Ritual and Practice:
While attending yoga classes regularly this semester, I have noticed several rituals that are present in my yoga practice. First, at the start of every class, the teacher always asks the class what they want to get out of the practice and tells us to close our eyes and "set an intention for our practice". At times, I didn't actually set an intention for myself, but when I did, it was usually to de-stress. Sometimes, I also wanted to stretch my muscles. We always start class by chanting "om" three times with our hands together. This same start to the class every time is one ritual that the teacher uses. Additionally, we always end class by chanting "om" one time with our hands together, similar to the beginning of class. I think that these rituals help create a sense of community, because we all do them at exactly the same time and in the same way. They also signal the beginning and ending of the class. Other than that, I'm not sure of their exact purpose. The 2 teachers that I have had throughout the semester both spoke in a calm, soft voice. They also didn't rush their speaking, but talked slowly and chose their words carefully. Their voices relaxed me, and I think that they purposefully used those soft voices to calm the class and to help keep us relaxed during practice. Although the teacher is teaching us postures and breathing techniques, I think what she is really trying to teach through the use of postures and breathing is how to be tuned in to your body and how you are feeling.
Anatomy and Practice:
The teacher used some anatomical terms during class, but mostly used laymen's terms that everyone could understand. For example, she would often say "sit bones", instead of saying "the ischial tuberosity". She also recognized that not everyone has the same flexibility or is built the same way, and gave the class several options for most postures. This would usually involve using blocks to either make a posture easier, or make it more intense. I think this benefited the class because it prevented people from doing a posture that may have been too intense or could have hurt them.
Health Benefits and Practice:
Although my teacher did mention some health benefits that yoga may have, she did not make any hard-to-believe claims, like that yoga will cure cancer or eradicate any disease. The claims that she did make made sense to me. I happened to be in an anatomy and physiology class during this semester, so I tried to compare what I learned about muscles and stretching to my yoga class and the claims that my teacher made. For example, she would often claim that the deep stretching we did during class would increase our flexibility and stretch our connective tissue. Having learned the benefits of stretching in anatomy, I knew that this was true. Also, I knew that the connective tissue that she was referring to was tendons and ligaments. Having some background knowledge about anatomy and muscle physiology definitely helped me evaluate the claims that my teacher made, as well as claims made by other people or seen online.
Philosophy and Practice:
Philosophy that we learned about in class was not a noticeable part of my yoga practice. No references, at least none that I picked up one, were made to the ideas of karma, detachment from actions, enlightenment, or any other ideas that were presented in the texts we covered. This is probably because the teacher that I had most of the time did not have a strict definition of yoga or what we are supposed to get out of it. Instead, she recognized that yoga is different for everyone, and that we might all get different things out of it. Because of this, she didn't make any statements about how we should live our lives outside of yoga class. I liked how she brought individuality into the class by leaving things open to us. After this experience, I have realized that there is no one clear definition of yoga. What yoga really is depends on the person, because for one person, it might be a great stretch after a workout, while for someone else it might be a break from their constant anxiety. As long as it is benefiting the individual and is not harming anyone, everyone's definition is acceptable. This experience has also given me a better understanding of how yoga is a form of trendy fitness in the western world today, and that we mostly use it as a way to connect with other people and fit in to today's society.
While attending yoga classes regularly this semester, I have noticed several rituals that are present in my yoga practice. First, at the start of every class, the teacher always asks the class what they want to get out of the practice and tells us to close our eyes and "set an intention for our practice". At times, I didn't actually set an intention for myself, but when I did, it was usually to de-stress. Sometimes, I also wanted to stretch my muscles. We always start class by chanting "om" three times with our hands together. This same start to the class every time is one ritual that the teacher uses. Additionally, we always end class by chanting "om" one time with our hands together, similar to the beginning of class. I think that these rituals help create a sense of community, because we all do them at exactly the same time and in the same way. They also signal the beginning and ending of the class. Other than that, I'm not sure of their exact purpose. The 2 teachers that I have had throughout the semester both spoke in a calm, soft voice. They also didn't rush their speaking, but talked slowly and chose their words carefully. Their voices relaxed me, and I think that they purposefully used those soft voices to calm the class and to help keep us relaxed during practice. Although the teacher is teaching us postures and breathing techniques, I think what she is really trying to teach through the use of postures and breathing is how to be tuned in to your body and how you are feeling.
Anatomy and Practice:
The teacher used some anatomical terms during class, but mostly used laymen's terms that everyone could understand. For example, she would often say "sit bones", instead of saying "the ischial tuberosity". She also recognized that not everyone has the same flexibility or is built the same way, and gave the class several options for most postures. This would usually involve using blocks to either make a posture easier, or make it more intense. I think this benefited the class because it prevented people from doing a posture that may have been too intense or could have hurt them.
Health Benefits and Practice:
Although my teacher did mention some health benefits that yoga may have, she did not make any hard-to-believe claims, like that yoga will cure cancer or eradicate any disease. The claims that she did make made sense to me. I happened to be in an anatomy and physiology class during this semester, so I tried to compare what I learned about muscles and stretching to my yoga class and the claims that my teacher made. For example, she would often claim that the deep stretching we did during class would increase our flexibility and stretch our connective tissue. Having learned the benefits of stretching in anatomy, I knew that this was true. Also, I knew that the connective tissue that she was referring to was tendons and ligaments. Having some background knowledge about anatomy and muscle physiology definitely helped me evaluate the claims that my teacher made, as well as claims made by other people or seen online.
Philosophy and Practice:
Philosophy that we learned about in class was not a noticeable part of my yoga practice. No references, at least none that I picked up one, were made to the ideas of karma, detachment from actions, enlightenment, or any other ideas that were presented in the texts we covered. This is probably because the teacher that I had most of the time did not have a strict definition of yoga or what we are supposed to get out of it. Instead, she recognized that yoga is different for everyone, and that we might all get different things out of it. Because of this, she didn't make any statements about how we should live our lives outside of yoga class. I liked how she brought individuality into the class by leaving things open to us. After this experience, I have realized that there is no one clear definition of yoga. What yoga really is depends on the person, because for one person, it might be a great stretch after a workout, while for someone else it might be a break from their constant anxiety. As long as it is benefiting the individual and is not harming anyone, everyone's definition is acceptable. This experience has also given me a better understanding of how yoga is a form of trendy fitness in the western world today, and that we mostly use it as a way to connect with other people and fit in to today's society.
Comments
Post a Comment