I have to disagree on the other reviewers point of view.
To me this documentary was not only snippets thrown together, not only about finding the "truth" about the origins of yoga, but more like how the world tends to be: There is no truth to be found, at least not an objective one. There are only stories, memories, assumptions and approximations - you have to make up your own mind.
So this documentary really mimics life and the way we receive knowledge, imho. It is a calm documentary, without drama, without the usual western yoga hype and without the western (usually US) esoteric jabber, which I loathe. One gets a feeling for Sri T. Krishnamacharya - the real person, not the guru - and also for the contradictions, that surrounds him. The footage this movie contains is very precious, as Krishnamacharya's best known students Jois and Iyengar, but also a lot of his children were being interviewed. Jois has already died since then and the others are also very old - very precious indeed, as you hear details, that might have been lost otherwise.
The little snippets on the different yoga styles shown through their guru's teachings I also found very interesting. To see B.K.S. Iyengar instruct the "old German" (= the director of the documentary Jan Schmidt-Garre) on Sirsasana is extremely impressive. I have to confess, that I have a love-hate-relationship to Iyengar and yoga, but you really can observe Iyengar's deep knowledge about the human body and also his humour and his big heart.
It's not your everyday documentary and I want to thank Schmidt-Garre for making it; also for not telling me from the off what the message or the "original yoga style" is, but leave it like it has unfold in front of him. Maybe the "quintessence" of the docu really is only 5 minutes long, but this didn't matter to me, because it was the ride I enjoyed.
Highly recommended.
To me this documentary was not only snippets thrown together, not only about finding the "truth" about the origins of yoga, but more like how the world tends to be: There is no truth to be found, at least not an objective one. There are only stories, memories, assumptions and approximations - you have to make up your own mind.
So this documentary really mimics life and the way we receive knowledge, imho. It is a calm documentary, without drama, without the usual western yoga hype and without the western (usually US) esoteric jabber, which I loathe. One gets a feeling for Sri T. Krishnamacharya - the real person, not the guru - and also for the contradictions, that surrounds him. The footage this movie contains is very precious, as Krishnamacharya's best known students Jois and Iyengar, but also a lot of his children were being interviewed. Jois has already died since then and the others are also very old - very precious indeed, as you hear details, that might have been lost otherwise.
The little snippets on the different yoga styles shown through their guru's teachings I also found very interesting. To see B.K.S. Iyengar instruct the "old German" (= the director of the documentary Jan Schmidt-Garre) on Sirsasana is extremely impressive. I have to confess, that I have a love-hate-relationship to Iyengar and yoga, but you really can observe Iyengar's deep knowledge about the human body and also his humour and his big heart.
It's not your everyday documentary and I want to thank Schmidt-Garre for making it; also for not telling me from the off what the message or the "original yoga style" is, but leave it like it has unfold in front of him. Maybe the "quintessence" of the docu really is only 5 minutes long, but this didn't matter to me, because it was the ride I enjoyed.
Highly recommended.