This module begins with a discussion of the definitions of the core terms of the course—“yoga” and “psychedelic”—especially with respect to their broader linguistic and semantic contexts. We then turn to an examination of the larger ethnopharmacological role of psychoactive substances within the study of religion and spirituality, with an emphasis on the ways in which drug “cultures” and “subcultures” have and continue to play critical roles in communities and societies around the globe. Building upon this foundation, we explore the categorization of psychoactive substances and their respective modes of action in the body and brain, with a focus on the classical serotonergic psychedelics, includng LSD, DMT, Psilocybin, and Mescaline. Lastly, we provide an overview of the roles—or purported roles—those psychoactive substances, and especially psychedelics, have played in traditional and contemporary yoga history, philosophy, and practice. Focus will be placed on developing broad literacy with respect to the pervasive role of psychoactive and psychedelic substances in human history and culture, with an emphasis on traditions of yoga.

This module begins with a discussion of the “proto-yoga” of the Vedic tradition, specifically the “building blocks” of yoga found in Vedic practice and their relationship to the use of psychoactive, if not psychedelic, substances. After a brief discussion the dynamics between endogenous and exogenous methodologies (the latter involving the use of psychotropic substances) we focus on the role of soma, an “elixir,” used in Vedic ritual to augment priestly capacities and that of viṣa, a “poison” or “agent,” utilized by ancient Indian ascetics referred to by terms such as muni, “silent one,” and keśin, “[long]-haired one.” The nature and role of soma and viṣa is then examined in light of the considerable scholarly controversies over their identification with various psychoactive substances, including psychedelics, and with respect to the role that they play in defining the longer arc of the relationship of psychoactive substances with asceticism and yoga. Lastly, we examine the theory that the Upaniṣads represent an apotheosis of the soma-cult of the Vedic tradition in terms of their mystic-philosophical content and the linkages between priestly soma-use, the theorized “substitution” of yoga for soma, and the use of the language of soma to describe the internal experience (phenomenology) of yogic processes. Emphasis will be placed upon the role and import of psychoactive substances in the Vedic tradition and the ways in which Vedic traditions provide the framework for formal systematic discussion in classical and medieval yoga narrative and philosophical literature.

This module begins with an examination of one of the most important formulations of the role of psychoactive herbs (oṣadhi) in the accomplishment of extraordinary capacities (siddhi), namely Pātañjalayogaśāstra verse 4.1. This crucial passage on oṣadhi is then further examined in relationship to cognate understandings found in the contemporaneous Buddhist Abhidharma literature, especially with respect to the notion of the critically important and allied concept of the “constructed mind” (nirmāṇacitta). It is then, in turn, connected to oṣadhi-siddhi linkages established in Āyurvedic literature, especially with respect to “essences” (rasāyana), providing further perspective on, and proof of, Indic notions regarding the relationship between the use of oṣadhi and extraordinary powers of perception and action. Building upon this, we then turn to the application of the terms of herb (oṣadhi) or root (mūla) to a range of other substances, two of the most important being cannabis (bhaṅgā) and datura (dhattūra), and the various methods of administration and the compounding of them into various concoctions, often under the rubric of “essence” (dravya) or “elixir” (soma). Particular attention will be placed upon the intimate relationship between yoga and siddhi that deeply informs the relationship between yoga and oṣadhi, as well as the crucial role that narratives and iconography of the Hindu god Śiva as Nīlakaṇṭha, the “Blue Throated [One],” play in understanding the relationship between psychoactive substances and yoga in the Indic context.

Continuing along the historical timeline of the relationship between yoga and psychoactives and psychedelics, this module begins with a discussion of the views of early modern yoga formulators, such as Vivekananda and Kuvalyananda, and the formation of late 19th and early 20th century views on the role of psychoactive substances in yoga. We will look at the ways in which yoga practice was “sanitized,” particularly with respect to the use of cannabis in Indian asceticism, giving way to associations with conventional modern associations between yoga and tea and coffee. This is followed by an examination of the building blocks of the “First Wave” psychedelic movement in the United States in the 1950’s and 1960’s, focusing on the intersections between Indic-based spirituality, including yoga, and the therapeutic and countercultural spheres through the late 20th century, looking at commentaries from major yoga figures such as BKS Iyengar and Swami Satchidananda. Extending this discussion, we look at the “Second Wave” psychedelic movement, or “Psychedelic Renaissance,” its connection to the “First Wave,” and the important role that yoga philosophy and practice has had in both its therapeutic and spiritual contexts, highlighting important figures at the intersection of these domains, such as Roland Griffiths. The therapeutic and spiritual elements are explored in relationship to the growing spiritual-psychedelic tourism industry and in psychedelic facilitation, in which elements of postural and meditative yoga practice play central roles. The emphasis throughout this unit will be on the ways in which the use of psychoactives and psychedelics in modern and contemporary contexts demonstrates both continuities and discontinuities with its premodern precursors.