community together for the first time in 2015 for the Accessible Yoga Conference, which has gone on to become a focal point for this movement. Jivana is also the creator of the Accessible Yoga Training and the co-founder of the online Accessible Yoga Training School with Amber Karnes, which is a platform for continued education for yoga teachers in the field of equity and accessibility. They also created the Accessible Yoga Podcast in 2020 (now The Love Of Yoga Podcast, hosted by the Accessible Yoga Association and Anjali Rao).

Over the past 25 years, Jivana has led countless yoga teacher training programs around the world, and dedicates his time to supporting yoga teachers who are working to serve communities that are under-represented in traditional yoga spaces.

Get to know Jivana:

www.jivanaheyman.com | @jivanaheyman | facebook.com/jivanaheyman

Anjali Rao

Anjali Rao (she/her) offers insight into the Yoga stories and histories that have been obscured by heteropatriarchy and colonization.

She brings a multi disciplinary approach in integrating yoga philosophy and history, with storytelling, imagery and poetry.

She is an Indian American immigrant, a cancer survivor, and is on the faculty of many continuing education yoga programs. 

She serves as the President of the Board of Directors of the Accessible Yoga Association, and is the host of The Love of Yoga podcast that connects to the expansiveness of the teachings of yoga through thought provoking conversations with yoga scholars and activists on the frontlines of liberatory movements. 

Get to know Anjali:

www.yoganjali.me | @yoganjali

Enroll Now

Tuition for this on-demand online course is $315-$395 USD sliding scale

We also offer partial scholarships.

Tiered Pricing Explained:

  • Community Rate (supported by your peers)
  • Sustainer Rate (covers your enrollment)
  • Supporter Rate (covers your enrollment + supports your peers)

If you are able to enroll at the Supporter or Sustainer Rate, your contributions support the ability to offer a lower rate to community members experiencing financial difficulties. 

If you would like to clarify which pricing tier is most appropriate for you, please refer to this helpful graphic by Alexis J Cunningfolk:

The Green Bottle: Where You Fall On The Sliding  Scale

Intention of Equity Pricing Structure:

Please take a moment to consider the intention of our scholarship program and equity pricing structure, which was created in order to amplify training access for those who hold marginalized identities and those experiencing significant financial hardship.

If neither of those qualifications apply to you, we ask you to please consider other payment options, including using the tiered equity pricing structure, or supporting others in our community who have decreased access to financial resources by enrolling as a Sustainer or Supporter, if this is accessible to you.

COMMUNITY (ON-DEMAND)
$315 USD
SUSTAINER (ON-DEMAND)
$355 USD
SUPPORTER (ON-DEMAND)
$395 USD


Need a partial scholarship?

Apply for a
PARTIAL SCHOLARSHIP


Anjali Rao, on cultivating a sustainable yoga practice


"One of the biggest misconceptions of yoga practice is that we need a long, complicated one to two hour practice every single time for it to matter or make a difference. While we need variety to expand our experiences and challenge our mind, and yes - maybe our body, it is what we do everyday, it is how we do what we do everyday, and if we speak to ourselves with compassion when we don’t, that creates those lifelong habit patterns, the samskaras of practice, that shapes and holds us in all the ways."

Frequently Asked Questions