We are Jeanne and Zineb, two friends who both practice and teach yoga (among other activities). We met in 2018, have been sharing the university benches since 2019, and launched the blog Citta Vritti ("the fluctuations of the mind" in Sanskrit) in 2020. This, in order to share our musings on yoga in the broadest sense of the term. Welcome!
With this blog, we modestly aspire to share our inquiries into yoga "from its origins to the present day" and through various lenses. We are as interested in the history and philosophy of yoga as an Indian wisdom as we are in the globalized discipline it has become. As journalists, graduates in Political Sciences, specialists in Environment, long-term travelers, we question yoga through our knowledge, experiences, and our view of the world, infused with sociology, feminism, ecology, economics, pop culture, psychology, and politics (non-exhaustive list).
We are driven by our ceaseless questions (team vritti!) and a fair dose of cognitive dissonance about our relationship with yoga. We love to challenge the world, starting with the world of yoga, which sometimes seems bland to us, reduced to complicated postures and Buddha quotes gleaned from the internet. We believe that the best way to honor this wisdom is to make an effort to know it by moving beyond the superficial clichés in which we imprison it.
Ici vous trouverez donc des entretiens avec des chercheur.se.s et des expert.e.s reconnu.e.s dans leurs domaines : rubrique « Jñāna " section ("knowledge" in Sanskrit). But also our rants because it feels good to express ourselves freely: in the " The Kali chronicles » (déesse hindoue colérique et destructrice). Et enfin des articles pédagogiques pour mieux connaître le yoga, ses termes, son jargon : rubrique Pradîpikâ " section ("little light on" in Sanskrit).
What this blog is NOT: a "feel good" or "good vibes only" site, an asana manual, a wellness or personal development site, and certainly not a place for disguised advertising or product placements. Happy reading!
Our respective hagiographies ...
Jeanne, seen by Zineb
I first met Jeanne on Instagram; she ran an anti-yoga account, where among other things, she humorously and indignantly discussed the inconsistencies of the yogi community; the neo-hippies of Koh Phangan; sexism in the yoga scene. Her frankness and her sharp, justified views were a breath of fresh air in a yoga environment where people speak of compassion while despising strikers, and where non-violence is preached while continuing to work for Areva. I was determined to become friends with her.
We truly got to know each other on the benches of the Catholic Institute and the French School of Yoga, where we are following the same university curriculum. I gradually got to know the many facets of Jeanne, as discreet in real life as she is incisive online: a journalist with a sharp pen, a yoga teacher and practitioner, able to detect your dosha at a glance, a specialist in frothy matcha latte and melt-in-your-mouth banana bread, somewhat of a feminazi and a convinced ecologist, capable of transporting you into space with her Nidras, with ethics and clarity deeply ingrained in her.
Jeanne also loves to travel, (bio-degradable) glitters, never says no to a good old electro party on the beach, LSD included, and particularly enjoys touring Montenegro in less than 24 hours on a broken-down scooter in a poum poum short just to visit a monastery.
Zineb, seen by Jeanne
Zineb is the quiet strength of a balanced Kapha as we love them. A bit like a quality barista's chai latte, properly spiced and not too sweet: a subtle flavor that never sates. I started chatting with her virtually on Instagram, the high place of modern friendships, before meeting her in a cafe in the 11th arrondissement of Paris where we had made an appointment a few months later. I had a friend-crush on Zineb, a sentiment shared, I believe, by everyone who crosses her path. The joyful sensation of exchanging with a sincere, educated, calming, and fair person.
What impresses me most (and balances me) is her diplomacy and her nonviolent mode of communication. I will linger here on her humility: almost embarrassed to "admit" that she went to Sciences-Po, she has read more books in a month than you have in a year, is trilingual even though I have never heard her utter a word of English or Arabic, grew up in Rabat, studied in Melbourne, previously a mission officer and consultant in sustainable development in Paris, a yoga teacher in prisons and in shelters for precarious women, but also a solo adventurer in Palestine...
Except that she doesn't write all this on Instagram under a photo of herself in a thong with her foot behind her head (even though she can easily do it). And it reconciled me with life to see that you can still meet brilliant people who do not feel the need to market themselves or sell themselves as products. I forgot: Zineb is now the mother of an affectionate and enthusiastic little cat named Régine, she is a Gemini and cooks excellent vegetarian tajines.
