Dec 5, 2024

1994 Interview with Pattabhi Jois: Practice Makes Perfect

an Interview with Sri K. Pattabhi Jois

by Sandra Anderson, Yoga International, Jan-Feb 1994

Happiness on the face, light in the eyes, a healthy body-these are the signs of a yogī, according to the Haṭha Yoga Pradīpikā, the classic Saṁskṛt text on haṭha yoga. Such a description fits K. Pattabhi Jois, who at the age of 78 has the straight spine and smooth face of a much younger man. He laughs easily, beaming when we are introduced in a steamy New York studio, and asks if I would take yoga with him. According to the Pradīpikā, haṭha yoga is taught for the attainment of rāja yoga, also known as aṣṭāṅga yoga, the complete, eight-limbed path to self-realization, but few emphasize the importance of attaining perfection in posture and breathing as a means of achieving the other limbs as clearly as Jois does.

Born in 1915 in southern India, K. Pattabhi Jois met his guru, Krishnamacharya, who was also B.K.S. Iyengar’s teacher, while still a young boy. He has been teaching yoga since 1937, and students from all over the world come to study with him in his home in Mysore, India. He has visited the United States several times, and although this is his first visit to New York, most of the students in this morning’s class seem to know the sequence he teaches.

It’s hot. The windows are closed, and the already humid air is thick with the labored breathing of 35 sweating bodies. The students groan and sigh. For some, the sequence appears to unfold effortlessly, but still their bodies glisten with sweat. Jois is everywhere encouraging - a hand here, a foot there, a joke wherever it is most needed. He calls out the sequence of postures in a strong deep voice, using their Sanskrit names.

There’s no laziness here: only determined hard work and a grace born of strength and flexibility, as the class moves from one posture to the next, pausing only to hold the pose, and linking the postures with a spine-flexing sequence reminiscent of the sun salutation and similarly coordinated with the breath. “Exhale, catvāri (caturaṅga daṇḍāsana), inhale, pañca (ūrdhva mukha śvānāsana).” Jois establishes discipline but tempers it with gentle humor and affection, as he teases students, verbally and physically, into places they didn’t realize they could reach.

And if the coaxing, the energy in the room, and the peer pressure aren’t enough, there’s the heat. In spite of the mats, there’s hardly a dry spot left on the crowded hardwood floor at the end of this rigorous two-hour session. The sequence of postures continuously flowing with the breath is designed to stoke the fire of purification - to cleanse the nervous and circulatory systems with discipline and good old-fashioned sweat. “Practice, practice, practice,” Jois says later, addressing a small group of students gathered in a loft in Soho. He spoke at length about the method he uses, emphasizing that he has added nothing new to the original teachings of his teacher and the Yoga Sūtra.

Where did you learn yoga?

From my guru, Krishnamacharya. I started studying with him in 1927, when I was 12 years old. First he taught me āsana and prāṇāyāma. Later I studied Saṁskṛt and advaita philosophy at the Sanskrit College in Mysore and began teaching yoga there in 1937. I became a professor and taught Saṁskṛt and philosophy at the College for 36 years. I first taught in America in Encinitas, California, in 1975. Now I’m going all over America. I will teach anyone who wants the perfect yoga method - aṣṭāṅga yoga - just as my guru taught me.

Do you also teach your Western students Sanskrit?

No, only āsana and prāṇāyāma. You need Saṁskṛt to understand the yoga method, but many people, even though they would like to learn Sanskrit, say they have no time. It is very important to understand yoga philosophy: without philosophy, practice is not good, and yoga practice is the starting place for yoga philosophy. Mixing both is actually the best.

What method do you use to teach āsana and prāṇāyāma?

I teach only aṣṭāṅga yoga, the original method given in Patañjali’s Yoga Sūtra. Aṣṭāṅga means “eight-step” yoga: yama, niyama, āsana, prāṇāyāma, pratyāhāra, dhāraṇā, dhyāna, samādhi. The Yoga Sūtra says “Tasmin sati śvāsa pra śvāsayor gati vicchedaḥ prāṇāyāmaḥ (2.49).” First you perfect āsana, and then you practice prāṇāyāma: you control the inhalation and the exhalation, you regulate the breath, you retain and restrain the breath. After āsana is perfected, then prāṇāyāma can be perfected. That is the yoga method.

What is perfect āsana, and how do you perfect āsana?

“Sthira sukham āsanam (YS 2.46).” Perfect āsana means you can sit for three hours with steadiness and happiness, with no trouble. After you take the legs out of the āsana, the body is still happy. In the method I teach, there are many āsanas, and they work with blood circulation, the breathing system, and the focus of the eyes (to develop concentration). In this method you must be completely flexible and keep the three parts of the body - head, neck, and trunk - in a straight line. If the spinal cord bends, the breathing system is affected. If you want to practice the correct breathing system, you must have a straight spine.

From the mūlādhāra [the chakra at the base of the spine] 72,000 nādīs [channels through which prāṇa travels in the subtle body originate (see correction about nādīs). The nervous system grows from here. All these nādīs are dirty and need cleaning. With the yoga method, you use āsana and the breathing system to clean the nādīs every day. You purify the nādīs by sitting in the right posture and practicing every day, inhaling and exhaling, until finally, after a long time, your whole body is strong and your nervous system is perfectly cured. When the nervous system is perfect, the body is strong.

Once all the nādīs are clean, prāṇa enters the central nādī, called suṣumnā. For this to happen, you must completely control the anus. You must carefully practice the bandhas - mūlabandha, uḍḍiyāna bandha, and the others - during āsana and prāṇāyāma practice. If you practice the method I teach, automatically the bandhas will come. This is the original teaching, the aṣṭāṅga yoga method. I’ve not added anything else. These modern teachings, I don’t know … I’m an old man!

This method is physically quite demanding. How do you teach someone who is in bad shape physically?

