Yoga From the Inside Out

After reading the memoir Yoga from the Inside Out by Christina Sell, I have very mixed feelings about a lot what is said.  Before I go in depth on my feelings about the book, I must preference this.  I have limited exposure to both yoga and more importantly, the deeper philosophy of yoga.  I also have a very unique perspective on both the so called “sleeping world”, which I will get into later as well, but also the relationship of God, spirituality and the divine as well because while I consider myself having a spiritual walk with God, I am again no means an expert or well learned in that aspect either.

            To begin, I did enjoy reading the memoir and the overall message I received from it.  The idea that people today are too involved in what Ms. Sell calls the “sleeping world.”  This sleeping world, at least to what I understood it as, is people buying into the society’s view of what is acceptable, right, good, beautiful, fill in the blank with any adjective and you have the idea.  I do think that people and society as a whole has adopted a unrealistic image of beauty. Not only has the image of beauty been set at a bar that is impossible to reach by many, the pressure to reach that goal also carries an unbearable weight sometimes.  I personally feel that weight, as I am sure many other men do.  Take a look in any men’s fitness magazine or blockbuster movie.  The guys all have extremely well defined muscles all over; abs, back, arms, pecs.  Not only is that what is paraded around what a man should look like, but it is also shown as what is needed to be successful in most aspects of life.  Those men typically are very wealthy, have wives or girlfriends who also are the epitome of the definition of beauty for the sleeping world.  Do I feel that is right to be set as the standard? No, but I also don’t think that it is entirely wrong.  The image of well defined muscles and being lean is more than just something that is purely aesthetic.  It also shows fitness and overall health.  To have that type of physique, you have to be in shape and be in good shape.  This means you are taking care of your body by working out, being careful about what you fuel your body with, etc. Even more with my profession, staying in a good, healthy state is imperative. Personally, wanting to subscribe to those standards of the sleeping world, is not bad because it simply means I am in better shape and more capable of performing my job.  Should it be taken to the extreme of eating disorders and such no because then it becomes something that is unhealthy and harmful, but wanting that goal and striving for it, I don’t see anything wrong with that at all.

               The other major problem I have is more philosophical and religious in nature.   Even after all the discussion in class over the sutras, and reading quite a bit about yoga and the philosophy, I am struggling to see how it is not a religion by itself. At least in the way it is practiced and discussed in a lot of contemporary literature.  All of the talk of the divine and spiritual and the way you need a guru to interact with it and to show you the path has a awkward juxtaposition with my personal faith background.  It seems like it has quite a few places that any religion, including Christianity, can fit in and work side by side with yoga.  Many of the core values are the same, but there is a disconnect still that is hard for me to explain, much less put into words.  The easiest way I can break it down is how the first yoga teacher, if you can call her that, explained it to me.  Mary Francis is a very good friend of my mothers, and our families are close.  Mary Francis has become a yoga instructor after starting yoga herself and teaches restorative yoga. For various reasons my mom began going to take yoga from Mary Francis and dragged me along one time I was home.  The way that Mary Francis told me, was to incorporate yoga into your faith, not your faith into yoga. It just seems that so much faith is worked into yoga. At least that is the way it is portrayed.  Something about that bugs me, and I don’t have a good explanation why.  If I ever figure it you, if anyone ever reads this blog, yall will be the first to know.