Does Yoga Help To Make A More Peaceful World?

Yoga Discussion General Yoga
#1

Based on my own personal experience and what I have seen in everyone else that I know personally who got into yoga it seems that there is far more potential for a more peaceful world through yoga than I previously thought possible…

Show me the person who has been doing yoga regularly for many years who still eats ?Big Macs?, who is an alcoholic, or who feels that they have ?enemies? in this world.

It seems to me that when people start to include yoga in their life they became far more aware of the concept that is commonly referred to as, ?What Goes Around Comes Around? and they start to really understand that if their desire is to have peace and happiness in their life they can not go around intentionally causing pain and suffering in other people?s lifes.

It even seems that shortly after getting into yoga people just naturally start gravitating towards more of a plant based diet than meat and dairy one, and towards more inspirational film, books, and people, and even more towards more peaceful music…

What I would like to know is, what kinds of peaceful changes (if any) did you experience after getting into yoga? Did your taste in food and entertainment change for the better? Did you become a more friendly and optimistic person to be around? Are there any other changes that you would credit with adding yoga to your life? And just how different do you feel the world would be if everyone was into yoga?

#2

[QUOTE=Jared Six;83450][B]Does Yoga Help To Make A More Peaceful World? [/B][/QUOTE]

It may be a little optimistic to think doing yoga asana will make a more peaceful world but perhaps it’s a start, come to an understanding of your true inner nature and the world will be at peace therefore a more realistic endeavor might be through the practice of Yoga (as in the Yogic Sciences; Jnana Yoga, Bhakti Yoga, Karma Yoga, and Raja Yoga), even this is simply an attempt to create a fertile ground for the spontaneous to happen.

#3

You’ve never met an angry, dysfunctional vegetarian?

If, as Ray alludes, the question is about asana then my short answer would be “possible but not likely”. JUST asana ultimately aggrandizes the ego. And one needn’t take my word as gospel as this is visible in the yoga world today without much looking.

A practice that is more robust and inhibits the oozing of dogma into the consciousness of the practitioner … THAT yoga can lead to a more peaceful world. There is no way to have peace when one person believes they are right and another is therefore wrong.

As for me I always consider me a work in progress and I’m incredibly hesitant to “celebrate” my positive change lest the universe send me a humbling lesson. Generally I have changed but it is not asana that has facilitated the change. Asana may have been the bait and it may remain a conduit for self-study but to me it is the integrated “fitting” of the parts of my practice that make it so effective. Meditation, nutrition, lifestyle, pranayama, applied philosophy, and yes, asana. These things, when they fit together and are consistent do facilitate change.

#4

Even if one looks at yoga as a nothing more than a form of fitness, it is unique in the sense that you aren?t in competition with anyone (other than perhaps your old self) and you aren?t trying to defeat anyone or anything. (other than perhaps the limited beliefs that you have about yourself.)

Again, based on what I have seen personally I believe that yoga can be very helpful getting people to become more understanding towards others and more caring about this planet that we all share… As a matter of fact, I have met many men in my life who are very?macho? who seem intimidated by yoga and say that men who get into yoga turn ?soft?. (less agressive and more sympathetic) and don?t want to ever even be seen in a yoga studio because it would hurt their ?tough guy? image.

Would yoga DVD?s and classes that are geared simply towards burning calories make someone a more peaceful person? I don?t believe so, but more genuine forms of yoga I believe can make a difference. There are many ?gateways? towards a more peaceful life. (Just reading a really good book can completely change a person?s way of looking at their life and lead to them becoming a completely different person.) Anything has the potential to be ?lifechanging? (either for the beter or for the worse) but I have never seen it change someone?s life in a negative way.

#5

Couldn’t your first paragraph also describe functional strength training?

#6

It is certainly not the asanas, but the mind process that brings people to yoga that is the focus here. More (and a lot more) people are turning to yoga today and undoubtedly most of them for fitness. Those who eventually fall out and give up because the fitness goal is either achieved or failed must be a good number too.

But the sheer number of practitioners is growing who are moving from physical yoga into yoga lifestyle and finding it rewarding. The number is also growing of those who discover the wholesome spiritual aspect of yoga. The absence of religion in the lives of many is making them embrace the spirituality of yoga more easily. Even yoga studios with nothing new to offer have started using the spiritual card and there seem to be many takers.

