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Any suggestions/thoughts on learning yoga practices beyond physical exercises/fitness? I've been going in and out of the subject for the last 10 years or so. M

Any suggestions/thoughts on learning yoga practices beyond physical exercises/fitness? I've been going in and out of the subject for the last 10 years or so. Modern yoga practices in my country essentially boil down to either stripped down physical training, or something intentionally very esoteric and built around 'energies' etc. What I ideally would want to is to discern the actual practices from cultural background. I don't mind learning cultural background as well, but I have a hard time taking certain things for granted. Maybe there is some modern movements/sources that explain scriptures to a modern man, with focus on practice? What I usually find is way too scientific in the sense of Orientology/Philosophy but not the actual practice

csbartus 5y ago
I do pranayama (breathing techniques). And two yoga poses (mountain, corpse). That's what is left from 3 years intensive training. In other words I do what I like, when I like, how I like. If you want something methodical try Pilates. It's yoga without the cult.
- ffrank_t 5y ago
  Ideally I would want things like samadhi, kayvalya and numerous other things explained in layman terms and ideally with some modern instructions. I do not want a stripped version of yoga that only involves physical exercises. There is also this thing that some scriptures mention things that others don't and sometimes even present conflicting theories throughout the same scripture. Like hatha-yoga prardipika mentions two ways of achieving immortality: one through raising kundalini and another through saving bindu. Alternatively I'm looking for some guide on what are the main ideas, different schools and techniques developed in yoga, how they relate to each other, what are main concepts and how they evolve in different schools. tldr: I have a sense that there is something valuable for me, but I want to extract it with minimal costs, i.e. not getting a degree in philosophy or orientology in the process.
  - xyzelement 5y ago
    > have a sense that there is something valuable for me, but I want to extract it with minimal cost My gut feeling is that this won't really work. A lot of these things need to be felt and experienced, not just learnt. There's a metaphore that no matter how much one reads about mangoes and the descriptions of their taste, you can't really know what one tastes like until you eat it. Similarly the experience of yoga or any other somewhat metaphysical thing cannot be fully conveyed textually and intellectually. On one hand this bothers me as an engineer and a logical person. But on the other hand, when hiring someone we care about years of experience not just book knowledge. This is because the experience, including weird and failure like experience is part of how a person gets "there" in their growth. I think yoga and religion is much the same, you can't truly get it until you've struggled with the intangible and illusive elements of it and attained some of the feelings. Personal background: I was every lucky to get involved with some hardcore hatha teachers and ended up doing hatha teacher training a few years ago. The course was as much about the history and philosophy and the experience of yoga as it was about praneyama and asana. Since that time, I became more connected to Judaism (I think yoga opened me up emotionally for that) and drifted further away from yoga as I think they are incompatible in some ways so I am not a great authority. But I do think "not taking the easy way" is pretty central to the whole thing.
  - graderjs 5y ago
    Sort of like a Field Manual for Yoga? Sounds like a fun project, thanks for giving me the idea! A fun acronym: Bioenergetically Overcoming Death through Yoga; Manual for Immortality, Non-degeneration and Development. BODYMIND
  - nprateem 5y ago
    Check out the excellent books by Gregor Maehle - the one on Pranayama and the follow up on Yoga Meditation. They should give you what you're looking for especially if you've already got a good asana practice.
jvvw 5y ago
I've found a yoga teacher who is good at this - reasonably authentic yoga but without a requirement for superstition etc. I'd be surprised if he were the only teacher like that around - but it might take a bit more hunting out that the other types you mention (both of which I have encountered too!).
- deleted 5y ago
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csbartus 5y ago

I do pranayama (breathing techniques). And two yoga poses (mountain, corpse). That's what is left from 3 years intensive training. In other words I do what I like, when I like, how I like. If you want something methodical try Pilates. It's yoga without the cult.

ffrank_t 5y ago
Ideally I would want things like samadhi, kayvalya and numerous other things explained in layman terms and ideally with some modern instructions. I do not want a stripped version of yoga that only involves physical exercises. There is also this thing that some scriptures mention things that others don't and sometimes even present conflicting theories throughout the same scripture. Like hatha-yoga prardipika mentions two ways of achieving immortality: one through raising kundalini and another through saving bindu. Alternatively I'm looking for some guide on what are the main ideas, different schools and techniques developed in yoga, how they relate to each other, what are main concepts and how they evolve in different schools. tldr: I have a sense that there is something valuable for me, but I want to extract it with minimal costs, i.e. not getting a degree in philosophy or orientology in the process.
- xyzelement 5y ago
  > have a sense that there is something valuable for me, but I want to extract it with minimal cost My gut feeling is that this won't really work. A lot of these things need to be felt and experienced, not just learnt. There's a metaphore that no matter how much one reads about mangoes and the descriptions of their taste, you can't really know what one tastes like until you eat it. Similarly the experience of yoga or any other somewhat metaphysical thing cannot be fully conveyed textually and intellectually. On one hand this bothers me as an engineer and a logical person. But on the other hand, when hiring someone we care about years of experience not just book knowledge. This is because the experience, including weird and failure like experience is part of how a person gets "there" in their growth. I think yoga and religion is much the same, you can't truly get it until you've struggled with the intangible and illusive elements of it and attained some of the feelings. Personal background: I was every lucky to get involved with some hardcore hatha teachers and ended up doing hatha teacher training a few years ago. The course was as much about the history and philosophy and the experience of yoga as it was about praneyama and asana. Since that time, I became more connected to Judaism (I think yoga opened me up emotionally for that) and drifted further away from yoga as I think they are incompatible in some ways so I am not a great authority. But I do think "not taking the easy way" is pretty central to the whole thing.
- graderjs 5y ago
  Sort of like a Field Manual for Yoga? Sounds like a fun project, thanks for giving me the idea! A fun acronym: Bioenergetically Overcoming Death through Yoga; Manual for Immortality, Non-degeneration and Development. BODYMIND
- nprateem 5y ago
  Check out the excellent books by Gregor Maehle - the one on Pranayama and the follow up on Yoga Meditation. They should give you what you're looking for especially if you've already got a good asana practice.

jvvw 5y ago

I've found a yoga teacher who is good at this - reasonably authentic yoga but without a requirement for superstition etc. I'd be surprised if he were the only teacher like that around - but it might take a bit more hunting out that the other types you mention (both of which I have encountered too!).

deleted 5y ago
[deleted]