January 12, 2012 at 24:00 
The Devil says:
Scott! How ya been? What’s up?
January 13, 2012 at 00:00 
Scott Miller says:
January 12, 2012 at 24:00 The Devil says:
Ha!
January 13, 2012 at 00:00 Scott Miller says:
You’ve read it?
January 12, 2012 at 24:00 The Devil says:
Do you really want to do this?
January 13, 2012 at 00:00 Scott Miller says:
I guess I must.
January 12, 2012 at 24:00 The Devil says:
Well, then, I’m here to oblige. Your problem is Mr. Black — that is — the other Mr. Black.
January 13, 2012 at 00:00 Scott Miller says:
I didn’t come here to attack anyone. Not even you.
January 12, 2012 at 24:00 The Devil says:
Sure you did. You think what he said is a problem because he does yoga to fix things that are wrong with him and teaches yoga to fix things that are wrong with people, focusing on the negative, and now, indirectly, you’re setting out to fix the problem he caused… and if it happens to fix him, too… well, that’s his problem…
January 13, 2012 at 00:00 Scott Miller says:
If I’m going to… fix a problem about people getting into yoga in order to fix a problem… I have to do the same thing he does?
January 12, 2012 at 24:00 The Devil says:
I don’t know. Here’s another thing I don’t know: What’s wrong with bringing attention to the fact that people can get seriously hurt doing yoga?
January 13, 2012 at 00:00 Scott Miller says:
Nothing. But from reading that article you’d think there’s been some kind of cover-up about it.
January 12, 2012 at 24:00 The Devil says:
Well, it’s not a big selling point.
January 13, 2012 at 00:00 Scott Miller says:
You’re wrong.
January 12, 2012 at 24:00 The Devil says:
I mean for the general public. I’ll grant you that the yoga world is filled with fear-mongering teachers who benefit from pushing the idea that people get hurt doing yoga. Most of them don’t even know that’s what they’re doing.
January 13, 2012 at 00:00 Scott Miller says:
Yes, but who else is trying to help people right now the way they – even Black, for all I know especially Black – are trying to do …
January 12, 2012 at 24:00 The Devil says:
“Stand on their own two feet, independent of institutional structures…”
January 13, 2012 at 00:00 Scott Miller says:
I know what you’ll say. The yoga world has its own institutional structures and they will do what institutions always do no matter what they claim.
January 12, 2012 at 24:00 The Devil says:
No. I was going to sympathize with what yoga teachers have taken on. You guys remind me of me before I saw the light. It was very stressful and I didn’t even have a body like yours. That stress is the thing wrecking your bodies, not yoga.
January 13, 2012 at 00:00 Scott Miller says:
Yes. Thank you. Stress is the issue. Modern life. No matter how well we practice yoga, life is wrecking our bodies, and things are more challenging now than they were just 20 years ago. So we do need to adjust. Folks who push it with all the really rigorous styles need to take it easier – but not give into fear.
January 12, 2012 at 24:00 The Devil says:
Without hatha yoga you die miserable deaths. That’s why yoga only works for people who are willing to die for it.
January 13, 2012 at 00:00 Scott Miller says:
Not fair!
January 12, 2012 at 24:00 The Devil says:
Me?
January 13, 2012 at 00:00 Scott Miller says:
When my teacher’s teacher said that – or something like it – he didn’t say we had to die for our practice. Yoga doesn’t have to wreck our body for it to work, but if you come to yoga the way Black did, to take care of himself physically, you are going to be pulled back to the same low level at some point.
January 12, 2012 at 24:00 The Devil says:
Well, doesn’t everyone know that you came to yoga for the right reasons only?
January 13, 2012 at 00:00 Scott Miller says:
I didn’t. Not exclusively.
January 12, 2012 at 24:00 The Devil says:
Shocking.
January 13, 2012 at 00:00 Scott Miller says:
I had chronic back pain. Yoga fixed me.
January 12, 2012 at 24:00 The Devil says:
You mean you fixed you, and you call it yoga.
January 13, 2012 at 00:00 Scott Miller says:
No, I mean what I said. But I also came to yoga with a spiritual understanding, and I wasn’t naïve. It didn’t surprise me when I saw yoga teachers doing very un-yogic things…
January 12, 2012 at 24:00 The Devil says:
What in the world could you possibly be talking about?
January 13, 2012 at 00:00 Scott Miller says:
With money… with sex…
January 12, 2012 at 24:00 The Devil says:
With power, I think you mean.
January 13, 2012 at 00:00 Scott Miller says:
Yes.
January 12, 2012 at 24:00 The Devil says:
You’re disturbed because yoga not only wrecks people’s bodies, but it also wrecks their minds.
January 13, 2012 at 00:00 Scott Miller says:
No, I didn’t say that. The title of the post is a joke!
January 12, 2012 at 24:00 The Devil says:
Hilarious!
January 13, 2012 at 00:00 Scott Miller says:
The minds that were wrecked were already wrecked. I’ve seen yoga hold together some massively disturbed people until one day they were wrecked again…
January 12, 2012 at 24:00 The Devil says:
But you know yoga may wreck a few people’s bodies, whatever that means. Maybe once in awhile it’s not something that was going to happen anyway. But you’re also not just trying to stick up for yoga here. Yoga sticks up for itself. Like me, it’s tricky. If Black went too far, or made a mistake, it’ll make use of that.
