How to describe the past few days? There were some very sad moments, hearing that Joseph Dubham had passed on. We was a friend who had been very devoted to Guruji over the past 18 years, and even used to travel with the family. He was in Cambodia waiting to get his visa and had a sudden heart attack. He used to ride around Mysore on his enfield motorcycle with his dog right in front. Wednesday the shala was closed in his honor.
Friday night I watched the USA vs. Slovenia world cup match with a few friends. Funny that here in India I have a TV and cable, something that I don’t have in New Orleans. We had potato chips (freshly made by Krishna’s Hot Chips) and Dominoes Pizza, and homemade cookies from the sweetest little shop around the corner. The little man also makes chocolate. So I’m not going hungry as you an see….While here, mostly I don’t eat dinner so Friday’s are a treat.
The training progresses. Tomorrow I will be leading the class with five other people. We are expected to know the exact Vinyasa count in sanskrit. We don’t know which part we will lead, so we need to know the counts for the whole series. I feel like I know it but get nervous nonetheless. At least we all seem to be in the same boat.
Watching the world go by here is fascinating and one of my favorite things to do. Early this morning I woke up and went out for chai, a little place up the hill from me has come highly recommended. This chai is from Krishna’s Sweet Shop. It was sweet and delicious. I decided to head to the coconut stand afterwards. The coconut stand is at an intersection, and kind of the center of lots of activity. Perfect place to watch the world go by. And it is owned by a lovely man and his two sons (Guru and Sons) They have those beautiful, unashamed and unguarded smiles that I love to see here. This evening I was there and the goat herder came by with his flock, there were many baby goats, the cutest thing you can imagine. They come to feed on the coconut scraps from the coconuts that we drink. Its nice how that works….the cows also feed on organic scraps from human households.
goats having dinner
Bananas at Mysore Market
Today will be more of a photojourney. Many of these are on facebook, however there I can’t tell the story of what they mean. We’ve completed the first week of training. I’m not sure I feel that much wiser. I’m very much enjoying the time with other yogis from all over, learning from their experiences in teaching, running studios, trying to act on the eight limbs of yoga, when those around them aren’t. And I’m enjoying being in India…..I’ve mentioned this in the past, but more of the learning comes from the ordinary people, who make so much out of so little and have the most beautiful smiles that i’ve seen. I’ve been going to the Indian places for breakfast, where indian people eat. there are also breakfast places which cater to yoga students. the food is amazing, and i usually have fantastic dosas (pancakes made with rice & lentil flour) with coconut chutney and fabulous chai for 50 cents. i’ll have to photograph these tomorrow.
i want to share a couple photos around the shala with you….one is of Saraswati, Guruji’s daughter in the doorway of the shala, another of students having post-practice coconuts, and the entry to the shala. And there is also a cool photo of a cow trying to run over my friend Mary….it also tried to knock me over, or at least it was determined to walk down the street….past us all. That’s enough for tonight….more tomorrow.
A few of us after practice having coconuts
Saraswati (Guruji's daughter) at the door of the shala
Door to Sri K. Pattabhi Jois Shala
Cow crossing
i say cows, because we are in India after all.
have you experienced this? the first time was when i went from Assumption High School to Louisiana School for Math Science & Arts, which was a totally different standard. Assumption High was a good representation of all that is wrong with public education in Louisiana. I had finished the math classes by the time I was in 10th grade. The principle suggested that I repeat the same geometry or algebra, this time taking honors???? Then moving from LSMSA to Bryn Mawr was another exponential jump. I had become the teacher’s pet of the best-loved english teacher, and had a very high GPA. However, I had never traveled above the Mason-Dixon line, and Bryn Mawr was a very well regarded, women’s college with a long history of excellence in women’s education. and the students there were quite polished, well-traveled and worldly. Not to mention the very visible and vocal lesbian population, many of whom were living in my freshman year dormitory. I had a little crisis of feeling like an inarticulate piece of southern trash, which was topped off by my english teacher telling me that my writing was ‘inherently flawed.’ thanks a lot. he had trained at oxford and i guess my writing, which was considered good at louisiana’s top public school was not good enough for Audrey Hepburn’s alma mater. You must be wondering where this is going, or maybe you can guess.
here i am with some of the top ashtanga teachers and practitioners from around the globe. i must say it is a lovely group, and i don’t feel a lot of big egos, which is what the ashtangis are notorious for. in fact, everyone is really open and nice. what is interesting, is that sharath has us adjusting each other under his watchful eye. he really has an eagle eye. nothing passes unnoticed. and most of us teach at our home studios, meaning that often we practice alone without help or adjustments. here we are getting adjusted and there the ‘adjusters’ are working in the SHALA, the place we’ve been coming for years to learn. there has never been anyone but members of the Jois clan adjusting. And imagine adjusting people who are very advanced and have their particularities, i know i probably do. a lot of us, certainly me, feel like big fish (there’s that pesky ego) back at home, or at least we are the authorities on what happens in the studio with the adjustments. here the rug is being pulled out from under us, which is really good.
i feel like yoga and the asthanga practice does this….just when you get comfortable, there is another posture or you realize that the motives for your actions are selfish not selfless or your are judging that person next to you for being this or that. back to the drawing board, back to practicing those postures and back to the eight limbs of yoga. yoga is never ending, we keep on practicing, breathing, observing and becoming aware.
pictures tomorrow i promise!
