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wellage
Strange

Registered: 01/31/09
Posts: 2,467
Last seen: 11 years, 6 months
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Quote:
bassfrequences said: I'm not trolling at all! I'm not a violent person either! I try to get out of a fight before anything. Just wondering if it could help with a stressful situation when your overcome with adrenaline and panic. This is not the only reason I would like to try it. Also for anxiety, to breath properly, and reduce tension/stress in everyday life.
Read some shit! you might be interested.
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yogabunny
fancy cat



Registered: 11/01/09
Posts: 11,281
Loc: Nasty Women Get Shit Done
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Re: Yoga 101? [Re: wellage]
#12470760 - 04/28/10 10:33 AM (13 years, 8 months ago) |
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I'd love to read more in depth posts about your teacher training and especially any details about your experience at the ashram.
What made you want to teach yoga? i started practicing with a particular teacher about 3 years ago, and it was because of his profound affect on my practice that made me want to start teaching. he taught us the sanskrit names for the postures, spoke about Mr. Iyengar and the Yoga Sutras. It wasn't just pose-pose-pose-pose. with his guidance my practice became something entirely different and it made me realize that i wanted to someday do that for others.
What do you think about these "american power yoga" classes popping up in gyms all over the US? for me, they are not yoga because they increase my vrittis instead of decreasing them. i know they are really popular with a lot of folks, so obviously power yoga works for some people. Mr. Iyengar calls it yoga based calisthenics and i tend to agree.
What has benefited your practice the most? hmmmmmm probably becoming a teacher, and spending time at the Ashram. The first time I went to the Ashram was one of the most magical experiences of my life. I cried when I left. It was the first time I started to really learn about the greater Yoga philosophy that went along with the physical practice. i met the most amazing people there. really delved into pranayama, meditation and chanting. this is a day in the life of a Sivananda Ashram:
5:30am - wake up 6am - 7:30am satsang: meditation, chanting, spiritual discussion 8am - 10 am asana practice 10am brunch 11am - Karma Yoga (everyone helps out in some way around the ashram for an hour a day) 12-4 - free time, sometimes there'd be an organized hike or discussion topic 4-6pm - second asana practice 6pm - dinner 7pm Karma Yoga (if you didn't do yours earlier in the day) 8pm - 9:30 satsang 10:30pm lights out
aka spiritual boot camp 
i highly recommend this for anyone interested in really below the surface experience. I've been twice, and I met people there I keep in touch with to this day. They offer a lot of programs throughout the year in all kinds of spiritual disciplines and paths, and they have Ashrams all over the world. http://www.sivananda.org/ranch/
Have you had any realizations that changed the way you thought about yoga? i've had realizations through yoga that have changed the way i think about myself and the world
I know your specialty is asana, but what experience do you have with the other paths?
Tantric Bhakti (i just made that up by the way), but the important texts of Yoga allow for that, and I love that. Bhakti is basically devotion, offering every thought, action, to a higher power, and seeing that in everyone, thing etc., and I practice this style of Yoga from a Tantra (non-dualist perspective) aka that higher/divine force is not something outside of myself, something to attain. it's withing me and every human being and all phenomena in the world and cosmos. Through Tantra and Bhakti I am able to find Yoga in everything I do.
I would also call myself something of Jnana yogini, but then we all are who seek knowledge through study of sacred texts and books, and spiritual discourse.
Why did you set out to do yoga? What need were you filling when you first started practicing?
i first learned yoga (sun salutations) in a theatre workshop and was basically hooked. i finally had the opportunity to take classes when i joined a gym about 10 years ago, and from my first class i was in love. the gentle style of practice was a nice balance to the rigorous dance classes i was taking, and i kept up the practice because i found it very calming.
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wellage
Strange

