more confusion

[Guest guest]

"Once you become an ashtangi, you don't want to

go out at night, you don't want to eat rich meals or

drink alcohol, your non-yogic friends start thinking

you are no fun... could you have a satisfying yoga

practise and also have a more conventional life: a job, a

home, a spouse a family. The general consensus seemed

to be no."<br><br>**** me! When does this kick in? I

live in central London, man. I can't NOT go out at

night, I love my food and I've just rediscovered the

joys of Malibu (don't laugh - try it with grenadine

and sparkling water, peach juice and sparkling water.

However stay away from the tequila/tango combination...

I'm speaking from experience here.) I've just done a

poll round the mates and boyfs I'm still entertaining.

And I'm up to five ashtanga sessions a week. And I

have the occasional puff and take... Look, You CAN

have yoga and a life guys, honest yer can.

<br><br>Just do it. <br><br>(Did I mention I was knackered

though?)

[Guest guest]

Well said! I don't think we should compromise who

we are and what we enjoy in order to mold ourselves

into our notion of what should be. If I adopted a

yogic lifestyle because I wanted a concrete personal

identity, then this is just another form of attatchment,

"spiritual materialism". <br><br>For me, though, the

lifestyle of partying, drugs, etc., was my delusion. Once I

began practicing yoga, those things dropped away

because I realized that I didn't need them to be happy,

they were artificial for me and made me miserable. My

practice has made me more content with simpler pleasures,

not necessarily a complete social outcast, though.

(Obviously, this is just my own dharma experience!)

<br><br>In the end, your practice is whatever you want it to

be. The path of renunciation and active

transformation is one way to do it. Another is the recognition

and realization that we are already complete and

perfect, that we don't have to change anything. Or maybe

they're both the same, or maybe the first one leads to

the second...?

[Guest guest]

At last an open and non-judgemental discussion by

people who don't seem to need to set themselves up as

"purer than thou".<br><br>My experience is that my

practice seems to be steadily moving me away from wanting

things that are harmful to me, without me having to

force any big, sudden lifestyle alterations on myself.

<br><br>I drink much less alcohol, but I still enjoy the

occasional beer or two. I'm eating less, and more healthily.

I don't want to go out clubbing much any more, but

I still enjoy the company of my non-yoga friends. I

still do some sports, and I find that I enjoy them more

without a competitive, achievement-oriented attitude. I

like who and where I am more than I ever have before.

My life is better. Do your practice, and all is

coming.

[Guest guest]

do people really drop their non-yoga friends? (not you of course). <br><br>Not

very friendly friends in the first place, were they?

[Guest guest]

Yes--what brings us together on this forum is

ashtanga yoga. What we do otherwise doesn't

matter.<br><br>I make my own beer (it's very good!). I also like

delicious Vancouver microbrews and enjoy wine with food

sometimes, too. This does not interfere with my yoga

practice. I'm quite hardcore, actually. But I drink coffee

(organic coffee ), and I never ever go to be before

midnight. However, I do make sacrifices to do yoga--mostly

in terms of scheduling my day.<br><br>Although doing

yoga is associated with a certain lifestyle, we all

live differently, and we should. It's whatever brings

us joy. In the words of Joseph Campbell, "follow

your bliss."