Rasa Bhava: Healing the Emotional Body with Yoga & Ayurveda
with Arun Deva, AP, AYT, C-IAYT, E-RYT500
May 9 - 11, 2025
Description
The link between the mind and the different organs/systems of the body is well researched and documented in Ayurveda. Now the progressive field of psychotherapy has related our instincts to our reptilian stem, our emotional to the limbic, and the rational to our neo-cortex. In Āyurveda, however, the mind is not restricted to this structure, instead it begins in the heart, reaches downwards into the gut and upwards into the brain. The connections are easy to see as seats of instincts, feelings and sensation/thought. Therefore, all our instincts and our rational thinking revolve around the mediating emotional state. When our emotional state is one of creativity, innocence and joy, we see beauty, feel compassion and instinctually open to universal waves of loving. However, when our emotions are dominated by fear, anger and grief, we become susceptible to the 6 enemies of the mind: lust, rage, greed, jealousy, envy and delusion. And our thinking and functionality begins to operate from these states. In Ayurveda, it is also said that if you wish to conquer these six enemies, there is no better pathway than that of yoga (sattvavajaya cikitsa). After years of personal practice, study and teaching on the relationship of the emotional body to our health and our peace of mind, the results I have gained offer clear, succinct information on the use of these yogic tools. We will do an actual practice to show their effectiveness in transforming fear, anger and grief into creativity, innocence and joy.
Schedule and Topics
Friday
Evening Satsang 7:30 – 9pm
Foundational aspects of Ayurveda and Yoga and where they intersect in therapy.
Saturday
10am-Noon: Foundational aspects of Ayurveda and Yoga and where they intersect in therapy. Connecting sattva (clarity) rajas (restlessness) and tamas (inertia) to our individual natures of vāta, pitta and kapha: personalizing our emotional healing.
1-4pm: Understanding the tools of yoga & ayurveda in emotional therapy. We will examine the roles of kriya, vinyāsā, āsana, prānāyāma, mudra, bandhā, japā, dhāranā and dhyāna. That is cleansing breathing, sequencing to place in intelligent postures, awareness breathing, external and internal symbolization, internal locks, chanting, becoming aware through breath and body and finally sitting in awareness. And how the context of conjoining these with ayurvedic tools such as shamana (palliation), shodhana (cleansing), aushadhi (herbo-mineral compounds), ahara (appropriate diet), vihara (appropriate lifestyle rituals) potentize yogic practices into therapeutic powerhouses, especially for the emotional body: rasa bhava.
4:30-6pm: Svatantra Nyāya: Finding that the logic inherent within wisdom and compassion equates with love and intelligence. This is the deeper healing, where we end up when we have learned the logic of the body as correct action, breath as correct speech and mind as superior contemplation.
Sunday
10AM-1PM: Practical Session that will utilize all the yogic tools we speak about on Saturday so we can actualize the experience of emotional stability. A short talk will close out any additional needed explanations at the end. All levels of healthy practitioners are welcome. If you have special injuries or needs you may also observe the practice. It can be just as powerful.
About the Teacher
Arun Deva, AP, AYT, C-IAYT, E-RYT500
Arun Deva, AP, AYT, C-IAYT, E-RYT500, is a certified senior āyurvedic practitioner, āyurvedic yoga therapist, IAYT certified yoga therapist, and YA certified teacher of vinyāsa krama yoga in the Kriśnamacārya tradition (E-RYT500) He has had the privilege of serving both the National and State Āyurvedic Associations Boards. He chaired NAMA’s Committee for Āyurvedic Yoga Therapy towards […]
Learn more about Arun Deva, AP, AYT, C-IAYT, E-RYT500Categories : Ayurveda & Detoxification, May 2025, Self Healing