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Issues in Modern Yoga

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(1) " There was an obvious progression—pose to pose, Primary to Intermediate. I was used to the unpredicted sequences and loosey-goosey love fest of Vinyasa yoga, where cues are often a heady mix of ‘let go’ and ‘dig deep.' (When you are 23 years old, with a tendency to perform emotional autopsies after any interaction, misinterpretation is the only guarantee.)"(Sarah Lowe speaking about Ashtanga Vinyasa) ---WHAT DO YOU TAKE THIS TO MEAN? (2) What is Vinyasa? Proposition: "Evenness of breath coupled with evenness of movement resulting in evenness of mind." Or should we start with "the mind"? (3) I like to think of PROPS as "training wheels" rather than "crutches". What do you think this means and how might you apply it to teaching and practice? (4) In the documentary Kumare' Vikram Ghandi notes, " I wanted to sort of tell a cautionary tale about spiritual leaders," he said. "We trick ourselves to believe them so w...
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Krishnamacharya and Modern Lineages

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  Lineages: KRISHNAMACHARYA ( Film at 50 ) (From the awesome Daviv Garrigues) (1) (2) As another point of comparison, one might understand Iyengar as "detail oriented in its instruction", where "pedagogical approximation" is relied upon to "modify" postures and the use of props to modify the body in postures. Both of these modifications allow for access into the system by those with different skill levels. Ashtanga on the other hand relies on repetition and a holistic sense of embodied flow. Here, students in the Mysore tradition practice only concepts they are capable of mastering at that moment. Their practice accommodates the system. (3) Iyengar went the way of science as he developed and exported his system to the West. He partnered with a medical doctor and justified his techniques according to Western corporeal concepts of the time. He also created "prescriptions" for different ailments and conditions which were "modified" for ind...
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