Men and Yoga A Yogi Views Interview with Baxter!

by Baxter

Talking with Antonio Suasys

For the first time in about a year, it happened again. Last Wednesday—although I had not exactly noticed myself—one of my long time students, Mara, leaned over to me as class at Berkeley Ironworks Climbing Gym was about to start and said, with surprise, “There are more men than women in class today!” Indeed, of the 16 lunchtime students in attendance, 9 were men. Here, our surprise is not that surprising when you consider that of the estimated 20 million Americans practicing yoga regularly in this country, the vast majority are women. In most of my classes, the ratio is around 10:1. And yet, in the history of yoga, this was not always so. In fact, prior to the 20th century, yoga was a man’s domain, although there were a few exceptions.

So what happened as yoga became popular in the US in the 60s and 70s, and then mushroomed in the 90s? Why the big gender switch? What happened to all the men that could have, maybe should have, been jumping on the yoga bandwagon?

This question has been one I have long pondered, and in June of this year, I met a man at the Sytar Yoga Therapy Conference in Austin, Texas with an equal curiosity about this phenomenon. He is Antonio Suasys, originally from Uruguay, South America, and now of Marin, California, just up the road about 30 minutes from where I live. As synchronicity would have it, we had both been teaching periodically for a monthly yoga class just for men that our mutual friend yoga teacher David Moreno started a few years back. The Men’s Kula takes place on the last Sunday morning of the month, at the early hour of 7:00 am. Despite the early time, it is well attended, and the men in class seem to be happy to have found an opportunity to practice and study with other male yogis. Oddly, Antonio and I had never met in person until Austin; but once introduced, we were quickly and deeply discussing many aspects of yoga (Antonio is passionate that way!), including the topic of men and yoga. This led to an invitation from Antonio to come up to Marin and be interviewed on his weekly cable yoga TV show Yogi Views. Here's a little clip from the interview he did with me about men and yoga:

  
I am not going to give away any more of our insights on men and yoga here, but I am going to encourage you to tune into tonight or tomorrow afternoon if you’d like to see the first broadcast of our conversation! I hope that you—our YFHA family—will help spread this post around so the show is viewed by as many men as possible. Here are all the details of the broadcast:

YogiViews - Yoga for Men – Baxter Bell Part 1

COMCAST Channel 26 - AT&T Channel 99 (Marin County)

Tuesday November 25th at 8:30 pm PST, Repeat on Wednesday November 26th at 3:00 pm

Watch the program live at cmcm.tv only! It will not be archived.

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Religious Views and Homeopathic Miasms!

Homeopathy is truly a fascinating journey. With a book of homeopathy in hand and with thoughts centered on this treatment module, you are ought to have a wonderful time! Study of miasms is one of the crucial points in the journey of homeopathy and if one wants to master this art of healing, one must know about miasms.

The basic human dispositions have been grouped in homeopathy under 4 basic miasms, namely- Psora, Sycosis, Syphilis, and Tubercular. All homeopaths try to fit the particular case in hand into one of these miasms and find an appropriate remedy for the patient that can alleviate his suffering completely. The study of miasms as the basic human constitutions is very intriguing and guides you through various aspects while at it.

This is an attempt to classify the religious behaviors of human beings into these four classical miasmatic types. A new perspective of miasmatic study--

How the religious dispositions of miasms will be--

Psora-

(1) Usually people who believe in some sort of incarnation of God with firm belief

(2) Despite having firm belief, they have quite liberal ideas of religion and can give leeway for other religious thoughts if they are really good.

(3) Believes religion is for overall benefit of humanity

(4) Will do his daily prayers but will not get stuck into that excessively.

(5) His religious prayers give him calmness and rationality of thoughts

(6) At times, some of his physical complaints may lead him to go higher in his pursuit of spiritual goals.

Sycosis-

(1) Fixed notions usually about his own religion

(2) Delves deep into the religious thoughts, at times making it his way of life

(3) At times, makes his family and children also follow his thoughts about the religion

(4) He will utilize his religious skills to teach others about genuine ways of life

(5) His thoughts are guided by his inner voice most of the times that he considers as the voice of God.

(6) Religious thoughts make him calm and also serious thinker in most cases

Syphilis-

(1) Fixed notions about religion to the extent of insanity at times

(2) Think they are the superior-most and believe that their thoughts only can help the world to conquer odds.

(3) Any thoughts against their religion or beliefs will not be tolerated by such people.

(4) Religious melancholy can develop in some people over trivial issues.

(5) Religious rituals are given highest importance by these people and consider that certain things must be followed if God has to fulfill their wishes.

(6) Violence-seekers due to pulling all their energies to establish their superiority

Tubercular-

(1) As a combination of Psora and syphilis, this miasm again thinks religion as the way of life

(2) There can be little exaggerated notions about religious beliefs but he is able to direct these energies positively for betterment of humanity

(3) Usually the members of society who will partake in many religious festivities and try to incorporate their ideas constructively for any work

(4) Enthusiastic lot of people who love religious pilgrimage while having fun of visiting new places.

(5) Some may be the people who pursue spiritual goals with utmost calm and rational mindset.

(6) A parent who will understand well, if his children adapt to new thoughts about religion and appreciate good views from any school of thought.