Enlighten Up DVD Review

When I was in college, there was an unspoken belief that those who practiced yoga every day were more advanced spiritually than the rest of us (even though it’s a billion dollar commercial industry). Kate Churchill herself, the director and writer of Enlighten Up! (and other documentaries) also seems to believe this, as she states “yoga will transform anyone” and sends journalist Nick Rosen, 29 and from New York City, all over America and India to study with well-known teachers so that yoga will transform him.

Nick, however, didn’t expect any “earth-shattering changes” and saw it more as a discipline and health-inducing practice (over eight million Americans – including children and dogs – practice the assanas). One teacher, Diamond Dallas Page, doesn’t believe in enlightenment, while another, David Allen, gives himself over to the best of his mind. Nick travels to India, where he is met by Dr. Kathawan, who leads others in laughing and giggling while doing the poses. Nick states, “There I was, laughing at the laughter, laughing about the absurdity of the situation. I don’t feel any real transformation. I don’t think my experience defines yoga’s potential.

Nick is guided to B.K.S. Iyengar, who is 86 and very intense and gives him some of the answers he’d been seeking. (B.K.S. used yoga to become physically healthy, as a child.) B.K.S. tells him it is much more important WHY he is doing something than WHAT it is that he’s doing.

I wish everyone could see Enlighten Up!, which finally breaks through stereotypical conceptions to tell us “Be your own true self. The happiness is within – and of that Divine Union, the Sacred, don’t tell it to anyone!”

Enlighten Up! runs for 82 minutes, has no rating, and is one of the most intelligent and interesting documentary films that I’ve seen in years. The subtitle, A Skeptic’s Journal Into The World Of Yoga, tells us quite a bit! If only there were more films like this one!

Grade: A

Director: Kate Churchill
Starring: Nick Rosen, B.K.S. Iyengar, Norman Allen, David Life, Dharma Mittra, Alan Finger

DVD Review by Christina of Movie Room Reviews

Tags: Enlighten Up, Kate Churchill