ABSTRACT
Yoga is a unique form of expert movement that promotes an increasingly subtle interpenetra-
tion of thought and movement. The mindful nature of its practice, even at expert levels, chal-
lenges the idea that thought and mind are inevitably disruptive to absorbed coping. Building
on parallel phenomenological and ethnographic studies of skilful performance and embodied
apprenticeship, we argue for the importance in yoga of mental access to embodied movement
during skill execution by way of a case study of instruction and practice in two related tradi-
tions, Iyengar and Anusara. Sharing a pose repertoire, they are based on distinctive philo-
sophical systems with different teaching styles and metaphoric structures. To address relations
between pedagogy and practice in embodied expertise, and to investigate the reciprocal influ-
ences of embodiment and thought, we explore in detail the linguistically mediated learning
context where practitioners work with yoga teachers. Here, the mind/body problem comes to
practical life. We demonstrate the effects of words on bodies, as knowledge is literally incorpo-
rated. We show why interpersonal influence on our movement capacities is sometimes needed
to enhance expertise. We theorize and identify ‘signature patterns of tension’ among practitio-
ners. These patterns have four sources: ghost gestures, innate differences in bodily form, func-
tional fusing, and signature patterns of affective experience, modulation and expression.
These patterns of tension produce ‘silent zones’, cognitively impenetrable actions, functional
fusing of a skilful, compensatory form, and signature patterns of pain and damage. We show
how instruction can disrupt these silent zones, enhancing mental and physical flexibility.
