26/08/2026
最後一學期的 MA Yoga Studies，今天迎來第一堂課。這門課是 「Yoga Globalization｜瑜伽全球化」。第一堂課，教授就問了我們三個問題。我覺得這三個問題很值得我們一起省思，也很貼近現在瑜伽正在面對的變化，所以想分享給大家，一起來探討：
Coming into my last semester of the Naropa MA in Yoga Studies, one of my classes is Yoga Globalisation. In our first class, Professor Judith Carlisle asked us three questions that really reflect the challenges and changes we are currently facing in the yoga world.
🌱問題一：我希望從這門課中獲得什麼？
瑜伽全球化似乎不只是「西方化」（Westernization）的過程；它也在亞洲、東歐以及許多不同的文化脈絡中發展。我感興趣的是：每一種文化如何能夠發展出屬於自己的瑜伽在地化（localisation of yoga），而不是單純跟隨一個占主導地位的西方化瑜伽模式？但問題是：要如何做到？
這也帶出一個對身為瑜伽練習者與教師的我而言非常重要的問題：我們如何能將傳統瑜伽帶入新的 AI 時代？ 我們愈來愈常向 AI 詢問關於人際關係、生活方式、如何做決定，以及個人問題等各種事情。我注意到，這可能對自我反思、觀照，以及「從內在尋找答案」的能力帶來新的挑戰。如果我們不斷向自身之外的某個方式尋求答案，那麼，我們向內觀看的能力會發生什麼變化？我們會不會失去自我覺察的能力，還是情緒導向?
我很想探索：瑜伽如何能夠適應 AI 時代，同時仍然保有它不可取代的位置——作為一種透過身體經驗、自我探問（self-inquiry）與觀照來認識自己的實踐。
🌱問題二：你認為「真正／真實的瑜伽」（authentic yoga）存在嗎？
是的，我相信它存在。我認為，我們每一個人的心中，都保有某種對「真實的瑜珈」的感受。對我而言，關鍵在於：瑜伽是否能夠繼續與它的傳統保持連結，而不是完全被市場需求的潮流推著走，或是不斷迎合運動與時尚的趨勢。
喧囂是否總是比寂靜更響亮？
潮流與時尚為了生存，需要不斷改變；但是傳統並不需要追逐每一次的變化。我相信瑜伽不會消失，因為它承載著某種比潮流更深的東西。反過來說，傳統也並不代表瑜伽不能演變。因此，對我而言真正的問題是：瑜伽如何能夠適應不同的時代與文化，卻又不失去那些使瑜伽之所以成為「瑜伽」的深層目的與實踐？
🌱問題三：正念以及其他冥想／反思／觀照的練習，是否應該與瑜伽練習分開？
我將瑜伽看作一片深邃而廣大的意識之海。近年來，「正念」（mindfulness）幾乎已經成為家喻戶曉的詞彙，而我認為這也有它正面的影響——它讓更多人開始注意到觀照與內在練習。我也可以感受到，在當代社會中，人們對於「讓心安靜下來」有一種非常強烈的渴望；或許這正是現代人非常需要的東西。
然而，我不認為正念與冥想應該完全從瑜伽中被分離出來，尤其當這樣的分離使我們失去了這些練習原本的歷史與哲學脈絡時。Mindfulness 有時會與梵文的 smṛti（記憶、憶念，或在某些現代詮釋中所說的當下覺知）連結起來。它可以被理解為心智覺知的一種功能或練習，而不是最終目的本身。
瑜伽傳統提供的不只是專注或平靜心念的技巧，它還涉及更大的問題：什麼是 citta（心／心識活動）？什麼是痛苦？我們如何認識自己？什麼又是解脫？
當我們把這些練習從它們原本的佛教或瑜伽傳統中抽離出來時，我們可能會將它們過度簡化，也可能因此失去賦予這些練習更深層意義的脈絡。這可能是危險的。最後，與其停留在「正念」本身，我認為我們可以把正念當作一個入口，鼓勵練習者產生好奇心，去看得更仔細、走得更深入，進一步探索這些傳統。
因此，我認為瑜伽教師與教育者有一份責任：即使我們需要讓這些練習適應當代社會，也應該透過可靠的傳統資料與來源，真正去學習和理解它們。
Question 1: What do I hope to get out of this class?
Yoga globalization seems not only to be about Westernization; it has also developed through Asia, Eastern Europe, and many other cultural contexts. I am interested in how each culture can create its own localisation of yoga, rather than simply following a dominant Westernised model, but how ?
This also leads to a question that is important to me as a yoga practitioner and teacher: How can we bring traditional yoga into the new AI era? We increasingly turn to AI with questions about relationships, lifestyle, decision-making, and personal problems. I have noticed that this may create a new challenge for self-reflection and contemplation, and for seeking answers from within. If we constantly ask something outside ourselves for answers, what happens to our ability to look inward? I am interested in how yoga can adapt to the AI era while preserving its irreplaceable role as a practice of embodied experience, self-inquiry, and contemplation.
Question 2: Do you think that an "authentic" yoga exists?
Yes, I believe it does. I think all of us hold a sense of “authentic yoga” in our hearts. For me, the key is whether yoga can remain connected to its tradition without being completely pushed by the current of marketing needs or constantly catering to exercise and fashion trends.
Is noise always louder than silence?
Trends and fashions need to constantly change in order to survive, but tradition does not need to chase every change. I believe yoga will not fade because it carries something deeper than a trend. Conversely, tradition does not mean that yoga cannot evolve. The question for me is how yoga can adapt to different times and cultures without losing the deeper purpose and practices that make it yoga.
Question 3 : Should mindfulness and other
meditative/reflective/contemplative practices be separated from yoga practice? In other words, it has become more common to see offerings for "Yoga" experiences and other offerings for "mindfulness/meditation" experiences. Are these different things? Support your response.
I see yoga as a deep and vast ocean of consciousness. Mindfulness has recently become almost a household word, and I think this has positively drawn more people's attention toward contemplative practices. I can also sense the strong desire for “calming the mind” in contemporary society; perhaps this is something people deeply need.
However, I don't think mindfulness and meditation should be completely separated from yoga, especially when that separation causes us to lose their historical and philosophical contexts. Mindfulness—sometimes connected with smṛti (memory or present-moment awareness) in Sanskrit—can be understood as one function or practice of mental awareness, rather than the final goal itself.
Yoga traditions offer not only techniques for focusing or calming the mind, but also larger questions about citta, suffering, self-knowledge, and liberation. When we separate these practices from their Buddhist or yogic traditions, we risk oversimplifying them and losing the deeper contexts that give them meaning. That could be dangerous.
Finally, in conclusion, rather than stopping at “mindfulness,” we can use it to encourage practitioners’ curiosity to look closer and go deeper into these traditions. Therefore, I think yoga teachers and educators have a responsibility to study these practices through reliable traditional sources, even as they adapt them for contemporary society.
Heidi
