One may ask how we as Americans have the right to fuse together distinct branches of yoga into a hybridized, diluted version of ancient teachings. Yet, in the Orient where such practices have long ago found new homes through the migration of people, trade, etc., yoga had time to mature in foreign lands and foreign hands.
Cultures naturally imbibed such influences according to the market’s necessity. As wisdom is universally influential, it is viable that the migration of India’s spiritual beliefs and practices would first be adopted abroad by the wise men and women within such cultures, e.g., priests and nuns, yogis, etc. In this way, modern Westerners who have comparatively only recently adapted spiritual perspectives from India must be allowed time for the necessary fusion that is naturally indicative to influence itself.
There exists a natural backlash against the apparent watered down version of yoga in the West from those who hold a traditionalist perspective, but for now, many of the traditional perspectives are considered foreign and potentially threatening to many if they do not possess a level of acceptance and open-mindedness. So we must acknowledge both the preexisting lack and the need for a more holistic approach while allowing possibilities to occur/manifest themselves in acceptance as a necessary process. There is, after all, long-term benefits to such a union despite the present feelings we may have to reject such necessary/required charge.
Social influences affect our perception and it is critical to be aware of such scotomas while engaging with others. We all possess a fusion of beliefs that dictate our willingness and capability to open to a new exchange of information and to internalize the experience without judgment, so seeing how we are influenced can aid in personal growth and willingness.
Daisy Villa has mastered this skill by fusing together different schools of yoga, Christianity and reiki.
Villa, born in the Philippines, immigrated to America during the 1950s. Growing up, she found herself in an influential family and with a father who instilled strong morals and values accordingly. Villa learned the importance and gained a deep appreciation for such things as a college education, art and music, as well as religious and personal freedom.
She is a certified yoga teacher, Reiki Master level IV, writer and Christian. Villa teaches Yoga at Olympus Athletic Club in Murfreesboro where she teaches a fusion of Hatha, Ashtanga commonly known as “power yoga,” and Kundalini yoga.
Villa credits Yoga for “awakening” her to a broader perspective on balance and speaks of a type of trinity in mind, body and spirit in which excluding one for another brings about greater potential for egoism, disease and spiritual imbalance. Adding also that with this awakening it was a godsend bringing only good into her life, Villa states, “I felt like my spirituality was dying or something was not right in me . . . I looked for it in the Eastern arts but I’m still a Christian, and for me it was a path of growing of being a better person, more aware, awakened.”
The personal benefits brought about by yoga’s influence allowed her to see God’s influence speaking directly through the spiritual practices of other cultures, and in this way, she came to not only become a licensed Yoga teacher but a Reiki master who still prays to Jesus before opening an energy healing session.
For more information about Daisy Villa, visit tranqwell-being.com.
Herein, let us imagine that we could categorize everyone into distinct polarities?those who are open to change and those who resist change. Now, if influence were the active force causing us to contract in resistance or expand in acceptance, such influence would have to be secondary to a predisposition of being open-minded or closed-minded.
On a societal level, when foreign concepts first enter into our Western world-view, it usually occurs on the fringes of society until enough profitability has occurred to spur the attention of media funding. The mediated and distilled version of the original perspective happens in accordance with the collective open-mindedness of the population, since the populace may only be open, for example, to yoga as a physical health regime. In this way, we must not judge such mediated versions of authentic perspectives but see them as following the natural path we have established for the role of influence itself.
Before the process of assimilation and cultural adaptation, there is a comingling of ideas between the established norms and the new perspectives. It is in this time that we are with the ideas of yoga from the East as we attempt to bridge the differences with the West. Yet, there would be only widespread rejection of new concepts if there were not a preexisting need for them out of something lacking within our culture.
Finally, we extend an open invitation to hear from you. OM?inquiring Open Minds want to know. If you have any recommendations for future topics, please contact us at rachel@boropulse.com, jason@boropulse.com or visit theomexchange.wordpress.com.
