Mark Whitwell | Heart of Yoga

New York City NY

28 January, 2021

3:10 AM

Description

Mark Whitwell on Teaching the Heart of Yoga in Christian Communities Mark Whitwell | Heart of YogaIn this article, we collate advice Mark Whitwell has given those who share yoga in strongly Christian communities, for how to break down barriers and teach in a non-dogmatic way. Yoga is what you do as your principal devotion. It is your principal practice. Not puja, not meditation, not kirtan, not philosophy. In ancient times, asana itself was what was done in the temple to your deity. What Krishnamacharya said was there is ‘Yoga Yoga’ — Yoga that is connected to life itself. But if you are describing life itself in terms such as deity or guru or God, which is what Christians are doing, then Yoga is the principal means of connection, your asana practice! We have to understand that in the tradition that is what asana is. Devotion to life. Devotion to God and guru or deity if that is relevant. For a Christian, their deity is Christ. If Christians would do Yoga, then it would a whole-body prayer to life. Christianity is a great guru system, of course. The cross is a sincere yantra that people relate to with their body, crossing themselves. This can easily be translated into practice. We can inhale, open our arms out wide, receive God, the arms of the cross… and exhale, fold forward, devote ourselves to God. Inhale, come up, hands in prayer to the Almighty above, and then exhale, hands come down to prayer in the heart. Beautiful. Mark Whitwell demonstrating Jesus’s hand mudras at a church on the island of Lesvos, Greece. Photo: Rosalind Atkinson There is much practical Yoga instruction in the Bible. If you are familiar with it, you can speak to people in their language. “Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin.” Important and accurate Yoga instruction. Or the kingdom of heaven is within you. Even words from Christ that say things like “No-one gets to the father except through me”, we can take a yogic perspective on this and hear him speaking not as one man, not as a body, but as someone who realizes and embodies Shakti, the power of the cosmos, and it is through this power that we can know Shiva or consciousness. It is the same as saying “through intimacy with all known conditions, the source is known.” You must have some sincere sympathy with the beauty of Christian utterance. Those who go in with some kind of missionary or pity orientation won’t succeed. You must honour each person’s sincere beliefs and search for something sacred and meaningful in their life. Not a slavish swallowing of dogma hook line and sinker, but no one can deny the beauty that is there. Let yourself be moved by that and communicate within that sincerity. Christ was a yogi. No doubt. We have to understand that a yogi is a woman or man who is a realizer of reality, who is not obstructed in their participation in the power of the cosmos that everyone is. It is not a cultural descriptor, a religious descriptor. It means someone whose mind is no longer imagining separation from others, and so becomes a wellspring of compassion, tolerance, and love. A friend to all. A human possibility. Read the full article here: Mark Whitwell About: Mark Whitwell has taught yoga for over three decades across the globe, and is the founder of the Heart of Yoga foundation, and the Heart of Yoga Peace Project. Mark Whitwell is interested in developing an authentic yoga practice for the individual, based on the teachings of T. Krishnamacharya (1888-1989) and his son TKV Desikachar (1938-2016), with whom he enjoyed a relationship for more than twenty years. Mark Whitwell is the author of four books: ‘Yoga of Heart,’ ‘The Promise,’ ‘The Hridayasutra,’ and, ‘God and Sex: now we get both.’ He also edited and contributed to his TKV Desikachar’s classic yoga text, ‘The Heart of Yoga.’ Mark Whitwell is a father of three and a grandfather. He now resides between New Zealand and Fiji and continues to write, teach, and speak.