Urban Yoga is a photographic journey into the ancient science of yoga within today’s contemporary environment. As the world population expands eating into finite resources, it brings with it a global migration from the rural landscape to sprawling concrete metropolises. Searching for dreams of an improved standard of living, the urban lure of money, ambition and careers has drawn half of the world’s population into cities. But adaptation to this lifestyle has a price too. Working long hours, often at inhuman speeds and under the man-made stress of financial exuberance, the physical, emotional and intellectual body gains no respite.
Our senses are invaded daily by the stress, of ‘achievement’ bringing us into a constant physiological state of ‘fight or flight’. The noise of our own technological ‘progress’ and the continuous sounds of the Urban life – air, road and rail traffic, radio waves, mobile phone networks, satellite signals to name a few, all contribute to the constant hum which hangs over our man-molded landscape. This results in altered biorhythms in an unnatural surrounding. Distanced from nature, continuously competing with one another for profit and resources, and spending longer and longer hours interacting through cyber space it is easy to see why we are becoming increasingly disconnected from ourselves and our world.
So why the sudden surge in urban yoga?
Yoga has come a long way since the ancient vedic tests first referred to ‘Yuj’ (Union). But what is yoga today? More people are practicing yoga than ever before, more and more people live in these frantic conditions. The demand for yoga is outstripping the supply. Yoga's popularity has become massive, a billion dollar marketing phenomenon. Intensive training courses are churning out hundreds of new yoga teachers each month. Certain styles of yoga are now branded by a TM while international yoga teacher’s are assuming rock star status. Yoga has become "groovy" again. But is there something more revealing and potentially more global about this latest fitness fad?
The very essence of yoga is about bringing us back into equilibrium with our own body, mind and soul. It is about increasing our sensitivity to those around us, our awareness of our environment and of course guiding us each through our individual role in this tightly woven web of Life. Yoga reminds us of our responsibility to ourselves and each other. As long as suffering, injustice and environmental degradation continues, as conscious compassionate yogi’s we have a duty to work together to build a bridge between the world we have and the world we all want.
Taking yoga to the next level
‘Yoga’ does not just refer to twisting and turning on a 3’ by 6’ mat. The term yoga incorporates guidelines for living ‘soulfully’ and mindfully. It encompasses breathing techniques, meditation and ultimately self realization of the phenomenon of ‘one-ness’. But what does that mean in the booming studios of LA, New York, Singapore or Hong Kong? Is yoga today just a physical workout? Is it therapy? Is it a trend? Is it a clique? How does it work in the city? How does the city work with it? Who are you becoming through this practice? How does your practice make a difference in the world?
These are some of the questions and ideas which Urban Yoga explores.
Urban Yoga is a series of portraits of global citizens from all walks of life and cultural backgrounds practicing yoga in urban spaces. The diversity of the city collides with the very ancient shapes of asana (postures). Practitioners of every level of experience, with bodies of all shapes and sizes, form shapes amongst the supermarkets, trains, underground stations, and street corners of London and shanghai providing a remarkable juxtaposition of this ancient system of physical and spiritual exploration within the vestures and intensity of practical modern life.
The asana (postures) are a tool to be called upon everyday life. They represent the physical expression of a state of mind one can constantly return to when encountering the daily challenges of living. It provides a pathway of return to a moment of boundlessness whilst negotiating a route through a difficult and urbanized world. You see, the various postures were never meant to be the end goal in themselves but rather a means to self-discovery. Yoga on the mat is a practice for yoga off the mat – for taking strength, flexibility, synchronicity, calmness and courage onto the streets. To be able to walk through the chaos and craziness of life with an innate core sense of equanimity no matter what challenges we pass through. To be open to new perspectives, visions and comprehension; supporting common understanding reducing conflict, war, hatred and greed. This is the real practice of Yoga.
www.urbnyoga.wordpress.com
Our senses are invaded daily by the stress, of ‘achievement’ bringing us into a constant physiological state of ‘fight or flight’. The noise of our own technological ‘progress’ and the continuous sounds of the Urban life – air, road and rail traffic, radio waves, mobile phone networks, satellite signals to name a few, all contribute to the constant hum which hangs over our man-molded landscape. This results in altered biorhythms in an unnatural surrounding. Distanced from nature, continuously competing with one another for profit and resources, and spending longer and longer hours interacting through cyber space it is easy to see why we are becoming increasingly disconnected from ourselves and our world.
So why the sudden surge in urban yoga?
Yoga has come a long way since the ancient vedic tests first referred to ‘Yuj’ (Union). But what is yoga today? More people are practicing yoga than ever before, more and more people live in these frantic conditions. The demand for yoga is outstripping the supply. Yoga's popularity has become massive, a billion dollar marketing phenomenon. Intensive training courses are churning out hundreds of new yoga teachers each month. Certain styles of yoga are now branded by a TM while international yoga teacher’s are assuming rock star status. Yoga has become "groovy" again. But is there something more revealing and potentially more global about this latest fitness fad?
The very essence of yoga is about bringing us back into equilibrium with our own body, mind and soul. It is about increasing our sensitivity to those around us, our awareness of our environment and of course guiding us each through our individual role in this tightly woven web of Life. Yoga reminds us of our responsibility to ourselves and each other. As long as suffering, injustice and environmental degradation continues, as conscious compassionate yogi’s we have a duty to work together to build a bridge between the world we have and the world we all want.
Taking yoga to the next level
‘Yoga’ does not just refer to twisting and turning on a 3’ by 6’ mat. The term yoga incorporates guidelines for living ‘soulfully’ and mindfully. It encompasses breathing techniques, meditation and ultimately self realization of the phenomenon of ‘one-ness’. But what does that mean in the booming studios of LA, New York, Singapore or Hong Kong? Is yoga today just a physical workout? Is it therapy? Is it a trend? Is it a clique? How does it work in the city? How does the city work with it? Who are you becoming through this practice? How does your practice make a difference in the world?
These are some of the questions and ideas which Urban Yoga explores.
Urban Yoga is a series of portraits of global citizens from all walks of life and cultural backgrounds practicing yoga in urban spaces. The diversity of the city collides with the very ancient shapes of asana (postures). Practitioners of every level of experience, with bodies of all shapes and sizes, form shapes amongst the supermarkets, trains, underground stations, and street corners of London and shanghai providing a remarkable juxtaposition of this ancient system of physical and spiritual exploration within the vestures and intensity of practical modern life.
The asana (postures) are a tool to be called upon everyday life. They represent the physical expression of a state of mind one can constantly return to when encountering the daily challenges of living. It provides a pathway of return to a moment of boundlessness whilst negotiating a route through a difficult and urbanized world. You see, the various postures were never meant to be the end goal in themselves but rather a means to self-discovery. Yoga on the mat is a practice for yoga off the mat – for taking strength, flexibility, synchronicity, calmness and courage onto the streets. To be able to walk through the chaos and craziness of life with an innate core sense of equanimity no matter what challenges we pass through. To be open to new perspectives, visions and comprehension; supporting common understanding reducing conflict, war, hatred and greed. This is the real practice of Yoga.
www.urbnyoga.wordpress.com
