The Autistic Yogi Reflects on Cultural Appropriation of Yoga

First off I will state that I am an atheist. Simply I do not believe in a deity, god or goddess, and think all references to them are allegory and are personal to the narrative of the individual considering the deity/god/goddess.

Cultural Appropriation is a term that I recently came across after finding out that the University of Ottawa cancelled a free Yoga class.  I have not read deeply into the issue that is at hand so will consider any of my perception particular to that case as circumstantial. Without knowing the specific concerns that were brought up to the University I can't really have an opinion on it.

But reading about cultural appropriation I certainly have an opinion.

Wikipedia states 'Generally, an assumption that the culture being borrowed from is also being oppressed by the culture doing the borrowing is prerequisite to the concept.'
So my question to anyone whom thinks that the westernization of yoga is a cultural appropriation is this, how is the yoga community oppressing culture of India?

And if Yoga is most often translated as 'Yoke, to bring together, unity, integration.' How than can any culture claim yoga as its rightful intellectual property? And do we say the Hindu owns it or the Tantric? How about the Buddhist? Who was Patanjali and can claim ownership of his writing?

If yoga is that state when we have learned to master/control/cease the fluctuations of our mind and heart than whom in their right mind can claim to culturally own this?

I refuse to acknowledge ownership of the word Yoga, just like no person or culture can own the word science. Own your belief without looking down on mine and I won't look down on yours. As an atheist I will always uphold your right to your belief as long as it doesn't remove my right to have my own, and I won't be offended if you 'borrow' from my perceptions and biases to define your own.

The Autistic Yogi Reflects on the Knee in Acro Yoga

Often in Acro when we L-base we are told to keep the legs straight. I don't think this is healthy for beginners because they have not developed the appropriate stabilizing muscles, because of the locking mechanism of the knee.  When we do a bone stack and the knee locks out then we are able to release the muscles from around the knee from being activated. By keeping a bend in the knee and drawing the knee cap toward the hip we do a coactivation of muscles around the knee, and if we press the toes away from the knee we activate the calf muscles which further adds stability to the knee. To further add to the strength have the outer foot pressing towards the ankle and this will activate the front muscles of the lower leg further adding stability to the knee joint.

The knee also does not act alone and requires activations from both the hip and ankle joints. Practice balancing postures with the balancing knee slightly bent.

It is imperative that as we navigate through acrobatic postures and movements that we work on our knees health and advance in an intelligent format without skipping steps in the hopes of advancing quickly.

There are many resources online on knee health and safety and I encourage each individual to do their due diligence in discovering what methods work the best for them. Consider advancing your anatomy knowledge through professional instruction so that we don't have to try and reinvent the wheel by going through trial and error. The single handed best resource I can suggest is to take the Yoga Synergy Anatomy & Physiology Online training, Simon Borg-Olivier and Bianca Machliss have developed what I consider to be the most thorough examination of yoga and movement and how our bodies work through the various postures that we encounter from basic sitting to standing to extreme mobility for the super athlete. This training is indespensable for any and all movement practitioners!

http://yogasynergy.com/main/anatomy-physiology

The Autistic Yogi Rants on those that Hate Science and Technology

I have noticed a trend growing of a form of hate directed at science and technology my heart breaks a little.
There is a certain awe that pervades my mind when I consider all the education, work, invention and innovations that our human race have made. Certainly much of it has been used for ill purposes but I'm an optimist and believe that the majority of all this have been focused for the good.
People have mystified how life was like prior to technology and science. Nature is a cruel mistress, I can't see her as a loving mother, she will take your life without regard and this has always been the case, earthquakes, scourges, pestilence, pathogens of all types, vast shifts in weather or internal movements that devastate life are not something new and have always been here, it's not because 'god' or 'goddesses' are punishing us, it's simply the way the universe operates.
The image of the lone mother attempting to scrape together enough of natures bounty to feed her starving family comes to mind. Existence without electricity is extrememly hard work and it's perils are very real and not something mystical. If your the type of person who is capable of living without modern medicine, without electricity or other methods of modern living than good for you for going through the gruelling task of learning how to live the old way.
I will continue to celebrate our human ingenuity. I will continue to call for scientific transparency. I will continue to support the brave men and woman who put their lives in the line of fire to battle against the wickedness of skewed principles and powers. I will continue to support the oil industry as it slowly fazes out and the next wave of technological advancement takes its place. I will support the men and woman whom day after day go to their places of learning and work and contribute to make life easier for us all. I continue to support vaccines and will continue to state that not all are safe but the efficacy of some have been proven repeatedly over and over.
I will not support bigotry either in the common man or at the level of governments. I will not support the hatred for modernization. I will not support the destruction of our planet either.

