yoga mania

I must admit that yoga is truly harder than I anticipated. Remembering to breathe and stretch correctly is a difficult task. I also didn’t realize that stretching could be so PAINFUL. Participating in the yoga class helped me to realize I do have muscles that I don’t stretch nor did I realize that they were even there. It helped being in a class with others because it forced me not to give up because I honestly really wanted to. I agree with the articles that we were supposed to read before attending the class. The main focus of my class was the stretching and not the breathing. While teaching the poses the instructor of course mentioned the proper breathing techniques but never really concentrated on making sure it was done right. In my opinion the breathing aspect is equally as important as the stretching itself. Without the proper breathing techniques the stretching is not as effective. The most interesting thing I learned from the “westernized” yoga was some of the true health benefits. Some of the exercises help with speeding up ones metabolism. I personally find this interesting because I didn’t realize that certain movements could in prove a person’s metabolism. Yoga has become a common form of exercise in America and because of this I once agree with the article. Westernized yoga is based on stretching and the occasional breathing. However the true purpose of physical yoga is to obtain tranquility and spiritual insight through stretching and breathing. In other words physical yoga is a form of meditation. As Americans we have altered the true nature of yoga and used it as a means of creating physically healthy citizens. My instructor failed to emphasis on the importance of the stretching coupled with breathing to produce a time of tranquility and spiritual insight. Aside from it all, as a beginner I don’t see how I would have received tranquility or spiritual insight because I was too busy concentrating on the pain that I was in! I too wish that we Americans would stop reducing ancient traditions of other cultures to “nothing but a hollow shell of their true selves.”

Weeping Demon

Weeping Demon was my clip of choice. In the first five minutes of Weeping Demon the wanderer did nothing but wander in darkness and fog. I was so tempted to change my choice but then the demon came along. It appeared at first that the demon was disappointed that the wanderer was a human. (It was almost as if he was expecting someone else.) And the wanderer seemed a little frightened when he realized that standing in front of him was a demon. After they got over the initial shock of each other the demon began to talk about his life. He tells the wanderer that the desert that they are standing on was once a beautiful field of flowers. Nuclear bombs and missiles changed it to the desert. Due to radiation, the people became horned demons, the dandelions were huge and the stems of the roses grew from the flower. The demon also tells the wanderer that when he was human he was a farmer. As a farmer, he used to pour lots of milk into the river to keep the prices up and used to bury vegetables with a bulldozer.

The biggest connection that I made with Shinto and the Weeping Demon is the characteristic of being grateful for the blessing of Kami. When he was a farmer the demon did not appreciate the blessings of beautiful flowers, fresh milk, or his crop. Now that he lives in a desert and has nothing to eat but other weaker demons he is resentful of what he has done in the past. What was once a blessing to him was quickly snatched away at the hands of another man and now he is to live with worst conditions than he did before. I also feel as if it is implied that the demon is thankful that he is a one horned demon instead of a two or three headed demon. As a one headed demon he may be eaten by a two or three horned demon but he does not have to live with the cancer-like pain of the multiple horns. The two and three horned demons horns hurt them worse than cancer and they have to endure this pain for eternity because they can’t die.

The Pooh Way!

        The Tao of Pooh was an excellent read! I thoroughly enjoyed how Hoff put the work together. As I child I honestly despised Winnie the Pooh because I considered him to be very slow and strange. His co-character Tigger was more of my favorite because he was always on the go. Overall, the book was refreshing to say the least. Benjamin Hoff used a childhood character that most people can relate and basically reiterated the important lessons that we were supposed to learn as a child that we may have missed. This was definitely one of the easier reads this semester!
        The book calls our culture the BUSY BACKSONS and well I totally agree. The American Culture is so busy that we barely even have time to eat; we are always eating something from a fast food restaurant or a frozen dinner/meal. “It’s not surprising, therefore, that the Backson thinks of progress in terms of fighting and overcoming. One of his little idiosyncrasies, you might say. Of course real progress involves growing and developing, which involves changing inside, but that's something the inflexible Backson is unwilling to do." I agree with this quote from the book. As Americans we believe that to get anywhere in life we must work hard and fight to obtain the American dream. Any small change that may occur may offset or delay this goal and put us back which we don’t want because most of us are working on a time frame to begin with. As Americans we rarely get to enjoy the simple things (unless we are on vacation) because we attempt to move at the speed of light; which is basically what Hoff suggests when he basically says that we’ve created an unhealthy cycle in order to not waste time.

        The more I read about Taoism the more I think to myself that I should be Taoist. As an American (especially as a college student) I’m used to being satisfied with getting anywhere from 4 to 8 hours of sleep on a good day, living off of McDonalds for Breakfast, and all the other factors of the American life. Taoism does appear to be the solution to the American Problem. We (Americans) put so much pressure on ourselves to succeed that when we fail it seems as if all is lost. Taoism teaches us that we should let things happen as they may and that we shouldn’t rush to save time because time can’t be saved anyway. I wonder how different the world would be if everyone lived the Pooh way!