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evolution of a yoga pose : original yoga poetry

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if the words endure, they do so because they link the links –

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Open Link Night

Open Link Night, Week 33 ~ from dVersepoets, hosted by joy ann jones (hedgewitch) is a more than usually welcome prompt for me this week

i’d been debating, whether to, “jump in” with an article on the latest twist of yoga headlines, these from another scorcher from the nytimes, “yoga and sex scandals: no surprise here,” or to instead, do a poem via one of dversepoets’ many fine prompts

open link night, and the recycling of one of my yoga poems, “evolution of a pose,” gave me a chance to merge the two, save some time, and let me go out dinner with my wife for a beautiful sunset here in burlington vermont 😉

Yoga and Sex

my intent, if i’d done a “pure” yoga article reviewing the hubbub, was to link to the more interesting and comprehensive folk, such as :

yogadork’s “William J Broad on John Friend Scandal: Yoga is a Sex Cult and We’re All Ignorant Minions” –

and carol horton’s “Back to Basics: Yoga as I know it, 101” –

and an article i first saw from nancy alder, and is also linked to by yogadork, “Christopher Wallis addresses “Factual Errors” in NY Times Article: Yoga and Sex Scandals“

My Take

my own take is, depending on your view, either too simplistic, or too involved 😉 or maybe just right 😉

for what it’s worth, this is where i stand regarding yoga

1) my understanding of yoga is, like most things in my life, except for a few constants, an evolving understanding – so i’m open to change, have changed (some), and expect i’ll have a few adjustments still along the way

2) my favorite (short) quote about yoga i’ve seen several times, and saw again today on the mindbodygreen site :

it’s from the dalai lama,

“There is no need for temples, no need for complicated philosophies. My brain and my heart are my temples; my philosophy is kindness.”

3) many of the ideas feelings and precepts in yoga, i learned and heard growing up, so yoga is not a sole depository of human wisdom

4) people argue constantly about something with a big “Y” yoga and a little “y” yoga; i default to dalai’s quote above if you need an authority, i’d still think it’s a needless debate if you don’t 😉

5) getting rabid about sex not being part of yoga is as wrong as being rabid that it is

sex is part of and responsive to eating breathing sports art dance music literature gazing into your lovers eyes and eating a delicious meal, oops, i’m back to eating, now that’s where there’s no real surprise 😉

6) arguing about the history of yoga, in detail, is like pointless – we don’t even know if JFK was killed by a lone gunman, or in cahoots with others – generalities is the best we can do

i currently write a daily morning poem, and a later-in-the-day gratitude poem, and when i re-read them, i’m shocked at what i remembered vaguely, and what i didn’t remember in detail at all! – though i know whatever it is that happened, i absorbed

7) my physical and, by unavoidable natural connection, emotional mental health is enhanced by physical activity –

as my emotional and mental health enhances my physical health –

yoga does this, as does dance and music and writing and good company and, oh, yes, eating 😉 eating well anyways 😉

there’s more, i’m sure, but it’s close to time for my wife and i to go eat, with a great coupon of course 😉 from living social – they don’t pay me to say that, i say it because i am grateful for a decent deal from a company i’ve had fair dealings with several times

just like the yoga ladies i mention above as reference probably don’t always agree with my take on things, but i admire them and what they offer for discourse and pondering

and that’s how i feel about yoga, it doesn’t agree with all of me –

i can’t do headstands, hold myself afloat with one hand, or twist the same both directions, but i admire what it does for me, in my breathing, in my stretching, in its (usual) compassion toward self and others, and its advocation of awareness

with that in mind, i offer you a poem that deeply fit me as it creatively came out, ala dalai’s words, of brain and heart – renamed only slightly to clarify it’s a “yoga” pose i’m writing about 😉

my thanks to dVersepoets for offering a poet’s-option open mike prompt

it’s like offering an open-pose session of yoga –

the yoga of poetry 😉

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Evolution of a Pose

As a tiny child

(I am told)

I

liked to lift

my chest

off

the floor

and peek about

and smile at those around me.

*

As a quietly raucous teen

(i’ve been reminded)

i’d lift my chest

from the

hot

beach sands

that are galveston

to peer around

at my peers.

*

As a young man intent

on learning asanas

i’d lift prone from

the mat

to

the third chakra

i knew must be in there

…somewhere.

A

cobra

i was, i was told.

Maybe, with smiling fangs?

i wondered…

*

In the service

i’d lift my chest

with my breath as

i pressed my finger

on the trigger.

I was a

cobra

now

i thought.

*

As a dad

i’d lift

my head

as my children

learned to lift their head

then their chest,

core muscles moving

them

to the crawling mobile stage –

and i recall

(i would tell them)

they’d lift their chest

off

the floor

and peek about

and smile..at all those around them.

*

The cobra pose is but

a stage of skin

between

the playful peeking child

and the grateful mom and dad.

The pose

is the peeking child

within.

Nothing more.  And never nothing less.

© 2011 adam light creations / adan lerma

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blessings everyone 😉

namaste´- con dios – god be with you

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Other Yoga-Adan Links You Might Like

Yoga Poetry Series

dVersepoets Prompts Series – on yoga-adan.com

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Adan’s Amazon Books Page

eBook Page – All Available Titles

Nice Thing ‘Bout Getting Old(er)

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