Through stillness and awareness we encounter God and can explore how and where we are being called in our lives.
Our Work
Ignatian Spirituality & Yoga is grounded in experience and encounter. Our programs create and hold spaces to engage in practices that encourage greater stillness and deeper awareness of the body, breath, and interior space.
In the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, a foundational text of Yoga, asana, or the physical poses, and pranayama, breathwork, are only two of the eight “limbs of yoga.” And so while the poses and breathwork can certainly offer particular practices of embodiment that are central to yoga, and thus to IGNATIAN SPIRITUALITY & YOGA, we are not merely using the poses as an entrance into “embodied prayer.” ISY is about engaging with the larger school of philosophy that makes up the yoga path to samadhi (union with the Divine), and bringing this tradition in its fullness into conversation with Ignatian Spirituality.
As an organization, it is vital to us that we are engaging in this in a respectful, responsible, non-oppressive way that honors the contexts and depths of both traditions.
We acknowledge that Yoga has been mis-appropriated and commodified in the modern context and are committed to reduce any harm or disrespect. We are in ongoing conversations with scholars, teachers, and practitioners from both Ignatian Spirituality and Yoga to help us in this task. And we consistently ask ourselves: How do we increasingly understand both traditions in terms of their historical and contemporary application — history and tradition, theology, anthropology, epistemology?
We are also aware that in the West, yoga has attracted a mainly affluent and white community of practitioners. ISY is committed to engage a diverse community of teachers and practitioners.
THE CORE PILLARS OF IGNATIAN SPIRITUALITY & YOGA
The practices of Ignatian spirituality and yoga invite spiritual seekers to:
CONNECTION
Discover deeper connection with self, others, nature and God.
transformation
Experience transformation that leads to ever greater interior freedom.
Action
Commit to conscious action that embodies a faith that does justice.
Guiding Principles
Who We Are
1
We are grounded in the Jesuit-Catholic tradition
2
We are students and practitioners of Yoga
3
We hold Ignatian spirituality and the Dharmic traditions in conversation
What we do
4
We are committed to dialogue with scholars and leaders from a wide range of religious, philosophical, and academic approaches
5
We present spiritual practices to empower individuals to engage in compassionate action and selfless service.
6
We take embodiment seriously, caring for the mind, body, soul, and planet.
What we aspire to
7
We are committed to keep justice, equity, diversity and inclusion at the heart of ministry
8
We seek to empower young people with tools and resources to navigate the challenges of modern life
9
We strive to care for our common home by being good stewards of creation
