And, though I maintained a connection to that particular faith, for years I would only attend mass on special occasions or on holidays.Pyramid Pose Yoga Many of us are so tied to the vocabulary used to describe and qualify ourselves to others. These labels, as individuals and as groups, can often cause more feelings of separation than af union, and religions as organized groups have earned a bad rap for contributing further to this imbalance. What does it mean to be Catholic, unless being Catholic is a choice you make for yourself?
Today, I am a practicing Catholic. I chose to become one fully in an Easter vigil mass a few years ago. In the aftermath of my father’s death in 1997, and with my recent rediscovery of yoga, I threw myself into my studies and spiritual practice.Pyramid Pose Yoga In addition to focusing my studies on Comparative Religion, I decided to sign up for weekly evening meetings at my church with the RCIA an adult Catholic initiation program in order to prepare for a new level of commitment to my faith. I was to be officially welcomed within the Catholic church.
The next development happened as Westerners commenced on a large scale to travel to India and there came into direct contact with all its different sects and religio-cultures. It might all have started as emerging mass-tourism but during the 1960s the visit to India became educational and experimental for many travellers. A fast growing post-war middle class of well-educated but often alienated young people filled up airlines and ships heading for India to find new meaning in life. They brought back with them the forms of colonial yoga they encountered in India. They – like the women – re-configured yoga, merged it with pop-culture, hippie life style, and protest. A new hybrid culture was surfacing among new strata of yoga sympathisers.
