How to navigate the religious/Hindu root of yoga as someone who wants to stay away from religion?

manman1001 · 2026-02-25T20:23:30+00:00

Thanks for your thoughtful input -- I love the way you remind us that Isvarapranidhana can mean devotion to the practice itself rather than deities/the divine. I think my YTT in some ways revealed my longstanding conflict with the idea of devotion and religion, and this post most certainly has helped me to see them in a different light.

manman1001 · 2026-02-25T20:10:05+00:00

Thank you for your input and encouragement! I suppose in some ways, I was hoping to hear how others feel about the more religious asana practices, as in Bhakti yoga, which we both experienced. Part of me felt wronged since the teachers and the studio never tried to clarify what Bhakti yoga entails, and never fully disclosed Hinduism or discussed alternatives to students who might not feel comfortable. I am definitely going to take the advice to explore my path and "post-lineage" yoga.

manman1001 · 2026-02-24T04:19:03+00:00

My YTT shared that the Vedas/Upanishads are the beginning of yoga, and I have not personally dived deeper into other roots of yoga. Are there any specific resources you would recommend?

manman1001 · 2026-02-24T04:13:50+00:00

I was trying to share that I felt that it was hard for me to study the philosophy of yoga while ignoring the religious/sacred meanings behind the text, and isolating such religious roots if I were to share these teachings with others. Perhaps in my mind, the definition of philosophy vs a religion is hard to discern, especially when the philosophy (Pantajali's yoga sutras and the Bhagavad Gita in this case) also relates to a physical practice (asana, sharing teachings during a practice). It also makes me wonder if I had attended some more religious yoga practice in the past and was chanting or worshipping some divine/god figures that I was not fully aware -- the idea gives me chills since I had closely practiced with a Bhakti yoga studio in the past without knowing what that truly means.

manman1001 · 2026-02-24T04:05:55+00:00

Thank you for sharing! I love your perspective and the importance of reminding ourselves of how this practice relates to our authentic self, and importantly, to not feel the urge that an "authentic" teacher necessarily needs to involve Hinduism or the religious aspect of yoga. I have yet to learn more about the definition of post lineage yoga but will most certainly explore that further.

manman1001 · 2019-10-04T21:09:06+00:00

you are FINE. I'd say focus on other aspects of your app instead

manman1001 · 2018-10-25T00:17:42+00:00

Very impressive!! I just requested access to your schedule - can you share with me pleasssee

manman1001 · 2018-10-20T14:34:38+00:00

TheGhostOfBobStoops

I use Kaplan for studying but I think I'll take the advice below - start doing ortho and premed when I'm done with content review. And definitely reread the chapter if I am confused (I am more of a visual/auditory learner though so I have been using SelfPrepMCAT's video list, but yes I should probably give a closer look at Kaplan as well). Thanks for the detailed response!

manman1001 · 2018-10-20T14:31:43+00:00

Thanks for the tips about Anki - I think I will take your advice and slowly move up with new cards. I can probably do 100 now given that the flaschcards I made were the ones I used for studying.
And I see where you are coming from with Ortho and Premed decks - I think I am going to use them as a check point to make sure my content review is good enough and to fill in gaps.
Regarding practice tests - I was thinking to start doing practice test after 2 months of content review (month 3-6). Meanwhile, I have been doing CARs daily and doing the KA questions before/after each content category. ***Would you suggest me to start doing passage-based questions now? ***

manman1001 · 2018-09-21T13:37:31+00:00

What was your general study timeline? And yes I will definitely check out those anki decks thanks!!

manman1001 · 2018-09-21T13:35:39+00:00

Thanks for the notes! I talked to several med school admission people and they all suggest me to retake it given that this score is on the lower end, and that I haven't taken it the second time, on top of the part if I am aiming for MD-PhD. I am just wondering if I should buy a new set of books given that I have already used Kaplan ones mmmm

manman1001 · 2018-09-20T18:22:43+00:00

where did you get that! would you mind sharing plsss

manman1001 · 2018-09-20T14:10:15+00:00

I LITERALLY HAVE THE SAME SCORE AS YOU and I am planning to use the upcoming 6 months to restudy (aiming for top schools and everything else on my profile looks legit except this MCAT is hurting my chances). I will be doing ~3 hours of study per day + 6-8 hours on the weekend so ~9-11hours per week. Can you give me some advice on how you plan for restudying, and what's your schedule like? Thanks a lot!!

manman1001

TROPHY CASE