Interview with Darren Rhodes
I'm taking a break from sequence requests to post an interview with the incredible teacher and devoted yogi, Darren Rhodes. I first became familiar with Darren's work when I was practicing Ashtanga Yoga and saw a poster (mentioned in the interview) of Darren in various asana. It was inspiring (although definitely a bit intimidating, too). Darren continues to inspire with his new project, the Yoga Resource Practice Manual.
As per my usual interview format, I asked Darren three questions over email. The responses are directly copied below.
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| Headshot by milostudios.org |
1. Your newly released book, the Yoga Resource Practice Manual, will
include over 400 photos, instructions for 360 poses, reference material
as well as personal anecdotes a lot! What sparked you to create this
resource and who do you envision utilizing it?
The photos came first. In 2006 we did the initial photo shoot for the Penchant for Practice poster.
Although students benefited from seeing and even studying these forms
they often requested alignment instructions. The postures themselves are
like the what. The alignment instructions offer the how. And, the personal anecdotes often indicate the why (at least the why for me). The anecdotes also make the book feel more personal. Otherwise I feel like Yoga Resource would have been too technical and tough to read.
2. Dharma Mittra, who has also famously
provided photographs of hundreds of yoga postures, has discussed his
challenges with removing the ego from the asana. Did you find yourself
grappling with that same issue during the photography sessions?
Removing
the ego from the asana is an interesting perspective. My aim has always
been this: may students see the pose, not the person. I don't want
someone to see Darren Rhodes in Triangle pose. I just want them to see
triangle pose. So, I guess that's similar to wanting to remove the ego
from the asana. The way my ego shows up is in feeling like the pose
could have been better. Show me any pose in Yoga Resource and in
under 5 seconds I can tell you 5 things I'd like to change. Milo, the
photographer and graphic designer, is the same way. When he looks at the
photographs he sees how it could have shot it better. I think that's
just how it goes. The positive side of seeing the imperfection is that
it pushes us in the direction of perfection. For example, we have
reshot most of the initial photographs taken in 2006. So, this ongoing
project has pushed me to progress my practice like nothing else. That
said, I don't recommend that students strive towards a picture perfect
practice. I recommend that in practice students approximate these forms.
That's what I do when I personally practice. These poses are guides not
goals. And if they are goals, they are goals without destination.
3. I like to ask my interviewees the same final
question. What upcoming projects are you excited about? What is
inspiring you these days?
My
passion is yogahour which is an effective, affordable, and expertly
taught flow practice. I'm currently finishing up the yogahour teacher
training manual. In 2014 I will be teaching yogahour teacher trainings
throughout the United States, Canada, and Australia. These days I see
myself like an athlete that becomes a coach and finds that she or he is
more inspired about coaching than they ever were being an athlete. In
other words, I'm finding that teaching yogahour is more fulfilling to me
than my practice (my practice mainly benefits me whereas teaching
benefits many people). And, teaching keeps me in the game (on the mat).
I'm inspired to practice each day because it gives me insight into how
to better teach this practice to others.
The ebook of the Yoga Resource Practice Manual is available for iPad or
iPhone here, for Kindle or
Kindle Fire here, and for all
computers here. You can also take a quick look inside the book with these videos: http://youtu.be/