dark matter essay
(C) 2013
  • about
    • values
    • competences >
      • china
      • intellectual property >
        • What is original?
        • talks & lectures
      • work & vocation
      • personal and organizational development >
        • definitions and techniques
        • syst lexicon
        • projection #1
        • projection #2
        • projection #3
  • blog
  • STP journal
  • book reviews
    • Boy by Roald Dahl
    • Digital Dementia by Manfred Spitzer
    • Evolution's Meaning and Objective by Pierre Teilhard de Chardin
    • Focus - The Hidden Driver of Excellence by Daniel Goleman
    • Going Solo by Roald Dahl
    • Homo Deus by Yuval N. Harari
    • Iron John by Robert Bly
    • Irresistible by Adam Alter
    • Reinventing Organizations by Frederic Laloux
    • Steve Jobs by Walter Isaakson
    • The Idle Parent by Tom Hodgkinson
    • The Great Disruption by Francis Fukuyama
    • The Monk Who Sold His Ferarri by Robin Sharma
    • The Organized Mind by Daniel Levitin
    • The Practice of the Wild by Gary Snyder
    • Weltentwerfen by Friedrich Boerries
    • World Order by Henry Kissinger
  • film reviews
    • Alphabet (2013)
    • Around the World in 80 Days (1956)
    • Bad Santa (2003)
    • Captain Fantastic (2016)
    • Concussion (2016)
    • Demain | Tomorrow
    • East is East (1999)
    • Her (2013)
    • Kinsey (2004)
    • Laura Croft II - The Cradle of Life
    • Le Planete Sauvage (1973)
    • Pope Francis by Wim Wenders
    • Suzaku (1997)
    • SIlence (2016)
    • The Challenges of Rudolf Steiner (2011)
    • The Program (2015)
    • The Salt of the Earth (2014)
    • The Straight Story (1999)
  • topic essays
    • anthropology >
      • on economics >
        • Do we reward our contributions to society the way we should?
        • International Tax Evasion
        • capitalism
        • on profit, passion & purpose
      • on humor
      • on politics >
        • zur lage der nation: le grand peur II
        • Analyse NR Wahl 2013
        • zur lage der nation
        • Wutbürger - anger citizens
        • World Order - Book Review
      • Identity: Warum mich Trachten entfremden
      • on gender and sexuality
      • on religion
    • art
    • creativity >
      • Transforming the IP System
    • education >
      • Mindful Parenting
      • Alphabet - Documentary Review
      • Henry Kissinger on Education
      • learning environment
      • Musicalized - Rich Music for Poor Times
      • screen education
      • Sting on how he became to be what he is and creativity
      • On Bi- and Multilingual Instruction
      • A Playground of Growth
      • On Procrastination
    • neurology >
      • On Football and Oxytocin
    • on nutrition
    • psychology >
      • algorithm of love
      • art of loving
      • applied virtues
      • emotional intelligence
      • grundformen der angst
      • grit - key to success
      • happiness
      • on love and grief
      • triangular love
      • yale intro to psychology
    • quotes worth quoting
    • sports >
      • kiting
      • yoga
      • squash
    • writing
  • travel essays
    • one step into camino frances
    • journey to the center of the earth
    • Alto Adige - An Example how European Integration can Succeed
    • on the friendship highway
    • en viaje de andalusia
    • sawasdee krub - a quiet holiday in thailand
    • Viking Myths and Hanseatic Harmony
    • How Airbnb Explains Bureaucratic Futilism and Why the Chinese hukou System Could be a Solution to the European Migration Crisis
    • On Slovenia and Integration or Isolation in Post Nationalist Europe
    • who moved my swiss cheese?
    • On Taiwan and its Identity Crisis
    • On Nippon Sakoku
    • Expectations of and Deliveries in Down Under
    • Silence on Kumano Kodo
    • Zwischen der pannonischen und mandschurischen Ebene treibend
    • Thoughts on Freedom and Order While Dozing in Berlin
    • On Interrail and Climate Ticket
    • On Morroco, Islam and Faithfulness
  • contact

An Update on Yoga

11/9/2016

1 Comment

 
Picture
originally posted in the sports section. 

I am quite a bit indebted to Taiji. Taiji Chen style pulled me through my last year of law school. It put me on tracks. Without Taiji, I think I would have not graduated under the difficult situation that I faced during that time. But even more so, I have to say, that every method of relaxation, concentration or meditation is fit for a certain period in one‘s life only. There is no holy grail like method that works for all of us at all times. Having said this, I want to make a point for Yoga, because that‘s what I am into at the time being.

Yoga makes me less irritated at work. I am more patient, less choleric.
Yoga makes me sleep better. Deeper. Less.
Yoga keeps my body in shape, my tendons flexible and my bones in place.

Yoga is one of life‘s great supplements. And I still wonder, why I am mostly the only man attending the classes, which caused me sometimes to question my manliness, and thoughts crossed my mind like ‘dude, are you gay after all?’ Absolutely no men in yoga classes is also an obvious difference between Western and Chinese society. If yoga does not work for you, try like most Chinese men: drinking.

