which the body is experienced as part of postural practice may refigure way of relating to one’s own body, producing relationships that are characterized by acceptance and one’s awareness, rather than by self-critique and endless aspiration toward externally-imposed more the body is and thereby mapped, the more detailed aesthetic standards: “The ‘explored’ the inner body awareness As a result of this increased to becomes.” “adapting social norms of beauty recedes to the background gradually while the communicative exchange between consciousness and the body is experienced as being more important. This establishes an opposition to discourses of encouraging a [in which] the aesthetics,” “counter-discourse increasingly defined through its Meanwhile, attentional body…is ‘inner’ functionality.” “the skills and nonordinary uses of the body that one acquires through yoga practice can be said to counteract detached and inflexible modes of empowering its practicioners both experiencing,” existentially and socially by producing the trust and solidarity required for the establishment of communities and collective action. Meanwhile, some Western teachers critique contemporary reinterpretations of the yogic tradition as replete with individually-modifiable for the consumer, often noting that “choices” the ethos of the pre-modern yogic tradition (at least as currently imagined in the West) was in fact rigorous, physically demanding, exacting, and forceful, requiring great physical stamina, capacity for exertion, and complete submission to the This is teacher’s instructions. demonstrated by the fact that the Sanskrit term in fact translates to or hatha-yoga “violent” are routinely told of legendarily authoritarian Indian teachers like “forceful exertion.” Stories Iyengar and Jois who were famous for their punitive and forceful teaching styles, sometimes employing forms of corporal discipline, such as aggressive physical adjustments designed to force students into particular postures, and even slapping and shouting at students. By invoking a more pre-modern form of practice putatively less wedded to the ethos of individual choice
which the body is experienced as part of postural practice may refigure one’s way of relating to one’s own body, producing relationships that are characterized by acceptance and rather than by self-critique and endless aspiration toward externally-imposed aesthetic standards: “The more the body is ‘explored’ and thereby mapped, the more detailed the inner body awareness becomes.” As a result of this increased awareness, “adapting to social norms of beauty recedes to the background gradually while the communicative exchange between consciousness and the body is experienced as being more important. This establishes an opposition to discourses of aesthetics,” encouraging a “counter-discourse [in which] the body…is increasingly defined through its ‘inner’ functionality.” Meanwhile, “the attentional skills and nonordinary uses of the body that one acquires through yoga practice can be said to counteract detached and inflexible modes of experiencing,” empowering its practicioners both existentially and socially by producing the trust and solidarity required for the establishment of communities and collective action. Meanwhile, some Western teachers critique contemporary reinterpretations of the yogic tradition as replete with individually-modifiable “choices” for the consumer, often noting that the ethos of the pre-modern yogic tradition (at least as currently imagined in the West) was in fact rigorous, physically demanding, exacting, and forceful, requiring great physical stamina, capacity for exertion, and complete submission to the teacher’s instructions. This is demonstrated by the fact that the Sanskrit term hatha-yoga in fact translates to “violent” or “forceful exertion.” Stories are routinely told of legendarily authoritarian Indian teachers like Iyengar and Jois who were famous for their punitive and forceful teaching styles, sometimes employing forms of corporal discipline, such as aggressive physical adjustments designed to force students into particular postures, and even slapping and shouting at students. By invoking a more pre-modern form of practice putatively less wedded to the ethos of individual choice
GodrejWPSA2015.docx