Enlighten Up! It's a Movie!

I finally got an opportunity to view the documentary, Enlighten Up! This movie was recently released on DVD, and is available from Amazon.com. I, of course, made the mistake of purchasing the DVD from Amazon at $19.95 plus shipping, before realizing that it was available through my cable On Demand service for only $4.00. Needless to say, I will be returning that online purchase.

Filmmaker Kate Churchhill recruits Nick Rosen, a 29-year-old New Yorker, to be her guinea pig in a yoga experiment: Can yoga transform anyone in six months? Nick comes from an interesting background, with a shamanic healer mother and a corporate-looking criminal attorney father, and he seems somewhat skeptical of the claims of yoga, but ready to embark on this yoga journey!

The movie opens with a series of short clips of celebri-yogis giving quick answers to questions about what is yoga. Clearly, this is meant to demonstrate the wide range of opinions and viewpoints, as contradictions and differences readily arise.

Contradictions abound in this film as Kate and Nick travel around the United States and India, sampling yoga classes from all styles of yoga, including Bikram-style, Jivamukti, Iyengar, Ashtanga, Laughter Yoga, Dharma yoga, and many more. Nick connects strongly to the physical side of yoga, identifying the happiest moments of his life as arising through striving for physical fitness. However, Kate seems to be aiming for Nick to achieve her own agenda, pushing him to seek a more spiritual level to yoga that he doesn't seem to be comfortable with.

Even though the physical side of the practice most appeals to Nick, the teacher he is initially drawn to is not the one with the most physically demanding class. He connects with Dharma Mittra, the teacher in whose class he felt the most comfortable, whose world view was more closely aligned with his own, and who Nick felt emanated warmth and humor.

I find this interesting, because it shows that no matter what your goals are in yoga, even if they are just toning your body - that people matter. When Nick meets with David Life, David tells him that if he wants to get more out of yoga, to "surround yourself with a group of people who stimulate that burning desire." Fitting in with your community is an essential part of yoga - or any part of life. When you feel connections with other people, you are more likely to grow as a person yourself.

When pressed about the spiritual quest that Kate wanted him to pursue, Nick continually responded with his need for facts and evidence. Without dismissing the potential for yoga to spiritually transform other people, he did not seem to find sufficient evidence that would lead to such a change in himself.

I enjoyed the movie. I found the interviews with the various gurus enlightening and was amused by the many different permutations that yoga can take. Even as an avid practitioner of yoga myself, I found some of the followers positively kooky ... and other patently offensive (Diamond Dallas Page, "T&A, not Namaste" - yuck).

The film also opened my eyes a little bit to the ways in which yoga can go in a direction that I am uncomfortable with. Although I do appreciate the spiritual possibilities of yoga, and the ways in which it can help me strive to be a better person - seeing other Ashtanga yogis literally bowing at the feet of Sri Pattabhi Jois made me cringe.

In any case, I recommend this movie to anyone who enjoys documentaries or has a strong interest in yoga. If you are able to watch it, let me know what you think!

Today's workout:
30 min. run (4.18 mi)
20 min. resistance training
60 min. private yoga training
60 min. yoga @ home