MIND THE MIND – En workshop i mental träning enligt yoga

A 12hr Interactive Workshop. At the centre of yoga is the Mind. This is a workshop dedicated just to that.

Do you wish to look into how the yogic philosophy view the mind. Here is a perfect opportunity to explore your own mind with lighthearted and entertaining experiences of different types of mental movements, and meditations to quiet them and abide in a witness state. The workshop includes a 20-page comprehensive illustrated manual.

OUTLINE OF CONTENT:

THE FIVE MOVEMENTS OF THE MIND Experience what each type of mental movement listed in the Yoga Sutras feels like. Through this recognition, check in with yourself in daily life to see which mental movement you’ve been caught up in, and attempt to move back towards the advantageously detached witnessing state.

MEDITATION TO DISCOVER THE WITNESS After becoming familiar with the varying sensations of the mind’s movements, the workshop continues with a meditation designed to quiet the movements and enter into a witnessing state - along the lines that the Yoga Sutras (and many other classical texts) suggest.We include how the Yoga Sutras and Bhagavad Gītā both suggest that continued practice (abhyasa) is necessary to become established in this state of detachment (vairagya).

MĀYĀ AND PHENOMONOLOGY We explore the theme of māyā, with thoughts from Alan Watts, Advaita Vedānta, and the classical Tantrik view of the Śiva Sutras.With the premise established that all experiences might be māyā, a misperception, we look at how your body is represented by your mind.Students draw a visual representation of their body illustrating how they are currently experiencing themselves.

ONENESS From the viewpoint of the Tantrik Śiva Sutras, the mind, body and the world around us are all one thing. We discuss how external objects can sometimes feel like extensions of ourselves:Experience a phantom limb, and recognise how we can quickly assimilate a foreign object into seeming to be a part of us. Can this be applied to other things, people and places to reach a greater feeling of oneness with the world?

TRATAK Work on drawing geometric shapes while attempting to circumvent your mind’s movements. Includes a traditional tratak meditation on a black dot, meant as a means to purify the mind through practice of concentration.

MANAS, AHAṂKĀRA AND BUDDHI Get acquainted with these three aspects of your mind from the tattva system. Students are guided to experience how each mental part shapes their decisions. We look at ways to expand these parts of the mind for greater freedom of choice.

THE FOUR STATES OF AWARENESS Drawing from the Śiva Sutras, we look at an alternative Tantrik perspective of how the Witness perceives the mind in three typical states. The text suggests entering a fourth state, turya - a meta state of simply being and witnessing our existence. This state can be entered by searching for the gap (madhya) between each movement of our minds. Includes meditations and readings from the Śiva Sutras

Practical information

• Date & time: 2 September, 9.00 - 17.00
• Location: YogaShakti, Högbergsgatan 30 A, Stockholm + Online
• Price: 1100 SEK
• Teachers: Ulrica Norberg & Mike Bloch-Levermore
• What's included: The workshop includes a 20-page comprehensive illustrated manual. No previous knowledge needed.

About the teachers

Ulrica Norberg

This training is designed by Ulrica Norberg, a Master yogi from Sweden who has decades of experience from various yoga styles (yin yoga since 2000), meditation and personal growth from various fields and traditions. She highly respect and honor her teachers and the founders of the modern yin development, yet adds her experience in working more individually to adapt the yoga practice to be more about the individual than the group. Feeding mor what one needs instead of the “wants”. Ulrica is always up to date in the modern research and fuses that with her deep studies of yoga and philosophy.

Mike Bloch-Levermore

Mike believes yoga philosophy classes should be entertaining, applicable and understandable, and thrives on empowering students with a greater depth of understanding behind their practices and offerings. As well as hosting nerdy talks, Mike provides philosophy lectures on yoga teacher trainings with a light-hearted and approachable style, always attempting to make the complexities of yoga traditions more easy to grasp. Blending mild irreverence with moments of deep profundity, Mike always attempts to create a warm and inviting learning environment, intended for practitioners of all levels to learn and ask questions.

Originally from the UK where he gained a degree in Western Philosophy, he recently has studied Hinduism, Yoga and Sanskrit with Oxford University, and with Seth Powell of Harvard University. Mike called Copenhagen his home for 8 years and also speaks Danish comfortably. Currently he lives in the hills of Portugal with his wife, Helene, and two huge fluffy cats.