yoga, what's it all about?

[Haoran]

I would say it's about Quality vs Fluff rather than traditional vs non-traditional.

Who is going to teach positions only vs who will teach breath as well.

What percentage of class is breath, what percentage is stretching/positions.

What is the teacher's understanding of the art and the possiblities that it can bring.

etc.

[jonathan.bluestein]

For those who've been into Yoga for some time:
Have you not suffered any ill side-affects on the joints/vertebrae (specifically the knee and the spinal discs)?
What is, in your opinion, the difference between correct/incorrect Yoga practice that leads to these sorts of injuries?

[neijia_boxer]

kshurika- dang bro...you look way younger than your age!!

BTW- let me know if you decide to go to Thailand, my cousin just emailed me and said he is busy with that project in Chiang Mai.

matt

[qiphlow]

listen well to kshurika, folks.
i have been happily addicted to iyengar yoga for the last 14-15 months thanks to his recommendations.
it's good shit. really good shit.
as far as what it will do for you: you really have to try it and see.

[GrahamB]

I know Iyenger is meant to be the man and all, but I just can't get past his posture. To me his lower back posture looks aweful in pictures of him standing - full of tension. What's up with that? Is it that he has opened up his body so much that for him it is 'normal'?

[Darth Rock&Roll]

lol. Graham, you're doing horse stance wrong.

do yoga instead.

lol

[kshurika]

Damn! Away from the computer for too long (thank God!). Lots to answer. I'll have to get back to it. For now, that picture of Iyengar in kandasana is OLD. Now (at 91) he gets his feet perfectly level, much higher up his chest and the soles perfectly flat against his chest. I'll try to find a pic to post.

Iyengar - tense lower back??????????? Huh?

[Chris Fleming]

Having been doing Pranayama for a little while (and loving it!) I would caution anyone getting a book and trying to learn it. Like with the rest of this chi gong stuff, get a real teacher.

[kshurika]

I agree completely. Books are good adjuncts, if you have a good teacher.

[shawnsegler]

I took my 6 1/2 yr old son to his first yoga class tonight. It was bomb and he had a great time. Pretty much everyone in my family has taken some yoga from the instructor Jim Gillen. He's a pretty amazing yoga teacher.

I'm really excited for my son. I think it's a great life skill and a really fun thing for us to do together.

http://www.yogacalm.org/

[Sprint]

Having been doing Pranayama for a little while (and loving it!) I would caution anyone getting a book and trying to learn it. Like with the rest of this chi gong stuff, get a real teacher.

My idea would be to read any recommended books and use their content as a means to help judge whether a teacher is sensible, safe etc.

[Darth Rock&Roll]

I have a complete illustrated text of Iyengar.

really excellent instruction and also includes healthful yoga for remedy of various maladies.

as for watching out for frauds, well, like I said, Yoga is open source, so if someone tells you tehy are doing cat/cow posture, you can readily look that up and find out if it is right or wrong.


many people from many walks of life do and instruct yoga.
some are very good, some are so so, but all are practicing.

the liars and cheats, well, I can't speak to them, they pop up where ever you find yourself.

Luckily, Yoga is an open art and is easily learned, but requires much practice, a lifetime of it.

Like in Kung fu, you will never know it all and you will never stop learning or practicing.
That is the first step in accepting practice. IE: knowing it doesn't stop.
It is what makes these arts humbling. It is intrinsic to the art forms that you or I should NEVER know the whole thing.

I love that about our physicality.

[wiesiek]

I would say it's about Quality vs Fluff rather than traditional vs non-traditional.

Who is going to teach positions only vs who will teach breath as well.

What percentage of class is breath, what percentage is stretching/positions.

What is the teacher's understanding of the art and the possiblities that it can bring.

etc.

I`ve always been thinking that proper yoga practise= breath + assana done as one connected exercise
and
this was the reason that i put "=" between yoga and qigong practise one day
form and breath as one =streachin` pose and pranayama as one

split between those two and you don`t doing yoga!
or
ima for example

[Miro]

Generally, yoga is the same thing as martial arts (or any other human activity) - to understand (starting with yourself) in order to live a better life. Because understanding is difficult, we usually start with the basic practice - and because it is much easier to grasp body than mind, so we begin with asana or pranayama in yoga, or with training the body for fighting in martial arts. Most people never get past this basic level (but do not forget please that jibengong/basics is the most important part of one's practice), however, there is more... To get more, it is necessary to become a professional, that means, to practice it daily at least eight hours, say, for 8-10 years to get started to understand it. Very few people can afford this and therefore there is very few people who can understand either yoga or martial arts (my opinion only).
It is the same as with learning Chinese - some clever people somehow calculated that to learn Chinese, one needs to spend approximately 2000 hours to learn it on average level. If one studies it once a week for two hours, it will take 19 years... If one practices for two hours every day, it will take 2.7 years. So you can interpolate - three years of standing in mabu for two hours daily means getting average skills in basics... So it takes 10 years to practice at least two hours daily to get to the advanced level when one can start to understand what is is it all about - and then he can back and he can start to practice it again from the beginning, correcting all his mistakes (all his incorrect practice due to unability to understand) in previous training... Good luck to all.

[ChiBelly]

It is the same as with learning Chinese - some clever people somehow calculated that to learn Chinese, one needs to spend approximately 2000 hours to learn it on average level. If one studies it once a week for two hours, it will take 19 years... If one practices for two hours every day, it will take 2.7 years. So you can interpolate - three years of standing in mabu for two hours daily means getting average skills in basics... So it takes 10 years to practice at least two hours daily to get to the advanced level when one can start to understand what is is it all about - and then he can back and he can start to practice it again from the beginning, correcting all his mistakes (all his incorrect practice due to unability to understand) in previous training... Good luck to all.

I don't believe you can really interpolate. Language contains many intellectual complexities, whereas mabu is a relatively simple physical exercise. If you practice using chopsticks three times daily, your skill does not improve after a while because it is the nature of the exercise. To get better, you have to do something else. Maybe catch flies with your chopsticks.