Autumn Yoga as a Spiritual Practice - Thread for Yoginis of all Faiths!!

[eastkygal]

I thought I'd start an Autumn thread as we haven't had any action on the old one in awhile.
So far, things have been kind of down for us. We've been dealing with illness and stress. But, we are keeping our heads up.
Good news!!! DH has started waking early every morning to do yoga! I never thought I'd see the day, but he is loving it, and feeling better already. It is tremendous when we can share these things with our partner.

I received the new issue of Yoga Journal today and read the article about the history of asana poses -Yoga's Greater Truth. Apparently, the yoga we practice today is not the yoga of old as many of us have believed. It is relatively new from 1920s and 30s. The article is really interesting, and poses a lot of important questions. I haven't gotten to delve into the traditional yoga texts yet, so much of what I am basing yoga on is what I have learned from asana practice.

At this time, asana is a means for me to be in the moment. To slow down and connect with my mind and body. The attention paid to the movement and breath are such that I don't get outside of practice. It is a stress reliever and a time for prayer and meditation. Each movement is like a prayer from inside.
Also, my yoga practice is my workout. It is my exercise and a means to a healthy body. It is working well for that too.

Knowing that the asana we practice is kind of new and some of the poses actually got their start in Western cultures, what does asana mean to you? How much is it a part of your yoga practice?

[Sativarain1]

I've been practicing more now that the weather has been cooler. I even notice if I miss a day that I almost crave the way my body feels when yoga is done regularly.

also I recently rented 'Enlightened' a documentary about yoga, which was interesting to see the many different styles of yoga that are being offered.

[Tuesday]

[QUOTE=Sativarain1;15901938]I've been practicing more now that the weather has been cooler. I even notice if I miss a day that I almost crave the way my body feels when yoga is done regularly.

also I recently rented 'Enlightened' a documentary about yoga, which was interesting to see the many different styles of yoga that are being offered.[//QUOTE]

Sativarain - I was curious your thoughts on that documentary. How were Ravi Singh & Ana Brett portrayed? They are two of my favourite yoga instructors and I heard they came across as rather "flakey" in that film.

[eastkygal]

Originally Posted by Tuesday

Sativarain - I was curious your thoughts on that documentary. How were Ravi Singh & Ana Brett portrayed? They are two of my favourite yoga instructors and I heard they came across as rather "flakey" in that film.

I watched Enlighten Up! on Netflix last night. It was a great movie. Ravi and Ana were thought of as flaky by the central guy going on the quest to discover what yoga is and can do for a person. During his class with them (which was one of the only private classes he had with a teacher) they did a numerology reading for him, and he is a very non-religious, skeptical, practical kind of guy. So, he thought they were kind of hooey and too new agey for him. But, to someone who likes them it wouldn't appear so. However, I did think that because of the guy's reaction to Ravi and Ana they really did not take the time to explore Kundalini yoga properly. They talk to Gurmukh Kaur Khalsa in the beginning of the film... who is the best (I feel) at explaining Kundalini yoga in a practical/logical way, but not in depth at all and they don't visit Golden Gate. Maya Fiennes would have been a good person to talk to too about Kundalini.

If it makes you feel any better, the clips they use of Baron Baptiste make him look pretty flaky as well, like he has no idea why anyone should practice yoga and he is all about a ripped body.

But, the film really calls into question why we practice yoga at all. Is it physical? Spiritual? Both? If both what % of both? How do we reconcile that the yoga we practice in the west is really only around 100 years old, and half of the teachers they spoke with in India said that western yoga practices are nothing but physical activity.

[Tuesday]

Originally Posted by eastkygal

How do we reconcile that the yoga we practice in the west is really only around 100 years old, and half of the teachers they spoke with in India said that western yoga practices are nothing but physical activity.

Thanks for the feedback on that film! I love Ravi & Ana!

