The Uncreated Light: Mysteries of Seeing
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Yoga Series online
Mondays & Thursdays
7:00–7:45am
November 9 - December 21
* 13 Classes to Winter Solstice *
$130
“Some wise one, desiring immortality, with eyes turned inward, saw the inner Self.”
— Kaṭha Upaniṣad 2.1.1
As the days grow shorter and the world turns toward winter, we enter the mysteries of seeing. From the first light of dawn to the luminous depths of awareness, we explore the extraordinary power of the eyes: their capacity not only to perceive, but to recognize, to reveal, and to awaken something within us through the simple act of beholding.
Guided by Greek myth, the ancient wisdom of Parmenides, the contemplative traditions of Yoga, Sufi mysticism, and Kashmir Shaivism, we tend the inner fire of attention through movement, stillness, and the fertile tension of opposites. At the Winter Solstice, darkness becomes a threshold rather than an ending, and the first light returns—not as something lost and recovered, but as a mystery continually revealing itself.
“There are the gates of the ways of Night and Day.”
— Parmenides, On Nature, fragment 1, translated by John Burne
“Who looks outside dreams; who looks inside awakes.”
— C. G. Jung, letter to Fanny Bowditch, 22 October 1916, Letters, vol. 1, p. 33
The Uncreated Light: Mysteries of Seeing
November 9 to Dec 21 - Winter Solstice 2026
Mondays & Thursdays · 45 minutes · All levels
Week 1 · Nov 9 & 12
Eos — The First Light
The awakening of perception
Eos opens the gates of morning. The Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upaniṣad offers its prayer of passage from darkness toward light. We begin with the distinction between looking and truly seeing, awakening the eyes to the mystery of what is revealed when consciousness meets the world.
Monday 9 — Before the World Awakens
Drishti: Sun Salutations (Sūrya Namaskāra) — a flowing vinyasa practice to kindle the inner fire and greet the first light.
Thursday 12 — The Eyes of Dawn
Drishti: Fire Log (Agnistambhāsana) — deep hip opening, sustained attention, and the quiet fire of awakening.
Week 2 · Nov 16 & 19
Selene — The Reflective Light
Seeing through darkness
Selene's light is received and reflected. In Sufi teachings, the polished mirror of the heart becomes an image of perception freed from distortion. What becomes visible when the brilliance of daylight recedes? Through reflection, receptivity, and the mystery of the moon, we explore the subtle relationship between what we see and what sees through us.
Monday 16 — The Mirror of the Moon
Drishti: Half Moon (Ardha Chandrāsana) — balance, expansion, and the reflective intelligence of the body.
Thursday 19 — What Darkness Reveals
Drishti: Standing Crescent Moon (Indudalāsana, also called Pārśva Ūrdhva Hastāsana) — standing lateral bends, elongated side-body stretches, and flowing movements that explore the crescent shape of the moon.
Week 3 · Nov 23 & 26
Hestia — The Light That Remains
The still centre of consciousness
Hestia keeps the hearth, the quiet centre around which life gathers. Patañjali's teachings on dhāraṇā and dhyāna open an inquiry into sustained attention, where the fire of awareness is tended through the meeting of movement and stillness. Here we explore the mystery of an unmoving centre within the changing circumstances of life.
Monday 23 — The Unmoving Flame
Drishti: Revolved Triangle (Parivrtta Trikoṇāsana) and Bound Side Angle (Baddha Pārśvakoṇāsana) — twisting, binding, and discovering stillness within complexity.
Thursday 26 — The Hearth Within
Drishti: Supported Bound Angle (Supta Baddha Koṇāsana) and restorative postures — extended meditation, inward reflection, and journaling.
Week 4 · Nov 30 & Dec 3
Apollo — The Light of Discernment
The clarity that reveals truth
Apollo presides over prophecy, healing, purification, and the revelation of what ordinarily remains concealed. At Delphi, his oracle speaks through riddles, paradox, and inspired utterance, reminding us that truth is not always revealed through direct answers. The Delphic injunction to know oneself becomes an invitation to examine the limitations of ordinary sight. Apollo's gift is not merely illumination, but the capacity to perceive what lies beyond appearances.
