Yoga

Greetings fellow Jedi. I hope all is well. I have a few questions regarding Yoga, which I believe fits into this category. Here are my questions, please bear with me:

1. Is anyone well-versed in Yoga? I am not, nor am I flexible, but I do wish to learn. Is Yoga difficult? Is it possible to study on my own?

2. Does it allow better channeling of the Force and communication with your soul?

3. Are there any webistes to get me started?

4. If anyone has any additional information, would you please mention it?

I may have more questions but this should quench my curiosity for now. Thank you very much in advance and may the Force be with you all.

1. I have never been so sore as when I did my first couple of sessions of yoga. It is very good for you and does really increase your flexibility.

2. I am sure once you become better than I am it might. I have to stay focused on staying in the poses more than anything right now.

3. I don't know of any websites off hand, but there are a world of DVD's out there you can use and they aren't that $$$. If you go this route, make sure you watch the whole routine first instead of trying to do it right along with the DVD from the start. Learn what you are to do, before doing it.

4. There are several forms of meditation that can help you achieve the better channeling of the Force and connection with yourself. Br Crow has posted several good ones that I would suggest and I have posted one called \"Quiet you mind\" in the general forums for if you are just getting started meditating and can't seem to keep your mind focused.

I hope this helps.

Hi Defensor, I'm new here but I took Yoga last semester in college. Don't worry about not being flexible just do the moves as best as you can and there are usually alternatives for ones that you can't do. I was not very flexible at first but have improved a little bit. Unfortunately, after last semester I got out the habit of doing it regularly though. This morning I did some Yoga and it did help me focus better while meditating. There is a website, www.Yoga.com, that has information about Yoga and you can look up different poses. I havn't, but if you want you can buy DVD's from them, as well as Yoga mats.

Hope this helps and good luck!

BlueSpirit

You could buy the book 'Yoga for dummies'! A man that comes into the gym has tried to get me to borrow it. I have thumbed through it, and it seems like it would be a good help. And yes, it wears you out!

Yes, you can learn it yourself. I have been practising yoga for a year now and I enjoy every exercise. It´s a fun. But like in everything, patience and practice is the key. Never force your body to complicated positions if you feel pain - then stop, take a deep breath and then try to do it again. Don´t try to process to fast. You could harm yourself. Yes, you can channel through it mre to The Force, be more receptive to it, even in normal life, not only when you are practising it. Books or attending special courses will help you better then websites.

You know why? Because websites was meant to connect people as fast as possible and pass them quick and informations, a summary of what you could find in a book. If you gonna learn yoga only from website it´s like if you were saying that you are impatient. If you are impatient - which you I am sure you are not - you try to proceed as quick as possible. Then you want things going quickly and easily, or worse - going your way, which is a straight path to The Dark Side.

Calucifer, would you please tell us what you believe about the Dark Side? This is a subject that probably the most misunderstood and here is a chance for us to discuss it. With the recent surge of new and motivated members a group discussion we should have.

MTFBWY,

Br. John+

To Br. John: I can feel that you are getting slightly anoyed of my constant talking about the dark side, so I better answer your question. First of all, I cannot say what I know about the dark side because there´s little I know about The Force itself. I can just say Chat i think about it and it will be never equal to what I know. Yet, I will try to explain it – at least a little.

I have learned everything I know about Jediism from The Temple of Jedi Arts, now a non-existing site, lead by headmaster Starr, and I am still learning the stuff publicated there.

I think it was him, who begun with explaining of how does it happens that you fall to the dark side. So in my opinion, you can fall prey to the dark side if you don´t respect anything, even yourself. Respect and patience is a key for everything, in my opinion. Because if you don´t respect yourself, the growing fear in you begins to feed your Ego – and listening to it can devast one. Your ego will tell you that you don´t need the respekt for anything and anybody. You will be in a sudden taste for breaking the rules. You begin to want things going quickly and easily - going your way - so you will do anything for your luck. And ever since then, you will try everything to achieve your goals.

