John friend/Anusara scandal,
Broad's 'Yoga's about tantric sex' sales pitch
Confluence
Vanity fair Ashtanga article....
Confluence sounded interesting at least.
So I've taken a breather from the blog for a month, shared a couple of bits and pieces here and there but don't really feel I've blogged, haven't commented much either. Actually that's not true, I've started to write a few comments and even a couple of blog posts but then ended up asking myself if it was necessary, timely, true, kind.... mostly I didn't get past necessary so hit the delete button.
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Right Speech
samma vaca
The definition
"And what is right speech? Abstaining from lying, from divisive speech, from abusive speech, & from idle chatter: This is called right speech."
— SN 45.8
Five keys to right speech
"Monks, a statement endowed with five factors is well-spoken, not ill-spoken. It is blameless & unfaulted by knowledgeable people. Which five?
"It is spoken at the right time. It is spoken in truth. It is spoken affectionately. It is spoken beneficially. It is spoken with a mind of good-will."
from the access to insight website
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So it's March, five years since I started Yoga/Ashtanga, thought I should write a 'What have I learned from yoga over 5 years' post but can't bring myself to, perhaps I'm just out of the blogging groove, feels too contrived.
One thing though that did come up that I find a little interesting. On the back of the whole Mysore? debate, should I go next year ....ever? I started to question the relevance of Ashtanga to me personally and whether, for me at least, Ashtanga had jumped the shark (started a post on that....deleted it).
So I quit, completely... kind of, never done that before, always kept up my Friday Primary at least, even when I shifted the main focus of my practice to Vinyasa Krama.
It took about a week and a half before I realised that yes it was relevant, the practice at least and that whether I like or not my life seems to be grounded by the practice, my diet, my peace of mind. Not sure how healthy that is but I'll continue to run with it for now.
Coming back I fished out the Jois led Primary from Yoga works and have been practicing along with that for most of the last week ( a nod to the Confluence as four of the teachers are in the video). I absolutely love it, seems to strike the perfect pace for where I am now, more on that later.
I'm still practicing Vinyasa Krama, pranayama, pratyahara (more on that to come too, getting interesting), meditation etc. in the morning. God I even chanted Om for half an hour last week, building up from ten second OM's to Minute Om's, interesting, never thought I'd do that, .more on ....well, you get the idea.
And as for blogging, I can't be doing with all the nonsense surrounding the practice anymore but I do believe that Ashtanga, that Yoga, can be 'learned' and certainly developed at home ( I know many disagree no doubt we'll get into that) and that it is ultimately a solo practice, think some of us should be writing about that.
Besides, so many of us seem to stop blogging after a couple of years and yet thats when it gets interesting, I want to read blogs or at least writing from people who have been practicing five years, ten years and more particularly twenty and thirty years, how they've managed to keep the practice relevant, managed to sustain and deepen it.
Five years is just scratching the surface, or the surface of the surface so come back perhaps in another ten.
Broad's 'Yoga's about tantric sex' sales pitch
Confluence
Vanity fair Ashtanga article....
Confluence sounded interesting at least.
So I've taken a breather from the blog for a month, shared a couple of bits and pieces here and there but don't really feel I've blogged, haven't commented much either. Actually that's not true, I've started to write a few comments and even a couple of blog posts but then ended up asking myself if it was necessary, timely, true, kind.... mostly I didn't get past necessary so hit the delete button.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Right Speech
samma vaca
The definition
"And what is right speech? Abstaining from lying, from divisive speech, from abusive speech, & from idle chatter: This is called right speech."
— SN 45.8
Five keys to right speech
"Monks, a statement endowed with five factors is well-spoken, not ill-spoken. It is blameless & unfaulted by knowledgeable people. Which five?
"It is spoken at the right time. It is spoken in truth. It is spoken affectionately. It is spoken beneficially. It is spoken with a mind of good-will."
from the access to insight website
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
So it's March, five years since I started Yoga/Ashtanga, thought I should write a 'What have I learned from yoga over 5 years' post but can't bring myself to, perhaps I'm just out of the blogging groove, feels too contrived.
One thing though that did come up that I find a little interesting. On the back of the whole Mysore? debate, should I go next year ....ever? I started to question the relevance of Ashtanga to me personally and whether, for me at least, Ashtanga had jumped the shark (started a post on that....deleted it).
So I quit, completely... kind of, never done that before, always kept up my Friday Primary at least, even when I shifted the main focus of my practice to Vinyasa Krama.
It took about a week and a half before I realised that yes it was relevant, the practice at least and that whether I like or not my life seems to be grounded by the practice, my diet, my peace of mind. Not sure how healthy that is but I'll continue to run with it for now.
