Amrita 6: Asana through the ages - Magazine - Page 22
Not so
Macho,
Man?
How are masculinity and femininity
presented in yoga now? A look into
some current and future notions of the
gendered self in yoga asana teaching
IN THE EARLY 20th century women played a key role in the
development of asana in the West, however most influential
yoga teachers were men. Women now make up 75% of the
world’s yoga teachers and trainers, this article offers one perspective on how these phenomena may be influencing today’s
western, mainstream asana practice.
Donna Farhi writes in her 2006 book ‘Teaching Yoga’, that a
yoga teacher teaches a state of being, a way of living, which by
necessity is intrinsic to the teacher. Farhi goes on to say that for
these reasons it is difficult to separate the professional life from
the personal. I could not agree more, and this notion has been
the fulcrum of my own lived teaching experience. Therefore,
what a yoga teacher or teacher trainer’s personal perspective
is, directly impacts and influences their teaching and ultimately
their presentation of yoga asana teachings to yoga students.
I have perceived over the last few years a stronger prevalence in asana practice shifting towards a preference for stillness and physical acquiescence rather than dynamic physical
force. Further, teachers’ explicitly inscribing stillness as synonymous with the feminine and concurrently the dynamic synonymous with masculine. Moreover, a synonymity extending to a
field of yoga practice where a privileged understanding of the
feminine and a dubious positioning of the masculine is becoming unchallenged.
20 AMRITA Issue 6 / Spring 2021