What you're saying - western yoga is mostly about the physical asanas is not news to me. But ever since I discovered the physical exercise of yoga (mid 1990s), I started exploring the spiritual and mental disciplines as well. I've read and re-read the Bhagavad Gita. So, I'm conscious that the western world's emphasis on the physical poses is lopsided. I just put it all together in my head and take it as a gift from God. I guess this sounds flakey but it's hard for me to articulate. I tend to igore the hyper emphasis I see in Western yoga journals and dvds on "fit bodies", "aerobic-sized yoga", etc.

I can feel at peace with God the Divine doing Warrior pose or kneeling and praying before taking Communion. It's all one to me.

[Picard]

The meaning of asana changes the more I learn about yoga. For the first ten years, I was strictly practicing Kundalini, so the word asana really did not come up too much. All the same, physical exercise comprises a part of the Kundalini yoga practice together with other things such as mantras.

Then I read the first book by Iyengar and learned more about the poses from that. I also began reading the yoga magazine and learned the names of the poses and can sometimes remember their sanskrit names. At present, I am trying to read a book about asanas and the myths behind them.

All in all, I am a little perfectionistic about asanas. I try to do them and do them well. I cannot do many of them and probably will never be able to do them. At the moment, it just adds to my yoga experience. With a toddler, I find it much easier to practice a couple of asanas here and there during the day, rather than do a full Kundalini kriya. This said, I do miss my Kundalini classes, because I get so much more out of the multi-pronged approach than only doing asanas. I miss my classes immensely, actually, but it is just not feasible to go anymore.

I am not bothered by the fact that asanas are a recent phenomenon. I am grateful that several yogis made the trek to the US and Europe to teach yoga. In such a short span of time, it seems to me that a revolution has taken place. So many people practice yoga! And, the more people practice yoga and learn about the history and life-ways associated with this practice, the better! It may yet become a lot more centered, calm and peaceful on earth. Hope springs eternal.

[Tuesday]

Originally Posted by Picard

I am not bothered by the fact that asanas are a recent phenomenon. I am grateful that several yogis made the trek to the US and Europe to teach yoga. In such a short span of time, it seems to me that a revolution has taken place. So many people practice yoga! And, the more people practice yoga and learn about the history and life-ways associated with this practice, the better! It may yet become a lot more centered, calm and peaceful on earth. Hope springs eternal.

Your post's paragraph sums up my thoughts as well.

[accountclosed3]

i think it's the same for me.

from my understanding about the "age" of yoga and "as we understand it today" is that there is the ancient discipline (connected to vedic culture, philosophy, etc), and then there is the modern applications of asana.

with this, postures are mentioned in ancient texts, and there are also ancient temples where asanas of various sorts are depicted, so it's obviously not a purely 20th century invention. just, how it's used in the west is new, as well as what influences that yoga (that is to say that modern yoga asana practice is a massive mixing of about 100 years or so of various other disciplines from the west).

in older texts such as Yoga Sutras, postures are mentioned. it is mentioned as simply "the posture should be steady and at ease." this means that when practicing to attain yoga, whatever posture we are in (typically a seated or reclining posture for meditation) should be steady and our bodies at ease in the posture.

so this leads to something else. for many westerners, for many people, their bodies are not at ease in any posture. it takes time to be able to sit still in meditation for a long time. and so we have this interesting phenomena of east-west mixing/integration/whatever wherein the yogins who came here say "ok, the westerner can't manage the steady/ease posture, so what can we do to create that?" and through this,t he broader use of asana is born.

this, then, is a doorway to the ancient traditions, at the very least the art of being able to hold still, and to be still, with the body at ease.

i do figure modeling on the side (nude figure drawing classes). i can hold a posture without moving for over 45 minutes, and i make more than other models because of it. most can only hold a posture for 10-15 minutes on average. i grant you, i'm not holding difficult poses for that long, but i do hold some rather complex postures for a long time. i can do it with ease because of asana, but also because of how it has trained the mind. it's a powerful process.

anyway, that's just one use of it. LOL

[pampered_mom]

Hello old thread! :0) Bumping this up as this is something I'm beginning to dip my toes into a bit. My sister and Mom started going to yoga at the beginning of this year (end of last year?) and wanted me to go with, but I had put it off a bit until my youngest was a bit older and I wasn't quite so postpartum. Then my Dad's cancer came back and there was all of that plus the summer. I finally brought it up again and all three of us have started going together.

