' Injury doesn't prevent you practicing yoga, just a few asana (though some of those might be your favourites)'.
There's pithy for ya.
So Injury doesn't prevent us practicing yoga but our response to injury often does. Either we decide to give up on practice altogether until the injury goes away or we go through a modified practice frustrated, resentful, depressed, either way that ain't yoga.
Not that I'm going to get into what yoga is or isn't here, though Govinda Kai did tweet this week that we should Question what yoga is everyday. Still with the ontic, rather than the ontological, sigh!
To give him the benefit of the doubt it's probably just pragmatics and favouring a pithy way to frame the tweet. By questioning what yoga is everyday I'm sure he means us to question it's ontic status as well, is yoga a what or a more ontological how, talking the being of yoga here rather than how as in methodology. Perhaps we should be questioning how it is that there is yoga at all, that such a disposition was sought, encountered. Did the first yogi remember for a moment that he, along with the rest of us had forgotten that he/we had forgotten something and for a moment felt a little less homeless. Of course, alternatively, we could just DO and hope for the best what we're doing is.
Some philosophers argue that the only philosophical question worth bothering with is what is philosophy? and that newbie Philosophe should ask that very question everyday. They would wouldn't they, ontic questions keep linguistic philosophers in work, books and thesis. I prefer Why is philosophy and by extension why is yoga, ask that one everyday and see where it gets you. Why yoga? ( and I dont mean why are you doing yoga, just why yoga).
But I digress, back to injury watch...
Quite interesting actually, an opportunity. Hey, anyone who practices yoga for a week and a half wants to be a yoga teacher right, and as such you'll have students with injuries, your own injury is good training.
I'm lucky though in that I have my Vinyasa Krama practice as well as Ashtanga, Vinyasa Krama loves injuries, heck it's almost it's raison d'être. Lots of vinyasa (variations) to postures to address injuries or work around them. Good to remember here too that both Krishnamacharya and Jois would supposedly us alternative postures or variations to help students with injuries, Vinyasa Krama was their knowledge bank.
Also I practice at home so I have a lot of freedom to take my time and explore my way through and around the injury. I'm sure experienced teachers are wonderful at helping their students with their injuries in the shalas but I can imagine said students often feel a bit of a bother and an imposition, injury guilt, however much they're told that's why the teacher is there and welcomes the break from the monotony.
Good Vipassana, practice too, lots of noticing.
I've rambled, this is getting long and I want to get the Sunday paper, Egypt you know. So a series of posts for a while perhaps, titled Injury watch, on dealing with whatever this is that's preventing me, not from practicing yoga but from just bending forward.
9 comments:
Enjoyed the post. Especially love the diversion of "still with the ontic, rather than the ontological, sigh!" Vinyasa Krama is definitely made to get around any injuries.
Hey Grimmly, I'm a little rusty with my Heidegger here. Maybe you can write a post soon about the ontological/ontic distinction, and how we can understand this distinction in the yoga practice? Thanks!
p.s. That's probably why I prefer the later Heidegger to the Heidegger of Sein und Zeit. He seems to not place too much emphasis on this distinction in his later writings about poetry and language. But this is neither here nor there.
I've had a blog set up on Heidegger and yoga for a while Nobel but keep getting turned off the idea, not really interested in blogging about it, meditation or even yoga for that matter. Most of my posts tend to be a video and a couple lines, a progress video diary, don't know what happened here, my slip was showing.
On a whim I'd put the ontic/ontological distinction in the terms of discursive/participatory, think I like that, Chris can take it up perhaps after his coming Heidegger course, what say you chris?
One thing though, I'm less and less convinced by the early/later Heidegger distinction, rather than a kehre (turning) I see it more as a broadening of drishti : ) but how about Krishnamacharya, kehre?
Just started reading Heidegger's Phenomenology of religious life, it's on Paul, Augustine and the Mystics but really about the religious/spiritual experience thought It might be interesting after the year of Indian/yoga philosophy/literature, to see if one says something about the other.
Grimmly,
We will have to see how much I like Heidegger. That would be a very interesting blog anyways.
"A broadening of drishti" seems like a contradiction to me.
Was just about to agree with you and start kicking myself for that roselil but then I remembered that when i practice Iaido ( sword stuff) in Japan we had the expression Enzen No Metsuke. It kind of translates as 'far off mountain gaze', if I remember correctly, so it's focussed gaze but on a far distant object thus broadening awareness and may just give me room to wiggle out of this : )
I use that drishti all the time when I practice without my glasses on.
OR we use injury as a way to explore further.... I can't say what will happen with me & my knees for sure yet, but I haven't given up. Course insurance would help but I'm a lowly American...
Yes Boodie, injury as opportunity to explore, like that. Yes sorry your knee has been playing up again. Our national health service wont operate on my left knee I'd have to go private, that's OK though it only seems to be left side Purna M that it flatly refuses to play ball, perhaps one day, surprised it lets me do as much as it does.
It's both of them now. Which really let's me know the problem is coming from some place else. Time will tell what I accomplish, but I'm swapping the ardha for the purna in my advanced practice twist, until further notice.
Time to head out!
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