47. Zoë Slatoff | Yoga, Vedānta, and Ashtanga Yoga

In this episode we speak with Zoë Slatoff about her background as
an Ashtanga Yoga practitioner and teacher turned academic and
Sanskrit professor at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles.
We discuss how her experiences within the Ashtanga Yoga community
led her to the study of Sanskrit, and the eventual writing of her
textbook called Yogāvatāraṇam. She details how her love for the
study of yoga, Sanskrit, and philosophy led to her pursuing a PhD
on the Aparokṣānubhūti, or "Direct Awareness of the Self." We
discuss the history of the Aparokṣānubhūti, whether or not it is
actually written by the great Advaita Vedānta philosopher
Śaṅkara, the differences between the dualism of Sāṅkhya-Yoga and
the non-dualism of Advaita Vedānta, how Vedānta views yoga
philosophy and practice, and more. We conclude by previewing
Zoë's upcoming online course, YS 215 | Yoga and Vedānta: The
Aparokṣānubhūti.



Speaker Bio
Zoë Slatoff has a Ph.D. in Religion and Philosophy
from Lancaster University in the U.K. and an M.A. and B.A. in
Asian Languages and Cultures from Columbia University. She is the
Clinical Professor of Sanskrit at Loyola Marymount University in
Los Angeles, where she teaches Sanskrit and Yoga Philosophy
courses in the Yoga Studies M.A. program, as well as
undergraduate courses through the Theology department. Her Ph.D.
dissertation—which she is working on turning into a 
book—was an exploration of the intersection of Yoga and Advaita
over time, centering around a  translation of the
Aparokṣānubhūti and its commentaries. Zoë is also the author of
Yogāvatāraṇam: The Translation of Yoga, a Sanskrit textbook based
on classic yoga texts, which integrates  traditional and
academic methods of learning, from which she teaches.



Links


https://www.yogicstudies.com/ys-215

Yogāvatāraṇam: The Translation of Yoga, (North Point
Press, 2015)