We do asanas for spirit and mind, for physical health, stamina, power, for body beauty and so on.
Some postures we do for pride.
They may be inconsistent with goals mentioned above, but it doesnt stop us. Even if you practice yoga on your own, theres a risk of letting your pride to take a control. In classes it may increase. My pride posture was Urdhva Dhanurasana (upward bow). What is yours, if you have?
For me it would be forcing oneself into a posture they are not ready for. Whatever it might be.
Before I knew that yoga was not so much about doing a perfect asana, I would try to really push myself into the posture, and caused myself injury. When I learned that it did not matter if you obtained the pose itself, that it was in the breathing, the centering within yourself, the calming of the mind and just be-ing, then I found myself enjoying the yoga even more.
For me, though, I would feel proud if I could do balancing poses! I fall so much lol.
Wow!!! Does Yoga DISCOURAGE feelings of pride??? Does it also discourage self-esteem??
Joanna63,
Youre right. I also like how David Swenson tells about it in his film: first he shows full Paschimottanasana with his head on his knees and says: "If this is done without concentration its not a yoga", then shows half this pose only touching his shins with his hands. “And if you do it only like that but concentrated - this IS yoga”.
Not word for word but his idea is the same as yours.
YogiAdam,
That`s a subject to think about. Where is the line between pride and self-esteem?
What is the self-esteem minimum for humanity progress in peace?
[QUOTE=YogiAdam;40852]Wow!!! Does Yoga DISCOURAGE feelings of pride??? Does it also discourage self-esteem??[/QUOTE]
Yes Yoga does discourage feelings of pride , I cant find any reference to yoga discouraging self -esteem in this any other thread ive always felt yoga promoted confidence rather than discouraged , indeed there are poses that will help with self -esteem .
Pride is written about greatly in yoga and buddhist sutras , it is of course one of the seven deadly sins from the Bible , and one of the five afflictions in yoga that hinder right knowledge , One definition given is
"An exagerated positive evaluation of oneself , often based on the devaluation of others , leading to attachment to ones self and aversion of others. "
In yoga sutras Pride can be translated as Asmita in sanskrit it is an obstacle to right knowing or knowledge.
Mr B K S Iyengar speaks on the subject in his book light on life
pages 87-88 and 194-5 .
He suggests that there is no problem of having pride in ones accomplishments as long as we dont attach ego to it , he uses the example of a famous musician who was humble before his art but still could have pride of achievement. Not to attach it to the ego ; it is a gift that he has been given the grace to share .
He goes on to say that pride leads to arrogance , arrogance to hubris (vying with the gods )
Our pride meets the external world and becomes tainted , pride leads to us being different and not in equality with others , the constant of comparing and contrasting ourselves to others the i am right you are wrong attitude , we judge by externals and by worthless comparisons. we lose the possibility in the joy of existence others.
He writes more but I have tried to precis what was being said with respect.
Self esteem and pride are charged with positives and negatives. I personally find it more beneficial to look for what is neutral when putting effort into restoring balance, both for myself and my yoga therapy clients.
My efforts have shifted from when I first committed myself to yoga sadhana, and now I practice to cultivate humility in myself, rather than put my effort into diminishing my pride. Not that prideful is foreign to me, as I too work with my ego nature, but I find Patanjali’s instruction of, [I]When you are disturbed by unwholesome negative thoughts or emotions, cultivation of their opposites promote self-control and firmness in the precepts, [/I]in sutras II:33, 34 to be the best teaching for creating real change in myself.
Two postures that cultivate humility for me are: 1) makarasana with arms extended and forehead to floor, and 2) kneeling pranamasana also with forehead to floor.
*nichole
charliedharma, I think, pride is connected with ego anyway. If it isnt, then Iyengars musician would feel this “pride” for everybody`s achievements.
Nichole, good quotation.
I personally do not practice toward pride and have no idea what others do or should practice toward, nor would I assert that there is one answer for everyone. I find pride to be “genetically” similar to ego and my work in the yoga in which I train, study, and teach is to transform the ego, not aggrandize it.
[QUOTE=Sasha;40799]We do asanas for spirit and mind, for physical health, stamina, power, for body beauty and so on.
Some postures we do for pride.
They may be inconsistent with goals mentioned above, but it doesnt stop us. Even if you practice yoga on your own, theres a risk of letting your pride to take a control. In classes it may increase. My pride posture was Urdhva Dhanurasana (upward bow). What is yours, if you have?[/QUOTE]
I was goin to post similar thread…
Well, somewhat similar…
i have never attempt certain poses juts because I do not think they will bring me to better me… I was going to ask if it is ok that I dont feel like Vrschikasana(Scorpio) can not be substituted by something…mm let say more natural…
My “evil” students sometime make me do very challenging poses…and I do…:)) just to maintain a status quo:))) LOL:)
Interesting question …
In your opinion, what asana would represent this feeling (pride) the best ?
