From Matthew Remskis stellar shake down of David Gordon Whites latest book: The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali: A Biography matthewremski/wordpress/the-yoga-sutras-and-the-red-violin-a-review-of-david-gordon-whites-new-book/ What is Yoga now? Not a tradition that the contemporary global practitioner can point to, unless we want to continue to glorify fictions or prop up charismatics. Yoga is more like an approach or attitude, a periodic response to cultural and psychic stress. It’s an interdisciplinary, open-eyed response to whatever is given. Yoga takes the categories of ethics, breath, movement and contemplation and breaks down the barriers between them. It generalizes an efficient approach to creative and resilient living. “Yoga shows up” as my friend Michael Stone likes to say, “wherever the dominant paradigm is failing.” How does it show up? Maybe like a red violin at a high-priced auction, a university rummage sale, or abandoned on the luggage carousel at the airport. You can tell any story you want about it, but it will remain silent until you play, cultivating sincerity and detachment as you practice for a long time, using whatever skill you bring. A sign that you’re really playing it might be that you don’t care who made it, or how old it is, but you’re aware of and grateful for the countless actions, random and purposeful, that brought it your way. I so loved this commentary and I am really looking forward to picking up the book and simmering in what it reveals about the Sutras, the grandfathers of yoga, and the ways in which we paint our particular bent on all that we do... Keep asking questions!!
Posted on: Tue, 03 Jun 2014 17:57:16 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015