Pull Out The Sitar!

“Open to ecumenical participation” Yoga and Zen at Loyola Marymount
The Center for Religion and Spirituality at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles appears to have quite an interest in meditation practices of the Far East. Among its “wonderful programs,”

the Center, according to its web site, offers “five different Yoga Certificate Programs: Yoga Philosophy, Green Yoga, Vinyasa Krama, Yoga Rx, and Yoga Education.”

Then there is the Center’s LMU Zen Group which, according to its Spring 2008 schedule, meets three times a week. The group’s web page notes that “Zen Buddhism uses the practice of sitting meditation or zazen as a way of realizing one’s essential nature.” Zen, says the web site, “is open to ecumenical participation,” since its form of meditation “is not associated with any particular belief system.” In fact, “Zen practice invites an individual to investigate his or her experience through mindful and energetic attentiveness to breathing and posture.” Yoga Studies offers several courses through the LMU Extension, of which the Center is a part.

This year’s most prominent instructor is Srivatsa Ramaswami, 68. Ramaswami, says his web site, was the “longest standing student of the legendary T Krishnamachary outside the Master’s immediate family.” Krishnamachary has been called the “grandfather of modern yoga.”

Among Ramaswami's LMU Extension courses this year was “Reading Sankara on Vedanta” (Feb. 19-22). According to the course description, “Vedanta is one of the six orthodox philosophies culled out of the Vedas, contained especially in the Upanishads. Vedanta is considered to be the culmination of the evolutionary thought process of the Vedas, containing the bold enunciation of the Ultimate Reality, Brahman. Sankara following the footsteps of the great masters before him interpreted the Vedanta philosophy as one that propounds the nondualistic view of the ultimate reality.”

Ramaswami offers more practical LMU Extension classes; for instance, “Chanting Yoga Sutras and Subtle Anatomy” (Feb. 11-15). In this course, students were to learn “the methodology of chanting the Yoga Sutras.”

Among other instructors offering courses through the LMU Extension is the American-born Buddhist monk (and Buddhist chaplain for the Garden Grove Police Department), Kusala Bhikshu. He is currently teaching a class (with time set aside for meditation practice and group discussion) called, “An Introduction to Buddhist Meditation.”

Beginning in April, Dr. Elena Christova will offer a course through the Extension called “Devi: A New Perspective on Mother Divine.” The course promises a “journey into the joy, play, and teachings of Mother Divine in all her forms… Wisdom and joy, transformation and awareness are among the gifts of the great tales and legends of the Goddess.”

According to its mission statement, the Center “embodies LMU's commitment to serve the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles, other local churches, religious groups, and the general public through the development of diverse programs related to religion and spirituality, faith and justice.” The Center works “in collaboration with the Department of Theological Studies and other departments and divisions of the University” to sponsor “a variety of continuing education courses, certificate programs, lecture series, summer institutes, and special events.”

Link (here)