Nov 2, 2009

Personal Challenge #2: Yoga and Quiet Contemplation (Week 2 of 4)


[Image available at http://weblogs.cltv.com/features/health/livinghealthy/yoga.jpg]

This personal challenge will focus on inward simplicity. I am committing to ten minutes of yoga and/or quiet contemplation every day for the next four weeks.

O.K. I'll admit it. This challenge is HARD for me. Ten minutes a day? I know. I know. But it is. It's easier for me to write twenty pages, run six miles, or climb a mountain than it is for me to just sit still for ten minutes and think... or do ten minutes of yoga. That being said, I did manage to do yoga breaths one day and quiet contemplation four days. Five out of seven isn't bad for my first week, I guess. And I've been seeing a lot on the internet lately about how yoga and meditation fit well into a minimalist, simple lifestyle. My favorite thing I happened upon what this creed, from Yoga to the People's website. How simple. How just.

There will be no correct clothes
There will be no proper payment
There will be no right answers
No glorified teachers
No ego no script no pedestals
No you're not good enough or rich enough
This yoga is for everyone
This sweating and breathing and becoming
This knowing glowing feeling
Is for the big small weak and strong
Able and crazy
Brothers sisters grandmothers
The mighty and meek
Bones that creak
Those who seek
This power is for everyone
Yoga to the people
All bodies rise

I've been very inspired by the comments, feedback, and advice I received in response to my Paring Down the Stuff Challenge. I will continue to donate or give away 10 items a week until I am down to a place where I feel comfortable and at peace with my stuff. Stay tuned for future posts related to my progress. Another ten items - including some highly processed and sodium-filled canned food items from my kitchen cabinet - gone, donated, given away to a better home.

5 comments:

  1. Nice post - Yoga ..Keep Posting-- Tip: Keep your post active- commenting helps it


    - Santu
    Yoga

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  2. Hi - I enjoy your blog and wanted to come out of the shadows and let you know. This post is great. I think a lot of us can relate to the desire to take those ten minutes but the reality of how difficult it can be to actually DO it. Thanks for sharing your experience.

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  3. @ Wallsantu - Thank you.
    @ Patty - Thank you very much for commenting. And your are right, the reality of actually DOING it is much harder than the contemplation about why it should be done..

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  4. Hi,
    Yoga is beneficial for the health in ways that modern science is just beginning to understand. Even though it has beenapplied with therapeutic intention for thousand of years, Yoga Therapy is only just now emerging as a discipline initself.
    More health care practitioners are starting to include yogic techniques in their approach to healing -- andmore yoga teachers give a therapeutic intention to their teaching. People who have never tried yoga before are startingto consider including Yoga in their treatment plan.
    As science begins to document the importance of understanding the interrelation of all existing things, it looks to Yogawith an intrigued eye, for Yoga speaks Unity in every word. As yoga techniques are researched and new data is gathered,it becomes easier for science and the medical establishment to understand and accept the benefits of Yoga Therapy.Yet there is still not one consensual definition of the discipline.
    In order to arrive to an adequate definition and tocome up with proper standards for Yoga Therapy, it is crucial at this early stage to properly address some delicateprofessional and ethical issues. At the same time it is important to educatethegeneralpublic about Yoga Therapy'sbenefits and careful use.
    so this article will really helpful to me..

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  5. @r4- Thanks for commenting! I agree that yoga has tremendous health benefits. I look forward to continual education and awareness in this area and think that the anecdotal experiences of individuals need to be a part of the broader conversation about yoga and health.

    ReplyDelete