Wednesday, September 18, 2013

What I have found

I have been looking around though yoga blogs. I have found a few very generalized constants:
  1. It's mostly all women, there are men out there blogging but like my experience in the studios men are the minority.
  2. It's almost all asana, yes there are more esoteric blogs and yes there are posts about healthy eat, green living, and meditation but it all seems to be buried under a mountain of asana. Articles about getting this pose right or being able to get that arm balance you've been working on. It seems some people  allow asana to become their next fitness addiction. I'll be the first to say asana is my least favorite aspect of yoga. It nourishes my body and is a great accompaniment to my other practices but it is a small peace of the whole.
That being said I have found some blogs I think are great, informative, and provide new information with each post. Here are my top three
Everyday Gita a blog by Vrndavana Vinodini or V.V. for short.  Is a blog posting around once every four  days, she provides a break down of The Bhagavad Gita. The bhagavad Gita is part of the  Mahabharata the great Indian epic. As the war is about to begin the hero Arjuna is talked to by Krishna his  charioteer and friend who he later learns is God. The conversation becomes a discourse on religion and the  three many paths that lead to freedom from suffering to enlightenment. Those being karma-yoga or the yoga  of action and service, jnana-yoga or the yoga of thought and contemplation, and bhakti-yoga or the yoga of  devotion, and worship.(1)

 V.V. who has read the Gita multiple times starts each post with a verse then breaks it down. Giving her  interpretations, real world applications and insights into verse that might be confusing at first glance such as  her August 30th post with the verse 4. 18: "One who sees inaction in action, and action in inaction, is  intelligent among men, and he is in the transcendental position, although engaged in all sorts of activities."

Hindu Blog by Abhilash Rajendran. Being someone who grew up Irish Catholic there is a large learning  curve when it comes to yoga and Hinduism. This blog has helped me, each day has multiple posts.  One  with the astrology of the day: giving good and bad times for beginning new ventures, lunar phase, and the day in relation to  Vedic, Tamil, Malayalam, and Bengali calenders. There are brief entries on spirituality, sacred sites, fasting, and festivals. All this information is new parts of the Hindu religion for me. He offers a  nondenominational, user friendly websites with only a small number of terms that need to be looked up.

Hindu Expressions by Mukul Shri Goel, he combines classic Hindu literature, music, as well as devotional practice. Discussing their current relevance as well, giving very generalize post like "Hinduism: Main Beliefs", or "Nine Forms of Bhakti". He also has posts answering questions people could think of while exploring Hinduism, such as "Does Rama Need the Prefix 'Bhagavan'?". His posts are very light and easy to digest mentally, allowing for perusing through archives without feeling weighed down by reading each post.

As I have reached out into this community of Yogis, Hindus, and searchers of peace I have found many who are bring information that I have looked for and found lacking in many books. As well as everyday information on things such as Hinduism so that I can learn of this other vast culture that would be untouchable otherwise, to them I offer my thanks.
Work Cited
1 "Hinduism". Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica Online.Encyclopædia Britannica Inc., 2013. Web. 15 Sep. 2013

1 comment:

  1. You have a great selection of blogs here. I also really appreciate the thoughtful discussion you provide in analysis. So you found your "gap" in yoga blogging, then! You're a male yoga blogger who is focusing on chant as well as posing. Very insightful!

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