East Meets West

There’s a documentary out called “Enlighten Up”, and it comes to Chicago next month for a couple of weeks. It’s about a 29 year old journalist from New York who is skeptical about yoga and who is taken on a journey around the world to learn about yoga and the teachings and at the end I believe he has been “converted”. I’m very excited to see this not only because it involves what I hope to be my next career but because I still see some of myself in the 29 year old journalist.

Most class sessions I am very open, receiving the teachings without judgment and often finding them very enlightening and interesting. And after a good yoga practice I have sensations that I can’t get anywhere else. But every once in a while that little skeptic in my head will chime in with his point of view. This usually happens when we’re working out the finer points of a pose. He’ll say something like, “Really? This is what enlightenment is all about? Twisting your torso in that particular way?” Other times he’ll roll his eyes when we’re chanting in Sanskrit or talking about body cleanses and raw food diets.

Having that little voice around doesn’t bother me, and I’m not anxiously trying to rid myself of it. In fact I think it’s a healthy thing to have around. In a way it inspires me to keep working and learning, and to remain open to everything going on around me. And there has been a lot going on lately. Besides the classroom learning I have experienced the following throughout the last few weeks:

--Kirtan, performed by Krishna Das (very famous for this)
--a two-day workshop called Spirit Tracking, with Rubee Blackriver
--a lecture on the emergence of Buddhism in India
--Gong Summit, a musical performance in a music instrument warehouse
--a gong bath, performed by Richard Rudis
--a workshop on healing herbs and spices
--a lecture/workshop on Ayurveda and Yoga Nidra

One thing that fascinates me and that I’m always trying to learn more about is the merging of eastern and western philosophies. Put briefly, science is more and more arriving at theories of the universe that validate and reflect the ancient teachings of the east, including teachings found in yogic texts. Seeing these two seemingly different approaches to truth coming together is like seeing the timeline of human history and thought as humanity having a conversation with itself. Seen from this perspective, the skeptic is a necessary and vital point of view to have in order to reach and prove what one feels instinctively to be the truth.