The Art of Yoga, the Yoga of Art

Written by Belinda Piggott and Peta Keaney

When you enter Redfern Yoga Space you will see Olivier Rasir’s “9 Moments” on the front wall of the studio.  We love this work, it exemplifies qualities we aim to develop in our yoga practice.  Within the frame, the abstract composition has been built up through the creative process, one material, or mark, informing the next.  The artist diligently and intelligently works with this process, feeling his way, without expectations of where it will take him.   This is much like our yoga practice where we sharpen our awareness and pay acute attention to the process of making a yoga shape.  We don’t aspire to the ‘fruits’, to the idealised final pose, we infuse our bodies with awareness in each moment. The result is the painting glows with a contained, structured, yet radiant energy – the energy we all work towards creating and expressing in our practice.  

Olivier also practices yoga. For him, art and yoga involve a similar process of being connected with what he is feeling. ‘Both painting and yoga bring me awareness. They are tools for self-evolution’.  The two images below are expressions of this. In the shoulderstand we can see clarity, balance and alignment.  In paryankasana, where tight thighs limit his movement, he opens himself up to challenge, accessing props to experience the benefits of the asana. Blocks provide support as he infuses his body with awareness, working from inside out, and outside in, to find softness and surrender as he releases into the pose. 

‘The study of asana is not about mastering posture. It’s about using posture to understand and transform yourself.’

BKS Iyengar