haggie yoga.

hanumanasana- monkey pose.

hello there!  wishing you all such a merry weekend!  i hope you have plenty of free time to take care of your body and mind!

i always say here on my blog how much i adore my yoga asana practice.  for happiness in our bodies and hearts, we really must have discipline and routinely take care of ourselves.  i just heard about a study where people that are mostly sedentary are just as at risk for disease and cancer as smokers.  wow.  and with america's obesity epidemic, there is really no better time to bring awareness to daily exercise and body/mind maintenance.

parivrtta high lunge- revolved high lunge variation.

wanna know what really pisses my pants off? hehe ;)

when people in the yoga community say that yoga is not about the asana, the postures.  ok ok, i know to each his or her own, and of course i really don't care how someone lives if they aren't hurting me; but then i think, why get on your mat every day and do the poses???  why not simply meditate, or bring more meditation into your daily living?  why do the vinyasa, the posture exercises?  

vasistasana- side plank varation.

the reason this upsets me is that so much mainstream popular yoga these days preaches that yoga goes beyond the postures, and that "after a while, we don't even need the poses anymore".  so, ughh, why are you still doing them???  why not sit on your tush and meditate or do walking meditation, or let's take this even further... why not make your yoga something more useful- like volunteering at a homeless shelter or at an orphange?  why can't playing music be your yoga?  or riding your bike?  or preparing a meal?  or painting a picture?  why has yoga asana become the sole yoga of most americans, yet a lot of americans claim it's not about the poses?

as a lover of my daily yoga poses, this truly makes me sad.  why do we belittle the postures, and take from them their integrity, their wholesomeness, their validity?  when did celebrating the physical become such a shame in yoga town usa?

kapotasana- king pigeon pose variations.

this is my opinion, so by no means am i saying, "this is the truth!"  but i feel like here in america we have placed such a huge emphasis on appearances, especially women's appearance in the media.  of course this is no secret, american celebrities and beautiful rich people are like our royalty, at least in the eyes of the media.  i don't own a TV, but i know that the most popular news is typically about heiresses and royal weddings.  i feel  like yoga is sweeping the nation partly to balance out this material-fest, to take back some pride in our spirituality.

i don't blame people for this, because really we just all want balance.  yet, it aggravates me that celebrating yoga poses for simply that- as poses for exercise and health- it looked down upon by some yoga elites.  i think it's funny that we can hide our egos behind our "enlightenment", thinking on a very subconscious level that we are better than other people because we practice yoga.  doesn't that defeat the whole purpose?  meditating for peace of mind, yet judging those that you think aren't as "meditative" in their practice, whatever the hell that means?!

parivrtta surya yantrasana- compass pose.

i think i feel so strongly about this because, first i am an asana lover, and second i philosophized myself out in college.  i majored in philosophy and minored in religious studies (with an emphasis on indian philosophy)- and by the time i graduated st. michael's college in vermont i was like, ok that's enough bullshit.  give me something concrete, something we can actually say something about with human words.  because, it got to the point in philosophy, where, a 'la wittgenstein theory, we basically can't speak any truths because words cannot explain absolutes as they are imperfect and man made.  (wittgenstein was such a breath of fresh air after so many philosophers tied me up in knots and spun me around in circles with their wordplay!)

so perhaps my love of yoga postures is a way of balancing myself out, taking my mind back to what's real and solid and earthly.  i find so much beauty, truth, and reality in the science and practice of asana.  i look forward to more scientific study of how yoga is beneficial and healthy for the body.  and the body includes the brain, the thoughts, and dare i say- the spirit.  because "spirit", however you want to define it, does not exist without the body.  there would be no way to interpret the material world in a spiritual way without the vessel of the body.

bakasana- crow.

why not practice yoga then for the postures' sake?  for the health and well being of our whole self, with no demeaning of the practice?  i do of course agree that yoga is a great reminder that the mind and body are one, so that again leads me to believe that we need the postures.  the poses build our strength and flexibility, our discipline and respect for our bodies, and our connection to our breath as a means of clarity and peace.

i am proud to say i love yoga asana!  for simply that, for what it does for my body.  i've never in my life loved and respected myself as much has i do now that i have a daily yoga practice.  i don't ever want to hurt myself or others, and i honestly simply enjoy watching my body grow and change before my eyes.  i am proud of myself for making the commitment to take care of myself so that i can better take care of others.  and i see absolutely nothing wrong with that.

pincha mayurasana- feathered peacock pose.

this is one reason i respect and honor tara stiles yoga, and am blessed to know tara and make t-shirts for strala yoga.  tara is one of the first very vocal and entrepreneurial yogis out there that is standing up for yoga asana.  it is truly beautiful :).

funky pincha mayurasana!

for a while now i've been wanting to make up my own yoga style.  i'm not fully sure what it is and what it will evolve to be, but hehe i have a name for it at least, and it's funny.  haggie yoga.  patrick and my family call me hagleg a lot (hideous nickname, i was once called this by accident somewhere because of a typo where the y's in my name became g's)... then pat started abbreviating hagleg to.. you guessed it- haggie.  at first i was like "ugh, that sounds terrible!", but it's grown on me.  it's so ugly, it's cute, and i'm loving it for that ambiguity. so haggie yoga, we'll see what happens haha!

adho muhka vrksasana- downward facing tree or handstand.  

dreaming of one day doing this without the wall behind me- i'm scared...

thanks so much for sharing in my thoughts today my dear ones.  please shares with me any of your thoughts and opinions, if you feel like it!

have a lovely weekend filled with hugs and positive people!  xo