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Expert Yogi
Posts: 2479
  
Location: A Blue State |
Many people begin the practice of yoga by taking up asana practice,
without having any philosophical goal in mind. By continuing their
asana practice, some of these people move into a more philosophical
approach to yoga. Is this simply a result of the way yoga is taught
(e.g., the teacher teaches philosophy with the yoga) or does the practice
of asana eventually affect one's outlook on life?
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Expert Yogi
Posts: 8442
 
| BOTH.  |
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| Bay Guy - 2005-03-10 9:23 AM
Many people begin the practice of yoga by taking up asana practice,
without having any philosophical goal in mind. By continuing their
asana practice, some of these people move into a more philosophical
approach to yoga. Is this simply a result of the way yoga is taught
(e.g., the teacher teaches philosophy with the yoga) or does the practice
of asana eventually affect one's outlook on life?
Hi BayGuy, I know for me that IS the way it's playing out. In my twenties I looked at yoga as an addition to my workouts at the gym. It helped me to "wind down" from the kind of stress I used to put my body through back then. Now I've recently rediscovered my interest in yoga from a spiritual/wellness perspective. I realize just how much of the big picture I was missing. |
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| Dear Bay Guy:
One goes after anything to get what one wants out of it. Most of the current yoga students, mostly in the western world, and even to some extent eastern world, are looking for Fitness (mostly mistaken for health), Health (misteken for fitness), and Stress Relief (mistaken for Meditation), etc. That is the reason what you observed.
Now, when they practice Asana, but sincerely, they achieve their above objective and then get more interested in the Mental ans Spiritual aspects.
However, there are those who do NOT wish to use Yoga for Spirituality as they are fanatic in their religious views and therefore they profess that Yoga should be used for Physical aspects.
There are those who are still not satisfied with the physical aspects, either in terms of achievement or in terms of perfection, whatever, they also look at physical aspect.
And, lastly, there is no shortage of complacent fanatics who are lazy in physical practice and they think they are not doing physical because they are more mental and spiritual, whereas they are actually not doing anything.
Neel Kulkarni
www.authenticyoga.org |
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Expert Yogi
Posts: 2479
Location: A Blue State | Dear Brother Neel,
You've observed the world closely. I certainly agree with your last point. There's
a certain tendency toward eclectic spirituality which looks great but has no purpose,
sort of like a closet full of stylish but mismatched clothing.
I found that my own asana practice led me toward philosophical goals very quickly,
even though I started in a style of yoga that has no spirituality at all (the style that
everybody is arguing about in the General Yoga forum). Eventually, I found my way
to a yoga practice and yoga classes that included the spirtual aspects. This came
from within, without my having been directed there initially; but perhaps I was looking
for it without having known it. I am now trying to focus those desires better, and
to weed out what is merely fashionable from what is more substantive. This will
take time....
Bay Guy |
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| Dear Bay Guy,
I have found that for me the asana practice came from a desire to be more flexible and strong simply to keep up with my son, who is a super young rock climber. I did the unthinkable and taught myself from a book. After about a year of doing ashtanga a la David Swenson, I noticed that my drishti points were suddenly points of mental contemplation. This made me realize that the hatha yoga practice was opening my body and my mind to the possibility of raja yoga. So, I happen to feel that a solid asana practice develops ones body to become more physically AND mentally pliable and simply open--to possibilities. I believe that our subtle energy channels are "opened and groomed" from asana practice to be able to undertand the more subtle aspects of our minds.
Thanks for inquiring about this and starting this thread. I am interested to see what others have to add.
Namaste |
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Expert Yogi
Posts: 8442
| Bay Guy - I think there is some value in needing to >weed out what is merely fashionable from what is more substantive.< It means that we don't just fall into something - we have to look carefully, enquire, study and digest. It brings meaning to the idea of a quest for spiritual knowledge. I think I'll be pondering this idea today! |
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| "Asana without yama and niyama is merely acrobatics"
BKS Iyengar in Light On Yoga
'nuff said. |
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| Tsaklis - 2005-03-13 9:10 AM
"Asana without yama and niyama is merely acrobatics"
BKS Iyengar in Light On Yoga
'nuff said.
Awesome. Economy of expression. Gotta love it! |
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| i have been thinking about this question for the past couple of days.
i practiced yoga for almost ten years before i knew who pantanjali was. seriously, i just couldnt wrap by head around the philosophical stuff.
i was fortunate to meet a swami in india who made it his personal mission to teach me and to help me understand the theory of ashtanga. at the beginning i am sure that he went back to his little house everyday and did this: 
i had so many questions!!! it took me awhile to figure out the student-teacher relationship in india was not the same as it was in canada. he never gave up on me and slowly but surely it started to sink in. i never thought i would be the kind of person who could comprehend things i couldnt see. existentia-what?? ( i used to think!)
i was helped along immensely by the book YOGA PSYCHOLOGY by SWAMI ABHEDANANDA. it explained the aphorisms in a language i could relate to.
these days, i find myself wishing i had a yoga teacher JUST for the philosophical part of my training.
when i started reading the yoga sutras, i hated it....now i find something intriguing in every session.
yama and niyama are on my mind everyday, i suppose i am a better person for it |
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| Bay Guy - 2005-03-11 10:23 PM
Many people begin the practice of yoga by taking up asana practice,
without having any philosophical goal in mind. By continuing their
asana practice, some of these people move into a more philosophical
approach to yoga. Is this simply a result of the way yoga is taught
(e.g., the teacher teaches philosophy with the yoga) or does the practice
of asana eventually affect one's outlook on life?
For me, pranayama was the gateway drug that led to asanas etc...
Well, the effects of these were so amazing to me, but like many young people I was very distracted by all the stuff happening in the world, and my interest grew gradually over many years of trial and error.
I started with Richard Hittleman's Yoga for Health, then went on to the Swami Visnu's Complete Illustrated Book of Yoga, which for years was my standard reference. Yeah, Patanjali took a long time to sort out.
One huge influence was Viveka Chudamani by Sankaracharya. I read the Isherwood translation for years and it slowly seeped into the dense matter between my ears.
Buddhism, Zen, Vipassana were others.
Finally all those led full circle to a bigger shift, and back to yoga.
It's been - is - a long journey. Glad I'm on it. |
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Expert Yogi
Posts: 2479
Location: A Blue State |
I had a few flirtations with Buddhism before I arrived at yoga, and I might have
gone strongly in that direction if the opportunity had arisen directly. However,
there was never enough motivation on my end or enough opportunity placed
in front of me. For yoga, I took just one or two steps toward it and it responded
by grabbing me and sweeping me away. I've never looked back.
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Asana and Philosophy
