Namarupa 3 Gurus Interview

Tirumalai Krishnamacharya students TKV Desikachar, BKS Iyengar, and K Pattabhi Jois interviewed by R Alexander Medin in the 2004 issue of Namarupa.

"3 Gurus, 48 Questions"
http://www.namarupa.org/magazine/nr03/downloads/NamaRupa_03_02.pdf

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Ashtanga Retreat Interview with Elise Espat by Xinalani

 

Interview with Elise Espat

From March 3-10, 2012 we are honored to receive Elise Espat and her group of yogis!  We wanted to know a little more about her before she came down and she was gracious enough to answer some questions for us.  There is still space on her retreat so contact us if you want to come down and join her!

Xinalani: Thanks for taking the time to do this interview with us and allowing our readers to learn more about you and your upcoming yoga retreat.  How did you find out about Xinalani Retreat and why was it important to you to bring your group to our retreat in Mexico, Puerto Vallarta?

Elise:  Thank you!  Well, Xinalani has a fantastic location, which is totally ideal for a week of intense yoga practice, and it is eco-friendly which I feel is pretty important.

Xinalani: Tell us a little about how you found your practice.  How did it all start for you?

Elise:  Jane Fonda, actually.  I think I thought yoga could be a workout alternative but soon realized that something else was happening.  Something bigger.  Just to be clear, I wasn’t athletic by any means.  I was just self-conscious and confused.  From the tape I eventually got the courage to go to a “real” yoga class where other people would see me!  I was pretty worried about sticking out and looking silly and the teacher pointing at me, laughing, and announcing to everyone that I didn’t belong.  Happily, that isn’t what happened.  I think I was in some very gentle, very basic yoga class and was having a very hard time, but I made it through and afterward felt this sense of peace and clarity and I felt fantastic in a really clean way and knew I found something real that I had to hold on to.

Xinalani: What was it like to practice with Sri K. Pattabhi Jois ?

Elise:  I was really nervous when I first practiced with him in New York.  He really had this presence, this glow.  There were so many people in that room and it would get really quiet and you could hear his feet coming toward you…

Xinalani: What is Mysore Yoga?  What about it draws you in?

Elise:  Mysore is a method of teaching yoga where students work one-on-one with a teacher over a long period of time.  Once your teacher shows you some things to work on, you practice them on your own with supervision and the teacher monitors you and helps you along the way giving you verbal queues, adjustments, asanas, etc.  It is a bit chaotic from the outside because there are a lot of students doing their practice at the same time and all of it seems so different.  One person is doing surya namaskar, another is resting, another something else… But it is actually quite organized. 

It is really beautiful to watch students struggle and blossom and shine – to step into possibility and all of that. Of course, I am a student as well and go through all those same things and it is an amazing experience.

Xinalani: After years in NYC, why did you choose to leave such a large yoga community to head to a much smaller environment?

Elise:  New Mexico is a magical place.  The landscape is so vast, kind of moving in a way, spiritual.  I like being close to nature.

Xinalani: Tell us about your classes.

Elise:  Fun, honest, and probably sweaty.  The heart of the retreat will be the traditional Mysore practice with complementary workshops in the afternoons.  We’ll go over technique, tips, and tricks, theory… all that good stuff.  

Xinalani: What is your mantra today?

Elise:  Love!

Xinalani: If you could change one thing about your past life, what would it be?

Elise:    I probably would have liked to be a little wiser but I suppose that “wisdom” implies “experience” so I guess I wouldn’t change a thing.

Xinalani: What is your main goal for the next year ahead?

Elise:  Read more books! 

Xinalani: What will your group experience during your Yoga Retreat in Mexico?

Elise:  A thigh-slapping good time and a whole lot of sunshine.

Xinalani: If you could spread your love of life with the world, what advice would you give from your own personal experience?

Elise:  Follow your heart.

Xinalani: Is there anything you wish to share with our readers that we have not covered?

Elise:  Xinalani rocks!

Originally posted here:
http://www.yogaretreatsinmexico.com/2012/02/interview-with-elise-espat.html

Interview with Guy Donahaye by Elise Espat Part 3

Part 3 of my interview with Ashtanga yoga teacher Guy Donahaye, author of "Guruji: A Portrait".

Originally posted here:
http://yogamindmedicine.blogspot.com/2012/07/reflections-on-guruji-portrait.html

Reflections on "Guruji: A Portrait"
- Interview with Elise Espat - Part III

Did you ask any of the questions to clarify a question you had?  For instance, whether advanced asana meant advanced practice?  Or what was mulabandha?  Was there a satisfactory answer?

I believe there is a general misunderstanding of the purpose of asana practice - which is therapy. Advancement comes through perfecting yama and niyama, pranayama and the internal limbs - asana practice is the foundation of that process. So no, I was not curious - I had the desire to get the subjects to speak about this so as to dispel this general misconception. 

Mostly the questions were not asked out of personal curiosity but with the intention of  getting the interviewee to speak on a subject of interest. However, I was certainly interested to hear their different perspectives and feel that my own understanding has been enhanced through the process of making the book.

