Physical - Annamaya kosha
Energy - Pranamaya kosha
Mental - Manamaya kosha
Wisdom - Vijnanamaya kosha
Bliss - Anandamaya kosha
Self - Atman
Even the grueling 200-hr Yoga training which some of my friends have endured is about doing all the poses (which can be quite difficult, especially if you are older and have something like a bad hip).
The 5 Koshas of Yoga: http://www.swamij.com/koshas.htm
There is the notion embedded in Western culture that the seat of consciousness (which many equate with the self) is contained within the Mind somewhere. We have a mostly pop cultural understanding of the mind with a good dash of Freud-speak. I think that experimental psychology and neuroscience are increasingly important as sources of understanding for the mind.
In the West, also, I figure that wisdom is pursued through religion or the arts/literature/cinema/etc. or philosophy.
I think that most in the West see energy as part of the scientific domain of things. I realise that many don't but I'm going to discount this group as pre-scientific and/or not scientifically literate and/or superstitious.
I guess what you mean by Bliss is what the Buddhists mean by Elightenment? I can't think of a direct analog for this state in Western culture. If you could tell me more I'd answer this better.
Short answer. Western culture and science is resistant to the model you are putting forward. That's why. Be happy to debate any of this further.
Although in Buddhism there is at some point the attainment of bliss (as a factor in the first jhana[0]) the goal is to let go of that bliss and go beyond. The next step in yoga is the realisation of atman, while in Buddhism the goal, Enlightenment (which is much better translated as "Awakening") it is the very opposite--the realisation of anatman (non-self). So they're not really compatible. In fact Buddhism is doctrinally sharply opposed to all strands of Vedic thought and practice.
Bliss is not what the Buddhists mean by Enlightenment, though it is in the same general "area". The most obvious Western equivalent in that same area is the term, "Gnosis".
I think it is along the same levels of Enlightenment.
"Our egos very often keep us from being our best selves" -Karen Armstrong
I think materialism is the short-term fix to some problems that we all have. Nothing is black or white. We are all consumers, in some form. I think true happiness comes from producing and giving more, especially when there is no monetary compensation or stress tied to the giving or producing. E.g. a real hobby
Highly recommended for anyone interested in yoga. Anyone in the Boston area check out http://www.yoganow.net run by Patricia Walden.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/12/16/how-the-yoga-indust...
Excuse me, but what view did i express other than to point it out? I'm aware of the slight contradiction at hand. Recall this site is concerned with revenue generation opportunities
If you havent yet crossed over, welcome to the world of yoga.
RIP BKS.
[1] http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/08/magazine/how-yoga-can-wrec...
[2] http://6thfloor.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/01/10/the-healing-pow...
You can get around the login by using an Incognito or Private window, in Chrome or Firefox.
1. If it hurts, don't do it.
2. Listen to your body.
3. You can not 'win' yoga.
4. If you have an injury, use a modified pose.
5. It's your practice, do it your way, at your own pace.
6. Rest if you feel like it.
7. Don't do everything everyone else does.
etc
So unless everyone did the senior-citizen-modified poses there's always going to be risk of injury. Assuming a person could just jump into a crazy backbend like Vrschikasana without injury would be crazy... I don't know who you think isn't acknowledging this as every yoga instructor has probably also hurt themselves at one point or another.
The people who advocate yoga as healing or beneficial are not incorrect. But they're also not explaining to you everything about yoga in one paragraph. People who read one or two sentences and stop learning are dooming themselves from ignorance.
Much like people who work out without a personal trainer, people who do yoga without an experienced teacher (not just practitioner) are going to be at a significant disadvantage. Perhaps the real issue is that most people don't acknowledge that yoga is complex and can't be minimized or simplified.
What the heck. Yoga is not about being competitive; it's just about you, and you alone. Do the same yoga that you do when you're alone, as when you're in front of 1000 people. Listen to your body.
An analogy is: yoga is like tango. The 'woman' is your body, and you are the lead.
The overwhelmingly positive effects of yoga are though undeniable and most people will definitely benefit. Your personal mileage should obviously vary.
Put another way, how else would you put a number on the value that it brought to our society? You could use the number of practitioners, but that wouldn't rank compared to other things those practitioners do.
I totally dig Karen Armstrong, I have two of her books :)
I think Western culture is absorbing these Eastern ideas about not identifying with our thoughts and emotions, that you can acknowledge that 'you' (whatever that is) have thoughts and emotions but that they don't have to define you. I would be extremely interested in seeing if this way of thinking has been advocated in Western philosophy prior to now. Prayer in religion may come close?
An interesting advance on this I have seen recently is the social model of human interaction. By which I mean, we are not a duality: physical and psychological beings but a triad: physical, psychological, and social. To achieve 'happiness' or 'wellness' or 'enlightenment' or 'bliss', call it what you will (I know they are not strictly synonymous) that you'd have to work on all three: the body (exercise or yoga poses or ...), the mind (meditation or mindfullness or ...), society (? charity? other virtuous acts?)
Food for thought indeed :)
It surfaces more in a religious context; perhaps another East-West difference that is relevant here is the separation between secular philosophy and religion.
Many yoga practitioners do acknowledge the risks, but many do not. I should probably change which isn't often acknowledged to isn't acknowledged often enough or which many in the community do not acknowledge.
If you read the articles I linked, and the article comments, you'll see a lot of anger and denial. (But not from everybody.)
When we are still and calm, our muscles relax (in general). This is basically a bad thing for our bodies because it stops the support that a lot of our body needs. For example, letting your neck sag forward or hunching over your desk over a long period of time can damage parts of the neck and spine, overdevelop your deltoids/chest and hurt your lower back.
When you're doing yoga asanas, this is all exacerbated as you intentionally put your body into positions that we don't naturally move into without lots of practice. So in effect, it's significantly more dangerous to sit on a mat if you're not engaging your muscles or positioning your body in the correct way to support everything.
Yoga is dangerous in the way that every physical activity that requires skill to perform is dangerous, with one caveat: yoga asanas are dependent on the way you personally move your body and the state it's in. So really, it's only dangerous for people who naturally move their bodies in a way that might promote injury. This is why learning from a teacher how exactly to get into a pose, and practicing that regularly, is so important: it removes ambiguity and improves the entire physical act to not only be safe, but also be superior to how you might naturally do something.
But as a practitioner, I don't personally see how yoga is any more dangerous than skiing or wrestling. You can break an arm in wrestling, and a collarbone in skiing, if you're not careful. Just because sitting on a mat looks easy doesn't mean it is.