yoga in the modern world

This morning’s practice was a bit different.  Saraswati walked around adjusting people while loudly giving me instructions from her location.  So she was essentially shouting at me from wherever she was standing.  I didn’t know whether to be embarrassed about being picked on or whether I should feel ‘special’ that though she was adjusting others, I commanded her attention more than anyone else in the room!  She reiterated that we need to go step by step through the sequence instead of randomly doing asanas.  And she ended with telling me that in the ‘led’ class this Sunday I can take two more asanas.

Lately, I’ve become increasingly interested in the philosophy behind yoga.  Not just traditional philosophy, but also the views and opinions that contemporary (and I use this word very loosely) teachers.  Yoga has changed over time.  And over the years teachers have understood the need for yoga to evolve.  Whether it is T. Krshnamacharya or BKS Iyengar or Pattabhi Jois, everyone has contributed to ‘modernizing’ yoga.  So for instance, T. Krishnamacharya started to teach women.  Pattabhi Jois has also categorically stated that now women can do all the asanas because now women are strong.  BKS Iyengar himself personally taught his daughter and granddaughter to carry on his legacy.  During my time here I’ve had the chance to meet and interact with people who are very deeply immersed in the practice.  Many are advanced practitioners and have been through a fair amount of yoga theory and philosophy.  It’s interesting to listen to their ideas. Yoga is evolving and there are many rules and conventions which are now obsolete.  It’s interesting to see how these young yogis are thinking and evolving and finding how to live their lives within the confines of the philosophy, yet by applying thought to it.  Here I find that people are endeavouring to find a way to live the most authentic life consciously by questioning and reasoning to conclusions.

As the year draws to a close, I’m wondering what lesson exists here for me to carry into 2016 with me…