Yoga is, in many ways, taught, thought of, and marketed as a spiritual practice here in the West. In general, there is a debate as to whether or not yoga is a religious or spiritual practice, and there are several arguments that efficiently defend both sides. Yet, definitions can be general and rather superfluous; for the sake of clarity and simplicity, I am only going to discuss a few examples of how spiritually has been mentioned throughout my semester long practice, as well as expand on how this has impacted my experience of yoga as a whole.
In my recent post with instructor Mary Clare Sweet, I spoke about how she was guiding her students to manifest their own realities. This is arguably a call to spirituality, as Sweet is encouraging her students to get in touch with themselves, and then call out to a greater force in the universe, one which they are already a part of. A practice I did in October, called “The Attitude Makeover” and taught by Zain Saraswati Jamal, also called for inner peace and was brought on by the need to be in the present moment — again, the end goal being to connect to a space and a force outside oneself.
This theme of inner harmony was also found when Melina Meza discussed the importance of fulfilling one’s Dharma, a concept that I now know far more about than I did at the time of the practice. In the context of Meza’s practice, spirituality was about living one’s best life and fulfilling the reason one was placed on Earth in order to reach inner harmony and contribute to becoming one with the universe. Once more, this theme of finding oneself and unionizing with a force outside of that self was central, despite the difference in the types of yoga being taught and the instructors teaching them.
For that reason, I do believe that my yoga practices have been instructed through this lens of spirituality. One cannot live a fruitful life without knowing oneself — for to know oneself is to know all beings, because we are all one. That is the theme my instructors have followed in one sense or another, and it is how I have come to identify spirituality in this particular setting.
That said, my final physical practice post is on Viniyoga. Though much more “practical” and focused on healing methods and technical terms used in biology and medicine, Viniyoga has moments of spirituality as well, encouraging introspection while focusing on physical execution.
Briefly —before jumping into asana descriptions (three to be precise) from the hour long Viniyoga practice I completed — I would like to comment on the history of Viniyoga as well as give a bit of background about the man who popularized it.
Gary Kraftsow is the man who essentially created Viniyoga. Learning from T.K.V. Desikachar and T. Krishnamacharya of Madras, India, Kraftsow brought Viniyoga to the United States and is the founder of The American Viniyoga Institute. Their official website states that Viniyoga is “an approach to Yoga that adapts practice to the unique condition, needs and interests of individuals and groups – giving practitioners the tools to individualize and actualize the process of self-discovery and personal transformation.”
“Self-discovery and personal transformation” can mean many things to different people. Some may see this as a call to enlightenment while others may see it as an avenue to end their ruminative thinking. Others might say there is no difference between the two. Viniyoga utilizes these differing aspects and adapts to whatever the consumer wants, making it desirable to those looking for a physical avenue that offers exactly what they need.
Furthermore, Kraftsow credits Desikachar for his interest and knowledge in medical studies, saying that when they first met, Kraftsow was a Religious Studies major and Desikachar said to him “you should study science.” Citing him as an almost prophetic guide, Kraftsow listened to Desikachar and now says that “more and more work that I do is with medical doctors, psychiatrists, physical therapists, occupational therapists, social workers, etc.” Counting his professional career as a blessing, Kraftsow says there is a shift in medical studies looking to replace pharmaceutical methods with more natural alternatives. UCSF, Harvard, and other prestigious universities have enlisted him in their studies, shifting their gaze “from pharmaceutical centric care to patient centric care.”
Interestingly, Kraftsow says that his passion has always been the spiritual side of yoga, an interest that remains steady to this day. Citing the “uniquely nonsectarian orientation,” Kraftsow continues his studies on the Upanishads and is “doing more and more…. deeper work with more and more students who want to go into their own deeper inner work.” He works on this while simultaneously advancing medical studies, fulfilling both aspects of himself.
With this lens, I will now move on to describe three of the asanas that stood out to me during this practice.
First, we have Cakravakasana. This asana immediately reminded me of Cat-Cow Pose, one of my favorites. To enter this asana, I started on my hands and knees, my hips directly above them and my hands just a touch in front of my shoulders. Inhaling, I pulled my shoulder blades inward and stretched my spine, pulling my belly in and keeping my chin in line with my chest. Unlike Cat-Cow, there is no arch here — rather, the lower back must stay completely even. Exhaling, I contracted my abdomen and moved my hips back toward my heels while simultaneously placing my forehead and elbows on the ground, stretching my lower back. Inhaling, I returned to the starting position, and then repeated the process several times.
This asana is relaxing and helps immensely with back pain, something Kraftsow commented on multiple times, though his terms were more technical. For example, where I say, “the lower back must stay completely even,” he says, “[you should] flatten thoracic spine on inhale.”
The second asana that I found to be helpful was Bhujangasana, also known as Cobra Pose. Kraftsow referred to it as “butt muscle strengthening,” but I like to think of it as a way to both strengthen and relieve my lower back while simultaneously tightening my butt and upper thigh muscles.
To complete this asana, I simply began on my stomach, my feet hip-distance apart. With my hands beside my ribs, I extended my big toes back before pressing down with all of them, rotating my inner thighs to the sky and firming my ankles in line with my midriff. Pressing down into the earth, I raised my head and chest slowly, rolling my shoulders back and keeping my neck long, my gaze straight ahead. As my arms lengthened, I moved cautiously, my pelvis rooted into the ground as the forward pull of my chest propelled me upward, coiling my thoracic spine. Moving my shoulder blades in, I straightened my arms and kept my elbows just slightly bent, holding my position for several breaths before folding back into my starting position, feeling relieved and refreshed as my body once again united with the ground.
The third and final asana I will mention is the Supta Baddha Konasana Adaption. It’s a bound ankle pose, and it looks exactly like what it sounds like. Lying down, arms to the sides and my palms facing upwards, I placed the soles of my feet together causing both legs to fall to their individual sides, but not all the way to the ground. Inhaling gently, I focused on controlling my pranayama and then lifting my legs just slightly up towards the middle, about a third of the way there. Then, I lifted them back down again before coming almost all the way up. Throughout this process my pace was excruciatingly slow, my body trembling the whole way through, which according to Kraftsow was a completely natural reaction to have.
That said, we can now address Kraftsow’s teaching methods. He has a very monotone voice, an explains things in a technical, precise manner (Bueller, Bueller anyone?) The videos I learned from focused on back muscles, and the actual asanas themselves were carried out slowly, rarely in time with the verbal instructions that Kraftsow was giving. The environment reminded me of a study, or a rich, comfortable home — there was a hearth, and the colors were brown and red, earth tones with a touch of fire. Some of my classmates who did the same practice felt that it looked like a home, a safe space, or in some cases, a therapist’s office. Mainly, the thing that makes Viniyoga a form of yoga is essentially the language used — Sanskrit— and the usage of pranayama throughout the practices, which is very important.
This is my final physical reflection, and I am certain that I will continue this journey long after this class is over, both in physical practice and written word. I feel sad writing this, knowing that it is the last physical reflection of the semester; but I am also elated to have learned so much and gained insight into both my own spirit and the vast variety of instructors and styles the yoga world has to offer.
Until the Next Reflection,
Moujnir
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