In english, there is an expression for this: standing tall.
What asana would make you feel proud to be a human being …
Warrior pose comes to my mind. What about you, gals and guys ?
PS. There is nothing wrong for being proud as a human being. Dignity is not evil. The ability to do something, to make a change, to be a lightbearer, that’s not something to be ashamed of. Those who know how to show and nurture respect in their hearts, those are the people who dare to stand tall.
Just as there is a difference between humility and shyness or sheepishness so to is there a difference between pride and dignity.
I think it doesn’t matter what word you call a thing, as long as you feel it as a good thing, not an ego thing, but something pure and good, then that is what matters.
just a thought.
Than it’s my understanding of english, probably. Sorry for stating the obvious, again.
[QUOTE=Joanna63;41188]I think it doesn’t matter what word you call a thing, as long as you feel it as a good thing, not an ego thing, but something pure and good, then that is what matters.
just a thought. :)[/QUOTE]
Yes. If not, what would you call that glowing feeling when you watch your daughter accept a distinction with honours at her school awards ceremony.
For me, my pride posture is full lotus.
I think I do the best corpse pose, but nobody gets to see it. 
talking of pride, reminds me of a little story–
there lived a sculpture once who was just perfect in his craft, he would crave statues which would look more than real’
once during a night he dreamt that yama dutas(angles if u choose to call) will come after 30 days to take his soul away.
he set about his task and carved out seven statues of himself and on the appointed day stood still amongst his creations.
lo!! the angles could not identify amongst so many of him and went back to god to report what has happened. God smiled and told them what to do.
the angles arrived and inspected all of the statues and said hmmm, lets see, oh, this one could have been better and the man jumped out from his station and shouted ’ there cant be imperfections in my creations.
u know what happened then.
pride in ones work or was it ego.
[quote=Joanna63;41188]I think it doesn’t matter what word you call a thing, as long as you feel it as a good thing, not an ego thing, but something pure and good, then that is what matters.
just a thought. :)[/quote]
Hi Joanna,
You mean it doesn’t matter what word YOU call a thing, right?
If we look at your statement from the perspective of yoga and in so doing apply the concept of the Kleshas then it would be very true, assuming the practitioner has done enough appropriate work to see through their own avidya or ignorance.
Patajali outlines four “errors in perception”; pure for impure, self for non-self, pain for pleasure, and permanent for impermanent. And we, as human beings make these eight errors consistently:-) This is why we eat things that are not healthy for the body and do things which cause us to suffer. So I agree that in the student who has a clear view and has that view from doing “the work” yes all that matters for that person is their own self-assessment.
When this is not the case, then unfortunately the ego can convince us of just about anything.
Even when this is rejected (which I cannot fathom a yoga practitioner doing) we are in fact communicating only through an Internet forum and therefore the “written” word. So in that context, it seems, some clarification is more than necessary.
The present research examined whether the recognizable nonverbal expressions associated with pride and shame may be biologically innate behavioral responses to success and failure. The pride expression appears to meet one of the central criteria for a functional universal.
Hubert, answering your question: it`s not about the best posture you can do, but wrong reasons for doing particular asanas.
Deep ones are classified in Kleshas, which is mentioned by Gordon.
FlexPenguin, pride for daughter in your example is not clear (no offense), if it appears from comparison with other students, though it might feel that way.
It may be followed by shame or jealousy like balance tools.
[QUOTE=Sasha;40799]We do asanas for spirit and mind, for physical health, stamina, power, for body beauty and so on.
Some postures we do for pride.
They may be inconsistent with goals mentioned above, but it doesnt stop us. Even if you practice yoga on your own, theres a risk of letting your pride to take a control. In classes it may increase. My pride posture was Urdhva Dhanurasana (upward bow). What is yours, if you have?[/QUOTE]
The Camel Pose, definitely!
Besides the yoga teacher, I was the only one in my class who could actually reach their ankles.
The pose just seemed so effortless to me whilst everybody else was struggling with it. I was like ‘what’s wrong with you guys?’ LOL
I could do all backward bending postures without even trying, however, getting me to do pashimottanasana (sp) and any forward bending postures was an entirely different story, and as for headstands, [B]forget it![/B] lol
I just did the inverted ‘candle pose’ instead (forget the Sanskrit name)…I was also proud that I could move from that, into that pose where you bend your knees and put each knee beside your ears…nobody else could do that either.