Wednesday 16 June, 2004
Purpose of yoga
Mindy writes (in Finnish) about philosophy behind yoga that got me thinking about my attitude to yoga. You might think from my writings in this blog that I'm one of those people who concentrates on yoga as a competition between you and the person next to you and I'd like make a little clarification on that.
For me yoga is exercise and a way of keeping fit - it's something I was bad at when I started and something which I'm better at now. I do consider it training - I go to class and I push myself to improve my asanas from what they were last time, and I get pleasure out of realising that I can do something I previously couln't do. For me improving does mean going further in asanas, but also improving form. At the same time I'm aware that there are asanas I will never be able to do because of my wrist injury, and I try to concentrate on the ones that I can do.
I agree with Mindy - how bendy you are has nothing to do with how "good" or "bad" you are in yoga. I do Iyengar yoga with Pat, and I'm often the youngest person in the class - I may be the bendiest, but I'm by no means "best". The idea of Iyengar yoga is that everyone can do it - focus is on alignment and postures, and props like belts and blocks are used to help the practitioner achieve the asanas on their level.
Then I do ashatanga yoga with Karen - this is a very popular form of yoga sometimes called power yoga, made famous by people like Madonna. The purpose of ashtanga is to purify, strengthen and give flexibility trough not only asanas but also vinyasas (which means the breathing and movement system - for example Surya Namskar (the Sun Salutation) is made out of nine vinyasas). These are two very different types of yoga, but they complement each other as they focus on different aspects.
But it's not just the theory, or the excercise. It's also - despite the hard work - a way of relaxing, a way of finding inner peace (no matter how corny that may sound). It's something I do for me, a moment where I'm the most important person, without worries about anyone or anything else.
Posted by kolibri at 16 June 13:11, 2004"It's something I do for me..."
Exactly. We all have our personal relation to yoga and because of that we cannot judge others or ourselves of beeing good or bad.
But still we can always be better..there´s the paradox.
:)
# 2 - Kolibri (on June 18, 2004 08:15 AM):
I had a converstation with Pat about this yesterday.
In ashtanga when we do Trikonasana (the triangle pose - everyone who's ever done any kind of yoga will know this asana) my teacher tells us to grab hold of the big toe. I can do this quite comfortably - but at the same time I'm supposed to have my hips pointing forward, and this never happens, I can't help having my other hip going back. Karen says that we should aim for the form first, then take care of the details later.
Pat approaches this in a different way - she says that I should aim to keep my hips pointing forward and bend only as far as I can without losing that form. And I hate to do it that way because I can't get very far down then - and this is because I'm used to thinking that the further down I go the "better" the asana is.
The only competition I'm in is the competition between me, myself and I.
You can't add any more comments, but if you wish you can email the author.