Yoga with its mystical enigma and allure proves to be a rather difficult subject to discuss in today’s modern world.
This ancient concept has somehow lost its real meaning through globalization. The whole philosophy of yoga has been reduced to a simpler concept to help people understand the concept better. In essence, the contents of yoga, in its entirety may be a little complicated for westerners to understand. It is unwise to gain a shallow knowledge about a diverse topic and yet speaks about it from an expert’s viewpoint. The West tends to focus on the physical aspects of yoga. Today, the spiritual aspects of yoga have been diminished into a superficial understanding that places too much emphasized on achieving inner balance and meditative states.
It is one of the six schools of Hindu thoughts has roots deep within the pages of the Hindu Holy Scriptures. In India, yoga is considered a very spiritual experience that has a physical aspect to it. But the western world prefers to refer yoga as a mere physical practice. The strange symbols related to the yoga practice have created some awareness among the westerners that there is more to yoga than the physical aspects, but they are often misunderstood. It became a popular sport in the west. The allure of yoga as an effective way to gain inner peace and balance has beckoned many to embrace this activity as well.
The so called experts in this industry have been quick to use these promises and people have been fascinated. The numerous amount of fatal errors found in the practice of yoga outside of India shows that this art has been widely misunderstood at large.
A closer look revealed that these errors were caused by the cultural influence of each race. The fast paced lifestyle of the western civilization left no chance for them to indulge in quiet, introspective moments to really understand this concept. Sometimes, the most important part of this practice is neglected, for instance the essential meditation. The west seems obsessed with the desire to accumulate massive amounts of wealth and gaining power, which is a priority according the principles of Hinduism. It is impossible to attain true wisdom that is aligned with the real philosophy of yoga in this state of mind. One needs to possess both time and patience to fully reap the rewards of a successful meditative session. The west seems cursed with the obsession to pursue the goal of building better lives in the form of lavish lifestyles and not in the philosophical way.
Ironically, yoga has been implemented as fashion in the western part of the world. It is easy to practice yoga anywhere you want; there are plenty of materials for you to select from that are promoting this activity as a form of sports. During the early years of yoga practice in the US, a lot of yoga ‘gurus’ have emerged, claiming to be experts of this discipline; yet they gradually dwindled into what they actually are – merely fake gurus and yet they still have real support from their disciples. The disciples of these fake gurus are responsible for spreading the influence of the wrong philosophy pertaining to yoga practice.
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