The Yoga teachers in our community inspire us with their initiatives by helping us to spread yoga through unprecedented perspectives. Especially when yoga practice and art are mixed we are grateful when we are involved in taking part in the project.
The latest experience involving bringing our mats to one of these spaces was the Yog-Art class organized at the Pistoletto Foundation in Biella (ITA) curated by teacher Marta Massara and conducted with Francesca Spennati.
Marta’s idea of combining art with yoga was born in 2021 started in the Woolbridge Gallery, to bring yoga within an unprecedented context with a unique cultural background. This initiative sought to raise awareness of art by experiencing and experiencing it firsthand.
Yoga, art, and culture have many aspects in common, so many insights are possible through the in-depth study of an artist’s thoughts.
For each organized class, a work of art is chosen on display to explore the artist’s point of view and the meaning of the work itself coming to life and feeling through the practice of yoga and pranayama guided by certified teachers. The yoga practice thus becomes an interactive experience, a tool for experiencing the space in an emotional and introspective way.
“Painting, creating, writing, composing, meditating, and practicing are all expressions that help bring greater focus and awareness within ourselves. Over time, through meditation and yoga practice, we are able to let go of the superfluous and give ourselves direction, increasing our conscious awareness. The project of yoga in places with artistic influences had beautiful energies and beautiful insights also thanks to all the people and teachers who participated, each bringing something of their own.”
The last meeting that Marta organized, in collaboration with ReYoga, was inspired by the thought of artist Michelangelo Pistoletto with the work of “Mirroring Paintings” capable of transforming the mere user of the work of art into a creator. In this practice organized at Cittadellarte-Fondazione Pistoletto, the essential characteristics of the Mirror Paintings that inspired the practice were:
- the dimension of time, not only represented but truly active;
- the inclusion in the work of the viewer and the surrounding environment, making it “the self-portrait of the world.”
- the conjunction of opposing polarities (static/dynamic, surface/depth, absolute/relative, etc.), constituted and activated by the interaction between the image of photographic nature and what takes place in the virtual space generated by the mirroring surface.
Based on these principles, the practice at Cittadellarte was characterized by the concept of drishti.
“The yoga practice teaches us through the use of breath and dristhi to exercise focus even though looking still at a point. This allows us to remain more focused and centered even when everything around us is moving.”
The class led by Marta Massara and Francesca Spennati together #yogadestate, was therefore designed as a more rooting vinyasa flow where we hold the postures for more breaths to experience the effect of drishti and gain more awareness of the movements and asanas.
We would like to thank Marta for involving us in this initiative, Francesca for leading it together, and ATMA Feed Your Soul who together with us was the official partner of the event.
