Guest guest Posted January 13, 2002 Report Share Posted January 13, 2002 Dworkis has surely done a lot of work, and his creds as a senior iyendar teacher should stand for something..<br><br>Yet I can't help but think his whole approach could be vastly simplified in the context of astanga (or any other hatha yoga style).<br><br>That is, just keep within the fundamentals of alignment, and do what feels relatively comfortable without going into the "redzone" of straining the ligaments.<br><br>It is helpful to point out that only a percentage of western folks are ever going to be able to master even 2nd series, let alone get through advanced A with such gems as mulabhandasana.<br><br>It's fun to aim for getting into the challenging asanas, and it's true that devotion to daily practice does make the "impossible" often possible.<br><br>But by the same token, we are not going to reach Sarat's level. Except in our dreams.<br><br>But so what? Nothing much comes from awesome postures anyway; certainly not cosmic liberation or kundalini or any of those other assumptions. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted January 14, 2002 Report Share Posted January 14, 2002 "Yet I can't help but think his whole approach could be vastly simplified in the context of astanga (or any other hatha yoga style). That is, just keep within the fundamentals of alignment, and do what feels relatively comfortable without going into the "redzone" of straining the ligaments."<br><br>Very true. That's mainly why I mention him here so often. Its not that I think lots of people should stop practicing Ashtanga and practice "ExTension yoga" instead, but that Ashtanga can be practiced more safely with the application of the principles he teaches. In fact I think you can study all kinds of approaches to yoga and physical discipline from the perspective of Ashtanga. I don't mean so you can make up your own yoga by combining lots of things together (although that may be OK too) but just that you can learn a lot from studying Iyengar, for instance, that will apply to the practice of Ashtanga.<br><br>Sam's book Recovery Yoga is specifically for people who are injured or disabled or in recovery from surgery. His ExTension Yoga is a program that is based on breaking down the sun salutation. His main deal seems to be that people should be healing and not hurting themselves with the practice of yoga. He pulled some lower back muscles long ago and had a knee injury also, both resulting from "yoga practice". And of course we have all heard numerous stories of yoga injuries. I just think he has a lot to say that no one else is explaining. He developed MS a few years ago and has had to relearn a lot of his own stuff, such as that anyone can practice yoga.<br><br><a href=http://www.extensionyoga.com target=new>http://www.extensionyoga.com</a> Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted January 15, 2002 Report Share Posted January 15, 2002 Points well taken. Thinking about all this, I realize that what I know about my personal limits and potential in this yoga was sometimes learned the hard way, that is, through injury. Perhaps Dworkis' expo can help others. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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