Monday, January 15, 2007


the viniyoga of power yoga

or something. i don't know what to call it.

today i took advantage of the holiday to run back to yoga to the people to try to catch another class with greg.

i felt so free because my yearly membership with the tragic nabe studio had finally expired. i was free to find some decent yoga taught by ok teachers in a clean space!

free at last! i had just come to loathe the lackadasical instruction, dirty floors, and filthy blankets.

yttp offers no 'tude, no fashion show, nice people, clean floors, clean bathroom, clean mats, and clean blankets. yes, it's too crowded and i can't stand the style.

but i can sit on my own mat and do my own version -- the viniyoga of power yoga, i guess. what surprises me somewhat is that i like greg as a teacher personally; he's a good teacher, i can't deny that.

greg's ego hasn't exploded, which i find quite restful. for example, today he declared that he doesn't "teach yoga."

and his website does use the word "workout." so that's his stand.

rather he believes yoga just shows up one day. on a philosophical level i know what he means -- i might rather take the whitwell tack and argue that the yoga has already happened -- but on a practical level that may frustrate brand new students -- who are just abandoned to a mysterious new practice -- and prevent some basics students from going more deeply into their practice.

this is one thing i have always appreciated about everybody's fave punk yogi j. brown, who has in my experience been careful to explain in his classes what body actions are crucial in poses.

for example, if you practice "simple" asana like pigeon prep, chatarunga, happy baby, and easy leg lifts, then you are practicing all the basic actions you need for a supposedly "advanced" pose, astavakrasana, just in a slightly different direction.

in this way, yoga poses unfold themselves, but without a lot of goal-orientation. people feel like they are "doing something," but not in a way that will injure them, you know?

because i do worry that total newbies left on their own will either fall on me or fall and injure themselves. a little foundational instruction can be a good thing, you know?

so on a busy day when i just wanna do my own thing in a warm clean room, yttp feels great. otherwise, i expect to start spending a lot of time at eddie's -- even tho' ashtanga, as everyone knows, makes me grumpy.

really grumpy.

Tags: :: :: :: :: ::

posted by fortune | 8:14 PM | top | link to this | email this: | | | 0 comments