classic yogi

[Cookies0090]

Hi,

On a cold Saturday in early 2009, Glenn Black, a yoga teacher of nearly four decades, whose devoted clientele includes a number of celebrities and prominent gurus, was giving a master class at Sankalpah Yoga in Manhattan. Black is, in many ways, a classic yogi: he studied in Pune, India, at the institute founded by the legendary B. K. S. Iyengar, and spent years in solitude and meditation.

(How Yoga Can Wreck Your Body. The NY Times)


Does "classic" here mean "typical (as in "classic example", "classic error")"?

[JohnParis]

Here, "classic" means: typical, archetypal, quintessential, vintage; model, representative, perfect, prime, textbook.
Maybe even "old fashioned" would be acceptable.
Thesaurus.com | Find Synonyms and Antonyms of Words at Thesaurus.com

[BobK]

I don't know anything about yoga styles, but I know that there is at least one 'non-classic' sort - that, for example, Andy Murray practices ('Hot yoga', I think). So isn't there a chance that 'classic' here refers to a style - 'traditional' more than 'quintessential' - the sort of yoga this yogi espouses rather than his status as a teacher.

b

[JohnParis]

I don't know anything about yoga styles, but I know that there is at least one 'non-classic' sort - that, for example, Andy Murray practices ('Hot yoga', I think). So isn't there a chance that 'classic' here refers to a style - 'traditional' more than 'quintessential' - the sort of yoga this yogi espouses rather than his status as a teacher.

b

There is, indeed, a chance that "classic" could refer to the style of yoga taught by Glenn Black. Good spot, Bob.
It didn't occur to me to look at it in that light. I developed my answer based on the definition and use of the word "yogi" (a person who is proficient in yoga).