Click “Ashtanga Yoga road” above to subscribe! “Cheshire cat, please tell me which way to go if you want to leave here?” Said Alice.
“It depends on where you want to go.” Said the cat.
“You can go anywhere.
It doesn’t matter.” Said Alice.
“Then you can go whichever way you like.
It doesn’t matter.” Said the cat.
Alice in Wonderland (author Lewis Carroll) if we answer this question: what is Yoga? What is your purpose? Most people’s answer will be: for better health.
Such an answer will also make Cheshire cats look confused, because you don’t know where you are going.
Then please be more specific, your pursuit of physical health What is it? In the concept of modern fitness, health can be summarized as quantifiable indicators: most of them are related to the state of the body: such as body mass index, basic metabolic rate, body fat rate, heart rate, how long it takes to run a marathon, etc.
in yoga, these often correspond to whether you can catch your toes by bending forward, whether you can do a word horse, and whether you can lower your waist, Whether you can hold, handstand, etc.
Our brain will feel secure only when we have a specific goal.
If we know what we are doing, setting specific goals is also a very good thing, and there must be quantifiable fitness goals after fitness is organized with “scientific” ideas.
But just because we didn’t know where to go like Alice, we just wandered around the fairyland.
Things get complicated; For example, you may wonder if I want to add some aerobics after yoga? The appearance of this doubt shows that you don’t know what to do with yoga; For example, you wonder, when can I add body position – into the sequence? This doubt shows that you confuse where you want to go with how fast you should go.
If you don’t know where to go, it doesn’t matter how fast you go.
Anyway, you can’t pour there.
More people may have a vague concept of goal, but they forget when they see the scenery in front on the road, so they start chasing rabbits, butterflies and elves on the road and deviate from the original goal.
Yoga traditionally does not belong to a modern fitness system.
If you have studied the classic articles of yoga, the traditional yoga masters have basically not talked about muscles, heart rate and body fat rate; The tradition of yoga is to nourish the physical body of anamaya people with yoga, In this way, we can make the body a suitable container to better load energy prana (Chinese tradition is called “Qi”), and use the optimization of the physical body and energy to achieve the purpose of opening spirituality.
Many people believe that this difference is science and lack of science (similar to religion, can not be verified, based on tradition but lack of scientific evidence), but in fact, the two systems are “science”, but the thinking, structure and language system are completely different.
What are the external “fitness” purposes of Yoga? According to the tradition of yoga, the “fitness” purpose of yoga (if we have to use the word fitness here) including the following aspects, sthira stability enables the human body to remain upright and balance with gravity.
Sukha is free.
This Sanskrit actually means “a good space” or “relief of pain” ； We explain here that the body can easily move so that we can do what we need to do, and there is no physical disease, inconvenience or pain that distracts our energy or distracts our mental focus.
Angalaghavam’s feeling of being as light as a swallow can also be understood as what we often call agility; But not exactly.
If you practice yoga regularly, you should understand how it feels.
This feeling allows us to move our bodies more smoothly, gracefully and confidently in our daily life.
Dvandvanabhighatah’s tough body can withstand changes and tosses, which is often referred to as “leather”.
It won’t be knocked down because of all kinds of situations in life.
To sum up, yoga asana, as an integrated fitness system, should exercise the ability to make our body structure stable, move gracefully and easily, stay away from physical pain, and withstand the waves of life.
Yoga asana practice is very helpful to temper our physical body.
Practicing yoga asana can make our body stronger and more flexible, help us get rid of our discomfort, cultivate our agility and make our body stronger.
However, there is a very interesting phenomenon.
You will find that those who choose to practice fast-paced, laborious and demanding Yoga types are often type a personality people – relatively speaking, they are enterprising, self-confidence, sense of achievement and easy to be nervous; The person who chooses slow-paced, gentle, and stretching classes is a person with poor self-discipline and lack of self motivation.
This phenomenon shows the principle of “the more you have, the more you give”, which is also mentioned in Ayurveda.
It is similar to the theory of the law of attraction that once prevailed in the chicken soup world: that is, we will naturally be attracted by activities corresponding to our inner quality.
However, from the perspective of yoga practice, such efforts are not the most appropriate: the most important aspect of yoga asana practice mentioned in Yoga Sutra 2.47 is prayatnashaithilya – is an appropriate effort.
Appropriate efforts should help us balance our internal qualities, not amplify the existing imbalance..