Yoga

[Scythefall]

I took some very relaxing and spiritual yoga classes at 24 hour fitness. The teacher was a dream. She left because she felt like she was neglecting her family. The girl that replaced her was a Power Yoga teacher and it gave new meaning to exertion. I'm pretty heavy and holding all of your body weight at various angles is pretty tough. It was good experience though.

[yenhoi]

My expirence is with hatha yoga like most people, and lots of research on the net. A good place to start is www.yogabasics.com

Good stuff.

[PHILBERT]

I took it in college for 2 semesters. rubthebuddhas can attest to me coming home after my first day of class, getting online (in fact the thread can be found here) and freaking out. The second semester though we had another guy join, and not as cute girls.

[pazman]

i've been practicing yoga for nearly 4 years straight, everyday. i suppose you can take it for a lot of different reasons, but i would suggest not limiting yourself to just the asanas (poses). consider those a warm up to whatever pranayama (breath control) or kriya (process) the teacher has for you. if the teacher doesn't know what those things are, then he is not teaching yoga!!!

[fiercest tiger]

Mixed views there!

Has anyone got 5 element and 5 animal chi kung they recondmend?

videos
books etc

FT

[Scythefall]

5 element or 5 animal chi gung. hmm. The only place I've ever heard of that is in Master Tu's videos(the guy that hangs insane amounts of weight from his crotch and performs some pretty amazing striking demonstrations). I have his version of the Eight Pieces of Brocade and one for back care called Dragon Bone Qigong. Eight Pieces is more like a stretching a routine than actual Chi gung, because he doesn't explain the breathing components or anything. Dragon Bone is very good and put together in a seminar-like production.

Our Eight Pieces of Brocade at my school is different and much more chi intensive than a physical workout.

Have you seen those 5 element/5animal chi gungs elsewhere? At a school?

[backbreaker]

I have practiced taijiquan ( Yang style and now more recently Chen style) and qigong( Omei mountain qigiong, Dayan wild goose qigong , Damo gong) for many years and they are very good for improving health and vitality. The most powerful system I have found though , is the Yoga at http://www.atlantis.to After reading their book, and doing their Yoga and meditations I have the ability to create super intense , tingling and rushing sensations all through my body which create very strong vibrating currents flowing through my body, all instantly with a single thought. I find this yoga to be very compatible and similar to all the other qigongs and martial arts I do , and it contains the elements of all of them. The "Star exercise" is a physical model of the 5 elements star. I also know a 6 healing sounds qigong based off the 5 elements and it's good for your health and breathing , but the above Yoga is the most powerful qigong I've found and is also very good for health and smoothing your breathing

[backbreaker]

Here are some top traditional qigong sites that I found





http://www.qinway.org

http://www.wahnam.com/ChiKung/18lohanhands/htm

http://www.ru.ac.za/societies/qi/wildgoose/#move

http://www.ru.ac.za/societies/qi/falungong/index.html

http://www.qimagazine.com

http://www.clearwisdom.net

http://www.atlantis.to

[Chuck Man Chuck]

Yoga is one of the best things a person can do, especially as a conditioning practice for other arts. Though it has many dimensions, including the spiritual, basically it is stretching. If a person is involved in any sport or physical endeavor it will greatly enhance what they are doing.

I do what has been coined Chinese Yoga, combining the practices of Tao Yin, Kai Men, Chi Kung, and Tso Chan.

I also do Tai Chi Chuan and Kung Fu San Soo. This is my first post on these forums, so hello all.

[CaptinPickAxe]

My Sifu says its the foutain of youth. I've been instructed to take it at some point in my life (the sooner the better), but I've been flooded with SC and SH. On top of all that it's time to enroll for next semester @ college.

[pazman]

yoga is not 'basically stretching.' that's like saying martial arts are 'basically standing in a horsestance.' there is a huge difference between what is peddled around at fitness clubs and what is really and historically yoga. while a person could write all day on the meaning of yoga, i'll submit a rather easy explanation. yoga shares the same root as english's 'yoke.' but rather than yoking an animal to a plow, you are yoking yourself to God, or whatever your interpretation of God is. it is generally regarded as a method of joining in union with the divine. this could apply to any religious practice in and of itself. but, more popularly, yoga combines many different elements of spiritual practice into a single system. asthanga yoga, or eight limbed yoga, comprises 8 different practices that are deeply intertwined. asana (stretching and posing )is simply one limb of this yoga. hatha yoga (force or effort yoga) is probably what is thought of when a person mentions yoga. a great emphasis is placed upon asana and athletic feats, but still includes the other seven limbs of asthanga. purna yoga (complete yoga) also includes above practices, but also incorporates devotion, seva (service or creating justice) among other things to create a yoga more adaptable to well-rounded living. all of these yogas, on top of asana, include things like kriya, pranayama, restrictions, observations, dhyana, samadhi, as essential to the practice.

[Chuck Man Chuck]

Yes, your right Yoga is all those things (which I alluded to by-the-way). For most people in the West though, they become involved in the stretching and meditative aspects of this art for health and well being, long before they ever realize the deepth of Indian Yoga.

As there are many limbs to what we call Yoga, as well, their are completely different traditions, like the Chinese tradition. This involves several arts. Some of these are Tao Yin, Kai Men, Chi Kung, Tso Chan, and even Tai Chi Chuan to a certain extent.

[IronFist]

So my gf does yoga (they offer it at her job, which is awesome) and I want to start doing it with her (at home).

I don't know anything about yoga tho, and she's just a beginner, too. The first thing that comes to mind is that I would assume that yoga is like taiji/qigong in that probably the majority of teachers out there don't teach it correctly, that most of it is probably hippied and granolafied, etc. etc. Is this the case?

Also does yoga have any weird sex rules like qigong does?

All she's told me about her teacher is that she's an older woman who is in awesome shape and seems very knowledgeable. My gf also has some books with different postures, etc. But these books are just called "yoga" and don't specify a subtype, which brings me to my next point:

I know there are different kinds of yoga like hatha and kundalini, but I don't know what the differences are.

Teach me, kfm. What are things I should be aware of if I'm going to study 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