Yogawoman

Annette Bening narrates this global exploration of women who practice yoga. Although initially developed as a pathway toward peace and enlightenment for Indian men, yoga has become a worldwide phenomenon, largely driven by female teachers and practitioners. Of the 20 million individuals who practice yoga in the U.S., 85 percent are women. Filmmakers Saraswati Clere and Kate McIntyre's Yogawoman incorporates dozens of mostly brief interviews, attempting to cover the experiences of many practitioners around the world. The result is a fascinating patchwork of stories, although the pace can be frantic (which seems rather counterintuitive to the nature of the subject). The documentary is most powerful when it explores someone's story in more detail, such as how yoga teacher Seane Corne's practice has led her to develop a philanthropic organization which assists African women with HIV, or how instructor Tari Prinster used her own experience with breast cancer to develop yoga classes to help other cancer patients. This sometimes overstuffed mélange of historical background, interviews, classroom footage, and archival clips winds up being ultimately inspiring, successfully conveying the overall message that yoga is for everyone (from juveniles in a detention center to pregnant women), offering wide-ranging benefits that run the gamut from stress relief and recovery from illness to an improved mental state and menstrual cycle regulation. Recommended. Aud: C, P. (K. Cruver)