
01-06-2013, 04:56 AM
|
 |
Accepting of Differences
|
|
Join Date: Jun 2009
Location: sou Cali
Posts: 7,477
|
|
Most westerners refer to yoga meaning just the asanas.
Hell, I suspect a large percentage of westerners don't even know there's anything else.
^-.-^
__________________
Faith is about what you do. It's about aspiring to be better and nobler and kinder than you are. It's about making sacrifices for the good of others. - Dresden
|

01-06-2013, 05:07 AM
|
Senior Member
|
|
Join Date: Apr 2011
Posts: 677
|
|
Quote:
Originally Posted by Andara Bledin
Most westerners refer to yoga meaning just the asanas.
Hell, I suspect a large percentage of westerners don't even know there's anything else.
^-.-^
|
I'd be one of those, actually. I knew yoga had some spiritual significance, but I've never got around to finding out how, and to what amount.
|

01-06-2013, 07:19 AM
|
 |
Senior Member
|
|
Join Date: Nov 2009
Location: West Virginia
Posts: 460
|
|
As an astonishingly (but sadly, not abnormally) culturally-unaware American, everything I know about Yoga amounts to "women in tight pants doing stretches" and "I tried that once, then fell over and hurt myself."
Also, yeah, I recall something about it having spiritual something one time, too.
__________________
"The hero is the person who can act mindfully, out of conscience, when others are all conforming, or who can take the moral high road when others are standing by silently, allowing evil deeds to go unchallenged." — Philip Zimbardo
TUA Games & Fiction // Ponies
|

01-06-2013, 07:26 AM
|
 |
Senior Member
|
|
Join Date: Feb 2009
Posts: 2,037
|
|
Quote:
Originally Posted by KabeRinnaul
As an astonishingly (but sadly, not abnormally) culturally-unaware American, everything I know about Yoga amounts to "women in tight pants doing stretches" and "I tried that once, then fell over and hurt myself."
|
I'm not THAT far off, but for the most part, I knew that yoga had some spiritual meaning behind it (why else would you refer to the "Salute To The Sun"?)
The ONLY way I can see this as being "religious" is if they include the "Salute To The Sun" as part of the program.
Otherwise I see no problem with it and would in fact, encourage it as a way to help those students calm down. (God knows I could've used it!)
|

01-06-2013, 09:31 AM
|
 |
Accepting of Differences
|
|
Join Date: Jun 2009
Location: sou Cali
Posts: 7,477
|
|
Even as a purely physiological exercise, yoga has some notable benefits, and I would have very much enjoyed it as part of the school curriculum. It would have been a very desirable change from all of the running and active sports that I never had the endurance to enjoy.
^-.-^
__________________
Faith is about what you do. It's about aspiring to be better and nobler and kinder than you are. It's about making sacrifices for the good of others. - Dresden
|

01-06-2013, 03:27 PM
|
 |
Senior Member
|
|
Join Date: Oct 2012
Posts: 437
|
|
"Salute to the Sun" or "Sun Salutations" just refers to a movement/asana pattern in yoga, each movement between stances/positions (like Baby Cobra into Downward Facing Dog, DFD into Plank) carries for one inhale or one exhale and you can repeat the movement pattern.
At least it can, when my class did "Sun Salutations" we were basically focusing on making sure we didn't hold our breath, had one inhale/exhale per movement, and keeping proper form even while moving between one stance to another. Asanas can be completely and totally secular in nature.
Yoga/Asanas can be like martial arts, most martial arts have spirituality woven into them and were created around them - however when you take classes now, a lot of dojos just teach you the secular fighting style without any spiritual attachments to it.
|

01-06-2013, 09:02 PM
|
Senior Member
|
|
Join Date: Dec 2011
Posts: 196
|
|
When I was in elementary school (early 90s) the Phys Ed teacher had a yoga section. I think around that time is when yoga became popular in gyms and stuff, so that may have been why. Never saw a problem with it. Still don't. It's an activity they have at the gym every day.
|

01-08-2013, 06:15 AM
|
 |
Omnomnom
|
|
Join Date: Aug 2009
Posts: 2,415
|
|
I presume the forms of Yoga were not taught with their spiritual aspects intact. Without the spiritual aspects, yoga is simply exercise.
A cross is not inherently a religious shape. We don't keep crosses from being put at the front of the class because there's something inherently religious about a long thing with a short thing. We keep it out because it symbolizes religious beliefs.
What you're seeing here aren't words. They're weird little shapes. We imbue the shapes with meaning.
Yoga not done as a devotional practice is no more religious than a cross would be to a 14th Century Aztec king. It's meditative and exercise. It's not religion unless you're told the religious practice.
__________________
"Nam castum esse decet pium poetam
ipsum, versiculos nihil necessest"
|
Thread Tools |
|
Display Modes |
Linear Mode
|
Posting Rules
|
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts
HTML code is Off
|
|
|
All times are GMT. The time now is 02:52 PM.
|
|
|