Vanda Scaravelli

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Vanda Scaravelli
Born1908
Died1999
NationalityItalian
Occupation(s)yoga teacher, author
Known forAwakening the Spine

Vanda Scaravelli (1908 - 1999) is known for her contribution to the practice of

non-lineage yoga
. Scaravelli asked her followers not to name any school of yoga after her; this has not prevented some yoga teachers from claiming to teach "Scaravelli-inspired yoga".

Life

Vanda Scaravelli was born in

Andres Segovia and Arturo Toscanini were frequent visitors to the family villa, Il Leccio.[1]

As a young girl, Vanda met the philosopher Krishnamurti, who became a family friend. He stayed at their home in Florence each year.[2] Krishnamurti and the violinist Yehudi Menuhin, another friend of the family, invited the pioneer of modern yoga Tirumalai Krishnamacharya to come to Scaravelli's home in Gstaad, Switzerland to teach them yoga. Krishnamacharya sent two of his students, B. K. S. Iyengar and T. K. V. Desikachar, to teach them.[3] Iyengar taught her the asanas, and Desikachar taught her the awareness of the breath.[2] In this way she took up the practice of yoga in her 50s.[3] When they left Europe she no longer had a teacher, and had to develop her own practice. As this progressed, she developed a focus on breath, gravity and the spine.[3][4]

Her daughter, Paola Scaravelli Cohen, has updated Scaravelli's book from notes that she left.[2]

Publications

  • Scaravelli, Vanda (1991). Awakening the spine : the stress-free new yoga that restores health, vitality, and energy. Aquarian Press (HarperCollins).
    OCLC 877438335
    .
  • Scaravelli, Vanda; Howard, Rob; .

Legacy

Her book Awakening the Spine was called a classic by Yoga Journal.[4] Scaravelli-style yoga, inspired by her work and that of her student for 23 years Diane Long,[5][6] continues to be taught into the 21st century,[7][8][9] by teachers such as Esther Myers in Toronto.[4]

Scaravelli asked her followers not to name any school of yoga after her. The yoga scholar Theo Wildcroft notes that this has not prevented yoga teachers[a] from running sessions described as "Scaravelli-inspired yoga".[10]

See also

  • Indra Devi, a yoga pioneer taught by Krishnamacharya
  • Angela Farmer, another post-lineage yoga teacher who has avoided having schools of yoga named after her

Notes

References

  1. ^ a b Mannarelli, Sibilla Vecchiarino (23 February 2018). "Vanda Scaravelli: Gravita', Colonna e Respiro" (in Italian). Yoga Magazine.
  2. ^ a b c Redfern, Helen (3 January 2019). "Book Review: Awakening The Spine by Vanda Scaravelli". Yoga Matters.
  3. ^ a b c Wishner, Nan (5 May 2015). "The Legacy of Vanda Scaravelli". Yoga International.
  4. ^ a b c Catalfo, Phil (5 April 2017) [28 August 2007]. "Vanda Scaravelli". Yoga Journal.
  5. ^ "The intuitive yoga of Diane Long and the teaching of Vanda Scaravelli". Diane Long Yoga. Retrieved 1 April 2019.
  6. ^ Borg, Christine. "Exploring the Teachings of Diane Long and Vanda Scaravelli". Yoga with Meriel. Retrieved 1 April 2019.
  7. ^ "Awakening The Spine Inspired Vanda Scaravelli Yoga". Vanda Scaravelli Yoga. 17 October 2017. Retrieved 1 April 2019.
  8. ^ "About Scaravelli Inspired Yoga". Freeing the Body. Retrieved 1 April 2019.
  9. ^ Baroncini, Rossella (2018). "The teaching of Vanda Scaravelli". The Quarterly Magazine of Yoga Therapy Ireland (72 Summer 2018). Retrieved 1 April 2019.
  10. .

Further reading