Hatha Yoga
Not all yoga classes are created equal. Last night I went to yoga class with Carol and we had a different experience than most times.
The instructor is incredible. She spent a lot of time at the beginning sharing some philosophy and insights from her reading, including Buddhist scriptures. That got me into the frame of mind to really appreciate the class. Then during the movements she spent extra efforts negotiating the room and attempting to improve everyone's posture. At the end she instructed us into a very relaxed position with our eyes closed and played soothing music.
Up until this point the focus of the class was to find oneself... very Buddhist. Then she circled the room and massaged everyone's scalp with oil. At this moment, all the energy spent to focus on self was redirected to connect the class through the massaging hands of this instructor. To go from such intense focus on self to such connectedness was a very moving experience
posted by Henry NYC @ 9:53 AM
1 Comments:
The girl in the picture looks incredibly painful. I hope your objective is not to make yourself like that.
I think it is kind of sad how modern-day people have to pay to relax, either for a 15 minute session in a sleeping laboratory or for a yoga class. But if that's a good opportunity to network with people (I know you've been doing that) by all means go for it.
I'm not sure if I buy the Buddhism. If you look at it on the philosophical level it looks fine, though somewhat vague, difficult to understand, and occasionally contradictory. There is a lot of discipline involved: getting rid of your desires, sacrificing what belongs to you, contorting your body into painful positions, abstinence, isolation. At the end, the only manner you indulge yourself is by believing that you've achieved a higher spiritual norm, and nobody can define exactly what it is. Is this your idea of freeing your soul, not wanting to be controlled?
I just want to point out that if you were dead, this so called "higher spiritual norm" is trivially achieved. I wouldn't go as far as to say that Buddhism is a religion that brings people to death, but they certainly can't help you live a fuller life. I've been there, done that.
Its only appeal to you might have been the fact it is oriental, and it is different than your past experiences. If you just want a different experience, keep in mind you should not confuse it with a long-term, dependable spiritual guidance of life.
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