Wednesday, January 10, 2007


right on!

"today you can choose from any number of 'yoga fusions', among them power chi yoga (a combination of tai chi and Ashtanga yoga), Sport yoga (aerobics and yoga), fitcamp fusion (yoga and pilates), weight loss yoga, disco yoga and laughter yoga (the latest hot trend from Los Angeles) - and that's not a joke. i could go on.

'in the 60s, we didn't know anything about yoga and we accepted all things oriental with blind faith," says peter blackaby, a distinguished teacher with a practice in brighton. 'but after 40 years yoga has flowered and, yes, diversified and some of it is mad. absolutely mad.'

indeed, some teachers think that if they throw in some pseudo-science, a bit of sanskrit, some chanting but little instruction, then that is all right. in one class in l.a. they even played bagpipe music and i wondered if they thought that it was indian. and remember the woman who came back from india some years ago practising a yoga that involved not eating, just breathing?

'there is such a thing as intelligent yoga,' says blackaby. 'it's about letting go, unravelling muscles only where you need to. there is nothing mindless or sleepy about it.' "

long-time readers know that my immediate response to this article is right on! altho' it sound like it might be written by a slightly cranky iyengar student, i'm still down with it.

absolutely.

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posted by fortune | 8:25 AM | top | link to this | email this: | | | 0 comments