Yoga in the U.S.: A New Perspective | Meenakshi Vishwanath

[00:00:00] Speaker A: But you also, you were also kind of observing some differences between the yoga that you were familiar with, you know, from growing up in the United States and how it was presented or how it was practiced here in the United States. Would you may be able to maybe speak to that a little bit in terms of some of the similarities or differences? [00:00:19] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah. No, the similarities were there, of course, you know, because I think the Surya Namaskar is the Surya Namaskar. And so I again, it was, you know, I was pleasantly surprised to see, you know, the Surya Namaskar as I knew it being practiced as I could, you know, remember it from many years ago. The Sanskrit names that were being used, differences like Chaturanga. Had never heard of chaturanga. So I was like, I don't know what that is, you know. And so I would look around and I'd see what people were doing. And, and of course, you know, the. I think the thing which really stood out is people were doing various things and there was nobody like going about correcting them. Whereas in India it was a little bit more prescriptive. You were, you know, adjusted often or you were told you were doing, you know, your knees had to be straight or your toes, toes had to be one way or the other and people were doing either way and, you know, it was okay. And I wondered, is it because we had too many people in this hall? Later I came to know, you know, there is some freedom. Whereas in India it was a little bit more prescriptive. Even to the extent that this is where we stop and you all sip some water. You know, we were even told, we were given instructions even, you know, at which point we stop, at which point we sip water or, you know, go into child's pose and stuff like that. It, it was, it was interesting. And I think the other interesting thing was again, it was probably one of my co residents or one of, you know, one of the orthodontic residents a year or two below me who is like, asked me about Ashtanga, like, do you practice Ashtanga? And I asked him, what's that? You know, I have been practicing yoga for so long, I have no idea what Ashtanga is. And when I read it up, I realized it was a very specific form of yoga which was brought to the US and therefore in India have. I think yoga is more known as yoga from Mysore or Iyengar Yoga or, you know, something like that. I don't think Ashtangavi, all of these for me. Or maybe it's just my Ignorance, things I learned in the United States. It was not something that I was familiar with in India. [00:02:36] Speaker C: Yeah. [00:02:37] Speaker A: Yeah. It's interesting how it shows how kind of like, complicated and multi threaded it is. You know, how you can have this export from India to another part of the world that even, like, people from that same country aren't super familiar with for whatever reason. [00:02:54] Speaker B: Yeah. I understood the word Ashtanga. Ashtanga, you know, the eight limbs, which was Patanjali's original. But I didn't realize, you know, it had been termed as a form of yoga, which I think is specific to Pattabhi Joy. I think that's what I read. [00:03:12] Speaker A: Yeah. And I liked how you're touching on these differences in terms of kind of what the conventional norms are for the lack of better way to describe it in terms of how, you know, the type of teaching or instruction might be, you know, a little more precise. I believe the word you used maybe a little bit more strict, you know, maybe more specific expectation. And then thinking about how, especially in modern times in the US there's a lot of emphasis, like, on individual preferences, you know, or space. Like, as Gina is another, like, teacher and practitioner in the States for a long period of time. Like, what do you think of this, like, comparison? [00:03:50] Speaker C: Yeah, I think it's really interesting because. And I don't know if this is how it is in India, if teachers are getting, like, a pretty intense anatomy in their. In their teacher trainings. But, like, one thing I've noticed in teacher trainings in the US is that as a teacher. Well, when I first started teacher training, we had a small anatomy section. We talked about, you know, compression and tension and orientation in the body. But as I got deeper into teacher training, anatomy became this, like, very intense study of, like, oh, we need to, like, know how bones are shaped. And I think it's really interesting because, like, in a forward fold, say, I'm doing that seated. I don't have a lot. I don't have a lot of flexibility in that, but if I'm standing, I do and that. And so I just find it interesting. And I don't know if maybe you could speak to this.