Today we had the first morning of the “special training.” It was comforting and extremely nice to see many faces that I’ve had chai with, practiced next to, and generally laughed with in Mysore. I haven’t been here for three years, and one minute it feels like nothing has changed, then the next it feels like everything has changed. Sad that Guruji’s smiling yet stern physical body isn’t here, but his presence is strong. In place of his chair on the stage, there is not a giant sized picture of him, which is garlanded with fragrant jasmine.
The distribution of information about the training has been as it usually is in India. We arrived yesterday at the shala, and there was a sign saying for the students of the special training to register from 3:30 to 5:30 on Friday, only it was saturday and we had missed that. We headed to the coconut stand, which is usually a better place to get information, via the other yoga students. Strangely, when we first got there we were the only westerners. Gokulum feels so different when there are very few yoga students. At this time Sharath is only teaching our training, the other students are studying with his mother, Saraswati. At four o’clock, familiar faces started to arrive – Jeff & Harmony from Victoria, Jean from New York, Loretta from Chile, Susan from Newfoundland. And they gave us information, to go for class tomorrow at 7:30am. None of us have any idea at this point what will be the format or schedule of the training….but that’s no surprise. Information is usually given on a need to know basis. We needed to know to come at 7:30 and that’s it. We can wait to hear the rest.
We arrive early, the clock at the shala is 15 minutes fast, so when they say 7:30am, it really means 7:15am. This becomes confusing sometimes. Sharath was in his office, which is new, he used to share an office with Guruji. Now Saraswati uses Guruji’s old office. He informed us that we wouldn’t be practicing today. All of us were eager to get to it.
Sharath explained that the idea for this training started 5 years ago, that he and Guruji had discussed it, how it was important for the teachers of Ashtanga Yoga to pass on what they were taught. Like Krishnamacharya had passed on to Guruji and Sharath and now he was passing on to us….
Think about it: the earliest yogis spent their time in caves meditating, cooking simple food by a fire, and probably keeping out of the way of wild animals. How times have changed. Yoga in the west is strange and complicated. there are the “yoga superstars” as the New York Times likes to call them. and there are the yogis for the people. In this modern age of technology and social media – twitter, facebook, linked in, blogging, etc yoga teachers need to be up on it all. So many things to think about and connect. it is easy to lose the connection with the heart and soul of yoga. on the one hand i’d like to go back to those simple times, just live in a cave, simple, quiet, no WiFi. then there is the modern yoga teacher’s quandry. these modern ways of connecting are how many people hear and learn about yoga teachers. if we want to share the yoga and serve the community it is necessary to change with the times.
Like anything, these can take you away from the experience, which is what ultimately teaches us first and slowly transforms…..
I’m embarking on a two month trip, and originally felt this urgency to get an iPhone, so I could stay connected…post photos….tweet….facebook…..then i thought, how much would this take me out of the experience…so i can’t post each time i see a cow walking down the street or pass a beautiful temple dedicated to ganesh. i’ll be able to get the message to you somehow. and really, my training and travel is to allow me to go inward so that i have more to offer.
this life is crazy.
here i am trying to figure out how to link facebook and twitter and this blog and my website. i must be getting old or my mental focus is elsewhere. I don’t have the same technical skills that i used to.
earlier this week i had an interesting conversation with my uncle. we often have these somewhat abstract and esoteric conversations, which are great for bringing me out of the mundane worries of day to day existence. why does it seem like we all want to outdo each other? it seems to be somewhat of a western phenomena, which has even invaded the domain of yoga. my teacher tiwari says that many western yoga teachers miss the point. there is enough yoga to go around. its like when we feel jealous because someone else is successful and happy. isn’t there enough happiness to go around?
