Art and Yoga
I am an artist (and a writer) as well as a yoga teacher and it is not easy to manage these two occupations, not because of the activities involved but because of the contexts, circles, times and spaces in which they take place. I often cannot attend events because they are too late in the evening and I get up early to attend to my sadhana (of course, there are always exceptions, as yoga is about balance and integration). I have had people asking me to put them on my mailing list, to be baffled by the yoga content, which does not apply to them (I only have one mailing list, a yoga one!). Yet, I have felt for a while that these two realms are mutually supportive, already integrated in my mind-body. But how to transmit that?
A few days ago, I discovered that the artist Adrian Piper (one of my favourites) had reconstructed her wikipedia page on her own website as she felt the one on the usual site was inaccurate. She took the opportunity to also add sections answering questions she was often asked. This is a screenshot of her page:
To her, her yoga practice underpins everything she does (as it should be, for it is a way of life). Knowing this, and the length and depth of the path she walked, her work makes yogic sense to me, especially pieces such as The Probable Trust Registry: The Rules of the Game #1-3 which was shown last year at the Hamburger Bahnhof in Berlin. Viewers were presented with three desks. On the wall, was a statement and they were asked to sign a contract if they felt they could abide by the statement.
I can see the invitation to exercise ahimsa (non-harm), discipline (tapas), self-study (svadhyaya), truthfulness (satya), among others and I take this as an inspiration to cultivate my own path, that of art and yoga. I will work to integrate Art and Yoga as my practice. And here, I am signing that contract.
