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Online Courses

Study anytime, anywhere, from the comfort of your own home. Receive access to university-level courses with many of the leading scholars in the field.

Upcoming Courses 

July 3 - 28, 2023

YS 124 | The Yogic Body

4-week course with Dr. Lubomír Ondračka

ENROLL NOW
 

Yogic Studies Book Club

A regular gathering for avid readers with an appetite for topics in Yoga and South Asian studies. FREE and open to all YS students! Click here to see what we're reading next. 

ENROLL ANYTIME

Coming soon in 2023 

  • Aug 4 - Sep 1
    YS 125 | Advaita Vedānta w/ Dr. Varun Khanna

  • Sep 5 - Oct 13
    YS 212 | The Rāmāyaṇa w/ Dr. Arti Dhand
     
  • Oct 20 - Nov 17
    YS 126 | Theosophy and Yoga w/ Dr. Keith Cantú

  • Nov 24 - Dec 22
    BS 112 | Buddhist Yoga w/ Dr. Sam Grimes

All Courses 

Search through our catalogue of current and past online courses. 

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LIVE

YS 124 | The Yogic Body

This online course explores the concept of the body in pre-modern yoga traditions. We will examine different approaches to the body in various South Asian religious traditions, beginning with the Vedic religion, the tantric milieu, and in yoga ...
$175 USD

LIVE

BS 203 | Philosophy of the Middle Way: Candrakīrti’s Madhyamakāvatāra

This course offers a close reading of Candrakīrti’s Madhyamakāvatāra (Introduction to the Middle Way), exploring his views about ethics, causality, emptiness, the two truths, and the status of persons in the conventional world. We will...
$200 USD

SELF-STUDY

YS 123 | Sufism and Yoga

This online course explores the history of encounters of Muslims with the teachings of yoga over more than a thousand years. Contrary to common expectations, Muslims have engaged with yoga both intellectually and in terms of practice, often exp...
$175 USD

SELF-STUDY

YS 211 | Upaniṣads II: Īśa, Praśna, Muṇḍaka

In this course, we will read selections from the Īśā Upaniṣad, Praśna Upaniṣad, and Muṇḍaka Upaniṣad. We will discuss the fundamental questions "Who am I? Why am I here? What is my goal in life? Is there a way to transcend death, and achieve im...
$200 USD

SELF-STUDY

YS 210 | The Dattātreyayogaśāstra

This course will begin with an overview of the Dattātreyayogaśāstra ("Dattātreya's Discourse on Yoga"), which was written in about 1200 CE. It is the first text to teach both the eightfold yoga system of Patañjali and the physical meth...
$200 USD

SELF-STUDY

YS 102 | Modern Yoga in the West

This course is designed to give students an understanding of the development of modern yoga in the West from the mid-nineteenth century up to the present day in areas including the United States and England, Europe and Australia, Latin Am...
$175 USD

SELF-STUDY

BS 111 | Buddhist Medicine

This class provides an introduction to the many ways that Buddhism has intersected with health and medicine throughout history and today. Across cultures, Buddhism has always had a lot to say about mental and physical wellbeing. Most Buddhist t...
$175 USD

SELF-STUDY

YS 209 | The Mahābhārata

This online course is designed to be a first foray into an enduring work of world literature, the great Sanskrit epic, the Mahābhārata. One of the beloved cradle tales of Hinduism, the Mahābhārata tells the famous story of a w...
$200 USD

SELF-STUDY

YS 103 | Yoga e Ascetismo Hindu, Dal Passato al Presente

Questo corso online esplora il legame secolare tra yoga e ascetismo in India attraverso il mondo dei sādhu. Analizzeremo lo sviluppo dell'ascetismo hindu da un punto di vista sia storico che etnografico. Particolare attenzione sarà data alla pr...
$175 USD

SELF-STUDY

YS 122 | Ayurveda, Yoga, and Alchemy

This online course examines the histories of all three disciplines. It will reveal their historical entanglements and trace the trajectories of their evolution as components of today's global healthcare and personal development industries.
$175 USD

