names are being taken; lists are bei

[Guest guest]

oh go on then, stick me down

[Guest guest]

please add yourself for the following

crimes:<br><br>1. insulting guruji's judgement by accusing a

teacher who he has authorized to teach (swenson) of being

a criminal.<br><br>2. repeatedly violating the

principles of ahimsa and satya in guruji's name without his

permission.<br><br>3. having become boring and

predictable.<br><br>love,<br>yomama

[Guest guest]

Will this list be something a wandering sadhu

should carry to make certain when visiting the local

ashram that none of the above are present? <br><br>Will

the criminals have any distinctive markings so that

they are readily apparent to the uninitiated?

<br><br>"I learn that many propagators of Yoga say some

asanas like Purnamatsyendra Asana [sic] will give rise

to Hernia and other diseases... But I think such

people do not know the A B C D of Yoga. Hernia and other

diseases may be caused if the concerned Asanas are done

incorrectly; but not otherwise"<br><br>from a 1975 yoga

seminar by the Guru, speaking on Yoga Criminals to

come...<br><br>Yours in Yoga

[Guest guest]

"Hernia and other diseases may be caused if the

concerned Asanas are done incorrectly; but not

otherwise."<br><br>Such as extreme backbends, which have caused some

astanga yogis to suffer hernia. <br><br>Who knows what is

incorrect and what is correct? Believe me, the best

authority for what's correct you for is YOU...and no one

else -- not even Certified 5 star teachers, who may

coax you to do more and more, and then lay the blame

on you when you get injured. I speak from

experience.

[Guest guest]

It is unfortunate that any teacher would induce

you to injure yourself. However, only the truly weak

would then blame the student, hopefully you've healed.

You are correct in accepting responsibilty for your

practice.<br><br>The above quote was only to illustrate Senor's point

of the unqualified claiming they are, truly a

criminal act.<br><br>Yours in Yoga,

[Guest guest]

If there was any misunderstanding, it was on my end. Hope that you and the

other longtime practioners keep posting here.

[Guest guest]

"1. insulting guruji's judgement by accusing a

teacher who he has authorized to teach (swenson) of being

a criminal."<br><br>The above statement is false.

Believe it or not, Swenson is not authorized by guruji.

IMHO, he is a fine teacher worth learning from anyhow.

There are tons of great unauthorized teachers out

there. If one is completely anal about this impossible

"authorization," than one should just go straight to guruji and

live there for 3-10 years to get the authorization

themselves. You can count the "authorized" teachers in this

world on 2 hands. Good luck finding them and staying

with them for any length of time.

[Guest guest]

"Believe it or not, Swenson is not authorized by

guruji."<br><br>But why then is David Swenson listed in the "classes"

section of Betty Lai's Ashtanga.com site? As far as I

know, only "authorized" teachers have the chance of

getting a place on Betty's list.

[Guest guest]

Who authorizes? What is the criterion for the authorization? Is it mere

attending the class like a sheep and get authorized?

[Guest guest]

Didn't you tell us in an earlier post that Sri Jois is your uncle? I guess you

should know better, then.

[Guest guest]

There's an informative thread on this topic on

ezboard:<br><br><a

href=http://pub42.ezboard.com/fyoga84291frm5.showMessage?topicID=11.topic

target=new>http://pub42.ezboard.com/fyoga84291frm5.showMessage?topicID=11.topic<\

/a><br><br>Senor, why do you consider David Swenson to be a

criminal? What are your criteria for criminality?

[Guest guest]

shining_skull think for once. Even though you

have almost zero experience with ashtanga yoga even

you should know better than to post such dumb

messages.<br>Do you never learn from your past experiences ?

[Guest guest]

....and why does John Scott, one of the leading

advocates for the only-those-sanctioned-by-Guruji

should-teach, list It's Yoga in the back of his book? I forget

who else he lists there, I only just saw the book for

the 1st time today and didn't buy it.<br><br>Scott's

book is very good I think, but I couldn't help but

notice that his way is somewhat different from what

other Certified teachers are teaching. I don't know of

any 2 who present 1st series in exactly the same way.