From that very first class, just sitting in the studio's space I could tell that Yoga was going to be a good fit. Of course, right about the time that I first considered beginning I've also injured my back which means that physically it's been a serendipitous fit.

I'd like to find a way to start a personal practice because I really did want to explore Yoga as something more than physical. I'm enough of a beginner that this part specifically leaves me a bit puzzled and my funds are limited enough that more than one class a week is a bit out of the question (as is the workshop that I *really* want to go to, but it requires a babysitter with my husband's second shift schedule).

The bit that I've done so far, though, has been helpful as it's opened up a bit of space and silence in my life that I've been lacking. Mostly I've found that it dovetails nicely with what I've learned from Barbara Brown Taylor's "An Altar in the World" and certainly helps me feel a great deal more connected than I have elsewhere. It's almost as if what was missing was some sort of physical aspect to faith...if that makes sense.

[accountclosed3]

i think if you buy a nice journal, and do 5 minutes of asana practice each day, and then journal about it, it's an easy way for it to become a daily part of your life. i would start with 5 minutes asana, 3 minutes meditation, and about 5-7 minutes journalling about your experience.

15 minutes total.

[Linda on the move]

Originally Posted by pampered_mom

Of course, right about the time that I first considered beginning I've also injured my back which means that physically it's been a serendipitous fit.

all yoga postures can be modified, and respecting what is going on in your body is part of the practice of true yoga. There may be a teacher at your studio who has training in modifying postures (some teacher training programs include this and some don't). Having a private lesson with an experienced teacher is AMAZING.

Cool Yoga Tricks by Miriam Austin is a wonderful book about modifying postures using a variety of props. It's really great just to look through this book. Most yoga books show a person who is young, thin, naturally flexible, with perfect proportions taking poses to the ultimate expression. This book is more....realistic.

[Picard]

Yoga journal has a feature article about the history of yoga this month. Interesting!!

I'm sure that there are a lot of yoga moms among us and was wondering why this thread is not taking off too much. I suppose that yoga is difficult to point down to what exactly it is: spirituality, exercise, lifestyle, a tribe? Do any of you know if there is another yoga thread elsewhere?

I was wondering also what a yoga practice for you entails. Life is pretty busy with children, so I don't do as much yoga as I should or would want to do. I do the video podcasts at yogajournal just to get 20 minutes worth of yoga. Alternatively, I read about influential people in the yoga movement and hope to read some of the yoga classics soon. I study poses (again at the yogajournal website) and I try to learn the sanskrit. I'm having fun with yoga and am glad that it is part of my life.

[pampered_mom]

Originally Posted by Picard

I'm sure that there are a lot of yoga moms among us and was wondering why this thread is not taking off too much. I suppose that yoga is difficult to point down to what exactly it is: spirituality, exercise, lifestyle, a tribe? Do any of you know if there is another yoga thread elsewhere?

I've looked for one in the past, but didn't really come across any other threads. I suspect that for many yoga isn't necessarily a spiritual practice...but more about exercise and/or flexibility.

Originally Posted by Picard

I was wondering also what a yoga practice for you entails. Life is pretty busy with children, so I don't do as much yoga as I should or would want to do. I do the video podcasts at yogajournal just to get 20 minutes worth of yoga. Alternatively, I read about influential people in the yoga movement and hope to read some of the yoga classics soon. I study poses (again at the yogajournal website) and I try to learn the sanskrit. I'm having fun with yoga and am glad that it is part of my life.

