X-Ftn-To: Tracy Miller 

tracym@pipeline.com (Tracy Miller) wrote:
>As a consequence, there is a whole
>different mindset in students of the martial arts than there would be 
>in the original setting - that of a person who just wants to learn how
>to fight.  The teachers aren't into any spiritual aspect, no
>meditation, they don't learn it, so their students don't either.  
>
>I hope this does not happen to yoga.  What might happen is that most
>people will end up doing yoga purely for physical reasons, without
>ever taking that farther step, if it gets divorced from the
>sprituality the way martial arts were. 
>
>What do you guys think?

I think you're right... with all those guys insisting that "yoga is
not a religion" and that there's "nothing mystical about yoga", what
you noticed seems inevitable, unfortunately. It reminds me of a guy
here in Croatia, who calls himself Makaja, and advertises his
"tantric" classes as a way to learn 8-hour long orgasms. He said that
he's very clever: he'll attract people with something mundane, and
when they begin the practice, their spiritual taste will awaken and
they'll get deeper into the practice. The same rationale that I read
here on the NG.
It never happened. Instead, he collected all the people who were
interested only in better sex. Of course, they never did raise above
it. The initial contract didn't mention any of that "spiritual stuff",
and this contract is what determines the flow of the practice. That's
why honesty in advertising is of supreme importance. It must be a
transparent, WYSIWYG thing. 

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Homepage: http://www.danijel.org