Using Yoga for Better Mental Health / GraspYoga
YOGA DEMYSTIFIED
Yoga is derived from the Hindu word yoke, which means to restrain or harness. There are an overwhelming variety of yoga styles available these days, almost all of which emerged in the last few decades and almost none of which embrace the transformative methods intended by its ancient practitioners. It’s not just about the ‘Gram! Yoga is intended to provide you with deeper insights into yourself, allowing you to better manage your life.
DEVELOP A SUSTAINABLE, Non-STUDIO BASED PRACTICE
You will learn many asanas at your own pace, building up to more challenging poses. But always embedded within the 8 branches of yoga, which except for the Asanas are all mental. Developing a consistent Asana practice is as simple as finding enough room in a clean and quiet setting, just as it was done thousands of years ago. As a result of this traditional approach, strength, flexibility and peace of mind are simultaneously developed.
ENERGY AWARENESS & CONTROL
Energy is always circulating within us, but with great fluctuations because there is little awareness and control of it. By harnessing this ‘vital’ energy or Prana, your sense of control over your surroundings expands. The development of Sattva, the balancing of these two states of energy, requires stillness between the poses. The aim of Asana practice is to increase Sattva, which is an indirect form of energy control. Thus the demystification begins…
what does it mean to grasp yoga?
These are the 4 words that I came up with when asked by my graphic designer to help her by describing what the Graspyoga concept is about:
- Comprehension – you will understand what yoga is and, more importantly, isn’t
- Profound – this deeper understanding is not merely profound but transformative
- Ethereal – this profound impact happens on an ethereal level, not merely on a physical one
- Fearlessness – this profound transformative change will give you the courage to face life head-on and gain control over it
G-Griffin's
“You clearly stood out as the most cheerful, energetic and ready for action. If that is something you can help people have, then it is priceless.”— Karolina M, Los Angeles
John Griffin, long time yoga practitioner and now professor. I’ve had numerous jobs, from forest-fire fighter to Spotted Owl hooter in California; from surgical assistant in operating rooms in Germany to a Peace Corps volunteer in Panama; from getting kicked out of a Catholic High School to becoming the 3rd leading scorer amongst all UC Santa Cruz Banana Slugs; from wine delivery in California to wine sales in Germany; pro basketball player in Germany & New Zealand to a Professor in Seoul with an MS in Online Education; setting up the Tutor Corps.
While some may wonder what it the common thread connecting all these jobs, to me it is yoga. I don’t profess to have the deepest esoteric knowledge of the ins and outs of yoga history and terminology. I have taken a more practical, forward-looking approach in my 5 years of teaching university yoga classes. My strength and focus lie in removing the mystery and dogma surrounding modern yoga. This allows anyone, any human of any creed, color or age, to start a real yoga practice, gain control over your energy and live a more conscious life.
I’ve been teaching Raja Yoga in university for 5 years now, Seeing these non-native English speakers cut through all the vague spiritual imagery and begin to grasp the basics of yoga in less than 20 classroom hours on and off the mat has inspired me to take this to a broader audience.
I call myself a yoga guide rather than a teacher for several reasons. A teacher shows and explains things and then leaves it up to the student to absorb and incorporate the knowledge. A mere transfer of knowledge, with no follow up.
Guiding someone takes longer. A guide doesn’t leave someone stranded. A guide accompanies you, rather than just giving you the tools or being a road marker. A guide shows you around, and lets you discover for yourself. They go there with you in order to show you the way that they know, the way they have gone before.
They ensure that you are following the right path, that you know where to go and most significantly, make you understand why you are going this way instead of another way.
So not just merely pointing the way for you…I want to see you develop a traditional energy-based practice and make the subtle transformation that I did. I have never been the most spiritual person, as anybody who knows me can attest, but if it can happen to me after 30 years of yoga, then it can happen to anyone. Thus….it is definitely within reach.
R-Raja
In the seminal book Light on Yoga on yoga by B.K. Iyengar, the forward of the book (pg. 10) states: …..’Hatha Yoga – a science that stands out as a ladder for those who wish to scale the heights of Raja Yoga’.