In the Guruji book, it seems that people agreed that advanced asana did not necessarily mean advanced yoga practice.  Do you think that is true?  Through asana, with the tristhana and a good teacher and time wouldn't that lead to advanced practice?  Would a student automatically start doing self-study and such?

Asana practice is therapeutic, purifying and strengthening - both for mind and body. How much purification or therapy is required depends on the individual and what end result is desired. I don't think anything will happen automatically through asana practice alone, but if you have a good teacher, he or she will teach more than asana.

Dena Kingsberg: "Some of us have to drag our bodies a long way in order to facilitate the cleansing process.  Those of us with stubborn, egotistical natures may need to drag ourselves further and twist ourselves harder and bend ourselves deeper in order to appreciate that at the end of the day we just need to focus the attention and open the heart."  

One of Guruji's most capable students (not interviewed in the book) was given a practice of 12 Suryanamaskar A and 12 B morning and evening - this he was told was for treating "insanity of the mind". So there is no apparent correlation between being able to do postures and a particular level of spiritual or mental development. However, developing a practice with Guruji into advanced series and practicing the asanas over time gives enormous benefits. 

If the student has not gained some control of the bandhas by the end of Intermediate Series, she will have no choice but to master them progressing into the advanced asanas. Perhaps this is why instead of teaching the pranayamas after intermediate, as he did in the early 70s, later Guruji wanted students to be established in the advanced asanas first. 

Westerners have such a strong attachment to their bodies and body image that practicing asanas can easily lead to greater vanity, competitiveness and other distractions from the goal of yoga. Sri Shankaracharya warns in his Vivekachudamani:

"Whoever seeks to realize the Self by devoting himself to the nourishment of the body, proceeds to cross a river by catching hold of a crocodile, mistaking it for a log… 

…desire, like a crocodile, instantly seizes the aspirant who tries to cross the ocean of samsara and reach the shore of liberation without firm detachment, and straightaway drags him down." 

One has to consider: what is the goal of practice? After overcoming health problems, our aim is to be able to sit still and quiet with a concentrated mind. For some this can be attained easily, asanas are not required, which is very rare today. Some need moderate exercise and purification, others need deeper cleansing and more rigorous training for the mind.

Guruji taught that Ashtanga Yoga was a step by step method but that yama and niyama could not be perfected until the stage of pranayama. However, in spite of the fact that it is very challenging or maybe even impossible to perfect yama and niyama, an attempt to do so is required, and our success in yoga will be much more closely related to our progress in the first two limbs than the third alone. In a certain sense the yama and niyama encapsulate the whole path - it is said that liberation can be achieved through perfection of any one.

As far as asanas go, what is important in the immediate moment is a practice which gives us a sense of well being and freedom from pain. If we are sick, then we need to purify and strengthen the body. In preparation for pranayama we also need to purify the nadis further through Nadi Shodhona and to be able to sit comfortably in padmasana or a similar asana for a long period of time. 

Where did the notion come from - that advancing through the series would lead to advancement on the path of yoga? It seems like there should be a logical correlation.  However, the purpose of the asanas is therapy. As long as we continue to fall short of following the yamas and niyamas perfectly, our system will require continuous correction from practicing asanas.

Guy Interview

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Interview with Guy Donahaye by Elise Espat Part 2

Part two of my interview with Guy Donahaye on his book "Guruji: A Portrait".  And beyond.

Originally posted here:
http://yogamindmedicine.blogspot.com/2012/07/reflections-on-guruji-portrait.html

Reflections on "Guruji: A Portrait" 
- Interview with Elise Espat - Part II

Everyone you interviewed spent time with Guruji in Mysore.  Why is making the time to practice in India so crucial? Or is it?  

If you want to go deep into a subject, you have to go to the source. Spending time in mother India is an incomparable experience and having the opportunity to study closely with a master such as Pattabhi Jois is a priceless opportunity. I believe that it is almost impossible to understand yoga without spending extended time in India, so for a deeper understanding I think it is necessary.

Practicing with Guruji, especially in the intimate setting of the "old shala" in Lakshmi Puram was a very powerful and transformative experience. Receiving the asanas from Guruji and being adjusted in them by him on a daily basis also has a profound impact. Beyond the effectiveness and beauty of the sequences he created, the nature of his adjustments and the way in which he engaged with each individual were teachings on a daily basis. Much more is conveyed through teaching asana than is at first evident.


He would observe our personalities, mental and physical states and engage with us accordingly - teaching us yama and niyama and other yogic truths indirectly or in a practical way. For instance, in some students he was always trying to curb ambition and break down an over inflated ego, in others he was pushing, encouraging, demanding more effort. For each individual on each day it was different. This often caused a lot of confusion, intense emotions and outbursts of anger - either in private or in the shala - one day you though he loved you, the next he seemed to despise you. This caused a lot of self reflection and self analysis.

Prior to 2002 Guruji's yoga shala was very small. In the beginning there was space for eight yoga mats - two rows of four. As the numbers grew we squeezed an extra mat in each row and then eventually there were two in the middle - making twelve. In '91, when I first arrived, Sharath was just beginning to assist, so there were two teachers and eight students in the room. Prior to this and during the summer months there were only a handful of western students, sometimes only one or two - they would get private lessons from Guruji.

