The Yoga Confessions - Mark interviews Rosalind Atkinson (#48)

Feb 14, 2023

In this enlightening discussion, Rosalind Atkinson, a yoga practitioner and scholar of English literature, delves into her journey merging the mystical poetry of William Blake with yoga practice. She shares her insights on the significance of personal experience over academia, the struggle between knowledge and societal expectations, and the mind-body connection. Atkinson also teases her upcoming project, 'Wardrobe Dharma,' which explores the interplay of fashion and spirituality, emphasizing the transformative nature of personal expression in understanding yoga and life.

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Intro

00:00 • 2min

Blake, Yoga, and Personal Journey

02:20 • 9min

The Mind-Body Connection: Recognizing Numbness and Confusion

11:26 • 2min

The Struggle Between Innocence and Experience

12:57 • 2min

From Seeking to Being: A Journey Through Authentic Experience

14:53 • 21min

The Mystic's Vision: Unity and Perception

35:32 • 12min

Yoga, Poetry, and Individual Expression

47:36 • 18min

Recognizing Connections in a Digital Age

01:05:20 • 5min

Exploring Fashion and Spirituality Through Wardrobe Dharma

01:10:37 • 2min

Mark Whitwell interviews Rosalind Atkinson about her life with yoga and realisations. In particular, Mark asks about her academic studies of english literature, especially the mystic poet William Blake, and the relevance of these studies to her life in yoga.

This episode will be of interest to anyone with a mixed experience in academia or poetry, who is interested in the yogic process of making inspiration relevant to our lives right now.

We also discuss the last two years of teaching around the world through zoom, and end with a little teaser about a new project, called "Wardrobe Dharma".

In this episode you will hear...

''And I got to the end of this research project ... and I was trying to write a conclusion that summed up what I had learned in the process. And I came across a line by Blake that said something like ... the true faculty of knowledge is experience... And it was a very unsettling phrase to me because I realized in that moment that of everything I'd written about passionately, it wasn't my experience I was writing about Blake's experience.''

''I fell straight into the spiritual seekers trap of hungrily seeking experience...for myself...''

''It's like if my mind was the king and the body was the peasants of the kingdom. Even if the king ignores the peasants, they're still there. And they're still feeding him. But he's just not acknowledging them... Abusing them, mistreating them, not appreciating their work. ''

"Blake's poetry speaks in and as that force of life that is beyond the mind. And that's why obviously people from different cultures resonate with it. If it was just culturally constructed, then the English would love Blake the best. But they didn't, they thought he belonged in a straight jacket."

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