I'm still working on an article and I had to go back to find the quote I wanted to put in it. Yoga as it comes from India is different than yoga as us westerners see it. So we went to a "yoga festival" and didn't do any "yoga" but got to hear seminars and meditations and ate food etc.
At the tail end of one of the seminars we walked in on, the woman was talking about how spiritual practices should be practical. And that's one of the ideas behind "yoga". To overcome the difficulty of "making time for a spiritual practice" (as the difficulty of oh, so hard to make time to go to church on Sunday, or pray, or...) so to combine spirituality in everything you do. Exercise, cooking, chores..it can all be yoga.
It's often precisely through the focus on breathing and positioning and focusing on the body and its limitations that we're able to transcend (THROUGH) the physical experience, rather than trying to escape it.) And after all the physical bits of it, that's why the stillness of savasana can be so powerful. Easier to relax after a challenge. It definitely requires Presence to balance and hold poses, and encourages us to be present with ourselves. I love the insights I sometimes get after yoga. It really is powerful.
And has meant fewer trips to the chiropractor than I used to make :)
Some of the various notes I took from the day.. -"God is omnipresent so don't look outside you." (it's right there in your body and in yoga!) -"If you don't want to be happy, nobody can make you be happy. If you want to be happy, nobody can stop you." -"A little faith can take you to heaven. Whole faith can bring heaven to you." -"To do something selfless is God's work, ..(to do Gods work is to be in heaven ((I love this as it reminds us the importance of our own happiness!))) ..start the sentence, God will finish it." -"Everything is a gift once you figure out how to give it."
At the tail end of one of the seminars we walked in on, the woman was talking about how spiritual practices should be practical. And that's one of the ideas behind "yoga". To overcome the difficulty of "making time for a spiritual practice" (as the difficulty of oh, so hard to make time to go to church on Sunday, or pray, or...) so to combine spirituality in everything you do. Exercise, cooking, chores..it can all be yoga.
It's often precisely through the focus on breathing and positioning and focusing on the body and its limitations that we're able to transcend (THROUGH) the physical experience, rather than trying to escape it.) And after all the physical bits of it, that's why the stillness of savasana can be so powerful. Easier to relax after a challenge. It definitely requires Presence to balance and hold poses, and encourages us to be present with ourselves. I love the insights I sometimes get after yoga. It really is powerful.
And has meant fewer trips to the chiropractor than I used to make :)
Some of the various notes I took from the day..
-"God is omnipresent so don't look outside you." (it's right there in your body and in yoga!)
-"If you don't want to be happy, nobody can make you be happy. If you want to be happy, nobody can stop you."
-"A little faith can take you to heaven. Whole faith can bring heaven to you."
-"To do something selfless is God's work, ..(to do Gods work is to be in heaven ((I love this as it reminds us the importance of our own happiness!))) ..start the sentence, God will finish it."
-"Everything is a gift once you figure out how to give it."
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