A Quote by Douglas Groothuis
All forms of yoga involve occult assumptions, even hatha yoga, which is often presented as a merely physical discipline.
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What's the benefit of hatha yoga? Physical. What do you need to do hatha yoga? Physical body. That's it. Breathing and spirit is a part of any sport. So that's why hatha yoga can be a sport.
People should be talking about "yoga asanas" as a competive sport. Because there are many forms of yoga. The most common two forms are hatha yoga and raja yoga. That's mostly what people understand.
I do stretches every morning and serious yoga. Not the hot, sweaty type - I don't believe yoga is calisthenics in fancy pants. I practise a variant of hatha yoga.
Iyengar yoga, hatha yoga, vinyasa flow - I love them all! My go-to is vinyasa, but I really love a mix of the purist forms and the fun stuff.
Indian forms of yoga have spread throughout the world due to their objectives of promoting health and harmony. Japan is but one of many countries that have received these age-old teachings. While Indian yogic disciplines (Hatha yoga in particular) have become well known, not everyone realizes that certain distinctive Japanese versions of Indian spiritual paths have evolved. Perhaps the first of these unique methodologies is the art of Shin-shin-toitsu-do, which was developed by Nakamura Tempu Sensei (1876-1968). In fact, Nakamura Sensei is often considered to be the father of yoga in Japan.
I discovered yoga in Sydney during my 'chubby' phase at this school on the beach that taught ashtanga-hatha flow. I gradually moved towards ashtanga, going beyond the primary level, which is a feat in itself, and even did an internship as I thought I wanted to become a yoga teacher.
We cannot expect that millions are practicing real yoga just because millions of people claim to be doing yoga all over the globe. What has spread all over the world is not yoga. It is not even non-yoga; it is un-yoga.
It takes courage and intelligence, you know, to do the stages of Yoga right, and to start with this Hatha Yoga… It’s just you and nothing but you, standing in one spot frozen like a statue with no place to go for help or excuse or scapegoat except inward.
Yoga is not about the history of yoga. Yoga is not about being in a sacred community of the initiated few. Yoga is about uniting inward, which takes place in the present, not the past, in each and every moment.
A lot of people trash their subtle physical body with psychedelic drugs. While they do certainly give you experiences in altered levels of attention, you pay a price for it. They definitely screw up the subtle physical. Hatha Yoga can be good for that.
There are four principal pathways that lead to enlightement: The yoga of love, the yoga of service, the yoga of knowledge, and the yoga of mysticism.
I love yoga. I do yoga when I have time, which is not very often.
The "Bhagavad Gita" is actually a very good text for yoga - the yoga of love, the yoga of action or karma, the yoga of understanding of intellect, and the yoga of reflection and meditation. I think it's a very important map for understanding the nature of consciousness.
In fact, many people, including some who practice yoga, assume that yoga is nothing more than a form of exercise, or they believe that only the physical aspects of yoga have relevance to their lives. Nothing could be farther from the truth.
What has spread all over the world is not yoga. It is not even non-yoga; it is un-yoga.
Yoga is a product of Eastern thought. A further complication is that the early Yoga teachers were both Indian and Hindu. So from the late 1800's and early 1900's the Yoga teachers who came across were as interested in Hinduism as in Yoga. Often what we were being taught was a mixture of two different systems.
