Is there a greater consensus among yoga-duper teachers than the difference between yoga and gymnastics? If you did not breathe properly in the lesson, you were caught in your spoilage when you went to captivity after the acrobatics performed or insisted on breaking the limits of ability, you may snatch on your head and be asked to internalize the punchline that"yoga is not Gymnastics."The term" Gymnastics " embraces for that matter all branches of physical fitness, where the apparent emphasis is on bodywork when the rest of the aspects of the human being remain out of the range of observation.
It is pleasant for us to think that yoga is superior. That it sanctifies the connection between the body and the soul. And that the soul does not tolerate being bullied, especially the body, which needs sensitivity and thoughtfulness. "NU Paine NU Gein" is used to hanging in their student's teachers ashentega vinyasa as they blot out their sweat, their jaws clenched, on the mattresses, while urging them to practice while avoiding the masochistic satisfaction that brings with it excessive effort.
There should not be an ashtangist to experience the alleged clash between yoga and gymnastics. Even in a more restrained practice method such as Iyengar, the teacher is required to interpret for his enmity students in a pose challenging the"Ahimsa" principle, according to which the Yogi practitioner commands to avoid any act of violence and, first of all, towards himself.
The roots of violence towards oneself, which are often veiled in a tendency to act aggressively or in a craving to test boundaries, are convenient for us to take care of those habits that were bought in physical fitness classes during high school and sports or fitness training soldiers, on which instructors supervised thirsty achievements, whose task of life was to eradicate the"laziness", "indulgence" and"languor" and impart the motto (Non-yogic, by the way) of a healthy mind in a healthy body.
However, the differences between yoga and gymnastics are not so obvious and sharp. And the evidence: physical injuries are the share of devout practitioners just as they fought athletes. In order to progress and improve in both areas, practitioners and gymnasts are required to strengthen their minds and bodies. It is possible to conduct an endless polemic and a lot of subtleties in the issue of distinguishing "bad pain" that serves as a warning lamp and "good pain" that comes from the activation of muscles and joints that cry out for lack of use, but even among reputable teachers, preaching thoughtful, attentive and tolerant Yogi practice, you will find those who will confess
It is too easy to wave Loathing in the western tendency to tear yourself on the mattress and elevate the wisdom of the East yogic gorse that has let things happen in their time without pushing yourself. But the disrespect of ambition and the desire to be proud of your achievements is the refuge of those condescending are human qualities that need to learn to work with them and not deny them. Enlightened teachers in their own eyes also urge students to dare and go so far even though they claim to be incapable because we are not always aware of the abilities inherent in the US. What is the difference between these lecturers and the motivational conversations that beat me in the gymnastics team coach-ground-instruments of my childhood and the hard swimming team coach of my youth?
In yoga, just like in sports, I have already heard in private conversations, in which teachers are spared the need to demonstrate a spiritual Pason, the irrational and purposeful assertion that pain is an integral part of any physical training, no matter whether it is yoga, running or swimming. It is not for nothing that the ability to endure your pain heroically and not to cultivate around them an aura, connects really excellent with an intense and determined training regime. Even the claim that you are yoga as we know it in the West, feeds on many of the gymnastics exercises that the soldiers of the British Empire perform before the eyes of their Indian subjects, a natural booklet to the spiritual-existential concept according to which the limitations are "more in mind than in the body."
Who among us did not experience this exhilarating insight, when he clearly felt during training that his forces were running out and that his body did not obey him and a few minutes later and deep breaths passed her feeling and her place occupied renewed forces and the same miraculous physical petitions that await the other passage of the threshold of despair?
In this twilight zone where human beings are trained imbued with the passion to expand and deepen the range of their mental, spiritual, and physical abilities, practice often becomes a struggle to rise above objections. And sometimes the motive for this fight is identification. The same thought that the fact that we are able to perform a complicated and demanding posture better than our student or colleague testifies to us.
And why would we even want to make such complicated moves? The nature of yogic training does not depend on our acrobatic abilities, does it not? Acrobatics is Gymnastics and yoga is the ability to practice the pose with accuracy and understanding. But non-acrobatics is also based on the abilities of attention, concentration, accuracy, and equality of mind. And the wind? It is not strengthened and intensified as a result of grueling training. And the soul, she does not know how to appreciate the satisfaction of overcoming obstacles, real and imaginary?
How many people really practice yoga in a simple, minimalist, and modest style, relaxed and free from identification, when their whole being is solely subject to the maintenance of their bodies? And is it really what makes them (not only in their own eyes) more real yoga practitioners or that their form of training is derived from their character.
The yogic scene of the 2000s, it seems sometimes, is divided into those that determine what real yoga practice is and what Gymnastics is for its name and for those who are just busy with their own without pretending and determining what is more or less true to tradition. Since none of us (except, perhaps, only a virtue) did come to the practice of yoga when he was free from experiences in the traditions of Western physical training, it would be not very intelligent to declare arbitrary and arbitrary buffering between yoga and sports and denigrate the urge to urge yourself to glorify the refinement of listening to your body. Is not yoga teaching us the ability to work with fascinating opposites and to prefer the common on the separator?