There is of course also a religious aspect to Yoga. If I look it up on wikipedia, there are tons of information, but interestingly nothing that cuts out its essence. Therefore, I believe this is another dark matter. Yoga, literally translated from Sanskrit, means "to unite" and thereby grasps quite interestingly the core concept of many religions. But whereas Christianity speaks of the relationship between God and man in a negative perspective, that is separation or sin, from Latin siscere "to cut off", Hinduism obviously tried a more constructive approach and provided man with a tool, a solution so to say, to be re-united with God, nature, all that is. Man, always prone to separation from God, was given an instrument to work on his/her atonement. Taiji fulfills the same function with a different technique and a different terminology.

Only recently I have had the pleasure to attend a Yin Yoga class and was surprised of its extraordinarily beneficial effect on my body-mind equilibrium. I have come to the conclusion that even within the many forms of Yoga practice one should pick what suits him most. But how to? Well, I am probably not the right guy to answer this question, because I have neither a good record in continuously practicing yoga for many years, nor do I have an instruction license. But I asked a friend of mine to help me out [thank you Andi!]. So, here it comes, Yoga for Dummies:

Yin Yoga: focus on stretching your body and therefore more suitable for tense people who need to relax their tight mind and body.

Yang or Power Yoga: focus on strengthening your body and therefore more suitable for people who need to stimulate their mind and body.  

Flow Yoga: intended to balance stretching and strengthening your body; and thus always a good starting point until one has realized if he needs more Yin or more Yang.

Hatha Yoga: although the Sanskrit word hatha means force, hatha yoga is not the same as Yang Yoga, but a kind of umbrella term for all physical Yoga practices as opposed to traditional Yoga meditation practices. Hatha Yoga is therefore the fuzziest concept of all, but probably nowadays also a good starting point for newbies. If you want to read up on Hatha Yoga, I recommend Ann Pizer’s thoughts as a second pit stop.

Raja or Astanga Yoga: Raja means in Sanskrit royal and focuses on the alignment of bones and respective support of ligaments and muscles to prevent injuries. In my humble opinion Raja Yoga comes therefore closest to the objective of Western bioenergetics. It is interesting though that the term Raja was originally used to denote the paramount objective of Yoga practice, i.e. ultimate atonement and therefore connection to the supreme – royal – self.

A quick note on Yin and Yang, because I was intrigued that the modern Yoga terminology borrows from a Chinese philosophy. Like the Taoist symbol implies, there is never only Yin nor only Yang, the two realms do always include at least a small part of the opposite. The same is true for our choice of Yoga practice: we might feel after a few sessions of Yang Yoga that we need more relaxation and therefore change to a Yin class. We nevertheless will still require some Yang exercise to work effectively towards our individual body-mind equilibrium. I currently run 5k at 10km/h with 1% inclination on the treadmill before I attend the Yin Yoga classes and feel that this mix is just right.
Picture
With courtesy from http://www.idlebeats.com/
1 Comment
Heinrich David Thorax link
11/15/2016 12:23:05 am

“I currently run 5k at 10km/h with 1% inclination on the treadmill before I attend the Yin Yoga classes and feel that this mix is just right.”

If the entire world population gathered in a tiny place like Austria, still everybody would be able to run circles in his own office measuring about 10 m². If there is a belief in limits between body and mind, people always might feel free to measure, cross and disequilibrate these limits. Hence such limits do not exist for managing mankind on treadmills. All measuring of distance, acceleration and proportion becomes pure imagination. Wait, strengthen and relax. There is time, space and fresh air to have a walk outside.

Reply



Leave a Reply.

    Categories

    All
    Aging
    Art
    Atonement
    Austria
    Bottom Up Focus
    Buddhism
    Calexico
    Capitalism
    Children
    China
    Cinema
    Climate Change
    Csr
    Democracy
    Denmark
    Digital Media
    Economics
    Education
    Enlightenment
    Europe
    Famous Quotes
    Football
    Hamburg
    Hansa
    Happiness
    Health
    History
    Humor
    Hungary
    Ibizagate
    Individuation
    Innovation
    Integration
    Kiting
    Kurt Schuschnig
    Learning
    Life Guidance
    Love
    Medicine
    Meditation
    Memory
    Meritokratie
    Music
    Nationalism
    Neos
    Nepotismus
    Neurology
    Neuroscience
    Nutrition
    Oxytocin
    Parenting
    Philippines
    Politics
    Psychology
    Religion
    Research And Development
    Scandinavia
    Sebastian Kurz
    Slovakia
    Snowboarding
    Spain
    Sports
    Success
    Suffizienz
    Taiji
    Taoism
    Taxation
    Technology Transfer
    Top Down Focus
    Traffic
    Travel
    Turkey
    Urbanization
    Vikings
    Wise Living
    Work
    Writing
    Yoga

    Archives

    January 2023
    November 2022
    September 2022
    May 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    December 2021
    March 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    July 2019
    February 2019
    November 2018
    October 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    October 2017
    August 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    January 2017
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    November 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    September 2012
    February 2012
    January 2012
    August 2009

    RSS Feed

Proudly powered by Weebly