Science, Myth, Anatomy, Fascia & Yin Yoga

Science, Myth, Anatomy, Fascia and Yin Yoga with Bernie Clark

Science can have many different meanings. We see this plainly in references to "the science of yoga," which might point to methodologically rigorous studies or fanciful – and perhaps deeply meaningful – stories about anything and everything in life. We can also appreciate that such stories can be usefully understood and applied in our lives as myths, much as suggested in the work of Carl Jung, Joseph Campbell, Sally Kempton, and in the tapestry of stories from the Upanishads, Bhagavad Gita, and Ramayana. 

In this episode, Mark Stephens and Bernie Clark discuss these topics both generally and in specific relation to new and different ideas about the human body, yoga practice, teaching yoga, and living a good life.

Highlights of the conversation include:

• Mark's 5-minute teaser, setting the table for thinking about science and myth.
• Bernie Clark's yoga journey to Yin Yoga.
• The contrast between the yoga of outer appearance and the yoga of inner experience, what Bernie calls functional yoga.
• How teachers and students engage in a dance around forms, feelings, and intentions in yoga practice.
• The development of new ideas about human anatomy, alternative "maps" in describing and understanding the body, and the proposal that a "fascial system" can be a useful map in practicing yoga.
• How new ideas can lead to new paradigms of knowledge or contribute to pseudoscientific distortions.
• How myth can inform and guide us along our various paths on and off the mat.
• Yin, yang, and diversity of human beings and beneficial practices.