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Pictured, “Nice Thing ‘Bout Getting Old(er)” -
Post is response to Open Link Night prompt from dVersepoets
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“a beginner’s view: the intent of this blog is to incrementally build a body of thought that works toward integrating various topics, yoga, fitness, and the arts – it’s a process…”
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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.
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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.
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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…
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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.
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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.
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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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