SELF-STUDY

BS 109 | Introduction to Buddhist Art

This course introduces some of the major figures, forms, ideas, and issues that define the history of Buddhist art through the close examination of exemplary artworks and important landmarks. Drawing on religious and artistic traditions from ac...
$175 USD

SELF-STUDY

YS 121 | 8 Limbs of Yoga: History, Theory, and Practice of Aṣṭāṅgayoga

This online course explores the historical development, philosophical contexts, and pragmatic structures of what is perhaps the most influential pan-Indian, and now global, framework of yoga—Aṣṭāṅgayoga, the "Eight Limbs of Yoga."
$175 USD

SELF-STUDY

BS 108 | Buddhism and Compassion

Compassion is one of the most precious, but also misunderstood, ideals in Buddhist thought. This course examines how early Buddhist texts present compassion and ask what this means for our understanding of compassion today. We will also e...
$175 USD

SELF-STUDY

YS 120 | Women and Gender in Hindu Tantra

This course examines the status of women and the category of gender within in the contemporary world of Hindu Śākta Tantra (esoteric goddess traditions). We will challenge normative assumptions and categories of female practitioners and teacher...
$175 USD

SELF-STUDY

BS 107 | Buddhism and Climate Change

This course will focus on ways that Buddhism might contribute to changing minds and actions, by countering mistaken views, modeling ethical behavior, and promoting social resilience. We will survey the great range of issues involved with climat...
$175 USD

SELF-STUDY

YS 208 | Devīmāhātmya: Greatness of the Goddess

This course offers an in-depth study of the Devīmāhātmya, the foundational Sanskrit text of Indian Great Goddess worship. Composed some fifteen centuries ago, it signals the Brahmanical sanctification and crystallization of indigenous Great God...
$235 USD

SELF-STUDY

BS 106 | Buddhism and Animals

In this course, we will take a look at some of the ways that the Buddhist tradition has approached non-human animals. We will explore how Buddhist communities throughout history thought about animals.
$175 USD

SELF-STUDY

YS 207 | The Upaniṣads I

In this course, we will read selections from the Chāndogya Upaniṣad, Kaṭha Upaniṣad, and Kena Upaniṣad. We will discuss the fundamental questions "Who am I? Why am I here? What is my goal in life? Is there a way to transcend death, and achieve ...
$200 USD

SELF-STUDY

BS 105 | Women and Buddhism

This course brings attention to the stories, ideas, and practices about and by women in various Buddhist traditions, from its beginnings in the northern Indian subcontinent to its modern emanations across the globe.
$175 USD

SELF-STUDY

YS 119 | Yoga and Esotericism

In this course we will examine exchanges between South Asia and the rest of the world that had a significant effect on yoga’s history and contemporary life. After setting the stage for how to view such exchanges in as holistic a way as possible...
$175 USD

SELF-STUDY

BS 104 | Tibetan Buddhism

This course offers an introduction to Buddhism in Tibet, its historical development, various schools and institutions, and its continued spread around the globe within the last century. Along the way we'll explore key beliefs and practices rela...
$175 USD

SELF-STUDY

YS 206 | The Amṛtasiddhi: Haṭha Yoga's Source Text

Join Dr. James Mallinson for a close reading of the Amṛtasiddhi, the "Attainment of Immortality," the first text to teach any of the practices and principles which came to be classified as haṭhayoga.
$235 USD

SELF-STUDY

BS 202 | Visuddhimagga: The Path of Purification

This course offers a close reading of the "The Path of Purification" (Pali: Visuddhimagga), composed by Bhadantācariya Buddhaghosa (5th century), the foremost commentator in the Theravada tradition. As we read, we will learn to think with Buddh...
$200 USD

SELF-STUDY

YS 118 | Yoga in Latin America

This course seeks to make incursion into the fascinating history of how yoga entered different parts of Latin America, whose yogic community is unquestionably large and fast-growing. While some cases simply continued other yogic trends in North...
$175 USD