With the new shala there was space for sixty students to practice at the same time so the teacher student ratio changed radically. By this time there were many of Guruji's students teaching around the world and students coming to Mysore already knew the practice, so the teaching in the new shala for most students was more about quality control and less about one-on-one teaching. At times there were as many as 300 students present in later years. However, Guruji's commanding presence continued to have a powerful impact on everyone present even though he did not necessarily engage with you directly. It was a common experience that when Guruji spoke to one student - he would shout "straight(en) your leg!" or "touch your chin" - other students in the room felt spoken to also and even though his prompts were not directed at them, they were able to use them also.

Much is made (with good justification) of the ashtanga sequences, however, it makes a huge difference who you learn from and the environment in which you learn. Some say the practice is the teacher. I feel the practice is more like therapy. The guru is the teacher. Even though the teaching may not be explicit, by investing the teacher with a real or imagined superior knowledge, he causes us to reflect on our own limitations. When you are in close proximity to the Guru, these reflections take on a much greater intensity. We used to call mysore a karma accelerator - we felt that enormous transformation was taking place.

How does Mysore influence the practice?  Or does it?

Going to India can help by making practice the central theme of one's day for a period of time. It is also an opportunity to allow the transformations which want to take place in the mind/body to unfold in an environment which does not elicit one's habitual (conditioned) responses. Somehow India has the effect of opening people to greater acceptance and transformation.

I believe it is easier for those who spend time in India to become less materialistic and to start to guide their lives on the basis of a spiritual purpose. While churches in the West are closing, in India every tree or road side rock is a temple to a deity. While many indians crave the same material rewards as westerners, the celebration of and devotion to the divine is everywhere.

The traditional Hindu culture as primarily propagated via the Brahmin caste is based on the same principles as yoga. Guruji's old shala was in Lakshmi Puram, a neighborhood hardly touched by the twentieth century, where people lived much the same way they had been living for hundreds of years. We lived simply without furniture other than a mattress on the floor, intermittent electricity and water. We went to bed when the sun set and got up long before it rose. All around us the local people were all also involved in their early morning rituals, chanting, cleaning, bathing, etc. The target of life for the Hindu is liberation, yoga's target is the same.

Yoga is only one of 64 arts, each of which can bring a practitioner to samadhi and Self realization. Many students learn a musical instrument or study Sanskrit or philosophy - these pursuits take one deeper into an understanding of the science of Self realization.

Guy Interview

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

 

{Moon Day} Tuesday, June 19 New Moon

Next Moon Day: Tuesday, June 19, 2012
No classes, take rest!
Full list of 2012 Moon Days

Why?

From Shri K. Pattabhi Jois via the Ashtanga Yoga Shala:

"That day is very difficult day. Two stars one place (conjunction) is going. New moon also, full moon also. That day very dangerous day. You (take) practice (on that day), anyone can have a small pain starting. That pain is not going very quickly. Long time he is taking. Some broken possible. That is why that day don’t do." continue reading

Video Archive: Sharath and Sri K. Pattabhi Jois Demonstration

{Archive} Outtakes: The Yoga Portfolio

Sri K. Pattabhi Jois: guru, Ashtanga yoga. Sri K. Pattabhi Jois, 91, has been described as “fierce and compassionate” and “strict and loving” by his students, but it’s this kind of dichotomy that makes the teacher of Ashtanga so revered. Jois, who has been teaching for 70 years, started with a studio, or shala, in Mysore (Mysooru), India, that held only 15 students, and is now used to teaching groups that can number in the hundreds. He leads his students through a series of asanas that flow one into the next, synchronizing with the breath, and getting gradually more difficult, with the goal of producing an intense internal heat that detoxifies the body. Photographed at Sanskrit College in Mysore, India. 

 

High quality image at Govinda Kai's flickr page here

Article at Vanity Fair here

Guruji clip from "Yoga Unveiled"

Guruji Singing The Upanishads at Chateau Renault, France 1991

Magnolia's Conference Notes: Obstacles in Yoga Practice

'Yogis should be honest.' Conference notes Nov 6, 2011 w/ Sharath Jois
By Magnolia Zuniga
Posted 11/8/11
Source blog.mysoresf.com

Every Sunday afternoon at 4pm (shala time) is conference with Sharath Jois. This is a time for him to talk about the practice, the philosophy, etc and answer questions from students. Conference on Nov 6th, 2011 Sharath spoke on the many obstacles that come along the path. I touch on just a few...  

Obstacles in Yoga practice...

On Doubt - The practice of Hatha Yoga is not easy and requires sacrifice of many things. Many people have doubt about the practice, the lineage. Instead of surrendering they want to argue. As life changes we have new doubts and new challenges. Guruji used to say 'Practice and all is coming' but if there is no practice how will doubt be cleared? 

In college we must prepare and study. To find answers we read books. But in yoga we practice to find answers. We can read Bhagavad Gita, and Hatha Yoga Pradipika but this is intellectual knowledge. We continue practicing Hatha Yoga to find better answers to the questions...

What is God?

What is yoga?

What is spirituality?

What is life?

