experience story
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Cultural fluidity and adaptability of yoga | ||||||||||||
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Writer | |
Hong Christine | |
Date | |
2005-03-02 | |
Count | |
829 | |||
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| I first came to the Hongik Yoga Center 3 years ago. Like so many others who have come here, I heard about the center through word-of-mouth. I happened to be talking over the phone to a friend and ex-coworker of mine named Adrienne one day. Although we both lived in Seoul, we seldom saw each other due to the inflexibility of our busy schedules. When I asked her rather routinely how she was doing, she answered with uncharacteristic enthusiasm, "You know? Really great!" She then went on to tell me that she'd been practicing yoga for a few months at this yoga center. "It smells good, the people are kind, and I feel great afterwards," she said. Her description was appealing, but I didn't need any persuasion. I'd beenm to India the previous year and spent a couple of weeks in Rishikesh, a town in northern India perhaps nest known as the place the Beatles retreated to in the late '60's, at the height of their fame. It's also the home of the Maharish Yogi's ayurvedic medical clinic and a whole host of ashrams. My traveling companion, Juice, and I were interested in doing a yoga course at one of the ashrams and spoke with a yogi named Saras. Nothing we encountered felt intuitively right to either one of us although we were in the self-proclaimed "yoga capital of the world," and after all, since yoga originated in India, what better, more "authentic" place to study it than India? We ended up, however, spending our days in Rishikesh walking about, sampling the local vegetarian cuisine, and observing the local culture. And sl, I left Rishikesh without having learned the yoga I'd gone there to do. Partially because of my experience in India, when I first came to the Hongik Yoga Center, I was completely ready to plunge into yoga. In retrospect, I can see that I brought a sort of hunger with me. That first day I entered the yoga studio, I met with one of the teachers who beckoned me to sit across from her. She asked me if I had any previous experience with yoga. Thinking back to my time in Rishikesh, I answered her question and then asked her if she knew of a good ashram in India where I could continue my studies of yoga after leaving Korea. Looking back, I can see that my question, especially coming from one with almost no experience in yoga, was greedy. The wisdom of her calm answer came through clearly and evenly. "Slowly, slowly," she explained to me in simple Korean, "little by little." And it has been "slowly, slowly"and "little by little" that I have learned yoga. "Yoga is like a patient mother nurturing anyone who is willing to make even the humblest gesture of commitment to the spiritual path," writes Georg Feuerstein, an Indology scholar and a lifetime yoga practitioner. Patience and devotion have been critical to integration yoga into my life. Yoga has not been a quick fix or an instant remedy to the stresses of urban living and afflictions of health. Rather, changes have come about on an incremental yet fundamental level for me. The teachers at the Hongik Yoga Institute will, from time to time, remind the practitioners not to compare themselves to others. Instead, the teachers urge us to focus on our own state, to observe our own breathing, to concentrate on maintaining our own balance. I have noticed, in the past year, slow but steady improvements in my flexibility, my balance, and my overall health. The master and the teachers also have checked my health from time to time, and their suggestions have been simple, organic, and invaluable. Like their suggestions, the overall atmosphere of the yoga center has a certain balance, tranquility, and harmony. When I first started taking classes at the yoga center, I attended the 8 o'clock class but switched to the 10 o'clock class several months ago. I affectionately refer to the 10 o'clock class as the "ajuma class." the class is filled with so much good-humored bantering and laughter. There is a warmth and intimate ambience that is reflective of the character of the Korean people. The master and teachers also dress in beautiful, earthy hanbok. There are no pretensions in the center towards representing Indian culture. The teachers, while teaching an ancient spiritual discipline that originated in India, maintain a strong and essential Koreanness. It is this cultural fluidity and adaptability that characterizes yoga that so profoundly bespeaks its pure wisdom and strength. Now, my time in Korea is limited to a number of countable days. I leave with a deep sense of gratitude to the master, to all my teachers, and to the ajumas. I thank you for your patient teaching, your kindness, your wisdom, your concern, your humor, and your strength. I have learned so much through your grace. May this center and the new one in the countryside flourish and continue to be of benefit to all who pass through their doors, and may all of you prosper in the best of health and joyful living. You will always be in my heart and thoughts. Hong Christine : She taught English at SangMyung woman's university and several companies in Korea. She was born in the United States. She spent her time to know herself and the fatherland last 3 years in Korea. And she went to Tibet to look in at herself more deeply, saying that she would be back one day. |
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