- Adventures in Mysore India, Alignment and Injuries, Ashtanga Adaptability, Conference Notes, Teaching Ashtanga, Yoga Philosophy, Yoga Sutras
The Lesson, Not the Event
“By this time I had learned that it was more fruitful to pay attention to the lessons rather than to events themselves.”- Pandit Rajmani Tigunait, At The Eleventh Hour We all come into this practice carrying the results of our life and DNA in our bodies. In Mysore, Sharath would joke, “Don’t get mad at me because you are stiff. Get mad at your parents!” Last week, a student said, “I have been doing hip openers for a couple years now and my hips are still not open.” I said, “Sometimes, it is not possible to undo 40 years in a few years of practice, if at all”. Working…
Being Your Own Guru
“In the pursuit of happiness you have tried all sorts of things-sex, drugs and hundreds of other things-and you know that such things cannot make you happy for long. But still you continue to run into the external world, trying to learn that art of health and happiness from that teacher, from this guru, from that swami. But let me tell you that unless you find the teacher within, these teachers and preachers in the external world cannot make you happy. You must learn to light your own lamp. An external object can simply show you the way, but ultimately, you have to walk the path by yourself.”- Swami Rama,…
- Adventures in Mysore India, Social Media, Teaching Ashtanga, Uncategorized, Yoga Philosophy, Yoga Sutras
Teaching Ashtanga and the Benefit of Doubt
I will never forget when I went to a Kino MacGregor workshop and a woman, who comes to Ashtanga, seriously like once a year, told Kino that I was her teacher. I was standing in line for a picture. Kino was turned towards me and the woman had her back to me. I looked Kino dead in the eyes, and shook my head back and forth, “NO”. Yes, it is super sweet that she felt so connected to me those two or three times I taught her that she considered me to be her teacher but I was not going to take responsibility for anything she was doing in…
Trigger….Unhappy
The video above talks about how Facebook makes money by triggering your negative emotions. By placing posts on your page, that you are likely to engage with for a long time, they can make more money from ad placement. Because of the uncontrolled mind, the best way to do that is through negative posts. They are not the only ones of course. All news channels do it. Bloggers do it. Our egos do it. Yes. Keeping you in a triggered state solidifies the ego. In the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, yoga is defined as, “the cessation of the fluctuations of the mind.” Facebook does not want you to do…
To Be of Service
“Do what you can to uplift and enlighten people, but never forget your path.”-Babaji, At the Eleventh Hour by Pandit Rajmani Tigunait, Ph.D. “Practice becomes firmly grounded when well attended to for a long time, without break and with all earnestness.” Yoga Sutras of Patanjali 1:14 When many practitioners become teachers, studio owners, and activists, they slowly, over time, stop practicing or practice very little. This is the worst thing we can do. As leaders in the community, we need the practice more than ever. When dealing with customers and students, we absorb their energy. We are effected by their stories. The stories and experiences of our students and community,…
Yoga and the Path of Forgiveness
Why do people love Ashtanga? It works. It heals. It has changed their lives. In the science of Yoga, firsthand experience is seen as the highest proof. 99% practice, 1% theory. Every day people are having the firsthand experience of how this practice is a catalyst for positive change in the world. This practice can work without our commentary. It can work without being announced on social media. It works in the wee hours of the morning when people silently come together in Shalas. It works in home practice rooms where lone practitioners practice to the sound of their loved ones moving around them. Yoga gives its gifts to anyone,…
Practice, Practice, Practice
I saw a post today where someone was going through a very emotional experience and wondered “how the limbs of yoga could help them now?” I will use an analogy. Soldiers don’t wait for the battle to start preparing for it. They train beforehand so that, when they are in battle, their responses become automatic and they know what to do. We also train our bodies and minds to respond a certain way to certain situations. For most people, this training is done unconsciously. As they go through situations in life, they form habits and act on those habits. The practice of yoga is the CONSCIOUS act of reprogramming ourselves…
Inspiration and Coveting
The line between being inspired and coveting is a thin one. You can tell the difference by how you feel. Inspiration, well, makes you feel inspired and lit up. Coveting what someone else has makes you feel dejected, anxious, envious, jealous, angry and frustrated. On my mat, I tend to be inspired when I am working with a new pose or I am watching people do poses I have not been given. I tend to feel like I am coveting after I have been working with a pose for a long time and I still can’t do it. The difference is expectations. When I have expectations that I can do…
Yoga: The Cure for Phantom Life Syndrome
When students get stuck on a pose, I often use a camera to record them and play it back. Sometimes we think we are doing something and we are not. We practice yoga through the veil of our own samskaras. Samskaras are pathways that, we take so often, that they become second nature to us. If we have always felt or been told that we were lacking, flexible, weak or strong, our perception of what is actually going on can be skewed. Injuries can also skew our perception. Sometimes, what we perceive in our bodies, is not really what is happening. An extreme example of this is Phantom Limb Syndrome.…
Meeting Hate with Love: Cultivating Compassion Through Asana
The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali tells us to practice equanimity/upeksha in the face of wickedness. Equanimity is the ability to remain compassionate and calm in the face of wickedness and the ability to see both sides. Thich Naht Hanh says that “upeksha” means “upa” over and “eksha” look. According to Hanh, upeksha is the ability to “climb the mountain and look over the whole situation. ” For most, this is very difficult. We struggle with the idea that, if we allow ourselves to understand someone who has done an evil act, that we are somehow condoning their behavior. We struggle with that fact that, if we allow ourselves to understand…
Making the Philosophy and Poses of Ashtanga Accessible for All
