Thursday, December 11, 2008

Bates was a Yogi

That was an idea that suddenly struck me one day. If his main principle is relaxation of the mind and variability of refraction, why that is exactly what is yoga philosophy is all about: control your mind by calming it first. According to some yogi tales you can do amazing things if you just learn to control your mind. Unfortunately most of us has not the slightest idea what controlling the mind is all about, we are so conditioned to have this inner monologue going on that we have not idea that other states of mind are even possible.

What was really amazing to me was that Bates started out as typical American doctor with standard medical education. He became interested in finding out why things were the way they were. He stumbled upon one of the most powerful concept of yoga philosophy. He arrived to it independently. I think it’s very impressive. Bear in mind it was long before Eastern philosophy, Hindu teachers, Zen, Buddhism and similar stuff got into the West, certainly long before it became mainstream.

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