Photo credit: @nayesqui
Why Read the Classics - The Nāṭyaśāstra
Four week online course via zoom Mondays May 29, June 5, 12, 19 7-9pm UK time The Nāṭyaśāstra is one of the most amazing texts in the amazing Sanskṛt tradition. It gives us the hugely useful lens of rasa and bhāva, the innate flavours and ways of feeling that are intrinsic to human life and experience. Nāṭyaśāstra is the source text for Indian dance, drama, theatre and performing arts. It is also a very important source text in the broader realm of Indian aesthetics, poetry and literature. The lens of dance, drama and the performing arts is extremely useful from the yogic perspective, especially when considering how we can skilfully inhabit the stage or threatre of life with all its flavours, colours, moods and variegations. In this course we will gain and deepen familiarity with the highly practical theory of rasa and bhāva and how we can work with them for health, fulfilment and peace. Our content will include, but by no means be limited to: -How can we drink deep from the cup of life so as to become fully ourselves? -Wtf… does the f word have to do with yoga? -You have to laugh! The utility and transformative power of humour. Humour and laughter in spiritual practice. -Desire, longing, eros and yoga. -Grief and sorrow, outrage and anger, vigour and determination: harnessing the natural responses of our biological, sensate chariot to carry us through challenging and even dystopian times. -Fear, disgust, wonder and tranquility. Working with the spectrum of human experience. -What are the navarasa-s and corresponding sthāyibhāva-s? How can we work with them to live more skilfully? -All the world’s a stage. Are you playing your part? Or are you allowing yourself to be an extra in someone else’s production? -Rasa in relation to yogic mythology and to our personal approach to consistent yoga practice. Prior to each session will be a half hour (6:30-7:00pm UK time) optional recitation practice, of the Saṁgrahastotra from Utpaladeva’s Śivastotrāvalī. This is the first Kashmiri hymn I encountered, taught to me by my teacher Larry twenty years ago. It was one of Swami Lakshmanjoo’s favourite hymns and is so full of rasa. The way we sing it will convey some of the unique flavour of Kashmiri Shaiva devotion and invite a direct experience of rasa and bhāva, so giving us a reference for how we can work with them practically. During the course, we will also draw on some of its verses as we consider desire, longing, śṛṅgāra and karuṇa rasa in the context of yoga practice. Course fee GB£96 Email me to sign up now: james@jamesboagyoga.com I hope you will join me, please spread the word to anyone you know who may be interested. This is a rare opportunity to explore principles that can make a huge difference to yoga practice. As always, I guarantee to bring the teachings to life, to make the theory relatable, applicable and digestible. This is a theme I have wanted to share for a long time and it feels like the ripe moment. I hope it does for you too. 
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Audio/Video Resources
James Boag Yoga Youtube channel James Boag Yoga Soundcloud Listen to James singing kirtan with his sister Elizabeth on Soundcloud Hear James in conversation about practical yoga philosophy with his colleague Paul Millage Yoga Anytime Online Courses
YOGA NOW themed practical philosophy talks filmed live spring 2021
Yoga Sutras of Patanjali
Recorded Februrary 2017. In-depth, practical exploration of Chapter One of this treasure text of the yoga tradition, with movement, meditation, and sound practices too. 
The Mythology Show
Recorded September 2015, exploring the practical riches of mythology in the yoga tradition, with episodes on Ganesa, Mother Divine and Hanuman. Bhagavad Gita Chapter 2 course 15+ hours of content, recorded June/July 2015, includes: introduction, series on recitation and series going through the practical teachings of Chapter Two, working from the original Sanskrit, with stories and songs along the way. Use code JAMESBOAG for 30 day free trial on yogaanytime.com 
Archive Videos on vimeo
Click on the link below to access a series of teaching and recitation videos of James made by Laura Lea Nalle in Mysore 2013 http://vimeo.com/channels/namaste Click here for recent blog article about James Contact email: james@jamesboagyoga.com |
James Boag Yoga
Yoga is balance, integration, skilfulness and efficiency. Yoga practice is about cultivating sustainable harmony.
Yoga is about the whole of our lives: everything we do, all we experience. It is about stretching our understanding of who we really are, strengthening our connection to the innate wisdom of our conscience and rehabilitating our broader human capacities while working respectfully with the realities of our individual natures and our diverse responsibilities.
Yoga practice is about training ourselves to be able to find joy in the everyday wonder of life and steadiness in the face of its inevitable challenges.
It is about meeting and refining our own patterns and habits and inviting ways of being that are conducive to sustainable, integrated health and wellbeing.
James works with a range of mutually complementary lenses to explore yoga principles in practical application, including: principle-based asana, natural movement, meditation, kirtan singing and chanting, storytelling and interpretation, satsang talks, discussion and inquiry, nourishing high quality food and time outdoors.
Yoga is about the whole of our lives: everything we do, all we experience. It is about stretching our understanding of who we really are, strengthening our connection to the innate wisdom of our conscience and rehabilitating our broader human capacities while working respectfully with the realities of our individual natures and our diverse responsibilities.
Yoga practice is about training ourselves to be able to find joy in the everyday wonder of life and steadiness in the face of its inevitable challenges.
It is about meeting and refining our own patterns and habits and inviting ways of being that are conducive to sustainable, integrated health and wellbeing.
James works with a range of mutually complementary lenses to explore yoga principles in practical application, including: principle-based asana, natural movement, meditation, kirtan singing and chanting, storytelling and interpretation, satsang talks, discussion and inquiry, nourishing high quality food and time outdoors.
