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The Art and Science of Raja Yoga
   A Course in Self-Realization - Levels I and II

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Welcome to Oregon's most comprehensive life-changing courses! Whether you desire to improve your health, increase your concentration, or deepen your awareness of God’s presence in your life, Raja (literally "royal" or "complete") Yoga practices can unlock your potential to tap your hidden, inner resources of vitality, creativity, and joy.

The Art & Science of Raja Yoga Level I is a three-month intensive (see Course Specifics) on the "royal" or "complete" yoga involving yoga postures, meditation, pranayam, diet, health, and much more. The emphasis is on practice and personal experience in an atmosphere of openness and respect. Enrollment is limited to only 20 students to ensure the opportunity for personal interaction with our instructors.

From this experience you can expect to realize a higher degree of self-mastery, a greater understanding and connection with life, more access to your personal energy, increased concentration and clarity, and spiritual awakening.

Our primary text is The Art & Science of Raja Yoga by Swami Kriyananda (direct disciple of Yogananda), the most comprehensive book on yoga and meditation available today presented as 14 specific lessons. Combining age-old wisdom with contemporary experience, this course teaches us how to apply the teachings of yoga on a practical as well as spiritual level in our modern lives. For lesson titles as well as an overview of the other texts for the course, see the Materials List.

The Art & Science of Raja Yoga Level II is a 10 week intensive (see Level II Course Specifics) that builds on Level I experience and understanding.

 

Ancient Roots, Modern Expression

The courses are grounded in the ancient traditions of Patanjali's Yoga Sutras, a
collection of pithy aphorisms that describe the universal evolution of consciousness through its various stages
dealing first with our relationship to the world around us,
then our relationship to the subtler, inner realities of our own selves.

At the same time, the course is also highly applicable to modern realities through the insight and understanding of this time-honored science as presented by Paramhansa Yogananda, the great yogi of the 20th century (and author of Autobiography of a Yogi). Taken together, the clarity and intuition of both sages gives Raja Yoga its transforming power.

 

The Royal Art

Meditation is the heart of all yoga practice. With meditation at its center, Raja Yoga unites the tributary practices of systems such as hatha yoga (postures), bhakti yoga (devotion), karma yoga (selfless service), and gyana yoga (wisdom). Indeed, yoga means “union”: the dynamic and vital integration of body, mind, and spirit as well as the union of individual consciousness with Cosmic Consciousness.

 

Pranayam: The Science of Life Force Control

The essential practice of yoga science is that of pranayam: the awareness and control of Life Force. Using energizing exercises, yoga postures, breath control, mantra, chanting and visualization with attitudes of openness and receptivity we reach deep states of calmness and higher awareness. Correct yoga practice opens the doorways (the chakras) to the river of life—the energy channel of the astral spine and brain, our inner reservoir of consciousness, healing, and vitality.

 

Are you ready to begin or continue your journey of awakening?

Course Specifics

Level II Course Specifics

 

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