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History & Philosophy of Yoga
with Dr Matthew Clark (MA, PhD) Sunday 13th August 2017 10am-12noon at The HUBnub Centre, Whittox Lane, Frome, Somerset BA11 3BY The soma/haoma plant (or plants) is sacred in the religious texts of both Zoroastrians and the brahmans of South Asia. Many dozens of theories concerning its botanical identity have been proposed over the last 250 years. Currently the three theories with the most academic support are that soma/haoma was either fly-agaric mushrooms, ephedra or Syrian rue. I suggest, alternatively, that soma/haoma was most probably a concoction of plants that acted as ayahuasca-like analogues. Was this sacred, ritual drink perhaps influential in the development of yogic ideas and practices? We will see... |
This workshop forms part of the Three Yogis in Frome yoga festival 11th-13th August 2017 with Danny Paradise (Ashtanga Yoga), Matthew Clark (History and Philosophy of Yoga) and Daniel Petkoff (Anatomy and Physiology)
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Dr Matthew Clark is a vastly knowledgable scholar and a very engaging speaker. His latest book 'The Tawny One: Soma, Haoma and Ayahuasca' was published in 2017 (available from amazon.co.uk and sunypress.edu.) Matthew has been a Research Associate at the School of Oriental and African Studies (University of London) since 2004, where he taught Hinduism between 1999 and 2003. Since 2002 he has been lecturing on yoga at yoga centres in the UK, Europe, Israel, India, and the USA. He has published articles and books on yoga, soma and sadhus (yogis). He has been visiting India since 1977, visiting around 1,000 pilgrimage sites and trekking about 2,000 miles in the Himalayas. Matthew also writes songs, plays guitar, and makes records as Mahabongo. |
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