wow. I'm not attacking you. and you missed MY point -- I understood what you said about his reputation as a "good guy", why would you think I didn't? my question was: why would that make a difference? even people who other people see as "good guys" do questionable things.

The fact that "She’s talked to the teachers, mostly friends, and received little support (even though most of the teachers are women, and two experienced similar hassle from the older gentleman). She’s even been told not to come to the studio, if she can’t deal" is unconscionable to me -- even a yoga studio is not safe from a "blame the victim" mentality. lovely.

If it were any place else, there would be no question as to what would be done -- the guy would be dealt with in one way or the other. but just because it's a yoga studio, the way to deal with this guy is supposed to be different? bull. the fact that you even mention a restraining order means that it's gone beyond casual flirting or attention. And the fact that "She can’t get friends to practice by her, they don’t want to get involved" is even more disturbing!

I'm a volunteer at a domestic violence shelter where I teach yoga and meditation. I'm not saying this guy's actions are akin to domestic violence, but if a man's actions, no matter how "good" or "innocent" they appear to be to other people, make a woman uncomfortable, they are wrong, plain and simple. and the studio owner should have the cojones to deal with it.

"So how do we fight asana predators?...many of them, like this gentleman, are “good guys” who have strong reputations in their communites."

are you kidding me? what difference does it make if some guy has a "strong reputation" in the community? what does that mean? that nothing is to be said to him?

if the words of your friend do nothing to deter this guy, then it is the studio owner's responsibility to say something and if it comes to it, tell him not to come back.

ouch...that's a lot of scraped skin if you fall....

that's awesome! that is what yoga is truly about.

I actually used your statement "Buddhism concludes we are nothing" in my dharma talk last night, Bob. I asked my students how can we be nothing when we have buddhanature? and then we went on to talk about anatta....

so thanks!

"In the end, it is not a pissing contest, although many Westerners attempt to make it so. And that's where they get lost. Neither Yoga nor Buddhism will be an effective path, when the mind is twisted and attached to such dualistic ideas as "this vs. that"."

also want to say: love that!

yes, I know it was a Trungpa quote, Bob. I think what Gurudas Sunyatananda said below pretty much sums up the similarites/differences of yoga and Buddhism. I just don't agree with your "nothing v. everything" conclusions about both subjects. I don't see it as either/or or as black/white as you do.

In my opinion, the center that has done the most to intelligently weave these two wisdom traditions together is Spirit Rock in Woodacre, CA where I completed the first Mindfulness Yoga and Meditation training taught by some of the biggies in both the western yoga and Buddhist worlds. It was literally the first training in the world to link both classical yoga and Buddhism, and not separate them as most, if not all, yoga trainings do. After all, Buddha was a yogi.

I would suggest that you check out some workshops at Spirit Rock (or IMS in Barre, MA) to delve a bit deeper into the experiential aspect of Buddhism -- books (depending on the writer, of course) really do make Buddhism sound dry and humorless. People can read all the books you want to, but like yoga, experience is where the rubber hits the road, even if it's just being away for one weekend -- and Northern California isn't hard to take. If you ever took a class by Jack Kornfield or Phillip Moffit, I think your opinion about Buddhism would change. I also suggest some readings in the Advaita Vedanta tradition, i.e., Ramana Maharshi.

metta, Bob.

I agree also -- on everything said.

I'm not misquoting you...you say "Buddhism concludes we are nothing, a cosmic joke." How is your statement not a belief that Buddhism is nihilistic? The way I understand Nihilism is that it's the philosphical belief of the negation of one or more aspects of life (hence, life-denying) -- that life is without meaning or purpose. In other words, nothing (or not much anyway.)

Some people believe or have the misconception that Buddhism is nihilistic, or as Waylon said "The stereotype of Buddhism's view of reality as being cold, dark, harsh, all suffering." Sorry if I misunderstood you, but a statement like "Buddhism concludes we are nothing" sounds like a pretty straight-forward conclusion to me.

Then you say "Yoga concludes we are everything, that we are the cosmos itself." Well, not right away in any event when we are dealing with the dualities of the experience and the experiencer; with atman and brahman,

I am curious as to whether your conclusion about yoga comes from Advaita Vedanta or Samkhya.

I'm a long-time yin yoga teacher (and will be introducing it to the Arusha, Tanzania yoga community in February -- can't wait!) and have written extensively about it on my blog, if you're interested.....

http://lindasyoga.blogspot.com/search/label/yin%2...