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life is all about ....... | YogaCopyright Yeni Herdiyeni [email protected]://yeni.herdiyeni.staff.ipb.ac.id/2009/03/07/yoga/

Yoga

Yoga, salah satu aktivitas olahraga yang saya lakukan saat ini selain naik sepedakeliling Kahuripan.. :). "Kan kata orang Yoga haram..?? begitu komentar salahseorang temen saat tahu saya melakukan Yoga. Spontan saja saya jawab, "Iyaharam kalau sambil buka baju... ups.. ? " hehee...

Berawal dari coba-coba, akhirnya saya menyenangi yoga. Konon, Yoga berasal darikebudayaan India kuno sejak 3000 SM lalu. Yoga atau yuj dalam bahasa sansekertakuno berarti union (penyatuan). Penyatuan antara atman dan brahman (yang mahakuasa). Mungkin istilah ini yang membuat sebagian orang mengganggap Yoga adalah bagian dari kegiatan ritual Hindu...hmmm saya jadi semakin penasaran apasiy yang dilakukan Yoga...??

Saya mulai pelajari Yoga dari jenisnya. Menurut buku yang saya baca, terdapatsembilan bentuk aliran yoga yaitu: Jnana yoga, karma yoga, bhakti yoga, yantrayoga, tantra yoga, mantra yoga, kundailini yoga, hatha yoga, dan raja yoga. Lhokok ndak ada Power Yoga yah... padahal di CF ada klas Power Yoga.. hmmm perluditanya nih sama instruktur, aliran mana itu heheh... Dua hari yang lalu sayamencoba kelas Power Yoga... ugh ternyata gerakannya dah kayak Shaolin hehehhecepet banget.... walhasil capeknya minta ampun. Kayaknya kalo sering latihanPower Yoga bisa gantiin Jackie Chan main film hehehe...

Hatta Yoga, gerakan yoga yang ini yang saya suka.. :). Selain gerakkan yang tidakterlalu cepat, hatta yoga bisa melatih saya untuk berkonsentrasi. Maklum lagi butuhkonsentrasi buat lulus .. ;). Hatha adalah gabungan dua kata yaitu ha dan tha yangartinya adalah matahari dan bukan. Hatha yoga fokus pada teknik asana (postur),pranayama (olah napas), bandha (kuncian), mudra (gestur), serta relaksasi yangmendalam. Tujuan hatha ini adalah menjaga keseimbangan alarm tubuh denganmempraktikkan kelima prinsip yoga. Prinsip-prinsip tersebut adalah berlatih denganteratur, bernapas dalam, pola makan yang seimbang, beristirahat cukup, berpikirpositif, dan meditasi.

Ada dua keterampilan yang dipelajari dari Yoga yaitu gerak dan diam. Disiplin gerakbermanfaat menguatkan fisik, menghilangkan kekakuan sendi dan otot, sertamengontrol kesehatan saraf dan kelenjar tubuh, membantu keseimbangan energi

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dan kenyamanan tubuh untuk kehidupan sehari-hari, bahkan penting untukperemajaan sel-sel tubuh. Konon , tak jarang praktisi yoga tampak lebih muda dariusia sesungguhnya... ehem,... kalau saya memang masih muda loh ... ;). Sedangkandisiplin diam yoga memberikan rileksasi, ketenangan, konsentrasi, kejernihanpikiran, keceriaan, rasa percaya diri, dan berkembangnya intuisi.

Jadi dari informasi tersebut, saya berkesimpulan bahwa Yoga bukan kegiatan ritualkeagamaan. Tapi lebih kepada mempelajari teknik disiplin gerak dan diam. Bahkanketerampilan ini bukan tidak mungkin sangat bisa membantu kita untuk melakukankegiatan sehari-hari bahkan dalam melakukan kegiatan ibadah. Sholat misalnya,dibutuhkan keterampilan gerak dan diam. Dalam hal ini, saya tidak bermaksuduntuk menyamakan yoga dengan sholat. Dalam melakukan sholat, diperlukangerakan yang tu'maninah seperti pada saat ruku. Pada saat ruku kita harusmembengkokan tulang belakang, meluruskannya dan merenggangkan antaratulang dan otot punggung. Yoga dapat membantu menghilangkan kekakuan sendidan otot. Disiplin diam, keterampilan ini membantu untuk melakukan sholat dengantenang, konsentrasi dan menjernihkan pikiran ketika kita menghadap Allah.Memahami bacaan sholat tentunya semakin membuat ibadah sholat menjadi lebihbaik.. :).

