A regular at Strala told me yesterday after class that I have a lot of power. He told me he did the entire class with his eyes closed because he was able to follow my instructions and advice clearly, and that took him inward to a place where he got incredibly happy. Yup, that happens. Yoga shows us that we have an incredible amount of intuition and power to live our lives however we choose.
Someone who took their first ever yoga class at the studio a few weeks back shared with me that he felt a whole lot better than good. He was accustomed to feeling either not so good, or just plain good. This better-than-good feeling was entirely new. He started walking back to his hotel after the class and broke out into a sprint, because he simply felt like it. He said he ran faster than he ever does and had an incredible amount of energy, stopping only because he got to his destination. He never felt that kind of energy before.
What I'm doing with yoga is bringing it back to its original source as a whole-health system, without the exclusivity or private ideologies. When something works, makes people feel great, there's a tendency for misguided leaders to wrap it up, complicate it a bit, and make people feel like, "You have to go through me to get this great thing." But yoga isn't complicated, and the control is all yours. You don't have to study Hindu philosophy or any made-up system of convoluted pyramid-influenced ideas that cloud the power of yoga. You don't need to assign your loyalty to a teacher or leader. It's not all good. Lots of systems attach themselves to saying they are yoga when they are simply are something different. Yoga is your own self-reliant system that provides whatever you need to be healthy, as a whole person, which includes all together your mind, body, spirituality, and happiness. All the tools are right there, and you already have them.
Yoga is for you. It's about you. It will give you power. It will make your body healthy. It will make your mind healthy. It's the most efficient and effective form of exercise. It trumps exercise. It trumps intellectual study. You will feel connected and grounded to yourself and your surroundings in a profoundly spiritual way. You will become strong, fast, supple, and focused. It is the ultimate self-empowering toolbox that you need to accomplish anything you desire in your life. It's up to you to practice. It's my mission to show you how to practice in a way that makes you feel better than good.
Throughout history systems that make people feel empowered, intuitive, creative, and healthy have been turned into systems of control. The history of yoga is not exempt. The problem in yoga isn't that people get happy and healthy when they practice yoga; it's that the teacher, or guru, tirelessly attempts to convince people that they, not the student, are the reason for this happiness. This problem has turned many people away from a system that, in its pure form, is exactly what we need for whole health right now. The source of yoga is available to everyone. You may be guided through ways of practicing by a teacher, but you are ultimately your own and most important teacher. The universe is within you, and you are the universe. That may seem out-there and strange, but when you start to practice, you can realize your own potential.
I have no interest in sitting at the front a studio after I teach class, to receive blessings and praise from followers. If you feel great after class, that's because you worked your body and mind in a way that connected you with that feeling. That feeling is you. If you have a question about yoga, injuries, health, or anything else, I'm happy to help. Yoga is for you. I've felt it all my life in me, and I'm happy to share it widely now. I'll be doing it until the day I die.
Deep breaths!
Try this routine to balance your energy and regain your power.
X.O.,
Tara
Follow Tara Stiles on Twitter: www.twitter.com/tarastiles
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Yes.. about any exercises, practiced consistently make you feel better than not.
The problem with mass market yoga is that there is definitely a carrot of living some unclear for most of people, but attractive magical and exotic myth is dangling in promise. While in reality mass market yoga does not take you and have no potential to take you there. It provides you with merely another pop system of exercises, while attracting with exotic myth and promise of spiritual elevation.
You may realize it years later, but so what... you've been paying your fees to make high end living of your instructor. This is what counts for the business people. And for you... don't you feel better when you do yoga then when you don't? So, everybody should end up happy in the frame of consumeristic first world society... But what about honesty, clarity and as somebody else had pointed out respect for people and culture who brought yoga to the world?
What trumps intellectual study? Doing Yoga inspired physical exercises? People run and experience runner's high, they feel 'better than good', but should this be equated with Yoga?
Throughout the Yogic literature, it is endlessly written that doing the physical exercises by themselves is not the same as engaging in Yoga. Of course, physical exercise is good for you, it will make you feel good, but why the need to call it Yoga, except to try to convince oneself that something profound is being undertaken, rather than exercise (which makes one feel good, no doubt). If a regimen makes one feel good, improves one's health, then it could be called the practice of self-care, of Ayurveda. No doubt that Ayurveda is a solid ground for the practice of Yoga, which will eventually require one to think deeply, to take up the study of Yogic literature. Without this emphasis, its still worthwhile of course, towards good health, but it isn't the same as taking up a practise which seeks to go within and look deeper into the mystery of being someone in a mysteriously arisen reality. As always, Yoga is for the few. Merely calling physical exercise as Yoga is not the same, even though it is a good practise towards self-care.
