Amy Andersen
Yoga documentaries are not instructional but offer inside looks to the practice of yoga past and present. A selection is reviewed below.
As yoga popularity increases, many films have been archived or created to tell the story of yoga. Although models, teachers, and actors have produced an abundance of DVDs to instruct in the basics of yoga along with online yoga classes and videos, this is a different film genre. These are films produced to display, explain, or discuss the many variances that compose yoga as opposed to how to videos. Some are beautiful and inspirational; others can put the viewer into a (un)welcome trance. All are informative on some level.
Documentaries about the History, Origin, Development, of Yoga
Some of these films are must see for yoga aficionados. This is a composite of some of the popular or interesting.
* Yoga Inc. (2006) discusses the dilemma of the affluence of yoga in the West and the tradition in the east, of the billion dollar business it has become. It does not reach the expose limits of other inc. genre films such as Food, Inc. or Medicine, Inc., but does touch on the economics of Western yoga and the early signs of competitive yoga, a contradiction in terms.
* Thread of Yoga, directed by Eric Wils, is filmed in India as it practiced when Westerners aren’t participating. The scenes and people are real allowing entry into a yogi practicing meditation on a deeper level than experienced by the average participant in Western yoga.
* Naked Yoga (1974) has been repeatedly shown over the years. It is not instructional but a fusion of naturism and yoga. The four practitioners are attractive young women, which imparts a voyeuristic quality . It has since inspired naked yoga classes for those who want to deepen their practice in that direction.
* Yoga Unveiled, by Gita Desai, accompanied by musical selections and mantras is a testimony of and to the many teachers of yoga in the west and India through photographic footage and archive films and interviews. It is considered a moving image encyclopedia of yoga.
* Yoga Gives Back isn’t the same as the previous films but consists of shorter film interviews with women in India who benefit from a micro-loan program of gifts or loans from the western practitioners to India, the home of yoga. It is a non-profit organization focused on the yoga community.
* Living Yoga, the Life and Teachings of Swami Satchidananda, directed by Shiva Kumar is an hour long documentary of how the teachings of yoga were brought to the west by the swami who became known as the Woodstock Guru in the 1960s. The film includes footage of many notables including Oprah, Peter Max, and Larry King.
Documentaries about Yoga Events and Personal Yoga Journeys
Both the famous and the unknown tell how they discovered yoga and what yoga means to them. The films are available although some of the less commercial ones may take some searching. Undoubtedly some have been missed and new ones are added frequently.
Read more at Suite101: A Review of Yoga Film Documentaries, Movies and DVDs about Yoga http://yogapilates.suite101.com/article.cfm/a-review-of-yoga-film-documentaries-movies-and-dvds-portray-yoga#ixzz0lgcYfJ3I
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