Summer 2026: Courses in History, Tantra, Technology, and Languages

Toḍī Rāginī. A late-morning melody associated with summer. Artist Unknown. Rāgamālā painting. Water colour. Mid 18th century. Salar Jung Museum, India.

Summer 2026

The Summer 2026 term at Yogic Studies is now underway, bringing one of the most diverse lineups of courses the platform has offered—spanning the epic history of medieval South India, the subtle physiology of the tantric body's six cakras, the contemporary intersections of yoga and technology, alongside six language courses in Sanskrit, Pāli, Tibetan, Hindi, and Greek. There is, we believe, something here for every stage and inclination of scholarly and contemplative life.

Seminars

YS 138 | Lords of Earth and Sea: A History of the Chola Empire taught by historian Anirudh Kanisetti, opens the summer with a history course long overdue in the curriculum of South Asian studies. The Chola dynasty—one of the longest-ruling and most culturally productive empires in Indian history—built the great Bṛhadīśvara temple at Thanjavur, patronized the flowering of Tamil devotional literature and Śaiva practice, and extended their maritime reach across Southeast Asia. For students of yoga, tantra, and Indian religion, the Chola period is foundational historical context that rarely receives the serious academic treatment it deserves. The course runs May 5–29, 2026. 

YS 219 | The Ṣaṭcakranirūpaṇa: Description of the Six Cakras, taught by Dr. Lubomír Ondračka, takes up one of the most significant texts in the history of tantric and yogic physiology. Composed in sixteenth-century Bengal, the Ṣaṭcakranirūpaṇa offers the most systematic and influential early account of the cakra system as understood within haṭhayoga and Śākta tantric traditions—a system that has been a major inspiration for popular representations that circulate in contemporary yoga and wellness culture. The course runs June 16–July 16, 2026 (enrollment coming soon). 

YS 139 | Yoga Machine: Technology, Transcendence, and Transhumanism in Modern Yoga, taught by renowned yoga historian Dr. Mark Singleton, closes the summer with a course that turns a critical lens on yoga's contemporary moment. How has yoga adapted to—and has been reshaped by—digital technologies, and transhumanist ideologies? This course will offer an inside look at Dr. Singleton's highly anticipated forthcoming book, investigating these timely and intellectually demanding questions. The seminar runs July 27–August 21, 2026 (enrollment coming soon). 

Languages

SKT 103 | Elementary Sanskrit III
Instructor: Dr. Antonia Ruppel
Dates: May 4 - July 24 (12 weeks)

TIBETAN 103 | Elementary Tibetan III
Instructor: Kunsang
Dates: May 5 - July 24 (12 weeks)

PALI 103 | Elementary Pali III
Instructor: Dr. Aleix Ruiz-Falqués
Dates: May 4 - July 24 (12 weeks)

HINDI 103 | Elementary Hindi III
Instructor: Dr. Rajiv Ranjan
Dates: May 5 - July 24 (12 weeks)

SKT 203 | Intermediate Sanskrit III: Sanskrit Narratives
Instructor: Dr. Antonia Ruppel
Dates: May 4 - July 3 (9 weeks)

SKT 309 | Pātañjalayogaśāstra IV: Kaivalya Pāda
Instructor: Dr. Philipp Maas
Dates: May 4 – June 24 (8 weeks)

GREEK 103 | Antigone of Sophocles
Instructor: Dr. Antonia Ruppel
Dates: May 5 - July 24, 2026 (12 weeks)