What are yoga poses if not opportunities to map brain / body coordination and our relationship to the subtle and large forces that govern our life?
The issue for yoga movers seems to be that instead of approaching asana through the lens of opportunity (to experience and create something new, often by disrupting the norm) the posture simply becomes habitual, and practice turns to routine demonstration of the same abilities.
I’m appreciating that as my perspective expands to include and experiment with new types of movement I am intersecting with other modalities I may have not previously been aware of. My pattern seems to be that I discover something new in my practice that feels like innovation, then learn – through forums like these – that there is a whole world that has explored these possibilities. So I dive in there and the process continues! I’m learning to embrace that there is very seldom anything new under the sun, but appreciating that
I am positioned to bring worlds together.
I had a similar reaction by one of my students in TT. Why are we doing this?
My response echoed yours. And also, a study of modern postural yoga history reveals that what we think of as “traditional” asana was initially informed by diverse movement and fitness modalities popular at the time.
Why stop there when we have advanced and expanded our understanding of movement leaps and bounds in the last century?!
I’m a mixed race individual- a mutt in every way – and have always been most excited to recognize the ways we can all play and work together. That is what initially appealed to me about the concept of “yoga”. I’m into it all and grateful for your contributions to this world of movement.
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