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Message Board > Ask Our Expert > Real YOGA, where is it?
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Real YOGA, where is it?
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| jcaimi516 |
08/10/05 at 1:32pm
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Joined: 03/13/10 |
Hi, I have been wanting to join your site and have been watching what you had to offer. I am so sorry to see that you have added so much "power yoga." It's very discouraging. It's mostly for young people that want to be "pumped up." Not true yoga, just selected asanas to firm the body and forget the mind. Yoga is a slow pace personal formula so that the inner self and body can connect with the mind. In real yoga, the body and mind are one. That takes time and patience. So "who has time for that?" ya say. Power yoga is basically just another form of body building leaving the true essence of yoga out. A tone body is ok, but our society is extremely focused on the outward person, and that is one of the basic reasons that we have so many illness, mental problems, sleep difficulties, stress and what have you......inspite of how "healthy" our bodies "look." Yoga suppose to bring peace, tranquiity, and harmony inside/outside. The western world does not want to make that connection or take the time to make peace with ourselves or anybody else as far as that goes. But our bodies and our emotions are screaming at us, as we continue to pumpin' away. This society will never understand body/mind connection if we continue to bring things like"power yoga" into the yoga mainstream. The whole concept will be ruined and will probably not return for a long time. Our society doesn't WANT to slow down because that is not progress or money. The mind/body is secondary or even non existent here, and that is exactly why we are such a sick nation and loaded with dis-ease. We are always searching for that quick fix, a new vitamin, a new diet, a new health food, a new technique, a new exercise, new medicine, on and on and on we go....when all the time, the "fix" has always been inside us. Unless we learn to tune into it, we will continue to search and never find it. I have been doing yoga for 25 years so I am experienced. I have gradually seen yoga deteriorate now for some years. So sad.....I sincerely hope there will be more inner asanas in the future on your website. I do see a couple of series on the website that might be helpful but I am directing this focus on all the new series of power yoga that has been brought out recently. Joy |
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| Jeneveve |
08/12/05 at 9:58am
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Joined: 05/27/10 |
Joy, Thank you for expressing your sincere beliefs -- about yoga as it appears on this site and as it appears in our culture. You make some very valid statements. What’s interesting is that your expressions above balance out the comments we’ve received about offering “too many slow, contemplative practices.” These combined expressions, in themselves, reflect and epitomize the nature of the gunas! Not that long ago, Joy, I couldn’t get my mouth to say the words “power yoga.” My throat chakra would seize up. I was like a toddler learning new, weird words and sounds. I’d break out in a sweat; tears ran down my cheeks; I threw inner tantrums. I’d freeze over reading descriptions of such a practice, or hearing about its very existence. I was ready to leave the continent … until I remembered I wasn’t looking inside -- all that rajas cooking me away when I could have been investigating the actual scene; not just reading the covers. So ... I went undercover – through the skeleton and into its guts. And, yes. I came out all sweaty, sticky and ridiculously sore the following mornings. What was gained was a much better understanding of how “the other half” lives through my power yoga experiences. I met a new kind of creature that contained a type of integrity and perseverance I hadn’t met before. My heart wasn’t moved, but everything else was! Thank the gods for diversity. IMAGINE this: A cluster of Souls making agreements (prior to returning to Earth) to create cover art/photography on books, record albums, CDs, videos, DDS, etc. that intentionally misrepresented the essence of the contents! They all agreed to do this, sporadically over the millennia, just to see who’d go beyond the outer physical illusion. They’re having a blast observing the judgement buttons they’re detonating! This brings us back to our 3 essential qualities: the gunas. According to ancient Indian philosophy, we vacillate between these and/or get stuck in one. Ideally, our daily yoga practice helps us eliminate the first two states: inertia, dullness, lethargy, depression (tamas) passionate-activity, restlessness, agitation, craving (rajas) calm, ease, up-lifted, equanimity (sattva) Who’s to say how karmic seeds burn off within individual souls, this day and age? We are provided AMPLE opportunity in our Mother Culture to observe where in reintarnation* we are, in the present moment, within the gunas spectrum. Your focus, for instance, exemplifies the rajas-state. Please know that the Yoga Learning Center treats ALL material that appears on its site with equanimity. One school, style or teacher isn’t lauded over another here. They’re honored equally as they are. Venture into this place a little deeper, Joy. Go into the guts of this site. (*compliments of Mensa’s ‘05 winning list of confused rhetoric!) Namaste, Jeneveve Satya YLC Forum Advisor |
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| jcaimi516 |
01/11/06 at 8:26am
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Joined: 03/13/10 |
Hi Joy, I just had to reply to your comments. I am 35, very athletic, and in great health. Having said that, my yoga practice is a relaxing and gentle one. I especially enjoy Kripalu yoga classes and the encouragement by Kripalu teachers to Breath, Relax, Feel, Watch, and Allow. This to me is 'real' yoga. Among my peers who are similar age and lifestyle, I find a different attitude on yoga - they prefer the power workouts that yoga is being marketed as. I'm glad it's available for them, especially through the YLC, but like you I would appreciate more traditional yoga offerings through YLC. My major question at this point is "why is gentle yoga asana, breath, meditation, and lifestyle so often directed at menopausal or 'older' yoga practitioners?" I feel this is a niche that the YLC could fill a little better - having more gentle yoga in general, and not target the older yogis as the sole audience for gentle yoga. Lila. |
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