I am a peace warrior
I walk the middle ground

The Autistic Yogi Reflects on Self Mastery

Self mastery is the essential reason that I embarked upon a deeper journey into Yoga and it has been one amazing journey of navigating hills, cliffs, straight stretches of road.  I think I am well on the way of mastering my inner struggles, that is to say that I am finding it easier and easier as I practice and age to be settled even though the journey is tumultuous. Now and again an obstacle comes across my path that reminds me of the fallibility of our human nature and it is in these moments that I see the work that a continued practice of yoga has to offer.

Certainly yoga is not just about the self, but is about how we are in the community and sometimes I think we can lose site of this. I recall my certifying instructor Tracy Mann saying 'The byproduct of your yoga should be better relationships'.. We should certainly be able to relate better with ourselves and others around us. Our breathing should be a little bit easier to tap into when the stresses of life come.

My yoga journey is not about getting into ever more complicated postures but being able to be a better person within myself and externally to all those around me. The liberation I saught on my initial journey was to be free from an internal anger and wrong perception of how I fit into the world.

Make sure that your yoga journey does not just include asana but has a rooted contemplation and dialogue of ethics, both for yourself and your community.

The Autisitic Yogi Reflects on preparing my Wrist Joints.

Conditioning the body to handle the demand of increasing complexity of postures both static and dynamic.

Early in my practice of acro yoga when putting my wrists into demanding skills, foot to hand, hand to hand, table top/walnut drills, etc, my wrists and hands could actually feel compression pains and aches, 99% of the pains and aches didn't inherently feel damaging but the possibility was there and the 1% of time that damage was done meant for a whole lot of rehabilitation.

3 major contributors helped me out of compressive wrist pain and into feeling like all the yoga and acro postures that one felt painful now feel like they are adding strength, I got out of the bone and into the muscle!

The First:
  Simon Borg-Olivier (  http://yogasynergy.com/main/simon-borg-olivier  )
Simon has been seriously studying the anatomy and physiology since the early 80s both as a microbiologist and a physiotherapist and presents one of the most concise yoga programs that I believe is on earth. Through his anatomy and physiology course you will learn about every joint and how it is used in part or as a whole in any physical practice that puts a demand on the joint. I do not hesitate to call Simon my most influential teacher and most assuredly a master of the practice of yoga. One of the most aware individuals that I have come across. And fun! He was also the first person to present to me that nerves could be a contributing factor to degraded movement.

The Second:
  Scott Sonnon ( http://www.rmaxinternational.com/flowcoach/ )
Scott appealed to the deepest part of my being and gave me more courage to believe in my innate talents. His story and ongoing effort was one of the greatest for my spirit that I ever came across. The skill sets that he focused on and attained really contributed to my knowledge of individual joint movements and helped to reduce the efforts that it takes me to be in or move through postures.

The Third:
  Christopher Sommers ( https://www.gymnasticbodies.com/about/ )
I came across a copy of Coach Christopher Sommers book Building the Gymnastics Body and started to regularly train wrist and hand exercises as outlined in the book. While I have kept my drills to the basic variants throughout the last couple years I can testify to the major benefits of adding in these basic drills. Now I am able to do all the yoga and acro poses that have a high demand of hand and forearm technique.  He really impacted me with the importance of not skipping steps and going for the gold when you have not even trained for the olympics.

All in all these 3 men encouraged me to the deepest level of human movement and doing so intelligently and do so in the midst of a community.

A future article of mine will go more indepth into the actual wrist movements that I train regularly.

Do you have a particular wrist and forearm practice that prepares you to handle the rigours of yoga and acrobatics? If so please comment!