Overview
The movie Enlightened Up, we followed Nick around the world as he was exploring Yoga as a possible life/mind transformation.
He was taking this on as Kate his employer was feeling that although she practiced Yoga daily, it was not as fulfilling as she had hoped and she had not experienced the benefits of a life transformation.
So this was not his own idea – Nick the ‘guinea pig’, was doing this as part of a job and while curious at the beginning of the journey, seemed deflated and happy it was finished at the end.
Through the Experiment
Throughout his journey he experienced some emotional episodes which truly surprised him. I found that difficult to watch.
I do believe that a seed was planted but (making a judgement now) would it not have been better to choose someone that has a smattering of the yoga practice and beliefs. Just a smattering.
Buddhist
The Buddhist belief of Enlightenment is believing that we do not attain happiness from worldly possessions. It’s through prayer and meditation we seek freedom from human suffering in this and all future lives.
However, we must first attain Enlightenment ourselves in order to be able to do this. Bodhi means Enlightenment and ‘chitta’ means mind.
God Is
The Yogis belief is connected to God and many of the Western people (be it Vancouver, New York or London) interviewed spoke of awareness, surrendering, and mind control.
Some believe ‘True Yoga’ leads some to happiness and Enlightenment. The people of India follow a path connected to Hare Krishna or Hinduism and India is where Yoga started. The movie provides an overview of the wide variation of different types of Yoga and each one believes that they lead to Enlightenment.
Yoga of God Bhakti yoga “it is important why you are doing it, not what you are doing”. Comments from individual Yogis included – “like what you are doing and do it. Be your true self because happiness is an inside job”.
Yoga is a Spiritual and physical practice which includes mind control and we can only master this through practice, practice, and more practice.
In Kundalini Yoga and Buddhist teachings they speak to Tantra practices. For the Kundalini practitioner this involves the 7 chakras and their natural flow.
For the Buddhist Tantric view the theory of emptiness is central and Tantric practice such as self-visualization as the deity.
Stage setting that encourages us to gather and participate as practitioners and help us reach higher states involves chanting, swaying, drumming and other forms of expression that tap into our feelings or emotions.
Christianity
Looking for Enlightenment is a heart and mind path not a head issue. We live in a Western society that is dominated by the head and where Christianity is highly prevalent.
Christianity would never ever allow us to use such language as Enlightenment. We would have been treated as outcasts and condemned as someone trying to live above their station and a heretic.
In The End
To say that we in the West are looking for Enlightenment is saying that we’re trying to be God (thus the increase in registration with yoga teacher trainings across Canada and the USA) So this means we must change our world view and that is where the Spiritual part of Yoga comes in because it encompasses both the mental and physical which unifies the mind and body and encourages a flow of consciousness that transcends the physical and spiritual.
So I would encourage people to try and put Yoga and meditation into their daily practice and maybe through continued and ongoing practice the path to Enlightenment could be possible.