Wednesday, December 31, 2008

Heavy Metal Yogi, Isn't that an oxymoron?..

Though it would seem that being a heavy metal/hard rock music fan would be contradictory with being a yogi who searches for peace, I don't believe that these two realms are mutually exclusive. Yes, I enjoy a great deal of heavy metal/hard rock, acts from Black Sabbath and Led Zeppelin to OT3P and SOAD, with Pantera and Megadeth between the two chronological extremes. Probably my favorite concert that I went to was Big Business opening for and playing with the Melvins, It was the heaviest sludgiest concert that I've ever been to, but I also loved seeing QOTSA in concert too. I also enjoy yoga and have been practicing one form or another since I was 16. I enjoy the strength and flexibility that my practice gives me along with the peaceful energy that it brings. I love the perception that I am aging in reverse with a good savasana.
I am a man of contradictions that don't exist upon further inspection. I consider myself an Atheist, but I also consider myself a Buddhist. These two things aren't at odds if you take Buddhism with the philosophy alone, separate from the mythology that was attached to it in every region that it encountered.
I abhor violence, but enjoy horror movies a great deal. Though I abhor violence I also love playing paintball in the woods. For me, horror movies and paintball offer an endorphin rush that comes from hunting and being hunted. Though I would never actually hunt another human I enjoy the illusion of these things.
I enjoy literature and have my BA in Classics, but I still love comic books. I would go so far as to say that some of the greatest literature of our current era is being found in the form of graphic novels.
Though I intend for this blog to follow a framework based on two of my main pursuits (yoga and heavy metal), I will cover other such things as trashy horror movies, mythology, philosophy, comic books, and anything else that is the focus of my interest at the moment. Hopefully this will make the blog not only enjoyable to people that share my main interests but others as well.

Om SHAnti SHAnti SHAnti
 
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Heavy Metal Yogi by Nick Matthaes is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.