Inappropriate Yoga Guy (comedy)

Wisdom Quarterly revisits The Inappropriate Yoga Guy by Tato Salad

(GoPotatoTV) Ogden creates awkward situations in yoga studios throughout the (San Fernando) Valley. But don't worry, he's in the yoga teacher training program. Produced by James McFadden and Tyler McFadden. Directed by Greg Thanos. Starring Avi Rothman and Brittney Kara. Written by Avi Rothman. Special thanks to GardenOfYoga.com!

Read More

YogaMan? Why Men CAN'T Do Yoga (video)

The Men of Wisdom Quarterly

Paradox: Try less, go further. Don't force it. Use the Force, he-man! (technabob.com)

 

Why not?

Fun with flexibility (photo-librarian.com)

Men can't do yoga, at least not American men. There are various reasons for this, two of which are most salient. It's too easy, and it's too hard.
  
Given a Hot Yoga class (or what the Choudhury Corporation tries to appropriate under the exclusive "Bikram" brand name), we rise to the challenge. Now there's something to sink our teeth into! We come to stare at yoga-butts, to see what all the fuss is about, and we end up with mild cases of heat exhaustion. And we wonder how all these women are able to keep going without collapsing.

  

Baggy yoga pants (aliexpress.com)

We muscle through it, laugh at the off-color commentary (characteristic of so many Bikram franchises), and treat ourselves to rajasic- and tamasic- poisons afterward. We have to do something to undo the cleansing reaction from all that sweating. But given the task of a slow-paced Hatha (Sun-Moon) Yoga class (characteristic of Iyengar), we wither. We're helpless. There's nothing to do!
  
Give us something to do, something to climb, something to conquer! We can't just stand here listening to some woo-woo gal blithering on and on about proper form. Well, we can't until patience builds, maybe some reserve, and when we finally stop staring/drooling at all the women standing around us in colorful tights and tutus from Lululemon, OMgirl, and Victoria's Secret.

Here's The Secret, Guys

There is an ancient Asian philosophy that goes by the Sanskrit name of sthirasukha. It roughly translates as "hard-easy," "hard-softness," "effort-ease," or "strive-rest." Maybe "force-flex" or "yin-yang" would be catchier. Whatever. Once you understand it, you can come up with your own translation.
  
The way of the Tao is the path of least resistance. "The Force" is the magical mystery of the universe, the movement of prana (not to be confused with prAna, which only makes for good fashion sense).
  

Nerds rejoice. Star Wars to the rescue!

To get where you're going you have to resist inertia a little then rest into it. For instance, one makes an effort to breathe then lets go. One makes an effort to stand then stands. One makes an effort to get into a pose then simply rests in it. It's not really rest -- because that would be collapsing -- but rather resting into it, steadying, undoing the tension, releasing excess energy or stress, letting go.
 
It's all about balanced-effort. We all do well to have open minds...but not so open that our brains fall out. Don't jump unless you have a parachute: Don't try the extreme pose if you haven't built up to it by slow and steady training. That is the quickest route to failure, disappointment, and stopping.

Notice anything? This yoga stuff is more than something practiced in a studio with fancy flooring and ambient music. It's a lesson in how to live: Go easy. Go strong. Relax. Build real or core strength. It derives from ease not force. Supple flexibility is stronger than brittle stiffness.
  

A woman's strength, a man's balance (uechi)

Softness only seems like weakness -- until we see what yoga women (yoginis) are capable of.  And look at the Indian yogis, who are preternaturally strong yet even more flexible than American women. Who cares if we can demolish everybody in the other platoon, hood, squad, barrio, team, or country? If we can't bend, our machismo is only poison to the world. Stretch the heart.

• Yoga for Guys: Top 3 Reasons "A Little Stretching" Is Everything We Need
• Dress Codes - What's a Guy to Wear for Yoga? NYTimes.com
• What's the deal with guys and yoga? Fit and Feminist
• Do straight guys do yoga? - Yahoo! Answers 
• Guys only! What's with you and girls who wear yoga pants?‎ 
• 5 Toughest Yoga Positions for Guys - Men's Fitness 
• Yoga for Regular Guys: Best Damn Workout on the Planet

Read More

Can Men and Women be just friends? (audio)

Text: Linda Holmes, Monkey See (NPR.org); Ashley Wells, Wisdom Quarterly

They're not naked if it's "art" - Ai Weiwei's nude supporters (monster-island.net)

  

It's a question that kicks around endlessly without resolution: Can men and women really be just friends? [The answer depends on your sex.]

   

On Weekend Edition Sunday, NPR's Rachel Martin talks to Faith Salie and Mario Correa, hosts of WNYC's RelationShow, about it.

• LISTEN TO THE SCIENTIFIC DEBATE (NPR)

As it happens, Faith and Mario are friends, but they put that down in part to the fact that Faith is straight and Mario is gay.

  

They describe some research that makes them think perhaps platonic friendship between straight men and women is NOT, in fact, really possible.

  

Some of the research indicates that men, in particular, are somewhat likely to both report some level of attraction to their female friends and to believe their female friends feel some level of attraction to them.

