Returning the Mat

by: Jessica Lynne Trese
Samasthiti Feet
I hadn’t practiced in 18 weeks and the idea of stepping back on my mat was a little overwhelming. I started practicing Ashtanga Yoga in 2007 and since then, I’ve never taken this much time away from my practice.

There are so many reasons we can get pulled away from our mat: injury, pregnancy, depression, illness and sometimes laziness. For me, it happens to be a joyous reason, but the idea of trying to ‘rebuild’ my practice after four and a half months off still brought up all of my old patterns of perfectionism and avoidance (if I can’t get it ‘perfect’ I have a history of just avoiding it).

Baby TreseIt is recommended that women rest from their Ashtanga practice during the first trimester of pregnancy. This is a very delicate time in the gestational process and most women are guided to let their bodies lead the process without adding a strong practice to the mix. For me, this hiatus began with standard first trimester rest, and then some complications led me from voluntary rest to limited activity as ordered by my Doctor. We also had a few more bumps in the road which kept me away from my mat for another month.

And then, it was time, little bundle was safe and healthy, and I was cleared to resume normal pregnant activity.

The first week back was tougher than I could have ever imagined. I tried, but all I seemed to be able to pull out of myself were sun salutations. And it wasn’t easy, most days I wanted to just quit practicing. My mind was distracted and disconnected, my body was stiff and resistant and my heart was unrestful as I moved through these familiar motions.

But after the first week of struggling, I finally started to feel excitement as I stepped on my mat each day, and with it along came some additional physical strength and stamina to practice more than only sun salutations. I’m in the process of reconnecting to my practice, and the moments of interconnectedness are beginning to grow again, slowly I’m seeing more frequent peacefulness in my practice.

19weeks Baby BumpI know I will never ‘get back to where I was,’ because that moment has passed and this moment is an entirely new experience. And I also know I will once again find ease and grace on my mat, a brand new and also familiar experience in each fresh moment, and in each familiar pose. I will once again grab my heels in kapotasana, and find lightness as I drop back, it will come.

But it won’t come as a RE-creation of what was. It will come as a simultaneously familiar and entirely brand new experience as I move through my practice each day.

General guidelines for practicing Ashtanga Yoga during Pregnancy





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Ashtanga Opening Mantra

By: Jessica Lynne Trese (Moore)

Sharath&Guruji OpeningMantra“Samasthiti.”

At this sound, we all join together. Wherever we each were in the practice, now we are all here together, at the top of our mats. Uniting our energy together through sound, the vibration of ‘om’ moves through the room, moves though our hearts.

GaneshThe Ashtanga opening mantra is a call to practice. A recognition of the teachers who have come before us and an acknowledgment of the work we are here to do on our mat. This practice is not merely yoga poses. We are here to overcome the cycles of physical and mental suffering in our lives. Our goal is to no longer be bound by the poison this suffering flushes into our hearts.

And with time, devotion and consistent practice, we will start to experience peace. We will start to find the neutral ground which allows us to be fully present in each moment of our lives. And in those moments of pure connection, we are able to connect to the Divine in every thing.

This mantra is a reminder of why we’re practicing.

So, next time your teacher calls “samasthiti” let your chant be a vow to yourself, a reminder to connect to the Divine, and a reminder that the practice is much more than simple (and not-so-simple) yoga poses.


Om
Vandē gurūṇāṃ caraṇāravindē
Sandarśitasvātmasukāvabōdhē |
Niḥśrēyasē jāṅgalikāyamānē
Saṃsārahālāhalamōhaśāntyai ||

Ābāhu puruṣākāraṃ
Śaṅkhacakrāsidhāriṇam |
Sahasraśirasaṃ śvētaṃ
Praṇamāmi patañjalim ||
Om

Translation

om
I bow to the lotus feet of the Supreme Guru
which awaken insight into the happiness of pure Being,
which are the refuge, the jungle physician,
which eliminate the delusion caused by the poisonous herb of Samsara (conditioned existence).

I prostrate before the sage Patanjali
who has thousands of radiant, white heads (as the divine serpent, Ananta)
and who has, as far as his arms, assumed the form of a man
holding a conch shell (divine sound), a wheel (discus of light or infinite time) and a sword (discrimination).
om



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Some Truth About Ashtanga Yoga

By: Jessica Lynne Trese (Moore)

Sometimes Ashtanga Yoga can get a bad reputation in the yoga community. It’s called the ‘fitness yoga’ and all the students are closed-minded because they practice the same ‘routine’ everyday. And Ashtangis are known for being a little over the top with our adherence to ‘the rules of Ashtanga.’

Is Ashtanga Yoga ‘fitness yoga?’

No, not the way most people think of fitness routines. Our asana practice (postures) is meant to heat up the body, to cleanse, purify and enliven the physical body from the inside out.

