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 Raja Yoga and the InternetModerators: Moderators Jump to page : 1 Now viewing page 1 [25 messages per page] | View previous thread :: View next thread |
| Yoga -> Yoga Teachers | Message format |
lisan |
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| GreenJello |
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| tourist |
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Expert Yogi Posts: 8442      | Hi Lisa - an interesting question  I agree with GJ. In books about the yogis of earlier times (Autobiography of a Yogi etc.) it seems that the students had lots of time on their hands to sit around and talk yoga and this seems to be the same thing to me. They were not talking as much about asana as we do and we do indeed reach a bigger audience, but I don't consider that a problem. I do sometimes think I should go and practice rather than chatting here, but if we were all at an ashram together, I would be the one to ditch class in favour of a cosy conversation a lot of the time, too  I like to talk. Our guru would have me on a vow of silence before you could say om om  As far as the other group - no problem here. We tend to attract like-minded folk so if they disapprove, they say their piece, we ignore them and they go away. We wouldn't want to disturb THEIR practice by engaging them further, would we?  And I would not be too sure Patanjali didn't envisage the internet. He may not have been able to put it into Sanskrit words, but those yogis were always talking about telepathy and stuff like that. Maybe this is how it was always meant to be done! | ||
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| Cyndi |
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Expert Yogi Posts: 5098 Location: Somewhere in the Mountains of Western NC | And to further add that "Debating" is very common among Tibetan monks.....they will blow off an entire day just to keep it going, I've watched them do it. The only difference between people and computers is that in real life we would have the opportunity to be face to face, whereas here on this forum, we don't know what each other looks like, and sometimes words get tangled up and misconstrued. That's why we have these nice little Mods...they keep us in line. If they can't...then the big guy "piel" comes along and he's the one you gotta watch out for,  I have no doubts that for me, if this were real life, I'm sure that I would of had to duck several times on this board, Soooo, back to the subject...actually, these forums are a great way to *practice* ahimsa, you can either cut yourself off completey to the world and shut yourself out...or you can get right on in the game and play. Practice makes perfect. I look at it this way, one way or the other, you will have to come out and play...if you are a *true* practictioner, it will find you - life will make you play. The good news is that no one is judging you about whether you are practicing ahimsa or how good you are, it's not about competition and judgement, you are the judge of yourself, no one else. Who is to say what is proper ahimsa?? What one may view is wrong, may be right for someone else. This sorda ties in with the forgiveness thread. We ALL have been in situations where we have dealt with difficult people and have had things that were terrible to happen to us. Then when we look back, most of us can truly laugh about those circumstances and embrace the person who inflicted that upon us and we find a connection there. Some of us don't. Same things happen on these kinds of forums every day. Sometimes you have to be the good guy and sometimes you have to be the bad. At least that is my experience...I just take it all in stride, stay present in the moment and definitely play my role...whatever that may be. I will stay within the range of my true nature and I won't deviate from that, if someone cannot accept that, then my belief is, that person obviously is still in conflict with themselves and I'm just a mirror *obviously* to what that person may need to experience..it's a natural phenomena, believe it or not, It doesn't mean that I'm not practicing ahimsa either, another person cannot judge that aspect of someone else, if you do, then you don't understand what ahimsa really means and you should go find a guru to teach it to you. To the original poster, why did you call the subject line "Raja" Yoga?? I know what Raja Yoga is, I just wanted to pose the question of why you called it "Raja"?? | ||
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| lisan |
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| GreenJello |
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| Kabu |
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| Funny I just found this thread. I was thinking this morning how much the people on this forum have contributed to my practice and...my life, really. From the new posters to the old timers ~ I learn so much and am often inspired. For what it's worth, I was brushing my teeth, and I felt this great swell of gratitude towards you guys. | |||
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| lisan |
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| Cyndi |
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Expert Yogi Posts: 5098 Location: Somewhere in the Mountains of Western NC | |||
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| GreenJello |