 

    

Now, I will make a confession... But I am always willing to listen to [scientific] research.... More

   

Our Sex and Violence Crazed Media

• PHOTOS: Models paid to look hot
• Indian kills wife in Italy for being "westernized"
  
• Rihanna strips for nude photo shoot
• Rihanna's boyfriends nearly kill each other 
• LAPD beating victim Rodney King dies prematurely
• Lindsay Lohan wasted in "dehydration" scare 
• Beauty: banishing blemishes and abolishing acne 
• Anderson Cooper kicks "Human Barbie" off show
• PHOTO: Swimming the Ganges with naked sadhus
• Parents charged with killing daughter's Pimp (CafeMom)
• A forum for former "sex offenders" and friends
• Suu Kyi picks up Nobel Prize, New Delhi water shortages
• The new elephants of Pinnawela, Sri Lanka
• 10 Quirky Facts About Mass-Produced Foods
• Russia denies holding talks over exit of Syria's Assad
• VIDEO: Beauty, tell your Beast to stop killing

Read More

Thai Buddhism and Ordaining Women as Nuns.

The Bangkok Post, Dec 30, 2009

Bangkok, Thailand -- The forest monks of Wat Nong Pah Pong want the Council of Elders and the Office of National Buddhism to impose stricter controls on Western monks to stop them from ordaining women. They also want the properties of Thai temples in the West to come under the ownership of the Thai Sangha to ensure complete control. The monks are seeking the changes after the recent ordination of two women at Bodhinyana Temple, a branch of Wat Nong Pah Pong in Perth, Australia. The Ecclesiastic Council is opposed to female ordination. The Wat Nong Pah Pong clergy have excommunicated the dharma teacher Phra Brahmavamso, popularly known as Ajahn Brahm, for sponsoring the ordination.

They are also unhappy about alleged negative comments Ajahn Brahm has made about Thai clergy and Thai Buddhism in his talks overseas. If action is not taken, the council fears that more women could be ordained in the West. "Sooner or later, we'll see female monks everywhere," said Phra Kru Opaswuthikorn. He added that the introduction of the Siladhara order, or 10-precept nuns, which was set up by the most senior Western monk, Ajahn Sumedho, as an alternative to female monks in Thailand was also unthinkable. It would be difficult for the Thai public and the clergy to accept the Siladhara order, he said, because the presence of women creates unnecessary problems for the monks' vow of chastity.

James: I'm not a Theravada Buddhist or an ordained monk or teacher, nor am I a Thai. So I'll try to step lightly here and I hope I do not offend anyone. That said, I need to say something about this issue because it has bothered me for some time that there is still a taboo about ordaining women to be nuns in some Buddhist schools. Perhaps it's my western cultural influence but it seems antithetical to the accepting and open minded nature of Buddhism to deny women monastic status. One of the excuses used in this article and heard elsewhere is that having nuns around would tempt the monks too much. Well, monks need to learn how to master their desires regardless of whether women are physically present or not.

They can just as easily engage in sexual misconduct by masturbation or even sex with another monk. In addition, they are tempted with various other desires in their current situation with the temptation to lie or speak ill of a fellow monk or teacher. The desire for theft, anger or even murder can brew in any environment. And what do they do when they have to go out for their alms rounds and happen to see women? Do they run the other way? I'm not trying to mock these monks but I'm just really perplexed. Couldn't they see a women on their rounds and then go back to the monastery and masturbate while thinking about that woman?

We lay practitioners are surrounded much more by the opposite sex than monks and yet most of us are able to avoid sexual misconduct. So why can't monks resist? Isn't that part of their intensive training to learn how to avoid desire? Isn't it kind of impractical and discriminatory to basically say that the only way that this can be achieved is by denying women entrance to monasteries? In a way, it's a statement that men can't control themselves when around women and so women must be denied access to a deeper understanding of the Dharma. Why should women have to sacrifice a chance to learn the Dharma in a monastery simply because they were born with female body parts? And what does it say of men -- That we can't control ourselves enough to live around women without raping them or whatever the case may be? Isn't that kind of blaming the women for existing? Because if monks can't even resist sexual misconduct by even the sight of women then isn't that kind of a false sense of mastery of your desires? If the only way you can resist attaching to desire is to close yourself up in a box and avoid any contact with women then is that real mastery or one that was created by self-imposed isolation alone?

Another point is that despite some initial reluctance the Buddha himself set up orders for nuns (Bhikkunis). Also, other traditions have allowed the ordination for nuns (such as in my tradition of Vietnamese Zen master Thich Nhat Hanh) without any major, systemic problems. As well as Catholic nuns. The sexual temptation excuse seems to be a thin layer of justification covering a deeper issue of sexism. At least from my western perspective. As I said before, I'm not use to Thai culture so perhaps I'm missing something but if the Buddha himself established female orders then I have to question this reluctance by some in the Thai sangha.

What about setting up monasteries that are just for women? Wouldn't that work if the monks aren't willing to share a monastery with women? The only male could be the abbot and if he's older then his chances for a rampant sexual desire would be low. It just seems like there's another way than to just simply ban women from a chance for deeper study that is found in monastic settings. I hope I haven't offended anybody and if I have I sincerely apologize. I am honestly trying to figure out in my mind why this is happening and how we can achieve some kind of middle-ground. After all, Isn't treading the middle-ground the core of much of the Buddha's teachings?

If I'm missing something here please let me know. All thoughts and comments are welcome so long as you remain respectful of others.

---End of Transmission---

Read More