Yoga Strength

Question:

What do you think?

My answer is yes but in my education it is called Thai massage.  a partner or in my case practitioner helps guide the recipient into and hold an asana.  The focus is on correct posture and increasing ability, not flexability. Partner yoga if thats what you want to call it is about providing security.  I work with the immobily and patialy handicaped and have found sucess in helping provide contol of movement in their daily lives. My answer is a firm yes        ARA

Response:

I also think no discussion about Partner Yoga is complete without talking about Traditional Thai Massage (Nuad Borarn). This healing art form has been around for several thousands years and ancient stone tablets of it can be vieuwed at Wat Pho in Bangkok. Traditionally it was practised and thought in the monastries and is ultimately a form of prayer. I myself have been practising Thai Massage for a couple of years now and have several yoga teachers among my clients. Whereas in the asanas one has to focus on stance, posture, breathing etc. during a Thai treatment you can relax and experience the  receiving of  the stretch. Later on when going back to your yoga practice you notice a deepening. Thai massage, by the way, is not simply stretching the body; it also works with  energy lines (sen-lines in Thai) and the points there in. Whenever I give a treatment to a yoga practitioner the response invariably is: "Wow how come this is not known more in the yoga community?!"  Incidently a local teacher (who’s name escapes me at the moment) was recently invited by an Aryuvedic school in India to teach, hereby starting on her dream to take Traditional Thai Massage back to India, where it very likely has it’s roots.   For more info please look at the following website:         http://members.aol.com/rrobertdn Please note: NOT to put www’s in this web adress; when you’re there double click on the Thai Massage icon.

Response:

     If it is all up to the individual then we each of us can claim the power of the mystics and sages to know what is best.

Yes, it’s all up to the individual. It’s your dicipline not somebody elses. We can name anything we feel like doing Yoga.

Well, don’t we do that allready? There are so many Yoga paths as you have ppl on this earth. We also have so many religions…   It’s up to you to find what suits you and what feels right. I suppose, but it seems sort of odd, that after thousands of years Yoga comes to mean nothing because it embraces everything.

Oh, you can see it the other way around too! Something that’s so big that it is able to embrace everything – almost like God, hm? – must be something very important. You know what YOGA means? To connect your Self with your beeing. And that does not automatically has to be something spectacular, dramatic, exotic, old aged, hindu stretching stuff… It could be… Yoga is more than just doing exercises. It’s more than reciting mantras. It’s even more than pranayama… As you said: "It is the mind set" Sat Nam – Hari Har Singh – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text –      As you can see, I’m more confused than ever.      I do appreciate your input.      Thank you, again. Peace and Love, Ray Ray,         There are people who say the same thing about Iyengar’s use of props, and Kripalu’s use of music.         I think if it feels like yoga, and has a yogic effect, it’s yoga enough for me. The sages of long ago were forward thinking folks who used what was available to bring together a series of systems that promoted unity consciousness. It’s just a personal opinion, but I think if Patanjali had a word processor he would have used it.         peace, sandra PS But I draw the line at methods that use a particular religious belief as part of the yoga practice. So it’s all up to the individual.

Response:

