Mysore Yoga Traditions
Mysore Philosophy Archive
The voices of Mysore's Sanskrit community, on the philosophy beneath the practice.
Have you ever wanted to connect with the roots of the yoga you practice? The Mysore Philosophy Archive gives a unique perspective on the philosophy behind Ashtanga Yoga and the many other styles it has influenced. It is a growing compilation of our interviews and lectures with the Sanskrit community in Mysore, and it has become a rich source of information: an extraordinary education in the historical, socio-political, and cultural background of yoga.
Experience the yoga culture of Mysore and absorb its wisdom. Here you get an unbiased view, with not one but many great scholars speaking on different aspects of yoga, from the history of yoga in Mysore to Ayurveda, the Patañjali Sūtras, the Bhagavad Gītā, and many other texts. Senior Sanskrit scholars, heads of organizations, spiritual leaders, and renowned asana teachers from Mysore, India speak about what yoga means to them and the philosophy it rests upon.
The people of Mysore can tell the story best. They speak from the heart, and their perspective can help you take your practice further and give you real footing in the vast subject of yoga. As foreign practitioners, we meet many different opinions about what is traditional and what is not, how old these practices are, and where they came from. Many of those questions are answered here. By listening to many voices rather than one, you can draw your own conclusions. This is the deepest and most intimate exposure to the yoga culture of Mysore available, and for those who practice Ashtanga Yoga it can create a real sense of connection with the lineage the practice comes from.
More than sixty hours, gathered over more than ten years.
These are the elders, scholars, spiritual leaders, and yogis of Mysore, speaking on a remarkably wide range of subjects: life and death, suffering and enjoyment, God, yoga, and philosophy. To understand a culture, you sit with its elders, take in its worldview, and learn on a deep, personal level. That is what tradition really is.
This is a rare and precious archive. It is not available anywhere else, and it is a wonderful resource for a curious yoga practitioner.
A sample of the archive
Short excerpts from a few of the talks, so you can hear the scholars before you join.
From the people who have watched
Listening, watching the presence of each speaker, you can feel their yoga. You can feel their lightness, their presence, their care, everything just emanating from them.
Just being able to listen to them articulate something I had felt and experienced but never had the means to say myself was mind-blowing. It opened my heart. I thought, yes, that is what that was. That is that feeling.
Samadhi is often taught in the West as something you have never been to and may never reach in this lifetime. But several speakers here said you have probably touched it before, if only briefly. Jayashree asked, when have you lost yourself? That was samadhi. It is reshaping the way I consider things I have been taught.
Join the Archive
New interviews and lectures are added as we record them, so the archive keeps growing for as long as you are a member.
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Support the work
Proceeds from the Mysore Yoga Traditions Archive go toward further research, toward making more information available to the international yoga community, and toward bringing recognition to the great scholars of Mysore.