Dear
Yogis,
A question
that I have heaved many times before. “I
think this yoga is too extreme, I just don’t have 90 minutes to dedicate to
yoga, I don’t think this is for beginners, etc.” These are normal reactions,
considering that most wellness magazines and programs recommend 30-60 minutes
of exercise per day. Given that we can order almost anything is a minutes’
notice and that we are surrounded by everyday inventions that take the struggle
out of life, we the people of America, have grown accustom to seeing a steady
stream of labor-saving advances.
Things like,
escalators, automatic doors, automatic cat feeders, refrigerators, washing
machines, frozen food, fast food were invented in the land of freedoms, or at
least first widely embraced here. In fact, by the Sixties we had come to expect
machines to do pretty much everything for us. Our cultural of ease and
convenience can sometimes lead to being complacent or seeing mediocrity as an
acceptable level of excellence. But can we expect the same of the path to
self-actualization and inner peace?
Now don’t
get me wrong, I love that I have the world of information in the palm of my
hands with my smartphone and can order LouMalnati’s pizza at my door step, but
from what I have found, there are no shortcuts to inner peace. Recently I have
noticed a popular introduction to the 60 minute express Bikram class. So, a few
weeks ago I went to go see what all the fuss what about at a nearby studio. As
I entered the already athletically driven yoga studio I attempted to part from
my preexisting thoughts from when I had visited many times before finding
Bikram Rolling Meadows. From what I gathered, the nature of the 60 minute class
is fast paced, energetic and conveniently compressed. Given the nature of the
high energy 60 minute course, my mind and my body became kinetic as well. As I gave myself up to the words of the teacher,
my energetic mind had to dig deeper for inner peace and concentration. To say
the least, I felt as though I was engaging in an exercise routine. As I
glimpsed around the room half way through, I realized that we were all
struggling to keep up with what seemed like a hurried version of the 90 minute
course. At the end of class I was able to talk to some yogis and witnessed that
there was an overall sense of becoming injured caused by the sensation of being
rushed. As I reflected about this in the changing room after class, the thought
it hit me that the 60 minute course could be a higher risk for people to become
injured.
It seems
these days that we can be unaware of our need for convenience as we will put up
with almost any inconvenience, like becoming unnecessarily injured, in order to
achieve it. With higher potential for injury, less time to digest the postures
and a significant decrease in rest time or savasanas, I truly believe that the
60 minute express course cannot offer the same level of inner peace and medical
benefits as the 90 minute class. While it is always the same postures, every
day is different. Coming from a lineage of over 40 years, Bikram yoga was
designed to be completed in a 90 minute class. Challenge equals change and it’s
worth every minute of it. I think that convenience is pretty convenient, but we
should try to practice our awareness of it in and out of the hot room.
Explorin’s
Neva Borin’,
little
YogaGal
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