I’m gonna agree with Amy on this one. Yoga is an ancient spiritual practice that predates modern civilization and current concepts of left/right, liberal/conservative etc.
I’m gonna agree with Amy on this one. Yoga is an ancient spiritual practice that predates modern civilization and current concepts of left/right, liberal/conservative etc.
But what Yoga is...isn't the point. The point is what it was used for. As a tool.
Read this again...and think hard about what it means: "The issue is never the issue. The issue is always the revolution".
Just as feminism was never actually about women, yoga was never actually about a spiritual or physical practice. Not in the way it was introduced and used in the 1970s America and beyond. Yoga as a practice was never the issue....the issue was always the revolution. They just needed some variables to plug into the overall equation.
I understand what you’re saying, especially about feminism, but I think you’re overthinking the yoga stuff.
Perhaps it was introduced to the west as a part of the counterculture movement, but if it leads to healthier bodies and minds then I don’t see the problem. It’s certainly helped me immensely.
But truth be told, I grew up in Berkeley and have always been in the “screw the system” mentality until recently. And I do still have a rebellious spirit and just want to be free to pursue causes that I believe in, such as yoga.
I have never bought the claim that yoga necessarily results in a healthier body. Perhaps a bit stretchier, but that is all. It's something like all the PR sent around about Cannabis, whenever some jurisdiction wants to legalize it; then after legalization, you never hear again about all the supposed "health benefits". Just meant to push the legislation through.
I tried yoga for years as a teen, just to see what all the fuss was about, and I concluded it was a lot of brouhaha. There was some ulterior motive, obviously.
There are numerous studies showing yoga leads to a healthier body (and mind and spirit). Not sure why you wouldn’t believe that. As I said, it’s helped me immensely, and I will continue practicing till the day I die. I didn’t start practicing until I was 38, so maybe the benefits are more noticeable at that age than for a teenager, because as a teen one’s body is plenty strong and agile and limber.
I don't particularly believe such studies; there has been too much yoga-hype. Much like Cannabis-hype.
Besides which, what yoga does or does not do for your health is not my point here. As I keep saying.....it is not about the issue content itself, but what the promotion of that issue can be used in service of.
I don't think this larger perspective is getting through to you, Gabe. I think that growing up in Berkeley has done you in. Permanent leftwing cultural indoctrination. I was fortunate enough to have grown up in freer places.
But Yoga is and was very much part of the system. It is the opposite of rebellion. It is buying in to the whole shebang! It has been on the slate of the "trendiest of the trendies" since the 70s.
Where I live, entire offices of clerical workers troop in and out several days per week with their yoga mats slung over their shoulders as if to signify herd membership and fashionability. Wouldn't catch me....
I’m gonna agree with Amy on this one. Yoga is an ancient spiritual practice that predates modern civilization and current concepts of left/right, liberal/conservative etc.
But what Yoga is...isn't the point. The point is what it was used for. As a tool.
Read this again...and think hard about what it means: "The issue is never the issue. The issue is always the revolution".
Just as feminism was never actually about women, yoga was never actually about a spiritual or physical practice. Not in the way it was introduced and used in the 1970s America and beyond. Yoga as a practice was never the issue....the issue was always the revolution. They just needed some variables to plug into the overall equation.
Expand your view of this to the bigger picture.
It was also part of the whole "New Age" movement, which replaced faith in God with faith in "spirituality".
I understand what you’re saying, especially about feminism, but I think you’re overthinking the yoga stuff.
Perhaps it was introduced to the west as a part of the counterculture movement, but if it leads to healthier bodies and minds then I don’t see the problem. It’s certainly helped me immensely.
But truth be told, I grew up in Berkeley and have always been in the “screw the system” mentality until recently. And I do still have a rebellious spirit and just want to be free to pursue causes that I believe in, such as yoga.
I have never bought the claim that yoga necessarily results in a healthier body. Perhaps a bit stretchier, but that is all. It's something like all the PR sent around about Cannabis, whenever some jurisdiction wants to legalize it; then after legalization, you never hear again about all the supposed "health benefits". Just meant to push the legislation through.
I tried yoga for years as a teen, just to see what all the fuss was about, and I concluded it was a lot of brouhaha. There was some ulterior motive, obviously.
There are numerous studies showing yoga leads to a healthier body (and mind and spirit). Not sure why you wouldn’t believe that. As I said, it’s helped me immensely, and I will continue practicing till the day I die. I didn’t start practicing until I was 38, so maybe the benefits are more noticeable at that age than for a teenager, because as a teen one’s body is plenty strong and agile and limber.
I don't particularly believe such studies; there has been too much yoga-hype. Much like Cannabis-hype.
Besides which, what yoga does or does not do for your health is not my point here. As I keep saying.....it is not about the issue content itself, but what the promotion of that issue can be used in service of.
I don't think this larger perspective is getting through to you, Gabe. I think that growing up in Berkeley has done you in. Permanent leftwing cultural indoctrination. I was fortunate enough to have grown up in freer places.
But Yoga is and was very much part of the system. It is the opposite of rebellion. It is buying in to the whole shebang! It has been on the slate of the "trendiest of the trendies" since the 70s.
Where I live, entire offices of clerical workers troop in and out several days per week with their yoga mats slung over their shoulders as if to signify herd membership and fashionability. Wouldn't catch me....