Ankle hurts badly in Lotus Pose

Hi Cass, you should not be suffering in any asana....see Gordon's earlier post.

If the suffering is the pain in your ankle during Marichyasana B & D the variations with one leg in half lotus. Then please stop doing these until your ankle is fully healed and your hips are open/flexible enough for half lotus without any pressure on your ankle or knee.

If it is something else that is hurting you must speak to your teacher about it. If he/she cannot give you alternative asanas to do instead or a series of asanas to do to overcome the problem.......you need a different teacher.

Never push/force yourself in any asana. Take it slow. If you cannot breathe fully, easily and slowly in any asana you have probably gone too far. Challenge and encourage yourself, yes.....but never force and a teacher should not be using brute strength to shove you into any assna.

As Gordon suggested start a basic hip opening series, once the hips are open/flexible enough then work on lotus and asanas involving half lotus again.

If the whole of primary series is causing you suffering maybe you should look for another form of yoga or a different teacher.

Good luck.

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Worldwide do-it-yourself yoga retreat

I have travelled to different places in the world to do yoga. I do not ever do retreats mainly because its crazy expensive but also because I do not need all that and can find my own accomodations, massage and healthy food and generally at local prices. I much prefer to rent a house or guesthouse and join up at a studio offering a multitude of types of styles of yoga, cost is perhaps $100 dollars per month just for the yoga. I do intensive yoga, detox, and indulge in luxuries, have never paid more than $1000 dollars per month.

I have been going to Ubud, bali for the last few winters, great place for selection of studios, teachings, also not too expensive but on the rise. The place has become overrun with other foreigners all of whom are healers and/or artists., pollution and too too trendy with every overpriced restaurant but worst is the foreigners who go there charging foreign (not local) prices for everything. love the place but sadly its lost its charm and I must move on.

Been for yoga to rishikesh and kovalum in India, Sivananda in Grass valley, California, also trivandrum, ubud of course but wow...that's it

Anyone else do this, or know of others who have and or places in the world where one can go and immerse oneself in yoga for a few months., and for reasonable prices of course

Has anyone been to Costa Rica, Peru, Belize, Mexico,...well absolutely anywhere is possible...and or heard of somewhere that suits my style.

Thanks and happy to meet you all,

Brenda

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Anger arises during meditation

Meditation As Described in the Bhagavad Gita Ramanuja Yoga Articles 19 10-01-2013 04:50 PM Sorry, I could not read the content fromt this page.

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Is it ok for yoga to hurt if working on an injury?

Let's see where to begin.

1. only muscles should be stretched. Tendons should not.

2. Because the foot is in plantar flexion in Virasana (Hero's pose) the tendon in the back of the ankle (Achilles) is shortened not lengthened. Therefore it is incredibly difficult to stretch that tendon in that pose.

3. Have your asana teacher modify Virasana until there's no pain in the tendon.

__________________
Gordon Kaplan
President, Team Yoga
http://www.teamyoga.com/
- - - -
Certified Purna Yoga Teacher (CPYT)
RYT-500, ERYT-200, IAYT,
M.S. Kinesiology, Indiana University

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Recommendation for Authentic KY Guru in India?

Hello Friends,
I am new to this forum and just joined it moment back.

My spiritual journey begun few years back but ended with huge disasters. I was badly cheated and exploited by a Hindu Guru "Ashutosh Maharaj Ji, Founder of Divya Jyoti Jagrati Santhan, He claimed to impart a "Divine Knowledge, in Hindi that is called "BrahmGyan" with four folds Kriya.
1- Seeing Divine light (while pressing eyes hard and that makes white orb in eyelid),2-Sumiran/japa, 3- Amrit Kriya, 4-Anhad Naad.

And I did not experience anything above except "1". And that too sounds too obvious.
After years and years of practice I achieved nothing..No change. But my whole money was extracted in name of GuruSewa even my house is sold, My job is gone..now I am Zero.
I have to start life from very scratch....Since I don't have anything to lose...but time, which is more precious than materialistic wealth. Hence again with full enthusiasm I am looking for a genuine Kriya Yog Master in India ... But I am not sure..who is imparting real KY.

I heard about the Dr. Ashoke Kumar Chetterzi of West Bangaal. Even I read his book ..and was quite impressed with his knowledge. But still would like to know people's opinion about him. Your opinions are so valuable for me.. could change my life.

Thanks
Regards
Dev

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Eco Friendly Yoga Mats

Dearest ahimsa, how you make so much sense on all levels, but how hard it is to follow you. And oh how if you were a person, I'd probably punch you in the face out of frustration. In case you don't know what ahimsa is, there are eight limbs of yoga, one of which is the yamas, and ahimsa or "non violence" is one of those. I won't go any deeper into it which no doubt has some yoga scholars chomping at the bit, but many will take ahimsa to the level of trying to be environmentally friendly. You know, non violent towards mother earth and all her cute cuddly animals (mosquitoes don't count according to the Buddha and neither do veggies because we can't hear them scream). As such, it's quite natural that yoga practitioners are purchasing "eco friendly yoga mats" in droves.

What IS "eco friendly" anyway? Well, let's say that you're my friend. And I punch you really hard in the face and break your nose. Am I being friendly? Of course not. Now let's say that I punch you in the face but not as hard and only cause a nose bleed. Am I being friendly? To be friendly, I wouldn't punch you at all. To be "eco friendly", you cannot harm the environment, period.

