Myrrh wrote:
Or perhaps that's how they were taught to do it...?
Perhaps you should try it before being so critical, if nothing else it'll help take your mind off what others are doing.
You assume more than is stated.....First you do not know me and do not know what I do or do not do.
Second...I would say to you they were taught wrong. And/or they assume that such displays are the proper way to do things. This whole idea of the calestenics spawned a whole discussion one night in our family. Turns out that even long time Orthodox people don't know the "rules".
We went so far as to pull out the "rules" and to discuss them. It would seem that even you need to do so too. At the back of most prayer books, although I can only attest to the Jordanville one, there are is a list of dos and don'ts. Prostrations and waist prostrations are covered. I think once you review the rules you will find that you are not doing it quite right.
Third, I was taught that ostentatious shows of "piety" are not to one's benefit. We are taught not to let the right know what the left is doing (or vice versa). If I am standing in the middle of the church doing calestenics then I am not keeping the left from knowing what the right is doing. Further, I am distracting others, causing them to sin in some way.
Personally I would far rather keep my prayers to myself rather than "show" you that I am doing the "right" thing by emulating your calestenics.
Milla