about beginners & alignment

[Guest guest]

Thank you. I was trying to think of a way to say some of that too but couldn't

come up with anything near such a good and forceful way of expressing it.

[Guest guest]

Alan Little,<br><br>I am wondering about you. How

on the one hand you seemingly agree with Missy Pinky

making a mockery of alignment, and on the other hand

advise other people who don't have an Astanga-Yoga

teacher at hand to visit Iyengar classes instead - where,

as you may perfectly know, you will be taught that

alignment in the postures is just EVERYTHING. Because

somehow, Iyengarites believe that perfect alignment is the

gate to heaven. But then, it's another tradition,

isn't it? In a typical Iyengar class, the instructor

will not only spend lots of time teaching you how to

align your body in an ideal way, you may also be taught

difficult iyengarite postures like Virabhadrasana III,

which doesn't exist in Astanga Yoga, as well as a whole

array of different pranayamas that are of no use at all

for any Astanga practictioner.<br><br>This doesn't

necessarily mean that it *could* be useful now & then for a

serious Astanga-Yoga practitioner to visit Iyengar

classes. But I myself would be careful not to shop around

in different yoga traditions too much.

[Guest guest]

I think missy_pinky stated something very

important about ashtanga yoga, in one of the most eloquent

messages I've seen here for a long time. I also think it's

better to learn any kind of serious yoga directly from a

good teacher, than any kind of yoga from books and

videos. (I assume you would disagree, which of course you

are perfectly entitled to do). I don't see any

contradiction there.<br><br>>> But I myself would be

careful not to shop around in different yoga traditions

too much. <br>Me too. I have occasionally in the past

gone to other kinds of yoga class - iyengar,

jivamukti, sivananda - either out of curiosity or because I

was in places without ashtanga teachers. I don't

think I would bother any more, I would just get on with

doing my ashtanga practice.

[Guest guest]

Yes, OK - I agree with Missy Pinky too, up to a

point. (Although it seems to me that she's a bit quick

in condemning the Iyengar-Yoga

method.)<br><br>Anyway. I am not exactly able to figure out how it could

be useful for anyone seriously dedicated to Astanga

Yoga to visit Iyengar classes - which do teach a

system quite in its own right (rather different from

Astanga in many ways), with its own Guru, its own

teachings, its own set of beliefs. Not to mention Sivananda

Yoga, which is even more different. Certainly, I assume

that in those classes you may be taught a lot of

things you don't really need for your own Astanga

practice - that is, differing postures, different

pranayamas etc. So it seems to me to be quite a waste of

time. But I'll better stop this thread now...

<br><br>(Guess what, I have only just ordered "Yoga Mala" in the

US. Will cost a lot of money - and nerves - to import

the book into Germany, but I wasn't able to get the

Mala anywhere here in Europe. No chance.)