On Carelessness - Our carelessness brings lots of problems and our minds get distracted. When we're careless we're not thinking properly. Students come to Mysore, do yoga one month and turns into a gym. If you come to surrender yourself to practice, the effect will be totally different. When you come to Mysore your aim should be to practice yoga. Then mind is clear and focused. Many times it happens students lose energy...

too much talking...losing energy...

too much talking...losing energy...at coconut stand...talking, talking.

On Confusion - Confusion kills yoga practice. Students learn tradition and someone tells them 'oh what they are teaching there is not correct, do this yoga, this is better yoga' then 6 months same thing, and they do another type yoga, then 6 months later another type yoga, and it's like this. Then they say 'Oh I did this yoga, and that yoga and this yoga.' They should also say they are confused. Yogis should be honest.

Question: 'Sharath, why if we're supposed to be relaxed in a posture do you push our limits?'

Answer: [Smiling] You're misunderstanding relaxation. Relaxation in a posture means that if I count it for 2 hours you can stay. You have to reach your limitations longer. You should steadily take to your posture. Bring stability then you can hold for long time.  

[laughing] I feel happy for you Guruji is not there. 

Magnolia started practicing various styles of yoga in 1991. She began practicing Mysore Ashtanga Yoga in 1997 with certified teacher Noah Williams and authorized teacher Kimberly Flynn. She first met and studied with Sri K. Pattabhi Jois and Sharath Jois in 2004 on her first trip to India. Since then she has traveled and studied in Mysore 7 times and taught Mysore Ashtanga Yoga in Hong Kong, Tokyo, France and is currently running a traditional Mysore Ashtanga School 'Mysore SF' in San Francisco. She continues her studies with Sharath Jois in Mysore South India each year.

Magnolia received blessings to teach in 2007 and is now an authorized level 2 teacher.

For more information about Magnolia please visit her website www.magnoliashtanga.com

republished with permission

Reminds me of this:

Guru Movie Screening

Join us for a screening of the movie "Guru" about 9:30 am after Sunday's led class...

Albuquerque Ashtanga Yoga Shala
206 Dartmouth Dr NE, Albuquerque, NM 87106 

ABOUT THE FILM:

GURU, 28 minutes, offers never before seen insights into the life of celebrated 90-year-old ashtanga yoga guru Sri K. Pattabhi Jois.

Jois, whose students include Madonna, and who is featured in the next issue of 'Vanity Fair' magazine is certainly a hip guru...But having devoted himself selflessly to yoga throughout his life, is he happy with the accolades of the past few years? What does he actually think of his 'foreign' students with their yoga dreams? What do his Western devotees get out of traveling all the way to India to see him? Some would go as far as to say he is an enlightened being…

This film's narrative is structured around preparations and celebration of Sri Pattabhi Jois's 90th birthday in India last year, attended by a cavalcade of international guests. Jois provides philosophical insights along the way...We meet his students; Hamish Hendry who runs a yoga school in London; Rolf Naujokat who has been coming to Jois since the 70's; and Saskia Maria Vidler who for the past 3 years has been living in Mysore. Pattabhi Jois's family themselves reveal how hard it was to grow up with such a focused father…

For the uninitiated, this film also offers a unique opportunity to experience traditional Mysore style ashtanga practice, as taught in Mysore by Jois himself and his grandson Sharath Rangaswamy.

GURU is an insightful, humorous and touching look into the guru/ student relationship...

GURU is filmed entirely on location in Mysore India, on high definition DVCAM. It is voiced by popular UK narrator Zam Baring ('Going to Extremes' Channel 4), and includes the music of Indian flautist Teymour Housego who has recorded with Nithin Sawnhey and Michael Jackson.

Director Robert Wilkins has been making documentaries for over 10 years covering subjects as diverse as Al Jazeera London for BBC 4's 'The Desk', forensic science for The Discovery Channel, 'Mummy Autopsy', and the award winning 'Calling Young Hong Kong' about the 1997 handover of Hong Kong to China as told from a young person's perspective.

click here to watch trailer

Purchase the DVD: http://www.guruthemovie.com/html/buy-dvd.htm

5% of all sales of Guru DVD will go to the Shri K. Pattabhi Jois charitable trust. 

screening with permission Mr. Wilkins. 

Kino's Mysore Notes from Conference

The Brave Yogi – Conference Notes from Mysore, Funny Student Questions, Memories of Guruji

By Kino MacGregor

Published on: January 9th, 2012

Source Kino's Yoga Blog

Sraddha’s Birthday Conference

10 AM Sunday right after the Intermediate class

January 8th, 2012

Since it was Sharath’s daughter’s birthday we had Conference directly after the Guided Intermediate class at 10 AM, SST, Standard Shala Time which is 15 minutes ahead of normal time. We had just enough time to drink a coconut and scramble back inside to get a spot. Before I share what was a very powerful and touching discussion I want to talk about what was the biggest shock of the Conference for me, and certainly for my husband, Tim Feldmann.

