Experiencing ‘an opening’

This article asks a fundamental question that is close to the authors’ heart: ‘What is Yoga?’, and then how this might influence both the execution and readings of various body-based performance practices, with a particular focus being given to the in preparation for performance art. Using their own burgeoning relationship to Ashtanga yoga as its base and its filter as an ad hoc training for witnessing performance art, the authors focus upon three interrelated pieces by Marina Abramovic´ (Marina Abramovic´ Presents … as part of the Manchester International Festival, Whitworth Art Gallery, Manchester, UK, The Pigs of Today are the Hams of Tomorrow, Plymouth, UK and The Artist is Present at MoMA, New York, USA).