Yoga as a spiritual practice

TheGoblinRoad

I personally don't care if someone's Buddhist, Christian, Muslim, Jewish, or anything else: I appreciate all religions. I also don't feel anyone "must" be religious, so don't interpret this post as me trying to convert anyone to anything.

That said, I just wanted to share:

I've done yoga purely for exercise, to get healthier and fitter.

That's enjoyable, but even more enjoyable for me is making it my spiritual practice. I pray before I do the yoga, and the yoga itself is a prayer as well. Yoga, the word, translates roughly as "union." That was it's primary intent: unifying body, mind, and god. I see it rather as reminding ourselves of the union that already exists, in my belief anyway, and paying homage to that with worshipful action.

This has made my regular practice something I enjoy even more, because then it never feels like an exercise taking up my time, but rather as a spiritual devotion that enriches me.

Just wanted to share. Those of you that have a faith based in any religion or even one that isn't based in religion, consider making yoga more than just physical moves. Every asana pose a prayer in itself, an act of gratitude.

For those of you that aren't religious at all, you could still make it something similar, perhaps just a general feeling of gratitude toward every person that ever helped you, like your family members.

it_be_asin

I am a devout athiest, and got back into yoga to help my overtrained hips recover. I still think it's the best thing you can do to recover from hard training and whatever life throws at you, ever.

However, I also appreciate the focus of yoga on the breath, and on mindfulness. This is great for lessening anxiety and gaining clarity on what's important in life. And as someone who periodically has issues with depression and anxiety, this is very beneficial for my mind.

nikirtehsuxlol

I'm Christian (well, according to some people - Mormon specifically). I'm not a completely practicing Mormon but Im not ex-Mormon either (ie, I dont hold any ill will towards the Mormon church). I even still go to church every now and then.

I've always have been given the impression that people think they are *nothing* without Jesus - with Mormons and other Christian denominations (not correct across the board with all Christian denominations... but just generically ... think of how Christians view themselves and think about how scared they are for Hindus and Buddhists and Muslims future salvation). And most Christian churches teach that we have some sort of soul, what have you. And I got that ... but there's an impression there that being a Christian makes you closer to God or something. And it's through the church that you can approach that spiritual part of yourself easier ... by focusing on God/Jesus.

I was about 19, I was at the gym. Just going to my yoga class. And gym yoga is not the same really as studio yoga. You dont really meditate or really sit in any sort of silence. But we had a decent instructor and we would do a bit of centering at the beginning of class and we would have a 2 to 3 minute savasana at the end. My mind typically raced quite a bit or I'd think about what I'd do when I got home. (I honestly didnt know what to do during savasana). But this one day, I had a productive day at work and she taught a pretty rigorous yoga class but I was in shape and found the class challenging but reachable. And we go into savasana and I'm pretty damn pleased with how things went, I was thankful for everything that led me up to this moment and I felt a huge sense of gratitude (for my body, for the day, for the instructor). And there was nothing really to *think* about after that ... so I honestly found a smooth ride to a deep, lively silence. And, I dont know, I just FELT and KNEW I was something more than my body and the sum of the atoms that made me at that time.

So this moment nudged me to think that I was spiritual no matter what.

Thinking that you're spiritual and actually feeling it (as I felt I just did during that savasana) are different things.

HORRIBLE ANALOGY: So your mom can tell you the stove is hot (being told you're spiritual) ... Or you actually reach out and touch it (actually feeling spiritual) ... I was the type of person that believed the stove was hot so never got 3rd degree burns or anything. And if I see a fence that says it's electrified, I'm sure as hell not gonna touch it. I believe it. I basically KNOW it's electrified. I dont need to touch it when someone tells me it's electrified, I can hear the hum of electricity running through it to KNOW it's electrified. But, you know, if you touch it and get shocked, you're like "YEP! That was electrified"

With my experiences in specifically the Mormon church - I feel like the bulk of the time you're being TOLD that youre spiritual. And I believed that I was! Like sure as that electrified fence was electrified, I knew I was spiritual.
I just think where modern day churches fall through is the PRACTICING of feeling spiritual.

