I am currently a yoga instructor in training and am sick of the new-age, self-help, ideas I see regularly (the worst are “quantum consciousness”, “law of attraction”, etc). Basically what “spiritual teachers” try to teach is anti-akrasia techniques, to overcome addictions, low self-esteem or whatever your problem might be that they think they can help. Their suggestions are a mix of exercise, sharing stories of their personal emotional experiences and “tools that work for them” (usually superstitious, e.g. “connect to god” or “balance your 3rd chakra”, etc.)
I’m glad to see there is a non-religious, non-irrational attempt to replicate these same goals. I personally believe that the yoga business is overrun with irrationality and that it needs to be fought against. Most teachers are fairly well intentioned, but don’t realize they are irrational. They think they are passing down knowledge learned from their spiritual teachers.
I think people struggling on their path (sorry, yoga-speak) would benefit from this quote. It was about the scientific method but it works here too. I read this in the “science quotes” article on LW:
“If you get it, it will be in spite of any method you use.
You must have a method.”
—K. Bradford Brown
I think this applies fairly well to the self-help mentality that people are in. You can’t try too hard or get wrapped up in a method, even though you need one and they do help. Improvement comes with time, commitment and learning. Whatever positive lessons you learn in life, you’ll probably have to continuously re-learn. But in the end, what will help you in life is the “knacks” that you have accomplished. Self-help is turning a method into an easy knack.
Obstacles are both internal and external. You will discover what they are with time.
What you discover about yourself will often surprise you and if you look too hard for something, you will not open your eyes to what’s really there that you need to see.
So basically the advice I have to offer is to stay true to who you are and what you feel, even if you want to reject it. Over time, if you practice cultivating more awareness in your daily life (not falling into low-awareness states of habit, self-destruction and annihilation of focus) you will become better at it, start to feel better and learn to apply in in many areas of your life.
Oh, and you should exercise at least a bit. Like walking every day or 10 minutes of yoga in the morning. Exercise helps everything but is just one part of the puzzle.
I am currently a yoga instructor in training and am sick of the new-age, self-help, ideas I see regularly (the worst are “quantum consciousness”, “law of attraction”, etc). Basically what “spiritual teachers” try to teach is anti-akrasia techniques, to overcome addictions, low self-esteem or whatever your problem might be that they think they can help. Their suggestions are a mix of exercise, sharing stories of their personal emotional experiences and “tools that work for them” (usually superstitious, e.g. “connect to god” or “balance your 3rd chakra”, etc.)
I’m glad to see there is a non-religious, non-irrational attempt to replicate these same goals. I personally believe that the yoga business is overrun with irrationality and that it needs to be fought against. Most teachers are fairly well intentioned, but don’t realize they are irrational. They think they are passing down knowledge learned from their spiritual teachers.
I think people struggling on their path (sorry, yoga-speak) would benefit from this quote. It was about the scientific method but it works here too. I read this in the “science quotes” article on LW:
“If you get it, it will be in spite of any method you use. You must have a method.” —K. Bradford Brown
I think this applies fairly well to the self-help mentality that people are in. You can’t try too hard or get wrapped up in a method, even though you need one and they do help. Improvement comes with time, commitment and learning. Whatever positive lessons you learn in life, you’ll probably have to continuously re-learn. But in the end, what will help you in life is the “knacks” that you have accomplished. Self-help is turning a method into an easy knack.
Obstacles are both internal and external. You will discover what they are with time. What you discover about yourself will often surprise you and if you look too hard for something, you will not open your eyes to what’s really there that you need to see.
So basically the advice I have to offer is to stay true to who you are and what you feel, even if you want to reject it. Over time, if you practice cultivating more awareness in your daily life (not falling into low-awareness states of habit, self-destruction and annihilation of focus) you will become better at it, start to feel better and learn to apply in in many areas of your life.
Oh, and you should exercise at least a bit. Like walking every day or 10 minutes of yoga in the morning. Exercise helps everything but is just one part of the puzzle.