An Example of a Bold Conjecture · 11 June 2008

People who do this practice are allergic to fakey-fake peace and love not because they hate the idea of love but because the fake stuff cheapens the unavoidable, inconvenient, uncalled-for all-out love that practice begins to generate. Practitioners get the idea that this seemingly hard-won love is special, and get pretty good at spotting its cheap imitation. They get a little secretive about this aspect of their experience, because it is the best part and feels worth protecting.

So for all the salience of resistance, insecurity and frustration—for all the sharp edges—in the ways we talk about the yoga, the mainspring of practice is the addictiveness of the inimitable, irreducible high it generates.

And, ultimately, the experience that speaks to our intuitions to tell us we are doing something right is nothing other than embodied love.

Posted by (0v0)        
Categories: astanga yoga , having a body

Comment

1. i almost hate to say it, because it does feel like a big secret, but you are absolutely right, and i’ve never seen it expressed quite as wonderfully, thanks owl:)

   Posted by: eeyore · Jun 11, 08:47 PM · #

2. Again, agreed. What’s worth noting about “fakey-fake,” though, is that it’s in HOW a class is run (I find) and NOT explicitly with “type of yoga” done. I’ve seen “ashtanga” done in a fakey-fake way too, and I’ve seen at least one vinyasa flow class done in a quite real, embodied-love way. Interesting stuff.

   Posted by: patrick · Jun 12, 04:16 AM · #

3. This reminds me, when it comes to teachers, though… freaky negativity that excuses itself as “I was just being honest” might do better to remain silent…

   Posted by: (0v0) · Jun 12, 11:58 AM · #

4. Hi (0v0)
   The practice creates a high and feelings of love – yes, those are great observations.
   Cheers,
   Arturo

   Posted by: arturo · Jun 12, 07:02 PM · #

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