Just did the Tripsochore Yoga DVD, with Edward Clark. As it's cover describes, it is definitely an exploration in "unique vinyasa."  It's excellent-if you're not somebody who is concerned about joint safety.  But dancing yogis,  who like me, are seduced by the wonderful and multiple ways one can contort their limbs, will most likely enjoy this practice.   A strong and healthy yoga student gave me this DVD and said, "this yoga is un-doable," so there, I warned you!  This is not the DVD to get to "enlightenment", if you know what I mean. It's all about the movement.

That said,  I appreciated it for its creative sequencing and Edward himself: his spray-painted black booty shorts and sweat soaked milky bare skin, all crowned by a wild mane of golden blond hair  like Daryl Hannah in Splash.  To get through his practice, you pretty much have to pass the Cirque Du Soleil auditions.  And while there were many things I just could not do,  I will continue to play with Edward on these cold winter days knowing that his influence on me ends there...I don't think I'll be teaching this stuff to my students.  Unless they promise to take full responsibility for getting hurt in class because they couldn't say "no" to the deathgrip of ego which pushes us to conquer all things that we should just say "NO" to.

(A side note for all students of yoga:  taking  full responsibility for your practice is a sign that you are advanced yogi. Blaming your yoga teacher for the "bad stuff"  that  happens in class OR attributing all the good stuff that happens to the holiness of your yoga teacher is plain stupid.   It is never the teacher's fault nor glory.  Your yoga teacher is your mirror.  Often, what you see is a projection of who YOU are.  Second side note: Unless a teacher has  their hands on your body, forcing you into a pretzel or  holding a gun to your head saying" DO this or Die," there is no way a yoga teacher ever makes you DO something.

But I digress.

Later that day,  a student  asked me what kind of yoga I teach. The great question. I hate this question.  I always want to say, I don't know and sometimes I do. And when I do, the result is  always a cock of the head, a squint and/or  feigned smile that says "oh- okay- uh-huh..."

So, I've learned to respond, as any human being does when they realize the discomfort of their listener and want to lessen their fear, in a "safe" way. Here;s my "safe" (some people call this "compassionate")  answer: "I've studied a lot of different styles of yoga with a lot of different teachers and  when I teach, I never know what part of my experience will enter. It all depends."  They still look at me, bewildered, and don't get it.  So then I go to the "safer" answer, as by this time, the temptation to make it all better has a deathgrip on me:  "I teach vinyasa flow yoga." The box is a bitch to crawl out of.

What I really want to say, if I were a perfect egoless being is :
Just come to class. If you like it , why worry about what its' called. If you don't like it, then it doesn't matter and you don't need to know.

It's always amazing to me that one teacher, Krishnamacharya, inspired such different styles.  This yogi was the heavyweight champion of yoga.  Here's a picture of him at age 99:

His  3 main disciples were:

Patabhi Jois (pronounced like Joyce),  founded astanga yoga, the vigorous, flowing style which led to the craze for power yoga (poster child: Baron Baptiste) and vinyasa yoga (poster child: Shiva Rea)in the west...  Jois teaches out of Mysore, India.  Astanga yogis are usually thin, Indie, and vegan.  They think people who practice other styles of yoga are wimps.  What I've learned from him is the wonderful joy of sweat, continuous movement and breath that create a static-free mind.





BKS Iyengar, the "Lion of Pune" is known for his fiery temper (don't let the smile and eyebrows fool you) and  teaches in Pune, India.  Iyengar Yoga is the style where they hold poses a long time, use a lot of props, and are obssessive about alignment.  Iyengar yogis are usually accomplished, militaristic, and neurotic.  They think people who practice other styles are hacks and frauds.
What I've learned the most from him is that alignment is necessary and to ignore it in your practice, means you might miss out on all that flexibility and coordination, balance, and spinal health you're coming to practice for.

Finally, "TKV." TKV Desikachar of Chennai,  who is Krishnamacharya's  son,  taught Gary Kraftsow (viniyoga's poster child-it is rumored that TKV and Gary hate each other now) and the famous philosopher Krishnamurti.  Viniyoga is by far the least commercially successful style of the three, and I don't know enough to make  generalizations as I have above, about viniyoga followers.  However, I have read TKV's book, The Heart of Yoga, a thousand times and it continues to spark reflection and new questions. What I learned the most from him, and took away from the whole thing, is this: every person has a different body history, so there is no way that every person can ever be in one yoga class and be "doing"  the same thing. His motto is basically that every person requires something different, so as a teacher, you  better offer a smorgasbord. You never know who's going to need what. This makes sense to me and I remind myself of this every time I teach OR practice.

Tensions run high among the three disciples, each claiming to represent the true teachings of the master.  Perhaps some day there will be a cage fight on MMA to settle it once and for all.

~Madame Buddhassah, aka k.groark