Munyer leads a class in “sukasana,” simple seated cross-legged position.—BECKY BUYERS-BASSO PHOTO

Applied Yoga Philosophy teacher Jennifer Munyer gives an assist to one of her students to get deeper into “balasana,” a yoga pose also known as child’s pose.—BECKY BUYERS-BASSO PHOTO

This is not just a yoga class; it is the lab portion of a college-level philosophy class. Despite the growing popularity of yoga in the Western world, there are few places in the United States to study the ancient Indian philosophy that spawned the practice.

Bar Harbor is one of those places.

Jennifer Munyer, a licensed massage therapist and yoga instructor at Cattitude Yoga Studio, teaches Applied Yoga Philosophy at College of the Atlantic (COA).

“Although Indic thought and the philosophy of yoga is taught at teacher trainings or retreat centers around the country, it’s limited to the yoga community,” she said. “I’ve seen some expansion of physical education programs to include yoga as a path toward health. But I don’t know of anyone other than myself who is using yoga as a springboard for teaching philosophy.”

Jen’s path to teaching Indian philosophy grew out of her desire to study it.

“I was searching for a master’s program where I could study Sanskrit and Indian philosophy but I only found one, in Eastern Philosophy, at St. John’s College in Santa Fe, New Mexico,” she said. “There are courses in Indian philosophy at other universities, but they are only available to philosophy majors, Western philosophy or religion majors.”

But Jen didn’t want to study Western philosophy or religion, she said. Raised Catholic, she had already had her fill of dogma.

“It’s very important that it be part of academia, not religion, as defined by a single doctrine or regulated hierarchy,” she said. “But I hope it will draw out the spirituality found in religion.”

Her interest in Indic thought grew from her practice of yoga and her desire to go deeper.

“Yoga is about connecting, connecting with the divine,” she said. “It’s not a religion per se … but it’s a very spiritual philosophical practice.”

So the would-be graduate student has become a self-taught Indian philosophy scholar, studying the primary ancient Indian texts of the Bhagavad-Gita and the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali.

In January 2006, Jen taught a seven-week yoga session at Cattitude with each class focusing on one of the seven chakras, or energy centers, of the body. Several COA students took the class and a few followed up on the experience by asking her to sponsor them for independent study and, later, a group study in which she served as a resource, facilitator and helped guide discussion.

“The students developed the syllabus and asked the questions,” she said.

Demand for knowledge about the philosophy underpinning yoga practice continued to build among the student body, and in the fall of 2006, Dave Feldman, COA math professor and chairman of the college’s academic affairs committee, asked Jen to teach a full-blown course on Indian philosophy during the winter term.

“It’s incredible that they invited me into the scholarly and academic world,” she said. “There is a huge demand in young people; they are craving this.”

Her class includes textbook readings and discussion, and time on the yoga mat to integrate what students are learning.

“The texts are interesting and we have great class discussions,” said Jessica Hardy, a COA senior.

The yoga practice seems like a natural connection to the class for her. Already a yoga practitioner, she said she sees the philosophy reflected in the yoga postures. Ms. Hardy is taking the class this term in preparation for a four-week intensive yoga training course she plans to take at the Shivananda School in the Bahamas in January. She said she wanted a better understanding of the philosophy and roots of yoga, and so far the class is living up to her expectations.

Both times it has been offered, the course has had the maximum number of students registered and almost an equal number of students on the waiting list.

Helen Hess, another of the 14 students in the class this session, is a biology professor at COA who was introduced to yoga eight years ago by David Walker, a yoga instructor who visits campus courtesy of the school’s student activities committee.

She’s continued her practice by taking yoga classes at Cattitude, including one of Jen Munyer’s.

“Yoga is more than a workout for strength and flexibility,” Ms. Hess said. “It’s a tradition that is thousands of years old. I decided to sit in on Jen’s class to learn more about the academic, intellectual and philosophical side of yoga.”

Jen does not have the usual academic background normally associated with regular full-time faculty at COA; she has a Bachelor of Arts in psychology from the University of Florida but no master’s or doctorate. But, Ms. Hess said, the teacher has something equally important – energy and openness and an ability to make the material accessible to her students; in short, teaching talent.

And the man who hired Jen agrees.

“She’s a teacher,” said Dr. Feldman.

He said the first class went extremely well both academically and as an opportunity for students to engage in self-examination and personal growth.

“I was very excited and honored to have been asked to facilitate students’ exploration of the world of yoga,” Jen said. “Yoga can help us organize and understand our inner selves so that we may see the connections between us as individuals and the effect we have on everything and everybody. I hope that through my teaching in an academic setting, my students will connect with their inner calling or “svabhava” so they find clarity of purpose and self-actualize. No true transformation can come merely through discussion.”

It is highly unusual for a course in philosophy to include an experiential component, she said, but not so unusual for College of the Atlantic to integrate the theoretical with the practical given its organizing principle of human ecology, which focuses on interconnectedness.

“A COA education is both an inward and an outward journey,” Dr. Feldman said. “Jen gives her students a chance to learn about themselves and the world as one.”

The practice and study of yoga has had a transformational effect on Jen’s own life. She broke with the church in her freshman year in college, and describes the years that followed as very dark.

“In 2001, I was 186 pounds, really depressed and needing to control everything and everybody, including my boyfriend,” she recalled.

She was working in a flower shop in Florida at the time and the owner, a woman who seemed to sense her unhappiness, suggested she try yoga.

“Can you lose weight doing yoga?” was Jen’s first question, thinking that she’d be happier if she were thinner.

Having danced from age 3 to age 13, her body responded positively to the movements that engaged her flexibility. In her very first session, she experienced a transformative moment.

“I was in paschimottanasana, seated forward bend,” she recalled. “Forward bends teach us introspection and even though I didn’t know that then, I felt my body radiating a warm feeling from my heart to my toes. It made my eyes water with tears and my lips smile. My body shook but in a very quiet way.”

The whole experience was very quiet, she said. She didn’t even tell the instructor about it but it set her on a path of daily yoga practice.

“Since then my life has expanded from a very humble place,” she said.

In 2003, she responded to an inner calling to go to massage school where she learned more about the muscles, bones and energy of the human body, which informed her yoga instruction.

“I learned that in both practices, my work is about holding spaces for people to transform,” she said. “My goal is to create a safe, comfortable space and to be completely present.”

Now, as a teacher, she is witness to the transformation of others.

“The deeper I go, the more clearly I see how the spiritual and more subtle energies are expressed through the symbolic.”