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I'm not a yogi and I admit that my view of yoga as practiced in the west is skewed toward categorizing it more under "fashion and marketing" than "spirituality"

by mekoka 7y ago

I'm not a yogi and I admit that my view of yoga as practiced in the west is skewed toward categorizing it more under "fashion and marketing" than "spirituality". But whenever I read something like this article and start delighting myself with the strange joy of seeing something I disagree with being ridiculed, some inner bell tolls the signal that I should know better and that something in the message is probably missing. I just have to look for it a bit longer. What if all these new age yogis with their sweating ways turned out to be able to perform their 100 surya namaskaras well past the age of 105, would it validate their form of yoga then? Do most people who practice the "traditional way" get to do it way past their 90s? Every time I see someone pushing the "you're doing it wrong, here's the one true way" message, I have to remind myself that even Buddha insisted that he can only help to guide you in your own quest, but he can't be your master. There is certainly something to learn from all of the ways that yoga is practiced, claiming that you know better simply turns you into a nearly full jar. I'd rather take some and leave some.

sremani 7y ago
The traditional yoga has stood the test of time. The Neo-Yoga is fragile to begin with, you need an artificial environment for those "hot"-yoga stuff. Any good exercise should be accessible, the american "peleton" way of doing things is at best gimmiky. The only redeeming quality of neo-yoga is its much accessible, given the profitability aspect of it. For maximum return of value stick to the traditional, if it is accessible to you.
- mekoka 7y ago
  Standing the test of time implies that you're doing something right, it doesn't mean that you've reached the pinnacle. I absolutely agree with you that the accessibility of traditional yoga translates into tremendous value, I also would admit that "neo-yoga", as you called it, seems exploitative to me. I would not go as far as claiming to know all of its benefits.
  - sremani 7y ago
    Something that stands 1000 years has gone through multiple refinements. It may or may not be pinnacle, but any twist has high probability to making it sub-optimal than optimal. "Neo"-Yoga greatly misses on the mental aspects, and reduces a comprehensive system to a physical training. But, even in this diminished form its better than many alternatives. That was the point. I do not consider "neo"-yoga exploitative, I just consider it neo-mania, appealing to our urge for novelty.
    - mekoka 7y ago
      > Something that stands 1000 years has gone through multiple refinements. It may or may not be pinnacle, but any twist has high probability to making it sub-optimal than optimal. How do you think these refinements happen, if not by trial and error? You don't just discover the right way to do something, you more likely also find a few wrong ways in the process. If there's one thing history has taught us about innovation it's that it happens in the most unlikely of places. You know what else have gone through multiple refinements over millennia? Pleiades of religions that claim to successfully usher our spirituality. Are they wrong, are they right? Who knows? What I'm observing is that the world is still here waiting for something better.
nprateem 7y ago
> What if all these new age yogis with their sweating ways turned out to be able to perform their 100 surya namaskaras well past the age of 105, would it validate their form of yoga then? Do most people who practice the "traditional way" get to do it way past their 90s? I don't think "validation" is the right language any more than "right" or "wrong". People do yoga for a reason - health, aesthetic, spiritual, whatever. The validation comes from whether they get out of it what they want. Someone hoping to discover the spiritual stuff the gurus write about may be better served by a practice that focuses on that instead of longevity. Just because someone's reached 100+ years old doesn't mean they've got out of it what they want (i.e. if they seek spiritual experiences but haven't had any they may still feel frustrated).
- mekoka 7y ago
  The questions I asked served to highlight the ridicule of the criteria used to claim that something is wrong or right. So in essence, we agree.
kodz4 7y ago
Yup in India you can find a different "traditional way" from street to street. And there are lots of streets there. When you have an actual problem and go looking for solutions you will find stuff. People who don't know what they are looking for will find a lot of unnecessary things. I think that's also from Buddha...or maybe Bruce Lee :)

by mekoka 7y ago

sremani 7y ago

The traditional yoga has stood the test of time. The Neo-Yoga is fragile to begin with, you need an artificial environment for those "hot"-yoga stuff. Any good exercise should be accessible, the american "peleton" way of doing things is at best gimmiky. The only redeeming quality of neo-yoga is its much accessible, given the profitability aspect of it. For maximum return of value stick to the traditional, if it is accessible to you.

mekoka 7y ago
Standing the test of time implies that you're doing something right, it doesn't mean that you've reached the pinnacle. I absolutely agree with you that the accessibility of traditional yoga translates into tremendous value, I also would admit that "neo-yoga", as you called it, seems exploitative to me. I would not go as far as claiming to know all of its benefits.
- sremani 7y ago
  Something that stands 1000 years has gone through multiple refinements. It may or may not be pinnacle, but any twist has high probability to making it sub-optimal than optimal. "Neo"-Yoga greatly misses on the mental aspects, and reduces a comprehensive system to a physical training. But, even in this diminished form its better than many alternatives. That was the point. I do not consider "neo"-yoga exploitative, I just consider it neo-mania, appealing to our urge for novelty.
  - mekoka 7y ago
    > Something that stands 1000 years has gone through multiple refinements. It may or may not be pinnacle, but any twist has high probability to making it sub-optimal than optimal. How do you think these refinements happen, if not by trial and error? You don't just discover the right way to do something, you more likely also find a few wrong ways in the process. If there's one thing history has taught us about innovation it's that it happens in the most unlikely of places. You know what else have gone through multiple refinements over millennia? Pleiades of religions that claim to successfully usher our spirituality. Are they wrong, are they right? Who knows? What I'm observing is that the world is still here waiting for something better.

nprateem 7y ago

> What if all these new age yogis with their sweating ways turned out to be able to perform their 100 surya namaskaras well past the age of 105, would it validate their form of yoga then? Do most people who practice the "traditional way" get to do it way past their 90s? I don't think "validation" is the right language any more than "right" or "wrong". People do yoga for a reason - health, aesthetic, spiritual, whatever. The validation comes from whether they get out of it what they want. Someone hoping to discover the spiritual stuff the gurus write about may be better served by a practice that focuses on that instead of longevity. Just because someone's reached 100+ years old doesn't mean they've got out of it what they want (i.e. if they seek spiritual experiences but haven't had any they may still feel frustrated).

mekoka 7y ago
The questions I asked served to highlight the ridicule of the criteria used to claim that something is wrong or right. So in essence, we agree.

kodz4 7y ago

Yup in India you can find a different "traditional way" from street to street. And there are lots of streets there. When you have an actual problem and go looking for solutions you will find stuff. People who don't know what they are looking for will find a lot of unnecessary things. I think that's also from Buddha...or maybe Bruce Lee :)