Yoga A B C
Yoga A (“active”) tends to be fitness-oriented and/or
health-oriented. This approach is
global and has outspread into a whole economy of classes, clothing/mats/accessories
that creates a vocation of yoga.
It is strongly oriented toward yoga as a sequence of poses and a sense
of “workout.”
Yoga B (“belief”) tends to be spiritist-oriented. It tends to pay strong homage to either
direct adoption of religious practices or incorporating spiritual motifs as
well as complimentary medicinal and dietary practices. It is oriented toward the authority of
a teacher and teachings, and tends to emphasize poses either in sequences or
not, and may incorporate voice.
Yoga C (“calm”) tends to be spirituality/philosophy-oriented. It has less to do with fitness, health,
ideology, economy, or vocation. It
is oriented toward connection, liberation/freedom and is contemplative,
resulting in poses that are slowed down and stillness beyond poses.
Elements of Yoga A, B and C are not mutually exclusive with
most practices being amalgams.
Yoga A is global and dominant and yet more of a fitness/health process
where yoga is incorporated as a cultural motif into fitness. Yoga B is more limited in its appeal
and is sectarian in nature and Yoga C has the least presence and is morel likely
to be present as meditation.
Yoga A is likely the most modern, emerging as a 20th
Century Indian effort to promote an indigenous national fitness process as a
political challenge British rule (and yet influenced by Western gymnastics and
military fitness). Yoga B is an
effort to sustain aspects of the diverse religious ascetic practices that go
deeply back into the history of cultures south of the Himalayas (with a strong
contemporary global emphasis on elements from diverse Hindu sects). Yoga C is a
more transcultural approach that aspires to continue the enduring ancient
heritage of meditation and breath work when the term “asana” referenced “seat” and ancient art images of “yoga”
primarily referenced seated postures in a variety of ascetic efforts to “yoke”
the practitioner to ineffable aspects of reality.
Bottom Line: Yogic-like elements can be beneficial for
fitness, health, and spirituality.
There is no pure Yoga A or B or C.
One of the contemporary issues involves trying, for example, to practice
Yoga A and assume the presence of B and C when they are not present. Contemporary practices are derivative
rather than original, and can be very good for what they primarily try to do OR
be degenerative and shallow and faddist “fusions.”
In this context, restorative yoga popularly references a Yoga A health practice, (and
as such, is typically described as a “lower-level” body-mind practice for those
who cannot do more intensive poses), but it can reference Yoga C (and as such,
can reference the deepest “highest” core elements of yoga).
Personal note:
I was drawn to restorative yoga not as Yoga A but as Yoga C: slowing,
deepening, stilling—as a step out of the fast-paced everyday and as a
fundamental entry point into “heart-mind” that was mentioned in all of the yoga
that I was experiencing but that was not really present. This core quality can then be extended
into all asanas/poses—holding, quieting,
freeing rather than controlling, allowing the pose to open [See posts in Islands
Of Grace on “soft power yoga”]—and into
other body-mind-spirit practices such as viniyoga, yin yoga, yoga nidra, tai chi,
qigong, aiki, and meditation.
Far from being rigid, participation in “yoga” that is
predominantly A or B or C may follow a developmental process to some degree:
- Ages 0-35: A, active, a freedom of alternatives [exploring, developing a “vocabulary” of poses and styles];
- Ages 35-55: B, belief, a freedom of discipline [refining a personal pathway]; and
- Ages
55+: C, calm, a freedom of expanding identity [Perception of events as subtle
rather than black-and-white, concepts as limiting, boundaries no longer
explicit, resulting in dis-identification (letting go), opening, and then
expanding, integrating)].