Bad shape is not impossible to work with. The yoga text says that yoga practice makes you lean but strong like an elephant. You have a yogic face. A yogic face is always a smiling face. It means you hear nāda, the internal sound, and your eyes are clear. Then you see clearly, and you control bindu [the vital energy sometimes interpreted as sexual energy]. The inner fire unfolds, and the body is free of disease.

There are three types of disease: body disease, mind disease, and nervous system disease. When the mind is diseased, the whole body is diseased. The yoga scriptures say “Manayeva manuṣāṇāṁ karaṇaṁ bandha mokṣayoḥ (this verse may be transliterated incorrectly),” the mind is the cause of both bondage and liberation. If the mind is sick and sad, the whole body gets sick, and all is finished. So first you must give medicine to the mind. Mind medicine: that is yoga.

What exactly would mind medicine be?

Yoga practice and the correct breathing system. Practice, practice, practice. That’s it. Practice so the nervous system is perfect and the blood circulation is good, which is very important. With good blood circulation, you don’t get heart trouble. Controlling the bindu, not wasting your bindu, is also very important. A person is alive by containing the bindu; when the bindu is completely gone, you are a dead man. That’s what the scriptures say. By practicing every day, the blood becomes purified, and the mind gradually comes under your control. This is the yogic method. “Yogaś citta vṛtti nirodhaḥ (YS: I.2).” This means that yoga is control over the [movements] of the mind.

We’ve been talking mostly about yoga practice as āsana and prāṇāyāma. How important are the first two limbs of ashtanga yoga, the yamas and niyamas?

They are very difficult. If you have a weak mind and a weak body, you have weak principles. The yamas have five limbs: ahiṁsā [nonviolence], satya [truthfulness], asteya [non-stealing], brahmacharya [continence], and aparigraha [non-possessiveness]. Ahiṁsā is impossible; also telling the truth is very difficult. The scriptures say speak that truth which is sweet; don’t speak truth which hurts. But don’t lie, no matter how sweet it sounds. Very difficult. You tell only the sweet truth because he who speaks the unpleasant truth is a dead man.

So, a weak mind means a weak body. That’s why you build a good foundation with āsana and prāṇāyāma, so your body and mind and nervous system are all working; then you work on ahiṁsā, satya, and the other yamas and niyamas.

What about the other limbs of ashtanga yoga? Do you teach a method of meditation?

Meditation is dhyāna, the seventh step in the aṣṭāṅga system. After one step is perfect, then you take the next step. For dhyāna, you must sit with a straight back with your eyes closed and focus on the bridge of the nostrils. If you don’t do this, you’re not centered. If the eyes open and close, so does the mind.

Yoga is 95 percent practical. Only 5 percent is theory. Without practice, it doesn’t work; there is no benefit. So you have to practice, following the right method, following the steps one by one. Then it’s possible.

The term vinyāsa is used to describe what you teach. What does it mean?

Vinyāsa means “breathing system.” Without vinyāsa, don’t do āsana. When vinyāsa is perfect, the mind is under control. That’s the main thing controlling the mind. That’s the method Patañjali described. The scriptures say that prāṇa and apāna are made equal by keeping the ratio of inhalation and exhalation equal and by following the breath in the nostrils with the mind. If you practice this way, gradually mind comes under control.

Do you teach prāṇāyāma in the sitting postures also?

Yes. When padmāsana [the lotus sitting posture] is perfect, then you control your anus with mūla bandha, and also use the chin lock, jālandhara bandha. There are many types of prāṇāyāma, but the most important one is kevala kumbhaka, when the fluctuations of the breath - the inhalation and exhalation - are controlled and automatically stop. For this you must practice. Practice, practice, practice. When you practice, new ways of thinking, new thoughts, come in your mind. Lectures sound good; you give a good lecture and everyone says you’re so great, but lectures are 99-1/2 percent not practical. For many years you must practice āsana and prāṇāyāma. The scriptures say “Practicing a long time with respect and without interruption brings perfection.” One year, two years, ten years … your entire life long, you practice.

After āsana and prāṇāyāma are perfect, pratyāhāra, sense control [the fifth limb of ashtanga yoga], follows. The first four limbs are external exercises: yama, niyama, āsana, prāṇāyāma. The last four are internal, and they automatically follow when the first four are mastered. Pratyāhāra means that anywhere you look, you see God. Good mind control gives that capacity, so that when you look, everything you see is Ātman (the God within). Then for you the world is colored by God. Whatever you see, you identify it with your Ātman. The scriptures say that a true yogī’s mind is so absorbed in the lotus feet of the Lord that nothing distracts him, no matter what happens in the external world.

What is your parting advice for those who have a desire to pursue yoga?

Yoga is possible for anybody who really wants it. Yoga is universal. Yoga is not mine. But don’t approach yoga with a business mind-looking for worldly gain. If you want to be near God, turn your mind toward God, and practice yoga. As the scriptures say “without yoga practice, how can knowledge give you mokṣa [liberation]?”

Dec 4, 2024

Who Owns Yoga? LA Yoga Article 2010

Who Owns Yoga?

By Leslie Hendry|March 31st, 2010

Thoughts On An Endless Question

“No one owns Yoga,” said Sharath Rangaswamy, the grandson of the late Ashtanga Yoga guru, Sri K. Pattabhi Jois.

Sharath paused comfortably, sanguinely sitting in lotus. He looked around the room, and then continued, “You don’t own it. I don’t own it. No one owns it.”

