Very interesting. I studied practices from the Indian tradition for years, and examined a wide array of psychotherapies as well as psychological theories (eventually was interested enough to shift from work as a composer/pianist to getting a doctorate in psychology)
In 2001, after 30 years of examining this, I noticed that almost to a person (even among natives of Eastern countries) the predominant paradigm was Western, and ALL spiritual practices were seen through a modernist/western lens. I wrote an essay, "What If We Took Indian Psychology Seriously?" in response to this.
The title of the essay came about from a conversation with an academic living at the Sri Aurobindo Ashram. I told him I was tired of writing about Sri Aurobindo's yogic psychology with an attempt to appease academic sensibilities, and wanted to write about it on his own terms.
he replied, "Nobody will take you seriously." Hence, the title of the essay!
In the 20 years since, I've found that whether writing disability evaluations, writing psychological evaluations with children and teens, giving a talk on neuroscience and depression, or whatever, the most profound psychological vision, for me, still comes from Sri Aurobindo, and to a lesser extent, the yogic tradition. After some 50 years of study and practice, I no longer find, with regard to movement, meditation, etc, the boundaries of East and West, intellect (whether the analytic side or intuitive side of it) and body mean as much.
The distinctions are still relevant, but the boundaries have become so fluid and even changeable that a stance of great openness seems possible, and allows for something new to emerge that is neither "Eastern" nor "Western" in the traditional sense.
Now excuse me while I put on a video that my wife and I put together and improvise some Qigong like movements that owe something to physical therapy exercises, Yoga and much more:>))
Very interesting. I studied practices from the Indian tradition for years, and examined a wide array of psychotherapies as well as psychological theories (eventually was interested enough to shift from work as a composer/pianist to getting a doctorate in psychology)
In 2001, after 30 years of examining this, I noticed that almost to a person (even among natives of Eastern countries) the predominant paradigm was Western, and ALL spiritual practices were seen through a modernist/western lens. I wrote an essay, "What If We Took Indian Psychology Seriously?" in response to this.
The title of the essay came about from a conversation with an academic living at the Sri Aurobindo Ashram. I told him I was tired of writing about Sri Aurobindo's yogic psychology with an attempt to appease academic sensibilities, and wanted to write about it on his own terms.
he replied, "Nobody will take you seriously." Hence, the title of the essay!
In the 20 years since, I've found that whether writing disability evaluations, writing psychological evaluations with children and teens, giving a talk on neuroscience and depression, or whatever, the most profound psychological vision, for me, still comes from Sri Aurobindo, and to a lesser extent, the yogic tradition. After some 50 years of study and practice, I no longer find, with regard to movement, meditation, etc, the boundaries of East and West, intellect (whether the analytic side or intuitive side of it) and body mean as much.
The distinctions are still relevant, but the boundaries have become so fluid and even changeable that a stance of great openness seems possible, and allows for something new to emerge that is neither "Eastern" nor "Western" in the traditional sense.
Now excuse me while I put on a video that my wife and I put together and improvise some Qigong like movements that owe something to physical therapy exercises, Yoga and much more:>))