namaste - I bow to the divine in you

Alla inlägg den 25 november 2010

Av fredrik binette - 25 november 2010 16:31

  
as usual I have a tendency to think about things, and realizing how "confusing" yoga sometimes can feel.. or rather how deep this philosphy can be and how different it can be explained form different individuals..

the way I see it yoga as it is today is very much depending on how some persons have interpreted old scriptures from sanskrit and from there translated them into the modern world. wich is very different from person to person..  and it can be very diffenrent end result when translated from person to person using different words with basicly the same meaning. and since sanskrit is a very difficult laguage to translate aswell it seams..

for example what is Yoga?
Yoga it self as a word is often translated to "union",
and in this case of this tradition a union of what?
many says a union of jiva atman [the individual self] with brahman [universal energy/ cosmos/can mean God if you are religious].

a Union you can get to in different ways for example in your sadhana [spiritual practice] using deep meditiation you can come to a state called samadhi,
and the highest form of samadhi you get "self-realisation" or some say "God-realisation" [you are one with all/God/universal energy] a state also called in some traditions "Nirvana", and if in this state you will get Moksha [freedom/ liberation]..

but also when reading one of the most importent scriptures "Yoga Sutras" by the sage Patanjali,
there is a phrase "Yogas Chitta Vritti Nirodha".
most commonly said to mean: Yoga is controll of the modifications of the mind.. or something like how to controll the waves in your mind.

of course we need to understand that the Yogasutras is about RajaYoga wich is mainly based on inner understandnings and meditation, not as modern yoga with a lot of asanas for our health.

this is also something to have in mind when talking about asanas,
asana from the 8 limbs "ashtanga" also from same scripture is of course the posture of meditation.
but this also can work as a general way of our "physical yogic practice" today.
we say asanas, and all our postures have asana within it "halasana, padmasana, sirsasana, sethu bandhasana" etc

the 46th sutra [string of words] in the second chapter of YogaSutras says: "Sthira Sukham Asanam"
wich is often translated as: steady comfortable posture.

but just by searching on a search engine online you will find many translations similar but that can be interpreded differently just by using other words in the english knowledge.

Sthira: steady but some say strong
Sukham: comfortable but some say pleasingly
Asanam: seated/sitting and some say posture

so lets say: strong pleasingly posture
and then: steady comfortable seated

can be totally different..

if to think about this for a meditation posture, then of course it seams natural to sit steady & comfortable in your posture.

when I teach and the way it is now in the modern world I prefer to use "steady comfortable posture/position" in mainly all asanas we do, and to strive towards that state.
this is something I try to explain during classes aswell, how to challenge in a humble way to open up not to strain the physical body.

anyway, my point is somewhere that yoga is a huge life philosophy with small differences that has developed with time, and now a days it has been very simplified to be able to suit us normal everday west life city folks ha ha
wich is great! otherwise yoga would still be more of a sacred practice tought only from the guru to the disciple.. and we had never probably being able to practice yoga as we do today.

in many of the old scriptures it is said "this knowledge is secret"

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