There Are No Straight Lines in Mother Nature | Mark Whitwell

New York City NY

25 December, 2020

6:22 AM

Description

Mark Whitwell | Heart of YogaThere are no straight lines in Mother Nature. It is all curves and spirals, and that includes us! Modern yoga’s demand that the body be molded into a geometrical pattern is only a male imposition on the beauty and harmony of life. Straight lines are useful enough when applied to the right areas. The construction of bridges, for example, requires straight lines, or the design of I-phones. And this is fine. But once you think you have to impose that on yourself to be an improved person or a spiritually attained person then it is obviously nonsense. Mark Whitwell | Heart of Yoga Yet this is what the public is getting when they seek out yoga. The young man who popularized yoga in the west, BKS Iyengar (1918–2014), was fascinated with linear geometry, straight lines, triangles, and aligning people’s bodies to external, mathematical ideals. Asana is now understood to be the attainment of muscular shapes and the tough pursuit of a nebulous state of physical/spiritual perfection. If you take any cultural ideal as something that have to do on yourself that your body is not inclined to do, then it is problematic. Because you will end up forcing it on yourself by will of mind. This enthusiasm about aligning the body is not preventing injury but causing it. It is the dirty secret of the yoga world that all the teachers hurt themselves in their effort to look good for the photographs. We are starting now to wind up our interest in these naïve early experiments with yoga in the west. Read the full article here: Mark Whitwell About: Mark Whitwell has taught yoga for over three decades across the globe, and is the founder of the Heart of Yoga foundation, and the Heart of Yoga Peace Project. Mark Whitwell is interested in developing an authentic yoga practice for the individual, based on the teachings of T. Krishnamacharya (1888-1989) and his son TKV Desikachar (1938-2016), with whom he enjoyed a relationship for more than twenty years. Mark Whitwell is the author of four books: ‘Yoga of Heart,’ ‘The Promise,’ ‘The Hridayasutra,’ and, ‘God and Sex: now we get both.’ He also edited and contributed to his TKV Desikachar’s classic yoga text, ‘The Heart of Yoga.’ Mark Whitwell is a father of three and a grandfather. He now resides between New Zealand and Fiji and continues to write, teach, and speak.