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growant
8 Posts |
 Posted - Dec 05 2007 : 6:52:04 PM
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Hi,
It is my understanding that the process of cleansing the nervous system engendered by deep meditation (I AM) cleanses the nervous system of emotional 'blocks'- unresolved issues from the past. Does it act equally to dissolve physical 'blocks'- physical issues, joint pains, disease,heart problems, etc..., which chinese medicine would, I believe, consider to be chi blockages or chi imbalances?
thank you- |
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anthony574
USA
549 Posts |
Posted - Dec 06 2007 : 12:55:11 PM
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| In yoga philosophy the body is the mind and the mind is the body. If that is the case, than it would follow that spiritual blockages would manifest in physical forms and vice versa. I think this is most obvious for people in the form of tension. Since beginning asanas I have noticed throughout everyday how often I tend to clench muscles in my neck, face, and shoulders. I think through practice and awareness blockages can be dissolved and the results will be of both natures. |
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Jim and His Karma
2111 Posts |
Posted - Dec 06 2007 : 8:05:21 PM
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Philosophically, yoga doesn't differentiate. It's all the same stuff. Knots in God.
Practically, you will absolutely see "physical" results from yoga practice. Bigger, coarser purification from asanas, subtler, finer purification from meditation. The classical role of asana is to smooth out the major blocks so one can eventually launch a meditation practice without health or major anxiety issues interfering. |
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Christi
United Kingdom
4429 Posts |
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Jim and His Karma
2111 Posts |
Posted - Dec 07 2007 : 09:56:10 AM
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I see I didn't quite finish my thought.....my point was that the physically manifesting sorts of blocks you're talking about might be better tackled with asana. Meditation helps, too, but the problem is that it's like using fine sandpaper on a big bump!
On the other hand, issues that stem from stress and are known to be relieved by stress relief will be ameliorated by just the relaxation aspect of meditation. For example, if you sit and breathe deeply with no mantra or other practice, blood pressure often improves. And though it might seem otherwise, I'm not wandering from your question, since stress of various sorts is actually behind all blocks (if we went through all our lifetimes completely peaceful, balanced, ungrasping and unflappable, there'd be no issues....and if the moon were made of green cheese, then the sun would be made of ice cream!). Obviously, something inside you is making you constrict into the hypertension. That block happens to be relatively easy to work away at for most people. Blunt tools work well. Other blocks manifesting as health issues are a bit subtler, and benefit from asana. But most of our constrictions/blocks are extremely deeply embedded in the subconscious and can only be gotten at by very subtle means. Mantra meditation is subtle means.
Finally, it's important to bear in mind that all saints die, and most of them died from disease. Ramana Maharshi and many others died of cancer. So I personally don't put too much stock into the New Agey idea that all disease is necessarily an indication of some sort of spiritual incorrectness. Sometimes you just get sick, and that's that. The Indians would say that it's due to deep karma built up over eons, deeper than you've been able to purify in this lifetime. To me, that's equivalent of saying that sometimes you just get sick, and that's that. We do this incarnation in human bodies, and human bodies are prone to disease, it's just part of the deal. Though things like asana (and less so meditation) can improve one's health immeasurably. |
Edited by - Jim and His Karma on Dec 07 2007 10:04:59 AM |
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anthony574
USA
549 Posts |
Posted - Dec 07 2007 : 10:06:24 AM
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| Jim, I like your take on gross/fine purification. Recently, I went to my first ever asana class after 7 months of doing it my way. Well, I found out that I was doing them very wrong and decided to really scale back on them and reapproach them like a beginner again. I decided to not do them everyday anymore and was doing them once or twice a week. While at first this seemed to improve things such as tension caused BY the old asanas, after a while I noticed that tension and discomfort seemed to be returning so I began doing them again more often and it seems to show it's grosser nature now. The effects of asana really are different somehow than finer practices so in this way I think a nice balance of fine and gross is best. |
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Jim and His Karma
2111 Posts |
Posted - Dec 07 2007 : 11:23:12 AM
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Hi, Anthony, listen, I'd highly recommend you find an Iyengar teacher. Here a search engine: http://www.bksiyengar.com/modules/T.../teacher.asp
The Iyengar system is particularly good at helping undo bad habits, spot alignment issues, etc., that could be causing these effects. There shouldn't be any tension or discomfort at all in asana practice (and if there is, there's something going wrong), except the highly contained experience of Edge - i.e. the frontier between what you can do easily and what takes effort. In asana, the trick is to melt into the edge rather than to force/blast past it. That's the whole thing...the wisdom of centuries of hatha yogis encapsulated. Pretty simple. And that act of melting is what spurs the grosser purification.
Realizing this is liberating, 'cuz it doesn't matter whether you can touch your toes. The edge, the melting, the purification, the Good Stuff isn't at your toes, it's at your edge, wherever it lies, even if your edge is at your knees. You get just as much benefit from working at an edge halfway to full completion of the asana as someone who can do a beautiful full complete posture. In fact, you get vastly more benefit, if you're melting and the asana jock is blasting. The inflexible shall inherit the earth!
It's a useful insight to bring to meditation and other subtler practices, too. Don't strain. Do it with love and meltingness. Let go. Don't do it willfully, aiming for any particular goal (short term or long term), just melt into the practice. It's one thing to nod in agreement with all that, and another to actually DO it! 
Also, fwiw, none of any of this is my take, really. Almost everything I post (unless noted otherwise) is pretty much classical yoga spiel, expressed in my particular style and filtered through my particular experiences. |
Edited by - Jim and His Karma on Dec 07 2007 11:31:51 AM |
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physical 'blocks'