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| lisa: i like what cyndi said about how you don't need people meddling. it's so true. i'm going to quote and meddle. LOL ;) they alluded to things like (1) I was claiming expertise when I have none and (2) I was giving the wrong impression about yoga to the world, and (3) that the blog was obviously a commercial venture that I was profitting from, etc. ok, i'm going to go into this a bit and give my opinions. it's meddling, i'm sure. Cyndi should let me know. i read your blogs--the whole thing--to see what might be offensive about them. to the first issue, it is true that claiming expertise when you have none is problematic. but, i don't think that you are claiming expertise. you are a 200 hr trained yoga teacher. you are claiming your knowledge and you are sharing your knowledge. That's no different than an article in Yoga Journal or Ascent magazine. And, it's no different than teaching a class and giving your knowledge away orally/aurally. i honestly do not believe that any person on the planet has full expertise--total knowledge--on yoga. even the most enlightened people have their filters and perspectives. i'm reminded about a story about the Buddha and his best friend Ananda. Buddha's step mom wanted to become a nun. this was back in the day, when buddha was new at being buddha. Anyway, he had lots of guys wanting to become monks, so that they could become buddhas, but he didn't have many women. And then his step mom said "i want to be a monk too." and buddha said--guess what--no, because you're a woman, and women aren't capable of enlightenment. ok, now, if i'm not mistaken, the buddha is ENLIGHTENED at this point and should essentially KNOW EVERYTHING. right? yeah, i don't know what enlightenment fully means either. but i've met some people whom many believe to be enlightened, and in one way or another, they have an experience with their own Anandas. anyway, Ananda tells the buddha to lay off the majestic peyote and get with the reality that women can, in fact, be enlightened. buddha, not recognzing off-the-cuff references to native american hallucenagens, brushes off the first part, and he and ananda start a debate about women and enlightenment. Ultimately, ananda wins, and buddha concedes and lets his step mom become a nun. And then, other women followed, and there you have it. So, even the experts have to have things taught to them occassionally. (oh, and i totally added the peyote thing, as ananda didn't know about peyote, it was my joke. as not to offend or confuse. . .) So, here you are doing your research, and learning, and sharing what you learn--and you know what, that's a good thing. You're not claiming to be an expert, you're claiming to be a trained teacher who is teaching stuff in another forum or venue. And in a way, that's no different than what these teachers are doing in their classrooms. to the second issue, it is problematic to give the wrong impression about yoga to the world. But, i'm not certain what impression you are giving (or how they percieve that), and how that is the wrong impression. I read your articles (you first linked, or i first saw your link on the veggieboards web site) and i found them to be in-depth and interesting, with a good expression of personal self through them, and they focused on anatomy and some of those basic elements of yoga asana. I think that's great. yoga asana is a part of yoga, and i've seen so many in-depth, like, scary-in-depth yoga anatomy books, it terrifies most teachers. i mean, seriously. i dig them. i don't think understanding anatomy or gooing in depth on an asana, or describing how you had a life in the fitness realm and found yoga and fell in love with it and how it informs you and what came before that informs your yoga is giving a 'wrong impression' of yoga. While yoga is for more than 'fitness' a huge component of yoga asana IS fitness, and fitness is necessary in order to have comfortable meditation, and in order to actually practice yamas and niyamas. that's why asana practice exists. it heals the body and mind and prepares it for living--living yamas and niyamas, practicing meditation. If a person is injured in chronic pain, etc, it's really difficult to live the yamas and niyamas; it's really difficult to meditate. but if the person does asana and pranayama, and chill a bit, the body will heal and then the other limbs get a lot easier to at least try. so, you're giving a small piece of the larger picture. this isn't the wrong impression--it's just a small piece. You know that. your reader may not, but your reader will eventually--if they get into the yoga. Asana is often a gateway for people to really jump in. And it's ok to focus on that audience, or on that area of yoga, particularly if that's your interest. So be there, do that, share it. I see no harm in it. as to the third issue, making money. Uhm, do these teachers earn a living teaching yoga? are they not using yoga as a "commercial venture?" i mean, quite frankly, i sell my goods, services and knowledge. I'm making a DVD--i dont plan on watching the millions roll in, but in a sense, it's a commercial venture. it kinda has to be in order to afford making them. But, i'm doing it to share, to extend, and to reach more people. I'll make money on it, sure, but that's not the first reason. I also make money teaching classes. I also make money teaching workshops. I also make money doing thai massage and teaching private lessons. For me, yoga is a joy, a passion, and a commercial venture. do these yoga teachers own a studio? sell mats? sell books? sell CDs? is that not a commercial venture? how is doing it through a web site--marketing yourself through a blog or through a message board--any different than advertising for a studio, opening the doors, and taking money for classes? a studio is a commercial venture. running a class is a commercial venture. as far as i can tell, there's nothing in the yoga sutras or in the yamas and niyamas that are against livelihood. we need to earn livings. In india, we would live on ashrams and be supported by communities for teaching yoga (asana and beyond). people would give us shelter, food, clothing, whatever, in exchange for religious education. in a way, it's the way priests, nuns, and pastors are supported by churches in the west. But, yoga is not like this here, and an energetic exchange is necessary. I don't always take money for my classes--i've taken food, clothing, or any number of other things that people are willing to offer me in energetic exchange. but ultimately, i need to eat, pay for my house, and pay the electric bill so i can write extremely long posts on messageboards! in buddhism, there is a concept of 'right livelihood' and it pretty much includes everything except that which exploits human beings or animals, abuses or kills them. makes sense. to me, yoga is right livelihood. how we market ourselves requires a great deal of care, being mindful of who we are and what we want to teach and how we then explain that to others. that can be harder to discern, but like cyndi said, the truth will always make itself abundantly clear to you! i hope this helps more. | |||
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| GreenJello |
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