The Rasa Bhāva/Emotional Health Workshops may be coming to your hometown. Or somewhere close by. Arizona, Southern California, Utah, Las Vegas, Northern California.
Please see full schedule below.
Meanwhile, here are some emotional tidbits to stimulate your appetite:
In Sanskrit there is no single corresponding word for emotion, as the context is considered too wide to be encapsulated into one pithy expression. Thus:
Vikāra: Pleasing or distressing state, affection, transforming state.
Bhāva: Mood, state.
Vedanā: Feeling.
Bhāvanā: Cultivating a mood, state.
Rasa: Essence, taste, emotion. As essential states such as love, kindness, friendship.
Rāga: Love, desire, music, art, passion.
All of the above still does not define the indefinable emotion because it predates language, being a part of our primal brain and perhaps even older than that. It may be that emotion is just what first stirred and will eternally vibrate thus.
“Emotion is the chief source of becoming conscious…”
~Carl Jung
SCHEDULE OF UPCOMING RASA BHĀVA WORKSHOPS:
Click on the links below:
CENTERED CITY YOGA, SLC, UT: JAN 13/14, 2018
YOGA BUNGALOW, SJC, CA: JAN 27/28, 2018
TRU YOGA, LAS VEGAS, NV: FEB 16/17, 2018
SIVANANDA YOGA FARM, GRASS VALLEY, CA: FULL IMMERSION/RETREAT: APRIL 27-29
La Maida Integrative Institute: Los Angeles: INFO COMING SOON. First weekend of May. Write here to pre-register: ADretreats@gmail.com
PLEASE ALSO JOIN US AT THE NAMA CONFERENCE 2018: THIS APRIL IN PLANO, TX.
I will be presenting: Ayurvedic Yoga Therapy to facilitate Healing of the Emotional Body.
ALSO CONSIDER:
SIVANANDA YOGA HEALTH EDUCATOR PROGRAM:YOGA FARM GRASS VALLEY: APRIL 2018: Theories and applications of Ayurvedic Yoga Therapy: April 26/27.
EMOTIONS: LANGUAGE OF THE HEART
In the ancient vedic sciences, the heart is considered the root of the mind.
While we are quite aware of the power of instinct and its home in the enteric gut and brain stem; and equally aware of the power of rational intelligence and its home in the neocortex; by assigning the home of emotions to the limbic region we may be missing its root source and doing a great disservice to our most important organ.
It is from the heart that the “felt sense” arises and thus mediates between instinct and reason. The connection between wisdom and compassion that gives rise to ethics and sharing is the state of our emotional body.
In trauma, this state is under attack and our emotions of joy, creativity, and innocence curdle into grief, rage and fear. Learning to decouple from trauma is always possible and trauma is not always clinical. It is not necessarily chronic or even acute. It can be that which simply interferes with compassion and wisdom in our day-to-day life. It forces us to contract into survival, into seeking perverse pleasures and often sinking into bouts of rage and frustration, into irrational cravings for control and domination, into a coldness of heart and even into fear of speaking our truth.
Combining the wisdom of yoga and Ayurveda and linking it with the language of somatic psychotherapies, we find that keys to healing trauma are the same keys that unlock us from fears, irrational tempers and grieving. They deliver us safely into being grounded: allowing enjoyments, senses of purpose, openings of the heart and the ability to live our truths.
These teachings are clear and practical in the yoga path. Once combined with the basic teachings of Ayurveda, such as diet, lifestyle and the proper use of exercise, they become powerful therapeutic tools.
When we free the heart of its bondage to life trauma, we open to the salve of the higher emotional states and enter into our own lives as warriors of light and love.
When the heart is set free we find courage, fortitude, grace, selflessness and we find the emotions that are our birthright and our pathways to freedom from suffering.
In these ancient sciences, we call this “sattvavajaya cikitsa”: the victory of truth.
In what I have coined rasa bhāva, we learn to cultivate the essence of the heart.
RASA BHĀVA CURRICULUM (Subject to change as per location)
CURRICULUM:
SESSION THREE: Svatantra Nyāya: Finding that the logic inherent within wisdom and compassion equates with love and intelligence. This is the deeper healing, where we end up when we have learned the logic of the body as correct action, breath as correct speech and mind as superior contemplation.
SESSION FOUR*: The Preliminaries: Diet, Lifestyle & Relationships affect every aspect of our lives as key pillars to health. This includes a clear understanding of sleep, exercise, intimacy as part of daily living. *not included at all locations
SESSION FIVE: Practical Session that will utilize all the yogic tools we speak about on Saturday so we can actualize the experience of emotional stability. A short talk will close out any additional needed explanations at the end. All levels of healthy practitioners are welcome. If you have special injuries or needs you may also observe the practice. It can be just as powerful.