What IS an eco friendly yoga mat? Well, let's do a Google search for that since the internet would never lie to us, right? The first listing that catches my eye is for an eco friendly yoga mat made by a large, well known company. OOOOH! A click through to their website provides me with the following tantalizing description:

Originally Posted by The Company [The Company] is committed to making the world's best performing, most environmentally-friendly yoga mats, providing the highest level of customer service and giving back to the earth with every product made. All our mats are made sustainably in the US from natural rubber. They provide an optimum grip and offer better cushionand more resilience than any other yoga mat. You can just feel the difference.Bold is mine. "Made sustainably". Now THAT is quite a claim.

Even if your "eco friendly" yoga mat is made from a natural substance such as rubber from a tree, if those trees are not raised organically, that means they are utilizing either (or both) synthetic fertilizer or synthetic pesticides. As each are petroleum based and petroleum is not a renewable resource, your yoga mats are not sustainable. And then of course there is all the environmental damage that non organic pesticides and fertilizers do. They kill the good bugs and microbes, pollute ground water and other fresh water supplies, create dead zones in the ocean, poison people, and the list goes on of NON eco friendly issues that surround them.

If you want to get even deeper into sustainability (I wish more people would) then by definition, anything that is shipped any distance by car, truck, train, ship, or plane is not sustainable. This is due to the fact that each of those modes of transportation utilizes petroleum and it is not a renewable resource.

To be truly sustainable, you have to make drastic changes in your life. If you're not sustainable, are you practicing ahimsa? By purchasing a yoga mat that is not locally sourced from sustainable materials, are you violating ahimsa?

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David Chapman is the owner of yogaforums.com, has a Masters in BS, a PHD in Hypocrisy, is a certified yoga teacher who is anything but, and likes short walks on the beach.

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Acceptance and attachment

10-23-2013, 01:39 PM Gotta share this. I have just met a homeless woman at the beach. She seem to be intelligent and smart. Her name is Chandra (moon in Sanskrit). Her father named her. He was a ?hari krisha? she said. Then she told me the story of her troublesome parents?..She had been raped and had an abortion at the age of 18, and things of that nature?. Chandra looks like she is 50yo, but she is just 32, like me. She just had a baby boy this summer, and she gave her son to the adoption center, because she has no place to live and no one to support her. She carries her son?s picture, the ones she took in the hospital. Very cute little boy. She said she ?does not miss him, but she loves him?. Chandra told the story of her life as like she would tell me the recipe of a pie. With no regret, sorrow or bitterness. She seem totally enjoy the beautiful day at the beach, sitting next to her dirty bags. She?s got zero attachments and 100% acceptance ( what?s what spiritual seekers are looking to attain). Despite poor look , and all misfortunes, the person radiates light and intelligence?. 10-25-2013, 05:32 AM I have the same question as Gordon.

Some people maybe very damaged from these experiences and become just numb, and can tell their tales without being very emotional.

I have heard stories from many women here in Cambodia telling very tragic stories in very dispassionate ways.

One time I had to be the "adult supervision" while a teenage girl told her story to 2 journalists for a story about the NGO that helped her out of her terrible circumstances (very terrible....sold into prostitution by her own mother, HIV positive by age 15, forced into drug addiction by pimp, gang raped, then after rescue and being placed into education and employment by NGO was blackmailed by family into giving 30% of her salary every month...she still gives money to her mother) . Not only was she weirdly calm and almost blank......but the women interviewing her also showed no concern, no pity, no compassion, no sadness.......nothing..... It seemed odd and unhealthy to me.

10-28-2013, 01:06 PM There is some advantage of being born in India. I have seen quite a few spiritually enlightened people who look absolutely common, are very poor by choice or circumstances, and don't feel any urge to speak even when there are good number of expectant listeners.

More interior one goes in India, spirituality is blended in life styles and the folklore so intricately that the joy and contentment on their wrinkled faces is often amazing. And an eye opener too. One stops slotting people by appearances, attire, oratory, "holiness", and what have you. After all, true contentment arrives by itself and yoga or generally, any spiritual path is a "human" need not a pre-requisite.

10-29-2013, 02:19 PM Originally Posted by Suhas Tambe There is some advantage of being born in India. I have seen quite a few spiritually enlightened people who look absolutely common, are very poor by choice or circumstances, and don't feel any urge to speak even when there are good number of expectant listeners.

More interior one goes in India, spirituality is blended in life styles and the folklore so intricately that the joy and contentment on their wrinkled faces is often amazing. And an eye opener too. One stops slotting people by appearances, attire, oratory, "holiness", and what have you. After all, true contentment arrives by itself and yoga or generally, any spiritual path is a "human" need not a pre-requisite.

that's why i like your book...because you are intelligent, smart and overall incredible person, and it shows in everything you say. 10-30-2013, 09:58 AM Originally Posted by ray_killeen This type of spontaneous happening makes one ponder; the world is what it is not what we want it to be, nothing seems to be happening that should not be happening else why would it happen, I am, the world is, just be, existence is amazing, no one is more or less important than anyone else, the interconnectivity is self-apparent upon investigation, feel and experience unimpeded.Nicely said Killen... thank you for the reflection

Yogacambodia, oh no! no there is no numbness. She shared she pictures of the newborn very enthusiastically, but with no drama in her voice. I was quite amazed to hear "I love hum, but i do not miss him" ... sounds like non - attachments to me...

I have a yoga client here from same Ponte Vedra beach, who lives in a million dollar house and she constantly was complains about that her 30 yo kids left house and how lonely and poor she is , and that her husband is at work all the times, and that everything could unfold even better for her...ect.

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