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Sanskrit chanting to "jungle physicians" and

people long dead and little known.<br><br>Radical

contortions that put the lower back and knee ligaments in

danger.<br><br>Slavish adherence to "keeping the practice" 6 days a

week.<br><br>Journeying to India to pay $500 a month for what you can

learn at home.<br><br>Believing that "siddhis" will

someday arise as a result of your yoga

practice.<br><br>Believing that your yoga practice is anything but another

way to exercise.

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You catch me in a talkative

mood.<br><br>"Unnecessary: Sanskrit chanting to "jungle physicians" and

people long dead and little known."<br><br>Unnecessary,

perhaps. What if it is? I always thought it was cool that

my teacher ommitted the chanting from the classes in

his studio. The reasoning being that this makes some

people uncomfortable, which it does (and that it is

unnecessary). But then, I also thought it was cool to hear

about the beautiful chanting at Eddie Stern's studio

from a friend who visited recently. Could this be an

element that makes yoga "more than exercise"? Or perhaps

just part of the ritual, part of the tradition. There

can be usefulness in tradition and

ritual.<br><br>"Unnecessary: Radical contortions that put the lower back and

knee ligaments in danger."<br><br>This may be true.

And then perhaps such postures may be necessary to

insure that all joints have acheived full range of

motion and all tension has been removed from the

musculoskeletal system. The postures may be dangerous if

practiced incorrectly or prematurely. The goal of "a

comfortable seat" may require a lot of

work.<br><br>"Unnecessary: Slavish adherence to "keeping the practice" 6

days a week."<br><br>12 hours out of every 168 doesn't

seem too radical. Perhaps it is necessary to practice

daily if you want to get anywhere with it. The penalty

for skipping a day? You're one day behind where you

would have been. Just depends on if you're into it or

not.<br><br>"Unnecessary: Journeying to India to pay $500 a month for what

you can learn at home."<br><br>Never been to India

and have no plans to go. Would probably agree that it

is not necessary (in order to learn about Ashtanga

yoga). But I'm not going to learn at home what I can

from a teacher, and I trust that KPJ has some

knowledge beyond the average teacher. If I was interested

in going, the $500 doesn't seem too outrageous (even

if it is beyond my reach). Most Amercians spend

almost that much in a year just on cable TV. That

($500/month) works out to probably a little over $20 for a

session with KPJ, and the price goes down the following

month.<br><br>"Unnecessary: Believing that "siddhis" will someday arise as a

result of your yoga<br>practice."<br><br>Sure, probably

an unnecessary belief. Most Ashtangis are down to

earth enough to not give much or any concern to any

siddhis that may or may not develop in the future. Most

serious yogis also study Patanjali's sutras and probably

find them more substantial than anything we might read

here.<br><br>"Unnecessary: Believing that your yoga practice is anything but

another way to exercise."<br><br>Could be an unnecessary

belief. One could approach yoga as purely a form of

exercise. My primary interest in asana practice has been as

physical therapy. But there is a lot more to asana

practice than exercise or physical therapy and a lot more

to yoga than asana practice. If you are open to

it.<br><br>Just some thoughts....or I guess counterthoughts.

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Sanskrit chanting to "jungle physicians" and

people long dead and little known.<br>You might consider

that a superstition, or a silly ritual.<br>To me it

shows a deep knowledge of the working of the human

mind. Chanting (an not necessarily at the beginning of

your ashtanga practice) does have an effect on the

mind. <br>Pity you have decided not to do it any

more...<br><br>Radical contortions that put the lower back and knee

ligaments in danger.<br>No risk, no gain!<br><br>Slavish

adherence to "keeping the practice" 6 days a week.<br>All

classical yoga text, from the Yoga Sutras to Hatha Yoga

pradipika insist on the need to practice. I would have to

disagree with T Slade there, not practicing for a day put

you back much more than a day. Meditators say that if

you miss one day, it take a week to catch up. More

like it.<br>Also, the discipline of practicing daily

is unvaluable mind trainind. How else would you

decide when to practice?<br><br>Journeying to India to

pay $500 a month for what you can learn at

home.<br>But can you learn it at home?<br><br>Believing that

"siddhis" will someday arise as a result of your yoga

practice.<br>Do you believe that? Know anyone who

does?<br><br>Believing that your yoga practice is anything but another

way to exercise. <br>Depends what you call

exercises.<br>Yes, yoga practice is nothing more than a way to

exercises and train body, mind and soul, if you look at it

that way.<br><br>But if you don't practice yoga, what

are you doing writing on this board

anyway?<br><br>Cheers,<br><br>Christophe Mouze<br>Editor Yoga

Online<br><a href=http://www.yogamagazine.net

target=new>http://www.yogamagazine.net</a> <br>(currrently studying in Mysore,

oops, I

should have stayed at home...)

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