Tired of people materialising yoga

[Seeker of Wisdom]

I'm so damn sick of people here in the West teaching and practicing yoga as mere physical exercise. It's been turned into a buzzword so people who know nothing about yoga can come up with any wacky exercise regime and call it 'yoga'.

 

When yoga first came to the West, it was taken as the spiritual practice that it is.

 

Then, very quickly, Western yoga degraded into a semi-mystical practice for hippies with no actual disciplined search for enlightenment.

 

And now the pathalogical materialism of the US, UK etc has degraded 'yoga' in these countries into shite like aqua yoga or anti-gravity yoga with no connection whatsoever to spirituality beside maybe using the odd sanskrit word without understanding what it means.

 

Of course there are people on here and elsewhere who actually do yoga. But, what do we find in most (probably not all to be fair) of the yoga studios (run by teachers who are no closer to real attainment than the students, but have just done a bullshit teacher training course) - mere aerobics with a little pranayama and, if you're lucky, light meditation. 90mins of relaxation once a week, done with no spiritual intent and forgotten once out of the studio for another week. Is exercise good? Yes. But don't call it yoga!

 

F*** sake...

Edited December 15, 2012 by Seeker of the Self

[skydog]

i agree mate

[GrandmasterP]

It's the same with Tai Chi and QiGong but if teachers had to rely on the few spiritual cultivators paying subs then there'd be no classes.

The keep fit brigade subsidise the serious cultivators.

[Jetsun]

It is good exercise though

[Jeff]

Count me in.

 

[GrandmasterP]

Yoga Classes pong.

All those ladies bending over then farting.

Pooo!

[Birch]

I like the exercise.

 

[3bob]

if there is a buck to made out of just about anything someone will figure out a way to do so... no surprize there, yet even the outer or misused fragments of something like traditional yogas could lead to or be part of someone looking deeper into the matter and someday finding a good school and teacher. Thus such is a kind of surprize and or amazing thing being that Spirit uses any and all means which are or would not normally be expected, completely seen or understood to work with all beings - that is its subtle nature and virtue of Her, even in an often gross and crude world.

Edited December 15, 2012 by 3bob

[Flolfolil]

i personally think its just a gateway to the spiritual aspects, and that if just the exercise part is practiced diligently the spiritual path will open on its own whether you were seeking it or not. Seeing as how that's exactly what happened to me and all

[thelerner]

What!? If you really believe that then I have an ebook to sell you www. buymybookorelse. There's a good side to commercialism and marketing; it gets the word out. People hear about it, join there community center yoga classes and style du jour, and out of those millions will be thousands, maybe tens of thousands who dig deeper and get the spirituality. Those who don't, only get health benefits, its really not so bad.

 

 

<note not affiliated or having anything to do with buymybookorillkillyourkitten .com or its sponsors.

[gatito]

<snip>

<note not affiliated or having anything to do with buymybookorillkillyourkitten .com or its sponsors.

 

[oildrops]

I agree. We are overwhelmed with options in the west, but lack authenticity in almost everything.

 

I just take from it what I want, most of the work is internal, right? I enjoy going to a stretching class then going home to meditate. While I generally wish the "yoga" studios I have gone to have focused more on the spiritual aspects, it's still a great workout and gets energy moving. I think there is room to compartmentalize. Active stretching improves meditation, and philosophic insight for me, so I just take it for what it is and try to increase knowledge without being pretentious.

[Isimsiz Biri]

I'm so damn sick of people here in the West teaching and practicing yoga as mere physical exercise. It's been turned into a buzzword so people who know nothing about yoga can come up with any wacky exercise regime and call it 'yoga'.

When yoga first came to the West, it was taken as the spiritual practice that it is.

Then, very quickly, Western yoga degraded into a semi-mystical practice for hippies with no actual disciplined search for enlightenment.

And now the pathalogical materialism of the US, UK etc has degraded 'yoga' in these countries into shite like aqua yoga or anti-gravity yoga with no connection whatsoever to spirituality beside maybe using the odd sanskrit word without understanding what it means.

Of course there are people on here and elsewhere who actually do yoga. But, what do we find in most (probably not all to be fair) of the yoga studios (run by teachers who are no closer to real attainment than the students, but have just done a bullshit teacher training course) - mere aerobics with a little pranayama and, if you're lucky, light meditation. 90mins of relaxation once a week, done with no spiritual intent and forgotten once out of the studio for another week. Is exercise good? Yes. But don't call it yoga!

F*** sake...