We had gathered at Ashtanga Yoga New York and Sri Ganesha Temple in New York City in May, 2010, during Sharath’s world tour. During the silence that followed this pronouncement I glanced at a fellow Yoga practitioner, who earlier that morning was elaborating on her apartment in Mysore, India, the city where Ashtanga Yoga practitioners go to practice for months at a time. This acquaintance commented on her balcony furniture, her new ceiling fan, her oven, her volunteering, her recent training at the yogashala, her relationship to the yogashala, her friends there, her tuk tuk driver. All was hers. The result of the conversation seemed less of an exchange of experience and more of a list that eclipsed my own experience of India. I surely didn’t have all the coveted things that this person had when I was there. Mulling Sharath’s statement around in my head, I wondered if this type of dominion was what he meant.

Who Owns Yoga?

The habit of claiming mine to something in which we are intimately involved is part of our lovely friend “Ego.” Strong attachments can lead to wanting to own and covet more of what we love. We identify with those things we love and the attachment deepens. We fall in love with Yoga because it makes us feel good, stretches us, relaxes us, de-stresses us. We buy into the accoutrements of Yoga: the mat, the rug, the clothes, the trips, the workshops, the experiences. We identify as yogis and yoginis. But wait.

“We are not yogis or yoginis,” Sharath said, to a ripple of giggles at this gentle Indian’s speaking of the word yogini.

Now I was further confused. What was he saying?

Sharath’s entire life has been about Yoga in one way or another. He grew up in a Yoga lineage. His grandfather studied under Sri T. Krishnamacharya, whose students include many of today’s most influential teachers: B.K.S. Iyengar, the late Indra Devi, Srivatsa Ramaswami, A.G. Mohan, and Krishnamacharya’s sons T.K. Srinivasan, T.K.V. Desikachar and T.K. Sribhashyam, along with the late Pattabhi Jois. Sharath’s mother, Saraswati, and uncle, Manju, are longtime Ashtanga Yoga teachers, having learned from their father. This family’s life is imbued in Yoga. I sensed this wasn’t about dominion the way my Western mind thought of it as; there must be something more.

I recalled the copyright debate regarding the Bikram style of Yoga. In 2003, Bikram Choudhury, an Indian-born Yoga entrepreneur, whose following includes celebrities, star athletes and supermodels, obtained a copyright on a sequence of 26 Yoga postures, also known as hot Yoga, practiced at a room temperature of over 100 degrees Fahrenheit. How unyogic, people cried. Yoga has been around for 5,000 years, and has been shared with the rest of the world. How can anyone claim ownership? Yet it is our Western system, the U.S. to be exact, where Bikram obtained the copyright to protect the commercial value of his registered property. In 2005, a group called Open Source Yoga challenged Bikram’s copyright ultimately settling the case, but not settling the question.

When I spoke with Bikram he recalled a conversation with one of his students, Janet Reno, the former White House Counsel under the Clinton Administration, who said, “When in Rome, do as the Romans.” Yet with the U.S. case, the Indian government awoke to a usurping of a cultural treasure. Asana, or Yoga poses, have been around for thousands of years, they cried. To copyright something that has been in the public trust of another country seemed completely unfounded. India has now galvanized to better protect Yoga poses and other national treasures. But if Bikram Choudhury can trademark Yoga and is, therefore, protected from others teaching it, and therefore profiting from, Bikram Yoga, how can we say no one owns Yoga?

We don’t walk out our door, Yoga mat in hand, to buy Yoga at a store as if it were a consumer good. We pay for a class, a transaction that compensates the teacher – someone who has dedicated his or her life to Yoga – for their time and knowledge. Was owning Yoga a question of legalities? Profit? I sensed Sharath’s cautionary words were directed towards a modern interpretation of Yoga. He was trying to tell us something, but to contemplate this I had to delve deeper.

Traditionally, Yoga in India was practiced by renunciates, generally men, who eschewed the life of a householder, a householder being someone who would marry and support his family and in many cases extended family, in order to study Yoga. Yoga in this form was to inherit or adopt a lifestyle or path involving the spiritual study of Yoga philosophy. These Yogis studied the Vedas in religious fashion in an attempt to cease the life/death/life cycle. In fact, in the Vedas, instruction on the physical elements of Yoga is minute compared to the voluminous historical texts written on Yoga as the path to enlightenment.

Westerners, on the other hand, have gravitated to the physical practice of Yoga like wildfire. Every day a new yogashala, or studio, opens somewhere in the U.S., gym memberships have the advantage of Yoga classes and Yoga is a billion dollar industry. As a culture who values physical appearance and empirical evidence, we are lured by the results of Yoga, how it makes us feel and look. Most of our Yoga introductions are through a class performing consecutive postures. Some people look at Yoga for a work out substitute, some add Yoga to their regimen to stretch, others begin in an effort to reduce stress. Few are introduced to Yoga in a Vedic theory class.

So our Yoga path begins.

Pattabhi Jois said, “Practice, practice and all things coming.”

The founder of the Shri K. Pattabhi Jois Ashtanga Yoga Institute, Pattabhi Jois, left his house as a young man after a Yoga demonstration he saw in Hassan, Karnataka, in 1927. He was immediately drawn to the teachings of his guru Krishnamacharya. In unconventional fashion of the times, he was not renouncing life as a householder but embarking on a study that would endure throughout his life. Through Norman Allen, the first Westerner to travel to India to study with him, Pattabhi Jois introduced his own guru’s teachings of physical asana practice to the West. Over the years, he made many trips back, teaching Ashtanga to rooms packed with devotees. Yet during his lifetime, Pattabhi Jois did not book lecture tours on the subject, he did not focus on the exact, precise alignment of every posture in class, instead, he focused on the practice: the continuous flow of breath and movement, and most importantly, devotion.

"Practice is the foundation for the actual understanding of philosophy. Unless things become practical and we can come to experience it, for what use is it? Yoga hinam katham moksam bhavati druvam (which means, without practical experience how can the pursuit of liberation ever be possible?)” [From an interview of Pattahbi Jois in Namarupa Magazine titled “3 Gurus,” Autumn, 2004.]

