Yoga & Psychedelics: Pathways to Primary Spiritual Experience


Thursday, July 19, 2018 at 7:30 PM – 10:00 PM PDT

The Center SF
548 Fillmore Street
San Francisco, CA


  • Have you experienced a profound awakening, dissolution, or feeling of interconnection through psychedelics?
  • Are you looking for more tools to actively explore the realms of consciousness and awareness?
  • Are you ready for practices to integrate your peak experiences into everyday life, and to prepare yourself for future ones?


BACKGROUND

With attention to set and setting, psychedelic journeys consistently induce states of Primary Religious Experience. Coined by William James, the term refers to mystical experiences that profoundly impact our understanding of self and reality. While psychedelic peak experiences are transitory, they show us what is possible for our lives and at some point, along the path, we look for tools to integrate these experiences and ground them into everyday life.

Far beyond the fitness modality taught in studios today, classical yoga is a path for spiritual realization where the vehicle is our body. Through a system of postures, breathwork, and meditation practices, yoga purifies the body and mind for the attainment of samadhi or bliss. Yoga provides a framework to purify the body in preparation to hold higher levels of energy and awareness, for example during psychedelic journeys. Yoga's practices comprise a time-honored pathway to embody these states of primary spiritual experience, and ultimately awakening in a sustainable, lasting way.

DESCRIPTION

In this experiential workshop, we will discuss primary spiritual experiences, what they are, why they matter, and where we find them. We'll share about the use of psychedelics as medicine for awakening, the importance of set and setting, and the "down and into the body" vs "up and out" approaches to journeying.

You'll learn how yoga can purify the body and prepare us to hold more intense energies, and how these practices can support psychedelic journeys. We'll discuss the yogic pathway to realization, both through kundalini rising and Patanjali's eightfold path to samadhi.

The second half of the workshop will be guided yoga asana (postures), pranayama (breathwork), and meditation drawn from classical yogic and tantric teachings. This will give you the experience of yoga, not as an exercise, but as a spiritual practice.

Facilitator: Matt Sturm

Cost: $30