Ada sebuah referensi menarik yang saya baca dari sebuah artikel yang berjudul Islam and Yoga, berikut kutipannya:

Salât and âsanas. One of the most obvious correspondences between Islam and hatha yoga is theresemblance of salât to the physical exercises of yoga âsanas. An Indian Muslimauthor, Ashraf F. Nizami, noted this in his book Namaz, the Yoga of Islam (Bombay:D.B. Taraporevala, 1977). The root meaning of the word salât is 'to bend the lowerback', as in hatha yoga; the Persians translated this concept with the word namâz,from a verbal root meaning 'to bow', etymologically related to the Sanskrit wordnamaste. The thousands of postures and variations known to hatha yoga can beclassified into a few basic types, including standing postures, spinal stretches,inverted postures, seated postures, and spinal twists. The genius of Islamicsalât is to incorporate all of these in rudimentary form into a compact, flowingsequence, ensuring a thorough, all-round course of exercises for good health that iseasy for everyone to practice.

Standing. The Mountain Pose (TâDâsana) is the foundation for all standing âsanas.

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One always begins from this and returns to it at the completion of the standingsequence. In this it very closely resembles not only the standing posture of qiyâm insalât, but also the "Return to Mountain" of T‘ai Chi Ch‘uan. Standing in MountainPose or qiyâm is a quiescent exercise for the whole body: feet, legs, and spineworking together. With one's feet planted squarely on Earth and one's headreaching toward Heaven, this pose is of the finest metaphysical significance to thesacredness of the human state, for verticality is the essence of religion.

Spinal stretching. As the yogis say, one is as young as one's spine. Hatha yogaconcentrates much careful attention on deep, thorough stretches of the spine,bringing the head forward to rest on the knees. Since all the nerves of the body arechanneled from the spinal cord out between the vertebrae, a healthy spine is ofcentral importance for the well-being of the whole human body and mind. It takesmuch patient, persistent practice to make and keep the spine ideally flexible, andonly the most dedicated yogis succeed in this. Since Islam is a path for everyone, the Islamic spinal stretch is kept easy and within everyone's reach: thebowing position called rukû‘ only requires that you bend forward enoughto place your hands on your knees. Nonetheless, even this minimal stretchhelps keep the spine in good condition.

Inverted poses. The heart does its best to circulate blood all through the veins andarteries, but it's a demanding job, and exercise is needed to help the circulation goat maximum efficiency. In particular, raising fresh blood to the brain through thecarotid artery, and lifting it from the feet back up to the heart, is always goingagainst the pull of gravity. This is why two of the most important and beneficialâsanas are the Shoulderstand (sarvangâsana, the 'whole body pose') and theHeadstand (sirSâsana). Islamic prayer has taken the most essential aspect ofthese inverted poses: lowering the head below the heart. The positioncalled sujûd is easy for everyone to accomplish and helps to bathe thebrain in fresh oxygenated blood to keep it healthy and alert.

Seated postures. The word âsana means 'seat' and the basic postures formeditation are seated ones, especially the Lotus. The Diamond Pose (vajrâsana) ispractically identical with the seated position of salât called jalsah. This has, ofcourse, not escaped the notice of both yogis and Muslims in India. Nizami writes:"This is a HARDY POSE or is like VAJRASANA." Swami Sivananda in his book YogaAsanas writes: "This Asana resembles more or less the Nimaz pose in which theMuslims sit for prayer." Furthermore, both vajrâsana and jalsah are the same as thezazen posture of Japan. Having practiced a little yoga when young, it became easierfor me to sit on the floor in mosques for long stretches of time. In turn, accustomed

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to this in Islam over the years, it was then much easier to learn seated yogapostures like the Lotus, since my leg and hip joints were accustomed to the floor.

When sitting in the Lotus, a yoga mudra that accompanies meditation is made byforming the index finger and thumb into a circle. The Islamic mudra, made whilesitting in jalsah, is to extend the index finger in a straight line (to attest tothe Oneness of God)

Spinal twists. A session of yoga practice normally concludes, just before finalrelaxation, with a thorough twist of the whole spine (ardha matsyendrâsana) to theright and to the left. It helps to even out the spine from the other poses it has doneand keep everything balanced. In much the same way, salât concludes with theprayer of peace (salâm) said while turning the head to the right and thento the left. This works only the cervical and maybe a few of the thoracicvertebrae, but it is useful for keeping the neck flexible and is consistentwith the pattern in salât of presenting reduced versions of the yogaâsanas.

Setelah membaca artikel ini, apakah anda masih ragu dengan Yoga..??

Semoga bermanfaat.. :)

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life is all about - achamad.staff.ipb.ac.id

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