Diane’s Philosophy On Yoga

Over the past  20 years she has learned about the effects of a long term practice, to learn more about her views on the topic this 20 min video part of the WAWADIA PROJECT tells the story.

 Diane’s Yoga teacher Training program is a reflection of her evolution, based on experience and science based evidence.Diane  started practicing Ashtanga believing that it was the highest most effective style of yoga practice, only to discover that it was in fact only suitable for a small minority of the population for a limited amount of time.  Having gone through a long and painful period of disillusionment that included dealing with stage 3 breast cancer diagnosis and leaving Downward Yoga that she co founded, she has come through her journey with a new vision for Yoga.

Yoga is for everyone. You do not  have to  be young, athletic, hyper-mobile, or obsessive. Yoga is for anyone who is seeking inner peace, balance and self knowledge. The yoga postures are an opportunity to indulge in these desires. The side effects of doing the postures are you will become stronger and more flexible, these side effects are an added bonus.

Many yoga classes and traditional sequences are based on teachings from India that were made popular just over 100 years ago, when the Indian government  decided that the teachings of yoga should be made popular to  the general public, in particular the youth of India at the time. Ashtanga Yoga  as we know it today in the west is the outcome of that government initiative. The practice was designed for adolescent boys, it’s really no wonder that it’s not a suitable practice for most middle aged women, which constitute the largest demographic of yoga practitioners in the west.

Diane’s teacher training program is designed to teach people how to teach absolute beginners who have no prior  knowledge of Yoga. The program in not based on old traditions that do not suit the needs of Western practitioners. There is no authority other than your own experience. Trusting that a system  designed for adolescents will meet the needs of middle aged women is absurd. Many aspects of the old system have been revised to meet the reality of the practitioners living now.

The yoga of the future will not look anything like the yoga at the turn of the century. Everything is in constant flux, our knowledge of the body based on scientific evidence, is constantly being rewritten. What we think we know today will become old news tomorrow. The medical imaging available to us today is advancing our ability to truly understand the effects of certain postures that are practised in in most yoga classes. Some of these postures have no redeeming qualities and should be eliminated from the repertoire, replaced with other postures and movements that actually enhance functional movements of daily life.

Diane has been considered by many to be a pioneer and innovator. This next chapter in her life is a continuation of her quest to enhance, expand, and question the status quo.