Whether intentional or not, Pattabhi Jois and many of his contemporaries bridged East and West not by theory but through practical, physical asana. Yet, Pattabhi Jois insisted “Yoga is not physical, very wrong.” It is not the “ultimate benefit of Yoga.” [Namarupa Magazine, 2004]]

It’s hard to deny that Yoga isn’t physical. What is then, the ultimate benefit and how do we understand it? As though searching for the Holy Grail, I ventured to one of the most physically challenging well-known Yoga schools in Los Angeles to see for myself if there was anything beyond sweating.

“I was the first to bring Hatha Yoga into the states for medical purposes,” Bikram told me after sweating through his entertaining class. As the only Yoga teacher to be accredited by the State of California Board of Secondary Education, and with his charismatic teaching approach, imbued wirth cursing and irreverence, I witnessed his unique approach to packing “Bikram’s torture chamber,” as he described it through his Brittany Spears-style headset. He had just returned from a trip to Hawaii to speak to the members of the Pentagon about Yoga and world peace. Not to mention that Bikram Yoga is featured in the January 2010 issue of O Magazine, the mother of all marketers.

Svelte bodies abound Bikram’s school, some practicing in bathing suits, gearing up for an hour and a half of intense sweaty heat, I felt I was part of an NFL summer training camp. Trying to introduce my knee to my forehead in dandayamana-janushirasana, Bikram called out to the class of one hundred students, “Leslie, what are you doing?” “I don’t know,” I thought, as my quivering standing leg fought my will not to lose the posture. I’d been introduced to him before class, so my name was fresh, but others were tested with monikers such as, “Blue Shirt” or “Hey Chinese.” Anyone on the street would’ve thought those were fighting words, but no one stormed out of the room, egos unchecked.

In Bikram’s book, Bikram Yoga, he explains that through Yoga, unhappy societies, like the U.S., can learn from the failures of older cultures, like India, by focusing priorities on “humanity, Spirutalism, and love…we can seek to promote the continued evolution of all life. The ultimate destination of human life is mental happiness and peace through the realization of love.”

Although I heard nothing like this stated in his class, I did see the attraction many had to his tough love approach. The unassailable fact is that most Yoga in the West is physical, some schools to the nth degree, yet people return to practice and sweat out their demons.

Through the physical practice, muscles are strengthened and limbs are stretched, but as Yoga practitioners become devoted to the physical practice their relationship with Yoga inevitably grows in tandem and takes on incremental meaning and effect. The practice becomes far from simply physical. What Pattabhi Jois and other gurus have known, is that through the practice the mind is opening, the mind is balancing, the mind is calming. A union forms, a dedication, a devotion to make space for Yoga takes place. It is believed as asana practice develops we purify internally. “When Yoga is performed in the right way, over a long period of time, the nervous system is purified, and so is the mind.” [Pattabhi Jois, Namarupa Magazine, 2004]. Jois continues, “pratyahara, dharana and dhyana naturally becomes more established and then greater clarity of mind and increased receptivity of self is brought about.”

As Yoga helps our minds to calm and our bodies to strengthen, the benefits become more and more patent; the dedication deepens and a devotion to an inner calmness widens. In Ashtanga and other forms of Yoga, practitioners follow their dristi, breathe ujjaya breath, suck up the bandhas, sweat and stretch. Our relationship to Yoga grows, and hence the union between the small self (who we are) and the big self, (how we transcend) develops. We stretch internally through our minds and our soul. We adjust to this practice, our eating habits change, sleep patterns change, our health changes, we approach life with a greater receptivity to something more internally profound. We venture off the mat and read and inquire into this Yoga that adds so much to our lives.

So our Yoga path progresses.

Inside Bikram’s office, photographs filled with family, his guru, and a restaurant wall of celebrities, he sat back with his legs resting on top of his desk like an oilman, still in his teaching attire, a small black sash of shorts. As one of the most well-known Yoga teachers in the country, I asked Bikram what he thought his role was in defining Yoga. “I get them on the right track, mind and body. They learn. People go off into different directions in life; I get them back on the right track.”

Bikram started practicing Yoga at the age of four with Bishnu Charan Ghosh, brother of Paramahansa Yogananda (author of Autobiography of a Yogi, founder of the Self-Realization Fellowship in Los Angeles). At the age of thirteen, he won the National India Yoga Competition and was undefeated for three years. It is true he has benefited enormously creating Bikram Yoga, which he claims is simply Hatha Yoga done under his creative sequence. But when asked, now that you franchised Bikram Yoga, can you tell me, “Who owns Yoga,” he furrowed his brow and blasted a response, “Who owns Yoga? No one owns Yoga. Yoga is everything, air, God, love.”

“Do your teachers teach this?” I asked.

“Of course, everyday.”

The Sanskrit root of Yoga is yug = to join, harness, yoke, junction, connection. Some believe Yoga is a union within our selves, a union to the higher self, a higher power, some say, to God, and, to which, is universal. It is part of a collective public domain accessible by all individuals around the world and capable of being shared by all, at any time. Everyone has the ability to tap into the higher self, whether it be through Yoga, church, community work, helping others, love, or reverence towards mankind. “Self realization is your birthright, in this lifetime,” said James Butkevich, long-time student of Pattabhi Jois and teacher of Ashtanga Yoga. “No one owns that. With enthusiastic hard work, sweat, self-discipline, and the love of everything that’s good, it is possible.”

Claiming rights to a physical set of asana or postures might be possible, but owning the path to liberation is a much different proposition.

If one defines Yoga as a means to discovering this inner light, then copyright is irrelevant. Yoga transcends commercial boundaries because the practice is not simply an asana sequence or a business. Everyday, Yoga teachers around the globe use various postures to assist their students on their own Yoga path. In many schools of Yoga, teachers create and teach, a sequence learned from their teachers, and their teachers’ teachers. They place their thumbprint on any given class. Under their tutelage, the student will learn, experience, and ultimately benefit from the practice of Yoga. At each step, the practice, perhaps starting out physical, becomes far from quantifying.

