Dec 16, 2024

December Ashtanga New Orleans



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 


Dec 12, 2024

My upcoming yoga retreat

 














Mysore Hangout

March 17-30, 2025

Daily Mysore with Elise Espat & Jose Troche in Playa del Carmen, Mexico

Who we are: Two friends here to support you and our community

Elise Espat began her yoga journey in 2001 and has been teaching since 2004. In 2006 she practiced with Pattabhi Jois and Sharath Jois in NYC and began making regular pilgrimages to India in 2007. She earned Level 2 Authorization in 2010. With a deep commitment to tradition, she continues to teach and practice, fostering a supportive and transformative environment for her students.

Jose Troche has been practicing Yoga since 2008 and teaching since 2011. With a teaching journey spanning across Latin America, Jose’s approach goes beyond the physical, embracing yoga as a tool for healing, connection, and transformation. His unique perspective has led him to organize workshops, intensives, and retreats, offering safe and enriching spaces to explore holistic well-being.

Why Retreat?
I believe deeply in the transformative power of ashtanga yoga as well as travel. A retreat is a beautiful opportunity to unite the two.

Real time to focus on yoga without distraction is a gift that not everyone has the chance to experience in daily life. Joining a retreat allows us to be surrounded by the energy of other people who also have a practice and similar interests. We are able to expand our community and be uplifted by one another. We are able to enjoy food that feeds our practice and explore an area together with new friends.

Exposure to new ideas, people, cultures, and environments teaches awareness and with this, I believe, can come real change for the positive in how we choose to live our lives. We are able to see ourselves more deeply and become more connected with the world around us.

More info:


https://www.eliseashtangayoga.com/ashtangayogaretreat




A bunch of other yoga retreats around the world in 2025:

http://aylibrary.blogspot.com/2024/11/2025-ashtanga-yoga-retreats.html?m=1





Reading List: Yoga / India Books

Yoga essentials reading list:

Yoga Sutras

Bhagavad Gita Mahabharata

Ramayana

Hatha Yoga Pradipika



Yoga/India beach reads:


Holy Cow

First there is a mountain Enlightenment for idiots

Shantaram

Yoga School Dropout



Spiritual literature:


The Alchemist

Siddhartha



Ashtanga (Jois Family):


Yoga Mala Pattabhi Jois

Astanga Yoga Pattabhi Jois, Lino Miele, John Scott, Sharath Rangaswamy

Ashtanga Yoga Anusthana Sharath Jois

Ageless Sharath Jois

Surya Namaskara Pattabhi Jois

Ashtanga Yoga Manju Jois, Greg Tebb




Yoga Philosophy:




Yoga History:



Memoirs:



Ashtanga Yoga:




Yoga:






Notes in progress.. .







Dec 8, 2024

Guruji Lives Here Pattabhi Jois Tribute

 

Vaikunta Samaradhane - Honoring Paramaguru Shri Sharath Jois

 




From Sonima website: 

Paramaguru Sharath Jois’s sudden passing on November 12 was a tremendous loss—for his family, his students, and the Ashtanga community overall.

Sharathji was a bright light in the world who inspired thousands and helped so many on their spiritual journeys. He was loved and revered as a true Yoga Master, Guru, and friend. Most important, he was dedicated to and loved his family deeply. His legacy will live on for generations to come.

In observation of this tragic loss, a Vaikuntha Samaradhane ceremony was held for his family and students on Sunday, November 24, at the Sri Kalabhairaveshwara Convention Hall in Sharathji’s beloved Mysuru.

The Vaikunta Samaradhane is a traditional Hindu ceremony celebrating Sharathji’s entry to Vaikunta, the heavenly abode of Vishnu, and provides an opportunity to remember Sharathji and pray for the eternal peace of his soul and the welfare of his family.

The ceremony included:

  • 8 am to 10.25 am: Veda parayana and Vishnu Sahasranama recital
  • 10.25 to 10.30: A few words by Sambhav Sharath Jois
  • 10.30 to 11 am: Talk by Sri Krishna Prasad, Group Editorial Officer, The Hindu Group Publishing pvt Ltd
  • 11 to 11.30 am: Andrew and Shraddha talk about The Active Series and new directions
  • 11.30 to 12.15 pm:
    Carnatic Classical Music
    Vocal – Various Artists
    On Percussion- (Mrudangam/Khanjira) Sri Raghunandan
    On Violin – Smt Divyasri
  • 12.15 to 12.30: Thoughts by Others
  • 12.30 to 1 pm: Bhajan and Light classical music by family group.
  • End of program

Sharath speaks on tradition & lineage

 


Sharath Jois On the Systematic Nature of Aṣṭāṅga Yoga

 

published here:

Sharath Jois On the Systematic Nature of Aṣṭāṅga Yoga

 There's good reason this yoga method is divided into series and postures that must be learned in a particular order. Understanding this order is imperative to cultivating an authentic practice. 

