AGNIYOGANA Film Screening (63 mins)

Yoga documentary by Emma Balnaves

[A light vegetarian meal and tea served afterward]

Agniyogana was shot in India, Nepal and Australia in 2017 and 2018, and edited as a documentary offering experiential insights on the deeper dimensions of Hatha Yoga. Rather than a history of Hatha Yoga, the film is presented as a meditation on the nature and practice of this ancient art form.

The film takes the viewer on an external journey to the birthplaces of yoga as well as inviting the viewer to take an internal journey into sound, space and time.

The title of this film refers to the yoking (yoga) of one's own inner fire. It is this inner fire that transmutes and transforms every living being so they may become more fully awake, vibrant and alive.

The filmmaker, Emma, received special access to locations of religious significance that are not usually accessible to the public. There she was able to interview yogins who do not normally speak to those outside of their sects. This access was made possible as Emma established trust and demonstrated her true and sincere intentions.

Yogins from Nepal, Tibet and India are underrepresented in Western yoga media. The filmmaker was intent on hearing from those who practice the most traditional ways, even in the modern day.

Yoga is a spiritual art. While it is true that yoga has been interpreted by different cultures over centuries, and can mean different things to different people, traditional Hatha Yoga was interwoven with worship, a dimension largely absent from many contemporary forms of practice.

The essence of yoga is energetic; the mind is pacified through a process of worship. While physical practice is necessary and textual study is important, neither physical attributes nor intellectual capacity can initiate the energetic transformation that is required to progress.

Hatha Yogins believe that the body is a microcosm of the universal macrocosm. Investigating one's own internal experience, and recognising its relationship to the external is a critical element to success in yoga.

Welcome to Palmyra Yoga Shala's Community screening of this documentary evoking a feeling of meditation.