Mr Skivlas writes
'Look, it’s Ashtanga that’s limited to naturally supple athletes! Not Bikram!'
Could I have done the pose you mention, Astavakrasana, back then when I started Ashtanga, nope, it's 3rd series, but after a few years practicing Ashtanga,...... I can now.
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13 comments:
I finally read most of that article - the grammar was driving me crazy! And the spelling - is 'elitest' with a second e an american spelling?
When he says 'which is elitist', does he not mean 'which is more elitist'? Surely they can both be construed/taught/practiced as elitist, if the assumption is that to do the practice 'properly' is to achieve the deepest varient of the pose, or do it to the exact breath count, or whatever.
He also seems to confuse 'elite athletes' with 'naturally supple athletes'. I am the latter, I am definitely not the former!
Basically he sums things up here:
'But Ashtanga did NOT work for my body.', but I'd suggest that he should also add 'or for my mind'.
Why does there have to be comparison and competition? Newsflash. Different people like doing different things. His replies to many of the comments suggest that he didn't mean to be 'bashing' ashtanga, so I guess I should give him the benefit of the doubt and imagine that (as I so often do) he's just expressed himself poorly.
The one thing it really seems like he did not like about asthanga was all the forwards but, and excuse me it this is unorthodox, you can always hold some upward facing dogs before doing your jump through (this was suggested by David Williams). Maybe he was only talking about led primary and not mysore classes.
Ha! Love it! Perfect response to that crazy article yesterday.
Wow, yogic fundamentalism. Been enjoying the heated talk in the blogsphere;)
Oh and was talking about the other post by sklivas..
Haha. Well played, Grimm. I haven't read the article yet, but read Nobel's response yesterday.
I was the only kid in school who couldn't do a cartwheel, never considered myself an athletic person. Now I do all kinds of craziness on my mat every day.
Seems to me you just add a little (or a lot of) daily asana practice (doesn't matter what kind), and voila! You get a strong, healthy body. No mystery. The only people who are weeded out by this "elitist" athletic practice are the lazy ones.
Like Megan, I could never do a cartwheel, or a handstand or a backwards roll . . The only thing I could do was swim, because a)it's not possible to fall over and b) the water holds your weight, so you don't have to. Ashtanga ha made me so much stronger and more 'athletic'. And I still have a body that to most would look like the 'before' picture. Doesn't stop me binding Mari D (lack of practice might do though!).
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I saw the article at Ele, did not even want to spend prana commenting.
LOVE your response Grimmly, think I could find some videos of my own too...
You know? I think he did come to his senses in the comments in the end, said that in the future he would be more thoughtfull or something, God bless him.
It was an awkward article, clearly a heated spur of the moment response to a perceived attack on his beloved bikram style.
Bit foolish to say you had to be an elite supple athlete to practice Ashtanga and then show a picture of somebody doing a 3rd series posture. Wanted to show that despite some the fancy stuff I might do now, I could hardly touch my shins when I started.
I have a soft spot for these old video's, found them on an old phone, I giggle fondly all the way through at the effort I was putting in as if it's somebody else, laughing out loud at my attempts to get in bakasana (2nd series) after just a month, sure I was feeling very pleased with myself.
And yet I kind of feel he has a point too. Ashtanga is tough love if your really out of shape. Yes you can take it easy, work slowly through standing and finishing poses, gradually building up fitness as you lose a little weight. Yes anyone CAN do ashtanga but perhaps other styles are more suited to ease you into practice. Vinyasa Krama and it's flexibility obviously comes to mind.
It worked for me and my temperment but I'm sure there are a lot of others who end up running a mile after the first couple of practices, there is a discussion there somewhere, probably an important one.
thanks for all your comments.
Wow you lost so much weight!!
There was one time a Bikram person "got me" I have to admit. I'd gone to take a class with a friend of mine who wanted company. She asked why I hadn't been since a previous time a year before and I said I practice Astanga. Actually I probably said, "I'm an Astangi". Her response? "How are your joints?"
Ha! Got me there. But I didn't admit it.
"Ashtanga is tough love if your really out of shape." That's the thing. If you can't do all the poses "right" right away, you might feel frustrated, you might be in a rush to do cool poses, you might feel that other people are judging you for being too fat, weak, inflexible or whatever. But that's not inherent elitism of the practice -- no qualified teacher would tell you to stop practicing. It comes from your ego. Working with those feelings is supposed to be part of the practice, in my understanding -- there will always be someone "better" than you, you have to work on accepting your practice as it is.
Nice point Emily '...But that's not inherent elitism of the practice'. Ashtanga has always seemed very inclusive to me but the you have that little maxim 'everyone can do this practice...except lazy people'. There probably is a degree of elitism in ashtanga but not where Peter Sklivas points at.
mola bandha
ujjayi and...
...all is coming
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