Thursday, February 14, 2013

Yoga sins - me bad yogi :-(

I was reading in yoga magazine and bumped into this poll: what are your yoga-sins?

These were the results of the online voting:
  • Smoking 6%
  • Drinking alcohol 16%
  • Eating meat 18%
  • Drinking coffee 19%
  • Abreact on others 10%
  • Judging quickly/gossipping 10%
  • Killing insects 10%
  • Being discontent quickly 9%
  • All of the above 2%
It  made me start to think and check how many of these yoga sins I am guilty of.

Smoking as a sin (Niyama - sauca), I get that. It is unhealthy and devastating to your body -- I don't smoke so good for me!

Drinking alcohol -- Alcohol can be viewed as toxic to your body, yet there are plenty of studies on the benefits of red wine (1 glass a day). Too much of anything is bad for your health -- why do they consider drinking alcohol as a yoga sin? I still enjoy my red wine from time to time, and am not planning on giving that up.

Eating meat -- the meat on your plate is the result of harm done to animals (yama - ahimsa). Defenitely a yoga sin and guilty as charged.... but considering a vegetarian week in the short future.

Drinking coffee -- same as with wine, why is that considered a yoga sin? Studies have shown benefits in drinking coffee. I have noticed that I have had periods that I don't want to drink any coffee and switch to tea or water. Still I do enjoy the occassional latte.

Abreact on others (yama - ahimsa) -- I can see where that comes from and it would make this world a better place if everybody would work on this -- no easy, but a good yoga practice in self control.

Judging quickly/gossipping -- same territory as the previous sin, but less "in your face". I guess it is kinda natural for people to judge and judging is based on your personal reference plate. Can't say I am free of charge (is there anybody who is?), but working on it for sure.

Killing insects (yama - ahimsa) -- I don't kill insects for fun, but a mosquito falls in a different category -- if I want to sleep and you keep bugging me by buzzing in my ear, you've had it coming.

Being discontent quickly (Niyama - santosa) - it is one of the basics of the second limb of yoga. With regards to happiness, it is better not to compare to others as comparison might compromise happiness. But comparisson might open your eyes when looking at your own situation and looking at all the struggle that is going on in the world. It might help you being more content.

So that is my view on these yoga sins -- I don't agree with all of them, that's for sure. I'm guilty of most of them - does that make me a bad yogi?

What is your view?

2 comments:

  1. Hi Ives!

    I don't think think you're a bad yogi, I just think these are yogic ideas for how to lead a happy life!! Suggestions, not rules :)

    I drink a little wine occasionally too, but I try not to get drunk these days. So not worth the hangover :P

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    1. Hi Emily

      thanks for commenting. You are probably right that they aren't rules, but it was fun just to analyse them a bit and scope myself according to this list. As for drinking alcohol (and coffee) - I guess moderation is the best way to go (and to prevent hangovers).

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