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Ramiro Calle: “Yoga is not a cult of the body or the ego, that is called yoguism”
personal development
The pioneer in teaching yoga in Spain makes in his latest book “The miracle of yoga” a critique of modern pseudo-yogas
With an experience of more than sixty years in the practice and study of yoga, Ramiro Calle synthesizes the different traditions of yoga to invite us to recover the deepest spiritual teachings of India. From Patañjali or the Samkhya philosophy to tantric or shivaist yogas, to hatha, kundalini or mantra-yoga, passing through “the dubious sports techniques that are sold today as yoga” in some centers or gyms, this pioneer in teaching del yoga invites in his latest work, “The miracle of yoga”, to separate “the wheat from the chaff” in the knowledge of this method of improvement and self-knowledge called yoga.
What is yoga “not”, even though we think it is?
I would answer with another question: “Why do they call what is not yoga yoga and sometimes what is yoga not called yoga?”
El yoga It is not sport, it is not exotic gymnastics, it is not calisthenics, it is not a cult, it is not a religion, it is not a dogma. It is something very different, but unfortunately as many millions of euros and dollars move in the world of yoga every day there are more charlatans and more tricksters who prostitute yoga. But in reality it is not something new because since the XNUMXs it has been commercializing.
The most curious thing about this and the most paradoxical is that it was the first Hindu mentors who came to America who began to prostitute yoga. I always say that the so-called “yoga ministry” that they say is in the India He had to apologize because the first traitors to the true spirit of yoga were some Hindu mentors who commercialized it and presented it as a kind of pseudo-yoga or totally degenerate yoga in order to make a profit. But that is not yoga at all.
Misconceptions still persist around this practice, what would be the most worrisome?
I always make a difference between yoga y yogism. I call yoga “True yoga”, which is a method of evolution, of self-realization, which implies putting all the means for a person to become human and fulfilled. And I call this cult of the body yogism, that “boasting” that leads to trying to show others who is the most flexible and who has the best posture. But this has actually become circus acrobatics and in p. We can see, for example, the posture of many actresses who do not know anything about yoga or the posture of pseudo-yoga practitioners.
The most dangerous thing is that the true essence of yoga. To distinguish them, the example of jewelery and costume jewelery can be used. It is very good that there is costume jewelry, but what we cannot say is that costume jewelry is jewelry and we cannot say that the game of checkers is the game of chess because they are two different things.
On the other hand, these aggressive, gymnastic and circus yogas produce an enormous amount of injury.
In addition, a pseudo mystical yoga has also emerged based on “goodness” and pseudo-religious hypocrisy that is also dangerous.
Therefore I believe that you have to look for the essence and roots of true yoga and this is what I have tried to do after 60 years in the world of yoga with this book, “The Miracle of Yoga.”
Why are there preconceived ideas about what yoga is and what is not and why do we think we are not able to connect with our interior?
Yes, about yoga there is a preconceived idea and, above all, superstitious, because in India the guru has been given a different role than we use in the West. Many times blind and abject obeisance is rendered to the guru. And the Westerner must learn to discriminate and discern because if not, that can lead to another sad phenomenon that I call «The farce of the gurus». I’m talking about these “mass gurus” behind a huge structure of marketing and paraphernalia. But all that is lip service because they know nothing or contribute anything, unlike the honest and serious teacher whose duty it is base techniques and methods on teachings. That is why, as can be read in my novel «El fakir», I always say that I am a apprentice and the duty of every apprentice is to keep learning and never get into that majestic position that says “I know, you don’t know”, “I start you” … because all of this is part of that paraphernalia of the “pseudo yogas” that does not have nothing to do with yoga.
Yoga moves by experiences and never by beliefs. That’s why i say that it is not a religion, but it is spiritual because it tries to raise our level of consciousness. But he is not religious because he does not observe any cult, or any dogma.
It is important that we clean yoga of these pseudo-religious dogmas that instead of magnifying it, it is many times falsifying it. That is why yoga is not Hindu, it is not Buddhist, it is not Christian … El yoga es yoga.
What are the signs that we are not learning yoga with a good professional?
The first thing we have to do is inform ourselves, we must not close our eyes and get into a pseudo mystical or pseudo religious or pseudo yogic current. The human being has a precious mental function that is discern. You have to read good yoga books, you have to find out and find out who the teacher is, just like we do when we go to the doctor, for example.
