| Title |  |
My Practice of Yoga in Korea | ||||||||||||
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Writer | |
Szaja Gottlieb | |
Date | |
2001-03-05 | |
Count | |
4007 | |||
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| My Practice of Yoga in Korea Szaja Gottlieb I have been in Korea a little more than 5 months and Yoga has become an important staple of my spiritual diet in Korea. When I arrived on September 18th in Korea, I was very concerned at what I saw. Having living in major cities, New York in particular, I saw that living in Seoul would not be easy. But what I found most disturbing was that Westerners who had come to Korea, mostly to make money, had not created a life for themselves. The conversations were mostly about money, teaching, and their country of origin, usually the United States or Canada. I made up my mind that I was not going to fall into the same trap. I had practiced Kundalini Yoga for a few months in 1993. I began to practice yoga at Hogik Yoga Institute. It has been four months now. I am sure I have improved more than a little. There are many poses that I cannot do at all when I began. And, of course, there are still some that I cannot do with great success. But I find that what is important is not the accomplishment of any individual pose but my overall mental attitude about yoga and my life. Yoga is incremental, “chanchanee” as is said in Korean, and it reminds me that great and wonderful things are done by constant trying and focusing on ones goals, not all at once. That attitude has even influenced my methods of teaching English with my students. For me Yoga provides spiritual nourishment. It is so easy to forget that we are more than physical beings, but spiritual beings as well. For many of the Westerners here this, I think becomes a major problem. Removed from their usual environment of love and support, they do not realize the importance of their loss. Yoga has nourished me on all the levels of my being. Just my choosing to take Yoga has been a personal affirmation of all the parts of being, mind, body, and soul. Knowing what Yoga has done for me, I have tried to let other Westerners know about Yoga and the Hongik Yoga Institute. I am very happy to see that there are now a few Westerners taking yoga here. From what they have told me, they too have experienced the benefits of higher energy levels and a stonger emotional and physical state. I am very thankful to Master Lee and the wonderful staff at the institute. The words trust and caring come to mind. Despite their exactness and their professionalism, I, as a student, feel their caring and sincere desire to help me on my spiritual path. I especially like the combination of exactness and humor displayed by the Master. It makes me feel wonderfully at home here though I do not speak the language. He and the staff are especially non-judgemental and forgiving when it comes to giving support to a student. I wish I could comment more on the individual practices and poses that we do at institute but I do not feel qualified to do so. Of course, many types of Yoga are offered in the West and I do not know how unique our practice in the concept of energy, or chi, and believe in the concept that Yoga helps the development of the ethereal body. As an artist I have many times experienced this and have tried to express it in my work. I earnestly hope and believe that my experience at the coincidental, or perhaps it is a direct result of practice, but the title of a sculpture that I am presently submitting to a gallary in Chonan in entitled “The Bodhi Tree”. The sculpture is meant to express the upwards rise of energy and the awakening of the crown cakra. Szaja Gottlieb is an American sculptor who likes kimchi pot-stew. He came to korean for learning Korean style as well as oriental culture. |
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