HOW DO WE UNDERSTAND THE EMOTIONAL BODY?
The link between the mind and the different organs/systems of the body is well researched and documented in Ayurveda. Now the progressive field of psychotherapy has related our instincts to our reptilian stem, our emotional to the limbic, and the rational to our neo-cortex. In Āyurveda, however, the mind is not restricted to this structure, instead it begins in the heart, reaches downwards into the gut and upwards into the brain. The connections are easy to see as seats of instincts, feelings and sensation/thought. Therefore, all our instincts and our rational thinking revolve around the mediating emotional state. When our emotional state is one of creativity, innocence and joy, we see beauty, feel compassion and instinctually open to universal waves of loving. However, when our emotions are dominated by fear, anger and grief, we become susceptible to the 6 enemies of the mind: lust, rage, greed, jealousy, envy and delusion. And our thinking and functionality begins to operate from these states. In Ayurveda, it is also said that if you wish to conquer these six enemies, there is no better pathway than that of yoga (sattvavajaya cikitsa). After years of personal practice, study and teaching on the relationship of the emotional body to our health and our peace of mind, the results I have gained offer clear, succinct information on the use of these yogic tools. We will do an actual practice to show their effectiveness in transforming fear, anger and grief into creativity, innocence and joy.
After 7 years of teaching this at the Sivananda Yoga Farm, Grass Valley; we are pleased to have broughtt it to Encinitas; and now coming to Phoenix, Salt Lake City, San Juan Capistrano, and Las Vegas next. It will continue to happen in Grass Valley for a full Retreat experience at the Sivananda Yoga Farm. If you would like it closer to your own hometown, do reach out! adretreats@gmail.com
TESTIMONIALS:
The first time I attended Arun Deva’s Emotional Intelligence workshop, I was literally blown away. I could not even take notes as it was so fascinating. I then decided I needed to hear it again – and this time I managed to take notes. We all know what note-taking ends up being – another pile of papers that are pushed aside somewhere, never again to be referred to. Not in this case. Arun’s material is so totally right on, so very timely – I have referred to it many, many times – not only for students and/or clients, but for me as well. Thank you Arun for sharing this meaningful knowledge – EI is a gorgeous workshop. I recommend it highly to one and all.
A. Abhaya Geyer, C-IAYT; AHE-300, C-IAYT Yoga Therapist/Educator, Yoga Instructor, Ayurvedic Health Educator, Las Vegas, NV
What a wonderful workshop! The energy in the room was strong yet calm. I was so impressed with Arun Devi’s intelligence, compassion and warmth. The pacing was perfect- just enough information and physical practice to feel complete, but not overwhelmed. I judge a workshop successful if I take away one lesson that I can I apply and use immediately in my life. I took away six!
Thank you, Wendy Williams, yoga practitioner, Encinitas, CA
Recently I was able to attend the Rasa Bhava Workshop offered by Arun Deva. Arun is a gifted teacher who has a storehouse of knowledge and experience that he offers generously and with humility and humor to his students. My experience of the two-day workshop was very powerful for me.The first day consisted of four blocks of lecture. I couldn’t take notes fast enough. The following day we put all that information into practice. This allowed the information imparted the previous day to be incorporated deeply into my mind and body. One workshop is not enough to absorb and master the gift that Rasa Bhava is to my life. I will attend again. As my awareness deepens I hope that my life shares the benefits with others who cross my path.
Meg Long-Eastman, MPS; Temecula, CA
The workshop was a holistic experience, beautifully designed in two day, and for me, it marked the beginning of a much longer journey. Its effect has been continuous as I’m still learning about myself and my emotions. I cannot put into words the depth of my experience when I am thinking of how it has deeply touched upon parts of me and awakened memories (that) remained dormant for years.
Leila Mesbahi, yoga practitioner, Los Angeles, CA
NEW ARTICLE:
INTUITION. EMOTION. INTELLECT.
THE INTUITIVE BODY is often formalized into repetitive patterns that we build increasing familiarity with. These are not always to our benefit. For instance, if our gut tensed up as children when we we faced a certain traumatic situation, we may continue this pattern into our adult lives, perceiving simple disturbing situations as being of similar trauma intensity. Very often this results in a condition commonly referred to as IBS. A simple intuitive reaction has now become a lifelong physical malady, often incurable.
The emotional body too is formed by repetitive patterns. Typically the emotional body is concerned only with things, situations and people we have a reactive relationship with. These reactions can categorize into one of two: liking (desire) and disliking (aversion)
READ MORE…
RELATED ADDITIONAL READINGS:
AN INTERVIEW ON LEVITATING MONKEY WITH ANJULA DUGGAL
PSYCHOLOGY OF A SAGE ON AYURVEDA NEXT DOOR
May we always be friends in the light,
Arun Deva
Arunachala Yoga & Ayurveda 
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