Yoga, OMET, and ARP
My latest issue of Yoga Journal arrived in the mail this weekend. Being sick and needing to spend what little energy I had on school work, I didn't have a chance to take a really look at it until this evening. Many, many excellent articles in this issue, several of them relevant (IMHO) to my graduate journey in general and the ARP journey in particular.
This month's "Personal Practice" article is about the flexibility that Yoga helps us discover, cultivate, and nurture... not just the flexibility of the body, but also (and perhaps more importantly) the flexibility of the mind. Practicing yoga can help you develop an adaptable mind. Yet, yoga teaches strength and discipline as well as flexibility - as I learned first hand w/ my shoulder injury - to be flexible but not strong is not balanced (it is not the middle way) and it can cause great harm. I think this will be a very important thing for me to keep in mind (and body) this year.
"The Compassionate Backbend" also struck home for me on several levels. First - I was drawn to it because backbends are among my very favorite poses (right up there w/ balancing and twisting). Whenever I perform one (in Yoga or dance) I hear the voice of one of my yoga teachers... "we often say we'll 'bend over backward' to help someone, but how many of use really do bend over backward each day?" It is interesting to me that backbends are associated w/ opening the heart (both the physical and the metaphorical heart). A while back, I wrote about fear and freedom - backbends are about freedom and, for many people, they are also about fear. I can't recall every being afraid to bend backward.. but I'm not always comfortable bending forward. I can do it, grab my feet ... whatever... but I feel constrained when I do... in a backbend I feel free and wonderful. Why? Hmmmm.. .I wonder.
There are two quotes from The Compassionate Backbend that spoke to me most (at least tonight) - "The discipline of yoga is a purification practice, but not in the sense that we Americans seem so inclined to believe. The goal is purification not for the sake of perfection but for the sake of freedom." and "The point of this practice is not to become someone else but to become more fully yourself..." This second quote is especially interesting because I begin to see that that is exactly how I view the process of ARP and, on a larger scale, the potential for the entire OMET experience. It brings me back to the discussion about identity that we had that first night in TI. I have many different aspects, but I am always me - as I grow, I (hopefully) become more fully myself. Maybe this is getting to esoteric or to grand, but I think my whole life is about that process in some way or another.
Ok... Kerry is on the Daily Show... gotta go! hehehe.
This month's "Personal Practice" article is about the flexibility that Yoga helps us discover, cultivate, and nurture... not just the flexibility of the body, but also (and perhaps more importantly) the flexibility of the mind. Practicing yoga can help you develop an adaptable mind. Yet, yoga teaches strength and discipline as well as flexibility - as I learned first hand w/ my shoulder injury - to be flexible but not strong is not balanced (it is not the middle way) and it can cause great harm. I think this will be a very important thing for me to keep in mind (and body) this year.
"The Compassionate Backbend" also struck home for me on several levels. First - I was drawn to it because backbends are among my very favorite poses (right up there w/ balancing and twisting). Whenever I perform one (in Yoga or dance) I hear the voice of one of my yoga teachers... "we often say we'll 'bend over backward' to help someone, but how many of use really do bend over backward each day?" It is interesting to me that backbends are associated w/ opening the heart (both the physical and the metaphorical heart). A while back, I wrote about fear and freedom - backbends are about freedom and, for many people, they are also about fear. I can't recall every being afraid to bend backward.. but I'm not always comfortable bending forward. I can do it, grab my feet ... whatever... but I feel constrained when I do... in a backbend I feel free and wonderful. Why? Hmmmm.. .I wonder.
There are two quotes from The Compassionate Backbend that spoke to me most (at least tonight) - "The discipline of yoga is a purification practice, but not in the sense that we Americans seem so inclined to believe. The goal is purification not for the sake of perfection but for the sake of freedom." and "The point of this practice is not to become someone else but to become more fully yourself..." This second quote is especially interesting because I begin to see that that is exactly how I view the process of ARP and, on a larger scale, the potential for the entire OMET experience. It brings me back to the discussion about identity that we had that first night in TI. I have many different aspects, but I am always me - as I grow, I (hopefully) become more fully myself. Maybe this is getting to esoteric or to grand, but I think my whole life is about that process in some way or another.
Ok... Kerry is on the Daily Show... gotta go! hehehe.
posted by susan | 10:54 PM
1 Comments:
Nice to know we share an interest in Yoga and the Daily show....not the same but both are good for the soul.
Margaret
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