having been encouraged (or to put it more fairly, having been given a kick up the bum) to blog a bit more regularly (could i have been less regular i wonder?) here i am.
the debate that is not exactly raging, rather, i'd say, mulling round in my head, is about my yoga class.
i started going to a yoga class at my gym last summer, and enjoyed it; it was very much exercise based, rather than going in to the spiritual side of things, which helped to make me feel more comfortable about it. occasionally there would be a substitute teacher who was more into the spiritual side, but we usually had warning about it, and i'd just miss the class.
then things changed, the sub teacher took over the class, and i stopped going, partly due to the time pressures of getting married and so forth. recently though i've wanted to get back into it; i go with a friend who doesn't go to church usually, and as well as being exercise its a nice way of keeping in touch. after some research on the web i found yoga without the tree hugging, which sounded like my kind of thing.
http://www.zenyoga.co.uk/
i went for the first time last night, and i really enjoyed it; much more gentle than my last class, but i've really noticed the stretch today and the 20 minute walk to and from helps too.
the dilemma is, my boy thinks its all desperately dodgy. now i think i can distinguish between what is and isn't good (hence avoiding the more spiritual class) and i find great benefit in the stretching and flexibility as well as the relaxation. he (partly i think due to his rather strict pentecostal upbringing, which also included training in which records not play backwards to protect oneself from satanic messages) thinks that even the stretching and breathing exercises are Trouble.
it was bearing this in mind that i went to the class last night - there were people meditating before the class (just one or two), but most of the class were white, middle class over a wide range of ages, who were clearly doing it for the exercise/relaxation and nothing more. this was the first class i'd ever done with the lights off, and it did involve much more concentration on breathing than i'm used to, but this was useful. there certainly wasn't any chanting or ommming - there were times when it was suggested that we clear our minds, but this was to help us stretch further (and to be honest i have difficulty thinking about anything when i feel like i'm stretching my hamstring to its limit).
my boy is not convinced however, and i can't even persuade him to come to a class with me to put his fears to rest. so the question i am pondering is: how much notice do i take of this? am i secretly/subconsiously opening myself up to 'spiritual' harm? does it matter that i can quite happily do this (and talk to God most of the way there and back) - is there a 'faith alarm button' that i am missing?
whats a girl to do?
# posted by Nomes @ 1:22 PM
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