Tedra Diaz
16 October 2003
English 101-28
Dr. Will Hochman
The Power of Yoga
THESIS
To the unfamiliar onlooker, it looks likes people twisting and bending in odd positions. I had similar thoughts of yoga before I experienced it and discovered it was a magical art form. Art can be expressed in many different ways. Some artists use paintbrushes or use musical instruments to create their works of art, but in yoga uses their own mind and body. The different and sometimes complex poses the artists create with their bodies may be intriguing to the eye, but the real magic of yoga is only experienced internally by the artist creating her work. Through the practice and study of yoga, artists enhance their strength, their self-awareness, and their sense of harmony.
CONCLUSION
Today’s society is fast pace, where a person's day is packed with classes, work, and appointments. There is a constant rush from one place to the next and it is easy for someone to get caught in the whirl wind that is sometimes created by life. Yoga is able to create the freedom to release one from a life that feels out of control . I think that Davis's photograph captures the strength and harmony that yoga gives to its' artists and it has encouraged me to make yoga become a larger part of my life. From her own experience with paintings, Winterson understands the necessity of one's time and effort when becoming familiar with arts and states, "Art is odd, and the common method of trying to fit it into the scheme of things, either by taming it or baiting, cannot succeed" (5).
OUTLINE
I. Overview of Photograph
Where is it from? (Twist on Yoga Calendar by Victoria Davis)
Why did I choose this photograph? (It captivates me, a strong woman, power of yoga)
Refer to Winterson
II. Photograph
Detail Description of photograph
The pose (name, describe woman's body, strength, balance and control that is displayed)
Nudity of photograph (shows her beauty, freedom)
Refer to Walker, "Beautifully I thought, about an art that would be born, an art would open the way for women," (qtd. In Walker)
Nudity of women in photography (magazines, internet, do not display freedom of women)
Quote from Rich, "man's power to dominate, tyrannize, choose or reject the women"
Refer to The (Nearly Naked Truth: Gender, Race, and Nudity In Life, 1937 (photos went with articles "prescribed certain standards of female appearance and behavior" (Flamiano 132)
III. The Artists
Who are the artists? ( history, men and women in today's society)
Describe today's society (stress, inequality)
Refer to National Study of the Changing Workforce (Shellenbarger D2)
IV. Influences of Yoga
Increased Strength--refer to Somethings Got to Help and Its Yoga
Describe what gains strength (physically, spiritual, mind )
How is strength enhanced? (practice of positions, positions meant for different parts of body, self-control)
Affect on artists life (more control of life, health)
Increased Awareness(connection between mind and body, experience of emotions, being in present)
Role of poses (physical, sitting, and the experience of each)
Refer to Lee, "It is an invitation to acknowledge the thoughts and emotions that arise when the body is a pretzel. It's an invitation to rest within the waves of mind, breath, and physical movement" (49)
Affect on life (feeling emotions that one doesn’t have words for)
Refer to Langer "Art objectifies the sentience and desire, self-consciousness and world consciousness, emotions and moods, that are generally regarded irrational because words cannot give us clear ideas of them" (90)
Increased sense of harmony (with oneself, with world)
How is this achieved? (Refer to Something’s Got to Help and Its Yoga on freedom from compulsions, right knowledge, acceptance and Union)
Refer to Bhagavad-Gita for teachings of viewing things with an equal mind "A person is said to be still further advanced when he regards all--the honest well wisher, friends and enemies, the envious, the pious, the sinner and those who are indifferent and impartial--with an equal mind" (Bg. 6.9)
Works Cited
Bhagavad-Gita 1998. Santosha. 16 Oct. 2003. <http:www.santosha.com/philosphy/gita.html>.
Herrick, Joy F. Something’s Got to Help-and Yoga Can. Philidelphia: J. B. Lippincott Company, 1974.
Flamiano, Dolores. "The Nearly Naked Truth: Gender, Race, and Nudity in Life," 1937. Journalism History 28. 3 (2002) 121-132. Humanities Index. First Search. Buley Lib., New Haven, CT. 14. Oct. 2003.
Langer, Susanne K. "The Cultural Importance of Art." Philosophical Sketches. Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins Press, 1962.
Lee, Cyndi. "Dancers center on yoga: breathing, alignment, and body awareness benefit many." Dance Magazine 77.11 (2002): 42-49. ICONN. Buley Lib., New Haven, CT. 13 Oct. 2003.
Rich, Adrienne. "When We Dead AwakenÓ Writing as Re-Vision." Ways of Reading. Ed Bartholmae, David and Anthony Petrosky. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2002.. 624- 650.
Shellenbarger, Sue. "Number of Women Managers Rises." Wall Street Journal 30 Sept. 2003.
Walker, Alice. "In Search of Our Mother’s Gardens" Ways of Reading. Ed Bartholmae, David and Anthony Petrosky. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2002. 657.
Winterson, Jeanette. Art Objects Essays on Ecstasy and Effrontery. NewYork: Vintage International, 1995.