Final Blog

I have really enjoyed this class, and am so sad that it is ending. I have learned so much about meditation techniques, eastern ideas, and yoga as a whole. As I continue the school year, and life, I will definitely be intigrating regular meditation practices into my daily rutine as well as a yoga schedule. For me the benifits of meditation were amazing and truly were able to help me feel more balanced and in control of my thoughts. It was really fun to try out different techniques and find the ones that worked best for me and ones that were more difficult for me to do.

The lessons that we have learned about western philosophies and concepts I am able to transfer into my everyday life. As volleyball captain it is important to keep a Positive attitude even when things done seem to be going as desired. When playing a tough game, or maybe the referees aren't being as partial as we would like, breathing is an important part in staying calm and in control.

This was an amazing class and I wish it wasn't ending :(

Final Project

For my final project I am working on a A-Z Yoga book with Hannah Searle. We are assigning either a yoga position, yoga vocab, Hindu Text, or any other topic we have studies this year to a letter of the alphabet and writing a brief definition of the subject. We will be adding photos of what that topic means to us to the page along with decoration, and quotes from different texts, or people.

This project represents the wide variety of topic that we have studied in the class and what they mean to us. We want to show that we truley did learn something by touching on each aspect and its place in the teachings of Yoga and the religions of the East.

On Talking

This section makes some good points about talking. Personally I think that one shouldn't talk unless they have something important, and well articulated to say. This section tells us that silence is important becuase that is how one comes to understand themselves. It tells us that words can disgrace the thought that was trying to be expresses by saying that a "thought is a bird of space, that in a cage of words may indeed unfold its wings but cannot fly." To me this is saying that words cannot always best express an idea.

On Friendship

This section talks about one of the most important things to me, friendship. It tells us that "your friend is your needs answered." It explains that freinds are someone to share yourself with. A freind is someone that you share everything with, in all honesty. We are not to grieve when a freind leaves us because we still remember the qualities we loved about them. We do not use freinds, we do not befriend them for alterior motives. We have freinds for the "deepening of the spirit."

My favorite line in this section is the last2 sentences of the first page:

"And let your best be for your freind.

If he must know the ebb of your tide, let him know its flood also"

On Reason and Passion

This, I think, is one of my favorite sections. It tells us that reason and passion are nothing without the other, that they are connected. It tells us that we are to use reason in out thinking, but execute our actions with passion. Passion without reason is just chaos, and often ends with more sorrow and discontent. Reason without passion doesn't allow anyone else to really feel what you belive and how important your ideas are to you. The perfection is using reason to evaluate what is important and then passionately action on those thoughts and ideas.

On Crime and Punnishment

At first I didn't think I was really going to like this section but after readind it a second time I discovered that I did like the message it was sharing. It talks about how it is not solely the fault of the one who commits the crime, but that we are all guilty when a wrong in done. We are all connected and in turn are guilty as a community for the act of an individual. My favorite line of this sections is:

"And as a single leaf turns not yellow but with the silent

knowledge of the whole tree,

So the wrong-doer cannot do wrong without the hidden will

of you all."

I like how it is kind of "calling out" society and saying that you cannot be free from the wrong committed in the world.

Active Yoga (Thursday)

I really enjoyed the active yoga last week. I was struggling with the meditation recently and really needed to so some active work. My body felt really good afterward, my hip was a little sore, but in a good way. I had dance that night and could tell that my body was feeling really good. Mentally I always feel better after doing something active. Doing active yoga I find to be much more rewarding than just meditation.