Yoga

[David Jamieson]

Yoga is a fabulous practice that will fine tune your body and your body awareness.

The primary focus in yoga is to replenish and nurture the spine. It is whole body work and involves moving and balance postures.

Most schools teach "Hatha" postures which are called "asanas"

moving postures are compound moves and flow from one asana to another whereas balance postures are moved into and then held for a set number of breaths.

Asanas vary in difficulty from easy through to extremely difficult.
Don't make the error of comparing it to other practices such as qigongs and such as you only muddy the waters when doing so. Yes there are some similarities, but to delve into that will only derivate from practice.

Practice is generally going to cover the entire body with a variety of postures both moving and balanced.

there are many many publications and dvd/videos about it out there and some even have combined routines in them for you to start with and of course there are many instructors with varying levels of personal proficiency which of course has zero to do with your own practice.

I recommend works by Iyengar if you can find them as he is very comprehensive in his explanations and instruction. If you are going to join your gf, just go for it! I do it with my wife with some frequency and we very much enjoy it.

Yoga, is wide and deep in it's practices and yes there are practices that enhance ones sexual experience as there are practices on the other side of the spectrum that repair and heal maladies, while other routines maintain vitality and skeletal/muscular strength and always always always nurturing the health of the spinal column and the calmness of mind.

Enjoy!

[Vajramusti]

When well taught(important)- it is a superb approach to health, breathing, clarity, joint, ligament and postural work- and a good foundation for martial skill development. One of India's gifts to the world. Iyengar's books are not bad- the Light on Yoga is a good guide to the meaning of the postures. A good teacher will examine the student's capabilities and limits and pay attention to gradual and proper development.
A bad teacher is-just that-bad.

I have had two very good yoga teachers. One was 97 (Vethathiri)when he died in South India- still flexible to the end.
The other is about 70(Ray)- and I keep in touch with him when I need to-here in Phoenix.Both Indians. A Tamil and a Bengali.The first teacher understood kundalini well-the second knows his hatha and pranayama well.Its all complementary.Comes from the same roots- which includes Patanjali's yoga sastra

joy chaudhuri

[cjurakpt]

as a beginer dipping ones toe into the world of yoga, the one advantage you will have as a martial artist (especial CMA), is experience navigating an arcane and seemingly contradictory world of styles and personalities and bizarre claims; except at the end of the day they don't actually fight (well, neither does CMA, so that's actually the same too )

but seriously - if you are looking for a good, solid, down-to-earth approach, I strongly recommend Iyengar; for several reasons

1) teachers are all well trained, quality control is excellent in terms of who they certify (very comprehensive programs);

2) very physical approach, grounded in anatomy / phys, minimal interest in spiritual hokum; combines classical learning with contemporary understanding of body structure / function

3) designed for people of all levels - uses lots of props, straps, pillows, etc. to accommodate peeps who are not all pretzelly;

4) teacher is old, alive and healthy, practices what he preaches;

BTW, my wife has been doing his stuff for years, and she teaches it to her OBGYN patients as need arises;

[lkfmdc]

GOOD yoga is a wonderful thing....I've been in and out of Yoga since college, still influences some of the things I do

However, finding GOOD yoga can be VERY HARD since it is as subject, if not MORE SO, to fraud and BS as TCMA are these days.....

In fact, the first person I did Yoga with, who at the time was considered a "big figure" turned out to be a total fraud!

Iyengar would be a good choice, one of the few real guru who is also very organized, modern in many respects, organized and international

[No_Know]

Bodhidharma a monkly prince of India come to Shao-Lin eventually. I would think might have had Yoga. When I think Shao-Lin I think of Hung. When I think of Hung I think of five stances...and these are five energies (not yoga sounding [Fengshui but....How much yoga yoga do I know I know? Horse-riding is Earth--stable and grounding; Bow-and-Arrow is Fire expanding; Scissors or Dragon or Twisting stance is Metal contracting;release and flow into Cat stance might be Water element. Single legged stance might be Wood and rising energy.-Ernie Moore Jr.

I have thought of Shao Lin stances as Yogaic because of the purported land origin of Da Mo plus two of the stances look Yoga to me--Bow-and-Arrow, and Single Leg(ged) ... Standing in Horse riding feet parallel to each other. Thighs parallel to the floor...for an hour is meditation.-Ernie Moore Jr.