there are lots and lots of people in the world. many have no intentions of doing yoga, but many may. people naturally migrate to a teacher that is best for them. it makes sense. you can feel when that person is right, when you have found the right teacher. your teacher may be there to help you on a purely physical plane, to help to increase your knowledge. if you develop a deeper connection with the teacher they may help you on a deeper spiritual or psychic level, and there are those teachers who can help you through a complete transformation. when the student is ready the right teacher appears
uple weeks ago there was an article in the New York Times entitled “Yoga Manifesto” about the different faces of yoga, from yoga superstars, to studios where all classes are by donation (http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/25/fashion/25yoga.html). Summer of 2008 I taught at Yoga to the People, the studio mentioned in NYC. I was impressed with the loyalty of the students, and their commitment to a studio that was donation-based, where there is less emphasis on who the teachers are. When I came back from NYC I was thinking that it would be awesome to have a donation-based studio. When I came back I had the idea to make the studio in NOLA donation based. I was discouraged….people thought none of my current students would come to a donation-based studio. And over 2.5 years since I’ve been back, I’ve understood that in the past ashtanga was seen as an elitest form of yoga. That has surprised and saddened me, however I can see why. When you practice ashtanga with regularity over a long period of time ( the practice tips from Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras), you will become more flexible, and if you start to work on the second or third series, you will be able to do some impressive postures. There is danger in this. One can start to think, “wow, i’m awesome, I’m so cool, I can do all these fancy postures!” Wait a minute, does this really matter at all in the big picture, does it make you a better person? Couldn’t any circus performer do the same thing or much better? Be careful that you don’t miss the entire point of ashtanga yoga. It is about consistency, regularity, and always working internally with your breath, with your core. It really doesn’t matter what the external form looks like. If you are in the practice, breathing, moving, concentrating, then you are getting it. If by doing yoga you start to think about all of your actions, how you treat your family, friends, people on the street, then you are getting it.
Yoga is about developing awareness of yourself and your actions. It is the union of who you are with how you act. The physical postures help you to get there, but remember that they are a means and not the end.
Yes, indeed, today March 13, 2010 a group of around 50 yogis gathered in City Park, in New Orleans Louisiana. The purpose was to fundraise for yogastopstraffick.org a seva charity organization out of Mysore, India. I was impressed to see so many out supporting this cause. Sometimes it is hard in New Orleans, AKA the big easy, to rally and do things that are outwardly not so easy. This lovely morning was an exception. Many bright-eyed came from all around the city, some yoga regulars and some not so regular. We completed 108 Sun Salutations, lead by 10 teachers from around the city. It was a multi-yoga studio effort, which was very nice to see. Often we get caught up in our tastes and preferences in yoga like in all things and life, and might forget that there is a bigger picture, and that all paths lead to the same glowing source of light. Today was magical, the weather was windy, slightly cool, and had that sun-kissed feeling that comes in New Orleans early spring. The great oak tree covered us, sheltered us, and held up the wind chimes that gave us music with some prompting from the breeze. And mother nature provided the most beautiful backdrop that we could hope for. We’ve already raised more than $500 for the cause, with more to come. I felt the presence of something greater than us as individuals, something that comes when a group of like-minded people come together, perhaps it was even the presence of saints like Sri Pattabhi Jois, Krishnamacharya, Ramana Maharshi, or Sri Ramakrishna. Gratitude. Peace. Joy. Love. Thank you NOLA Yogis! Who Dat!
March 13th,2010
General,
Yoga |
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it has been exactly a week since i stepped off that 5th and last airplane into the New Orleans airport. in a way it feels like i’ve just returned, and at the same time getting back to my routine at the yoga studio feels great. i don’t feel like i’ve never left, because i feel a quiet and stronger sense of confidence, trust, and real love for what i do. both yoga and ayurveda can help people in very deep ways, sometimes we don’t even realize how deep these practices can touch our cores. i can’t help but smile when i talk about my trip, both internally and externally. my morning pranayama practice is lovely, in my little loft in front of my large Ganesha, straight from Mysore. Reconnecting with people has been the best thing about coming back, connecting with family, friends, and yoga students. Yes, definitely, this is home, here lives my people and here lives my heart.
i just finished my last round of pancha karma treatments. i can safely say that i feel a strong sense of calm and peace. i hope i can bring it back with me. the impact on my asana practice is interesting too. where i am working in asthanga vinyasa, on the third series, or Advanced A series, demands a lot of muscular energy and especially lots of arm work. i can intuitively feel that it isn’t right for me to put intense energy there. i’ve been experimenting with a softer practice more standing postures, and doing the intense hip openers, legs behind the head in all sorts of ways, in a softer way. Guruji (Sri Pattabhi Jois) used to say that the first two series were important, Primary for cleansing the body and Second for cleansing the nerve pathways. He used to say third series was for demonstration, strength, and jokingly acrobatics. Dr. Shambu also mentioned that practicing with too much push produces testosterone, which we all need a little bit of, but women certainly don’t need a lot. So it will be interesting to observe how my practice evolves as I return home. Both the pranayama and the pancha karma help me to get closer to my own wisdom and intuition. Letting this trickle into my asana practice and watching what happens will be a new and interesting phase for me….letting go of the goal-driven attitude, which overrides intuition and wisdom is important in all aspects of life…..Namaste!
