lino miele dvd double feature
Posted on January 22, 2010 - Filed Under reviews, yoga
Since I started this ashtanga kick, every month or so, I need an inspiration to keep going. I’ve found piles of this in the generous outpouring of blogs from other ashtangis. And every now and then I get a dvd. My last dvd purchase was Anne Nuotio, which I loved. This time, I decided to try Lino Miele’s fairly newish primary series video, and the very new South American workshop dvd. A double feature! Here is one gal’s review of both.
First the primary series dvd.
If I had to sum up my impression of this dvd with one word, it would be elegant. Lino’s practice is elegant, the framing of the shots is elegant, the music is elegant (a lone sax, I think, I’m not very good at instrument identification, and then several lovely classical pieces for the short sections), the shala is elegant, the asana names subtly zipping across the screen are elegant, Lino is elegant. It’s all like perfect tiramisu or something. Very Roman. Very nice.
There are four sections. The main event is Lino doing his elegant practice, not a fidget, not a spare move or breath, a delight to watch. There is no voice over, just the music and his breathing. Then there is a short lecture (Italian with English subtitles) on a few of the basics such as ujjayi breathing, when in the breathing to jump through, etc. He talks a class through a few poses and it gives a chance to see him interact with students, and get a feel for him, very short but okay. Then there is a short little bit, kind of a yoga music video on the ‘dance’ of a mysore class set to a famous waltz (I’m blanking on the name at the moment) with students coming and going, moving into poses, getting adjusted, kissing on both cheeks, smiling. Last there is a short slide show of photos from Lino’s life, several nice shots in India, of him teaching, of him in advanced poses, friends kicking back on beaches. Obviously the meat of the dvd is the practice section.
I like this dvd for its beauty, for having an older yogi, for the humor that rides beneath its surface, and I’m inspired by Lino’s exceptionally clean practice. But, I find, I was a bit disappointed anyway. It isn’t a practice dvd, really, because, with no voice over, it would be hard to follow along since you can’t watch a dvd while you do your yoga. Which makes it more of a documentation of Lino doing his thing—valuable, yes, but… Even a simple voice over, perhaps as an optional track, with just the names and the counting and a hint here or there, would have greatly increased the dvd’s use to me as a support in learning to have a practice as clean and on-the-breath as Lino’s is. I would have liked that. Or a track talking about his inner experience of the practice as he goes, that would have been cool, too. But no go. As is it’s kind of a watch once and put away, rather than a dvd in regular rotation. I’m sure I’ll watch again, but not as a repeat thing the way some of my other yoga dvds hit the player fairly regularly.
So, still a thumbs up, but it didn’t deliver the full monty for me.
Next up, South America.
This dvd is a sort of documentary of a Lino workshop in Buenos Aires. The main portion is a led primary, full vinyasa, Lino calling it out to a room full of ashtangis. Very simple asana names, counting, a word here or there. In addition there is an interview with Lino, and another of his musical interludes, plus a guided relaxation piece at the end of the practice section.
Okay, what I wanted when I ordered this was something along the lines of Kino’s workshop dvd which, while regrettably short, was packed with great info, a kind of compressed version of one of her workshops on strength and jumpbacks. That is, I wanted the stuff Lino says outside and around the actual practice. I’ve got enough led primary sort of material. Anyone really could have been calling out the count—the fact that it was Lino Miele didn’t really add anything to that section. It was cool to see all the yogis doing their thing, but, eh. It was also kind of boring, I have to admit.
Moving on, next, the interview section, and it was nice, but I wanted to goose the girl asking the questions and feed her some more good ones, fewer generic ashtanga questions (pregnancy and practice, for example) and more stuff only Lino could answer, such as:
What’s it like, really, to do this practice for twenty-plus years? What’s your practice like now? What was your relationship with Guruji like? Was he still teaching you things, were you still learning from him, or had it plateaued at some point? What’s the dark side of ashtanga yoga? What texts have you studied and found valuable? Have you studied sanskrit? Why or why not? What is one’s mula bandha like after twenty years? Has it gotten more subtle or can you now crack walnuts? What are some challenges you have faced in this practice? What do you wish you had figured out sooner? Have you had injuries? How did you work with them? Have you ever wanted to give it up? Gotten bored? Become disillusioned? If so, what brought you back? How did it come to be that you wrote the book with Guruji? What was that like? Can you talk about some moments where you had a breakthrough in some way, inner or outer? How has the inner experience of the practice changed for you over your twenty years of doing it?
Etc.
Oh, and there were a couple of moment in the practice section where you could see everyone kind of laughing, and you know he had just said something funny, but they cut it in order to maintain the led primary for the dvd and I wanted to shout, “No! I wanted the jokes! I wanted the personality!” There are a few clips of him on youtube teaching and he looks like he’s a hoot in person, quite charming and funny. Like I said, there are tons of led primaries to be had—for this dvd, I wanted to see Lino being Lino. I wanted to see him teach.
I’m so picky, right? If only the voice over for the second dvd had been put on the first (it doesn’t work because the second is full vinyasa and not so clean, whereas the first is a perfect half-vinyasa practice). If only the second had had all the stuff in the workshop besides the led primary. I’m so hard to please!
So, okay, this dvd was a bit of a let down for me. Me and my expectations always messing things up. Because really, it’s a nice sort of ashtanga basics soft-sell documentary. It just didn’t give me what I wanted. [pout]
There you have it, Lino double feature. He seems to be an awesome teacher and yogi. Hey, Lino, come to North Carolina so I can take a class with you, okay? Please? And if you do another dvd, let me do the interview.
Comments
2 Responses to “lino miele dvd double feature”
Leave a Reply
Lino talking about his inner experience of the practice as he goes ??? You are kidding!
Nice reviews by the way. I haven’t seen any of the two dvds but I am not surprised. Also “stuff Lino says outside and around the actual practice” would mainly be the jokes and asana details. He is not that talkative or intellectual which is probably his major strength as it creates this very focused practice.
Roselil, nice to meet you! I’d love to know what you meant with that ‘you are kidding!’ Maybe that ‘talking about his inner experience’ would be very out of character for him? Maybe just a voiceover of the count and names and such, then. I mention ‘inner experience’ as something that would be interesting because I’m coming off of Anne Nuotio’s dvd where that is exactly what she does. But everyone is different, of course. I’m also thinking of the youtube I saw recently of Lino talking about, and demoing, the straight legged jump through with a class—I was hoping the workshop dvd would have more of that sort of thing.