So our Yoga practice deepens.

As it deepens, more questions arise and we search for answers. Sometimes the questions spring unexpectedly from our teachers, like Sharath’s statement, which cause us to dig deeper into our own understandings. The answers found might be varied and depend on where one is on their own Yoga path. Yet how we learn and interpret Yoga’s heritage, and hence the visceral potential of Yoga, will depend largely on the lineage of each given teacher and/or school.

The ineluctable draw of Yoga continues to become more and more mainstream. How will teachers and therefore students learn about their Yoga heritage? How will our culture continue to make it our own? What spin, modifications, trends, and changes will we make? Will the legal system become more involved and will legislative trends appearing in different states continue to increase? Will courts and laws define Yoga as a sport or religion or something else? Will we have a governing Yoga body that is more tha a voluntary registry? Will Yoga become qualified for the Olympics as the USA Yoga Federation is striving to accomomplish? Changes are inevitable, but perhaps as the hundreds of people around the world flocking to Yoga increases, so will a truer understanding of the nature and tradition of Yoga passed down through the Vedas and ancient texts. This is in the hands our teachers, and therefore in all of us. For Yoga is not something to be owned, but something to be loved and shared, interpreted and taught as in the original intentions written in the Vedas.

Roughly 150 teachers are authorized in the Ashtanga method taught by Pattabhi Jois. There is no set structure in how Jois gave authorization, but generally speaking, a person must present himself to practice in Mysore over a period of time for a number of years. After practice develops and the aspirant demonstrates an appropriate attitude, devotion towards the practice, and a respect for the tradition of parampara, the succession of teacher and disciple, Jois would then give the authorization. Yet there are more than 1,000 teachers around the world teaching his method. When asked about this, Jois responded, “Let other teacher be there, but I hope their students finally one day get what they deserve.” Just as Jois learned from his guru, he wished for students to learn the lineage from their teachers.

Sharath has now taken the helm of the Ashtanga Yoga tradition. When Sharath spoke in New York it was just weeks before his beloved grandfather died. Reflecting on the statement “No one owns Yoga,” a statement his grandfather often made, it appears timely and also timeless. As we strive to become Yogis and Yoginis, Yoga has taken, and will continue to take, different interpretations as it travels globally into the future. The shepherd of one school of Yoga, Sharath offers clarity. If we cling to Yoga and attach ourselves, or make it someone’s chattel, then we are nowhere near to Yoga’s ultimate benefit. We become less capable of understanding and therefore, experiencing, Yoga’s heritage and therefore its richness, derived not through ownership but through liberation.

A few days ago, I thought about my acquaintance in Mysore who sparked my questioning of Sharath’s statement. Looking on her Facebook page I felt a better understanding of compassion. As Yoga philosophy teacher, Narasimhan, said one day in Mysore, we as Yoga students the world over are yearning to learn something more than what our Western culture affords us. I realized through the process, that I now had more compassion for my fellow Yoga practitioners, but moreover, I found some for myself. For who knows where my friend’s ego stood in her statements, and who was I to jump to conclusions? The next day on the mat, I placed my hands together and chanted the morning prayer. I thanked my teachers, the ones I knew, never knew or whom I have yet to meet, and I specifically thanked my fellow students who also show us the way. I reached into the transforming sky, jumped back and moved forward.

All is coming.

Leslie Hendry is an advanced Ashtanga Yoga practitioner who lives in Los Angeles and is also rooted in India and her native Texas. A former New York attorney, she designed the #3-ranked kids app “Everything Has a Home” and is working on her second book.

https://layoga.com/yoga-in-the-world/who-owns-yoga/

LA Yoga Article with Sharath Jois by Leslie Hendry 2016

By Leslie Hendry|May 16th, 2016

How any place can become a spiritual place and the power of one-on-one practices.

If you have practiced any form of Ashtanga, Vinyasa, or Power Yoga, you have practiced the teachings of the late influential teacher Sri K Pattabhi Jois, who brought the Ashtanga Yoga tradition as we know it today to the West. As a devoted student in this lineage, I just ventured on my eighth trip to study Ashtanga yoga in Mysore, India, with his grandson, R. Sharath Jois. Back in 2005, I first studied with Sharath in his mother, Saraswati’s house across the street from the “main shala.” The living room had been repurposed into a shala and held a small number of students. Pattabhi Jois,had set the course of yoga’s direction and its future thirty years before. In preparation for Sharath’s U.S. tour I sat down with him and talked about yoga in Los Angeles and throughout the world.

Leslie: Many spiritual leaders built centers in Los Angeles to spread yoga. Do you think LA is a spiritual place?

Sharath: Only practices make it spiritual. If there are many spiritual people, it becomes a spiritual place. Why are the Himalayas spiritual? Because there are many spiritual people there who experience spirituality and who have spiritual experiences. That’s why many gurus went to Los Angeles because there were people interested in spirituality. When there are interested people who want to know [and develop] spirituality …it makes them spiritual. It becomes a spiritual place. So, maybe there is a connection there.

Leslie: Southern California was the first place your grandfather, Sri K Pattabhi, known as Guruji, visited in the United States.

Sharath: In 1975, Guruji went to Encinitas. That was the first place he went in the U.S. to teach Ashtanga yoga. Paramahansa Yogananda [also] set up his center there. People started thinking about spirituality and yoga. They wanted to learn about yoga and to discover what it is, so gurus started traveling.

Leslie: Now yoga has been re-interpreted many times. Do you see yoga as classical and modern?

