The coming evening I will present in Copenhagen a lecture entitled “Yoga and Psychology”. We will explore some of the most fascinating relations and practical applications between these two ways to study the human experience. The lecture is based on notes of one of the most famous yogis of our time – Gregorian Bivolaru – and put into a perspective of my own experiences of self-inquiry through various in-depth practices of yoga.
Today in the West the close relation between yoga and the study of psychology might not seem so obvious. We have mostly adopted the immediate visible part of the yoga tradition related to physical stretching. Thus to a high degree ignored the profound impact of yoga on our psyche.
This lecture endeavors to provide key elements and tools for us to become aware of our emotions and deeper thought processes. Often emotions and deeper thought processes remain a largely unconscious domain of our inner activity, which are boiling and stirring many complexes and conflicts in us. Thus aiding to better comprehend, what they are trying to show us, to process and alchemize them; like turning lead into gold or a glorious lotus flower growing out of the mud.
Carl Gustav Jung was thrilled about the psychology of yoga and kundalini! Sigmund Freud fascinated by the mysteries of the Indian mind! And Schopenhauer’s discovery of the Upanishads basically made the scent of Oriental concepts about human psychology migrate into the Western mind. Yet today we take both yoga and psychology for granted without in reality understanding their deep rooted connection.
In an original contribution to reawaken genuine spirituality today we will aim to aim to merge the different traditions of modern science and ancient teachings of yoga and tantra in an unified field of twenty first century human technology, where authentic inner practice and visionary outer perspective are in a constant dynamic process giving shape to our Self-understanding.