I No_Know

[YinOrYan]

Bodhidharma a monkly prince of India come to Shao-Lin eventually. I would think might have had Yoga. When I think Shao-Lin I think of Hung. When I think of Hung I think of five stances...and these are five energies (not yoga sounding [Fengshui but....How much yoga yoga do I know I know? Horse-riding is Earth--stable and grounding; Bow-and-Arrow is Fire expanding; Scissors or Dragon or Twisting stance is Metal contracting;release and flow into Cat stance might be Water element. Single legged stance might be Wood and rising energy.-Ernie Moore Jr.

I have thought of Shao Lin stances as Yogaic because of the purported land origin of Da Mo plus two of the stances look Yoga to me--Bow-and-Arrow, and Single Leg(ged) ... Standing in Horse riding feet parallel to each other. Thighs parallel to the floor...for an hour is meditation.-Ernie Moore Jr.

I know its difficult to separate Buddhism and Yoga because one somewhat grew out of the other, and with 5 element theories there are similar elements all over the place, but you are on-to-something by just looking at positions. If you look at the oldest extant animal forms there are huge amounts of information packed into them. They are one of the best sources for separating what is Buddhist and Taoist before they started getting really blended...

[GeneChing]

Glad this passed - my comments on it were on this previous post.

Alabama lifts ban on teaching yoga in public schools but still bars ‘namaste’
Kay Ivey, the Republican governor, signed bill overriding state’s 1993 ban but some conservative Christian groups fought to retain it


Jeremy Gray, a Democratic representative and certified yoga instructor, introduced the legislation to allow yoga back in schools three times before it was approved in the 75 to 14 vote on Monday. Photograph: Gregory Bull/AP
Amanda Holpuch in New York
@holpuch
Fri 21 May 2021 11.51 EDT

Alabama has lifted a three-decade-long ban on allowing yoga to be taught in its public schools – though the word “namaste” and chanting “om” will still be barred in classrooms.

Governor Kay Ivey, a Republican, signed a bill which overrides the state’s 1993 ban on yoga instruction and allows local school boards to decide whether students can be taught the ancient practice.

Some conservative Christian groups fought to retain the ban, arguing that allowing yoga in the classroom could result in children converting to Hinduism.

“Yoga is a very big part of the Hindu religion, and if this bill passes then instructors will be able to come into classrooms as young as kindergarten and bring these children through guided imagery, which is a spiritual exercise,” Becky Gerritson, director of the conservative Alabama Eagle, told state senators recently.

These complaints are part of a broader pushback against yoga in schools as it becomes a more popular tool for educators. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends the use of yoga and meditation in schools to reduce “those stressful feelings and increase your ability to remember things more clearly”.

Jeremy Gray, a Democratic representative and certified yoga instructor, introduced the legislation to allow yoga back in schools three times before it was approved in the 75 to 14 vote on Monday.

Gray, a Christian who attends a Baptist church, told the Guardian last month: “The promoting of Hinduism argument is the only talking point these conservative groups have, and it makes them look very misinformed and miseducated on the issue.”

The final legislation was amended to include a regulation that parents must sign a permission slip for students to practice yoga.

Another amendment said: “School personnel may not use any techniques that involve hypnosis, the induction of a dissociative mental state, guided imagery, meditation, or any aspect of eastern philosophy and religious training.”

Gray said the amendments were unnecessary because the legislation already prohibited the religious acts of yoga and focused on poses and exercises.

“A lot of the stuff you don’t do anyway. You don’t hypnotize people,” Gray told Alabama News.

“Really, it just seemed very offensive,” he said. “Had some phobia in it. A lot of it just didn’t really make sense.”

[GeneChing]

Bodhidharma a monkly prince of India come to Shao-Lin eventually. I would think might have had Yoga.

While this idea has been bandied in martial circles for a few decades previously, it has been disproven by recent research. There are two major problems with this. 1. The Bodhidharma origin tale is apocryphal. 2. Yoga Asana as we know it doesn't develop until around the 10th, nearly half a millennium after Bodhidharma.

[YinOrYan]

While this idea has been bandied in martial circles for a few decades previously, it has been disproven by recent research. There are two major problems with this. 1. The Bodhidharma origin tale is apocryphal. 2. Yoga Asana as we know it doesn't develop until around the 10th, nearly half a millennium after Bodhidharma.

The two major problems are really between the Lanka and the Vajracchedika, or the Yogacara and Madhyamika schools of thought around the time of Bodhidharma.

Yeah, warrior pose was most likely created in 1940 and surely cannot be compared to horse-stances!

PS. I just got my primary sources out of storage, so I should stop talking-out-my-ass like Wickedpedia just about anytime now, haha