Coming back I fished out the Jois led Primary from Yoga works and have been practicing along with that for most of the last week ( a nod to the Confluence as four of the teachers are in the video). I absolutely love it, seems to strike the perfect pace for where I am now, more on that later.
I'm still practicing Vinyasa Krama, pranayama, pratyahara (more on that to come too, getting interesting), meditation etc. in the morning. God I even chanted Om for half an hour last week, building up from ten second OM's to Minute Om's, interesting, never thought I'd do that, .more on ....well, you get the idea.
And as for blogging, I can't be doing with all the nonsense surrounding the practice anymore but I do believe that Ashtanga, that Yoga, can be 'learned' and certainly developed at home ( I know many disagree no doubt we'll get into that) and that it is ultimately a solo practice, think some of us should be writing about that.
Besides, so many of us seem to stop blogging after a couple of years and yet thats when it gets interesting, I want to read blogs or at least writing from people who have been practicing five years, ten years and more particularly twenty and thirty years, how they've managed to keep the practice relevant, managed to sustain and deepen it.
Five years is just scratching the surface, or the surface of the surface so come back perhaps in another ten.
5 comments:
Glad to hear. I also believe people can learn in many different forms, and the internet, blogs, DVDs podcasts etc have been very relevant in my learnings, so I am with you! - Thinking that there is only one way to learn is innacurate, brainwash almost.
As per the blog, I am glad you are back!
And on finding relevance, great point. For me it came when I had to stop the practice for 2 months for lyme disease, that is when I saw the benefits and how I missed it and how much a part of my life it was and how needed it was.
:-)
I look forward to your next 5 years of blogging ... and beyond!
Thank you Claudia, an idea I've always found appealing, presence in absence, here relevance through absence.
I tend to see learning as made of of two stages, the passing on or receiving of information and the absorption (embodying) of that information. So whether information is passed on in person (via a teacher, mentor say) or from a book, a DVD etc, the important stage is always and has always been the absorbing of that information. Absorbing seems to work best through 'use' or in our terms, through practice. 'Practice and all is coming is very wise'. That's why the details aren't so important, the little differences in the sequence or how they are performed, interesting perhaps but not so crucial as long as we get on and practice (the details will come about often as a result of practice anyway).
I saw my job, back when I was a teacher, as to try and make the absorption of the information I was trying to pass as ...palatable as possible as well as passing on the skills in which new information could be un-earthed by the student themselves.
Thank you Nomen
I
Isn't it amazing how being "away" even for a little bit can leave us feeling like we have missed so much? But I think there *has* been so much going on lately, starting, as you noted, with the John Friend scandal and now we have the interesting Vanity Fair article to chew on. (Would love to hear your thoughts on the VF piece at some point.)
Do you feel more able to shield yourself from getting drawn into any yoga drama by not being part of a studio setting? There are times when being part of a studio can feel like we put ourselves in the middle of the drama, but at the end of the day, if we are with the right community -- and that is key, the right community -- the benefits far outweigh the risks, in my mind.
And yes, the Confluence provided a lot to think about -- particularly when these teachers absolutely disagreed with one another in the most compassionate and loving way.
Hi Rose. Hmmmm, VF, I skimmed through it, it was a little more balanced than we've come to expect from the press lately but i still thought it was a bit ...untidy, bit too much googling and lifting of random quotes to pack the article out a bit. Some nonsense in there too.
I've written about JoisYoga before, same as most everyone else I hate the whole branding thing. I dunno, she has a nice Dwi pada sirsasana. What would you do with access to all that money and a passion for and belief in Ashtanga. of course she's going to want to build beautiful shalas and design her own range of yoga clothing for fun, clearly it's not to make money. Personally she might have looked at, say, curing India of polio but the Bill Gates just did that... As for Encinitas, of course you'd want to put a studio up there as that's where it kind of started in the US no? So i kind of understand it or am prepared to try and hope there was nothing malicious in it....just clumsy.
Can see that a community can be supportive but it's supposed to be supportive of your practice of helping you develop your practice and take it deeper and deeper, should't perhaps lose sight of the essential solitariness of yoga, that's how I'm seeing it but then perhaps I'm self justifying.
Yes, loved that they could disagree so pleasantly, on the whole it's not so bad here on the blogs, i think half the time things turn...awkward because we're not commenting face to face and take things the wrong way without a tone of voice to go on and find it difficult to diffuse a situation with a gesture before it gets out of hand.
On holiday for a week and a half now. Lots of practice and off to Brugge for a few days this morning
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