I've found yogadownload.com to be somewhat helpful in my home practice. Otherwise I try to get to class a couple of times a week which will be a bit easier in November with the workshop I'm taking. I find videos a bit distracting, though. I'm pondering a book or perhaps even Hugger Mugger's "Yoga Training Fan".

I can hear what you're saying, though, about the pace of life with children. My youngest isn't quite a year old and if I leave the bed will wake and often not get back to sleep. In order to find some quiet I either need to reevaluate my evenings or get up fairly early in for my other two children to still be asleep. If anything, this last week seems to be proving to me that the forced quiet of yoga is something I need far more of than I get currently.

I've found that (coincidentally or not) my personal practice is helping things to surface that I've attempted to forget long ago. I'm still not quite sure how I feel about that.

[eastkygal]

Originally Posted by Picard

I'm sure that there are a lot of yoga moms among us and was wondering why this thread is not taking off too much. I suppose that yoga is difficult to point down to what exactly it is: spirituality, exercise, lifestyle, a tribe? Do any of you know if there is another yoga thread elsewhere?

I was wondering also what a yoga practice for you entails. Life is pretty busy with children, so I don't do as much yoga as I should or would want to do. I do the video podcasts at yogajournal just to get 20 minutes worth of yoga. Alternatively, I read about influential people in the yoga movement and hope to read some of the yoga classics soon. I study poses (again at the yogajournal website) and I try to learn the sanskrit. I'm having fun with yoga and am glad that it is part of my life.

I wondered this too. I haven't found any other which is why I started this one. I tried to do one under Fitness and Weight Management and I think there had been one there before, but it didn't seem to be able to stay active.

At this point, yoga is a much a spiritual practice for me as a physical one, so I thought it would be appropriate to see how many other mamas are on that path as well here on MDC.

As far as my practice, I "practice" 5 days a week with DVDs at home. Once a month or so, I might get out to a class. I am also going to be teaching prenatal yoga beginning in the next few weeks. My "practice" lasts anywhere from 30 minutes to 1 1/2 hours. I do it when my littlest is napping. My older plays in her room or close by while I practice. If this doesn't work out, I resign to practice with my littles running around me. I just make sure I do it. Otherwise, I am considering things constantly. I try to meditate while I rock my DD2 to sleep. When things get hairy, I try to work on pranayama. But, right now, I love asana, for much the reasons zoebird described in an earlier post. It slows me down. Reconnects me with self and consciouness. It is my "practice". My prayer time.

[accountclosed3]

having read the book that brings this information up, not the yoga journal article, here is my take on it.

first, it's rather irrelevant. yoga is an ancient discipline, and hatha yoga has a clear connection to that lineage. the hatha yoga pradapika is not a 20th century text, and there are many art works from ancient times that depict certain traditional yoga postures.

but with this is another reality--no culture really grows in isolation. in thai yoga massage, we learned that the buddha's doctor travelled to thailand with other monks, bringing with him to thailand buddhism and also the ayurvedic medical system that he practiced, which included thai yoga massage (this was Shivago, btw). of course, thailand already had it's own rich medical tradition--herbalism--that Shivago learned and integrated between the two. So, something NEW was developed out to two older things.

In the late 1800s, yoga came to the US. but it was the yoga of raja yoga, which had little emphasis on asana practice. Similarly, the International Society of Krishna Consciousness gives a rat's patooty about asana. their focus: bhakti yoga via puja, kirtan and vegetarianism. today, many ISKCon groups offer yoga classes, which introduce people to bhakti yoga and vegetarianism in the other events that they offer.

to me, it is no surprise that in the early 1900s, we have this vibrant east/west mixing, a way of accessing yoga through the body. Bikram actually says that he doesn't worry about teaching the spiritual things because, quite frankly, westerners are so messed up, we can't handle the esoteric--we need to get the body organized first. To be honest, Dr Shivago would have agreed. In traditional thai medicine, you do work at all three levels (physical, spiritual, energetic), but if you don't work all of them, you won't heal. So, if your physical IS messed up, you better work it or you won't heal, and you won't be able to do the spiritual stuff.

