12/09/2025
Join us for a special philosophy workshop designed for dedicated yoga practitioners and teachers who are eager to deepen their understanding of yoga beyond the mat. Led by renowned yoga scholar Dr. Seth Powell, together we will engage in a close reading and study of one of yoga’s most ancient, important, and mis-understood scriptures.
The Yogasūtra of Patañjali, written some 1,500 years ago, is the earliest extant systematization of Yoga philosophy and practice. Rendered into 195 short, dense, Sanskrit “threads” or sūtras, the Yogasūtra is the root text for the Yoga philosophical tradition. It is a profound treatise on the nature of the human condition which examines: the cognitive mechanics and psychology of the mind-body, the cause of human suffering, and offers a map of psychophysical practices that can be cultivated in order to obtain complete spiritual freedom or liberation.
In this workshop, designed for both beginners and long-time students alike, we will focus on the first and second chapters (pāda), which treat the definition of yoga, the nature of the mind, the cause of suffering and its cure: a detailed “eight-limbed” (aṣṭāṅga) system of yogic practices.
Participants will leave with a deeper understanding of the history, theory, and practice of yoga as outlined in Patañjali’s Yogasūtra–and a better sense of how the yoga we are doing today relates (or not) to this ancient Indian philosophy.
