Final Reflections

This semester, I was able to take on the task of not only attending a yoga class, but an adventure through my own personal practice. It has been an interesting adventure, but I feel I have learned many valuable lessons along the way. Throughout this semester I learned the history of yoga perspectives in both eastern and western cultures, practiced different yoga sequences from different yoga instructors, and most importantly, I learned a little about myself along the way.

Yoga is such a broad term to use, and it is because yoga is defined in so many ways by all different cultures. Yoga is a way of life, it can be a religion, it can even be a person’s literal salvation. Here in the West, we generalize yoga as a way of staying healthy and fit. It is an excellent practice for those looking to be more fluid in the movements and have more flexibility. To some, it’s a social call; grab up the girlfriends and namaste in sequence. Some, like myself, or initially anyway, see yoga as a way of peace, a way to disconnect with the world, and be more in tune with your own self. Your own world within you. These reflections of what yoga is can technically be considered correct, however yoga goes much deeper than that. Yoga is an Eastern movement, and is taught completely different than how we in the west perceive it. To the yogis in the East, yoga is in fact a religion, and way that becomes who you are. Yoga is much deeper than the asanas provided in each modality. To the East, yoga is liberation, because it can bring the practitioner to that blissful state of being void, and everything. Yoga has the power to transform, and enlighten, and through eastern philosophies, that is the true beauty of yoga.

To me, the most interesting thing I take away from the semester is the different modalities available, and more importantly the asanas that are taught within the modalities. Some modalities are much harder to digest; however, each has their own way of doing things, and for rightful causes. Although I am not as disciplined in yoga as I would like to be, my favorite modality we covered was Ashtanga. I enjoy the discipline that it stands for, the transition of asanas between breath, down to the stages the practitioner must go through to do every asana in the sequence. Its challenging, and so rewarding at the same time. I remember feeling so accomplished of being able to perform some of the postures, even though I can admit that I can’t do them all. All the modalities preformed in class all had their own interesting beliefs and ways of doing things which I appreciate, however I still enjoyed Ashtanga more so than the others.  I still plan on doing Ashtanga even after the semester is over, because I felt such a deep connection with the modality as a whole.

Lastly, the most interesting thing I learned this semester is understanding myself a little more. I have always been a quick tempted person, and yoga is the best way I have found to help calm myself down in the most stressful situation. Yoga is a great way to find peace within yourself, and for me, it is the best way of doing so. I have always considered myself a more spiritual person than most, however meditation was more of an interest for me than yoga. This semester has been a refreshing eye opener for me because I have always had that “western philosophy ideology” that yoga was for health fit people, not realizing how much more spiritual it truly is. I feel like even though the class was taught from a lecture perspective, I got more out of this semester than I ever thought I would.

week 12

The question posed this week is: Is Yoga a religion?


I think this is an excellent question, but cannot be completely answered in truth. And that is because the definition of yoga itself fluctuates so much between cultures. Some believe ys, that yoga is a religion, while others feel yoga is a limb in religion, but not yoga itself being the religion.

I do think however, from a personal side of yoga, that many can consider yoga a religion based solely on the "feel Good" feelings yoga gives them in return after practice. Is that itself not a religion? I think to answer this question at its core, it will vary among the persons being asked. To me however, the short answer of it I think is no. I don't think yoga itself is a religion, but a part of a religious austerity.

week 11

This week's yoga blog reflects on the meditation class taught to us by Dr. Spinello. The first hour of class was a review of what exactly it means to meditate, and the special uses of meditation. I also learned that there are various types of meditation, such as walking meditation. Dr. Spinello also touched over the idea of the final three sutras being tied into what it means to be "zen."

Once practice had officially started, I struggled getting my mind to stay calm. He told us to use positive reinforcement in being able to catch yourself and notice your mind is traveling, rather than scolding yourself for not being able to focus. It was difficult, but after a while, I feel like my own energy calmed down, and flowed with the energy of everyone else. breathing is also very important in meditation, just as it is in yoga.

