Week 164: Learning About Lineage

With lots to learn, my journey to become a yoga teacher has pushed me to explore many topics and ideas that have never crossed my path before. Particularly, historical learnings.

As a youth, history was one of my favorite classes in high school. Grade 11 history was an option and I rejoiced when I found out I had a seat. I don't love it in the way of facts, figures and dates but more so for the stories. Yoga history is not presented in your run of the mill high school curriculum, so it is a new story to learn.

Stories frame an experience.

A little unknown fact about me is that I have a large non-fiction collection of Holocaust survivorship books. It has been a topic I've read about since early teenage hood. Now, granted, you may be thinking, what the heck are you doing reading such horrific stories?! The only way I can describe it is that these real life stories bring perspective to mine. And that these people who perished were just that, people too. It is the least I can do now to honour those who perished.

With Canadian Remembrance Day coming in a month or so, it too reinforces how stories and history have shaped my world.

Now to yoga history.

Big topic here, yet I received a snap shot this week from Leslie...

Leslie Kaminoff pops into my email most weeks and when I saw the offer to watch one of his videos, I took the time to view it.

What I didn’t expect was to get a lesson on yoga history.

Bonus!

Being trained by T.K.V. Desikachar, Leslie reflects on the lineage he teaches from. T.K.V. Desikachar is the son of Sri Tirumalai Krishnamacharya or simply Krishnamacharya, who could be considered the modern grandfather of yoga. As I can’t say I know much about Krishnamacharya, what I did learn was that he was the primary teacher of yoga during the early 1900’s and he taught many of the other known leaders of yoga such as Pattabhi Jois (established Astanga yoga) and B.K.S. Iyengar and of course his son, T.K.V. Desikachar.

I’ve have always wondered about yoga lineage and how it all works together. It seems like Krishnamacharya made yoga something accessible and more common place during the previous century. I look forward to learning more about the most recent history of yoga as I just got my fingertips on T.K.V. Desikachar’s book. The Heart of Yoga.

I’ve got some interesting reading and research ahead.
LW