If I should fall from grace with God where no doctor can relieve me,
If I’m buried ‘neath the sod where the angels won’t receive me,
Let me go, boys, let me go, boys,
Let me go down in the mud where the rivers all run dry...
Shane MacGowan
...lemme just come right out and say it: I don’t feel like writing about yoga...not that it’s ever been the sole topic here, anyway...and, yeah, though I keep saying I'm gonna stop, I keep writing comments about it elsewhere...but they’re mostly just arguing against one viewpoint or other...and arguing comes easy...can do it in my sleep...which might explain why I don’t feel particularly rested most mornings...
...which is not to say I’m sick of yoga...it seems, in fact, like the one thing I’m passionate about, lately...when one class ends, can hardly wait ’til the next starts...on average, six days a week....but trying to wrap the mind around yoga, get a grip on all associated ideas, thoughts, theory, philosophy, beliefs, interpretations, traditions and innovations...bleah...
...to sum up: practicing yoga’s no problem...I’m just sick of thinking about it...
...just this past week or so, finally got to where I can hop up to a handstand consistently...though it’s been a long and difficult process...the body gets me there, but the mind panics half way up....so, really, I realize now, the trick isn’t maintaining control and being confident I won’t fall...but letting go the mind’s grip, being open to falling...
If I’m buried ‘neath the sod where the angels won’t receive me,
Let me go, boys, let me go, boys,
Let me go down in the mud where the rivers all run dry...
Shane MacGowan
...lemme just come right out and say it: I don’t feel like writing about yoga...not that it’s ever been the sole topic here, anyway...and, yeah, though I keep saying I'm gonna stop, I keep writing comments about it elsewhere...but they’re mostly just arguing against one viewpoint or other...and arguing comes easy...can do it in my sleep...which might explain why I don’t feel particularly rested most mornings...
...which is not to say I’m sick of yoga...it seems, in fact, like the one thing I’m passionate about, lately...when one class ends, can hardly wait ’til the next starts...on average, six days a week....but trying to wrap the mind around yoga, get a grip on all associated ideas, thoughts, theory, philosophy, beliefs, interpretations, traditions and innovations...bleah...
...to sum up: practicing yoga’s no problem...I’m just sick of thinking about it...
...just this past week or so, finally got to where I can hop up to a handstand consistently...though it’s been a long and difficult process...the body gets me there, but the mind panics half way up....so, really, I realize now, the trick isn’t maintaining control and being confident I won’t fall...but letting go the mind’s grip, being open to falling...
19 comments:
Hi, Jay.
Allow me a personal observation on all the "ideas, thoughts, theory, philosophy, beliefs, interpretations, traditions and innovations".
I enjoy all those things, you know I do. But they are not my Yoga practice.
My Yoga practice devolves into the utter simplicity of focusing non-judgmentally on the present moment, no matter what I am doing.
Without this delicious result, I would have little interest in all the rest.
Bob Weisenberg
YogaDemystified.com
That's a wonderful shot of the birds in flight. Makes me want to take off for some place unknown! I'm going to yoga tomorrow. I'm not quite as devoted as you are....far from it! But I do try to go to a class twice a week. I definitely always feel better afterwards! Thanks for stopping by at my blog.
hola Dr. Jay
congratulations on the hand stand, hats off!... i understand you well with the thinking and writing about yoga too much getting to you... as you, i love practicing yoga, since December, i am a 'better' yogi, a bit more dedicated, sometimes only 3 sessions per week, other ones, 5 or 6, and i love getting into toga hat state when you crave more & more... but at the same time, i don't handle well, too much philosophy about it, i do respect many aspects of the yoga practice and some of its concepts are so intrinsic to the practice that you almost cannot avoid them, but what is boring and over-done is the too much hype about it!! those fashionable yogis who are talking 'savasana' all the time... they bore me to death too! i meant the important thing about savasana is NOT that you call it savasana or शवासन or corpse pose or in my case: play dead... is to practice it and feeling not brag about it and over analyze it, huh? so i think you are doing great... and i love reading your blog no matter how yogi or non-yogi or opinionated or book-reviewish it gets, nice post btw...
OMG, just hop on a headstand, the mind boggles. Both you and Holly are sounding by far too healthy for me!
No doubt NP will be along shortly and sum up the whole philosophy thing in a sentence! Then you can get on with enjoying what you do, lol
congrats on the next step to handstand!
ya- really there just comes a point of rest between thinking about yoga.