Towards the end of Conference a student of Tim’s from one of his workshops in the U.S. asked Sharath what was to be the last question of the day. It was her first day of practice on Sunday and her first trip to Mysore. The student asked Sharath something like this, “What do I do when I learn different things in Mysore then from other teachers like Tim Miller and Tim Feldmann?” Now that sounded to me and every one of the more than 300 hundred other students here just like she asked what to do here in the shala in Mysore when she learns different things than what she learned from taking classes with the two Tims. But she came up to Tim after and explained that she actually meant to say something like this instead: “What do you do in your regular Mysore class at home in the U.S. with a non-Authorized or Certified teacher and it is different from what qualified Authorized and Certified teachers like Tim & Tim tell me is the traditional method in workshops that I take with them?” Two totally different realities. First of all I think it’s a kind of social faux pas to mention another teacher’s name during Conference with Sharath. Ask your question but try not to throw anyone under the bus by doing it. Secondly if you are going to mention someone’s name and you mean it to be in a positive light think it over very clearly and phrase your question as simply as possible so as not to miscommunicate. When the question was asked my husband eyes got huge, I stopped typing the notes I was taking and there was a general sense of awkwardness in the whole room. The last thing that any Ashtanga Yoga teacher wants to hear is that their teaching is contrary to the tradition, especially if that is not what the student meant to say anyway. We all devote ourselves to the lineage, the practice and the tradition with our whole hearts and to have that questioned is like a knife in our hearts. So anyhow the student went up to Sharath and told him what she really meant, but now there are three hundred students who heard the opposite. Tim is now “the famous Tim Feldmann” and has been answering people’s questions and explaining what happened to multiple people over chai, coconuts, dosas, in the street and under the lights of Mysore Palace. One other interesting thing that has happened is that many students who have taken classes with Tim have posted on his FB page how much they appreciate his teaching and how they feel that he represents the tradition well.

Mysore is an amazing place to come and practice and in some ways I feel that being here also accelerates anything that you are processing and any lessons that you may be in the midst of. In some mysterious way just being here hastens the pace at which the mirror of life’s good, bad, beautiful and ugly presents itself. All you can do is keep steady and strong and keep practicing.

Ok, so now as promised, here are the notes about the actual Conference with Sharath below:

Sharath started off by stating that “In this modern world now everything is instant, no one has patience, everyone wants to have as soon as possible. In yoga it has also become like that.” He said that many places will certify you to teach within 15 days or one month. There is always someone who comes to India and thinks that if they come for one month they should get a certificate stating that they studied here and are then qualified to teach. They get many phone calls asking about Teacher Training from all over the world, three last week. Sharath said, “Yoga is getting big but it is getting crazy also. It’s not that yoga is crazy people are making it crazy. A yoga teacher should always maintain the purity of the practice.” In the light of the NY Times article that questions the efficacy and danger of the yoga tradition I think it is useful to ask the question what it really takes to be a qualified teacher of yoga, how many years of practice does it take to really understand the depth of the tradition. Sharath said that for a practitioner it is very important to choose your teacher, one who can guide you properly, one who knows and who has been practicing for many years within in a lineage.

The notion of parampara as stated in the Baghavad Gita is important. You learn yoga through lineage of correct sadhana in order to have a teacher who can transmit to the students the knowledge of the tradition. First the teacher has to have learned it and experienced it within for many years and then only is it possible to transfer the correct method to the students. Sharath said that you can watch many amazing and crazy things on Youtube and it is hard to figure out which is good (I wonder if he’s seen my videos and if so if they are crazy to him?). His point was that you have to discriminate between so many things amidst the wealth of information out there. There are so many things that are called yoga like naked yoga, booty yoga, runner’s yoga so that soon everything will be joined with yoga. Accordingly t is our duty being a practitioner of a traditional form of yoga to keep the purity of the practice in tact. If we don’t keep the purity within us then in 10-15 years yoga will have a different meaning of yoga. Yoga has described in many different ways throughout the years, but the heart is the same. For example take the definition of “jiva-atma” meaning that when the individual soul joins with the supreme soul you are doing yoga. Yoga is the way of moksha, liberation. Throughout all the different explanations of yoga the deeper experience is the same, once you become one with everything, that’s the union of yoga. For yoga, sadhana is very important because if you only do it for a few years you won’t go for the depth of yoga.

Sharath gave the Four D’s that you need for correct yoga practice: devotion, dedication, discipline and determination. Yogis have a disciplined life because our mind shouldn’t get distracted to many other unwanted things. A yogis mind by practicing every day yoga gets stronger within and the mind thinks about what yoga is and replaces old negative thoughts with these positive ones instead. The kinds of thoughts that ponder the meaning of concepts like satya and ahimsa should come within the asana practice and the awareness of being a practitioner shows you to follow this spiritual investigation. The yamas/niyamas are ten sub-limbs of the method and these qualities develop strongly within us over time, decreasing the likelihood of conflict and giving a better meaning to the practice. If you just keep on doing asanas without thinking about these types of things then the practice is just like a mindless physical activity with no spiritual use. He asked what is the use of a beautiful physical if you don’t have a good heart or good thinking? So this asana is the foundation for all spiritual practice. Once you follow yamas and niyamas and then you won’t be disturbed by many things in your life and then you will have purity within. That is the transformation that happens when you do your practice for a long time with dedication and devotion to the practice. Sraddha, faith and devotion, means that one who has it can get the knowledge and realize the purity of the practice. Once you realize the transformation that can happen you will get a beautiful experience of the practice but it is something that should happen slowly.