SELF-STUDY

BS 201 | Bodhicaryāvatāra: How to Lead an Awakened Life

In this course, we will read closely the Bodhicaryāvatāra, composed by the Buddhist monk and scholar Śāntideva (c. 8th century). Chapter by chapter, we will follow Śāntideva's extraordinary account of moral transformation.
$200 USD

SELF-STUDY

YS 117 | Karma, Rebirth, and Liberation

After a brief historical overview of teachings of rebirth in the world’s religions and throughout history, this course addresses different hypotheses concerning the origin of teachings of karma rebirth in ancient India. It will introduce a rang...
$175 USD

SELF-STUDY

BS 103 | Indian Buddhist Philosophy

This course charts the philosophical territory from the Buddha's first discourses through the development of distinctive schools of Buddhist philosophy: Abhidharma ("Higher Dharma"), Madhyamaka ("Middle Way"), Yogācāra/Cittamātra ("Yogic Practi...
$175 USD

SELF-STUDY

YS 116 | Sikhism and Yoga

This course will explore the historical emergence of the Sikh tradition—allowing for a unique look at the practice of Yoga during the medieval and Mughal period in India, where there were significant interactions and philosop...
$175 USD

SELF-STUDY

BS 102 | Buddhist Meditation in Theory and Practice

This course provides an exploration of how Buddhist contemplative traditions emerged in early South Asia, and the ways in which they evolved and transformed as they spread to Central, East, and Southeast Asia.
$175 USD

SELF-STUDY

YS 205 | Bhakti Yoga: The Bhāgavatapurāṇa

This course will consist of a close-reading of a selection of the most famous bhakti yoga stories and teachings from the Bhāgavatapurāṇa, focusing on the amazing lives of some of the best known yogis of yore and their astonishing yoga ...
$235 USD

SELF-STUDY

BS 101 | Intro to Buddhism: History, Philosophy, and Practice

This course provides an in-depth introduction to the diverse ideals, practices, and traditions of Buddhism from their origins in South Asia to their various expressions across time and place in modernity.
$175 USD

SELF-STUDY

YS 115 | A History of Yoga and Devotion

This course explores the rich and shifting historical relationship between yoga and devotion (bhakti) from ancient India up to the present-day. Advancing beyond preconceived modern notions of what yoga and devotion are, we will examine the body...
$175 USD

SELF-STUDY

YS 204 | The Sāṅkhyakārikā: Stanzas on All-Embracing Insight

The course will introduce you to the fascinating world view of Sāṅkhya as it was codified in the Sāṅkhyakārikā. This enigmatic Sanskrit text, consisting of about 70 stanzas, is the foundational work of Classical Sāṅkhya philosophy
$235 USD

SELF-STUDY

YS 114 | Rāja Yoga: History, Theory, and Practice

This course will delve into premodern traditions of Rājayoga—the practice of meditative absorption that became an inseparable counterpart to physical yoga, more generally known as Haṭhayoga. Yogis learned physical yoga to accomplish medit...
$175 USD

SELF-STUDY

YS 113 | Yoga's Past, Present, and Future

This course examines the state of yoga immediately prior to the the "modern yoga renaissance" of the late-nineteenth century, and continuing with a reassessment of the history of āsana. What has been lost, and what g...
$175 USD

SELF-STUDY

YS 112 | Yoga and Hindu Mythology

This course explores the role of Hindu Mythology in perpetuating yogic themes. Students will receive a thorough grounding in Hindu mythological traditions and an appreciation for the pivotal place of Hindu myths in encoding and preserving...
$175 USD

SELF-STUDY

YS 111 | Women and Yoga: A History of Female Practitioners

This course offers a broad survey of the history of female yoga practitioners drawing on rich narrative and visual accounts of practitioners. We will bring this historical material into conversation via key themes and analytical approache...
$175 USD