<<   If it is all up to the individual then we each of us can claim the power of the mystics and sages to know what is best.  We can name anything we feel like doing Yoga. I suppose, but it seems sort of odd, that after thousands of years Yoga comes to mean nothing because it embraces everything. Ray,         I didn’t mean to confuse you, or enlighten you, just offer my opinion. Judith Lasater is my teacher and she is working on a book on bringing yoga philosophy into daily life. We can read some of her thoughts on this subject in Yoga Journal articles.  I think you have it that it’s about attitude. Japa, repetition of mantra is a yoga practice that takes place interwoven in daily life, and it’s a very traditional practice.         I practice and teach hatha yoga, so my prejudice against bringing specific religions into practice works for me. I’m attracted to the use of my own body as an expression of life and devotion to a higher power. My personal religious beliefs are just that personal, I don’t believe in bringing them into my teaching of yoga. Many hatha yogis have been Hindu, and some will tell you hatha is a Hindu practice, and so to practice one must accept Hindu philosophy. What I’ve read points to yoga and hatha yoga predating all of our currently established religions and embracing all, but none specifically.         To get back to the use of props and partners in hatha practice. Classically it’s a no, no.  I learned hatha as a secret practice to be studied in private and practiced as a total life style affecting every aspect of the devotes’ life. It was a very satisfying way to live in the sense that I knew everything about my life and could explore inwardly quite deeply. However I found it left out the responsibilities of socialization. In a way I wasn’t living my life on earth out. For some this total devotion can be blindingly beautiful and complete. For me I realized it was a retreat, a running away from the darker parts of myself and the world. I decided to return to more contact and learn the lessons this worldly life offers me.         When partner yoga, contact yoga, or the use of props allows one to come deeply into connection with self as an aspect of unity using asana, I qualify it as a hatha yoga practice. Showering, driving, standing in line at the bank can be approached in a yogic manner, but for me they aren’t hatha practice in the same way.         You can surely find an authority to follow in this matter, but my suggestion is you accept your own experience. When I teach yoga to a disabled person who can’t control their limbs well and can’t move into most hatha asanas is it yoga? I think so, I feel the energy, the connection to unity these students find through practice. It seems as powerful as more traditional asana practices. That’s why I say intuit for yourself. Is it yoga for you? Once you know that it seems easier to accept the views of others while following ones own path. peace, sandra

Response:

Hi Namaste,  Thank you for writing.     You bring up some interesting points and add some more points of confusion.      Swami Devananda certainly used an aiplane to promote world peace, and lots of people, even some strict traditionalists are on line.  Using a word processor to bang out the Sutras probably makes sense, but straps and blocks have existed for thousands of years, and were not chosen by the masters, one would think because they dimininsh the inward journey and one’s ability to withdraw the senses.  Being comfortable with what is, rather than coming up with elaborate schemes for changing it.      I think hypnosis and massage and dancing in a mosh pit could "feel like yoga and (have) a yogic effect".  Would you be open to calling each of these things yoga?  I practice attempting to bring my full attention to showering, driving to work and doing my job, often with the aid of Mantra and while I suppose this practice might be Karma Yoga, I wouldn’t call it Yoga Showering, Yoga Driving, Yoga Working, because it is not the showering, driving and working that is yogic.  It is the mind set.      Your last comment about religious belief really threw me.  Bhakti or devotional yoga often focusses on a deity, no?  And there are practices that incorporate the repetition of known prayers, from any source of truth during meditation?  These are less yogic, than having someone pull your body into positions?      If it is all up to the individual then we each of us can claim the power of the mystics and sages to know what is best.  We can name anything we feel like doing Yoga. I suppose, but it seems sort of odd, that after thousands of years Yoga comes to mean nothing because it embraces everything.      As you can see, I’m more confused than ever.      I do appreciate your input.      Thank you, again. Peace and Love, Ray – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – Ray,         There are people who say the same thing about Iyengar’s use of props, and Kripalu’s use of music.         I think if it feels like yoga, and has a yogic effect, it’s yoga enough for me. The sages of long ago were forward thinking folks who used what was available to bring together a series of systems that promoted unity consciousness. It’s just a personal opinion, but I think if Patanjali had a word processor he would have used it.         peace, sandra PS But I draw the line at methods that use a particular religious belief as part of the yoga practice. So it’s all up to the individual.

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In discussing partner yoga or assisted yoga with a friend of mine who I consider very knowleadgable, he put forward that partner or assisted yoga may be beneficial, fun, spiritually deepening, but it is not yoga and shouldn’t claim the name. Basically his view is that yoga is developed by master yogis working in a direct line from other masters, and relying on the scriptures and direct spiritual experience for inspiration.  These various hybrid things fall outside this tradition and should not claim the status of yoga. What do you think? Peace, Ray

Response:

Ray,         There are people who say the same thing about Iyengar’s use of props, and Kripalu’s use of music.         I think if it feels like yoga, and has a yogic effect, it’s yoga enough for me. The sages of long ago were forward thinking folks who used what was available to bring together a series of systems that promoted unity consciousness. It’s just a personal opinion, but I think if Patanjali had a word processor he would have used it.         peace, sandra PS But I draw the line at methods that use a particular religious belief as part of the yoga practice. So it’s all up to the individual.

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