Steven Cheng Just wanted to initiate another discussion about alignment. I recently had a little bit of a disgreement with someone on this topic of Iyengar vs. Ashtanga alignment. It all started with a picture off a blog of this person doing an Up-Dog. The general consensus was OMG, this guys neck...blah blah blah. There was a lot of criticism and emphatic comments about the posture. My own comment was that it was probably an Ashtanga practitioner, and that is how Ashtangis do an Up-Dog (with the head dropped far back with a deep curve). I get a young Ashtanga practitioner demonstratively exclaiming basically that is not Ashtanga, and I dont know who says this is Ashtanga. So I responded basically yes it is classical Ashtanga and supported my argument with lots of documentation. We eventually concluded (and I suspected all along) that she was practicing modernized Ashtanga with teachers that have refined their methodology on their Ashtanga practice/teachings through Iyengars alignment. So my new and even more told you so response is, here is Sri R. Sharath Jois, the grandson of Sri K. Patthabhi Jois who innovated Ashtanga, taught by the original source, practicing a vinyasa with Ashtanga alignment. Look at all the alignment that he is doing that modern alignment yogis would consider misaligned. Look at the knees, the arms, and the head. Many would flip their wigs, is all I am saying. So to this person who so flagrantly claimed to know WTF she was saying, sit-down and get yourself some more education on the roots of your practice and not be so overly self-confident that you know WTF you are talking about. Your credentials of practicing with all these Ashtanga masters taught you very little about the past and the roots of what you so proudly claim to know.
Posted on: Fri, 19 Dec 2014 20:23:50 +0000
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