Yoga Improving Your Health
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Written by Y P Chinn
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Friday, 25 July 2008 |
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Yoga Improving Your Health
It takes mental toughness
and patience to discuss yoga in this century. This ancient concept has
somehow lost its real meaning through globalization. It is amazing to
see the whole philosophy fueling yoga's methodology being reduced to a
simple concept, justified by the need to make it easy for the layperson
to understand. The complex nature of its contents
may
be a little challenging for westerners to understand.
It is unwise to gain a shallow knowledge about a diverse topic and yet
speak about it from an expert's viewpoint. There is a tendency among
the westerners to highlight only the physical aspects of yoga. There is
more to yoga than the mere attainment of inner balance and serenity.
It originates from the Hindu religion and it is actually a part of the
Hindu philosophy. Yoga as a part of India's diverse culture and
philosophy is actually a spiritual experience that includes some
complicated physical moves. But the western world prefers to refer yoga
as a mere physical practice. Yoga, with its strange looking symbols may
seem mystical to the average Joe, but sadly, they are often
misunderstood. This discipline is practiced as a popular sport.
Additionally, people who desire inner tranquility would often find this
practice to be beneficial and of course a lot of people have been
attracted to yoga as a form of practice to achieve inner peace.
The so called experts in this industry have been quick to use these
promises and people have been fascinated. Fatal errors have been
detected in the practice of yoga outside of India, showing the level of
misunderstanding among the western practitioners. A closer look
revealed that these errors were caused by the cultural influence of
each race. Apparently, the west is not prepared to spend too much time
in meaningful contemplations of this philosophy, hence the resulting
fatal error due to a lack of understanding.
While meditation is an integral part of the practice, the westerners
with their ever busy lifestyles certainly do not posses time for such
luxuries. The greed for power and material wealth which is integral in
the western culture has no place in the Hindu culture. Perhaps the
western man shall never reach the peaks of wisdom according to the
parameters set by the Hindu religion and culture. Patience and time is
crucial for meditation. The westerners do not view investment in such
contemplative moments for the attainment of philosophical wisdom to be
beneficial. It places high degree of importance in the mere acquisition
of wealth and power.
Yoga is often practiced more as a form of recreational activity to
fulfill a stylish lifestyle. There is a lot of information going out
promoting yoga as a form of sport. There are famous people who embraced
this practice and become fake gurus and still they have enough support
from their followers. The disciples of these fake gurus are responsible
for spreading the influence of the wrong philosophy pertaining to yoga
practice.
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