JOGA CAPOIERA

As of life, of Capoiera it is asked: Is it a game, a dance, or a fight? And so with life, it can be seen as all three, and much more besides. To me, though, at heart Capoeira is playful. In fact, you never say, “Let’s do Capoiera,” you say “Let’s play Capoiera.” So let us play a little bit, shall we…

The infinitive of the verb “to play” in Espanol is “jugar.” Yo juego Capoiera – I play Capoeira, this Afro-Brazilian (martial) art form. I also play yoga, or joga as my Capoiera friends call it. When I heard one of them say this the other day, I made the connection between “jugar” and “joga,” and wanted to bring that up here. Generally we hear that yoga comes from the Sanskrit root yuj, meaning to join or to unite. Yoga is thus the process, as well as the goal, of unification. That’s certainly cool (or rather, hot) and I’m not putting that down in any way, I’m just playing with it a little, if you will, and saying look: yoga ? joga ? jugar ? play. That’s all I’m saying.

To me, yoga is about play, ultimately. Maybe the process of getting there is work, but the end result is play. And by the way, in Portuguesa (the principal language spoken in Brazil) the word for game is “jogo,” very close to joga. That’s close enough for me: jogo -- joga. And let us not forget the similarity between these words and the English word “joke,” which is nothing if not a play, often a play on words.

Yoga/Joga and Capoeira are not all fun and games, though. Both are forms of discipline, they are “yokes,” as in yoking oxen to the plow. So yoga may be related to the word “joke,” but it’s also definitely related to “yoke.” You can’t have play without work (and vice versa) now can you? In yoga it is said that unless you know with 100% conviction that you are already a fully liberated being, then you will have to work to be free. Work means practice, discipline, doing things you don’t necessarily want to do but think you should. Some day you may look back and this will all seem funny (ha ha ha), but right now it’s deadly serious business: Zum Zum Zum, Capoeira Mata Um. This is the chorus of a famous Capoeira song (maybe you’ve heard it in Mazda commercials); it translates: “Zoom Zoom Zoom, Capoeira Kills One.” This can be understood on different levels, but the deeper meaning is that Capoeira, like Yoga, destroys your ego. You get lost in the play, your mind gets blown and you transcend rational thought. In Sanskrit, “Zum” is just another way of saying “Om,” and “ Mata” means “Mother.” Zum is Mother Om. And while we’re playing 6 Degrees of Separation, this reminds me of the Israeli pioneering song, “Zum Gali Gali Gali,” which I once remade as “Om Kali Kali Kali,” Kali being the Mata who destroys egos and such. And so it goes, ad infinitom.

Ps. Yoga is pronounced “Joga” in many parts of India.