Sharath: Definitely. Nowadays, it has become more physical, like how to do handstand. There is no spirituality in that. It’s just physical, how to bend your body and how to align your body, but classical yoga is about how to bring the discipline to your body and your mind, and how that discipline leads you towards spirituality. That is called yama and niyama. These are very important limbs in yoga practice. Not many people are putting attention to these. They are putting attention only to the physical aspect of yoga….there is no breathing, no vinyasa, no gazing. All these things, what we call tristana, are very important to our asana practice.

In [some forms of] modern yoga, it’s mostly acrobatics. No one knows where they are inhaling, where they are exhaling, how the posture helps our body and mind. They don’t know how our breathing helps our body, nervous system, and mind. But this is very important. Yoga is getting popular all over the world, but there are only few people who have understood yoga well, who have gone to the roots of yoga. Everything is all like a circus, just bending their bodies but that doesn’t mean that’s spirituality. I go to lots of places but there are only few people who really know what yoga is.

“Practices make [a place] spiritual. If there are many spiritual people, it becomes a spiritual place.”

Leslie: What is Mysore style?

Sharath: Let me explain a led class: where we call the asana names, count the vinyasas and every student is practicing the asana at the same time. This is to improve vinyasa and have proper understanding of the system: where to inhale and exhale, and to follow the vinyasa properly.

Mysore class is where we are not counting. We are [monitoring and] trying to help the student improve in different postures. It’s not Mysore style it’s like a one-on-one style. Students are doing it at their own pace. This is called Mysore style because it started in Mysore by Pattabhi Jois.

Leslie: Practicing at the shala in Mysore reminds me of the United Nations of Yoga. Students might not speak the same language but when we do our practice together it creates beautiful energy. What do you think about the growing global Ashtanga world?

Sharath: Yoga doesn’t have any language. When there are 60 students practicing in the shala, there is no common language but there is a common thing, which is yoga practice. They are all doing the same practice, the same asanas, and even they know which asana this is, how many vinyasas. They are all doing simultaneously the same asana, in the same sequence, and that is the language that brings so much peace. Your energy, their energy, everything is mixing up and generating this huge ball of energy in the shala. So, that is very important, and that is the only language.

When they are silently doing practice, it generates a certain energy, which makes the whole environment peaceful. Silence is the only method to bring peace. Once your mind is silent then everything becomes silent and serene. The whole concept, the purpose of doing yoga is to bring silence, to bring peace to your mind.

In Mysore there are different nationalities speaking different languages, but in the practice no language is used but the energy is so high. When the energy is so high, and no one is talking, you only see equality in each and every student. It’s not that you are American, Japanese, Korean, or Australian. When this equality happens, everything is one. Yoga is also one. SAMATVAM YOGAM UCYATE (Bhagavad Gita 2:48). Where there are no emotions, no happiness, no sadness, no caste, no creed, no nationality, no discriminations, that’s also called yoga. So, becoming one is called yoga.

“Silence is the only method to bring peace. Once your mind is silent then everything becomes silent and serene. The whole concept, the purpose of doing yoga is to bring silence, to bring peace to your mind.”

Leslie: What is a Sadakha?

Sharath: A Sadakha is a practitioner who dedicates himself to the practice and the lineage. Yoga isn’t that which can be practiced by watching videos or reading books. Yoga has to come from a parampara, from a lineage, and you have to devote to that lineage and try to learn yoga. That is how the yoga should come.

Leslie: The “one-on-one” approach, done with little talking, does it help us better learn our true nature?

Sharath: In our lineage, you can’t teach in masses. We can teach, but we can’t connect to many people. We can’t understand our students unless we are teaching one-on-one. When there are too many students, we can’t reach everyone. Your voice can reach, but you can’t give personal attention to each student. Everyone has different body structures, mindsets, and flexibilities. Only when you are one-on-one can you understand the students and give what they need.

Leslie: Does this help their spiritual path?

Sharath: Spiritual path is when you get connected with your guru. When you give personal attention to a student, there’s lots of energy that flows through your student. He can feel the energy. When people come to practice in Mysore, there is certain energy here. That energy is generated by a guru. When that energy is generated by a guru, everyone will follow him, everyone will connect to him, everyone can feel his energy and try to practice in that energy. In a mass, you can’t have that same energy. It’s like going to a rock concert, you are just hearing but you can’t get connected to the singer.

Leslie: How do you see Ashtanga yoga making an impact in the world?

Sharath: There is no particular place it will make an impact. There is no one place for yoga. Many places yoga has reached, many countries, many nationalities. Yoga doesn’t belong to one culture. Everyone should practice yoga for their own well-being. Once that happens, the whole planet becomes a spiritual place. The whole planet will become totally different. Everyone will realize their own responsibility in their life towards this planet, towards humanity, so that’s what we have to think about. Yoga will give you that kind of knowledge. It’s not just physical, it’s overall how to keep your own well-being, and keeping others’ well-being. So, that is called yoga.

Leslie Hendry

https://layoga.com/community/teacher-profiles/sitting-down-with-r-sharath-jois/

Dec 2, 2024

Led Primary Series + Conference Online with Usha

Online Classes with Usha Rani Chittoor

Led Primary Series of Ashtanga Yoga and Conference live from India

In the spirit of connecting our worldwide community, please join us for traditional practice live from India followed by a talk on yoga, culture, and theory with Usha Rani Chittoor. Usha moved to Mysore and began practicing with Guruji Sharath Jois in 2007. She lives, teaches, and practices there still. She offers a unique perspective being steeped in the culture and practices of yoga and mother India.

All are welcome, gathering together is encouraged.

Class link will be sent out before class.

Class tuition is pay what you (or your group) are able. We believe all people should have access to practice. No questions asked.

Payment / registration is expected before taking class.

Welcome!

Class one - Saturday, December 14

Class two - Saturday, December 28

——> register for each class here for individuals and/or groups

Classes take place at 7:30pm Indian Standard Time - please check your local time zone

Please check back for future dates.

We look forward to seeing you!