<br><br>Swenson is as good a teacher as most any who are

Certified. The same can be said of many astanga teachers in

SoCal, practicing 3rd series and beyond, that I've never

seen on anyone's list.<br><br>I also know of longtime

astangis teachers who have great practices, but in either

adjustments or leading classes, their teaching skills leave

something to be desired.<br><br>Well, such is life! Even in

the FBI and the CIA.

[Guest guest]

Just because someone is listed does not mean they

are certified by Guruji. There are 8 from the US on

the list who are certified. Here's the

criteria:<br><br><a href=http://ashtanga.com/criteria.html

target=new>http://ashtanga.com/criteria.html</a><br><br>I know a few teachers

who are "blessed" to teach

first series and the criteria for that is pretty

intense. They are all fine teachers.

[Guest guest]

Hey Pinchey, what about Baron Baptiste ? I recall

that you once said that this man was a yoga criminal

but I see that he is no longer on your list. Does

this mean that it is safe to go along to his classes

?<br>mc brahma

[Guest guest]

I noticed in the most recent yoga journal that Baron Baptiste is advertising

heavily: multiple full-page ads. Has anyone here gone on one of his junkets?

[Guest guest]

Let us call them yoga-based con men and women, and petition Congress to pass

laws protecting poor unsuspecting spinal columns from their evil scams.

[Guest guest]

Georgiayogi - aren't you confusing "authorized"

with "certified"?<br><br>David Swenson is not

certified - not because he isn't worth it, but because I

think he simply doesn't care about being certified. But

certainly, contrary to what you stated in the post I replied

to, DS *is* authorized from Guruji to teach, isn't

he? That was my point.<br><br>(Oh and I apologise to

Spokeymonkey in advance for posting my dumb message. I guess

not everyone here is such an experienced astanga yogi

as you obviously are.)

[Guest guest]

Please add my name to the list.<br><br>Anonymous

posting has its advantages - it allows some people to

reveal personal experiences that for varying reasons

they might want to hide from the general

public.<br><br>Unfortunately, it also gives cowards and chickenshits a forum to

slander others in an unaccountable fashion.<br><br>It is

rather bewildering, given SPW's obvious experience with

Ashtanga.<br>Given a choice between the company of "Yoga criminals"

and the kind of people who debase the discourse,

slander others, and abuse the anonymous posting option on

these lists, I'll take the "yoga criminals" any day of

the week.<br><br>Alan Little's comment - ie. why

didn't SPW voice his opinion to Swenson directly? (7931)

- can be appreciated - the answer, obviously, is

that SPW hasn't the courage of his

convictions.<br><br>After a long absence, you've decided to grace us with

your presence and lower the discourse on this list

another notch. <br><br>What a

bore.<br><br>Cheers,<br><br>DAN

[Guest guest]

Oops, the self-proclaimed astanga genius I was addressing in brackets in my last

post was yogapunk from Switzerland of course, not "Spokeymonkey". Sorry.

[Guest guest]

Well Senor <br><br>Having just got back after a

National Holiday weekend, I see that your post has

generated a lot of comment. But I have two

questions:<br><br>First, I may be a liitle dense or maybe suffering from

sunstroke after a glorious weekend out-of-doors, but I

cannot see that connection between your list of "Yoga

Criminals" and the post of mine that you responded to. Would

you be so kind as to explain the connection?

Thanks.<br><br>Second, the idea of yoga criminals and authorization,

implies ownership. Surely, no one is claiming ownership

here. It was bad enough to usurp the name 'astanga

yoga' from Patanjali. (But then again all forms of

hatha yoga are astanga yoga.) Is the next move, an

attempt to patent and trademark the asanas and a

particular sequence of postures? Would it not be ironic if

one of your 'Yoga Criminals' did the patenting and

trademarking, then you would be the 'Yoga

Criminal'.<br><br>Looking forward to your response.<br><br>Omprem

[Guest guest]

tell us again how you rose to the top of the sivananda organization practicing

only twelve asanas.