Yoga, The Coronavirus, And Moving On With Our Lives...

By nature... humans are amazing beings that adapt and evolve through periods of difficulties. In yoga one of the ways we heal and persevere is practicing the first two of the eight limbs, Yamas and Niyamas, how we treat ourselves and others.

In Perspective...In a few years we will likely look back at this period in time, with adjusted lives. My guess is vaccines and/or effective treatments will become the norm until the Coronavirus is totally eliminated. An Eastern form of greeting will likely become the norm, namaste or a bow, one of the nicest I've encountered is the right hand on the heart and slight bow in Malaysia.

We survived the 1918 Spanish Flu, went back to our normal lives and we will continue again.

Continuing our yoga practices..This is a great opportunity to focus on our home practices. If you do not currently have a self practice many yoga studios are offering streaming classes, some complementary. You can also find numerous videos on YouTube. I also highly recommend focusing on pranayama, breathing exercises that support your practice and have numerous healing benefits. 

Ultimately it is most important that you be on your mat and do whatever you can do until you can have the more personal supervision and hands-on assists of an experienced teacher.

By Allen Barkus. Allen has been practicing Ashtanga yoga since 1998 and teaching since 2004. His initial teacher training was with David Swenson and has been the student of Manju Jois since 2004. Manju, along with his father, introduced Ashtanga/Vinyasa yoga to America in 1975. His studies focus on Healing Therapy. He is available in Philadelphia for private lessons and clinics and travels around the world teaching clinics. www.AshtangabyAllen.com

Yoga For Healing Of Sexual Abuse. #MeToo

When I talk about Yoga for Healing the eyes of  most yogis glaze over, even teachers that have their own studios. What I've learned is there is a fundamental misunderstanding what yoga is, an ancient practice for healing both the mind and body. Western thinking has turned the practice into mostly physical training. My specialty, influenced by Manju Jois who brought Ashtanga yoga to America in 1975 with his father, is healing.  I've worked with students recovering from surgeries, cancer, emotional problems, emphysema and other issues. Of course I've also worked with people just interested in the physical side too including training athletes at the University of Pennsylvania, some have advanced into deeper exploration of their practices.

One of the things I find most disturbing in our society is how prevalent sexual abuse is, somehow to the point that the U.S. elected a president with many accusations and we have a serving senator accused of child abuse. There are even accusations against influential people in the yoga community.  Of course accusations do not prove guilt or intent so I expect some accused are innocent.

One of the more important things that yoga teaches us is non-attachment, the things that happen to us, disease or different forms of abuse, are separate from who we are. Once we allow
those things as part of us, in my view they create a barrier to the healing process. When my 80 year
old mother was diagnosed with  cancer I found it interesting that she had a yogic view that she saw it as not a part of her, but an invader that just did not belong.

I encourage further exploration of of healing aspects of yoga and welcome questions on this forum, privately via my website at www.AshtangabyAllen.Com , and with your personal teachers and therapists. I am also available via Skype for life coaching and consultations, email directly at AshtangabyAllen@att.net .

Donald Trump As The United States President And Our Need For Yoga And Other Healing Practices #Healing, #Yoga, #KeepMovingForward

In our democratic process the people have spoken and have elected Donald Trump president. I suggest we dedicate our yoga and other healing practices to bring people together for unity. We need to reach out to people with open hands and hearts and focus on the future and what we can achieve. In the big picture the next 4 years will just be a hiccup and we really do not know what to expect. Remember it was not that long ago that Donald Trump praised Hillary Clinton for doing a good job.

Donald Trump And His Attacks On Our Personal Freedoms #impeachandremove #PersonalFreedoms #Yoga, #Healing #Unity

For me yoga represents the highest level of personal freedoms, accepting of all, and about the potential of what we can achieve on a individual and community level. The most disturbing things to me about the popularity of Donald Trump is the schism of his supporters that  expose anti semitism, Islamophobia, attacks on women's rights and our rule of law; the Constitution

 In the yoga community I expect many of you have also encountered those who even consider yoga to be evil, not from God or Jesus. In my perspective Jesus probably knew about yoga from spice traders there is even the possibility that he traveled to Southern India via a Roman merchant ship.

In my everyday life as a modern Jewish man I have encountered anti semitism and Islamophobia including a neighbor questioning how many 'Jews' were killed in the holocaust, not how many others were killed, and people telling me how all Muslims are evil. Until now I had no idea how popular some of these ideas were.

My concern is our personal freedoms are under attack including religious, gay and women's rights.

Since I know this blog is being read and shared around the world, I welcome all perspectives.

Of course I do not believe all Trump supporters share the negative beliefs I have identified.

With Donald Trump as the United States President I encourage everyone to dedicate their healing
practices and positive energy to healing and unity.