Dec 1, 2024

Sharath Jois Archive

YouTube talks etc

https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLFMBVx1px254CN8ekIlpa3djZIL37QNle&si=TLTM5W4PNbMmjmz5

YouTube classes and audio

https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLFMBVx1px254-X8gh77YZJPjpR4XZzneC&si=9s6KqkSsBB66Kj8k

Conference notes

http://aylibrary.blogspot.com/2013/01/conference-notes-archive.html?m=1

Nov 30, 2024

2025 Ashtanga Yoga Retreats

A growing list of places to go practice Mysore and travel in 2025…

This list is made from personal research of teachers listed on The SYC, KPJAYI, Ashtanga.com websites. Only one retreat per teacher. Listed by date. Has to include Mysore. Hope this is helpful!

Let me know if you know of one to include…

January

Petri Raisanen January 4-24 Thailand https://www.petriandwambui.com/event/thailand-astanga-yoga-retreat/

Jessica Lynn Trese January 5-10 Utah, USA https://ashtangaacademy.com/retreats/cedar-city-2025/

Tara Mitra January 5-12 India https://www.taramitrayoga.com/en/india-spiritual-retreat

Mauricio Victorica January 10-29 India https://www.instagram.com/mauriciovictorica

Saadet Liman January 18-25 Bali http://saadetliman.com/yoga-meditasyon-kampi/

Paz Munoz January 23-26 Chile https://www.casapazzifica.com/retiroyoga

February

Jeff Lichty February 2-6 Mexico https://www.jefflichty.com/events

Nick Presser February 2-9 Sri Lanka https://www.yogaden.nl/retreat/

Irena Bartolec February 8-13 Costa Rica https://ashtangayogamama.com/ashtanga-yoga-getaway-costa-rica/

Margarita Menéndez February 21-23 Mexico https://www.instagram.com/maheshaestudio?igsh=NnhpYmZueGFzZHQx

March

Simona Nucera & Lakshmish Bhat March 1-7 India https://yogaretreat.it/varanasi-india/

David Robson & Jelena Vesic March 1-15 India https://www.davidandjelenayoga.com/event/2-week-ashtanga-yoga-pranayama-and-meditation-retreat-in-goa-india/

Laruga Glaser March 15-22 Kenya https://larugayoga.com/event/ashtanga-yoga-safari-retreat-kenya-africa-2025/

Mary Taylor & Richard Freeman March 15-25 Thailand https://freemantayloryoga.com/teaching/a-jewel-in-the-lotus-the-yoga-of-feeling-happy/

Elise Espat & Jose Troche March 17-30 Mexico https://www.eliseashtangayoga.com/

April

Caroline Simpson April 4-7 United Kingdom http://www.ashtangabristol.com/workshops/

Tim Feldman & Kino MacGregor April 4-12 Bhutan https://thespiritualpilgrim.com/tsp-bhutan

Christine Hoar April 5-12 Costa Rica https://www.ashtangamontauk.com/retreats

Thoai Hong April 13-20 Vietnam https://huongyoga.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/yoga_reise_vietnam_2025.pdf?fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAAR2iaWmmUJKosEPBQgEsib4RbA5gDmbetF4ggd9y96gKgXei4EBxn_qKp9Q_aem_2dpagmdJlPBQbinWKVxXTw

Deepika Mehta April 15-20 Himalayas https://www.deepikamehtayoga.com/himalayan-yoga-retreat

Kristina Karitinou-Ireland April 19-May 3 Bali https://www.yogalugano.ch/retreat

Chuck Miller April 26 - May 3 Spain https://sama-ashtanga.org/?blog=y

May

Lino Miele May 1-4 Italy https://www.astanga.it/ca-le-suore/

Kia Naddermier May 10-17 Croatia https://www.mysoreyogaparis.com/kia-international-schedule/2025/istria-croatia

Dena Kingsberg May 11-16 Berkeley, California USA https://ashtangasantabarbara.com/

Martyna Syguda May 14-18 Italy https://ashtanga-luzern.ch/retreats/

June

Maria Boox May 31-June 14 Greece https://mariabooxyoga.com/event/ashtanga-yoga-retreat-crete/

Kirsten Berg June 1-30 Italy https://www.ashtangazone.com/

Lucia Andrade June 12-16 France https://luciaandrade.com/

Bianca Oliveira June 21-27 Italy https://www.ashtangayogakatowice.com/events-workshops

July

Jose Carballal & Rafa Martinez July 5-12 Greece https://www.shamaretreats.com/es/retiro-ashtanga-yoga-mysore-house-madrid

Bibi Lorenzetti July 5-12 Italy https://www.bibilorenzetti.com/sicily-italy-2025

Francesca Di Rosso July 7-12 Croatia https://www.theashtangaspace.com/ashtanga-on-ilovik-island-croatia-summer-2025.html

Eileen Hall July 11-20 Bali https://www.yogamoves.com.au/

Joyce Mcmiken & Marcos Rodriguez July 12-19 Spain https://www.findthebalance.co.uk/yoga-retreats

August

Alexandra Santos & Shanna Small July 31-August 4, Peru https://shannasmallyoga.com/peru

David Swenson & Shelley August 3-29 Washington, Hawaii, USA https://www.mysoreonmaui.com/

Mark Robberds August 10-22 Bali https://markrobberds-com.mykajabi.com/intensives

Basia Larsen August 16-23 Greece https://www.yogaholidaysgreece.com/basia-lipska-larsen-yoga-rocks-retreat/

Matias de Biedma & Carola Della Croce August 18-30 Germany https://ashtangahouse.com/ashtanga-summer-intensive/

Yan Ong August 28- September 1 Malaysia https://www.yanong.me/workshops/2025/malaysiaretreat-3apjc

September

Lauren Mundy & Cathy Moran August 30-September 6 Morocco https://ashtangayogaglasgow.co.uk/ashtanga-yoga-retreat-30th-august-to-6th-september-2025-taghazout-morocco-with-lauren-munday-cathy-moran/