I think it´s even worse when you are feared of something. Fear is the strongest bad emotion, not anger, pride or anything (BTW, Christopher Mansard says that, if you knot him. You are e.g., feared that you gonna loss anybody. So you gonna do everything not to fulfill you bad dreams, but some day, it could happen. And what you gonna do if that happens? You are sad, of course. You are devasted that you couldn´t help the person. Then you begin to feel anger that still grows, a great anger towards you (that you wasn´t able to help the person), and you start hating not only yourself but even your beloved (lost) one because his/her loss caused you a great pain that you seem to be able not to overcome. Because hate leads to suffering. And when you truly suffer you might begin to think that there´s nothing you can loose. And when you begin to think like that, you are not feared of doing the worst things because you are convinced that nothing really matters, even you.

That´s my way of understanding The Dark Side and the teachings of headmaster Starr. Which I could have completely misunderstood, though.

BTW, somebody asked me if I wanted to be added in the list of awaiting apprentices. My answer is: Yes. The problem is if there´s a Master who would be willing to teach me. Cause I knot that I am not humle at all, and I know I should be. I see a great deal of Anakin Skywalker´ pattern in myself, with his good qualities and vices. I am stubborn and sometimes hard to argue with. But I am a fast learner, very intuitive, eager listener and I will work very hard. Training me as somebody´s apprentice might be a challenge, I acknowledge. But I am more patient than he was, so it shouldn´t be such a problem.

I'm not annoyed (except at some of the rank color bars which refuse to work). I'm interested in getting the Light / Dark Side issues in their proper perspective.

There is only The Force. Once you invoke the Light Side you've just created the Dark Side. The Dark Side is not Evil and the Light Side is not Good. Just like with an ordinary day (in most parts of the world) part is light and part is dark.

If the sun was up all the time we'd burn up and if it were dark all the time we'd freeze. So we do speak of the Light and Dark sides because it's convenient as a form of reference like any other categorizations that help us use words to explain things.

No amount of words in any language could give you the experience of a new recipe but if I let you taste it then you instantly gain the experience. Because we use language so much we become hypnotized by it and confuse words with reality. In other languages this is less of a problem as in Chinese where there is no word CAT. That does not tell you much. Is it a live cat, a dead cat, a sleeping cat ....?

In Chinese there are different words for cat depending on what it's doing just like Eskimos have eleven different words for snow because they live with it all the time and there is frozen snow, slushy snow, melting snow yadda.

The Dark Side is nothing except the misuse or abuse of The Force. I can kill with the 'Light Side' and heal with the 'Dark Side'. Just like morphine is a Godsend if you're in pain and it's used properly when it's misused you become addicted to it and it does become seductive and draw you to the Dark Side of morphine which is the abuse of morphine. Abuse is no argument against proper use.

Some knowledge of The Force is not taught or spoken about except with adepts because it's like leaving a loaded gun out where the children can get it. But as any of our police officer will tell you a gun in the hand of a person with experience and the knowledge of proper use can save life. The gun and bullets are not Evil as only the way they are used is good or evil but guns have the potential for great evil and that's what we mean when we say The Dark Side. Either the misuse or abuse of The Force OR certain knowledge of The Force that has a high potential for abuse or misuse.

I hope I've explained this and everyone reading this understands but do not hesitate to ask questions or add your say (everyone) if there's anything you want to ask or say.

An example from Star Wars for fun: The only time we ever saw a Force Choke was by Darth Vader and it was clearly established as a dark power. But the first power Luke uses in ROTJ is the Force Choke!

The Old Jedi did not have it right or they could not have been exterminated by one single mastermind. Luke did have strong emotions and loved his friends. He clearly used anger to defeat Vader but knew when to quit ... release his anger at the right time.

Where Anakin was to bring balance to The Force it was in Luke that a person attained balance in The Force. Totally in harmony letting the day be the day and the night be the night.

MTFBWY,

Br. John+

Yeah, that makes sense to me. It´s like when you talk about magic and wizardry - there´s nothing good and evil about it, but you can make it good or bad in the way you use it.