Raja means ‘royal’ or ‘king’. It encompasses all of the 8 limbs of yoga listed below, of which the physical posture or Asanas are merely the 3rd limb. It also encompasses all types of Yoga, but Hatha Yoga lies at its foundation. First you align your being with Hatha, then you can develop it further with Raja Yoga which allows you to reach into higher levels of consciousness. Without this deeper essence, yoga is just a fancy and empty shell, nice on the outside, but empty of content.
This is the way Yoga has been practiced for 1,000s of years. Therefore it can be said that this type of yoga connects you with preceding humanity. The 8 Limbs of Yoga are:
A-Ahimsa
The Sanskrit word for non-violence, which is blatantly obvious but has a much deeper meaning. Don’t be violent towards yourself. Stay safe, protect yourself as well as other from danger. Asana means standing still. That is what we pursue in the yoga poses. No one has ever gotten injured over the past 4 years of classes. Don’t beat yourself up if you can’t attain a pose as well as a classmate or photo. This is the #1 goal of practicing the asanas, stay safe, do them in a controlled manner, don’t push your body past its limit. Success lies within the efforts you make, not in trying to be perfect.
S-Sattva
Sattva means harmony or balance. When reading the ancient yoga scriptures Sattva is the all-pervading issue, basically the goal of everything you learn and all the practice you do in Yoga. Sadly, though, not many instructors know what Sattva means and even worse, they do not know how that comes into the practice of Yoga, or how it is achieved.
Sattva is harmony between Shiva and Shakti energies, better known by most people as Yin/female and Yang/male energies. People in their daily lives are subject to constant fluctuations between these energies. One moment you are full of energy, the other moment you are lethargic and dark. Sattva is not a mysterious concept or just an “interesting” theory. Sattva can be felt when you do an Asana properly, standing still for as long as you are able in the same pose without movement. It is especially felt when you come out of the pose and stand or lie still for a moment with the eyes closed. You then have a feeling of “Wow! this is very niiiice!” This is what many have felt already in their practice, but it is never properly explained nor encouraged to flourish in most yoga classes and trainings.
This all sounds very mysterious and only nice to read about in books. However, it is much simpler to achieve than people assume. All we have to do is to go back to the origins of Yoga, go back to the practice of traditional Yoga, doing one Asana at a time, with intervals to allow the energy to settle down and let harmony (sattva) spread throughout our system.
P-Program
COURSE SYLLABUS: The unfortunate reality of modern-day yoga is that it is primarily focused on physical activity, full of vague spiritual imagery and dogmatic nonsense that ignores the original purpose of Yoga, which is to establish harmony, or balance, between the Yin and Yang energies that govern the body. If you take a moment to be still and silent after each workout, you will find that achieving this balance is really simple. Much more crucial than the workout itself is the little period of rest in between poses: The workout is merely a means to an end.
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| Quiz #1 |
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| Quiz #2 |
| ~Midterm Exam~ |
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| Quiz #3 |
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| Quiz #4 |
| ~Final Exam~ |
How much is a life changing experience worth?
It is said that it takes about 20 days to remove a negative habit. This means you are back to neutral or 0 after 20 days, and then another 30-40 days are needed to establish positive patterns that replace the old and will remain so, permanently. Lets say 50 days for a ballpark figure. Much like a timeshare sales pitch, if you ask people how much they invest annually in their physical and mental well-being, they may spend…..$500/year? $1,000? Perhaps much more, including the money saved by eliminating certain habits/behaviors. (Over a lifetime the average is over $25,000, not including another $30,000+ on apparel and equipment! Almost $63,000 total.) It also depends on what you define as well-being, which makes it hard to quantify and is an intensely personal question. Then there are the associated hidden costs like transportation, time lost commuting and online searching, hidden fees and equipment etc.… Joining this program would severely reduce if not eliminate the need for such future spending.
If you spent 5 years’ worth of money upfront on a program that will really transform you, as yoga was designed to do thousands of years ago, then even $5,000 would be a low estimate.
How much is a life changing experience worth?