January 13, 2012 at 00:00 Scott Miller says:
What confuses people is the obvious conflict between the undeniably good intention – the Ahimsa, the non-violence – and people wrecking their bodies. If someone willfully wrecks her body in the name of yoga it’s ridiculous. The Buddha said that 2,000 years ago. But we can’t live in fear and be practicing yoga. You want people to live in fear.
January 12, 2012 at 24:00 The Devil says:
If that’s what’s best for all of my children…
January 13, 2012 at 00:00 Scott Miller says:
You are fear itself and I know you like what Black said. You want us to be afraid of the fact that yoga can wreck bodies. So can jogging, weight-lifting, prescription drugs, surgery, religion, politics, work, or any other powerful intervention in life on Earth. If yoga – or bad yoga, pseudo-yoga, bad application of yoga-like techniques and ideas – couldn’t wreck your body, couldn’t destroy your whole life, then it wouldn’t be anything at all.
January 12, 2012 at 24:00 The Devil says:
You realize that now you really are sounding like me?
January 13, 2012 at 00:00 Scott Miller says:
No – that’s a lie. What I want to say is that usually teachers like Mr. Black, whether they know what they’re doing or not, are setting their own classes apart. They’re saying that, of all the yoga teachers around, they happen to be the safest and most honest and the most knowledgeable. All they have to do is say what Black said about yoga, but keep teaching. People don’t even recognize what he’s saying as a sales pitch. He probably doesn’t.
January 12, 2012 at 24:00 The Devil says:
At least he’s brave enough to speak his truth. He just wants what’s best for all of his… students, and non-students, too.
January 13, 2012 at 00:00 Scott Miller says:
I think he’s just like so many older Iyengar… damn… scratch that. I’m not going there.
January 12, 2012 at 24:00 The Devil says:
You were going to say that older Iyengar-based, or Viniyoga-based teachers get worn out trying to help people fix their bodies for decades, and then are vulnerable to getting negative like Black. Plus, he’s been making this kind of indirect sales pitch for so long, he doesn’t even realize he’s doing it… and because it works, it reinforces itself. But that’s not your problem with it. You don’t care if Mr. Black or any Mr. Black is being rewarded for doing his best as he sees it.
January 13, 2012 at 00:00 Scott Miller says:
Yes.
January 12, 2012 at 24:00 The Devil says:
Your biggest problem with it is that it’s elitist. You know yoga is for everyone. You know that the yoga you do has evolved as a democratic process, so everyone should be teaching it, not just the wise and knowledgeable, but everyone. Hatha yoga is for everyone because everyone who loves it can teach it, and fear is the only thing in its way.
January 13, 2012 at 00:00 Scott Miller says:
Yes.
January 12, 2012 at 24:00 The Devil says:
Good pitch! Which makes Black the opposite of you, since he’s not just saying “do safe yoga,” but “don’t do yoga at all.” So you need to destroy him. It’s natural, yin-and-yang, you know, balancing. Uniting even! Good with bad! Go with it.
January 13, 2012 at 00:00 Scott Miller says:
You want to pit yoga teacher against yoga teacher. Not the first time. You win big with all that.
January 12, 2012 at 24:00 The Devil says:
I just know what you believe: You should all be hatha yoga teachers. You know that’s the simple complicated truth, though I don’t think you want people to think that’s my idea.
January 13, 2012 at 00:00 Scott Miller says:
It comes from yoga itself.
January 12, 2012 at 24:00 The Devil says:
How much will it cost people to find that out from you, this thing that comes from yoga itself, not from you?
January 13, 2012 at 00:00 Scott Miller says:
Nothing.
January 12, 2012 at 24:00 The Devil says:
It’s not even a sales pitch since your point is that you’re all already teaching yoga so there’s no need to spend money on Teacher Training programs like yours?
January 13, 2012 at 00:00 Scott Miller says:
If I pretended to agree with you, you’d just say that was my pitch, and if I just stop here, you’ll say that just stopping here was my pitch, and…
January 12, 2012 at 24:00 The Devil says:
Take a breath.
January 13, 2012 at 00:00 Scott Miller says:
Okay.
January 12, 2012 at 24:00 The Devil says:
No, a real yogic breath. Inandout. No duality. Have you taken your temperature?
January 13, 2012 at 00:00 Scott Miller says:
Yes. Obviously you can tell I have a fever. First time I’ve been sick in years.
January 12, 2012 at 24:00 The Devil says:
I’m sure it’s all just a coincidence. Or Black’s fault.
January 13, 2012 at 00:00 Scott Miller says:
I didn’t say that. This is all just the fever talking…
January 12, 2012 at 24:00 The Devil says:
Feeling kind of wrecked?
January 13, 2012 at 00:00 Scott Miller says:
Yes…
January 12, 2012 at 24:00 The Devil says:
Bye now, and… go Clippers!
January 13, 2012 at 00:00 Scott Miller says:
Clippers? What? Wait, I’m not through with you…
