Yoga – What I Learned From Vanda Scaravelli

Description

I had been studying Yoga for twelve years with world famous Yoga teachers, as a wife with two children and working, when I realized I needed to stop tormenting my body and radically change something. At this point I turned to Vanda Scaravelli, a Yoga myth in Florence, and asked her to teach me. It was 1986.
In the twelve years that followed, I took notes after my lessons wanting to remember her observations as well as some personal exchanges with this remarkable woman, who not only changed my life but the lives of her other students.
The reader might wonder why it has taken me twenty-five years to write this book. In part, I didn?t realize how precisely I had recorded her words, which remain vivid and ever more valuable. Over time a great mystique and much confusion has arisen around what is understood to be the ?Scaravelli Method?. Given the definition of freedom within her method, having access to her precise words and the spirit of her approach seem crucial, before we, her last students, cease to be bridges.
I have grouped my notes according to theme, giving a title to each lesson. Photographs are included to add understanding to some of her explanations. The various lessons offer a view on how Vanda taught, touched, and illustrate a way to ?practice for pleasure and for fun? while incorporating ?our three friends: gravity, the wave, and breath”. ?You play the body and stay young? or ?Stop for a minute if you are tired of following the body. Wait, because it will ask for more.? She remains surprising and redefines practice, thus her “Revolutionary Yoga”.
Five classic Yoga positions (or asanas) with an illustrative photo of each one are explained including four Text Boxes which offer more detailed anatomical explanations. A lengthy section on the breath includes various classic breathing techniques.
Vanda Scaravelli’s words have the power to awaken new enthusiasm and understanding. With trenchant insights, and light-hearted ones, she reassures us that there is a way to respect oneself and one?s body, finding space and freedom.