For me, the fundamental change was a smooth release from old habits that were the hallmark of modern life-style. This went hand-in-hand with aversion for crowd, loud music, cheap entertainment, worthless politics, useless celebrity news and small talk. Now, thanks to yoga, in my sixties, my workday is 15 hours, peaceful and productive. I have seen a sizable number of my friends taking to yoga and developing similar ‘relaxed indifference’ to their earlier material lifestyle. In our community, yoga was once a rare discussion topic reserved almost exclusively for the super-seniors. Though many people do give lip service to yoga and there is more intellectual understanding about yoga, those people remain good potential for practiced yoga.

Lastly, if some of the visionary yogis are to be believed, we as humanity are moving into the times that are conducive to spiritual rejuvenation and a dramatically greater number of individuals would be seen going the yoga way. With greater serenity in growing number of homes, world peace will certainly have its long-awaited chance.

#7

Imagine no religion
I wonder if you can
Nothing to kill or die for
A brotherhood of man.
You-oo-ou, you may say that I’m a dreamer . . .

‘Awareness’ would bring world peace and many of the benefits cited above. Every path deserves respect and has merits if applied with thoughtfulness.

#8

Well war existed before religions. Animals wants bigger territory and fights for it.
In africa people fight because one stole their cattle, in old america there was cattle thiefs as well. And probably today it exists.

The reason for war is in our mind and ego and not religion in it self. Some just use the religion for their own benefit. The sword is not evil it depends on the mind holding it.

Anyone doing it will surely have a subtle effect from only doing asanas , even if its only done as an exercise. And that subtle effect can lead to something bigger.

#9

Existence causes harm, the entire world is a war zone of death and dying including our very bodies, everything is perfect else it would not happen.

#10

Ray,

The best I ever read on this forum. Many thanks.

#11

Hi Jared Six. I mostly practice Meditation and Pranayama. Occasionally some asanas. Yoga has created huge changes within me over time and it is perhaps the largest factor for me when it comes to personal change, at least at this point of my life; but also many of my inner changes have been due to life circumstance changes, psychedelic experiences, friends, etc.

Through yoga practices I have learned, as you put it, what goes around comes around and especially lately I find myself refraining from being mean, even if it’s just very light as a joke, and I don’t speak gossip or ill of people because through my practices I’ve been shown that I am also hurting myself - and when others feel pain I feel it too.

Because of my meditation I have a firmer rooting in peace. I feel I can return to peace and calm much easier. Because of Pranayama and work with kundalini, I know what I am feeling is largely a result of many, many different factors. If I am upset or angry, then I don’t necessarily feel like a ship being crashed against waves. I just know that I am heading in a particular direction because of other energies so I don’t resist and create more trauma.

I am filled with more joy and energy. This is almost always palpable and always growing. I also feel that the universe is a place of order, and where we stand there is deep love from other forces… that’s not just from Yoga but it’s certainly in large part because of it. Because of this I feel fear far less.

The more I understand myself through meditation, the more I understand others and because of that I feel like I have a lot more compassion. In short, yoga definitely has and does continue to open my heart and make my life a place of joy.

I certainly think Yoga, when it has at least a foundation in meditation, definitely would make the world a more peaceful place!

PS. When I say yoga, I mean all branches. It was confusing for me when Ray assumed that Jared was talking about Asanas when the original post didn’t seem to imply that to me.

#12

When a person embarks on self discovery and finds peace within themselves that contributes to a global serenity.
I’ve been practicing Hatha yoga for a long time on my own because of my health and other circumstances. As I have become more aware and explored what was troubling me, I engaged a Yoga Therapist for regular one on one sessions, and made a stronger commitment to those things that I needed to.

Asana practice has led me to awareness of the moment, I have tried other Awareness practices but Hatha Yoga keeps calling me back. I am embracing and acting on my passions and that, for me, leads to inner, and therefore, world peace.

I do not think that everyone would find the same improvements from the branches of yoga. There are too many paths, too many people and too many changes over time, for us to have the hubris to claim that Yoga is THE Way. That is rather like the colonialists.

YG

#13

Promoting yoga and meditation in schools would be a great help. I think one day this will be the norm…I hope.

