non-yogic stretching and energy

[Fred Mak]

this is going to be kind of an unusual post.

 

i've done my fair share of yoga over the years.  some yoga teachers talk about energy, aka prana or chi.  i believe in chi, and i have felt tingling sensations during sitting meditation but i have also felt heat moving through my body during asana (yoga poses).  i've been told that this is energy moving through blockages in my body.

 

although i do believe in chi, i don't agree with a lot of what is taught in most eastern spiritual practices.  basically, i'm getting tired of the woo woo stuff.  i think if energy passes through the body, that's freaking awesome, but i feel like it should be experienced, not talked about.  the endless talking about energy and new age stuff really turns me off, and in my opinion, i feel like it is not the right focus.

 

anyways, my yoga studio is closing down next month, and i'm considering practicing one yogic cleansing technique and pretty much abandoning all yoga asana (yoga poses) and just doing modified PNF stretching.

 

here's my question: i am just curious if people feel energy (in the form of heat) moving though obstructions in the body while doing non-yogic stretching?

[Mikkel Ravn]

What are obstructions in the body? Sounds a bit mumbo jumbo to me, but yes, I do sometimes feel heat when stretching, which is not so odd, given that the muscles work hard when contracting, therefore expending energy (in the real, physical sense of the word) and generating heat.

Edit: I don't believe that there's is a need for any spiritual concepts in stretching. Presence, calmness, and the ability to relax are prerequisites, but they can be achieved within a common-sensical framework.

[Keilani Gutierrez]

 

here's my question: i am just curious if people feel energy (in the form of heat) moving though obstructions in the body while doing non-yogic stretching?

to actually go, toe-to-toe on how similar the energy is, there's really no way of me knowing how to answer that but with a little bit of self-awareness, you can feel a lot going on in your body during a workout, as much as when you meditate. it comes down to the focus/attention you're giving your practice. I've become much more mobile because i've become more involved with my mobility and not done hamstring stretches while looking out the window, seeing the clouds. 

 

kind of like the difference between just doing a horse stance and getting rooted, you can do the posture and not really do anything with it, whereas you can take your pose and make it active. 

 

(another example is doing hollow body positions, but not really working the PPT portion of it)

 

to answer your question: I currently practice becoming more self-aware and have felt heat moving around, but if it's  the same type your speaking of, who knows? 

[Fred Mak]

What are obstructions in the body? Sounds a bit mumbo jumbo to me, but yes, I do sometimes feel heat when stretching, which is not so odd, given that the muscles work hard when contracting, therefore expending energy (in the real, physical sense of the word) and generating heat.

well, here's an example.  i've never been able to do the splits.  years ago, i was doing sitting meditation.  all of a sudden, i felt a bunch of heat go to my groin/hips.  i felt like something was happening, and i decided to stretch.  i could almost get a full side split without a warm up.  so even though my muscles were cold, i suddenly got way more flexible than i was before.  that's what i mean.

 

anyways, i've had a lot of injuries over the years since that incident, so i'm not as flexible as i was then, but that's an example of energy moving through obstructions.  and yes, i know it sounds weird

[David McManamon]

I do a little yoga for meditation purposes and stretching for flexibility.  If you want to be flexible then stretch, if you want to meditate then do yoga.

[Rajan Shankara]

This is an unusual post indeed. Im happy to go in depth through private message probably. Im a Hindu monk and i can clearly answer your questions with practical answers but probably too much for the forum

[Fred Mak]

rjs, ok.  great, please message me.

 

by the way, i've only had 2 other instances of feeling energy in the form of heat clearing energetic obstructions - both these instances were while doing halasana (plow pose).  i felt an abnormal amount of heat gather in the chest both times, although i did not get more flexible, like that one time where i was almost able to do the splits.

[Jon Douglas]

rjs, ok.  great, please message me.

 

by the way, i've only had 2 other instances of feeling energy in the form of heat clearing energetic obstructions - both these instances were while doing halasana (plow pose).  i felt an abnormal amount of heat gather in the chest both times, although i did not get more flexible, like that one time where i was almost able to do the splits.