Yoga companies and yoga monopolies want to monopolize the practice and they are moving a lot of money, constantly training teachers (with courses of 100 hours, 200 hours, 400 hours…). This is the case, for example, of an American company that is expanding throughout the world. But that does terrible damage because “Manufactures” yoga teachers.
Therefore, discernment, information, intention to learn what true yoga is and distrust and flee as if it were the plague of all yoga organizations that call themselves “non-profit” but do not pay their teachers and do charge to the students. This is really embarrassing. In short, have a little vision of this subject to have a judgment on as clear as possible.
It is also important to know why do we want to practice yoga, because if I only want him to have a tight butt, to sweat and to be the most elastic in the cemetery … if I only want him for that, it is better to practice any sport. And also yoga is not incompatible with the practice of other sports because you can do serious yoga and combine it with sport perfectly. But what you cannot do is take yoga as an aggressive sport because that is not yoga, that is what the first false gurus have sold and that is what has generated that current.
We are in a hyper-connected world and social networks move everything, how can we approach the knowledge of the real practice of yoga in this context?
If a person does not know what yoga is, but feels that inner call because he wants to perfect himself, improve himself, complete himself, balance himself and harmonize himself, he will have to begin to inquire and the fact of beginning to inquire is to begin with yoga.
Also keep in mind that there are numerous traditional yoga modalities. Physical or psychophysical yoga, mental yoga, emotional yoga, spiritual yoga, action yoga, energy yoga … Yoga is such a vast field that, as with other artistic or cultural disciplines, we have to study, inquire and select. And also knowing what is convenient for us and what allows us to go deeper and not stay on the surface, because if we do, we will incur yogism, which is the cult of the ego and the body.
What are the main obstacles that we can find in the practice of yoga? In his book “The Miracle of Yoga” he cites issues such as laziness, laziness, inertia or indolence …
Yoga is highly valued conscious effort well directed will and, above all, the motivation. Motivation is important. Let’s see why. If you are in a concentration camp, your motivation will be to get out of there. Well, in reality what happens is that we are in a concentration camp, that we are ourselves, with our negative emotions, our moods, our ignorance, our attachments, our greed, our hatred and … to gradually dismantle everything that we need motivation and will, and above all, that desire to improve and want to evolve. What can always distinguish us from the animal world is to evolve, improve, and try to achieve another level of understanding and at consciousness.
I know of nothing so powerful to overcome laziness and apathy as well-directed effort.
People who practice yoga seek in some cases to obtain physical, energetic, mental or spiritual results .. But, where are yogis who are totally involved in the practice heading?
Being a “yogi” can be perfectly reconciled with everyday life. I have always declared myself an urban yogi, because I am in the city and I combine my home life with teaching and my inner search. What we need is to have a purpose firm and have, undoubtedly, the will to know where we are walking and where we are going. But nobody has to tell us that because if we trust a guru to say it we are lost because we will become copyists or imitators of the gurus.
Each one has to be himself, but it is true that in yoga we value a lot, on the one hand the teachings and, on the other, the methods. It is necessary for each one to consolidate with their knowledge and practices. Yoga is a practical philosophy, a practical life psychology and a attitude. And yoga is so unapproachable and unconscionable that that is why I say that I am still a learner even though I have been practicing and studying it for sixty years. And that is why it is painful for someone to say that they master yoga in three days.
Now it seems that there are more yoga teachers than students. And this also results in teachers being mistreated because they are paid ridiculous amounts, they are not insured as employees and what happens is tremendous. There is actually a very dark side to the world of “yoga traffic.”
How should a good yoga teacher be?
El yoga instructor he has to be humble, he has to be empathetic, and he has to know that he depends on the disciples as the disciples depend on him. But there is a syndrome that my wife Luisa, who has also been a yoga teacher for 25 years, always denounces and that is called “Pallet syndrome” which implies that as soon as a person goes up to teach on a platform they believe they are superior and then, instead of exceeding or control your ego (which is really yoga), the ego is out of proportion. And also, as the scholar of oriental themes Agustín Pániker said, the fact that now more money is moving than ever around yoga has caused more and more upstarts and charlatans to emerge.
So is yoga a way of life? Can you practice yoga in more moments than we think?
It is important to show that yoga is a life techniqueit’s a way of life and it is a way of being. It is a vital attitude. Yoga and its fruits must be brought to daily life, to the market, to the office, to leisure, to work, alone, in company … because yoga is a way of living from equanimity, from inner contentment, from compassion, from the attention, from the effort well directed and from the deep calm that, in addition, has to be transmitted to the others.