This is why yoga will never be mainstream. Engaging in materialistic or sensu…
This is why yoga will never be mainstream.
Engaging in materialistic or sensual pleasure with little focus on higher purpose is not yoga-- it's called bhoga. Bhoga, left unchecked, can lead to pain in the body or/and mind-- and this is called roga.
On the flip side, Roga and Bhoga can both lead back to yoga. Once you make a commitment to not harming or deceiving by paying attention to what is, the pain and discomfort can lead you right back out of the yick and into something better: reality.
For yoga to arise, attention to reality must be fixed and firm... Even when it becomes unpleasant. Even when it is inconvenient. Only then can we see what's under the hood.
Yoga will never be mainstream, but nowadays is a great time for alchemy. For transmutation. Turn this time of grasping and grabbing and pain into abiding love and bliss, by doing the inconvenient and uncomfortable.
When the tide comes in, all boats are lifted. "Other" is only illusion. The side effects of yoga are worth the effort: abiding joy, made of honesty and love. This does not mean "free of pain" but it does mean "free of suffering."
Engaging in materialistic or sensual pleasure with little focus on higher purpose is not yoga-- it's called bhoga. Bhoga, left unchecked, can lead to pain in the body or/and mind-- and this is called roga.
On the flip side, Roga and Bhoga can both lead back to yoga. Once you make a commitment to not harming or deceiving by paying attention to what is, the pain and discomfort can lead you right back out of the yick and into something better: reality.
For yoga to arise, attention to reality must be fixed and firm... Even when it becomes unpleasant. Even when it is inconvenient. Only then can we see what's under the hood.
Yoga will never be mainstream, but nowadays is a great time for alchemy. For transmutation. Turn this time of grasping and grabbing and pain into abiding love and bliss, by doing the inconvenient and uncomfortable.
When the tide comes in, all boats are lifted. "Other" is only illusion. The side effects of yoga are worth the effort: abiding joy, made of honesty and love. This does not mean "free of pain" but it does mean "free of suffering."
Notes from the field
No notes yet · members & customers welcome
- No notes yet. Be the first to leave one.
Join MichaelFilter
Michael Joel Hall’s daily reading — the field journal, critical-thinking cards, and synthesis — as a membership.
$5.50/month · cancel anytime
Join — $5.50/mo →Secure checkout on theyoga.club. A yearly option ($55) is available there too.

