Extra Credit Blog: The power of Yoga

I had never thought about taking a yoga class, to be honest I thought it would be a class full of vegetarians who simply stretch and experience out of body happenings that I would never come close to experiencing. When this extra credit opportunity came up, I pressured my roommate into going to one of these yoga classes with me. Well we went to a class that the Cary St. Gym was offering at 5pm with an instructor named Viktoryia. We sat down and I was surprised to see the people in the class. Guys, girls, rockers, jocks, and sorority girls.  It made me change my mind about who seeks tranquility in yoga.

            It started with stretching, then the breathing that helped to relax you and centralize your thoughts. I think because it was my first class I was so concerned about making sure I was doing everything right and concentrating on so hard on looking like I was concentrating hard. I may have not gotten everything out of it that I could have, however, I do plan to go back and in fact tie it into my exercise routine especially after reading this article in Time magazine.

            The article first talks about how yoga has become all the craze from Politian’s to movie stars to sport heroes taking classes to help maintain some tranquility in their lives.  From the popularization and the fact that it tones and firms your body (which most Americans need) many have begun to study the more internal benefits of Yoga. Opera devoted an entire segment on Yoga and had special guests like supermodels and a well known guru Rodney Yee to talk about the power of Yoga. Callers who had been practicing yoga swear that it has saved marriages, improved child’s grades, overcome smoking addictions, cured phobias, and helped some sleep again.  Psychologists and medical professionals are starting to question, can yoga really help long term medical conditions and improve the overall quality of life, even if you’re not a practicing Hindu or Taoist? The answers are proven in the results. Studies have shown with post menopausal women that it helped improve and almost diminish menopausal symptoms.  Another study was preformed with those with coronary heart disease.  The incorporation of Yoga with a low fat diet helped stabilize and in some cases reverse arterial blockage.

            The moral of the story? “Yoga heals by relaxing you, and relaxing heals.” Says author of the Times article Richard Corliss.  Researchers and specialists who have looked into yoga as a therapeutic and healing way of life says that with the two parts of the nervous system (sympathetic: fight or flight reaction, and parasympathetic: relaxation response) Yoga helps turn off the sympathetic, which many believe we’re always in a constant state of which produces enormous amounts of stress, and helps us tap into and turn on our parasympathetic. Doing this helps release the tension in our muscles; the breathing exercises help gain control over our movements and tap into our ultimate state of relaxation.   

            Yoga believers says it will take a little while for you to reach your enlightenment through yoga, but when it happens it’s different for every person. You have the epiphany of understanding your body and the connection between body and mind and suddenly that language you’ve been studying for months makes sense. Yoga is a way for us to connect our mind with our body and have a total connection between the two. Once you have that connection, that enlightenment, there’s nothing you can’t achieve.

            Going into this Yoga class, I didn’t know all this. As I mentioned before, I really thought it was for people unlike myself. I never thought of yoga as just stretching, but it’s an American stereotype that is just that.  After reading this article I couldn’t be more amazed by the power yoga has. The ability to heal and overcome challenges in one’s life by the practice of such an amazing exercise (for lack of a better word) is phenomenal. I’m graduating in a few weeks, so I won’t be able to use the Cary St. gym to further my yoga journey, however, I intend to join one of the studios in Richmond as soon as I can, because I want to reach my own enlightenment through Yoga as well.

The article, which is amazing and I highly recommend:

 

Corliss, Richard. The Power of Yoga. TIME.  April 15^th, 2001. Retrieved May 4^th 2011. <http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,106356-3,00.html

Peach Orchard

“The Peach Orchard” relates in many ways to Shinto. First, the beautiful depiction of the peach trees in blossom was personified by the spirits of the peach trees. Their dancing and music signifying the simplicity and beauty of the peach trees while in bloom.  This relates to some of the general characteristics of a life lived in the remembrance of Kami.  First, to be grateful of the blessings of Kami. The peach trees are a blessing of Kami with their peaches they produce for enjoyment and also the beauty of them. Gratefulness does not mean cutting them down and disrupting them. It also goes against helping others and the world. When the little boys family cuts the orchard down he weeps along with the spirits of the peach trees. This shows that he was grateful for them, even if his family wasn’t.

Second, the ancient Japanese did not separate matter and spirit. This is portrayed throughout the whole dream. Matters being the trees, the spirits of the trees seek out the little boy to punish him for what his family did to the orchard. This dream shows that the trees spirits and the trees are one being, and even if the trees themselves may be gone or destroyed the spirits live on.

Finally the movie shows that the little boy sees the beauty and the power that is in nature through his sorrow for the peach trees being destroyed by his family. He weeps because he knows that you cannot buy a whole orchard full of blooming peach trees, and the simple peaches themselves can be bought. But the beauty is something extraordinary and there for is recognizing Kami. The spirits of the peach trees then see the little boy as worthy of nature and seeing the blooming trees one more time. 

Taoism Blog

Tao’s book of Pooh was sincerely enjoyable to read in my personal opinion. I feel as though the comparison between a religion and a child’s book is extremely creative and exceptionally intelligent.  He envelopes the basic Taoist principal of living each day; day by day, and combating the curves and twists life throws at you. The way is he able to relate each character back to Taoism is very intuitive to me. For example owl being the opposite of pooh, the one who is knowledgeable and embraces learning and intelligence, while pooh takes life as it is, day by day.

American’s being the “bisy backsons” is very correct in my opinion. American’s spend so much time trying to save time and trying to accomplish obstacles for gratification and for rewards that are materialistic and unimportant. Taoism would be the total opposite of an American lifestyle. To spend time the correct way you have to spend it wisely on things you enjoy doing or accomplishing things that brings happiness or helps others. American’s are always in a hurry to do things and we don’t stop and reflect on the small, yet important things in life that bring happiness.

