Entering the Heart of Shiva — Light of the Heart
Eight 90-minute Sessions, various weekdays, 5 – 6:30 PM Pacific time, Sept 22 – Dec 3 Plus 4 One Hour sessions at 10-11 AM Pacific time for questions at a time when European students can attend live.
I will be co-teaching this course with my good friend, Cindy Lusk, the author of a book I highly recommend, Align and Refine, which actually is a perfect supplement to the Enter the Heart of Shiva (EHS) course. EHS provides the whole theory of the practice of meditation, and we share many other practices, including mantra practices, in this course. EHS was originally created by Paul Muller-Ortega, and includes his translations of the Shiva Sutras, the Pratyabhijñāhṛdayam, and excerpts from Abhinavagupta’s Tantrāloka and Tantrasāra. I started teaching this course last year, and I love the teachings about knowledge, the refinement of our understanding and perception over time, and the inspiring image of the Light of Consciousness that is our own source and essence.
Eight 90-minute seminars online at 8 PM Eastern US time, with four sessions at 1 PM Eastern time for those in Europe to attend live. Students receive access to a treasure trove of documents, translations, and audio files to explore.
Seminar recordings are available the day after for review. Students have access to a large online library of audio files of Paul Muller-Ortega teaching about the course topics, and many study documents, including Paul’s translations of such texts as Abhinavagupta’s Tantrāloka and Tantrasāra, the Śiva Sūtras, and the Pratyabhijñāhṛdayam.
Course fee: $399. Please feel free to ask for a reduced rate if necessary.
Contact Jayendra at Jayendra.hanley@gmail.com for more information or see https://www.bluethroatyoga.com/entering-the-heart-of-shiva and click on “Light of the Heart”.
Pratyabhijñāhṛdayam, The Heart of Recognition – 12 2-Hour Sessions, January – April 2027
The Philosophy Module of the 300-Hour Anusara Teacher Training, with Jayendra Hanley, who wrote the Anusara Student Handout for this Course. Open to all yoga students as well as all teachers of Anusara Yoga.
Schedule: Jan. 30-31, Feb. 13-14, Mar. 6-7, 20-21, Apr. 10-11, 24-25, 2027.
Time: 1-3 PM Eastern US time, 7-9 PM Central Europe time
The Pratyabhijñāhṛdayam or “Heart of Recognition” is the focus of the Philosophy module in the 300-Hour Anusara Yoga Teacher Training because:
- In only 20 sutras, the author offers a brilliant overview of Nondual Shaiva-Shakta Tantra, because it is organized around the 3 big questions that Nondual Tantra loves to answer: what is the nature of Universal Consciousness? How does it step itself down in vibration to become us? What is the sadhana, the practices, the journey we are meant to take to “recognize” that we are that Universal Consciousness?
- The extra brilliant thing is that the author of the text, Kshemaraja, the main student of the great sage of a 1000 years ago in Kashmir, Abhinavagupta, also writes his own auto-commentary to explain the sutras to us.
- And as the author tells us in the introduction to his commentary, he is writing this for students who are eager to learn but don’t have the philosophical background to study more complicated texts.
- We have several great translations of this text available to us. The main one that I use is The Recognition Sutras: Illuminating a 1,000-Year-Old Spiritual Masterpiece by Christopher Wallis (also available as an Audible book), but there are others available.
- All of the above allows us to go deeply into one of the great texts of the Tantric tradition.
- And – the Anusara Yoga School will provide you with a 45-page Student Handout that contains background on the text, all the sutras, and many quotes from the commentary and suggestions for study and contemplation.
One focus in this course is practice. We will be doing the following yoga practices:
- Svādhyāya of the sutras – recitation aloud of the Sanskrit to more fully ‘know’ the text, so an additional area of study is the Sanskrit language – reading it, pronunciation, and additional vocabulary.
- Svādhyāya also refers to study, which will be our main practice. To facilitate our study, there will be lots of opportunities for contemplation and discussion.
- Mantra japa, the repetition of mantras aloud that bring to the surface the high vibrations of meditation
- Seated, deep Tantric-based meditation
- Optional asana classes, taught by Jayendra each week, attending live or with a recording, when Jay will use themes from our text as a focus for his Anusara Yoga classes.
Course fee: $395. Please feel free to ask for a reduced rate if necessary.
Contact Jayendra at Jayendra.hanley@gmail.com for more information.
European Tour – September – October 2027
Visiting 5 or 6 brilliant anusara communities for Anusara Yoga workshops, trainings, and a Neelakantha Meditation retreat! Details soon to be determined.
