9 months ago
Eddie Stern Discusses Yoga, India, and Misconceptions
Eddie Stern is a famous yoga teacher who has taught many celebrities.
He talks about how yoga helped him find meaning in life and how he has a deep connection with India, where he visits often.
Eddie believes that yoga is much more than just physical exercises, like the poses people often see in magazines.
He thinks America has wrongly marketed yoga as just a workout for wealthy, white women.
Eddie explains that yoga is about quieting the mind and body to achieve a peaceful state.
He also shares his journey from a young boy in New York to becoming a respected yoga teacher with a strong spiritual connection to India.
Eddie Stern is a renowned yoga teacher known for instructing celebrities like Madonna, Gwyneth Paltrow, and Chris Martin.
He discovered yoga in 1986/1987 and has been visiting India since the late 1980s, where he feels a deep spiritual connection.
Eddie criticizes the American marketing of yoga, which he believes has reduced it to a physical exercise focused on young, fit bodies.
He emphasizes the traditional roots of yoga, highlighting the eight limbs of Ashtanga Yoga and the importance of quieting the mind and body.
Eddie views India as a place of transformation and working out karmas, contrasting it with America, where he believes people enjoy the fruits of their karmas.
- Who
- Eddie Stern, a renowned yoga teacher and author known for teaching celebrities like Madonna, Gwyneth Paltrow, and Chris Martin.
- What
- Eddie Stern discusses his spiritual journey, the traditional roots of yoga, and the misconceptions surrounding yoga in America.
- Where
- Eddie's journey includes New York, India (Bombay and Kerala), and various holy places in India.
- When
- Eddie discovered yoga in 1986/1987 and has been visiting India since the late 1980s.
- Why
- Eddie seeks to educate about the deeper, spiritual aspects of yoga and criticizes the commercialization of yoga in America.
Key facts
- Name
- Eddie Stern
- Occupation
- Yoga Teacher and Author
- Notable Students
- Madonna, Gwyneth Paltrow, Chris Martin
- First Visit to India
- Late 1980s
- Yoga Discovery
- 1986/1987
- Primary Teaching Focus
- Traditional Yoga Knowledge (e.g., Patanjali Yoga Sutras)
- Criticism of Yoga Marketing
- Misrepresentation of yoga as primarily physical exercise
- View on India
- Karma Bhumi and Tapas Bhumi (place of transformation and working out karmas)
Quotes
Eddie Stern
World-renowned yoga teacher and author
“The mind and body are a continuum; there's no distinction or separation between the mind and the body. So, something that happens in the mind, happens in your body. At the same time, something that happens to your body, happens to the mind. The mind is a substance. It's a field where, when ripples occur within it, those ripples are turning into things that we identify as thoughts or as memories. This entire physical frame is also the field of the mind. When you do asanas, you're quietening the body through an asana in order to quieten your mind. At the same time, it's not that you do an asana, so that later you can quieten the mind. You're quietening the physical field of mental manifestation. There's a process of quietening that you go through, so that at the end of an asana session, you've achieved a still point — a quiet point. You're not agitated; you're not exhausted.”
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“It's 100 per cent how they've marketed yoga, and 100 per cent why people have such misconceptions about it, and it's been going on for a long time. There has been marketing about yoga directed towards asanas since the mid 1900s or early 1900s where it was fetishized, you know, standing on your head or sitting in lotus or all these things. But now, it's much worse with yoga brands like Lululemon, all of these companies, and magazines like Yoga Journal, which have been very, very heavily focused on the presentation of young, beautiful, fit bodies. And this marketing has infiltrated society. I just object to the way that they have used yoga asanas as a sales pitch, and I think that it's done a lot of harm to the perception of yoga in the world. They have created the impression that yoga is for white, wealthy women.”
freepressjournal.in