This sort of thing (heat etc) is pretty normal in qigong, but I do not have any experience with yoga or flexibility in this way. RJS sounds like exactly the person you want.

[Joseff Lea]

i've been told it's to do with increased blood flow to the area through some sort of controlled localised vasodilation. Apparently if you put a heat camera on a person you can see the heat moving around the body.

[Daniel Sarnowski]

Its important to understand that Asana practice by itself is simply a health and cleansing practice, like many others in the yoga traditions. A lot of the "mumbo-jumbo" isn't really that Eastern, but a Western adaptation of Eastern philosophies. Since ABSOLUTELY EVERYTHING in India has a spiritual content to it, then sure, there is a spiritual element, but it is hardly the end-all be-all of what yoga really is. Pattabhi Jois, teacher and propounder of the Astanga Yoga System frequently said yoga is 1% theory and 99% practice. Meaning that yoga is something you do, more than something you talk about. The postures are only a tiny part of a thorough yoga practice. Some yogis don't even practice postures at all. Krishnamacharya, B.K.S. Iyengar, and Pattabhi Jois all taught a very physically demanding form of yoga that has spread like wildfire through the western world. All 3 of them shaped what we call yoga today, but its important to recognize that they were all known for a very strict, disciplinarian, and even hostile teaching style that hardly resembles the touchy feely stuff we hear in our vinyasa classes these days. 

I discovered the Ashatanga Yoga system after a decade of training contortion with several Russian, Chinese and Mongolian coaches. I can't emphasize enough what a huge difference yoga made in my flexibility, mobility, and mostly, my ability to recover from the strains of training. At the time I was training trapeze, and contortion for 4-6 hours a day and  then running off to Yoga afterwards. I swear to you, so many chronic aches and injuries were alleviated by doing the yoga. You would think that a rigorous 90 minute yoga class would kill me after a 5 hour training session, but really, it is what kept me going. I left my yoga class feeling refreshed, like I had realigned my musculo-skeletal system, and broken up scar tissues and muscle adhesions all around my body that had built up over years of training. DOMS was kept at a minimum through doing yoga, and it opened up my hamstrings like no amount of Russian/Chinese stretching(aka torture) had ever done. I think a lot of that is due to the intense internal heat you generate when doing astanga yoga. I think part of the theory is that we are flushing toxins, like Lactic Acid, from the body. I learned to use my body in a healthy way that really carried over to my training in a big way. Eventually if I had only an hour to train on a given day, I would choose the yoga, because I felt it would give me the most rounded workout. 

Something that really struck me about yoga, was how similar the training was to the Mongolian contortion techniques I had learned; deep relaxation, keeping the eyes fixed on one spot, intense focus, steady breathing, still mindedness. When I saw this similarity I was sure that yoga had something to offer me. It may be interesting to know that Mongolia is a primarily Buddhist country, and the Mongolian Contortion we see in the circus has its roots in Mongolian Buddhist practices. 

Also an interesting note is that what we call yoga today isn't really so ancient as many would have us think. Of course yoga is an ancient  form, but modern day yoga was greatly influenced by yogis observing the Gymnastics exercise of the British Military during the British rule of India during the late 1800's to the early 1900's.

Anyways, this is a long winded post. Mainly I suggest you don't throw out the baby with the bathwater. In my experience with stretching, I think yoga has an enormous contribution to make. I really do think that yoga is the reason I am still training at 42 yrs old. Without it, I'm sure my myriad chronic injuries would have gotten the best of me by now. I've had the good fortune to work with some great acro coaches over the years, and I've had my body stretched and tortured in all the typical old school ways. ( and BTW, the 'old-school' way is to stretch the student until they cry tears. I'm not kidding.) There's a place for both styles of stretching, especially for adults taking up acro/gymnastic training and wanting to get more flexible. I'm not even going to get into what it has done for my overall state of mind. There are many different styles and approaches to yoga so maybe you need to try a different style that may suit your needs better. Anyways, just my 2 cents…