A Yogic Translation

When we left off last, we were doing some yoga breathing. If you're still here and willing to humor me a little, I hope you'll stay on for this next one.



I have this short yoga sequence for us to try here. The Asanas are relatively simple and believed to activate the seven chakras, or energy fields, in the human body.

So let's stand up..

1. We begin in tadasana, or mountain pose.
2. First we transition to ardha uttanasana, or standing half forward bend, with hands to knees.
3. Then back to tadasana (standing)
4. Next we move to the floor into balasana, also well-known as child’s pose, with elbows bent and hands resting close to the head.
5. Then we sit on our feet upright in virasana or, hero’s pose.
6. Return to balasana, or child’s pose.
7. Sit back up to virasana or, hero’s pose.
8. Finally we complete the sequence with bharadvajasana or, bharadvaja’s twist on each side.

Now, guess what? If you actually did this, you essentially just completed the physical sequence of the Islamic Salah prayer ritual which most devout Muslims practice 5 times per day. Well, not exactly the same thing, but it comes pretty close. Look.

 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salah

Isn't that interesting? 

I've often wondered about the connections between yoga poses and the Islamic prayer ritual. If there was a long-term study that examined the physical benefits to those who practice calm meditation and move their bodies in this way five times daily, I'll bet the results would be very positive and not too far from those current studies which constantly examine the wonderful benefits of yoga.

Looks to me like Allah had the right idea here.

Stay tuned...in.