yoga

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When the student is ready, the teacher appears. -Old Indian adage

There were a number of new activities I resolved to try out this year and one of them is yoga. I view it as an exercise for the development of flexibility and improvement of posture, though longtime yogis emphasize that it is primarily a spiritual practice, one that leads to a profound understanding of our existence. Some authorities believe that yoga originated in the Indus Valley as far back as 3300- 1700 B.C. I joined a tantra yoga school in which a mantra is used together with the asanas or postures. The Sanskrit mantra in the recording is "Baba nam kevalam," and means "Love is the essence of all things."

One of my interesting discoveries is the difference between breathing in the Japanese martial arts and in yoga. In aikido, we are taught to inhale slowly through the nose and exhale through the mouth- the exhalation corresponds to the exertion of energy or ki. In yoga, we are taught to inhale and exhale only through the nose, forcing one to slow down. It took me several sessions to adjust and realize yet again that there is no one correct way of doing things, that there are many paths for even the most basic activities such as breathing.

As regards the mental attitude developed, aikido teaches one to blend with external forces, to become one with the adversary; I've read that tantra yoga eventually leads one to a kind of union with the universe, but I've noticed that at my beginner's stage I've simply become more self-aware and perhaps assertive on a gut level. Physically, I've found that with the stretching of the different parts of the body- and perhaps the vigorous massage given by one dada after the class- my backache has disappeared.