by shopaholic 7 Replies latest social physical
I started doing Yoga regularly about 2 months ago. I have yet to float or have an out of body experience. But I do feel more "centered" and have greater flexibility.
Anyway, yoga is not allowed as a JW. I knew several JWs that wanted to try it and didn't understand exactly why it was no-no even if you went to non-meditation class.
Anyone here do yoga? Any strange experiences?
I have tried many types of stretching, exercise, physical therapy, chiropractic, massage therapy, etc.
And they are all quite helpful.
But Yoga is the only thing that eliminates my chronic pain. Hot yoga is my favorite.
Nothing strange, though I've certainly noticed a HUGE difference (improvement) in my peace of mind, calmness, clarity, and breathing after a good yoga session.
I suspect that sometimes people try to describe this almost surreal euphoric feeling of good health with easily misinterpreted terms like "it felt like I was floating" and end up misunderstood.
I think it might just be that a totally natural muscle-fueling oxygen "high" feels vastly different than a tensed up shallow inactive low.
There's a lot more to yoga than a bunch of stretches. It's toning for the muscles too. :o)
F.E.A.R. = false evidence appearing real
If you wanna feel "floaty" just try a few different pro yoga teachers and keep doing all the little exercises accurately and focus on breathing well. Perhaps you too will experience that "zen" feeling. :) I think it's just homeostasis. Absolutely Natural. Nothing supernatural about it. :)
Probably the dubs don't want people doing it because they end up finding the feeling of good health preferable to parking their ever widening asses on a kingdom hall chair five times a week. :o)
I like strawberry yoga best
I had to give the anti-yoga talk once. I scraped up the crap from the litteratrash and made my feeble fallacy-ridden argument, and got told what a good job I did.
One of the cons of yoga is that you might go so far out of your body you can't find your way back, and die. I think that was related in an Awake somewhere...
Oh boy when my in-laws found out i was doing yoga. We were sent a stern letter telling me all about how EVIL it is. So I had already done my research and was ready for them. I wrote back to them . I asked them if any of them had ever sat indian style ? Uh oh you just did a yoga pose . Had any of them bent over and touched their toes? Uh OHH, yoga pose. Had any of them stretched their arms up above there heads? OH OHHH yoga pose. and on and on I went. Every type of excersise out there has basic yoga posses incorperated into it. So I told them, my class doesnt even have and meditating in it . Its all about correct breathing, and stretching and doing moves that help build up body strenght without alot of high impact jumping around. You know what they told me to do ? to read what the SOCIETY says on the matter thats where all REAL truth comes from. Good thing I wasnt bending over in a evil yoga pose at the time or I would have thrown up my lunch. LOL. You know if you went to a gym and took a class thats let say it called Stretching For Strenght or something like that, they would'nt have a problem with it, but because you call it Yoga its evil. Gotta just laugh about that don't we?
Yes, the best thing to do is laugh.
Thanks everyone for your responses.
aSpereisnotaCirlce - Yoga definitely helps with back pain. Still have yet to try Hot Yoga...heard it has an interesting smell.
SPAZnik - Thanks for the tips. I've tried several instructors and think I'm getting closer to "floating". It takes lot to slow down the mind.
ninja - Any flavor of yoga is good for you.
FadeOut - There are some JW articles that have some very wrong and very crazy information on Yoga. There is one where a boy "got a demon" while doing yoga in a gym class. At least you're not passing this bad info on anymore.
annalice - So many people do Yoga and don't even know it. There was class called "Stretching for Back Relief" that some JWs attend occassionally that gave rave reviews. When they shared some of the "stretches" they learned and how to "breath into it"...I remember thinking, "This is yoga." So as long as its not called yoga, then it becomes acceptable to them.
ScarredForLife - Laughter is always good for you.
