Simhasana

A.K.A. Lion Pose

Inspired by a comment on my last posting.

Namaste!

These guys have got it right...

A lot of the time we practitioners of Yoga take it all waaaaaaay too seriously. And that's not hard to do when you're trying to stay in a meditative state and focus on your body. It's hard to have fun or find humor in your practice when you're trying to work through pain at the same time. I know when I focus on how much a body part hurts, or how much it sticks, it seems like the discomfort increases and time seems to stretch to infinity; much like when I'm watching the teapot boil. When an unexpected interruption comes, that doesn't make me break my pose of course, my thinking mind pulls the focus away and when I come back, that discomfort is not as bad.

I've seen a lot of press in recent months about "Laughter" Yoga, and I get a kick out of the reporters treating this like a new thing. Though, when I consider "gym" Yoga and many of the established schools, they do lend themselves to a high level of seriousness.

Bill, my Guru, was initiated into the Ananda Marga International Yoga Society. He told me his Guru had the philosophy of, "if you can't walk out of the house without a smile on your face, go back inside and get yourself right before you mess with the world's karma." Because of that, Bill has always interjected humor and fun into his course. And when I my certification path forced me to go to another teacher (who specialized in Inyegar) I was turned off by her style of teaching an Yoga because she tended to be very serious.

Of course, my teaching has always interjected humor, and encouraged laughter and outbursts one may not find in a more traditional, serious Yoga class. Naturally, this has made it harder for me to "reign everybody in" when it's time for meditation or Pranayama. Still, I wouldn't change my teaching style, because I feel the laughter is more beneficial.

Ultimately, I think these guys have it right: Yoga Monkies

I think adults should enroll in this course whether they have kids or not!

Namaste