 Yoga has to be done systematically in the sense that we have to go stage-by-stage. In Aṣṭāṅga yoga, there are different series to practice. Each series and pose prepares us for the next step. But most people have still not understood what we are doing in the poses or in yoga. Most have no understanding what affect the poses will have on the body or the mind. Most people continue to speak of yoga in platitudes. 


The Primary Series in Aṣṭāṅga yoga is called Yoga Chikitsa, which means yoga therapy. It is designed to bring stability within us. Yet, students now want to put handstands in between the vinyasas. We need to be challenged, they say. Non-Aṣṭāṅga teachers take postures from the Aṣṭāṅga series, not knowing from where they came or for what is their purpose. In a led class, they will show a student, who is not prepared, postures that require many years of practice to gain strength. Many students and teachers still do not understand the breath and how it affects the body before, during, or after their āsana practice. This does not create stability. In fact, this creates a very unstable understanding of yoga. 


Many students and teachers have no sense of what yoga is really about or how it can affect the body. They come to āsana to stretch and bend their body in a way that’s not holistic. It is just exercise and talk. Āsana affects our bodies both internally and externally, which impacts our mind and how we live our life. To do Aṣṭāṅga yoga correctly is to do āsana with a focus on the body as well as the mind. It is a completely holistic approach that affects everything in your life. It is a lifestyle. We have to understand this when approaching yoga. 

 

Many people are inspired to do or teach yoga. They have the energy. But even when you have the energy, you have to know how to utilize it in a proper way. That’s difficult for many to understand. When we see āsana, it’s not simply a set of postures. We are doing a posture to understand certain greater things, like the healthy functioning of internal organs, our central nervous systems, or unconscious states. When a student begins yoga, he or she probably doesn’t know handstand or back-bending. Even if they are strong and can do handstand, or they are flexible and can bend back and touch the floor, it’s not advised that they do so. 


You might take your first yoga class to get in shape, but regardless of your initial intention, everyone yearns for honesty at some point. If a student begins yoga with a humbleness that he or she sustains, then he or she will learn far more about themselves to use for a greater good for the rest of their life. 


For instance, the adult yoga student already knows how to walk and run, so why does he want to prove he can run through yoga? Like a small child, in yoga, we grow stage-by-stage and level-by-level. Students feel that the surya namaskaras, A’s and B’s, are very difficult at first, but over a period time, they strengthen both physically and mentally. Only then do they progress to higher āsanas through the guidance of a guru or teacher. 


To practice yoga is to bring strength to your entire life. If you practice correctly, you will automatically transform. You’ll be able to judge what is right and what is wrong. How you absorb and use it is very important. Not only how, but also from who you learn is very important. Otherwise, it’s just talk.

 By R. Sharath Jois Published on September 29, 2017

Sharath Jois on Teaching Yoga in Modern Times

By R. Sharath Jois Published on July 22, 2016 






Sharath Jois on Teaching Yoga in Modern Times 
 As yoga becomes more mainstream, "yogis" are increasingly paving their own way in practice. Here, Sharath Jois explains the importance of staying within a specific path.


In today’s yoga world, terminology from yogic wisdom is often thrown around without context. In this video, a yoga practitioner asks Paramaguru Sharath Jois if the yamas and niyamas (the central do’s and don’t’s from the yoga sutras) can be taught. Jois’s answer, is complex: These tenets and threads of wisdom can be explained, but in order to really learn them, one must teach herself the yogi path through consistent practice.


Unfortunately, he says, yoga teachers today are seemingly required to offer everything to everyone, when in the past, certain elements of the practice were reserved for highly dedicated students. The methodology has been lost through the proliferation of the practice. Jois advocates for working with a teacher. Modifying by your own standards without proper guidance takes a student away from ancient wisdom. If a student wants to really understand the practice, they must abide by the system; it’s not about picking and choosing, but about understanding the methodology fully. Learn more about this perspective by watching the video above.

Dec 7, 2024

tributo a Sharathji via Mysore House Madrid

YouTube:

Nuestro querido profesor nos ha dejado de forma inesperada y repentina. Digerir el dolor de su pérdida no está siendo fácil, pero nos ayuda mucho crear espacios para poder honrarle y reconocerle. Compartir su trayectoria, sus reflexiones, sus enseñanzas y las anécdotas que tantas personas de esta comunidad atesoran. . La relación larga y cercana que tuvimos con Sharathji nos permitió estar presentes en muchas ocasiones, compartir mucho con él, y aquí os presentamos un video grabado y editado íntegramente por Jose, como un primer tributo tras su partida. . Vendrán muchos más, mientras seguimos sanando esta herida.








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