Identifying, Navigating & Resolving Emotional Disequilibrium Through the Lens of Daivavyapāśraya (Treatment of Spiritual Maladies)

With Josh Schrei of The Emerald podcast, Fred Smith, Ramkumar & Claudia Welch

Yoga with Scott Blossom & Vedic Astrology with Emily Glaser

While in the west we may consider spiritual crises to be a lack of fulfillment, meaningful living or a general feeling of being adrift, in India, spiritual maladies include curses, reaping of bad karmas and becoming possessed, among other disorders. We could regard this Eastern view as superstitious and backwards, until we look more closely at the utterly harmful or disruptive thoughts and beliefs that motivate many of our actions.

When we shine a closer light, we see how the Western and Eastern views relate, and how we are hard-pressed to find anyone not possessed by something, whether that be an idea, belief, substance, person, planet or personality. Bringing the unconscious into conscious awareness can be a step towards dispelling harm in these arenas.

Traditionally, treatment includes the recitation of mantras, wearing roots and gems, auspicious acts, offerings, gifts, oblations, following religious precepts, atonement, fasting, invoking blessings, falling on (the feet of) the gods, pilgrimage, etc. Which of these treatments may we effectively include in the modern world? Can possession get us out of trouble as well as into it?

Join Drs. Ramkumar & Welch–hosts of Satsangam’s Vedic Threads membership course– with special guests Fred Smith, Josh Schrei, Emily Glaser and the rest of the Satsangam team, to explore these ideas in an informal, conversational event.

Scott Blossom, a Satsangam co-founder, whose thirty years of studying Haṭha Yoga included more than ten years studying semi-classical Indian dance forms based on the Dance of Shiva (Ānanda tāṇḍava), will share movement, breathing, and meditation practices from the Dance of Shiva to embody the therapeutic themes discussed in the retreat. Emily Glaser, another Satsangam co-founder, will share insights from Vedic Astrology regarding planetary influences.