Spirituality

Spirituality is not really mentioned in most yoga classes I have gone to. In some contexts, the instructor will reference Buddhism or Hinduism or say a Sanskrit phrase, but that is the extent of it. To a lesser degree, some instructors will mention the significance of yoga in general in helping one get in touch with their spiritual self. For the most part, however, I have found that I learn more about the spiritual realm from class, from meditation books or yoga books I read on my own time, or from discussions with friends. Spirituality is probably not the most important thing to a lot of Westerners doing yoga as they are interested in one thing: materialism. Westerners get into yoga to get themselves in shape, aid in an injury, or to develop a sense of community. Community could be in some form a spiritual marker, as it can give some a sense of purpose, and can help some understand compassion, bonding, and build relationships.

Pranayama

At this week's practice with Jason I tried to place control on my breathing. In the beginning of class, we are told to breath and just listen to our breath, to let it get under control if it is rushed or excited breath, and just let it flow. What ever comes naturally is supposed to be the way you are breathing. As we move away from breath as the center focus and transition into Asana's, I lose focus on my breathing as I try to focus more on my posture. They say that transitions are where people get injured so I do my best to keep up the flow during these transitions. Breathing is emphasized in most yoga classes I have gone to; during a warm up and even after the instructor will say to place emphasis and keep up the yoga breath throughout the practice. If I'm holding a posture out longer than usual, or if I am in a comfortable forward fold, then I will remember my breath and be able to turn my attention to it for a short while.

Heated Yoga

This past Sunday, 4/15, I did a heated yoga session at Grow Yoga here in Galloway. The studio had rules about having shoes and having too many items in the practice space, so all shoes and bags had to be left in a little cubby-hole in a changing room they had upfront. Upon walking in I felt the temperature spike and started to break into a sweat in my first few minutes in the room. At that point I heavily contemplated what the next hour and half was going to be like. To my amazement, I actually reached a sort of terminal velocity if you will, a point where I felt myself stop sweating as I was already completely drenched and it seemed as though my shirt couldn't gain any more weight. The class went at a fairly fast pace from different positions, most of which I already knew and some I needed a little refresher on, such as Eagle pose, and Crow pose. There were some who were new to yoga, although most in the class seemed to have a good idea of what was going on. Toward's the end of the practice the room was cooled down, and we were lead out of the practice by cooling down and doing a little meditation. I was unprepared with spare clothes, so I ended up with a little shock going out in the cold after, but aside from that, I felt that my first heated yoga was an overall great experience. I would gladly try heated yoga again going forward.

This week in yoga it was a fairly standard practice with Jason, where we did a variety of stretches for neck pain incorporated into our routine. The role of the body is important in yoga as it helps yogis connect to the divine, and reach higher states. The body is a portal, or tool if you will, that can help us reach the divine. We are all souls within a body that is a capsule holding our consciousness. There is one belief that when we leave  our bodies we can get reincarnated, or that our spirit moves onto the next plane of existence, what ever that may be. Doing yoga and spiritual practices might give us a taste of what is coming when we pass from this body to what ever happens next. Yoga opens the gateway to reaching the divine through the individual self (atman), and to reach a form of oneness with the universal consciousness, known as the brahman (Singleton 101).

Yoga

This week in addition to the Vipassana, I also did a session with Jason here at Stockton. We were asked if there were any injuries in the room or if there was anything anyone wanted to work on, and we did some poses such as cobra, upward dog, and downward dog, as well as some variations of these poses to get some back stretches, and after that we did an assortment of poses sitting and standing, forward folds, planking and what not. This prompt has ask about the use of yoga in order to connect with the divine. Divine is the state of being God like, or relating to a God. Divine could also be discovering something through intuition, and there are also mentions of divine pertaining to magic (Webster's Dictionary). Yoga can connect us to the divine by delivering a higher state of consciousness, or mindset. Like you can perceive your own hell according to the Bardo, it is also possible to reach your own heaven, through the universe that you create and perceive (Bardo Thodol). However, you have to be in the right mindset in order to create this vision of life, and it does not always come. Usually, yoga is just a series of movements. I admit I am guilty of losing track of my breathing. Forgetting the standard and routine objects of focus make it hard to reach a divine state. I personally struggle, but I applaud those who can reach that place.

Meditation

This week we practiced Vipassana meditation in class following a lecture and videos about divine sex and yoga, as well as harmful yoga practices such as Bhuti yoga that can potentially injure the person doing the yoga. I have to admit it was very hard to get into a meditative mindset after that lecture, and the ensuing lecture from the visiting teacher did not make it easier. During the meditation the professor sought out to serve as a guide through a guided practice. The guided mediation is good for most people as it helps them concentrate, gives them something to focus on and easily bring them back should their minds wander. For me though, it distracted my concentration and I had to tune it out in order to focus, and I ended up counting my breaths and focusing on my breathing. My mind wandered a lot during that as well, so it could have just been an off day, who knows. Vipassana is a sacred practice to me when I adopted it into my life for a solid year or so when I had an interest in meditating and Buddhism. I started out with meditation before I got into yoga then got lazy with it, and I usually cheat with it now and just sit for a little bit at the beginning of a yoga routine, to get the luxury of doing both at once. Great for concentration, and a great practice to look inward and see what is really there, view without judgement or conceivable bias. I was surprised to learn in class that a real Vipassana "retreat", or program is actually ten days. I did not know that prior to class, but it inspires me to try Vipassana for ten days straight, something I have not done.

This past week, I did a yoga practice with Jason. I tried to get back into running this week as well, I ran on Tuesday and did about three miles. At the end of the run I felt sore, but it felt good to get back into it. The yoga routine served as a good stretch and helped my soreness. Going forward, I would like to continue a regiment of yoga going hand in hand to help my running, focusing more on yoga, and doing running two or three times a week now that the weather is getting warmer. Yoga will help me in the long run maintaining flexibility, and can serve to aid in the event of injury. As a practice space, yoga is a space where one can feel wholesome just about anywhere. From what I have seen, yoga studios and spaces reserved to exclusively yoga itself appear to be empty. I gather that an open yoga space is to create good feng shui, harmonizing individuals with their natural environment. They say that cluttered rooms create bad feng shui as it means there is not good flow or movement of energy in the room. Personally, I don't mind doing yoga a cluttered room. I think yoga is something that can be done anywhere, maybe that means I'm bad at feeling the feng shui, maybe it's something that doesn't bother me that much, who knows.