Re: questions about yoga

Looks like most of the important parts have already been covered by others, but I wanted to say a few things...

1) Yes, you can do "yoga" (or rather, one aspect of yoga) for purely physical benefits, there's nothing wrong with that and it can be very rewarding. However, TO ME, it seems like a waste to focus only on the physical side of things and pay no attention to the rest. The physical practices and the more spiritual/mental practices are meant to go hand in hand. The physical side of things are meant to act as a support for the spiritual side of things. You "cleanse" the body, make it more fit, less "polluted", give it more endurance, clear up energy channels... you alter energy and chemical "production" and distribution/balance throughout the body. These things make it easier to more correctly perceive and understand the "finer" spiritual side of things. The more severe physical practices also help to develop willpower and endurance of mind. Unfortunately, many see this as a goal in itself, and all that comes as a result is an enormous ego and very little real "spiritual" progress.

The body is an extension of the mind, or rather, a more gross, materialized aspect of it. Both of these together are one tool. This tool is needed, like a boat is needed to cross a river. So to focus only on the physical aspect, you're building a good boat, and you might use it to explore your more immediate waters, but doesn't it seem like a waste to build up such a sturdy vessel only to "swim in the kiddie pool" when it is capable of so much more?

This is only my personal opinion though. Great physical benefits can be had from (proper) yoga practice, and it's certainly better to at least to the physical yoga than to do no yoga at all!

2) Does a medicine care what religion your mind adheres to? It will still heal you. Does a knife care what religion your mind follows? It will still cut you. Yoga is a science. "Do this, and this will be the result." ... you can be some animal-sacrificing voodoo priest dancing around in the jungle, or a satanist, or a christian priest, whatever... it makes no difference.

However, if you really dedicate yourself to "spiritual growth" (whatever you want to see that as...), then you may very well find new insights and experiences popping up that seem to contradict your old beliefs, and over time you may begin to either A) identify less and less with your "chosen" religion, or B) see that religion in a whole new light, a deeper perspective, with a much clearer understanding. You don't even have to practice "yoga"... any genuine effort to "grow" as a human being, to develop good qualities, to develop a greater understanding of people and different perspectives, to listen more to your real experiences, to rid yourself of detrimental habits...

Some say Jesus was a yogi. I don't know anything about that, but it is a funny thought, isn't it? :)

3) Western yoga to me seems very superficial, and yes, physically oriented. Nothing wrong with the physical part, but "we" (westerners) seem to have this idea that yoga and meditation are some kind of fluffy lovey dovey "everyone hold hands and be peaceful" thing to do on a weekend or something. This just isn't true. Real yoga, real spiritual practice, real growth, are HARD. Life is a constant struggle, growth is a struggle, it takes effort, courage, willpower, determination, perseverance, patience, trust (faith) that all of this is not for nothing. A lot of people jump into meditation, and then get discouraged when all these negative thoughts start popping up. They had this idea that meditation was supposed to be some instant peaceful experience, and then they see the opposite happening. They don't understand that meditation and spiritual practice in general are a cleansing process, not some system of instant gratification where no effort is required, like our fast-food society has come to expect. You have to be willing to get down and dirty and deal with all the ugliness. Just like cleaning up a mucky, slimy, dirty pool of water. The purity comes later. It's a result of your efforts. People just go to the water expecting it to be pure already, and then when they see that it's dirty, they run away with the belief that meditation is pointless... "I tried that once and it didn't make me peaceful at all" ... So there's a strong bias towards the physical side of things for that reason, and for ego reasons, and because it's more of a "doing", which goes along with western thought patterns. Meditation is more of a non-doing, which doesn't fit in very well with western thought at all.

But you don't have to go to some other culture to get "real" yoga. Any genuine spiritual effort is already "real" yoga. All you have to do is start moving deeper into yourself. You have all the tools available to you right now. And there's an enormous wealth of information on the internet and in books.

Oh, and just looked at your messages again -- the different meditations aren't "meant" for Hindus or any other religion. They may have come from Hindu culture (speaking from a yoga perspective here -- many other cultures also have devised their own meditation techniques), but they are meant for EVERYONE. It's like saying light bulbs are only meant for Americans/English/whatever becuase that's the culture they happened to come out of...

If you're feeling a "tug" to meditation/yoga/whatever, then do it. Just experiment, play around, don't go in with any big expectations. If you find something that clicks, then stick with it and move more deeply into it. You don't have to abandon or alter your religious beliefs in anyway (but like I said, you may find them altering on their own!)

Good luck. :)
--James Tweet