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THE DEEPER MEANINGS OF YOGA
by Dr. Chandra Shekhar Bhatt
by Dr. Chandra Shekhar Bhatt
Yoga is often reduced to the Asana
alone just as martial arts are often reduced to only aerobic kicking and
punching.
The deeper meanings beneath the underlying philosophies are usually lost. While many of today's instructors struggle to maintain an air of tradition in their health club classrooms, the main marketing motivation for many of those clubs is the vain pursuit of a higher butt. While this might be a supplementary bonus, imagine Bodhidharma's reaction. This is most evident in cross training. Yoga is said to compliment martial arts and vice versa. In its actuality, both Yoga and martial arts are complete systems. Study either one thoroughly and there is no need of anything else.
The concept of complimentary training implies that there is a deficit. But after a thousand of years of research and development, neither Yoga nor Kung Fu has any gaps to be filled. Both disciplines offer a fulfilling lifetime quest; all that need be done is that you pursue it for a lifetime. It is only our MTV- driven attention span that makes us move to the next thing before truly engaging the previous one. There have been some hybrids of Kung Fu and Yoga like 'Shaolin Yoga' designed to catch our attention with the promise of filling the two 'needs' at once. For the most part, these mongrel schools are really marketing ploys, not actual innovation.
Both compound the issue. As a matter of fact, there is ALREADY AN EASTERN FUSION OF YOGA TO MARTIAL ARTS THAT COMPLETELY OMITS BODHIDHARMA. THE MODERN INDIAN MASTER CHANDRA SHEKHAR BHATT IS AN EXPONENT OF A HYBRID OF MARTIAL ARTS AND YOGA KNOWN AS V A J R A M U K T I HE HAS HAD ENOUGH OF A FOLLOWING TO PUBLISH BOOKS, BUT YOU WOULD HAVE TO GO ALL THE WAY TO BOMBAY TO TRAIN WITH HIM.
The deeper meanings beneath the underlying philosophies are usually lost. While many of today's instructors struggle to maintain an air of tradition in their health club classrooms, the main marketing motivation for many of those clubs is the vain pursuit of a higher butt. While this might be a supplementary bonus, imagine Bodhidharma's reaction. This is most evident in cross training. Yoga is said to compliment martial arts and vice versa. In its actuality, both Yoga and martial arts are complete systems. Study either one thoroughly and there is no need of anything else.
The concept of complimentary training implies that there is a deficit. But after a thousand of years of research and development, neither Yoga nor Kung Fu has any gaps to be filled. Both disciplines offer a fulfilling lifetime quest; all that need be done is that you pursue it for a lifetime. It is only our MTV- driven attention span that makes us move to the next thing before truly engaging the previous one. There have been some hybrids of Kung Fu and Yoga like 'Shaolin Yoga' designed to catch our attention with the promise of filling the two 'needs' at once. For the most part, these mongrel schools are really marketing ploys, not actual innovation.
Both compound the issue. As a matter of fact, there is ALREADY AN EASTERN FUSION OF YOGA TO MARTIAL ARTS THAT COMPLETELY OMITS BODHIDHARMA. THE MODERN INDIAN MASTER CHANDRA SHEKHAR BHATT IS AN EXPONENT OF A HYBRID OF MARTIAL ARTS AND YOGA KNOWN AS V A J R A M U K T I HE HAS HAD ENOUGH OF A FOLLOWING TO PUBLISH BOOKS, BUT YOU WOULD HAVE TO GO ALL THE WAY TO BOMBAY TO TRAIN WITH HIM.
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