Miss Information

Today, two different people mentioned to me that the Pope declared that yoga is Satanic.

Well, not exactly.

It was not the Pope; it was Father Gabriel Amorth, the Vatican's former chief exorcist. According to London's Daily Telegraph, Amorth did say that “Practising yoga is Satanic, it leads to evil just like reading Harry Potter.“* 

And while I firmly believe that everyone is entitled to their own opinion, I take issue with this statement for obvious reasons.

Satanism is a Christian concept; a deliberately distorted, fun-house-mirror perversion of Christianity.

Yoga is a non-Christian tradition that comes out of the same South Asian cultural/spiritual ecology as Buddhism, Hinduism, Jainism, and Sikhism. In that spiritual ecology, there are lots of blue and black and red beings running around with an excessive number of names and incarnations (shouldn't three be enough for any One?), not to mention an excessive number of arms waving swords, tridents, skulls, and all manner of weird objects.  And if you are a) unfamiliar with South Asian religious iconography b) not able to clearly distinguish the difference between non-Christian and anti-Christian and c) deeply steeped in a religious tradition with a long-standing habit of literally demonizing other religions' deities, I can see how one might jump to conclusions.**

My personal opinion is that the practices, philosophy, and guidelines provided by yoga are the tofu of spirituality, in that they can blend well with and take on the flavor of any religious tradition when used by an intelligent and educated practitioner.

Theoretically, I suppose this could include Satanism too, but I personally have never met nor am I aware of any Satanists who practice yoga.

But I digress.

My understanding and experience is that yoga teaches us that humans create our own suffering through our own ignorance, selfishness, greed, etc. We don't get to attribute our own inner demons to an evil Adversary, and we can't expect a Divine authority figure---or anyone else--to wave a magic wand or kiss our boo-boos and make our suffering go away. Yoga can teach us to recognize that we cause suffering, how and why we cause suffering, to take responsibility for the suffering that we create, and how to cultivate the emotional, mental, and physical discipline that will help us reduce suffering within ourselves and around us. 

*Obviously, Amroth has never read The Golden Compass.

**Whether or not yoga actually is a religion is an interesting question, and the current issue of Yoga Journal has a great discussion on the topic (alas, not available online). Personally, I think not, as it doesn't involve worship, but it does include practices such as meditation, a set of ethical guidelines, and a rich artistic and philosophical tradition, which most (all?) religions do as well.

Adaptation

One of my private students is planning surgery to repair a SLAP ("superior labral tear from anterior to posterior") tear in her shoulder, an injury that makes shoulder abduction (moving her arm up and out to the side) very painful.

SLAP tears are apparently becoming more frequent---I know at least one other person with the same injury---so while this is the first time I've seen a student with one, it probably won't be the last.

My student was concerned about not being able to do yoga during her recovery, while her shoulder is immobilized. She's been a real trouper, trying to use yoga as "pre-hab" so that she goes into surgery in as good condition as possible.

Because her shoulder is going to be immobilized anyway, I suggested that we make a simple sling out of a yoga strap for our pre-surgery classes, so she could get a feel for what was possible with only one arm. And in the spirit of solidarity, I tried to keep my arm immobile during class, too. (Which is not easy, by the way. I kept forgetting and switching arms.)

Four-point (hands and knees) poses and chaturanga dandasana were obviously out, and so were prone poses. However, we were able to do a nearly "normal" hour-long practice, including a modified sun salutation, which helped her feel a lot better about her prospects.

Not only was she pleasantly surprised at how much she was able to do, she also told me that her practice felt a lot better than last class, when she had tried to user her injured arm as much as possible. Because connective tissue is involved, it's going to be a long recovery period, and I'm almost as happy as she is that she'll be able to continue her practice throughout.

Yoga Lounge Playlist 2

Because of various technical problems, I have yet to be able to use an entire Beat Lounge Yoga playlist at a Beat Lounge yoga class. Nevertheless, I keep creating playlists for them...

Essential Oils Update

A couple of weeks ago, I discussed essential oils and what to look out for when buying them. Until recently, the only source of high-quality chakra oil sets I was aware of was a multi-level marketing company.

I'm a bit suspicious of multi-level marketing, personally; I think the prices tend to be inflated, and there's a lot of work required to actually make any money at it. Sure, I've bought the occasional product at a friend's party, but I've never been tempted to get involved myself. And given the option, I prefer supporting local artists, artisans, and small businesses.

Thanks to my amazing massage therapist (who is in yoga teacher training herself) I found a wonderful local source in the Indianapolis area. Melissa uses high quality ingredients and her prices are extremely reasonable, considering the high quality of her product. A nice touch is a tiny, chakra-appropriate mineral chip in each bottle.

I could practically feel the good vibes coming off the bottles; it's obvious that a lot of care goes into the work. If you're local, I encourage you to give it a try, and if you're not in Central Indiana, I encourage you to seek out and enjoy the work of your local equivalent.