When you're praying or reading scriptures or serving other people ... you're still DOING something. You're never really "still enough" to receive this message that you're spiritual
And, with yoga, you're PRACTICING. I focus a lot on posture and alignment. So you do kind of have to slow down your mind and think about what your back arm is doing. Or you have too much weight in the heel, maybe you should use a little more of the front half of your foot to be more grounded. And after awhile, you just FEEL what the pose should feel like. You dont have to think about each of the individual parts. Because, with the practicing that you do ... you eventually learn how the body feels when it's fully interacting with itself during the poses. And I think the asanas really move to slow your mind down during the practice, so you can train your mind and body to work together, seamlessly. Not fighting each other. And when they align ... there's some weird jump that happens that I cant really explain (that you're probably not meant to explain. It's a spiritual thing ... not a physical thing. )

I think that FEELING like a spiritual being really helps me to start being honest-to-god nicer to other people. Being told you're spiritual ... it was easy for me to forget that and it was easy to be mean to people because I would view them as THINGS. But now I find it tons easier to realize and treat them like they are spiritual beings too bc I've FELT that Im more than just a body. (I guess the whole actions speak louder than words thing comes to play here. You can be told to be nicer to other people .. but until you feel how intrinsically awesome you are - not be told how intrinsically awesome you are - how can you realize how intrinsically awesome other people are?)

And, again, I personally believe that scripture and all that tells and instructs you how to actually get to this point. In the scriptures it says to SEARCH, PONDER, and PRAY. And I feel like with the Mormon church and religion in general, we stress the DOING. The searching (the scriptures) and the praying. I've been told to ponder ... and religious people might ponder by taking notes or discussing what they read with friends (again, DOING things). But with my yoga experiences, I view that ponder word in a much different way than other Mormons might. (and bless the mormon church ... because when we pray and ask for things, we're taught to not just ask ... but to receive. So wait for an answer.)

In Mormon scripture (which includes the bible btw) we're taught that the holy ghost is a fire burning inside (loosely quoted) but we're also told he's a "still small voice". And I dont know if you've ever gotten that feeling of burning in your chest when you're excited? Or when someone is romantically attracted to you and you're attracted to them back? Or maybe when you are in a crowded stadium and someone hits the right note on the star spangled banner? I assumed that was evidence of something greater than myself (the holy ghost - the "fire" burning inside). I never understood what the "still small voice" meant. But ... during that special savasana I just mentioned, there was no burning in my chest; that was more along the lines of a still small voice.

So I dont want to demean or take away from my religious experiences. Because I feel like I've learned a lot from organized religion. Discipline, not succumbing to my desires so quickly. The Mormon church also has a great community. So does lululemon, right? We serve others with no expectation of something in return (along the lines of karma, I think). There are some bad seeds, yes. We are all familiar with the going-ons at churches. It's easy to find the "ills" of organized religion. But there are some yoga places that will rip you off. There are some yoga instructors that will teach a class that will seriously hurt someone because of bad instruction, a lululemon person murdered a coworker (or something like that), that guy in India lifted his arm for 38 years in devotion to Shiva and now his arm is atrophied (we call that an attachment to attachment). I dont blame those instances on yoga ... just like I'm not going to attribute everything bad about religion to organized religion. I think it's more people's relationship to the idea and their relationship to other people that concern me more - their intentions.

Going off on another tangent regarding CEREMONY (I remember reading the word in the thread earlier) - I heard this great yoga instructor say that ceremony speaks to the spirit. So when you wed someone, that's a ceremony. I think that's why weddings are SO important to some people. It SAYS something stronger than "I ain't left you yet honey! I'm here aint I?!" Well yeah, but that's not the same thing". Why not do something to get over a breakup?! Burn his picture. That can be a ceremony. Flushing a dead fish down the toilet is ceremony. We know we are commited to someone ... but a ceremony speaks to our spirit and now we KNOW. The fish is dead ... but saying a few nice words and flushing it down the toilet makes it hurt a little less because now our spirit knows.
And, even in religion, when you take the sacrament ... the bread symbolizing the body of Christ and the wine his blood ... that's a ceremony. People in the scriptures were told to do some ridiculous but ceremonious things. And it was usually to the benefit of the person performing the ceremony.

I think ceremony (DOING something) can speak to the spirit. Like how PRACTICING yoga and posture alignment ... can bring about a connection to the spirit during savasana!

And it's neat that our body (the DOING) has it's own truth. Our body realizes things our minds dont even know or things our minds want to try and hide from the public! Like in a polygraph - you're trying to lie ... but you cant stop the palms sweating or the heart from beating. It's just hard to lie with your body (unless you get a lot of practice, I guess). And it's hard to lie to even yourself (ie, so you break up with someone and you're like 'I dont need anyone! Im fine!' but on the inside you feel heavy). Just taking these thoughts further along - when you tell yourself you're going to do something, then by all means do it! You dont want to lie to yourself. "I'll work out tomorrow" and then you dont workout. We do this all the time to ourselves! How often do we lie to ourselves?! And I always wonder ... like does that do something super damaging to us? I dont know. I just always wonder about that.