#14

[QUOTE=Bodymotives;83806]Promoting yoga and meditation in schools would be a great help. I think one day this will be the norm…I hope.[/QUOTE]

Absolutly!:smiley: Yoga is an awareness practice even when divorced from the guru/spirit approach. I see the recent court case for Yoga in a California school district very encouraging. http://www.ctvnews.ca/health/california-judge-allows-yoga-in-schools-saying-classes-are-not-religious-1.1349629

YG

#15

[QUOTE=Flower;83543]PS. When I say yoga, I mean all branches. It was confusing for me when Ray assumed that Jared was talking about Asanas when the original post didn’t seem to imply that to me.[/QUOTE]

It was more than an assumption since Jared and I crossed paths elsewhere.

#16

“That which you are, your true self, you love it, and whatever you do, you do for your own happiness. To find it, to know it, to cherish it is your basic urge. Since time immemorial you loved yourself, but never wisely. Use your body and mind wisely in the service of the self, that is all. Be true to your own self, love yourself absolutely. Do not pretend that you love others as yourself. Unless you have realized them as one with yourself, you cannot love them. Don’t pretend to be what you are not, don’t refuse to be what you are. Your love of others is the result of self- knowledge, not its cause. Without self-realization, no virtue is genuine. When you know beyond all doubting that the same life flows through all that is and you are that life, you will love all naturally and spontaneously. When you realize the depth and fullness of yourself, you know that every living being and the entire universe are included in your affection. But when you look at anything as separate from you, you cannot love it for you are afraid of it. Alienation causes fear and fear deepens alienation. It is a vicious circle. Only self-realization can break it. Go for it resolutely.” ~Nisargadatta Maharaj

#17

[QUOTE=ray_killeen;83499]Existence causes harm, the entire world is a war zone of death and dying including our very bodies, everything is perfect else it would not happen.[/QUOTE]

That’s just half of the picture. All this killing can happen because there is the universal vital ocean, alive, intelligent, flowing down, and being killed by us, our existence, as you said, in a continuous neverending sacrifice. What I described is usually called Higher Self in these threads … I call it Christ. He-she (not a bearded jew mind you) is being crucified again and again and again by our every movement, action, and thought, including these I share.

#18

[QUOTE=Hubert;83960]That’s just half of the picture. All this killing can happen because there is the universal vital ocean, alive, intelligent, flowing down, and being killed by us, our existence, as you said, in a continuous neverending sacrifice. What I described is usually called Higher Self in these threads … I call it Christ. He-she (not a bearded jew mind you) is being crucified again and again and again by our every movement, action, and thought, including these I share.[/QUOTE]

Is this arising spec in consciousness somehow meaningful/special, non-meaningful/non special…it just seems to be, the “intelligence” unfolding has nothing and everything to do with concepts in consciousness but the riddle is not answerable in finite consciousness, if the infinite can never be actualized the universe must be finite i.e. the cosmos had a beginning, if not can there be a “half of the picture” in the infinite; (infinite) – (infinite/2) = “infinite”, if god did not create the world, then there would be an effect without a cause, all science and history would collapse if the law of cause and effect were denied…space-time seems incidental to cause and effect not essential to it, therefore is god an uncaused entity that exists in a space-timeless state, who created god, consciousness does not exist in a space-timeless state therefore reason and intellect have little to do with solving the riddle of causality …just be… our exchange is nothing more than a spontaneous dance in consciousness entertaining minds nature, beyond silence the only constant reality is I AM-NESS. See where I’m going here; human language is grounded in a phenomenal experience of multiplicity and cannot therefore be used accurately to refer to what we experience in a state of so called absolute silence/stillness, likewise human logic is based upon phenomenal experiences and thus is incapable of determining without at the same time negating, its subject i.e. is there a notion in human consciousness outside the realm of ignorance including this one, it’s all a judgmental, my original point; how can concepts possible be right/wrong, better/worse, good/bad, higher-self/lower-self, etc./etc., there is no particular way, no one is special, no one is un-special, show me proof of profound meaningful purpose, concepts are nothing more than notions arising in specs of consciousness, however it is blissful to discuss/exchange/play with diluted interpretations of indescribable Truth, after all this is the nature of mind…entertaining itself. For me nagging questions were satisfied through self silence, nothing changed other than the appearance of what happens. Knowledge/wisdom indicates I am nothing, yet the experience of unconditional love indicates I am everything…I am that I am, just be…allow the unimpeded experience of everything and nothing inclusively.

#19

Yoga helps me tremendously … I am so glad I found yoga, by mistake and chance, and it almost saved my life!