When you get older and wiser in your practice the meaning also changes to a deeper spiritual practice. Sharath said that when he was 19 he started the practice again seriously but still was not very near to the heart of yoga. In some sense it was just bending the body, doing the movement, all fun and lots of pain. With each asana there was a new pain, but he said that his yoga was not wise enough. He continued, “Once we go deeper an deeper in this practice then the practice becomes deeper and wiser and it grows like a plant in the ground, when you wan to grow the plan you have to nourish it properly with water, fertilizer, etc. to make the plant to grow. Once you nourish the plant properly the plant will grow and flower will blossom. If you don’t nourish the roots then the flower will never blossom. Exactly like that asana, yama, niyama are the nourishment which our mind needs. When the yoga will grow and it will blossom within us. For this it doesn’t happen that easily, you have to gain something you have to do something. Many things you have to sacrifice. This is what I learned from home.”

At this point in the Conference I started to think of Guruji and just then Sharath started to talk about his grandfather and I was deeply touched by what he said.

Guruji would rise at 3 AM everyday and do his chanting to teach by 4 AM and Sharath said that his dedication came the same way by watching Guruji. The relationship between the guru and the student is like father and son relation and that same relation was there between Krishnamacharya and Guruji. They would do practice in the morning and theory at 12 PM and over many years the knowledge would transfer to the students. He said, “In this instant world nobody has patience. All they want is the piece of paper. The real yoga practitioner doesn’t care if he is certified or authorized because yoga keeps happening within them, yoga gets stronger and stronger within the real yogi.” Many people have a different opinion or imagination about yoga like if you jump back or do handstand then you’re a real yogi. Handstand if you can do it’s nice to watch, but you have to improve yogic and spiritual knowledge, once you improve that within yourself then you will become a real yogi. He said that, “We are still trying to become yogis and yoginis, we are still going in that direction but still we have not reached until we get enlightened. Whatever we do in this lifetime will carry forward into the next lifetime–maybe you don’t need to do so many asanas–then straight away you can get enlightened, like the Buddha and Shankaracharya. There are many yogis throughout history, even Jesus Christ, if he had been born in India he would have been considered a yogi. The many who got enlightened were all born yogis because of the hard work they put in from a previous life.”

Sharath said that in order to keep your motivation up you should keep a photo of your teacher in your practice space. He said “In my practice I always feel Guruji, like he is watching me, I miss the adjustment in backbending very badly. He would help me, but that connection is always there.” Nobody can see God, but only feel the presence. Like that, Sharath said he feels Guruji, physically he is not here but the energy is always there. Every student who had the benefit of directly experiencing Guruji’s power and presence misses him, but at least every one of us here in Mysore now has Sharath to help us in the practice. Who does he have to help in with his backbends and his practice? I always felt that on the days that Guruji adjusted me in the practice the energy of my being moved in a radically different way. It felt like karmic bonds of the past were being burned through–sometimes there would be real, measurable physical shifts and other times there would energetic shifts that words cannot even begin to describe. I have never had an adjustment in backbend like his and I know I never will again. He would effortlessly take me beyond my mental limit, right to the edge of my physical limit with no pain, no soreness after. My deepest backbends were always with his guidance. Even just Guruji’s presence in the room made all my pain disappear and everything seem more peaceful and more possible.

Then there were some small corrections in the Practice that he wanted to share with us based on what he saw everyone practicing.

1. In Surya B/Utkatasana don’t sweep the floor with your hands before enterting Utkatasana

2. In Utkatasana the Vinyasa is not to straighten the legs, but to keep them bent and then lift up directly from there. If you cannot lift up, try and then just jump back without straightening your legs.

3. Here is how the knee should be in Janu Sirsasana Postures:

Janu A – 90 degrees

Janu B – 85 degrees

Janu C – 45 degrees

Sharath then said that Guruji didn’t understand English really well sometimes and especially because everyone has different accents. New Zealand was especially hard to understand for him. Those from Mysore who speak his language were the best to understand what he was saying. For example the ujjayi breath is meant to be a pranayama practice, the practice breathing is just free breathing with sound. Only when you are long time student of Guruji’s could you understand. His heart was like a baby’s heart, his mind was like a baby’s mind. The breath during the practice should be long and deep so that each and every part of the body can feel the breath, from the toes to the top of the head, and the blood circulation is going properly. Deep breathing is especially important for shoudlerstand. Sarvangasana is the asana for the whole body so that every organ gets exercises. Sirsasana also important and he said that you can do them both for a long time. Sometimes you get various pains all over the body and this is all because of not breathing properly. He said that “The more we relax in the asana, try to relax and take long breaths and relax then it becomes easier. The more you relax the more easy you can do all the postures.”

Part of the discipline is also giving non-attachment, vairagya, so that you release your attachment to many material things. The world of the senses is on the outside and includes the thoughts that the brain has accumulated and programmed from watching the outside world. Sharath said “Who is a brave person is a yogi who will withdraw all the senses inwardly and try to realize the inner purity. By watching others we have lost ourself and lost our inner purity. With yoga practice you slowly get detached from everything and look inside and try to realize the purest form within.” This is what Shankaracharya said, that the divine is already alive within ourselves, but we are not able to recognize it because we are lost within many things. That is why this practice is very important and once we get wiser and more spiritually advanced then the distraction will vanish and you can see the inner purity. If you still the thought waves you can experience totally different things and the mind becomes very peaceful.

