Let Them Do Yoga
Photo by: Tony George
Over at my 84 Things to Live By post, Leimrod commented that he didn’t see how yoga is essential to life.
I suppose he has a point. Yoga’s recent travels into the westernized world has definitely poo-poohed yoga’s authenticity. There are hoards of Lululemon adorned people lugging mats to studios hoping to find divinity or at the very least, a good workout. Many of these people are just posers, bending into pretzels, feeling hip and trendy with every stretch. These components (as others) could make one wonder, as Leimrod has, why is this essential to life?
because once you remove the fads, the egocentric instructors and the foreign oddities all that is left is what life is meant to be, ready to be wrapped in your own version of perfect.
There are big ‘ol mirrors
Life can be an interesting struggle at times. Experiences can take us to places we thought we left in our past. People can bring out our worst. We can feel lost, bitter and sad. The practice and awareness it takes to remove ourselves from these speedbumps, bad eggs and otherwise ” life lessons” is not an easy task to master.
Yoga forces physical exploration and mental stillness to collaborate. Working congruently, imbalance and distraction are one in the same. Bluntly put, it’s a place that if you choose to, will force you to face your own self (ahem, the mirror) and therefore help you get over your bullshit.
Shake it Off
Yoga forces people to practice patience (with yourself, with the child screaming outside the studio, with the endless to-do list scanning through your head). Flowing through a class helps awareness heighten and stillness find you .
And if you do it enough, you can do the same thing the next time your boss decides to splatter his or her ego all over your desk.
It’s totally weird
My favorite yoga instructor smells like petrulli oil. When she walks into the room you know she’s there. Not just from the scent that carries with her, but the undeniable calmness that comes with her presence. She’s a petite caramel colored woman from some island the British once colonized. She has awesome, long black dreads that when hitting the wood floor drum a few melodic notes. She says things most don’t initial understand and often plays music most do not know. She’s warm, inviting and definitely not “normal”. She is accepting and generous; a promoter of non-judgment.
Being around her is like drinking peace.
(Imagine getting to spend a few hours a week with THAT).
Move fatty
Yoga is hard. You sweat, your heart rate goes up and you’ll wake up sore. It can be difficult, but unlike the leg press there’s no grunting. Instead, you’re expected to breathe through it with a controlled and rhythmic flow. (Don’t worry – you’ll have the energy of the entire class to assist you through it.)
Working out is extremely valuable to our health. As is stretching and stress relief. Introducing yoga into a workout regime is a healthy way to balance what the human body needs.
On the mat/in life
Many instructors will say: “What happens in this room, on your yoga mat, is a reflection of what happens in your own life.”
Dropping all the flowery crap, it’s kinda true. As a practitioner, I’ll say it takes some time to really see how the two align. With each class, I am given an opportunity to move ahead, allowing myself to find new modifications, or I can continue to plateau. That decision usually parallels my decisions off the mat too.
Are you afraid of failing? Try a headstand, without the wall to support you. See how it feels to fall. See how it feels to fear a headstand. The mat is your space to do with whatever you want too.
(Kinda like your life.)
Yoga is a powerful, amazing practice that may not appear to be for everyone, yet it’s core intentions are the basic principles to a prosperous life. I do encourage experiencing it before deciding whether it is essential to YOUR life. It can feel goofy, it can be exhausting, but oh it can be so good.
For more reading:
Medicine.net’s list of health benefits
Washington Post – Yoga’s Power to Heal
Thanks for the link back. Still, after reading your post I’m still unaware as to how Yoga is “essential”. I mean by essential, I’m talking about food, shelter and companionship. There are various tangential “things” that could also be viewed as essential to life, but they, none the less, are still related, in some form, to the base, life essentials.
I could equally right a post about walks on the beach, or long hugs with family members, or taking time for yourself and say it is “essential”.
I still don’t think Yoga is essential to life, but there are aspects of it that we could all practice, such as spending a certain amount of time each day in silence to reflect, taking time to stretch every morning, getting light exercise at least once a day… etc
Also, I’m curious as to why you have not gone into detail about the various Philosophies and beliefs behind the act of Yoga?
October 30th, 2008 at 5:30 amIf considering something essential is based on whether it is necessary for survival, I would conclude that none of the 84 things are very essential. Luckily tho, for (most) of us life has gone beyond survival.
Given that, and what you’ve mentioned above, I guess I don’t understand the question. If the topic was ‘things needed for survival’ I would get where you’re coming from. (Although, oddly enough, many yogis would agree that yoga IS essential for survival!
)
I didn’t go into the details of the philosophies because I find that the yoga-speak-chanting-mumbo-jumbo easily turns people off. I felt it best to use this approach so that people who don’t understand the yoga-is-life correlation would be less inclined to judge.
You said:
“I still don’t think Yoga is essential to life, but there are aspects of it that we could all practice, such as spending a certain amount of time each day in silence to reflect, taking time to stretch every morning, getting light exercise at least once a day… etc”
That was kind of my point when I wrote “things to live by” and listed yoga. You don’t have to do it but regardless if you go to a class, stretch in your bedroom or meditate on the beach, you’re still doing yoga.
Thanks so much for commenting back. I hope I’ve been a little clearer. I meant to ask, have you been to a yoga class?
October 30th, 2008 at 6:12 pm