It does sound like you need a small pause... nothing bad about that :)
Hi Dr Jay, I have a lot of back reading to do here don't I :)
I'd guess that doing Yoga and not wanting to dissect it too much is the right place to be, no? Mindfullness and critique are different things. (If they are the right words. I hope you know what I mean)
the mind does have a strong grip sometimes. I like your conclusion. I mostly just do yoga and whilst doing it my mind hopefully empties. aspects of the philosophy are sometimes revealed through time and also just plain yoga experience, ie: doing the asanas.
Got a chuckle about the savasana comment. you guys out there in the real world are so sophisticated. i didnt know there was all this hoopla about savasana. one of my first yoga teachers, and i've been practicing for over 20 yrs, always said the sanskrit names of the poses each time we did them so after awhile saying some of the names in sanskrit came natural to me. such a lovely language.
I agree with Bob W....nicely put! I understand where you are, that is why I don't frequent yoga blogs so much as other types. I just get a little bogged down reading, doing, teaching, repeat. I find myself loving my yoga a lot more if I just let it happen instead of actively pursuing it.
I think I understand you in regards to the thinking and writing about yoga. For me, I found it got in the way of "the inner experience of yoga", so I had to take a prolonged break.
Also, congrats on the handstand progress. It took me 12 years of practice just to be able to do crow and revolved triangle pose with falling over. I may not be writing about yoga anymore, but I've never been that dedicated to anything else in my life!
What is is about yoga that we all love so much:)
Hmmm. I'm all for supporting people in what they think they need--it is of course a trial-and-error process... Like when I declared a month-long blog savasana and after 12 days called it quits. Going through that process was helpful. I seemed to get what I needed--which was a lot--after the amount that I did. So in that sense, I think, "yeah, do what you think." It might be good.
On the other hand, I selfishly think that I'd really miss your voice in the yogablogosphere. You add something great! And your words have inspired me, taking me places I wouldn't have gone otherwise. Which, in turn has taken my blogging places it would not have gone without knowing your perspective. Reading you made me feel safer going into certain aspects of my experience on my blog. The yogic muse wouldn't be who she is today without her cynical friend to help keep it real.
Probably a good idea to not write about it if you're not feelin' it, drjay. Although I'm not a yoga-ite, I thoroughly enjoy those yoga posts...then again I enjoy all your stuff, as I'm sure everyone else does. So, for your own self, do whatcha feel. Now, if you're thinkin' of cuttin' back on the cynical aspect, then we've got a problem... :o)
Congrats on the handstand. Yay! Mind over matter!
A nice photo there, too, of a flock of...pelicans? I've never seen anything like that!
Sounds like growth all the way round. Achieving a solid outcome by way of rigorous effort is a reward on one hand and a question mark in the other. Where to next Doc?
Alaska is beautiful and worth every penny saved for the trip. Photos later. :-)
Maybe your just not wanting "yoga" to control your whole life?...if that makes any sense to you?
Dr. Jay I just recently posted two very interesting Jim Morrison Videos on my blog. One is of Jim playing a piano while he speaks his thoughts in only the way he can...in his poetic way...very calming to me for some reason and I think you will like it. The second video in my post is of many of Jim's thoughts and quotes he made while alive.
Anyway I thought you might enjoy these two J.M. videos. I've never seen them before and really was impressed with his poetic thoughts and his many quotes in the second video.
Blessings,
Rhiannon
Yoga is not for thinking about, yoga is doing and not thinking.
step back
love life
Sometimes it's better to just DO a thing, anyway. ;)
I also love the birds, Jay. I think I have a tendency to over-analyze things sometimes, which can actually get in the way of the enjoyment of it. I'm working hard to live in the moment--which is REALLY hard these days. I have great advice for others that I should apply to myself! :-)
You know, I think this happens to all of us, especially once we've dedicated ourselves to exploring a certain topic in the long term; you go through slumps where thinking about that topic, even if it's a topic you love, becomes onerous and painful and boring. My two cents is to just in enjoy yoga and write about it when you feel like it. Or write about something else for a while. Everything's connected, right?
And congrats on the hand stand. I've been working on mine, too (although in dance, not yoga), and haven't yet made it anywhere near the "consistently reliable" stage yet--still too terrified of flipping over on my back. I've got a lot of letting go to do before my mind's going to be able to relax...
Ah, the shot of the pelicans breaks my heart when I think of the Brown Pelicans suffering in their nesting marshes along the Gulf. Times like these make me wish I could do a handstand because that would be proof that I had practiced well. Since neither is true I take heart in Mandy's comment about just letting it happen.
Times like these also make me grateful for meditation, the image of the birds being a form of it.
I can understand this Dr Jay - there comes a time when immersing the self in doing something we are passionate about is what matters - being the practice, not talking the practice. Shifts happen, as they say, and you sound as though you are in the midst of one. Pretty exciting, eh?!
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