I personally dont think being religious and being spiritual are incongruent ideas that can't coincide within the same person (did I word that right? Eh, you know what I mean)... but, at the least, I did find out that one special day during savasana the difference b/n spiritual and religious.

I know I wrote a book here and I probably need to edit. But I have to pack for a trip! So my intention with this post is not to offend or start an argument. Or say my interpretation is THE right interpretation. But just to say, THROUGH yoga, I found out the difference b/n being spiritual versus being religious. And I dont mean to imply that yoga is 'better" than religion (Christianity, specifically) or vice versa either. That's not what I meant to say at all. I just think these are tools out in the world. Some tools work for people; some dont.

jlira01

From a practical perspective..how do you focus on the spiritual component while your doing the poses or flow? Do you clear your mind, focus on your body/breathing, or focus your mind on prayer or thinking of what you want to consider?

Aaloo79

Thanks guys for starting such an interesting post. To begin with, I'm an equal follower or non-follower of all the religions. No offences meant, sometimes I think that religions were formed long time ago to make the humans follow some kind of rules of the land which we have in the forms of laws of countries etc these days.

Coming back to the topic, I originally belong to the land where yoga originated. The religion (I won't name it, else you would think I'm doing PR) there is celebration of life. There is a god for every aspect of human life and nature, be it birth, life, death, air, water, fire or any aspect of nature. The idea is that we should respect every aspect of life as all these aspects are essential for life. On the same lines, yoga is a form of celebration and respect of body. Feeling the rhythm of body, analysing it and possibly correcting it.
Probably meditation and religions are two different things. And for yoga, the more you find, the more exciting it is.

Two personal examples I would quote:
1. Standing absolutely still during national anthem at school was always a challenge for me. You know something or else would definitely move . But I saw a huge change in me after I started yoga and standing still was not a challenge at all.
2. Shav-aasana: this has tremendously helped me to complete sleep within 3-4 hours whenever I'm tight on time.

Well, try pranayama sometime

TheGoblinRoad

Enjoyed reading your responses this morning! Lots of thoughtful comments, and I'm glad it's worth discussing. A lot of posts I've made don't get even one reply.

What I do is before I start, I say a plain prayer that's almost like talking to God in a normal way, as if God's standing right there. As far as my beliefs go, I don't actually consider God as having a body like we do. I generally ask for healing and ask for the strength to contribute toward this healing. I injured my leg in June, and it wasn't until I started doing yoga on Christmas Eve that I began to feel it was healing.

During the practice, I focus on the breathing and I pay attention to what I'm doing. The yoga itself has taken over as an act of devotion, and act of prayer, and nothing is needed other than to be present.

It occurred to me some time back that the only times I feel a connection to God i when I'm present. Yoga's great for staying rooted. Especially tree pose (ha ha)

Planning to take an actual class someday, but I'm not ready yet.

toffee322

i dont have any religious belief.. but i do feel yoga is a form of meditation.. i get really focus and concentrated (most of the time) when practising,... i think it helps calm my mind.

Califragilistic

I love this post primarily because some of the ideas you've all posted have literally hit the nail on the head for me.

I started yoga way back when with the primary aim of touching my toes and have recently taken it up seriously and if there's one thing I have to credit it with is rediscovering my spirituality.

Before a practice, I keep Bakhti in mind ( the dedication of a practice to someone, something other than yourself), while in the practice, I focus on the asanas and doing them to the best of my ability on that particular day. This in particular has evolved from itty bitty specifics and now flows with the result that I automatically get into (and deepen) the asana without thinking specifically of all the tiny adjustments that it involves. This leaves my mind free to focus on pranayama and feel the asanas with the result that at the end of the practice, my savasana has evolved from being clouded with chitta vritti to simply being still.

And how do I reflect on my spirituality, you may ask. I can only answer that by saying that it just is. There's a line in a song we used to sing in church - 'Be still and know, that I am God' - whatever you may perceive Him to be (or not to be depending on your personal religious interpretation.) Needless to say, this has made me more grounded in my day to day personal life and I'm excited to continue along this journey...

I leave you with one last quote (can't remember who said it unfortunately) - My body is my temple and asanas are my prayer...

Shanti:)

P.S. just googled it and I think the quote is from BKS Iyengar,,,