Originally published in elpais.com/smoda (automatic translation)
The real crisis is internal, says Ramiro Calle, the most widely read yoga author in the Spanish language.
“In the face of crisis, equanimity, patience, skillful action, inner resilience, not wasting your best energies on negative or obsessive thoughts. And of course, meditate, meditate, meditate.” This is the recommendation of Ramiro Calle, the most widely read yoga author in the Spanish language. Calle, who was in charge of closing the 6th edition of the Costa del Sol Yoga Congress, points out that “the true crisis is internal, the longing to seek another way of being and feeling.”
The director of Shadak in Madrid, one of the most established yoga centers in Spain, believes that in this society, superficiality and excess prevail. «Whoever awakens a little realizes that it’s not about having more of the same thing at the same level, but rather about shifting to a higher level of understanding.»
Yoga, he maintains, is an effective tool for achieving that goal. But one must be careful not to end up in what he calls a «spiritual supermarket,» a showcase of all kinds of «pseudo-yogas» designed to entice Westerners thirsty for novelty. «Yoga without the proper attitude, without ethics, without alert consciousness, without the union of body and mind, is not yoga,» says Calle, author of more than 200 works on spirituality and orientalism.
«Yoga styles like heat yoga, which are harmful to the heart, lungs, or brain, may make your butt look tighter, but at what a price!» he laments. Calle is referring to styles such as «hot yoga» or Bikram yoga, a series of 26 asanas (or postures) practiced in rooms heated to 40 degrees Celsius. An unorthodox variant of the ancient yoga, it is also highly controversial because the sequence is copyrighted.
Sauna yoga is absent from the Costa del Sol gathering, unlike a handful of traditional styles (such as Ashtanga or Iyengar) and contemporary styles (Anusara, Viniyoga, or Yin, for example), as well as poetry recitals and Kirtan (devotional singing from India). Despite gatherings like this one and the one recently held in Barcelona, Spain is far behind the United States when it comes to yoga, says Víctor M. Flores, its promoter and pedagogical director of the yoga studies institute. While it’s true that in the US people strive for profitability at all costs, «the patterns of respect toward its practitioners are not found in Spain.» Flores believes that, as happens in other spheres of daily life, what he describes as the «mimetic pattern, the roguishness, the envy» is at work in the world of yoga. On a physical level, there’s no comparison:
«Any country is far superior to us. We have very low physical fitness, few demands, and a lot of complacency.»
Has Pilates gained ground? “In Spain, there are more Pilates practitioners because, in addition to its advertising and dissemination, it is very direct and ideologically ‘clean,’” Flores points out. “Many people aren’t interested in mantras, kundalini, and other aspects inherent to yoga, and some teachers are too proselytizing. This scares off a fairly broad audience. Pilates is interesting and effective, but it doesn’t go beyond the physical. Its influence on the personal and emotional realm is minimal.”
This isn’t the case with yoga, as evidenced by the fact that its popularity increases in times of turmoil. Calle points out that people remember Saint Barbara when it thunders, but that’s not the right attitude. “Yoga is a way of life for good times and bad, not a removable jacket.” Flores believes that, indeed, the crisis has given this discipline a boost. But this isn’t necessarily positive: “It also implies that a great loss is necessary to consider alternatives.”
“Yoga is a natural antidote to anxiety and fear,” Flores points out. “It’s not that they won’t appear in our lives; we’ll always find them around the corner. But if you have yoga, you have a tool with which you can change the world.” A method that brings equanimity and common sense to feel and think for ourselves.
«Every day we should do something that scares us, whether it’s skydiving or falling in love. Fear is fought from fear itself.»