Sadhana

Contrary to how it may appear, knitting is not my primary obsession. It just happens to be my most bloggable one, and one I don't mind being reasonably public about. But really, the overarching impulse of my life is yoga. I know books and articles everywhere have been declaring that knitting is the "new yoga". I'm not sure I get what they mean. I think the closest I've seen to a good explanation is Sally Melville's commentary in the Purl Stitch, describing knitting as a creative and process oriented activity, meditative, relaxing, soothing, challenging, and always offering something new to learn.

One of the first internet communities I became involved with, in 2000 or so, came together because of a love for yoga, and includes fellow knitting yoginis Loretta and Andrea. In 2002 we began the practice of launching the new year with a group sadhana, in which we committed to 40 continuous days of yoga practice, although that practice was not confined to asana - it also included pranayama, meditation, or any mindful practice that we considered to be in the spirit of yoga. Lianne's post on the group blog yogalila, as well as the check-in thread at the fitness forum Videofitness gives some ideas of how this can be approached as an internet community. Like the knitting forums, blogs, and knitalongs, it's another way that the internet allows us to create communities of practice, as Lianne explored in her M.Ed thesis.