OCHS Courses – Philosophy and History

Putting Practice into Context

Image: Oxford Centre for Hindu Studies

Would you like to know more about the origins of yoga and how it developed? 

I currently teach four online courses for the Oxford Centre for Hindu Studies. The next start on October 13, 2024, and run for two months.

They cover yoga philosophy, modern yoga, the Yoga Sutras and the Vedas and Upanishads. Each includes video lectures, supplementary reading, discussion forums and an optional essay.

See the links for more details – the cost to enrol varies slightly, but they’re all good value (between £95 and £145). Regarding philosophy, the most popular option:

We begin with the ideas of Vedanta and Samkhya on which the earliest expositions of Yoga are based. This preliminary study will then provide a basis for a consideration of the teachings on Yoga found in the Upanishads, Bhagavad-gita, and Yoga Sutras as well as a thorough review of the Tantric roots of Hatha Yoga practice.

This course gives a detailed understanding of the fundamental ideas on which Yoga practice is based and the ways in which it has developed during the ensuing millennia.

A recent participant described the teaching as "illuminating", saying it "opened a door for me in my understanding and affected my practice."

All levels of experience are welcome – no previous study of texts is assumed, and there are lots of suggestions for wider reading.

Header image: "Transmission of the teachings" (Mehrangarh Museum Trust)