a friend of mine who worked closely with Maharishi Mahesh Yogi told me that he was once helping Maharishi put together a little book on yoga asana, when Maharishi said, "let's not call it yoga, because then people will think yoga is the exercises and not the experience of transcendence. let's call it asanas." (not an exact quote) this was in the early 60s, way before the "yoga" craze hit the west. Maharishi knew that people would identify more with the physical, and overlook the transcendental field, which is what yoga is about.
but alas, it happened anyway. today 'yoga studio' doesn't mean a place where people go to experience samadhi, it's a place where people go to work out, slim down, stretch, etc. -- everything BUT transcend in meditation. of course, there are a few yoga places that emphasize meditation, but the teachers were almost always trained in postures, not in yoga. the only place i know of where the teachers are certified in teaching meditation are still Maharishi's TM centers. maybe there are others i don't know of...
i'm atheist, and have practiced yoga for over a decade, yielding incredible mental, emotional, and physical results. i understand and respect the history of yoga, but am not going to be bullied off my mat because some of you feel your relationship with it is superior to mine. i've had some instructors who were more yoked, as it were, to the spiritual side, but i learned not to dismiss them simply because they thought differently than i did (imagine that). for me, when people speak of gods and "source" and spirit and such, i instantly translate those words to "breath." calmness in the face of resistance, being present with sensation and still breathing, etc.
i think tara is speaking to a lot of folks who *need* yoga desperately, but have been turned off or away by those of you who treat it like a secret society. namaste, tara. i recognize the courage and love in you.
You have every right to practice what you practice and this is not what is being challenged.
Where "Yoga" becomes an appropriation and disrespectful is when
!. It is exploited as a high end commodity..
2. Teaching yoga is used to abuse students and turn them into a teacher or "Guru's" narcissistic supply.. (which Tara seems to understand some of.. )
3. It is part of role playing as Hindi flavored pseudo-swamis and sages by non Hindus as a way to elevate and sell themselves as "Yoga" authorities.
4.. It's exploitation is rationalized and excused by arrogant claims of "knowing bettter than Hindus" by people that demonstrate little understanding, sensitivity or concern for the people and culture which brought Yoga to the world.
Frankly .. while I believe your intent may be fine and Tara seems like a good person.. I really feel that your view is typical of the colonial mindset that feels it has an absolute right to take from a culture and give nothing in return except disregard and dismissal.
Wow, just wow. And I say that as a brown woman.
very enjoyable dissertation ;
also frustating [like wallst running america and capitalist jungle law republicans Mohler and Boehner]
to know that vatican and hindu establishment authorities are ignorant of the purpose of the knowledge they believe in and are trying to live
St Theresa of Avila was very much closer to Christ than any Pope;
Maharishi Mahesh Yogi was at one with God and completely at one with the unified field of natural law ,more so than the 4 Shankaracharya's of India
the only person [pardon the absolute] who understands completely Maharishi Patanjali's yoga sutras is His Holiness maharishi Mahesh Yogi [physics degree]
the main person alive today who understands patanjali's yoga sutras [theory and practice] is DR John Hagelin ,superstring theory specialist ,president of global union of scientists for peace
the only path which is both effective ,in short time and long term, and is comfortable and non-damaging
is Maharishi's TM and TM-Siddhi program including yogic flying
avery concise comprehensive delineation of patanjali Yoga [for laypeople,secularists] is in the appendix of "on the bhagavad-gita": Maharishi Mahesh Yogi
http://transcendentalconsciousness.com/bhagavad_gita.htm
http://is1.mum.edu/vedicreserve//yoga.htm
http://is1.mum.edu/vedicreserve/forty_branches_large_views/Yoga.gif
http://www.mum.edu/faculty/egenes_tom_sanskrit.html
in largest context, Yoga means union of individual mind with the divine
PHD level :
http://www.mum.edu/msvs/6195WellsIntro.html
I feel that what you have to offer, Tara, is a kind of white bread yoga - it looks like yoga, is shaped like yoga, but is entirely stripped of nutrients and depth. While I applaud your offorts to remove yoga's "exclusivity" and "private ideologies," it's sad that this comes at the expense of wisdom and tradition.
As well, I have to agree with a previous commenter that you look way too skinny in this video. Like not-health skinny. Also, in your voiceover instructions, you sound bored and lifeless, not at all powerful or energetic.
"What I'm doing with yoga is bringing it back to its original source... "
"The source of yoga is available to everyone." -Tara
The source of yoga is Hinduism. To deny this is to strip it of it's authentic roots.
There are 950 million Hindus and 1.5 million in the US. .. To sanitize and appropriate their wonderful and wise cultural heritage and then to commodify it disenfranchises them and is not different than the taking and selling of the spiritual culture of Native Americans. It is time to recognize the culture that created Yoga and start to give back acknowledgment and respect for it's source.
Native Americans are speaking up with a unified voice about cultural appropriation of their spiritual traditions And so are Hindus.
The Hindu American Association has authored a position paper about this.
http://tinylink.in/89H
Please realize that taking the spiritual heritage of a culture for monetary gain without acknowledging that culture and listening to it's people's wishes and concerns is not very healthy or spiritual.