Registered: 01/31/09
Posts: 2,467
Last seen: 11 years, 6 months
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Thank you! Very interesting and appreciated.
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Chronic7
Registered: 05/08/04
Posts: 13,679
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yogabunny said:
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Chronic777 said: I know its not just stretching...
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yogabunny said: Also keep in mind that these changes start in the body and then, with continued practice, manifest in the mind.
Thats what im poking at you to focus on, on why its a spiritual practice The bodily benefits of it in my experience are secondary
perhaps your practice is not challenging enough then?
Why would it not be challenging enough? The bodily benefits are secondary to me because its a sadhana If anything i push the practice so it's not just a physical exercise The spiritual ramifications of Hatha Yoga far surpass the physical benefits
Quote:
it's a spiritual practice because it stills my mind.
Why is stilling the mind spiritual? Im not asking these questions cynically btw I know on the net it can come across that way...
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Middleman

Registered: 07/11/99
Posts: 8,399
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Might as well inquire into what the word 'spiritual' means.
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yogabunny
fancy cat



Registered: 11/01/09
Posts: 11,281
Loc: Nasty Women Get Shit Done
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i really don't want to have a debate about the word spiritual, and you're the one who is saying it's a spiritual practice in the first place. so, you tell me?? i don't even like that term very much.
to me it's just a practice, a way of life.
i do it because it makes me feel good, happy, present, aware, alive. but i do other things that make me feel that way, and for me that is also Yoga.
with regard to asana, to me there isn't a difference between the physiological and mental/"spiritual" benefits. it's all one, a practice that generates alchemy of the body/mind. however, i did not really begin to notice a DISTINCT change in myself until my body started to change shape on me. but that's just my experience. i don't think it's meant to be the same for everyone.
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Chronic7
Registered: 05/08/04
Posts: 13,679
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Quote:
yogabunny said: i really don't want to have a debate about the word spiritual, and you're the one who is saying it's a spiritual practice in the first place. so, you tell me?? i don't even like that term very much.
You asked people to ask you questions about yoga that you could elaborate on, that was my question  If you feel its just a physical thing then thats fine, fair enough
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yogabunny
fancy cat



Registered: 11/01/09
Posts: 11,281
Loc: Nasty Women Get Shit Done
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that is not at all what i am saying.
and, i don't think i understand the question anyway.
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Chronic7
Registered: 05/08/04
Posts: 13,679
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You replied saying that it stills the mind, which is Yoga, so all good, your first answer was enough  I just wanted to take a look at why stilling the mind is Yoga...
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wellage
Strange

Registered: 01/31/09
Posts: 2,467
Last seen: 11 years, 6 months
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because you have to conquer the mind to conquer the senses to conquer desire.
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Kickle
Wanderer


Registered: 12/16/06
Posts: 17,851
Last seen: 1 hour, 55 minutes
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Re: Yoga 101? [Re: wellage]
#12471635 - 04/28/10 01:20 PM (13 years, 8 months ago) |
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Haha! I love the idea of Buddha as a conqueror. Screw William, Buddha in the house.
-------------------- Why shouldn't the truth be stranger than fiction? Fiction, after all, has to make sense. -- Mark Twain
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wellage
Strange

Registered: 01/31/09
Posts: 2,467
Last seen: 11 years, 6 months
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Re: Yoga 101? [Re: wellage]
#12471637 - 04/28/10 01:20 PM (13 years, 8 months ago) |
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And I disagree that the physical aspects are secondary, a balanced body is EXTREMELY vital
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Chronic7
Registered: 05/08/04
Posts: 13,679
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Re: Yoga 101? [Re: wellage]
#12471685 - 04/28/10 01:29 PM (13 years, 8 months ago) |
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Quote:
wellage said: And I disagree that the physical aspects are secondary, a balanced body is EXTREMELY vital
vital for what?
(again, im not asking cynically)
Im saying the physical aspects, muscle tone, healthy body etc... are secondary to a still mind. For one very good reason, happiness, a still mind is a very happy mind Yet a nice physical appearance does not automatically mean happiness
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wellage
Strange

Registered: 01/31/09
Posts: 2,467
Last seen: 11 years, 6 months
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Quote:
Chronic777 said:
Quote:
wellage said: And I disagree that the physical aspects are secondary, a balanced body is EXTREMELY vital
vital for what?
(again, im not asking cynically)
Im saying the physical aspects, muscle tone, healthy body etc... are secondary to a still mind. For one very good reason, happiness, a still mind is a very happy mind Yet a nice physical appearance does not automatically mean happiness 
We aren't talking about the same things.
If you don't still your body, you won't be able to still your mind.
I could care less about appearance, you can't take advantage of the "spiritual" (I don't like that term either) benefits of yoga without a healthy body.
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Kickle
Wanderer