Incorporating some aspects of the Taoist belief would be extremely beneficial to American culture. American’s have many problems, most of which are greed, lack of moderation, time control, and over indulgence. Incorporating Taoism would lessen our need for material objects that simply satisfy short term happiness. Taoism would help American’s by providing a better way of spending time. American’s simply go go go. We work, we sleep, we spend, we work. We don’t use the time that we have in a manner that is healthy. Incorporating Taoism would provide a better way of using our time wisely; on others (friends and family), helping our community, or simply enjoying the simple things in life like a beautiful day or night.  Also I believe that american’s don’t understand self worth or accountability. We are a very competitive society and we tend to underestimate our own gifts and talents because we are so preoccupied in being as talented or as successful as other people. As soon as we adopt more Taoist beliefs we will be able to better indulge in our own capabilities and begin to work harmonically with our peers. 

Buddhist Stereotypes

South Park is obviously known for its satire, inappropriate and uncomfortable social and cultural jabs, and of course, its misrepresentation of religions all over the world. In this example you can see the four “leaders” of American, Middle Eastern, Indian, and Asian cultures are coming together to serve some kind of injustice (all of which are also stereotyped). The American says “we will join together against evil, except Buddha because he doesn’t believe in evil.” Buddha is then shown as a smiley, oblivious, air-headed man who agrees with the statement.

Many Americans and even those outside the Buddhist belief see Buddhists as extremely passive and docile. They are viewed as so non violent that is blown up in such a way that they are seen as being naïve to even the idea of evil, anger, ect. Just because Buddhist’s take a vow of non-violence does not mean they don’t believe is negativity or evil. It is also seen as a very easy and happy and enlightened state of mind all the time while practicing Buddhism. You can see this especially in the clip from the South park episode. Buddha, like I mentioned before, is very air-headed and happy-go-lucky. This isn’t the case at all.

In Brad Warner’s book he talks about his time in Japan and while he was gone Buddhism became “all the rage” in the states. The problem was it was all the wrong kinds of rage. American’s attributed drugs and trips as a way to become in an enlightened state and to seek the mind state of Buddha.  One of worst ideas that western Buddhists have conjured is that there are ways to speed up your journey to enlightenment.  All American’s want a quick and easy way to most everything and Warner argues that Buddhism is a very difficult and time consuming practice. There are no short cuts; there is neither obliviousness nor silliness like portrayed in the video clip I have shared. To relay how strenuous this practice is, Warner says “There is no easy way to circumvent the pain and difficulty of the practice.” This statement alone gives you a second view on how extreme a Buddhists’ lifestyle and practices are. 

Buddhist Stereotypes

Assignment 1: Review

I think the most prevalent aim in pop culture is pleasure. Actually think? No I know it's pleasure. Think about any rap and R&B song from biggie small's to Jay Z. Strippers, booties bouncin', poppin' bottles in the ice, drugs, clothes, money money money. It's all pleasure. Even in country music, pleasure from sittin' on the front porch swing to sexy tractors.  We all love pleasure, in any form, but i believe the Hindu aim of pleasure was much different than what we experience today.

I wasn't surprised to find that thinking and finding songs that fall into the pleasure category would be much easier then community service. Especially as an American culture we are much more self absorbed and selfish than many other cultures. Pleasure in the hindu aim would have been pleasure from reflecting on the positive aspects of the world, spring showers, summer evenings, ect. For us it's about pay day and sex, for the most part. As for liberation and community service, i believe community service is very similar, however, with american pop culture it's more of saying the doing and it's on a global scale. Liberation for us is more along the lines of women moving on from a cheating boyfriend or a star liberating themselves from the media. Liberation for a Hindu would be more like liberation from negativity.

Assignment 1

Pleasure:
Marvin Gaye "sexual healing" Reggae 1982  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k5g18CN_yP8&feature=fvst
Faith Hill "Breathe" Country 1999 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yCmsZUN4r_s
Social Distortion "Pleasure seeker" 1996 Punk Rock http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z8StxgBe-nE

 Bob Marley "Red red wine" Reggae
Buckcherry "Crazy B" 2006 Rock http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UJ6pLKlU-8Q

Worldly Success

Travis McCoy and Bruno Mars "I wanna be a billionaire" 2009 Hip Hop/pop
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=04854XqcfCY Queen "We are the Champions" Classic Rock 1977
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PivWY9wn5ps Michael Jackson "Man in the mirror" Hip Hop 1988
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SzJY96m3lkg Louis Armstrong "Wonderful World" Soul 1970
John Mayer "Waiting on the world to change" Alternative Rock 2006
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oBIxScJ5rlY


Community Service

Rob Thomas "Little Wonders" Alternative Rock 2004
Toby Keith "American Solider" Country 2008 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DWrMeBR8W-c
Shakira "Waka Waka: This time for Africa" ethnic 2010 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pRpeEdMmmQ0
Jack Johnson "The sharing song" Alternative 2004 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bfSpsnLyo18
Michael Jackson "Heal the World" Hip Hop 1991 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BWf-eARnf6U

Liberation 

Cher "Believe" Pop 1998
Bob Dylan  "Like a rolling stone" Classic Rock 1967 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hk3mAX5xdxo
Miley Cyrus "Liberty Walk" Pop 2010http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5aQsq5l0m2E
Beyonce "Irreplaceable" Hip Hop 2006 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2EwViQxSJJQ
Britney Spears "Stronger" Hip Hop 2002 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AJWtLf4-WWs