Monday 30 — The Delphic Eye
Drishti: Headstand (Śīrṣāsana) & Shoulderstand (Sarvāṅgāsana) — vinyasa, inversions, and the reversal of habitual perspectives.
Thursday 3 — The Discipline of Seeing
Drishti: Seated Forward Bend (Paścimottānāsana) and Head-to-Knee Pose (Jānu Śīrṣāsana) — hip opening, forward folding, and contemplative inward vision.
Week 5 · Dec 7 & 10
The Inner Eye — The Light Beyond Form
Parmenides: the journey into the heart of truth
In Parmenides' ancient poem, the daughters of the Sun guide a traveller beyond the familiar paths of mortals, toward the gates of Night and Day. The wheels whirl, the axle cries out with the piercing sound of a pipe, and the veils are drawn aside. Beyond the gates, a goddess welcomes him, takes his hand, and reveals the distinction between unshaken truth and mortal opinion.
In the ancient practice of incubation, seekers entered a sacred place, often associated with healing, and surrendered to prolonged stillness, sleep, or dream in anticipation of divine revelation. Here, the quieting of the body and the suspension of ordinary activity become an invitation to another kind of seeing—one that arises through receptivity rather than effort.
Monday 7 — The Eye That Sees Itself
Drishti: Sundial (Parivrtta Sūrya Yantrāsana) — deep hip opening, rotation, and the paradox of looking outward while turning inward.
Thursday 10 — Beyond the Visible
Drishti: Hero/Heroin (Vīrāsana) — gentle hip preparation leading into seated stillness, an extended incubation practice, and contemplative journaling.
Week 6 · Dec 14 & 17
The Uncreated Light — The Luminous Heart
Kashmir Shaivism: the splendor of recognition
In the nondual teachings of Kashmir Shaivism, consciousness is inherently luminous, possessing the power to reveal and recognize itself. Prakāśa, the light of awareness, and vimarśa, its self-recognizing nature, illuminate the mystery of recognition: not the creation of something new, but the revelation of what has always been present. Through movement, breath, and profound stillness, we contemplate the heart as the living centre of this recognition, where the one who sees and the light by which seeing becomes possible are no longer experienced as separate.
Monday 14 — The Light Without a Source
Drishti: Lord of the Dance Pose (Naṭarājāsana) — balance, expansion, and the cosmic dance of Śiva, where stillness and movement coexist.
Thursday 17 — The Radiance of the Heart
Drishti: Upward Bow (Ūrdhva Dhanurāsana) — deep backbending, opening through the heart, and the embodied expression of luminosity.
Week 7 · December 21
Winter Solstice — The Circle of Returning Light
The end within the beginning
At the darkest turning of the year, we gather in the spirit of ancient seasonal rites to honour the great circle of becoming. Through the image of the ouroboros, the serpent whose ending returns to its beginning, we welcome the stillness of winter and the first promise of lengthening days. The light of Eos, which opened our journey, appears again at its threshold. Through movement, breath, silence, and a simple ritual of fire, we honour the mystery of perpetual renewal: the ending that holds a beginning, and the beginning that already carries its return.
Drishti: Bird of Paradise (Svarga Dvijāsana) — standing balances, binding, and the gradual unfurling of the body toward the returning light. The Sanskrit name evokes a bird of paradise, while dvija, meaning “twice-born,” introduces the beautiful symbolism of a second birth: an awakening into new life. As the year turns, we honour the mystery of renewal, where every ending carries the seed of another beginning, concluding with a Winter Solstice ritual.
“The daughters of the Sun, hasting to convey me into the light, threw back their veils from off their faces.”
— Parmenides, On Nature, fragment 1, translated by John Burnet
