Incorporating the breathing rhythms,mantras and nyasas, asanas are the beautiful physical practice in the vast body of yogic wisdom…going deeper beyond the physical,mental and pranic levels…for some.
But yet again for some it does aggrandize Ego.
In the long line of aspirants at different levels of their inner journey,we come across both :).
[QUOTE=InnerAthlete;10904]“The moment we shun something we do not accept it” is certainly one level of truth. However it is possible to accept it (when it is an it and not a whom) but discern it is not of this path for the person. So on one level, the personal level it is “rejected” but on the universal level it is accepted.
In this particular case I am not advocating shunning asana. I was merely pointing out a fairly well know component of yoga’s history. One can take that history and do as they please with it.
While all things are of the Divine they still have their place. One would not put cow dung in one’s bed sheets though both cow dung and bed sheets are clearly “of god”.
Your thoughts about light align with my own path and perceptions though I may not hold them in the same way you do.
Thank you for sharing. It was beautifully composed. Quite refreshing.[/QUOTE]
Thank you for your kind words IA
all my best to you my brother
Neil
Among the aspirants atleast for some asanas do aggrandize ego.This happens mostly when asanas become just a physical exercise program and this happening alot more nowadays.
I happened to see a young girl doing the postures perfectly like a dancer!!But the moment the class was instructed to close the physical eyes she was confused!! As asanas become more an exercise program,they somehow is slow in working as a transcending aid.
Prascina,
I have a slightly different view.
It is the job of the teacher to direct the student away from the aggrandizing of the Ego. The temptations are there and western yoga has surely been perverted enough at this point to lure the student into Ego at many a turn. But the teachers, we are not getting the job done.
Sometimes the teacher is doing this work and it is shared with the student and the student either doesn’t get it or doesn’t want it, or both. But many times the teacher has not come clean and, unable to put their own Ego in their pocket, they could not possibly help the student pocket theirs.
I am not an asana instructor nor a yoga teacher:) Just a striver…
Yes… the teacher did do the necessary ego pocketing for I could see the girl was actually smiling and trying to go with the instructions.
What I was vaguely trying to say was that the objective identifications on the asana levels are in a way slowing the transcending to the subjective levels.