Day 13 - Skeletons in the closet

I have been reading this book, First There is a Mountain. It's about a journalist's inquiry and discovery of yoga's roots, and it's also a memoir about her life and being a yoga practitioner.

I'm particularly interested in it because I'll be doing teacher training in the Iyengar tradition at the Center for Yoga of Seattle, and this book mainly focuses on Elizabeth Kadetsky's journey to Pune, India to study with B.K.S Iyengar. I also like it because it is actually a novel, in the sense that it follows a plot, and has a cast of characters--a nice break from all the non-plot books I've been reading.

The book sheds a few lights on the aspects of yoga I hadn't even thought about: its history, its ties with various Indian political groups, its rivalries.

This is a pretty sobering experience for me, as it forces me to look at yoga in an objective light, or a different perspective from the starry-eyed yoga romance that I have idolized and put on a pedestal, and I'm very glad and grateful for it.

One thing that has stood out for me as I make my way through her interaction with Iyengar is the fact that he, a guru, a master of his domain, still has some skeletons in his closet. He still holds grudges with Sri K. Pattabbi Jois, who popularizes Ashtanga Vinyasa Yoga, and with whom he studied together, under Sri Tirumalai Krishnamacharya.

This revelation leads me to a bit of a let-down, some reflection, and then ultimately acceptance.

How could a satguru still have such petty feelings? Do those years and years of yoga and meditation not take that away? And if so, what hopes are there for us "mortals", the part-time yogis, the when-I-can-make-it-to-class yogi? It is like finding out that your favorite couple has split. You know those people, the last couple on earth that you think would ever break up, the one who epitomizes a Great Relationship. Then one day you found out they are dunzo, and a corner of your perceived Perfect World has been chipped away.

The book also has me asking a lot of questions about those that practice yoga, those that preach it, and those that do both. This has bothered me for a little while, and I keep pushing it out, or rationalize it (that Elizabeth, she doesn't know what she's talking about).

Then today I come to an acceptance, that it is what it is. Why not just let it be?

Day 11 - Real Men Say Om

I am practicing not being offended, and the Universe is really testing my will, throwing a couple wrenches in my We're All One Nothing Offends Me Spoke.

Yoga Things that Piss Me Off, part I:

So while browsing the Yoga section at the Seattle Public Library, I came across this book, Real Men Do Yoga. Within seconds of reading it, I started sneezing. Within minutes of reading it, I started breaking out in hives.

No, you won't have to stand on your head. There will be no strange and painful contortions here.
No chanting. No incense. No gurus.
And, no, it isn't a chick thing.

The first sentences of the introduction are kind of cute, in a, "you're a man, we know you're a man, you are very manly, we acknowledge your manliness" kind of way. I understand that a lot of guys, especially American guys, for one reason or another, are extremely sensitive about their huevos. Sometimes you'd think that they would rather be flattened by a steamroller than to be caught "doing a chick thing".

Since the book is about getting guys to do yoga, I am okay with the "it isn't a chick thing" mantra. And really, yoga is gender agnostic, so anytime anyone does something to extend the reach of yoga is all cool with me. So I hold my breath and read on.

... But we're just going to keep the focus on yoga's fantastic physical and mental benefits, without getting into the more cosmic stuff. So we'll be learning a twenty-first-century American kind of yoga, one that's fun, results-oriented and practical. The way men like things.

GAG ME! Please, someone bring me a barf bag. At this point in the book I am steaming like a kettle, and I feel like snapping my finger over my head, "Oh helllllz no you di'int" and threw the book shut.

Yoga Things that Piss Me Off, part II:

There is this fitness studio downtown Seattle, Slo Body, that I pretty much walk by every day. Today I picked up their brochure and checked out their web site. The home page is a flash page with revolving images of presumably their instructors in various yoga poses, with revolving tag lines, "No incense", "No chanting", "No nonsense", "Know your core", "Blah blah blah", "We blow", "Yogawash".

Only the first four tag lines are real, the rest are from my Annoying Tag Line Radar. I am totally taking the "No nonsense" label personally, it's as if it implies that chanting and incense are nonsensical things.

I can't quite articulate why I'm so easily offended by the tone of the book and the website. The book is well-intentioned. It'll get guys who would not otherwise do yoga to give yoga a chance. And that's all good. And maybe along the way they will get into some spiritual "cosmic" stuff. If the guy is interested, he will learn more and find out about the eight limbs of yoga, not just one or two.

I accept the fact that chanting's not for everyone, and incense can be really smoky and sometimes downright stinky. I'm also aware that chanting and incense evoke a certain mystical image that can be off-putting for certain people. In that sense, I understand the motivation behind these reassurances.

Still, are there better ways to say, "We'll give you the tools to build a strong body, how you find your spirituality is up to you"? I don't know the answer, but these two approaches seem to say, "Six-pack abs and better sex and more energy? Yes please. But I can do without your New Age Drama."

Yoga is body *and* mind. You can't influence the Muscular System without affecting the Nervous System too.

The Eight Limbs of Yoga

# Yama : Universal morality
# Niyama : Personal observances
# Asanas : Body postures
# Pranayama : Breathing exercises, and control of prana (energy)
# Pratyahara : Control of the senses
# Dharana : Concentration and cultivating inner perceptual awareness
# Dhyana : Devotion, Meditation on the Divine
# Samadhi : Union with the Divine