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"Yoga is fucking judgmental" Sorry it really isn't. Yoga is its true sense is an individual practice for improving one's mental, physical, spiritual state of b

by sgpl 13y ago

"Yoga is fucking judgmental" Sorry it really isn't. Yoga is its true sense is an individual practice for improving one's mental, physical, spiritual state of being. Perhaps if you are a practitioner of Yoga, you might be interested in learning more about its origins and history [1]. Bikram Yoga which the author took classes for is a commercial take on yoga, much like Dance Yoga, Jillian Michaels Meltdown Yoga; or something I could copyright tomorrow called "Dance Dance Yoga Revolution". From my understanding Bikram Yoga is a fitness product to make money for its founder, which he has ensured by "copyrighting" his system of poses and by suing numerous studios and former students, etc. Maybe this is why the author's experience with yoga was of being judged and why he calls anyone with an opposing view a "hippie". The practice of saying "namaste" at the end of the session sounds like something you'd do to add a flavor of east meets west to make this practice cool/hip because in the context described in the article, it doesn't add much to the state of the individual aside from this cool "namaste moment." "Choudhury holds a copyright for the 26 poses which constitute Bikram yoga under the same theory which allows choreographic sequences to be copyrighted. In September, 2011, Choudhury filed an infringement suit against his former student, Greg Gumucio, founder of a competing chain of hot yoga studios." Disclaimer: I haven't ever taken a Bikram Yoga class, but I've been practicing Yoga on and off since high school. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yoga https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yoga [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bikram_Yoga#Legal_issues https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bikram_Yoga#Legal_issues

cscurmudgeon 13y ago
Thanks for posting this. Yoga if done correctly should not make you tired. It should leave you in euphoric and blissful state devoid of almost all negative emotions. This then puts in the right state to do meditation. It took me years to get this right. And you can't commercialize something that takes that long and is slow and gradual. Plain and simple: If X makes you tired or judgmental or angry ..., X is not yoga. I am not making this up. Google Scholar this. Also, yoga teachers are not supposed to do it for money. Read up on how Gurukuls worked. Yoga removed from its spiritual context is just a kitschy low grade thing that may hurt you while taking your money.
- rjzzleep 13y ago
  yeah and swimming correctly doesn't make you tired either. but until you actually reach that point, you have to go through many many hours of painful practice. Thinks don't magically happen. You have to work for them. EDIT: That said, my girlfriend who was indian, disliked bikram yoga a lot, because of some of the aforementioned issues
  - DenisM 13y ago
    Things have to be difficult only if you want them to be difficult. I had the bliss from yoga classes since probably second or this class. Physically tired, mentally relaxed.
    - rjzzleep 13y ago
      ok, so given the fact that a lot of the difficulty results from being different levels of flexible, and coming from different fitness level backgrounds, and having different levels of experience when it comes to gathering your thoughts. Are you sure you want to imply that everyone starting a sport has the same physical fitness, stretchiness and mental attributes when starting out any sport/yoga?
      - DenisM 13y ago
        You start off by saying that only hard work can bring about bliss, and when confronted with a different experience you pigeonhole it into asserting that bliss must befall every single person regardless of their circumstances. Step aside from the false dichotomy - it's not the case that yoga can either bring about bliss quickly to everyone or no one. It may bring to some and not to others. Will it work for a particular person? The easiest way to find out is to try. There is no point in guessing. Sign up for 8-class introductory course, by the end of it you will have a pretty good idea whether it works for you. It worked for me, and it worked for other people I know, so it works for some people. It's not going to be a waste of time. If you're worried about prerequisite fitness level, I can guarantee you that I had the worst stretching and the least endurance of the entire group - it's fairly obvious in class. One thing I had more that others is discipline - I think I was one of the few to attend all eight classes.

by sgpl 13y ago

cscurmudgeon 13y ago

Thanks for posting this. Yoga if done correctly should not make you tired. It should leave you in euphoric and blissful state devoid of almost all negative emotions. This then puts in the right state to do meditation. It took me years to get this right. And you can't commercialize something that takes that long and is slow and gradual. Plain and simple: If X makes you tired or judgmental or angry ..., X is not yoga. I am not making this up. Google Scholar this. Also, yoga teachers are not supposed to do it for money. Read up on how Gurukuls worked. Yoga removed from its spiritual context is just a kitschy low grade thing that may hurt you while taking your money.

rjzzleep 13y ago
yeah and swimming correctly doesn't make you tired either. but until you actually reach that point, you have to go through many many hours of painful practice. Thinks don't magically happen. You have to work for them. EDIT: That said, my girlfriend who was indian, disliked bikram yoga a lot, because of some of the aforementioned issues
- DenisM 13y ago
  Things have to be difficult only if you want them to be difficult. I had the bliss from yoga classes since probably second or this class. Physically tired, mentally relaxed.
  - rjzzleep 13y ago
    ok, so given the fact that a lot of the difficulty results from being different levels of flexible, and coming from different fitness level backgrounds, and having different levels of experience when it comes to gathering your thoughts. Are you sure you want to imply that everyone starting a sport has the same physical fitness, stretchiness and mental attributes when starting out any sport/yoga?
    - DenisM 13y ago
      You start off by saying that only hard work can bring about bliss, and when confronted with a different experience you pigeonhole it into asserting that bliss must befall every single person regardless of their circumstances. Step aside from the false dichotomy - it's not the case that yoga can either bring about bliss quickly to everyone or no one. It may bring to some and not to others. Will it work for a particular person? The easiest way to find out is to try. There is no point in guessing. Sign up for 8-class introductory course, by the end of it you will have a pretty good idea whether it works for you. It worked for me, and it worked for other people I know, so it works for some people. It's not going to be a waste of time. If you're worried about prerequisite fitness level, I can guarantee you that I had the worst stretching and the least endurance of the entire group - it's fairly obvious in class. One thing I had more that others is discipline - I think I was one of the few to attend all eight classes.