Sharath said that a guru is always a teacher and should be there for the students because if not the students will go off track. Guru is the dispeller of darkness. Sometimes we get lost in so many delusions within us and the guru is person who brings us back to track.

In the practice you have to think for yourself, come to the practice and experience. It’s up to you to decide who your teacher is. But too gurus will kill one student just like two doctors will kill one patient. Choose one teacher. Guruji used to say “Many teachers, crazy making, one teacher, shantih is coming.” Sharath said that none of the other students experienced what he did from Guruji. His knowledge of yoga came from total devotion to one teacher over more than 20 years. If you devote yourself to one teacher definitely transformation will happen, but you shouldn’t loose your heart and wander from the path after difficulty, pain or injury. Some people do for a few years and then decide that they have figured out a better way to modify, change or alter the practice. They then lose the ground gained and within two or three years they totally change the style of yoga and pronounce it as the “new” truth when actually just confusion is there. In yoga first that thats why we have to stabilize the mind and bring stability in the practice and mind. The quality of Sthira, stability is a key factor on the path yoga. Sharath said, “Yoga is the healer for anything. If you have yoga within you, yoga will save you. It is very good for us to keep this traditional practice alive and pass it onto the next generation, it doesn’t belong to one person, if you use it properly it becomes yours, you can experience it, but you cannot own it, if you don’t do it properly then its not yours.”

Kino MacGregor is one of a select group of people to receive the Certification to teach Ashtanga Yoga by its founder Sri K. Pattabhi Jois in Mysore, India. The youngest woman to hold this title, she has completed the challenging Third Series and is now learning the Fourth Series. 

republished with permission

Why we don't practice on Moon Days

• From Shri K. Pattabhi Jois at the Ashtanga Yoga Shala:
  "That day is very difficult day. Two stars one place (conjunction) is going. New moon also, full moon also. That day very dangerous day. You (take) practice (on that day), anyone can have a small pain starting. That pain is not going very quickly. Long time he is taking. Some broken possible. That is why that day don’t do." source
  
   
• From Richard Freeman at the Yoga Workshop:
  "Observing this restraint to practice can be helpful in not becoming too attached to practice and routine. It also provides time for the body to rest and recuperate." source 
  
  "It’s part of the traditional approach to take time off during the new and full moons. This is partly due to the Indian astrological belief that it is not auspicious to do certain things on moon days. Because we are part of this lineage, we have chosen to honor the moon days in this way.
  
  In addition, once you practice on a daily basis (six days a week is recommended), you’ll notice that being invited to take a day off is a luxury. The body can rest (after all the ashtanga practice is physically demanding) and on moon days you feel like you have a huge chunk of unspoken for “free time” when you’re used to daily practice.  source 
  
   
• From Tim Miller at the Ashtanga Yoga Center:
  "Like all things of a watery nature (human beings are about 70% water), we are affected by the phases of the moon. The phases of the moon are determined by the moon’s relative position to the sun. Full moons occur when they are in opposition and new moons when they are in conjunction. Both sun and moon exert a gravitational pull on the earth. Their relative positions create different energetic experiences that can be compared to the breath cycle. The full moon energy corresponds to the end of inhalation when the force of prana is greatest. This is an expansive, upward moving force that makes us feel energetic and emotional, but not well grounded. The Upanishads state that the main prana lives in the head. During the full moon we tend to be more headstrong.
  
  The new moon energy corresponds to the end of exhalation when the force of apana is greatest. Apana is a contracting, downward moving force that makes us feel calm and grounded, but dense and disinclined towards physical exertion.
  
  The Farmers Almanac recommends planting seeds at the new moon when the rooting force is strongest and transplanting at the full moon when the flowering force is strongest.
  
  Practicing Ashtanga Yoga over time makes us more attuned to natural cycles. Observing moon days is one way to recognize and honor the rhythms of nature so we can live in greater harmony with it."  source

• From Eddie Stern at Ashtanga Yoga New York:

"I had one friendly comment to pass on about the ‘anandhyanana’ days: 

It is possible that the student who asked you about any prohibition of practicing yoga on the full or new moon days was doing so because of the observances of Pattabhi Jois. Much has been made of this observance, with all sorts of ideas about why he does this, and what significance it may have. However, the matter is quite simple. As you know, the Maharaja’s Pathashala (Sanskrit College) was closed each month for classes on the moon days, and the day before and after. Studies were continued by the students, but no new lessons taught. One reason for this was that on amavasya and purnima, certain rituals had to be performed by the teachers and students alike, who are all brahmins – for example, the pitr tarpana which needs to be performed on amavasya, and the ritual bathing the day after the moons – all these things take time to be performed. As well, though I have never been able to find the reference, Pattabhi Jois used to quote to us – and I also heard this from my old Bhagavad Gita teacher in Mysore – that if a teacher teaches new subjects on the moon days, his knowledge will decline, and on the day before or after, the knowledge of the student will decline! Perhaps you might know where this reference comes from? 