“We cannot expect that millions are practicing real yoga just because millions of people claim to be doing yoga all over the globe. What has spread all over the world is not yoga. It is not even non-yoga; it is un-yoga.” -Prashant Iyengar, son of B.K.S. Iyengar,
Yoga in the West from an historical perspective is very new. That the most obvious, easiest to grasp, physical part of it's teaching is what predominates now in a materialistic culture such as ours shouldn't be surprising. That doesn't mean that it has been stripped of all it's meaning or that the culture from which sprang has been summarily dismissed.
Yoga was brought here for a reason. It imparts real wisdom from mere physical mastery, to gaining knowledge of the subtle body, to understanding the mind and mental processes, to ultimately the complete mastery and understanding of the self. This is universal to the human experience and does not depend on religious affiliation.
Although this belief is commonly held by many, including "Hindus," scholars of Vedic culture, Sanskrit and Indology do not say this.
"Hinduism" is a new word popularized by the British ruling class to lump together all elements of ancient Indian culture related to the Vedic tradition. What's today known as Hinduism is primarily the Bhakti (devotion) tradition of deity worship, a relatively recent development in Indian culture. But the Vedic tradition, with its meditation and yogic practices, existed for thousands of years before Hindu deity worship came into existence. The 10,000-year-old (or older) Vedic culture predates Hinduism by at least 1000 years.
The Hindu American Association bases its precepts on conventional Indian beliefs about Hinduism. Such an organization might lay claim to yoga because these ancient traditions have become so intertwined over the centuries. But even among this group there's no consensus about the origins of yoga and its relationship to other aspects of Vedic culture. Sanskrit and Vedic scholars are not in agreement about the relation of yoga and Vedic literature (one school of scholarship sees yoga as developing in a completely separate cultural stream, independent of the Vedic tradition). But there's scholarly consensus that yoga and the Vedic culture predate Hinduism.
The source of yoga is not a culture or religion. NO ONE OWNS IT. As Patanjali said, "Yoga is the settling of the mind into pure silence."
Yoga is the experience of the inner Self.
if you want to take from them and call it "universal".. and sell it ..... that is cultural appropriation.
What interests are you supporting Jimmy Goodman?
Transcendental meditation it seems.
TM is a very large commercial organization that sells a trademarked meditation technique.
TM claims to own this technique.
But you speak against anyone owning "Yoga"
Maybe you mean anyone but TM.
Besides I have not seen anyone claim to own Yoga. Not the Hindu American Foundation.
I know I have only mentioned the possibility of respecting and giving back....
Interesting reactions to that. btw.
Where did Maharishi say Transcendental Meditation began?.....
The Hindu god Krishna.
THE MEETING of EAST and WEST
Excerpt from Philosophies of India by Heinrich Zimmer
Ed. Joseph Campbell ~ Princeton Bollingen Series XXVI, 1951
"We of the Occident are about to arrive at a crossroads that was reached by the thinkers of India some seven hundred years before Christ. This is the real reason why we become both vexed and stimulated, uneasy yet interested, when confronted with the concepts and images of Oriental wisdom. This crossing is one to which the people of all civilizations come in the typical course of the development of their capacity and requirement for religious experience, and India’s teachings force us to realize what its problems are. But we cannot take over the Indian solutions. We must enter the new period our own way and solve its questions for ourselves..."
http://www.deepyoga.ca/dial_up/pages/meeting_of_east_and_west.html
Yoga reconnects me to the core of my being, and realigns everything, internal and external. Thank you for pointing out that yoga is about the "universe of yourself".
I loved the video.
Kim Bauer
www.confabulicious.com
Reading this article and these comments (!), I feel really lucky for having had nothing but incredibly warm and compassionate, knowledgeable instructors who seemingly couldn't care less that I'm just trying to find new ways to stay in shape, you know?
It happens to every yoga teacher and if it hasn't, you haven't earned it; you are still a little phisher who doesn't know...
Eventually, when you return to teach, then, you teach for the student, not for you.
It is wonderful to read the old texts - in fact, we know about this path because of what has been written down and passed along. However, we can not read or quote our way into living yoga, or to wisdom in general. Yoga was, as Tara suggests, designed as a "whole health" system - which was understood more holistically than we tend to think now. You were healthy if your whole being was in tact - and yoga would do that for you, giving you great power in the process.
Tara's also correct in her teaching that yoga is a self-reliant system. While findings were written down in some great texts, they don't become ours until we practice and discover them for ourselves.
It is common to believe that advanced or spiritual teaching is complicated. In fact - as writers and students know well - it is far more challenging to express the profound simply, and far easier to pile on words and knowledge that surround the truth without cutting directly to it.
This is Tara's great strength. She goes directly to the truth, in a manner that requires exceptional wisdom. And she helps us see that we can all do the same for our selves. Keep up the great work!