Registered: 12/16/06
Posts: 17,851
Last seen: 1 hour, 55 minutes
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Re: Yoga 101? [Re: wellage]
#12471717 - 04/28/10 01:36 PM (13 years, 8 months ago) |
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Meditation stills your body and mind, yet it doesn't tone it. If you weren't interested in toning/muscle strength, wouldn't you just meditate?
-------------------- Why shouldn't the truth be stranger than fiction? Fiction, after all, has to make sense. -- Mark Twain
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yogabunny
fancy cat



Registered: 11/01/09
Posts: 11,281
Loc: Nasty Women Get Shit Done
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Quote:
Chronic777 said: You replied saying that it stills the mind, which is Yoga, so all good, your first answer was enough  I just wanted to take a look at why stilling the mind is Yoga...
because a disturbed and troubled mind cannot be present? i like this quote from the translation of the Sutras by Swami Satchitananda:
"For a keen student this one Sutra would be enough because the rest of them only explain this one. If the restraint of the mental modifications is achieved one has reached the goal of Yoga."
Quote:
Chronic777 said:
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wellage said: And I disagree that the physical aspects are secondary, a balanced body is EXTREMELY vital
vital for what?
(again, im not asking cynically)
Im saying the physical aspects, muscle tone, healthy body etc... are secondary to a still mind. For one very good reason, happiness, a still mind is a very happy mind Yet a nice physical appearance does not automatically mean happiness 

you're missing the whole point. it's not about having a tight body, of course having a nice body does not equal happiness. the physical benefits are a manifestation of the mental benefits and vice versa.
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wellage
Strange

Registered: 01/31/09
Posts: 2,467
Last seen: 11 years, 6 months
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Re: Yoga 101? [Re: Kickle]
#12471759 - 04/28/10 01:45 PM (13 years, 8 months ago) |
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Kickle said: Meditation stills your body and mind, yet it doesn't tone it. If you weren't interested in toning/muscle strength, wouldn't you just meditate?
If you can still your body and mind with only meditation, I applaud you.
I, however, need to take advantage of my entire PSYCHOSOMATIC being to benefit from meditation.
In my humble experience, and I know I'm not the only one, I NEED asana to progress at all. Meditation alone will not do it.
It's more than just muscle strength and tone. Balance, health, flexibility, all of those physiological things have a great effect on my mind.
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deCypher


Registered: 02/10/08
Posts: 56,232
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Quote:
yogabunny said: you're missing the whole point. it's not about having a tight body, of course having a nice body does not equal happiness.
When I'm not busy kicking sand into the faces of 97 lb weaklings, I find happiness most easily attained by strolling down the beach while allowing others to admire my massive pecs.
-------------------- We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars.
 
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Poid
Shroomery's #1 Spellir




Registered: 02/04/08
Posts: 40,372
Loc: SF Bay Area
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Re: Yoga 101? [Re: deCypher] 1
#12471810 - 04/28/10 01:54 PM (13 years, 8 months ago) |
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-------------------- Well I try my best to be just like I am, but everybody wants you to be just like them. -- Bob Dylan  fireworks_god said:It's one thing to simply enjoy a style of life that one enjoys, but it's another thing altogether to refer to another person's choice as "wrong" or to rationalize their behavior as being pathological or resulting from some sort of inadequacy or failing so as to create a sense of superiority or separation as yet another projection of a personal fear or control issue.
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wellage
Strange

Registered: 01/31/09
Posts: 2,467
Last seen: 11 years, 6 months
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Re: Yoga 101? [Re: Poid]
#12471816 - 04/28/10 01:55 PM (13 years, 8 months ago) |
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Quote:
Kickle said: Meditation stills your body and mind, yet it doesn't tone it. If you weren't interested in toning/muscle strength, wouldn't you just meditate?
If I was interested in toning/muscle strength, wouldn't I just chug protein shakes and pump iron?
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