At Sadhana, we’re dedicated to all aspects of yoga
asana
Bringing asana (postures), chanting, meditation, and breath awareness together offers a clear path for enhancing health, well-being, and spiritual growth. Sadhana Yoga Hudson shares the rich history, philosophy, and teachings of the yoga tradition to students and teachers alike.
Focus of the Month
defining yoga
What is yoga? Who is defining it? Who does the definition serve?
Last month we Zoomed Matthew Remski (yoga scholar, author) into our teacher training and explored these very questions, among others. One takeaway has us considering three different ways to approach defining yoga: personal, in-group, public.
A personal definition of yoga is basically how you define yoga for yourself, at this point in your life. You may or may not share it, and it’s not up for debate. If you feel inspired by practicing yoga with goats, then so be it!
Defining yoga for an in-group, while sounding exclusive, is actually a way to thoughtfully name what it is we do at our local studio, or in a regular class. Is there a lineage? Is yoga post-lineage? What the heck does that even mean? Is innovation encouraged?
Articulating a public definition for yoga is very challenging – Matthew gave us an example of what you might say at a party if someone asks you, “So, what is yoga, anyway?” One reply: “That’s a big question, and it makes me nervous! Throughout history and across cultures, people have answered this question about this originally Indian, now globalized practice, according to their needs and interests. For instance (this text or person, fill in the blank) seems to say yoga is ____________, while (this text, or person) seems to say that yoga is ___________________. There are many other definitions as well. It’s meaning in my life and practice has been _______________________.”
This month we will hear from different yoga authors on how they define yoga, including Donna Farhi, Georg Feuerstein, James Mallinson, as well as from Wikipedia, Merriam-Webster, and yogic texts, like the Yoga Sutra and the Bhagavad Gita. I look forward to hammering out definitions together to answer this question, and others.
Meditations
Meditation is gaining recognition every day as a way to work with pain – researchers have examined meditation’s effects on people, such as attention regulation, body awareness, depression, post-traumatic stress disorder, and addiction.
Scientists have asked two questions: “Does meditation help?” and “How does meditation help?” One study showed an approximately 40 percent reduction in pain intensity ratings during meditation when compared with non-meditation. And that it worked for beginners.
Meditation teaches people how to react to pain. People are less inclined to have the ‘ouch’ reaction, and are able to control their emotional reaction to pain.
We are offering these meditations to you to use when you need guidance to reduce stress and pain. There are many forms of stress that can be soothed, including such things as a busy schedule, exhaustion, or agitation.
These meditations were written by Stephen Levine, and read by Sondra Loring. Our dear musician friend, Steve Gorn, plays the music. For more from Steve, visit his website: SteveGorn.com
In loving memory of Metta Callahan
