To understand Yoga study the garden. The Reality of Yoga- Part 4
Our articles are written to stimulate thought, thinking and feelings. At times they will stimulate more thought than feelings but at other times they will stimulate feelings or emotions. So, we ask this question to our readers to open. To understand Yoga study the garden. The Reality of Yoga- Part 4
Can a yoga pose stimulate feelings- can we stimulate an emotion?
We are told all the time that standing in warrior pose will help us lose our egos,
then in the same breath we are told that when crying during yin is releasing emotions?
If we wish to learn what is correct and what is not, we need a different approach. We need to have enough knowledge to question what is being taught and let our spirits guide us to what is right for us and what will bring on adverse effects.
We would like our readers to think on this: When our glass is full what happens when we add more liquid, it spills out.
Stimulated or released?
What is missing from the Western understanding?
When our emotional body is swamped, and we add more energy it spills out! The pose has stimulated an emotional response. (There are a lot more mechanics to this). If we are lucky, it may only last a few minutes, but how many have we seen SUFFERING for days. We must begin to accept that there are things we do that have unbalancing effects on our minds. Once we do, we can then learn how to stop these effects, how to change to a better way where the pose has no ill effects!
There are essential Yogic teaching to this which are not taught!
We have written extensively how individual yoga poses not only stimulate energy but also create esoteric or spiritual effects. This is why there are many practices that take place in yoga studios which are highly dangerous to the mental health of our students – manifestations, shamanism, psychedelic drug use, the list goes on, all the absolute opposite to yogic values.
To help us consider this reality we will look at the garden and we can then compare and contrast ourselves and our classmates to flowers. We will share this little tip, we have refrained from talking about chakras as there is plenty to learn before we consider them, but once you read the following, you may understand chakras a little different and the standard “blocked chakra” quote may not sound quite correct.
Each flower is individual, and all carries its own beauty.
Flowers may be of the same species but do not flourish as others of the same.
Some flowers like full sun.
Some flowers like full shade.
Some flowers like dry soil.
Some flowers like wet.
Sometimes the soil can be too acidic.
Sometimes the soil can be do alkaline.
Some flowers roots are deep and strong.
Some flowers never grow because the soil is to shallow.
If a flower is sick, it may need a certain food, shade, sun, water or just love and care (maybe a certain pose?)
Flowers and plants are made up of ELEMENTAL energy.
The Human body has an Elemental body.
The gardener/teacher must be aware of and know how to deal with PARASITES that want to feast on our flowers.
Now this is where the problem lies, when we go to a class, we should always set our intentions for a good stretch and that no negative energies or negative thoughts from the teacher, students or studio affect us. (Yes- studios and any building can influence our thoughts and thinking).
Now along comes our teachers and spouts weird and wonderful mystical teachings which make us spiritual. If we wish to protect our students then we focus on the stretching, as we keep reiterating there our consequences. How many of us know how the pose interacts with the elemental body, how does the elemental body interact with the emotional body and furthermore the mental body.
Let us now imagine we are individual flowers in a garden. The teacher/gardener puts us into a pose which acts like water, but our flower likes dry soil, the pose has a negative effect. The class continues and we perform another pose, this time our flower likes shade, but the pose has the opposite effect on that particular flower. If a flower has been battered by the elements or environment, we don’t put it into a position of stress- compare and contrast!
If we apply the same understanding of our flowers and garden to our yoga classes, we can now begin to explain why there our negative effects. If our gardener treated all the flowers the same in their garden then there would be a lot of unhappy flowers, sick flowers.
The flowers will not bloom.
A gardener has to know what is best for each flower, the gardener needs to know what is detrimental. Each Yoga pose has many spiritual qualities but if misused or used in the wrong sequence they can create mental suffering, a lot of the time because the practitioner is not aware of what they are doing to themselves, but they feel the effects.
Set your intention for a stretch only, be aware that each pose carries spiritual forces the same way as pose stimulates chemicals in the body.
For those who do not garden here are some questions to help us understand our yoga and poses that open, we will use the opening of the hips as the example, try to compare and contrast to our flowers. Google is a great help for getting you started…
What makes a flower open?
Why do flowers open out of season?
What happened to flowers after they bloom?
Does a flower die after it blooms?
These questions will help us look at our poses from a different angle and what they do to our mind, body and spirit. If we search why a plant or flower will not grow or bloom you will find that there are many reasons but not because it is blocked.
Our flowers need the right environment, internal and external, our flowers will open at the right time when they have all what they need, not because something is blocked. If we try and open them before they are ready, then we are asking for trouble.
In simple terms certain poses at the wrong time can make things worse for ourselves, energies in our yoga studios will affect the minds of us all if we do not know how to discern, some students are more sensitive than others, parasites, seen and unseen are always close at hand. The gardener must know how to prevent these parasites feeding on the flowers in their charge and make sure they do not bring contamination into the garden.
John 15:1-7 is a good place to start, we also suggest reading what the Bhagavad Gita says about bearing fruit!
To some up, our yoga studios are the gardens, our teachers the gardeners. The poses are the elements we need to help us to grow. Plants need different elements, not all poses will help, poses release chemicals, when acid meets alkaline it can neutralise, but some chemicals cause chaos.
Parasites are kept away by the knowledge of the gardener, the gardener addresses the cause, the flower will open when it has all that it needs, the soil and the environment is correct.
We now suggest your reread the whole article changing the words flower and fruits to
Karma,
and what Paul of the Enlightened Mind has written about the garden of the Mind.
A sun salutation is the beginning,
to understand the tree of Yeshua,
we must acknowledge the Son.
We wish you unity with your spirits.
If you wish to know more then come and speak with us on our next Day of Healing where you can discuss any of our written articles.
24th of June at Crosby Library.
10am-2pm
If you wish to know more then you can read our article “miracle grow yoga” or come and speak with us on our next “Day of Healing” at Crosby Library