Hello TLSlade

[Guest guest]

TLS,<br><br>Thank you very much for your post.

<br><br>I am sure some people will never be able to learn

anything from a book. But then some other people are

indeed able to learn a lot from them; aren't you

yourself the best evidence for this? And this of course

makes certain people envious, so they keep saying you

can't really gain anything from a book. (It might be

interesting to note in this context that B.K.S. Iyengar, for

example, never had a teacher for most of his life, and

that he has always been mainly a teacher of himself.)

Not everyone has the good luck to have a teacher at

hand where they live, so the challenge is to get

started with a regular practice nonetheless.<br><br>Now

to the videos. I agree with you 100% that they can

be VERY useful indeed. But as I posted in one of my

very first messages on this board, I'm a university

student who DOESN'T HAVE A VCR.(But don't get me started,

I am sure that someone will pop up now and say:

"How can you practise Astanga Yoga without a VCR?"). I

don't have a VCR, but my parents do have one, although

they don't live in Germany (they emigrated to Italy

for professional reasons when I was 2 years old). So

I am considering to get Lino Miele's video on

primary series, and to watch it on the VCR of my parents

when I'm with them in Italy - that will be next month

(September) again.<br><br>Many thanks again, and sorry for my

poor English. Gabita27's post really made me FURIOUS!!

(Well, you see I can still learn a good deal from you as

to how to keep calm when confronted with truly

STUPID messages.)<br><br>Yours faithfully. Good luck!

[Guest guest]

>>B.K.S. Iyengar, for example, never had a

teacher for most of his life, and has always been mainly

a teacher of himself. <br>... well, he was

presumably already at a pretty advanced level before he

stopped studying with Krishnamcharya. And anyway, it is

true in any field that once they get beyond a certain

level, the "greats" have experience and reflection as

their main teachers. I doubt if Pablo Casals had very

many formal cello lessons beyond about the age of 25.

But does that mean you or I could pick up a cello and

a "how to play the cello" book, and 30 years later

make the definitive recording of the Bach partitas? I

very much doubt it.<br><br>>>Not everyone has

the good luck to have a teacher at hand where they

live, so the challenge is to get started with a regular

practice nonetheless<br>... also true. Good luck.

[Guest guest]

I'm also a university student, and unfortunately

I can't afford to attend classes as often as I

would like. I purchased David Swenson's audio tape &

find it very helpful. Unfortunately there is still no

one present to correct bad habits, but it simulates a

class in the sense that you can totally concentrate on

being in the moment w/o counting breaths or worrying

about accidently skipping anything. I also use his

"short form" tape frequently, the 30 minute program is

really nice when I'm in a hurry. I used to have a TV & I

prefer the audio only because I'm not distracted by

watching anything.<br><br>I realize that, for many

reasons, this is less than ideal. However, at this point

in my life it's the best I can do.