Oh Beryl!

[Guest guest]

How easy to say: "there are a lot of

differences." - How difficult for you to describe these

defferences! <br>More similiar than an other thing, indeed

similiar. If in the practice of Power-Yoga there are more

similiarities to Ashtanga than differences, it could not only

be exercises.<br>I'm sorry, I am one of those who

have learned it from Beryl's book - and it's not only

me, there are a lot of people who came with Beryl to

this form of yoga. In her book B talks a lot about

breathing and bandhas, and a lot about doing it in the

right manner - not about doing stupid exercises. I only

recognize the whole time your difficulties repeating: it's

an other thing. it's an other thing. Even if she

omit one Asana there is not a change of the whole

system. It is the ashtanga system in the tradition of

Pattabhi Jois, there is no other way to see it. More, she

has success with this by the people because they want

to do something powerful. Okay, let's say, the

people are stupid. Okay, it is not a good name for this

form of yoga, but now there are a lot of people who do

this form of yoga every day. Therefore: thanks Beryl.

And thanks Pattabhi for the tradition. Wouldn't it be

lovely if the whole world (e.g. Israel) would practice

these Asanas? Success has many enviers. Women have

"problems" with other women (is it biological?). - And if

you say there are a lot of differences, please,

specify them, one after the other, and let's talk about

the importance of every single difference. <br>(I'm

not here to defend Beryl, only to defend the

possibility for all others, to learn this form of yoga, even

from Beryl's book - it's a very good introduction). Lu

[Guest guest]

lubosch,<br>sorry, i had a little difficulty

following some of the message above, so if i've

misinterpreted what you're saying, my apologies

aforehand.<br><br>i also came to ashtanga from an initial exposure to

ms birch's power yoga book. i agree there are a lot

of similarities between what she teaches in her book

and what i have learned at the ashtanga center i go

to. she does an excellent job, i think a better job

than almost every other book i have seen so far, in

discussing the importance and techniques of breathing. her

Power Yoga is an excellent approach for most

people.<br><br>if everyone who teaches what they call "Power Yoga"

taught the approach as ms birch, i would have less

discomfort with the comparison of the terms ashtanga and

power yoga. unfortunately, there are a lot of yoga

schools and health clubs that teach classes called "power

yoga" that have nothing whatsoever to do with ashtanga

or even with the approach that ms birch takes. they

are truely little more that exercise classes with a

yoga twist. how is a beginner supposed to know they

are not actually learning yoga?<br><br>a comparable

problem might illustrate the issue of trading taking

advantage of a good name. winemakers in france became

enraged when producers of cheap american plonk started

calling their product "burgandy wine" or "bordeaux". they

had spent years developing what was recognized

everywhere as a superior product. now these yanks were

selling junk wine with their name on it. it cheapened the

value and reputation of their wine. reputable

winemakers have since stopped this practice and now honor

the name of those wines.<br><br>in much the same

fashion, the risk in allowing any old class that wants to

call itself ashtanga is that people would come to see

ashtanga as little more than an exercise class. this has

already happened to a great degree to ms birch's power

yoga. at one point, her term 'power yoga' may have had

some specific meaning. now, for most people using that

name for their classes, it means little more than a

new way to market exercise to a bigger audience. her

approach may still be the same, but the public

understanding of what she is about is reduced to the lowest

common denominator. i pesonally want to avoid that kind

bastardization and exploitation with respect to ashtanga yoga.