 

With this language, I did not understand what you gained from Yoga as a spiritual practice. Yes, you are right in your diagnosis yet your wording shows that you have a long way with your struggle with your Nafs. If you are always that angry, your system will get harm. Just relax.

[skydog]

I guess this is true to some extent. I also think there are some hidden negativitys involved (just noticing from my standpoint too and expressing them) from this eg jealousy of others wealth (better to bless their wealth), ego issues, everyone has to make money in this system, yeh there are some flaws but i guess everyones doing the best they can, people have a much greater urge to GIVE VALUE when it means GETTING VALUE for them aka money in many cases, also many people have different goals who are we to judge what someone else should want, maybe that is a hidden anger wishing everyone wanted spirituality more, maybe it is a gateway to "spirituality" maybe "spirituality" is wordless or philosophyless, mostly kindness and good energy with no real beliefs involved, maybe a monk may be less spiritual than a teacher/policeman/businessman...

 

Likely feeling great energy these kind of thoughts would not appear to you

Edited December 16, 2012 by sinansencer

[GrandmasterP]

Very flexible, Yoginis.

[Seeker of Wisdom]

I accept that it can be a gateway to serious spiritual practice - still, I can't help but wish our society was less ignorant when it comes to things like this.

As for those jumping on a chance to judge me for being angry or whatever - there's more to me than what you can interpret from one post.

[GrandmasterP]

Aye, if wishes were carriages then beggars would ride in fine style.

[Isimsiz Biri]

I accept that it can be a gateway to serious spiritual practice - still, I can't help but wish our society was less ignorant when it comes to things like this.

As for those jumping on a chance to judge me for being angry or whatever - there's more to me than what you can interpret from one post.

 

No offense intended, but I give great importance to unification of body and mind, of Koichi Tohei Sensei. Actually, Koichi Tohei got this concept of "Mind moves body" from Tempu Nakamura, (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nakamura_Tempu) Tempu Nakamura was very ill then he learnt Yoga from an Indian master called Kaliappa and got healed. He is the father of Japanese Yoga. If your mind is not unified with your body, you can not succeed anything. If you are angry as if you are writing the post, you can not unify your mind and body.

[skydog]

I accept that it can be a gateway to serious spiritual practice - still, I can't help but wish our society was less ignorant when it comes to things like this.

As for those jumping on a chance to judge me for being angry or whatever - there's more to me than what you can interpret from one post.

 

True sorry if it sounded like I was doing that, I was merely making a point though, and trying to show where I do it too, for example when I get in a blocked energy state/bad mood I may start to think about things like (changing the world) actually I never do this anymore, then I get angry or whatever (rarely do this anymore) then as soon as I do more qigong I couldnt care less about that certain thing.

 

Also someone said to me once (clairyevoyant about past lifes) that it is not some peoples place to learn about spirituality in this life, their purpose is different in each one, maybe one may be a monk in one life and a business man in next/criminal in another choose to learn different things.

 

Also for me I found the other day about peoples suffering that many spiritual people suffer about trying to alleviate others suffering, are they really content, or do they suffer about these things too, chuang tzu talks about this too, maybe people need to suffer to wake up, taking away anothers suffering could take away their chance for self contemplation and growth.

 

Also I realise one may be in a bad mood and let out some stuff they dont agree with later, this post just expresses some things related to the op

[GrandmasterP]

Spot on buddy, we have endless opportunities to either feck up or get it right thank goodness.

Even the bad times this time around might prove to be useful lessons next time we pop back.

Onwards and upwards.

You were a sufi-dervish in a past life once sinan so you must resonate with what Recep is saying a bit

No?

Edited December 16, 2012 by GrandmasterP

[Seeker of Wisdom]

No worries, we're all flawed and I appreciate being prompted to look honestly at myself.

 

...You were a sufi-dervish in a past life once sinan so you must resonate with what Recep is saying a bit...

 

What's the story there, I'm intrigued.

Edited December 16, 2012 by Seeker of the Self

[GrandmasterP]

You'd need to ask sinan the ex-dervish about that buddy.

[Dainin]

[skydog]

Interesting I dunno sufi music makes me emotional and I agree with sufism but some of the philosophy seems very different to different sufi philosophy, In fact I dont think the core of sufism has anything to do with what can be described with words or philosophies or even language, what if someone couldnt use language how can one show spirituality to them, I guess recep is still learning however sure of himself he appears to be, so I guess in time he will learn to show a little more tolerance for other peoples ideas, methods and ways of life...maybe

[johndoe2012]

.

Edited August 18, 2013 by chris d