Between ADD and OCD · 17 July 2008

I am really ok with a little open disagreement. Seems like healthy exercise for not taking things personally—and not making them personal. Also, it ups the ante on figuring things out and makes for quick learning.

That said, this last thread on whether ashtangis practice something beyond asana is the most elementary thing this blog has ever seen. Conduct the primary series one thousand times and make your own brilliant deductions, Watsons.

Meantime, time for the semi-annual confab on the next tagline for ashtanga yoga. Everyone here? Here are some new ones to surface in recent weeks.

Ashtanga Yoga. Yes We Can! (From Katie, who just got Ekapadabakasana.)

Ashtanga Yoga. The breathing practice with guts. (A quislingism of 0v0 and the LadyGoverNess.)

Certified Teachers. Emotionally secure. So you don’t have to be.

Authorized Teachers. Preserving the letter of the law. So the spirit may live on.

            Or on second thought,

Authorized Teachers. Preserving the letter of the law. Whatever that is.

The one we settled on last time was just

Ashtanga Yoga. Shut up.

But my favorite is still

Ashtanga Yoga. Reviving the grail quest one true believer at a time.

Back to the authorized teachers taglines, maybe the first one would help all of us to accept these legalistic souls who are hyper-identified with the ashtanga brand and anxious to have you know they have "the blessing," like to talk about the (um) sacrifices involved in being a yoga teacher, and incidentally will have you know that’s not the correct vinyasa for Prasarita C. Authorized teachers are the footsoldiers of the code, the Knights Templar to the Certifieds’ Illuminati. It falls to them to keep the faith intact in a sea of anus-shiva-power-xtn yoga, which can manifest as a sea of maya. Brave quixotic knights, they are. Their generation has difficult role to play.

What do you do? Somebody’s got to fixate on the individual trees in the forest. What we tend to think of as insecure legalism also keeps the lineage coherent. In this sense, the “authorized” vibe is our Julia Butterfly. 

Posted by (0v0)        
Categories: astanga yoga , crypto-Hegelianism , evolution , integration , markets-networks-society , self-deception , social theory

Comment

1. Hmmm… this is good. I’ve been thinking I need to come to class in some punked out, low-budget yoga-print wifebeaters. I’ve been thinking the follwoing tagline would be pretty cool.

   Eight limbs down, and now… it’s Miller time.

   Posted by: Carl · Jul 17, 01:52 PM · #

2. How about…

   Ashtanga Yoga, shut the fuck up.

   You know, for Laksmi. She likes to cuss more than me.

   Excuse me, I’m off to find my bliss.

   Posted by: Susan · Jul 17, 04:23 PM · #

3. I think all of those should be made into bumper stickers. I may have to steal “Ashtanga Yoga. Shut Up” – it says it all.
   So much to laugh about after that last, exhausting blog entry. Thanks for posting!

   Posted by: Liz · Jul 17, 05:28 PM · #

4. or

   “want getting authorized?” how many rupees you got?”

   Posted by: bindifry · Jul 18, 01:33 AM · #

5. I think it goes without saying that my favorite remains “Ashtanga Yoga. Shut up.”

   Posted by: R · Jul 18, 09:24 AM · #

6. purrrrr :-D

   Posted by: V · Jul 18, 11:39 AM · #

7. I like Bindifry’s answer.

   “Why are you talking?” is something C says to me sometimes, when I start to babble nervously during practice. This mainly happens before or after Chakra Bandasana.

   Posted by: boodiba · Jul 19, 02:23 PM · #

8. Yes. The shut-up works best. But it works for all disciplines.
   The Grail Quest only works for those that have read Joseph Campbell, but it expands the question of ‘what is ashatanga?’ beyond its normal confines…
   How about Ashtanga Yoga – We can rebuild you
   Who remembers Steve Austin anyway?

   Posted by: Gregor · Jul 21, 09:05 AM · #

9. I had to google Steve Austin. Nice. This introduces the question of which superhero embodies the ethos of this practice.

   I have an answer for that, as I put it to an ashtanga bro this morning. He mangled his knee in a Saturday bike accident, and today it looks like a weeks-old little scratch. Ashtanga inspires Wolverine-level healing energies. But only after it breaks you open.

   Ashtanga Yoga: We can rebuild you... or better

   Ashtanga Yoga: Creative Destruction Made Fun

   Posted by: (0v0) · Jul 21, 10:34 AM · #

10. Ashtanga needs a certain level of sacrifice, of asceticism, so in hero terms, it is totally more Die Hard than, say, Commando. Dude, you had to Google Steve Austin? Am I THAT much older than you are? Do you think Iron Man fits? I find Batman’s dark side to not quite be appropriate. The Hulk also does not fit. Hmmm.

    Posted by: patrick · Jul 21, 07:37 PM · #

11. Inspired by a shala mate last Sunday:

    Ashtanga yoga – turning you into a splattered tomato

    Posted by: V · Jul 23, 05:40 AM · #

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