Hope this blog finds you well!
Here is a first sneak peek at my soon to be published book called “THE WISE WAY TO YOGA” which I wrote for Yoga Teachers, Trainees, and Committed Practitioners!
The excerpt today is from Part One and relates to Krishnamacharya, Muscle Power & Strength!
“Krishnamacharya was an Indian yoga master, an ayurvedic healer, a musician, poet, and a renowned scholar with many degrees to his name. He was the father of the nineteenth-century revival of Hatha Yoga, seemingly connected to the new international interest in fitness of that time period. He had been learning yoga philosophy and yoga postures from his father and other teachers since he was a young boy, so he was highly qualified to foster the various dimensions of this complex discipline.
During the 1920s, Krishnamacharya held many demonstrations to stimulate popular interest in hatha yoga. Like the bodybuilders of the time, his focus for his public displays was on physical strength. Probably because that appealed to men from time immemorial and it was a way to trigger their initial interest. These demonstrations included suspending his pulse, stopping cars with his bare hands, performing difficult postures, and lifting heavy objects with his teeth. Viewers watched with admiration and were fascinated by his abilities.
Here again, what is worth observing is that his amazing strength had nothing to do with him being a huge man with bulky muscles, for he was not. It had to do with his mind power focusing on his body as a whole to deliver the needed energy. This is a lesson modern yogis need to consider if they have bought into the “muscle obsession” so common in our current society, whether for strengthening or stretching them. More on this throughout Part Four and Five.”
Hope you enjoy it and that the content triggers some introspection into your own practice!
Cecile Raynor
Cecile Raynor has been teaching the Alexander Technique for over 25 years out of which came her B.I.A. Process to assist yogis in enhancing their practice bypassing the intellect. She is also a Thai Yoga Massage Therapist and a Reiki Practitioner. Faculty at Akasha Yoga Teacher Training, she runs a 12 months Mastermind for Yoga Teachers with a Vision, and a 90 Day Virtual Program for trainees, new teachers and committed yoga practitioners interested in using their body more efficiently on and off the mat in a way not taught in regular training courses. She is currently writing a book on her personal and professional experience. THE WISE WAY TO YOGA is to be published soon! To be followed!
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