SELF-STUDY

YS 110 | Tibetan Yoga: Histories, Practices, Transformations

This course offers a four-part, illustrated lecture series exploring the historical development and scientific interrogation of mind-body practices in Tibet’s Vajrayāna Buddhist tradition of ‘highest yoga tantra’ (Anuttarayoga Tantra), postula...
$175 USD

SELF-STUDY

YS 109 | Classical Yoga and Buddhism

This course will introduce students to the interconnections between the classical Yoga of Patañjali and the systems of mind-body practice that are described in Buddhist texts of the same period. In particular, we will consider early Buddhist ex...
$175 USD

SELF-STUDY

YS 203 | The Haṭhapradīpikā: Lamp on Haṭha Yoga

In this course, you will be guided through a close reading of the entire text, line by line—based on the original Sanskrit and an accessible English translation. We will study and discuss the various methods of practice including...
$235 USD

SELF-STUDY

YS 108 | Roots of Haṭha Yoga

This course will chart the history of physical yoga practice in India from the first-millennium BCE up to the 15th century CE, at which point it became classified under the catchall term "haṭha yoga." It will show ho...
$175 USD

SELF-STUDY

YS 107 | Yoga and Śaiva Tantra: An Uncharted History

This course, based on original Sanskrit scholarship and a coherent synthesis of the best existing scholarship on tantric traditions, provides a solid grounding in the origins, development, and essential features of classical tantra. This ...
$175 USD

SELF-STUDY

YS 106 | Śākta Tantra: Yoga and Hindu Goddess Traditions

This online course surveys the rich tapestry of Goddesses within the Hindu Śākta traditions—and uniquely explores their living relationship to the practices of Yoga. We will begin with the ten Great Wisdom Goddesses (daśa mahāvidyā) of India. T...
$175 USD

SELF-STUDY

YS 105 | A Brief History of Āsana

Participants will walk away with a solid foundation in the history of āsana, a clearer understanding of the traditional role of the body and physical postures in premodern yoga traditions, insight into e...
$95 USD

SELF-STUDY

YS 104 | The Story of OṂ: Sacred Sound and the Vedic Roots of Yoga

This course explores the rich history of the sacred syllable in Indian religions, highlighting the significance of mantra meditation in the development of classical Yoga. We will examine the ideologies of sound, speech, and silence...
$175 USD

SELF-STUDY

YS 103 | Yoga and Hindu Asceticism, From Past to Present

This course explores the age-old connection between yoga and asceticism in India, through the world of the sādhus. We will look at the development of Hindu asceticism from both a historical and ethnographic point of view.
$175 USD

SELF-STUDY

YS 202 | The Yogas of the Bhagavadgītā

This course provides an in-depth immersion into the history, philosophy, and theology of the Bhagavadgītā. It gives special attention to the various teachings on yoga, including three of the earliest definitions of y...
$235 USD

SELF-STUDY

YS 201 | The Yogasūtras of Patañjali

This course provides an in-depth study of the history, philosophy, and practice of the Yogasūtra, drawing on Seth Powell's own Sanskrit-English translation. Immerse in a close and thorough reading of one of yoga's most anc...
$235 USD

SELF-STUDY

YS 101 | An Introduction to the History and Philosophy of Yoga

This course offers an overview of the latest and most exciting research in yoga studies—illuminating yoga’s past and present. Along the way, we will debunk common misperceptions about yoga’s antiquity and uncover the incredible ways yoga ...
$175 USD

SELF-STUDY

FREE Audio Lecture | What Would Patañjali Think?

This talk took place on the fifth annual International Day of Yoga, June 21, 2019 at Triyoga Camden in London. Access the audio recording and keynote slides.
FREE

SELF-STUDY

FREE Video Lecture | Visual History of Yoga and Yogis

Learn about the history of yogic postures (āsana) through material evidence in medieval south India, based on Seth Powell's original research and fieldwork in Hampi.
FREE

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