Buddhist Yogi

Spirituality
#1

I am a fairly new practicing Buddhist and Yogi (I have been practicing both for less than four years), and a recovered alcoholic on a path working towards continuous enlightenment, balance, and letting go of my ego.
This will be an ongoing journey I realize…

Recently I returned to my Ashtanga practice after sometime away, and it has only seemed to deepen my connection with my true self, and is allowing me to maintain a better sense of calm and focus both spiritually and emotionally. In addition, it has been an amazing touchstone in my recovery, as has Buddhism…

Are there any fellow Buddhist yogis out there who are on a similar journey, and would like to share with me, how their lives are evolving?

I would love to attend a Buddhist retreat this year. I live in a fairly remote area, where there are not any Buddhist temples nearby, and I feel compelled to connect and learn from fellow Buddhists, who would be kind enough to share their enlightenment and wisdom.
Honestly, the above also goes for Ashtanga. There are no local studios in my area, and I may need to travel to California, India or Mauii to deepen my Ashtanga practice.

I look forward to sharing with you…

Namaste

#2

Good job! recovering from substance abuse was hard for me too and became very enjoyable afterwards. :slight_smile:
You just need to search online…you may want to check yogajournal.com, they publish those king of things. And there are plenty of retreats going on in california.

Namaste

#3

Hi piceanjoy. I guess we are all in a similar journey, I mean working towards enlightenment regardless of our past actions. If you plan to travel to Asia I would recommend the 1 month meditation course at the Kopan Monastery in Nepal. I wrote a bit about my experience there on my blog path2yoga.blogspot.com/2010/04/one-month-meditation-course-in-nepal.html You can also find the links to the monastery website there. Good luck
Marco

#4

Thank you both very much for sharing and your support… warmly appreciated indeed.

Ah, yes. I really enjoy yoga journal, thank you. I am a yoga journal and Yoga+ subscriber, and they are currently two of my favorite yoga publications.

This year or next, I definitely plan on attending one of Nicki Doane’s and Eddie Modestini’s workshops at either their location on Mauii, or in Northern California in the next year or so to deepen my Ashtanga yoga practice. I don’t know if either of you have studied under Nicki or Eddie, but I’m really excited to do so.

Also, very recently I was informed through a friend of a friend, that there is one Buddhist retreat center about a 1/2 a day’s drive just south from where I live. Apparently it has been right under my nose all this time. I had never heard about it until now… Cloud Mountain Retreat Center. I am still looking into it…

Marco,
I look forward to reading your blog, and thank you very much for your recommendation of the Kopan Monastery in Nepal. I have dreamed of traveling to Nepal for sometime now, and the meditation course maybe the perfect fit. I’m sure that I will enjoy reading about your experience.

Many thanks again to you both…

Namaste

#5

I am also a Buddhist Ashtangi - I find that my Buddhist background fits in very well with my Ashtanga practice, in terms of philosophy, focus, dedication, etc. It meant that it was very easy to incorporate yoga philosophy into my life :slight_smile:

#6

I’m an orthodox Christian and it fits in my yoga practice an my yoga teaching just fine. I’m sure that all religions have same roots and they all are alike, but everyone of them is very distinctive and is a masterpiece of particular culture. I’m adorn by easter cultures and I read a lot and I’ve leaned a lot and I would like to know more. But I do not have to be Buddhist to study yoga or Muslim to read Koran.

Namaste

CityMonk

#7

CityMonk,

My personal belief is that all religion is good, as long as it inspires one to act from the heart. I also believe that all religions grow from the same seed.

How we choose to worship is up to us. Such a beautiful part of this life I think…

Namaste

#8

Couple of years back, when I was travelling to India-Himalaya, I met one very low profile yoga teacher Unity in one of the remote areas of Leh.

He was master in Yoga, Meditation and strong believer of Buddhist philosophy. As per him the path to Yoga and Buddhist are same and lead to eternal peace.

It helps me understand that Yoga and Buddhist philosophy are not different and in fact they go hand to hand.

#9

Yes, the paths can go hand in hand.

However, you may run in to some conceptual problems :D! Some yogi’s do their utmost to unite their “self” with the “Self”. Buddhists will tell you that there is no independent “self”. These intellectual problems may vanish once you have experienced the “Self”. :D:D:D