Thursday, May 14, 2009

Cutting towards Compassion

I got a negative comment today on this yoga video on MetaCafe.

The comment was:
uh-huh
This video is a near-perfect example of how Western hubris has infected the hatha yoga of India and turned it into a happy-talk fitness regimen for the well-heeled. If you practice what Ms. Ryder demonstrates here regularly, you will injured just as badly as she would be (that is, if she were actually foolish enough to practice it). This isn't yoga. This is New Age mediocrity. Poor alignment, poor biomechanical principles, poor execution, terrible instruction............... shall I go on?


It's kind of fun to allow these kind of comments to flood the doubt, insecurities, fear, defensiveness, numbing and inflation to the surface. The last negative comment I received was, "Too Bad her voice is so annoying."

I have come to understand that, with some exception, feedback often says more about the person giving it than the person receiving it. So particularly vicious feedback can be like a knife that opens your heart to the other person. And all you end of feeling is compassion. Interestingly enough, the commenter's name, kshurika is the name of one of the Upanishads. And means scissors, knife or sword.

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