End of the day, it's rather irrelevant to me if there is mixing. I follow the krishnamacharya lineage fairly closely, but experience it in my own way, and teach it in my own way--so of course, even I change it. whatever influences me, comes into my practice and teahcing, and therefore influences yoga.

in a way, it's an evolviing art, and relaly always has been.

of course, the core is still there. it's just one more tool to bring us to union.

also, i liked Enlighten Up. i look forward to hanging with Norm in Hawaii.

[Sativarain1]

I completely agree. Yoga for me is a deep spiritual practice and it offers benefits of health and excercise however it's much more than that.

[pampered_mom]

Originally Posted by eastkygal

As far as my practice, I "practice" 5 days a week with DVDs at home. Once a month or so, I might get out to a class. I am also going to be teaching prenatal yoga beginning in the next few weeks. My "practice" lasts anywhere from 30 minutes to 1 1/2 hours. I do it when my littlest is napping. My older plays in her room or close by while I practice. If this doesn't work out, I resign to practice with my littles running around me. I just make sure I do it. Otherwise, I am considering things constantly. I try to meditate while I rock my DD2 to sleep. When things get hairy, I try to work on pranayama. But, right now, I love asana, for much the reasons zoebird described in an earlier post. It slows me down. Reconnects me with self and consciouness. It is my "practice". My prayer time.

I have to say the slowing down part is what I appreciate the most - even though I find myself resistant to it at times. I like the idea of working on you practice even if that means that you have to do it with the kids around. I've been falling into this naturally a bit lately and have often found that it draws my older two in with "Mom, look at my downward dog!" "Mom, look, cat!"

We're trying to work pranayama in with the stressful points in our day.

Originally Posted by zoebird

to me, it is no surprise that in the early 1900s, we have this vibrant east/west mixing, a way of accessing yoga through the body. Bikram actually says that he doesn't worry about teaching the spiritual things because, quite frankly, westerners are so messed up, we can't handle the esoteric--we need to get the body organized first. To be honest, Dr Shivago would have agreed. In traditional thai medicine, you do work at all three levels (physical, spiritual, energetic), but if you don't work all of them, you won't heal. So, if your physical IS messed up, you better work it or you won't heal, and you won't be able to do the spiritual stuff.

Interesting point!

[accountclosed3]

my practice is spread out: about 30 minutes a day of asana practice on my own, and about 30 minutes of meditation, divided into two --one morning, one afternoon.

[eastkygal]

Anyone have any suggestions on how to bring forth repressed emotions or memories and work through them with yoga.  There are some things I need to rid myself of.  Some of them I'm aware of, but there are particular things that I am only suspect of, and am experiencing the emotions or residue from events that are either repressed or coming from an odd place in my subconscious.  OK... I probably sound a little hokey... but I think yoga can help.  Kundalini is my best bet.  Anyone do the Ana Brett Transformation DVD?  Would those kriyas be helpful?  Any other asanas, pranayama helpful in this regard?

[Sativarain1]

excellent question. I'm interested as well.

Originally Posted by eastkygal 

Anyone have any suggestions on how to bring forth repressed emotions or memories and work through them with yoga.  There are some things I need to rid myself of.  Some of them I'm aware of, but there are particular things that I am only suspect of, and am experiencing the emotions or residue from events that are either repressed or coming from an odd place in my subconscious.  OK... I probably sound a little hokey... but I think yoga can help.  Kundalini is my best bet.  Anyone do the Ana Brett Transformation DVD?  Would those kriyas be helpful?  Any other asanas, pranayama helpful in this regard?