All the students who participated in the David Williams event last weekend seem to be bursting at the seams with new insights and inspiration. Here's what a couple of students had to say about the weekend:
Cedar, our Yoga Yoga bookkeeper, said:
I loved his philosophy of practice - Don't hurt yourself! I have hurt myself in Ashtanga Yoga a number of times and have been hurt by teachers; trying to figure out how to maintain an ongoing practice after these traumas has been difficult, even though I recognize all of the benefits of the practice. His words helped me start to reconcile these reservations, and begin to realize the benefits of the practice again. Endorphins! Stretching! Also, his stories filled in a lot of the gaps and reconciled some of the inconsistencies in the story of Ashtanga Yoga that I had been wondering about for a long time now...I think I have a greater respect for the spiritual tradition and the long history of the practice now. David Williams more or less encouraged us all to become students again--to investigate the practice for ourselves rather than obeying without question.
And Rachel, one of our Ashtanga teachers at Westgate, said this:
David Williams was a breath of fresh air for many of the Yoga Yoga Ashtanga studen, as he echoed lots of the alternative ideas they were secretly harboring on their mats. For others, his challenges of the long-accepted patterns and rituals of the very tradition that he was responsible for bringing to America, created unrest and discontent.
As a teacher and a student of Ashtanga, I have mixed emotions about David's visit. I was overjoyed that he, as senior teacher, broadened the minds of long-time practitioners who might otherwise continue down a blind path of injury. He not only made the practice accessible to people of all ages, but he also assured them of its changeability. His vim and vigor as he nears the age of sixty were a testament to his opinion. His overall appeal to those willing to accept his ideas was immense and I hope students do not simply trade one dogma for another (something he cautioned us against himself.)
The most important lesson for me was to use common sense and intuition. Teachers and disciplines serve only to put us all on a path that grows into our own. It is a mistake to follow a path without question. It is our job to decide the future of this style of yoga as it is now uncertain. And the more I learn about the entire world of yoga, the more I know that uncertainty is a good place to be.
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