When I spoke to Pattabhi Jois’s astrologer while interviewing him for the Guruji book, he concurred with the idea that it has something to do with the idea of as above, so below: our mind is the moon, and waxes, wanes, and retains information in a similar cycle as the moon in the sky. 

Since Pattabhi Jois was a student at the Maharaja’s Pathashala, and then was the Professor of Yoga there from 1937 to 1973, this became a habit and observance for him. Since he held the view that yoga was a practice of Vedic origin, and that the knowledge of the Upanishads was to be accessed only through the doorway of asanas and pranayama, he ascribed the same observances to teaching them as he did to teaching Veda. He further used to say that on the full and new moon days, there was a particular conjunction of nakshatras that made it easier to get injured, and that the injury would take longer to heal. I have never been able to verify this through jyotish; perhaps this is something that he learned from his father, who was an accomplished jyotishi. 

Pattabhi Jois knew quite a bit too — the name Jois is a South Indian corruption of Jyotish, and astrology was in his family tradition. I say all this to make the simple point that Pattabhi Jois had certain habits from the time he was 14. Why he had these habits is interesting, and though we may not be brahmins, or even Indian, as his students it is good to understand why certain things were done by him, and accept that if he felt them important enough to follow, that they are applicable to us too. But we should not go making a big thing of it and creating all sorts of fantastical ideas! 

Below is a funny story to illustrate what happens when we (for example, Ashtanga Yoga students!) do not take the time to investigate simple things in a rational manner: 

A saintly scholar used to give a class on Bhagavad Gita each evening beneath a tree near a village. He had a pet cat, and this cat would sometimes run through the crowd, making a disturbance. As a result the sage began to tie the cat to the tree during the class. After some time the speaker shuffled off his mortal coil. One of his disciples continued to give the Bhagavad Gita class under the tree, and continued to tie the cat to the tree during the class. After some time the cat passed away, and the disciple bought another cat. After three generations a disciple wrote a paper on the sacred tradition of tying a cat to the tree while giving a class on Bhagavad Gita. 

So, all that being said, I think that the moon day/practice observance should be followed by the Ashtanga Yoga students out of respect for Pattabhi Jois and his methods. The purpose of following these things, and submitting ourselves to a lineage, is to create humility and thoughtfulness in the student. We will (most likely) not go to hell if we practice on these days, but surrendering oneself to a lineage has its own charm and effect on our character, so why should we not try it? I do not believe that all yoga students should refrain from practice on these days – they too should follow the observances of their teachers, and hopefully by aligning our minds with higher principles, we will all find happiness in our practices. On moon days or not!" source

• From David Miliotis at the Ashtanga Yoga Practice:
  "Why Vedic moon days differ from Western moon days:
  
  In Vedic astrology, the lunar cycle, is divided into 30 tithis; 2 of these tithis are called full (pūrṇimā) & new (amāvasyā) and have been loosely translated as full & new ‘moon days’. The tithi is a specific time period that begins and ends based on its lunar cycle - irrespective of the daily solar cycle. The Western method for determining full & new moon days is to simply considered on which day the moon happens to be exactly full or new. When Guruji would speak of full & new moon days, he was thinking of their respective tithis. For this reason, we too follow the Vedic Pañcāṅga calendar system - just as Guruji did." source

Ashtanga Yoga Opening and Closing Mantras

Listen properly!

Video: Sri K. Pattabhi Jois on Ashtanga Yoga

Transcript:
I tried my best to transcribe the video below.  Suggestions welcome.

One method: yoga method.
(It's asana and pranayama and pratyahara.  This is all one type method.)

That's why yoga is important.
That is universal.
No one man - one man property.
This is not one man property.
This is [not] one country property.
This is universal, Yoga is universal.

Yoga not physically purpose, no.
This is internal yoga.
Internal cleaning.
Internal exercise.
Not external exercise in yoga method.
There is yoga - Yoga means you self knowledge you getting.
Self knowledge...
Knowledge - there is going yoga is taking that to go that way is taking going.
That is method.

That's where you start yoga.
Asana you start.
You do asana more asana, asana, asana, genuine asana.
Much asanas is there.
That asana you do.
Is giving very good strength and stamina
Your energy is increasing every day, every day, every day.
Your mind also is correctly standing [when] position is coming.
This is yoga method.

Abhyasa you can take practice, don't talk.
95% practice, 5% percent theory.
You know, now a-days people 99 and half percent theory, one half percent also no good practice.
That is very bad.

Discipline means you can take your practice.
First you stand - your stamina you give it first.
Your body strength you want to give it.

Body means - three type of body (external body, internal body, spiritual body).
Spiritual body...

That is three type of body strength you are getting.
That is giving strength only for the yoga practice.
With breathing systems with vinyasa all included.
So breathing is very important.

Without breathing not spiritual body is not coming.
Spiritual mind also is not coming.
That is very important in breathing.

Breathing means - you don't understanding.
That is why there is a method - ekam, dve, trini - that is vinyasa.
That's called vinyasa.
Inhalation, exhalation.
One type of time.
10 second, 10 second.
15 seconds, 15 seconds.
Inhalation 10 seconds.
Exhalation 10 seconds.
Inhalation 15 seconds.
Exhalation also 15 seconds.
Same method, you follow.