Weekly Journal Entry: Yoga as Meditation

                I have some familiarity with the relationship between yogic practices and meditation practices due to my enrollment in a past mediation course offered here at Stockton with Patricia Donahue. In the class we routinely referenced and practiced yoga techniques to coincide with our mediation techniques. Aspects of yoga such as breath control, focus, and calmness are all relevant in meditation as well. All of  these traits are good traits to have when attempting to slip into a state of deep meditation.
               Certain meditation positions are also relatable to yoga stances and postures. An example would be the lotus position common in Zen Buddhism. Zen Buddhists will meditate in the lotus position by crossing both of their legs and holding their feet up by their hips or upper inner thighs. This is a position that requires a good amount of flexibility, something that an experienced yoga practitioner would be able to accomplish.
                Although there are many similarities between yoga and meditation, being proficient at yoga does not mean you will automatically be a proficient meditator. The goals of meditation and the goals of yoga often do not overlap, especially in the West. A yogi in the West is often looking to improve their physical body and get a workout in, while an experienced meditator is simply trying to immerse themselves in a deep, meditative state. A yoga practitioner may have to modify their goals and expectations in order to meditate successfully.

Weekly Journal 11/11/16

              Through the ten weeks of this yoga course I have found myself developing a greater appreciation for the cultural history behind yoga and how it has transformed throughout the years. I feel as though I have adopted the newer forms of yoga as a healing and therapeutic practice in recent week. Last week I received a diagnosis that I have two bulging discs and a herniated disc and my lumbar and sacral crest. As a result of this diagnosis, I am forced to monitor and manipulate my training regimen for fighting to accommodate my struggling back.
              I have essentially decided that I will be using yoga no longer as just a method of warming up or cooling down from a hard training session. I am going to increase my commitment to viniyoga and developing my core muscles around my injured back in order to strengthen my body as a whole. This idea has been supported by various medical professionals that I have spoken with in the past week including chiropractors, physical therapists, and pain management specialists. All of them support holistic, alternative healing methods such as yoga.
             Through a more consistent practice, I aim to increase the strength, stability, and flexibility of the muscles surrounding my injured lumbar and sacrum. Doing so will allow me to return to a more normal fight-training regimen in the near future. Currently, I have begun training again but the process is slow and I am training very light as I ease my way back into my schedule. I feel that this injury has made me more aware of how I should take care of my body in the future as I have come to realize that I am not invincible and that I need to start slowing myself down when I feel pain and agony. This diagnosis has also motivated me to further explore other forms of alternative healing such as yoga as it is both a healing option and an exercise option for both my mind and body to associate with a form of training when I am too injured to train at my normal pace.

Journal Entry #8: Yoga as an expanding culture in the West

                 Yoga has taken on many different forms and practices since its debut in the western world. Yoga in the West is both a physical and cultural movement. In the West, the goals of yoga are varying while in the East, the goal of yoga is singular. Western yoga is associated with goals such as weight loss, body toning, increased flexibility, feeling as though you are a member of a community, and spiritual and mental health. In eastern yoga, your one goal is to release yourself from the cycle of life and death, a purely spiritual journey and end goal.
                 Take a practice such as Viniyoga for example. Viniyoga is a Western form of yoga that has gained increased popularity for its backing by various peer reviewed medical journals in the West. The medicinal and therapeutic properties claimed to be gained through the practice of Viniyoga are supported by medical professionals. Viniyoga maintains the purpose of healing, increasing stability, and increasing flexibility in the lower back, sacrum, and hips. This sort of goal and practice is something that would be unheard of in the East.
                 In my one experience with Viniyoga, despite the boring video, I found it to be extremely useful for me. As someone who has a history of lower back, hip, and sacral pain, I found this form of yoga very calming for my back pain, as it took the class through motions slowly without putting a ton of strain on the injured areas. I felt like the goal of Viniyoga was more to strengthen the core areas around the lower back, sacrum, and hips. This is a practice also performed by physical and occupational therapists when considering options on how to rehabilitate an athlete with an injured back.
                 Just yesterday I received news from an MRI result that I have a bulging disk in my L3-L4 vertebrae, a bulging disk in my L4-L5 vertebrae, and a herniated disk in my L5-S1 vertebrae. This news has really tempted me to join a primary yoga school, specifically one that focuses on therapeutic principles such as Viniyoga. My goals behind this would be to strengthen my core muscles around the injury as well as increase flexibility so that I may return to my fight training as soon as possible.