Christians Denounce Yoga

I was searching for one of my articles on google today (which is probably on page 1, 949, 245 or some such nonsense - memo to self, adjust keywords) when I came across an article of the same name that intrigued me. The title is What is Yoga? and is published by a Creationism site. Not only is it a poorly written piece, full of typos and dodgy grammar, it argues that yoga is evil and anti-Christian. Oh, great, I say, this is going to be fun.

The author begins by offering exceptionally narrow and highly dubious definitions of Hinduism, Buddhism, and Jainism. For example:

"Buddhism, founded by the Buddha, Gautama Siddhartha, claims more than 249.600,000 disciples. Buddha taught that life is misery and decay, and that it has no ultimate reality. Mental and moral self-purification seem to give most Buddhists hope for liberation."

Yup, that's what Buddhism is alright - very well-researched, objective perspective.

She then focuses on some extreme practices such as drinking urine and severing the tongue as evidence of the link between yoga and the occult! Supporting this laughable claim is a born again Christian named Rabindranathn Maharaj (not to be confused with the Canadian writer of the same name): "Although the peace I experienced in meditation so easily deserted me...the occult forces that my practice of Yoga cultivated and aroused lingered on and began to manifest themselves in public'" (p. 74). Apparently, yoga even killed his father!

Another born again is also quoted to further press the point:

"Caryl Matrisciana believes her interest in Yoga began either by reading booklets in the supermarket or by watching a "Yoga for Health" television program...At first Matrisciana thought Yoga was helpful, but she later concluded, 'the Hindu has no grace [God's unmerited favor]. He is trapped by the impersonal law of karma cause and effect.' She documents many examples she's witnessed of Yogins doing violence to themselves. By the grace of God, Matrisciana escaped her involvement in Yoga and became a Christian firmly established in the Scriptures.'

Ah yes, the scriptures; those words of compassion, love and renewal...No wait, that's Buddhism, or is it Jainism, maybe Hindism, I forget. They all sound the same to me. And the only demons I see when practicing yoga is the instructor who bends like a noodle while I fart in the face of the person behind me.

So, all you practioners out there: be warned.

 "Yoga is integrally tied into a system of devout religious beliefs, primarily Buddhist and Hindu. As practiced in Eastern religious circles, it is considered the ultimate method for reaching religious self-realization, and can only be consummated by following prescribed physical postures, breathing exercises, mystical meditation, and diet, Thus understood it has no place in the life of a Christian believer."
What rubbish.

Writing Online: A New Vocabulary

When I first started writing online I spent a lot of time in the forums trying to pick up hints and advice from the experts. The first thing I noticed was the unique vocabulary that online writers use. As I soon discovered, if I wanted my work to be read, it would be crucial to understand this new lexicon. If you choose to share your blog or articles only with friends and family, you may not need to know this, but if your goal is to direct traffic to your work, establish yourself as an online writer, or to make money through your writing, then here are some important definitions to get you started.

Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

Search Engine Optimization is the practice of maximizing the volume or quality of traffic to a web site. As google notes, it is important to think of your online writing as an interaction between users (readers) and search engines. The idea is to write content that appeals to both. Users search for topics they are interested in but can only find it if the search engine knows where it is and rates it for relevance.That is where SEO comes in. Including strong keywords will help readers and search engines find your work.

Keywords

Keywords are words and phrases that describe the subject of your blog or article. They are important because they will determine how reader's find or are directed to your work. How to know if a keyword is popular with users and indexed by the search engines involves some research using a keyword search tool such as Google Adwords.

One main place to use strong keywords if the title as the search engines will crawl and rank your title first. Avoid quirky or bland titles. They do not work well with search engines like Google. For example, if your article or blog post is entitled, 'Had a Great Time at the Show' you will not direct any traffic to your site because it is too general; no one out there is searching for words like 'great', 'time', or 'show'. However, a title such as 'Avatar: Great Movie for Teens' will attract more readers because people do search for 'avatar', 'avatar movie', 'movies for teens', or 'teen movies'.


Long Tail

Long Tail is an SEO term that refers to keyword combinations, usually 3 or more words combined to help make the topic more specific. Using the above example of the Avatar movie, the title is a long tail because it combines 'Avatar' (a popular keyword) with 'movie for teens'. Using just one word such as Avatar will have to compete with millions of other sites featuring the same word. As of today, the term 'avatar' receives 55, 600,00 global searches a month and is therefore insanely competitive; 'movies for teens' is less competitive with 18,100 monthly global searches, but combined they create a specific and unique title that may lead to a better page rank in the search engines.

Page Rank

Page rank is the placement of your site in the search engines. For example, if you searched for 'teen movies' in google and your post 'Avatar: Great Movie for Teens' was at the top of the list, you will receive many more readers than if your post appeared on page 10 of the search (most searchers do not go past the first few pages). Ultimately, the goal is to get on page one so aim for keyword rich, long tail titles, sub-titles, and even images.

So those are the main one I can think of right now. I am sure more will be forthcoming as I learn about writing online.

Essay Writing Sources for Students

Talk about uncanny. It's getting near the time for college and university students to begin planning for the upcoming academic year, and for professors to plan their lessons and write lectures. Do you get the feeling we've all been here before? So before déjà vu sets in, I thought I would get a jump on the panic that inevitably rears its ugly head by offering some writing resources for student scribblers.

As a teacher, it still shocks me that so many students get a place at university without being able to form an argument, structure their thoughts, and in many cases, even string two coherent sentences together. Many are even downright surprised when introduced to topics such as 'essay structure', or 'writing introductions.' They are hesitant to move from the comfort and simplicity of the '5 paragraph essay' to a more rigorous form of analytical writing (anal WHAT writing? I hear echoing in my head). What is more distressing is that some students just don't care. Their goal is to scrape through with minimum effort and be done with it. They usually sit droopy-eyed in the back, head cocked rather extraterrestrially so as to keep one eye on the front and the other on their thigh which apparently has some communication device stuck to it which sends messages of how bored they are to their universe of friends.

Ah yes; can't wait.