Extra Credit Yoga

“Meditation is a practice of concentrated focus upon a sound, object, visualization, the breath, movement, or attention itself in order to increase awareness of the present moment, reduce stress, promote relaxation, and enhance personal and spiritual growth.” I have practiced meditation for many purposes. Sometimes I use it to reduce stress, sleep, or just to relax. I find that practicing meditation is very beneficial. It calms and clears my mind from all worries that I may have. I feel connected to myself and it helps me disconnect from things that tend to cause tension within my mind. I am the type of person that constantly worries about things whether it is relationships, school, health and many other issues. Sometimes it can get overwhelming and practicing meditation has helped me relieve tension from those areas. I have downloaded applications on my IPod that focus on meditation with someone speaking in a relaxed tone with relaxed background sounds and music. Attending the yoga class I thought in a sense it would be sort of the same way but instead there would be actual movement involved. I thought that it would be a relaxing way to release tension within your muscles with exercise. I did not expect those yoga movements to be as difficult as they were. Being that I am student-athlete I thought I would be able to breeze through this yoga class. At the beginning we practiced breathing techniques and towards the middle I found it difficult to position my body in some of the movements that the instructor introduced. The instructor seemed so calm and poised as she was demonstrating but when I actually had to perform it I looked the opposite. If I knew how to perform these exercises maybe it would have become relaxing for me. The only thing that was relaxing was the beginning and the cool down at the end. The only question that was raised during this experience was how can you allow yourself to relax in uncomfortable positions. I am glad that I had the opportunity to experience the yoga class but I cannot see myself attending another one.

Buddhish Blog

 

I think this comic is an American stereotype of a Buddhist lay person. This represents a stereotype on how Americans view the Buddhist practice. The comic reads “Oh yeah! First to reach enlightenment… Right here, people! Woooo Baby! Eat my dust, ladies!” The understanding of enlightenment is misrepresented in this comic and I feel as if some of the Americans who practice Buddhism today do not fully understand the practices. Being enlightened does not happen over-night. In fact it takes many years for one to become fully enlightened and even then you have to keep practicing Buddhism in order to remain enlightened. Enlightenment is difficult to reach for many because you have to be able to fully understand the practices and what it means to become enlightened. I think this cartoon depicts how Americans want things to happen immediately without taking the time to actually understand how much time and effort it may require. In Brad Warner’s book he discussed “Buddhist practice is difficult and takes a lot of time, effort, and energy. But if you are ready to face reality, the real practice is there, and the real teachers are more plentiful than you can imagine.” When you are able to accept that you want to face reality, Buddhism will help guide you through the process. Although it may take an immense amount of time to work through the Buddhist practices the feeling of enlightenment will be worth it in the end. He also states that it takes years of practice and even after those years “you begin to accumulate little bits of understanding at some point these little bits and pieces begin to come together.” This cartoon definitely is a stereotype in the other direction. He is shouting with joy of how he has become enlightened quicker than his fellow Buddhists and the others have faces that look angry or envious which is definitely not a practice of Buddhism. This depicts Americans as when they achieve a certain state they tend to think they are higher than the ones who are still learning. This comic is definitely making that statement.

Shinto Blog

The segment of Kurosawa’s film that I chose to watch was titled “The Weeping Demon.” The setting started in a dark condemned world. The environment seemed to look cold as if people, humans did not reside there.  There were two men in the setting one was a human being and the other was a “demon”. They began to converse and the demon talked about how the world used to be. I felt as if the world that the demon lived in resembled something like hell where the condemned live. The demon spoke on how beautiful the world used to be and how it was surrounded by animals, flowers and other things of that sort. Now it appeared to be dark and deserted. Everything was mutated from the flowers to the animals. There is no food and the demons have to feed on each other to survive.  The demons were in pure torture and helpless. This immortality was there pain and suffering, they could not die. The demon also begins to discuss how things were this way because of the nuclear bombs which reminded me of the nuclear bombs that took place in Japan.

I related this to the Shinto scriptures because some of the scriptures told mythological stories about the history of Japan and its people and I felt like this film portrayed that in a sense of the events that happened in the bombing of Japan. Things used to be so beautiful at one point in time to only be destroyed by a nuclear bomb. Not only did they destroy the nature around them but they destroyed the lives of people. The aftermath of the bombing left people in distraught and they lost their since of humanity. I also think it related to the scriptures because they talked about the underworld and I felt that this film depicted the underworld in a sense where people suffer and even when you die you have this demon spirit within you that will forever suffer in the underworld. The main character, the demon committed an unethical sin that lead him to suffer in the underworld.

