- Home
- Find a Therapist
- Topic Streams
- Get Help
Mental Health
Addiction
ADHD
Anxiety
Asperger's
Autism
Bipolar Disorder
Depression
Eating Disorders
Insomnia
OCDPersonality
Passive Aggression
Personality
ShynessPersonal Growth
Happiness
Goal Setting
Positive PsychologyRelationships
Low Sexual Desire
Relationships
SexEmotion Management
Anger
Procrastination
StressFamily Life
Adolescents
Child Development
Elder Care
Parenting
SiblingsRecently Diagnosed?
Diagnosis Dictionary
- Magazine
- Tests
- Psych Basics
- Experts
Yoga, as an overall discipline, is incredibly rich and diverse. This complexity tends to get a bit lost on Western practitioners, with the focus mostly on Hatha Yoga as a physical practice of body and breath. Hatha is, in fact, only a beginning discipline, although it lies at the heart of the psychological transformation that is the true fabric of an authentic and transformative Yoga practice.
The awakening
Dear Michael,
Thank you for your perfectly-timed post. You accurately resonate in words what I have been feeling and experiencing for the last several months; perhaps, even, for most of my life up until now.
Over the past few months, I have started practicing Hatha Yoga under a sprightly, jubilant, tough-love 62-year-old teacher, himself a student under BKS Iyengar here in Mumbai (Bombay), India. In the short time of my own practice, I have experienced noticeable changes in my body, and bursts of intense awareness in my mind.
Oddly enough, this period has been accompanied by bouts of depression and hopelessness, which, through your post, I today am interpreting only as the cold sweat that accompanies an awakening from a lifelong bad dream. A legacy of stagnation, negligence and fear stares me in the face; my choice is either to be paralyzed by it indefinitely, or to accept it and change it from this point on in order to move ahead.
For the first time in my life, I feel prepared to commit to gradual, permanent and positive change through Yoga, rather than chasing one shiny object after the next, only to have it burst in my hand like so many soap bubbles, leaving me breathless and empty.
Thank you, namaste, hari om.
>> ff <<
awakening
To firefly: the "depression and hopelessness" are not at all odd; I believe that you recognize this as you mention your "awakening from a lifelong bad dream." As a matter of fact, my theory, also that of my former yoga teacher, is that as one begins to practice hatha yoga, much of the negative energy that the body has absorbed is getting released. Or in other words, the self-imposed shackles on the mind and body do not easily loosen without some pain. I too, after regularly practicing yoga, experienced occasional intense bursts of awareness--sometimes "mind-blowing." I'm sure you are aware by now that the bouts of depression and hopelessness are all a part of the process of change and growth, kind of like "growing pains." Or, as well, perhaps your greater awareness of your body has led to a greater awareness of the world, and you have come to realize that you have increasingly more and more good reasons to feel depressed at the state of the world today!Peace.
Post new comment