Enlighten Up! documents an experiment.

Take one part middle-aged journalist undergoing an identity crisis, add a medley of yoga classes (such as Yoga for Regular Guys and Laughter Yoga), transport mixture to various international locations (cute clips of red push-pins mark the voyage on a map), garnish with teachings from world renowned yogis including B.K.S Iyengar, and see what happens.

Does yoga make a difference to the body? How about the soul?

The film’s director, Kate Churchill, is convinced it does both. To prove her point, she selects a novice to the discipline and chronicles his eclectic and often bizarre introduction to yoga.

“My name is Nick Rosen. I’m 29 years old. And I live in New York City.”

Meet Nick, the ideal candidate for Churchill’s project. For one thing, he has the perfect genes. His (now divorced) parents together represent the extremes of left- and right-brain personalities – his father is an attorney, his mother a shamanic healer.

Nick is open-minded yet skeptical. He is a scientist at heart and weary of the overly spiritual (at times, he suggests, even cult-like) tendency that yoga seems to have:

“I want facts … Rhetoric won’t be enough, I need facts.”

But at least he’s open to being enlightened. Let’s see how far he gets…

The film submits an unbiased exploration of the world of yoga in its many forms, dissecting the essence of this new-age (albeit ancient) movement. It touches on the contradictory beliefs that pervade the thoughts of practitioners who seem to disagree about pretty much everything – the origins of yoga, its benefits, even which practices should be accepted as yoga in the first place.

To borrow one yogi’s analogy, having “too many cooks in the kitchen” can leave you with an unpalatable meal. At the same time, options suggest there’s potentially something for everyone.

At times the interviews are choppy, but the film lives up to its name. In the end, it offers us at least the beginnings of enlightenment.

It is creatively assembled, with a carefully selected soundtrack and quirky dream sequences.

Does Nick abandon yoga practice? Does the search drive him mad and leave him institutionalized? Does it bring him closer to his family members? Does he attain enlightenment?

Catch this film at Cinematheque and see for yourself.

If you feel like getting into the mood before viewing, Moksha Yoga Winnipeg is partnering with Cinemateque to do “Yoga and a Movie.” Every night before Enlighten Up, MYW will be offering a yoga class from 5-6 p.m. in the Winnipeg Film Group studio (3rd floor above Cinematheque). Visit www.tinyurl.com/wfgyoga for details.

Published in Volume 64, Number 7 of The Uniter (October 15, 2009)