Nathan Fisher, this is called cross-posting, and you don't do it. Posting the exact same link across multiple different threads... it shouldn't be that hard for even the newest people on this forum to grasp. :| what's the point, really? having ten identical threads lined up one after another with the same posts everywhere? focus, focus...
It’s established that 50 Hz electromagnetic fields can trigger both double and single-strand DNA breaks in occasionally exposed human fibroblasts, suggesting potential genotoxic effects. (ADLKOFER ET AL. 2002).
Translated from a dissertation at Munich University, 2004
*fibroblast - a connective tissue cell vital for synthesizing intercellular substance and tissue healing
slyhound5 said:It’s still standard practice to say hello out on the trails. Usually, the ones heading up are the first to greet those coming down—it’s a little nod of respect to the people who already conquered the peak 🙂.
Fine, but what if there's just one summit and you're all in the middle of the mountains, everyone just grinding up and down? 😁 By that logic, are you supposed to stop mid-trail to figure out whose peak is actually higher? 😁 There’s no grand gesture involved... it’s just that shared sense of community.
Though, on the really crowded trails, I don't bother much. Or rather, it depends. Mostly it just breaks my focus... can't tune into nature or my own head if people are constantly talking. A quick nod is plenty.
Sure, if your teacher spends his time studying Sanskrit, he ought to be able to explain what the actual Sanskrit commentaries on the Hatha Yoga Pradipika and Gorakshanath say about what Hatha Yoga really means. That’s why I ended up quoting Mircea Eliade. Ask him if he’s actually read the commentary on Gorakshanath, or any of the other Pradipika commentaries... or if he’s even touched the Gheranda or Shiva Samhita to see what they claim.
And yeah, I’ve heard that theory about Yoga making its way to the Shaolin Temple, but that’s just folklore at this point.
Besides Fazli mentioning Shiva as the original Yogi, there's also this idea that Yoga and Tantra are remnants of a pre-Vedic tantric civilization—something that once influenced the entire East and spread globally. It likely influenced the West too, but most of it just stuck in the East. Just a story..
Nice! I actually ordered some of his stuff recently. He used to work closely with Dasgupt, who was Eliade's professor. Even Eliade ended up crossing paths with him...
Yeah, you're right. Yoga has those pre-Vedic, Tantric roots. The Hatha Yoga we practice today? It's really just this blend of pre-Vedic traditions, Vedic elements, and Buddhism. Mircea Eliade lays it all out pretty clearly in his book.
Hmm... www.answers.comI'm never talking about the internet... There’s plenty of that out there... just hearsay and rumors... and usually, the context is something else entirely...
The Hatha Yoga Pradipika doesn't mention force once... but it’s obsessed with Ida and Pingala. And that’s all metaphorical anyway. Every yoga or tantra text works like that. It's symbolic for us, sure, but for the people actually living through it back then? They had direct experience. It wasn't just a metaphor to them...
I’ll probably end up citing Mircea Eliade. He spent eight years studying Sanskrit and ancient yogic texts under Professor Dasgupta in Calcutta before writing his definitive work on Yoga—a book that's still the gold standard for yogic and tantric studies today. Back in the 1930s, when India was much more rugged, he actually lived the life of a wandering ascetic, spending six months at Swami Sivananda's ashram...
The Yoga and Tantra chapter. Specifically that 1959 German edition... back when Eliade was teaching religious history over at the University of Chicago.
citat: Goraknath claims he’s the author of some lost debate titled... Hatha yoga... Just one preserved text, so to speak... Goraksa-Sataka...Regarding that last bit about the so-called Goraks-Method... it basically breaks down the word... hatha(literally "violence, violent effort") s lol Sun, and... tha The Moon. When the Sun and Moon finally align... that’s Yoga. Or so some texts say... ha-thau = surya-candrau I can't quite make sense of that... sounds like a typo. Just a side note: Surya refers to the morning sun—like saying "dawn" in English... while Candra is the moon.
Eliade goes on to say that the Hatha Yoga Pradipika pulls directly from the Goraksha-Swataki, since it incorporates verses and passages from that text. He also points out the Tantric influence—which makes sense, given Gorakshanath was a Tantric practitioner—and mentions two other key Hatha Yoga texts, the Gheranda Samhita and the Shiva Samhita. There's clearly some Buddhist and Vedic influence baked in too, though I won't get into all those details here. If you're interested, just grab Eliade's book...
If you want to actually get the meanings behind Hatha Yoga terms and asanas right, you can't just pick one book. You need to cross-reference all three preserved texts—the Pradipika and those two Samhita works. As for what "Hatha Yoga" actually means... that's already laid out in the Goraksha Paddhati.
I haven't come across any serious yoga school or tradition that interprets the word HaTha as "force." The consensus is usually about the sun and the moon—Pingala and Ida.
In Yoga, there’s no force; there's just minimal effort. There's Ahimsa. Any kind of force just creates more turbulence in the mind. Yoga is about letting go, not straining. Sure, if you push through Asanas using brute strength, like in some Ashtanga Vinyasa flows, you'll get certain physical results... but you're going to miss the actual mental component.
So, I was thinking about something. If Bush had actually studied the Hatha Yoga Pradipika, he might have noticed how much the text emphasizes that true knowledge is passed directly from a Guru to a student. To Americans, that sounds pretty abstract. We don't really have a Gurukul system here. It feels especially out of touch to people with a critical, rational mindset. There’s really only one way to understand it—by trying to find out for yourself.
Basically, what the Hatha Yoga Pradipika—and all those other books born from the Gurukul tradition—is saying is that genuine insight comes through a Guru.
Then there’s this concept called Guru Tattwa. It’s not about the person or their ego; it’s more like a fundamental element of being a Guru. Patabi Jois doesn't seem to have that. Instead of the Guru element, he’s got the money element. Sure, he can teach you the physical exercises, but he can't pass on that "true knowledge," whatever that may be, because he lacks that core component. :| Maybe he had it once, maybe he still does... we could speculate if he picked it up from Krishnamacharya or not. But the reality is, he isn't passing it on. He built a massive corporation and counts his cash in an office. He lives this comfortable, luxury lifestyle, going on safaris in Africa. Look, that's fine—he's a teacher in the classic, Western sense. But he still insists on being called "Guruji"... And that's how a thread with a stupid title can actually turn into something a bit deeper..😁
Look, there’s no such thing as Yin or Yang yoga. The word Yoga itself implies unification... bringing things together. Hatha Yoga, as a system, is basically just a practical way to merge Prana—the solar energy—with your mental energy, the lunar side. It’s about joining active energy with mental strength. Like Buddha’s Middle Way. If you lean too far into Yin or too far into Yang, you aren't practicing union anymore. You're just picking a side.
That's why Ashtanga Vinyasa isn't really "Yoga" either. It just borrows methods from Hatha to achieve something else entirely, rather than seeking true unification. It's way too "Yang." It leans heavily on Prana Shakti and Pingala, while pretty much ignoring Chitta Shakti or Ida.