What Are We Actually Doing in Asana? with Matthew Remski

Join renowned author, activist and teacher Matthew Remski for two provocative conversations about the current state, and future outlook, of our yoga practice.

Meant for teachers, studio owners, and serious students alike, these special events are offered on a sliding scale. Please register separately for each event.

Wednesday, November 7
7:30 - 9:00 PM
What are we Actually doing in Asana?
What Are We Actually Doing in Asana (WAWADIA?) is a sweeping inquiry into the sensations, meanings, and purposes of yoga practice. Over the past 10 years as an asana teacher and Ayurvedic practitioner, Matthew has heard hundreds of stories of discomfort, pain, injury, and healing in modern yoga. In January of 2014 he began a formal qualitative research project to catalogue the pedagogical, psychological, and socio-cultural contexts that can make practice less safe. He’ll present stories and themes from the 150+ interviews he has conducted, weave in personal accounts, and open up the discussion to all attendees about how we manage and give meaning to discomfort and pain on the mat, and what are the best practices for creating a healing-centered approach to our practice.

Registration: Advanced registration for each talk is highly recommended. Sliding scale of $10-$30 per talk.



About Matthew Remski
Matthew has been practicing meditation and yoga since 1996, sitting and moving with teachers from the Tibetan Buddhist, Kripalu, Ashtanga, and Iyengar streams. Along the way he’s been certified as a yoga therapist and an Ayurvedic consultant, and has maintained a private practice in Toronto since 2008. From 2008 through 2012 he co-directed Yoga Festival Toronto and Yoga Community Toronto, non-profit activist organizations dedicated to promoting open dialogue and accessibility. He currently facilitates programming for yoga trainings internationally, focusing on yoga philosophy, meditation, Ayurveda, and is currently contributing to the Yoga Alliance Yoga Standards Project, advising on the Scope of Practice qualifications.



As a heart-centered skeptic, Matthew’s present work focuses on the philosophical and social psychological aspects of the practice. His work is controversial, yet thorough, and recent conversations and publications shine an important light on sensitive, systemic, provocative and destructive issues that underscore modern postural yoga (MPY).



He is the author of eight books of poetry, fiction, and non-fiction including the Threads of Yoga: a remix of Patanjali’s Sutras, Family Wakes Us Up, and is a contribute to Yoga PhD, a compilation of essays on the culture, politics, and practice of yoga.

More information: matthewremski.com/wordpress/