I love the title. Not only does it grab your attention, but it very nicely represents the documentary. This is not some serious convert-minded, new-age piece of propaganda. Rather, it's a pleasure in its open-mindedness. If you're up for a safe, light, skeptic's look into the many variations of modern yoga, take a peek.
Filmmaker Kate Churchill explains the premise, she's a convert to yoga, but challenges a skeptical, yet game-enough "non-believer" to take a six month journey into yoga in the West and East. She's chosen a good subject for the experiment: an easy-going just-the-facts-ma'am journalist with a lawyer father and hippy mother. Seems the bias should be balanced. It's her hypothesis that the magic of yoga will win him over. But as he yoga-class hops across the globe with the enthusiasm of a distractable eighth-grader, her frustration with him and the experiment sometimes makes it to the screen. This is an interesting sideshow to the main event and I applaud the editors for leaving it in. That said, neither do they exploit it, nor is it some mammoth TMZ type altercation. It's real, it's natural, and it's interesting to watch how they handle themselves.
The bigger story though, is the anecdotal social experiment. Of course, scientifically, nothing could be proven, whether he's converted or not -- the results of a sample of one are not very resounding statistically. Sure, but the experiment itself is noble, curious, fun, thought-provoking and dare I say inspirational in its own right. Sadly, it seems, the honorable search for deeper meaning in this material world has become something too often pushed aside as odd, freaky, cultish etc. It's absolutely refreshing to see it portrayed here with due skepticism, humor, and sincere curiosity.
My favorite bit of dialogue from the movie:
"I'm not a spiritual person."
"If you raise your spirits, if you raise the spirits of others, then you're a spiritual person."
Related:
What the Bleep Do We Know?
The Little Snail Story
Runaway Monk
-- Books by Author/Illustrator Ross Anthony --
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