Is atheism compatible with yoga?
Yoga entered my life about a year and a half ago. I was approaching my mid thirties with an expanding waistline and declining athletic ability. I was looking at the beginning of the end, in regards to me surrendering to fast food and poor health, and I was spooked. Yoga was something I never tried, yet I knew I would like it. I can’t explain it, I just knew I would get into it. This hypothesis was similar to the way I felt about NYC, before I ever stepped foot in NYC. Long story short, I bought some DVDs and fell into a routine practice in my own personal yoga studio. For at least three or four nights a week, my living room witnessed a bond develop between me and my yoga mat.
Around the same time, my atheist beliefs matured. After being an agnostic for most of my life, a series of events helped me define the answers I had been looking for. Beginning with September 11th, I started questioning religious faith and its place in the world. With these events, I began to pay much closer attention to faith based current events. With the birth of my children, research on natural selection and my new interest in reading, I grew quite comfortable with what I had always known as true. More importantly, I was able to articulate my views to myself. But that is a different and much much longer story.
Recently, I turned my yoga practice up to eleven by attending Bikram yoga classes. Actually my first class was a “Lunar Vinyasa” class that was cute, but I wasn’t feeling the poems and crystals. I am not able to pretend to feel the vibes from inanimate objects. Anyway, Bikram suits me fine as it challenges me mentally and physically without compromising my views on deities and mystic rocks. With great enthusiasm, I subject myself to this torture as often as I can. I don’t know where I’ll end up with it, but I know I’ll be beyond the point of no return.
Very recently, I have been thinking beyond the Bikram method. I love it, but I know I will need to diversify my practice. There are so many types of yoga out there. I feel like a kid in a candy store and I want to taste everything. Well, maybe not everything. I bought a few DVDs that failed to meet my needs. Some of the techniques included 30 minutes of lying on your back and feeling your belly move up and down. From this, I gather there is a lot of yoga out there that will not be a good fit for me. I am looking for a mental and physical challenge, without all the silly stuff. Say what you want about X number of people believing in that kind of stuff, but I will not apologize for my own views.
My research indicates the Ashtanga method seems to be palatable. Most of my favorite DVDs include poses I find when I Google Ashtanga. Granted, most of the Bikram and Ashtanga poses are years away from my grasp, I look forward to the challenge. As I face this challenge, I look forward to learning a lot about myself and I look forward to gaining all of the benefits of different methods of yoga. However I do have some anxiety that I will, at some point, be asked to follow some theist line of thought.
So how far can I take yoga? I know when I like something and I know when I’ll do it for the rest of my life. Over the past few weeks, I have seriously entertained working in NYC for about five more years while I gain experience. Once I reach a mental and physical state that I capable of, I’ll give up the rat race for teacher training so I can open my own studio somewhere. I hope. Can I do this? Is atheism compatible with yoga?
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5 comments:
Ashtanga will not leave you hanging physically, so no worries there, but don't limit yourself to yang practices. There are many quieter ways to find that same peace that a yang practice sweats out of you. It's all about balance. Yin yoga is great for connective tissue and deepening as it's necessary to hold the poses for much longer. Iyengar yoga is great for its focus on alignment and the western body through the use of props, which can liberate a pose that was before unattainable. In terms of atheistic thought, continue to be open. It's not about religion--even for many Hindus--it's about connecting to the body and breath. To me, god lives there and everywhere, but that is me. Your experience is the only thing there is, so continue articulating YOUR experience, through the shapes of your poses (asana) and your breath moving energy throughout your body (prana). May you find peace on your journey--no matter what kind of trip you're takin'! xo ~cody
Yoga is compatible with everything; after all, yoga means union. Which union exactly is yours to chose: heart and mind, body and soul, breath and universe or any combination thereof and beyond. Like Josh, I believe God is everywhere, and my practice is slightly spiritual. But this does not mean that you cannot find something or someone else with which/whom to connect. Find nature, yourself... if nothing else, you'll find your heartbeat and your breath and those themselves can be very powerful revelations even if they are entirely carnal elements. I think Ashtanga is wonderful and there are some great ways to practice it without the chanting, incense, bells and such.
At any rate, by delving this far into yoga, it's safe to say that you've already stuck your head in the tiger's mouth. There's no turning back now. What I mean is that your questions will revisit you for the rest of your life; you may as well enjoy your practice. That might be a little too mystic for you, but make of it what you will. Namaste, and PLUR.
I’m atheist and yoga practitioner for lots of years. I used to avoid all the mystic side of yoga and do only asanas and connect to my breath. But I decided to become a yoga instructor and in the training I had to learn all the other stuff. I like lots of things of yoga philosophy and think most of it is very secular. I also see it as a very old tradition and respect it a lot when I think most of it was invented so long ago when people had almost none of the actual scientific knowledge, but at the same time I recognize that a part of yoga knowledge is outdated and should be revised why the knowledge we have now.
You have got to checkout a movie called, "Enlighten Up!".
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