The Art of Yoga
Consider the warrior poses
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The practice of art parallels the practice of yoga in many ways – for practitioners of both art and yoga, process is central. Integrating these two practices, I started to work life-size to be as physical in the image making as I am in the yoga.
In seeking to express the vastness and intensity of the yoga experience I created a series of images, some life size and some larger. I started with life size tracings of my own body and then substantially developed those tracings, sometimes largely obscuring the original line.
The images that emerged were of a physical body intensely integrated into the environment. In practice we do not see the environment as much as we feel it. It can feel neutral or it can feel dark or light, mobile or static, safe or dangerous. Consider the warrior poses. They embody the balance, focus and fierceness of the warrior. One interpretation of the myth of the warrior Virabhadra is that the ultimate battle is with the limiting or negative tendencies of the mind.
I have been a student of Iyengar yoga since 1989 and a teacher since 2003. It is a bedrock, a practice for life. It is for the body when it is tired, for the mind when it is messy, for the spirit when it is low. It is a way to manage energy and an endless resource.
TEACHING YOGA at Springwood www.springwoodyogastudio.com.au
At Blue Mountains Iyengar Yoga Studio www.bmyogastudio.com.au