core demo of middle-upper class white ladies, kind of lacking historical context, drawn from hinduism, fringy and without canonical text, adherents from all walks of life, money-making, bit judgy?
― cherry (soda), Sunday, 23 September 2012 23:59 (8 months ago) Permalink
nah
― congratulations (n/a), Monday, 24 September 2012 00:00 (8 months ago) Permalink
if so, who is the madame blavatsky of yoga? are are wheatgrass shakes the laudenum enemas of our time?
― cherry (soda), Monday, 24 September 2012 00:00 (8 months ago) Permalink
― cherry (soda), Monday, 24 September 2012 00:01 (8 months ago) Permalink
― cherry (soda), Monday, 24 September 2012 00:02 (8 months ago) Permalink
― Ned Raggett, Monday, 24 September 2012 00:07 (8 months ago) Permalink
"follow bliss"
― cherry (soda), Monday, 24 September 2012 00:11 (8 months ago) Permalink
the idea of doing something simple and relaxing in a group is a winner. the specifics of yoga, not so much.
― obamana (abanana), Monday, 24 September 2012 01:07 (8 months ago) Permalink
Did theosophy, anthroposophy, etc., have as many tangible payoffs as yoga? Not even getting into "health benefits" here although I suspect that medical literature will bear out that yoga is probably basically good for you...just that it feels good to do it, and yeah, is simple and relaxing and you can do it in a group. But basically its appeal can be understood on a pretty basic level, most of its practitioners will tell you they feel good after they do it. I guess the thread question has to do with associated mysticism and Deep Wisdom but that was never a big deal in the few yoga classes I went to back in the day, nor with most of the people I know who own a yoga mat. I'm sure it is for some people but the more it becomes a mass activity, I would expect the percentage of those people to shrink not to grow.
― Doctor Casino, Monday, 24 September 2012 01:14 (8 months ago) Permalink
this book has yr answers & a lot of info on C19th indian nationalist thought:
― ogmor, Monday, 24 September 2012 01:18 (8 months ago) Permalink
fringy? did terry bradshaw start this thread?
― balls, Monday, 24 September 2012 01:21 (8 months ago) Permalink
haha also what kind of weirdo chooses their gym activity on whether it 'lacks historical context'? BIT JUDGY. not sure how much you can use 'of our time' for something that's been pretty dully mainstream for twenty years.
― balls, Monday, 24 September 2012 01:26 (8 months ago) Permalink
Spiritualism Man Roll Call
― buzza, Monday, 24 September 2012 01:35 (8 months ago) Permalink
Yeah, I've been kind of out of the loop on some stuff so I sorta figured the OP referred to some actual fad - has yoga been getting huge(r) of late than it has been for forever? It's been ubiquitous as an offering at the Y for ages, right? Is there a Drake/Bieber collabo celebrating it or something?
― Doctor Casino, Monday, 24 September 2012 01:51 (8 months ago) Permalink
lol @ "lacking historical context" & "lacking canonical text," Patanjali might have something to say about that. lot of really dumb assumptions & defensive biases in that opening post imo.
THAT SAID, there's an aspect of yoga as it got adopted in the west that's kind of classically American. Yoga is about union with God. That is the point. You assume these postures that are a sort of way of directing your attention to God - all activity is supposed to be directed toward God. In Western yoga, this becomes more of a "have an intention for the highest good in your practice" kinda deal - the author/s of the Yoga Sutras were more concerned with practices that he/they believed would bring them to knowledge of Godhead. This is all post-Vivekananda stuff though, and there's a lot to say about that. But seriously - "core demo of middle-upper class white ladies" - can we occasionally give that a rest, maybe, idk
― Inconceivable (to the entire world) (underrated aerosmith bootlegs I have owned), Monday, 24 September 2012 02:09 (8 months ago) Permalink
i kinda wish i could actually find a hippied out yoga class w/ some hairy motherfuckers tapping into the universe by stretching and listening to ash ra tempel. maybe their yoga mats are flying carpets like benny mardones. instead it's just some women unwinding at the y after work by hold fuck stances and listening to kt tunstall. which i'm not judging since i'm down the hall "lifting" weights and listening to fantasy football podcasts on my phone. historical context nowhere to be found. ain't that america, little pink houses, etc. THAT SAID the two things i can remember really taking to heart from this book on disaster preparation are 1) fire drills are essential and 2) yoga has a ridiculously beneficial effect on the heart and mind when it comes to dealing w/ stress and crisis situations.
― balls, Monday, 24 September 2012 02:15 (8 months ago) Permalink
did spiritualism get u ripped n sexy
― lag∞n, Monday, 24 September 2012 02:15 (8 months ago) Permalink
+ =
― balls, Monday, 24 September 2012 02:24 (8 months ago) Permalink
why is this happening
― lag∞n, Monday, 24 September 2012 02:25 (8 months ago) Permalink
yoga
― Inconceivable (to the entire world) (underrated aerosmith bootlegs I have owned), Monday, 24 September 2012 02:27 (8 months ago) Permalink
i'm on a flying carpet...BENNY MARDONES
― Doctor Casino, Monday, 24 September 2012 02:31 (8 months ago) Permalink
i kinda wish i could actually find a hippied out yoga class w/ some hairy motherfuckers tapping into the universe by stretching and listening to ash ra tempel. kinda? totally. where are these people. 12 years ago or so we used to listen to david parsons in my yoga class, that wasn't so bad.
― these albatrosses have no fear of man (La Lechera), Monday, 24 September 2012 02:41 (8 months ago) Permalink
without canonical text
already stated, but this ^ is just dumb
― emilys., Monday, 24 September 2012 07:17 (8 months ago) Permalink