The overall feelings I felt during the meditation were a mixture of peace and a high energy of emotion that I feel has been bottled in me. Clearly it is therapeutic, but due to the feelings I felt, I believe meditation is more personalized than yoga, as in my opinion it is more intimate to the practitioner. It was a different change, however I really enjoyed this class.

week 10

     This week's journal entry is on the reflection of tantric practice within the classroom setting during yoga. As I understand it, the idea of tantric is the combination of all life energy (prana) joining and working together as a dynamic system, or even in some instances, the force of defying not only gravity of potentially cheating death as well. This practice comes from the idea that our inhale breaths give us life, while our exhale is prana leaving our body, or in other words, life itself leaving us. As a way to reflect this idea of tantric learning, Hatha style yoga seems to really shine a light on the idea of balancing all life energy by the merging of both masculine and feminine energy. And with the definition of Hatha literally translating to a force between the sun and the moon, the modality of hatha yoga encompasses the tantric way of living. Ideally, I have been seeing my personal favorite instructor, who happens to specialize in hatha yoga, so the definition on paper gives so much more clarification to what i feel during practice. And sure, prana being the life force in us is found everywhere (even in food) but the marriage of asanas and controlled breathing in Hatha yoga is a perfect example of the mechanics of tantric.

week 9

Weekly Practice Journals: Theme: Definitions of Yoga -


It seems through my yoga practice, there are many definitions of yoga. The answer to this question lies in the practitioner. It's no surprise that according to eastern philosophies, yoga is much more spiritual and individualized than how we see it in the west. Here in the west, it seems yoga is much more of a way to stay fit and toned, and at best, offers a sense of relaxation once the class is done. And true, there is nothing wrong with identifying yoga as such. However, to experience the true definition of yoga, one must look at its meaning in an individualized way. It means something different to each individual person, so to put a definition on "yoga" is nearly impossible. 
To me, personally, It is a way of staying in the moment without worrying about outside attributes. I was recently told some pretty horrific news pertaining to my mom's health, and even though I didn't make it to a practice this week, I did manage to break out my own mat, because focusing on my breath is the only thing that has helped me in the past few days. I may not be a yogi in any sense of the word according to the east, but to me, the definition of yoga is peace. 

week 8

 Weekly Practice Journals: Theme: Definitions of Yoga -


Throughout the semester, I have learned that there seems to be various definitions to what Yoga is. Some see it more as a physical way of staying healthy and lean, others see it for relaxation purposes. Although I always knew Yoga can make you feel amazing totally after a session, I never realized the medicinal purposes behind it as well. This week, the class learned of viniyoga; a more physically therapeutic way of achieving relaxation. To me, it seems this practice is incredibly Westernized, to calling it "yoga" makes me slightly uncomfortable, however, I can see why it's defined this way. The practitioner of the video demonstrated some postures which all had sanskrit names (a very eastern feel, by the way) all whilst naming the specifics of each muscle with its origins and insertion points. As stated in the class, it had a very blended feel of eastern and western style yoga. Because of this, the definition of yoga cannot truly be defined. It varies between practitioner, between cultures, and more importantly, a reflection of the practitioner depending on their own individual practice. 
Lately, I have been wondering what type of modality in yoga is right for me. So far, I feel we have covered many interesting modalities, and can see there's a distinction between each of them. Including my practices outside of class time, I try to look into other types of yoga, however, I tend to gravitate more towards Hatha. I'm not sure if this exactly means it's right for me, or if it's within my own comfort zone. Either way, I would like to look into other modalities available. 

week 7

Yoga has made a transition from "traditional culture" to "counter culture" to "pop culture" here in the West. What have you observed about yoga that firmly establishes it as "pop culture"? What has been the effect on yoga in the West?

I think what gives yoga such a pop culture feel is heavily influenced by those who practice it. For example, in the film Ashtanga NY, famous actors including William Defoe and Gwyneth Paltrow have jumped on board the yoga experience, practicing Ashtanga every day. Bikram, another popular modality in yoga has practitioners from every day people, up to Jennifer Aniston and Gisele Bundchen. I feel because we have some of the top people in Hollywood endorsing the use of practicing yoga every day has given it a drenched pop culture feel, when in reality yoga is a very intimate and individualized practice. It also seems that some of the most popular yogi’s that reside in the United states live in the most celebrity filled states. The founder of Bikram, for example resides in Hollywood; in Ashtanga, the founder, although lives in India, visited New York to teach his classes.

Yoga no doubt has a very glamorized component to it, according to the West, and I feel because of this, yoga has transitioned into a more “pop culture” feel compared to Eastern yoga. In many way, I feel these endorsements coming from some of the best in Hollywood, is why yoga in the United States is so popular.

This week I did practice with Ann Gray, and our Professor taught Shivananda. Some of these poses with Shivananda frighten me, I’m not going to lie. The idea of doing a handstand I don’t think will ever be incorporated into my individual practice. I did enjoy the class overall; however, I don’t think the flow of Shivananda is quite for me.