LexiYoga

I Hate Yoga

I Hate Yoga, And Why You'll Hate To Love It Too, by Paul McQuillan is a book that caught my attention. The title is quite catchy, especially for yoga enthusiasts like me. It explores why yoga has become so controversial in western society, and how this whole love/hate relationship began.

I Hate Yoga

People tend to find yoga for a reason, a greater purpose or a spiritual awakening. People don't just fall in love with yoga and it's teachings. True yoga enthusiasts who practice with dedication know what it's like to be in a difficult place, and are able to be more compassionate and wordly because of it.

To be at peace with something, you first need to have a loving relationship with you yourself. Most people have an ongoing love/hate relationship spending time with themselves. The same is true with yoga. To really enjoy the pleasures of the practice, one has to experience the challenges and obstacles that your body has to go through. It's a journey, like an emotional roller coaster. There are ups and downs, as with anything in life.

Paul McQuillan takes you through an honest journey of the ups and downs of yoga, and everything in between.

I love you and because I love you, I would sooner have you hate me for telling you the truth than adore me for telling you lies.

Pietro Aretino

I hate yoga.

I really do. I don't state this for effect.

Being grateful for something that has given me healing, prosperity, purpose, and meaningful relationships would be the evolved disclosure here.

But it isn't. Because I hate it.

I'm too alarmingly focused on what contemporary Western society has done to yoga to find solace or understanding in the word anymore. Like many things in the Western world, yoga has been bastardized beyond recognition, to the point where saying it's an authentic form of healing would be a great disservice to the sacred origin of the word. But after all, going to McDonald's for a salad is like going to a hooker for a hug.

North America is the hooker. Yoga is the hug. Just clarifying.

So few people in North America, especially teachers of yoga and supposed gurus, actually know what yoga really is.

I certainly don't, and I've been teaching it for nine years, but I know this: I hate it. I have to. It's the only way to love it again.

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