One of my interns just wrote this sweet account of his first yoga class ever. (We offer free yoga)

yahhuckfinn · 3 months

Yah. He's a big sweetey...maybe 300 pounds, 6 foot 5, a big man. Smoked like a chimney first few weeks. But all of this transformation is of his own initiative, we didn't encourage beyond just our job of blogging about health, wellness, and dragging him (and me and others) to yoga once a week as part of our team.

yahhuckfinn · 3 months

Struck me as weird, too. I don't do Bikram, but locking knees sounds...like it could 'wreck your body,' to use the current parlance.

yahhuckfinn · 3 months

Trungpa Rinpoche, Pema's teacher, studied and loved both. Suzuki Roshi is incredible, they were very close.

yahhuckfinn · 3 months

This is not at all Trungpa Rinpoche's pov on the subject...would love to see your response after reading the above, which is a bit more moderate.

yahhuckfinn · 3 months

Trungpa delighted in smoking cigarettes, drinking alcohol to pop students' preconceptions of "holyness" or enlightenment. He didn't smoke longterm, however, that I know of—just in the early days when everyone expected him to be gentle and kind and wear white and sit on top of a mountaintop.

yahhuckfinn · 3 months

He was an alcoholic later in life, but did relate to alcohol in a particular way as well, as does the Vajrayana tradition generally. I knew him a bit, my parents were students of his, and have written on the subject.

yahhuckfinn · 3 months

It's more about the effect it has on the mind, less about "it's bad."

yahhuckfinn · 3 months

There's an interesting analogy to alcohol, which, mindfully sipped, is considered a positive at least in Vajrayana Buddhism.

yahhuckfinn · 3 months

There's reasoning in the article above, from Trungpa Rinpoche, a Buddhist teacher who tried it.

Atrix621 · 4 months

This. It's a seemingly subtle but key point: the point isn't to get rid of our minds, but to be aware of the thoughts, and become adept and letting them rise, be, and fall...returning again and again and again and again...to the present moment, which helps us be better at everything, and enjoy everything more.

That was a long sentence.

kelseyxiv · 4 months

Snowy. Come to Tintin, Snowy.

yahhuckfinn · 4 months

Well, if God created the earth and all that's in it, these so-called Christians sure are pissing Him off.

yojimboVmusashi · 4 months

That's smart: find teachers who know yoga isn't yoga unless it's about kindness to oneself. As one of my fave local yoga teachers says, "yoga should never hurt. Emotionally, fine, that's what it's there for. Physically, never."

yojimboVmusashi · 4 months

Yes...I agree with that. And I'm not defending the article...but operating heavy machinery, you're taught how to do so. Many yoga classes I go to, they just throw you in and before you know it they're saying "let's try handstands" or scorpion pose, and there's very little talk about proper alignment or breath as meditation that naturally aligns your body...both of which are basic to yoga.

yahhuckfinn · 4 months

Hah. If I remember, we were playing with Red, the dog, in the historic graveyard near where I live when an ambulance howled by. That almost always gets him going, and it did. So we joined in and kept him going. He realllly gets into it, almost turns into a different animal...you see the wolf come out, or something happens there..!

RumpledForeskin13 · 4 months

Why "join facebook"?

yahhuckfinn · 4 months

Oh, I'm grateful. Thanks so much.

yahhuckfinn

TROPHY CASE

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