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.