I’m taking a little different tack with the blog.  At this point, this blog bounces from topic to topic and direction to direction much like a drop of water on a hot frying pan skitters around until it evaporates.  My fear is, that without some kind of guiding direction that, like the droplet, my impetus for writing will evaporate.  This being the case, I’m going to focus on one of at least three subjects each day:

The first focus will be on asanas and will be noted by the image to the left.  The purpose of these entries will be to share my thoughts on a particular asana.  I’ll go over how to come into the pose, possible counter poses, benefits of the pose and my thoughts about the pose.  I’ll add any such entries to the Stick Figure Asana Guide found under the Practice Sessions menu.  Ideally, those of you reading the blog will leave comments about the day’s asana:  Do you like/hate this pose.  Do you know the pose described under a different name?  Most importantly, what can I do to better understand the pose?

The second focus will be on the philosophy and teachings behind Yoga and will be noted by the OM to the left.  Personally, I find that removing the philosophy from Yoga, as many gym yoga classes do so as to widen their marketability, is like removing my ability to taste and smell the food I eat.  Sure, I will still be able to sustain myself on tasteless food but no one can deny that there is much more to eating than just the nutritional side of things.  Some might argue that taste is not essential to our survival but I would beg to differ.  My wife regularly asks me to sample or smell foods to determine if they are still good to eat—of course, she might just be trying to poison me—regardless, my sense of smell and taste, while not as acute as hers, seem to have a knack of warning me off food that has passed the point of being edible.  To come back from my food tangent, practicing just the asanas is really no different from any other exercise routine.  Ignoring the philosophy of Yoga denies one the huge benefits from the spiritual side of one’s practice.

The final focus will be on how Yogic philosophy and the doctrines of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints compliment each other.  I am a member of the Church—a Latter-day Saint or Mormon—and believe absolutely in the doctrines of the Church.  Over the years, I’ve found that Church doctrine and Yoga go hand in hand.  It is almost as if they were made for each other.

On a related note, there are many Latter-day Saint sites around the Internet and many of them have become little more than combat zones with the incessant flame wars that rage back and forth through their user comments.  This will not happen here.  I am not running a public forum here and will definitely use a heavy hand when it comes to moderating inflammatory comments into nonexistence.  In other words, if you want to say something—even if it’s not favorable toward me or the Church—then do so with common courtesy and respect and there won’t be an issue but if you’re here to just play the troll, you’ll find that you can’t access the site any longer.

Namasté