Amanda Ferris September 3-7 Bali https://mysoremelbourne.com/retreats

Philippa Asher September 6-13 Morocco http://ashtangaphilippa.com/ashtanga-yoga-classes-retreats-workshops/

David Garrigues September 7-13 North Carolina, USA https://davidgarrigues.com/events/obx-2017#sthash.Ti6uknDL.dpbs

Katy Scherer & Joseph Armstrong September 19-26 Mexico https://miamilifecenter.com/mexicoretreat

October

Danny Paradise September 20 - October 11 Greece https://dannyparadise.com/retreats

Donna Southwell October 11-17 Italy https://www.donnasouthwell.yoga/retreats/yoga-italia-october-2025

Claire Saunders October 18-24 Italy https://www.ashtangaysp.com/general-clean-1

Andrea Lutz October 19-November 2 https://www.ashtangastudio.de/en/classes/crete-en-2025/

Ellen Johannesen October 20-29 Nepal https://ashtanganepal.com/mustang-october-2024

November

Adam Keen November 8- December 6 India https://www.keenonyoga.com/ashtanga-yoga-retreats/

Nov 8, 2024

New Orleans Ashtanga November 2024

Practice:

Ashtanga Yoga NOLA

https://houseofidolatry.com/ashtanga-yoga-nola/

The Swan River Yoga Mandir, 3rd Floor Loft, 2940 Canal St, New Orleans, LA.

Monday - Friday 6 am Mysore

Sunday 9:30am Led

Balance Wellness

https://balanceyogawellness.com/yoga/schedule/

120 South Cortez Street (across from Mandina's on Cortez Street)

New Orleans, LA 70119

Saturday 8:30 am led

Monday, Wednesday, Friday 8 am Mysore

Monday 6 pm beginners

Ashtanga Yoga Room

https://ashtangayogaroom.com/class-schedule/

2521 Jena above Bearcat Cafe

Private classes

Mysore New Orleans

https://www.eliseashtangayoga.com

Check back for future schedule

Nov 5, 2024

Ashtanga Yoga Led Primary Series + Conference Live from India with Usha Rani Chittoor

Online Classes with Usha Rani Chittoor

Led Primary Series of Ashtanga Yoga and Conference

All are welcome, gathering together is encouraged.

Class link will be sent out before class. (We use the same link each time.)

Class tuition is pay what you (or your group) are able.

Payment / registration is expected before taking class.

Welcome!

Class one - Saturday, November 16

Class two - Saturday, November 23

——> register for each class here for individuals and/or groups

Classes take place at 7:30pm Indian Standard Time - please check your local time zone

Please check back for future dates. https://www.eliseashtangayoga.com/ushasclasses

We look forward to seeing you!

Oct 7, 2024

Interview with Dena Kingsberg

From the Keen on Yoga Podcast

Listen here:

https://open.spotify.com/episode/6gNffbBdz6TwsNqwjCfKFX?si=Jzqwy80_QuKeysEDj87zZg&context=spotify%3Acollection%3Apodcasts%3Aepisodes

Oct 6, 2024

Sharath USA Tour 2024

NYC October 12-14

Miami October 19-32

San Antonio November 16-20

Info and sign up https://www.sonima.com/yoga/yoga-articles/sharath-tour-2024/

Guy Donahaye Interviews Rolf

Posted by Guy Donahaye on July 8

https://www.integralashtanga.com/mind-medicine/2024/7/8/rolf-interview

Oct 3, 2024

Ashtanga Yoga Home Practice Kit

You'll need:
Practice Space
Practice Surface
Comfortable clothing
Yoga Mala book

Method:
1. Tristhana - Focus on breathing (through the nose, around the ribs), squeezing anus, concentrating the gaze
2. When not to practice - first 3 days of menstruation, sick with fever, saturday or sunday, full/new moon day

What to practice -
Surya Namaskar A 1-5 times and last three asanas each day until you can keep the tristhana the whole time. If you can maintain that for at least a week, then add the next element, Surya Namaskar B.
Repeat Surya Namaskar A 1-5 times and Surya Namaskar A 1-3 times and last three asanas each day until you can keep the tristhana the whole time. If you can maintain that for at least a week, then add the next element, padangusthasana and padahastasana.
Keep going like this and eventually get yourself to a teacher!

Home Practice Support

What to do if you can't make it to a Shala everyday.

Establish a relationship with a living person.
Ideally with just one.
Drop in when you can.
Workshops and retreats.

Create a space.
Clean, distraction free.
Regular time of day.
Quality, not quantity.

In the meantime.
Yoga Mala.
Sharath DVD
Sharath CD

Should I practice if (continued)... by Elise Espat

I don't have very much time?
Yes. Do what you have time for.

I'm running late?
Yes. See above. Quality, never quantity.

I don't have a local shala and I've never established an Ashtanga practice?
Yes.

I don't have a local shala but I do have an established practice?
Yes.

Pages

Dec 5, 2024

1994 Interview with Pattabhi Jois: Practice Makes Perfect

Dec 4, 2024

Who Owns Yoga?

By Leslie Hendry|March 31st, 2010

Thoughts On An Endless Question

How any place can become a spiritual place and the power of one-on-one practices.

“Practices make [a place] spiritual. If there are many spiritual people, it becomes a spiritual place.”

Dec 2, 2024

Online Classes with Usha Rani Chittoor

Dec 1, 2024

Nov 30, 2024

A growing list of places to go practice Mysore and travel in 2025…

January

February

March

April

May

June

July

August

September

October

November

Nov 28, 2024

Nov 8, 2024

Nov 5, 2024

Online Classes with Usha Rani Chittoor

Oct 7, 2024

Oct 6, 2024

Oct 3, 2024

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