I've enrolled in an Embodied Philosophy 6 week workshop studying the Yoga Sutras with Edwin Bryant. I actually began reading his book The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali earlier this year in cominbation with two other versions (The Heart of Yoga by T.K.V. Desikachar and The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali by Sri Swami satchidananda) and I found Bryant's the most accessible to me. I also liked the Heart of Yoga which is more than just the Yoga Sutras. The last section of that book includes Sri Deskikachar's translation and commentary on the sutras so when I got their I decided to take do a comparison reading
Professor Bryant is so engaging just because it is obvious how much he enjoys reading the scriptures or the sutras, talking about it and sharing it with his students. There were 100 people on the zoom call and I'm guessing many of them are academics while some seem to be simple practioners or yogis like me. One woman was from Yogaville which was founded by Swami Satchidananda, the translator and commentator of one of the books I mentioned above. We are in are second week and have only gotten as far as Yoga Sutra 1.16 so it is clear he's going to have to skip alot of the sutras to get through all four pada, or chapters.
Even after the actual class was over (it runs from 6-8pm) he allowed attendees to ask questions and it was still going strong when I dropped off at 8:30. Everyone was very knowledgeable and the questions were really good. Makes me look forward to next class.
No comments:
Post a Comment