Wednesday, December 21, 2011

Tim Miller on Yoga Practice


I just came across this short Youtube video where Tim Miller talks about what the yoga practice is for. A couple of interesting points:

(1) At 0:30-0:34, Tim describes daily Ashtanga practice as a form of daily hygiene, like brushing your teeth or taking a shower. I cracked up when I heard this; way back in grad school, when I first started practicing yoga daily, I would often explain the place of yoga practice in my life to my friends by telling them that to me, yoga practice is as important as taking a shower: You do it everyday, you may not talk about it for the rest of the day, but it's vital and central to your life.  I don't think any of my friends understood me much at that time ("what? taking 2 hours for a shower?!"); I'm guessing they probably still don't. But it's nice to hear Tim say the same thing. Pardon me for being immodest, but great minds think alike, no? :-)

(2) At 2:00-2:20, Tim talks about how it is important that we practice with Vairagyabhyam; not to be confused with Viagra; although, come to think of it, if you have Vairagyabhyam, you may find it easier to achieve the same effect that you were trying to achieve with Viagra in the first place. But this is for another post :-) Anyway, as I was saying... Vairagyabhyam is usually translated as "non-attachment." In my opinion, non-attachment is probably the single most powerful thing that will keep one practicing for a long time. If one is not attached to the results of the practice, then, well, one just practices. And all is coming.

And while we're on the topic of Tim Miller videos, here's one from the early days of him and a few others practicing with Guruji in Encinitas. Enjoy!

 

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