 

The Tao of Pooh

The book, The Tao of Pooh, by Benjamin Hoff, does a brilliant job of portraying the characters from Winnie-the-pooh to relate to the principles and beliefs of Taoism. The author used a very different and interesting approach to introduce the religion in an easy comprehensible way. I thought that the use of the Winnie-the-pooh story line helped create an atmosphere that allowed me to grasp the concepts of Taoism easily. The most intriguing positive thing that I understood from the book was the way he portrayed the characters in a way that helped me visualize the characteristics that represented the characters.  For example he used the main character “Pooh” as a loveable and likeable character that is not shaped by the society around him. His personality is so easy going and original that he is able to get along with everyone because he does not try to fit in with society. Being himself allows him to do so. My reaction to the critique of America as a culture of “Busy Backsons” was agreeable with how the author portrayed America. I believe that people in society are sometimes unwillingly to accept change and rather focus on themselves rather than the community as a whole. Some people do not want to accept new ideas and change frankly because they rather stick to what they have already been taught. Society today is very fast paced and is always changing but sometimes I feel like we get caught up within ourselves, finances, and the advances of technology and have made it difficult for us to develop new ways of thinking and have also made it difficult for many to just actually live their lives. I also found that the author of Busy Backsons portrayed America’s culture as one that tries to make time for themselves when in all actuality there is no time because we focus on our jobs and other daily things that keep us busy. According to Taoism it is almost as if they believe that things will work out naturally by themselves and not to interfere because no matter what if it is supposed to happen it will. The way he portrayed Pooh was a prime example as a carefree bear that does things effortlessly and he feels like that things happen the way they do if you just let it. Which I think can be the solution to many of the problems that we Americans share.

Source: The Tao of Pooh..by: Benjamin Hoff

Liberation

Up on the roof- James Taylor
http://youtu.be/15Qqnl3_QrU

Soar- Christina Aguilera
http://youtu.be/a68At4jVM9I

someone like you-Adele
http://youtu.be/7AW9C3-qWug

An innocent Man- Billy Joel
http://youtu.be/PThPI1kLGU8

Sail Away- Randy Newman

Success

one love/People get ready- Bob Marley

http://youtu.be/-Jy9mq7Cyu0

Imagine- Beatles

http://youtu.be/OoC86l3SQL4

Can't hold us down- Christina Aguilera

http://youtu.be/dg8QgUIKXHw

Two worlds- Phil collins
http://youtu.be/cJlyoDbm5YA

We are the world- USA of Africa

I feel that the most prevalent aim was success. A lot of the music that I listen to has almost everything to do with being successful. Success in the pop culture is something that every artist aims to achieve and they try to tie it with the everyday lives of their audience. Everyone can relate to this in a sense, whether its college students and even children are taught success at a young age. Being a student athlete, success is defined in everything that we do. We are pushed to achieve success from our coaches and our teammates. Not only is it basketball that we have to be successful in but we have an obligation as student as well. Success is the most important thing when dealing with these two.  Some observations I made while dealing with success and liberation was that liberation was the most challenging to come up with songs. I feel as if the music that I listen to does not go that much into depth about liberation. Most liberation songs in pop culture have a lot to do with being delivered from something that helped them achieve success. From time to time you hear songs about being delivered from tragic past events like rape.  The culture of pop music is about wealth, fame, power, cars, clothes and etc. I believe in a sense that pop music and the understanding of the Hindu aims are related. The concept of Hinduism is wealth, fame, and power. I think that success is defined by how much power you have and if you succeed in your occupation. Achieving your goals makes you successful. Liberation on the other hand is different than that of Hinduism. In Hinduism liberation is defines as being liberated from a crucial event, slavery and things of that sort. Liberation in the pop culture varies from being freed from college, parents, and even crucial events. Liberation does not really mean being freed from something neither major nor minor. It is about being delivered from anything no matter what it is. Thinking about these two aims was really enjoyable and overall these aims are a great way to live life.

community service

Arms of an angel- Sara Mclaughlin
http://youtu.be/jVbkz_3lO3c

You've got a friend in me- Randy Newman
http://youtu.be/fIxigAck8mI

Earth Day Everyday- John denver
http://youtu.be/uQjpL9KEEjI

Hey Jude- Beatles
http://youtu.be/CfTrthOpKCA

Lean on me- Bill Withers

 I feel that the most prevalent aim was pleasure versus community service. Pleasure can be defined in many ways. You can find pleasure any many things that you do daily whether it associates with the physical, mental or emotional aspect of life. Relaxing, exercising, smoking, drinking or anything that you find enjoyable can be defined as something pleasurable which varies from person to person. Thinking of songs that brought the feeling of pleasure did not take me very long. On the other hand, I found it very difficult to think of songs that dealt with community service. Most songs in the pop culture today talk about things such as things that a lot of people find pleasurable sex, money, drugs, and things of that sort. Almost all songs that I listen to have to deal with partying and having fun. Also, many songs deal with life in general. They talk about things that give us pleasure such as love. But according to the Hindu culture they seek pleasure in a more intelligent moral way. They find pleasure in the essence of life. In the American pop culture it’s a different story. They seek pleasure with alcohol, drugs, sex, and many other ways. Rather than thinking rational about things like those that practice the Hindu culture, the American pop culture makes decisions spontaneously. With community service I feel in a sense they are the same. Thinking of others before themselves, going out of the way to help others that are in need and caring for the less fortunate. These two aims have helped me realize a lot about myself in general. I tend to seek pleasure in ways that are not morally correct. If I were to even practice even a small portion of the Hindu culture maybe I could find pleasure in other things that I would not normally. Also the community service aim helped me realize that sometimes I tend to be selfish and not think of others before myself. Although it is difficult for me to do that in a sense practicing this aim could help me break out of my selfish ways.