A more fitting description would be ‘body healing yoga’ because we find balance, ease and health throughout the physical body from the physical asana practice.

Are we closed-minded because we practice the same ‘routine’ everyday?

Not even close! We open our minds, and hearts up to the subtle nuances of in-depth study. Ashtanga Yoga is used as a tool to turn inward and by taking the same ‘route’ inward each day we can start to notice the more subtle changes in the body. We can start to notice the more subtle changes in our hearts.

Taking a different route inward everyday you can miss the subtle changes in YOU!

Are we over the top in following ‘the rules of Ashtanga’?

Not really. Yes, there are some rules/guidelines that we stick to. Ashtanga Yoga is a tool for Self-transformation, and the rules/guidelines show us how to use this tool.

Simply by surrendering to the ‘rules’ of Ashtanga Yoga our transformation begins. The ‘rules’ show us what to do and when we let the mind surrender to this method, it can finally rest and stop trying to control every single thing. Then we can start to truly experience the present moment; the moment is no longer colored by the mind’s wish to have it be something else.  Presence and stillness can reside within the mind.

All those who practice the Ashtanga Yoga method for a long time, without break and with devotion have experienced the way the practice allows the light in our hearts to shine. Illuminating the present moment with acceptance, peace, gratitude and joy.

And the most amazing part of this practice is the Ashtanga Yoga Community. Our community spans the globe, and no matter how far one of us travels, if we find another Ashtanga student, we will have found a piece of our heart. Even if we don’t speak the same language, we can speak to each other through the language of our practice. A global community of people, each one dedicated to working on being the best version of their own Self as possible.


 



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Catvāri cringe

By: Jessica Lynne Trese (Moore)

In Ashtanga Yoga, we do most of our practices in the Mysore room. This personal and healing practice initiates a deep moving meditation. Each day we have the opportunity to travel along the path inward, learning about ourselves and finding the grace to approach the tight spots with ease and balance. It’s beautiful.

Then there are the led classes… Many Ashtanga teachers would recommend attending a led class once a week as a way to tap into the pace and rhythm of the vinyasa count. Led classes ask students to start and end together and try to keep a collective pace for the duration of the class. This pace is held within the vinyasa count.

Ekam Inhale.
Dve Exhale.
Trīṇi Inhale head-up.

Here it comes…. Our dread in led classes, the outrageous Catvāri Exhale. Where our teacher expects us to pause and complete the exhale while hovering in chaturanga, and it seems like we’re staying here FOREVER before the teacher releases us into the sweet expansion of up-dog.

Why does this pose have to be such a big deal?
Why can’t we just slide right into up-dog and hang out while everyone catches up?
What is our teacher really asking us to practice here?

Maybe what our teacher is trying to get us to practice has absolutely NOTHING to do with chaturanga.

Maybe what our teacher is trying to get us to practice is something much more powerful, much more liberating than any single yoga pose.

Maybe our teacher is trying to get us to practice presence.

Our teacher’s simple request. Try to reside with this moment, and absorb all that is this moment. Then, we will move on to the next moment together. Linking moments of presence together with the breath.

There is a deep peace, which can be experienced when surrendering to the present moment. Allowing for the experience of the present moment, without rushing is liberating. Freedom in the present moment.

Practice, practice.

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Conference Notes with R. Sharath Jois – November 29, 2014

Conference Notes
by: Sara Moncivais

Hatha Yoga Pradapika says “The water- the sweat that you get- through effort- don’t waste that sweat,” you try to rub it into your body so that the good minerals from the sweat will open the pores for more sweat and toxins to come out. It all will come outside.

Only when you put effort in will the sweat that comes inside—

Nowadays, you know, there is lots of yoga. Hot yoga, this yoga, that yoga—as soon as you step inside the room you start sweating. We are not talking about sweat like that, that is just artificial sweat because of the humidty the room has. So everyone who goes there says, “Oh! I sweat so much!” There are so many things that are not good in that kind of room. Why we always say don’t close those windows, don’t close too many windows? The air should come inside. Especially when so many people are practicing, you need some fresh air inside. If we don’t open the bad air won’t cycle out. It will keep cycling here. So your exhalations are someone else’s inhalations. So you are exchanging breath. You exhale and she inhale.

Air should come, especially when so many people are practicing. A little bit opening should be there so that the fresh air is coming inside. A mantra says, “Many different states of yoga they teach you asana, make you stay in asana for long time—trikonasana you will be stuck like this—you are not moving anywhere. When we were children we used to play statue game—have you played this? Someone would get in one posture, oh, statue, he has to stay there. So this vinyasa we do generates so much heat inside, heat means the energy, which is in the form of internal heat we say. So that once we generate that, all the toxins will come out through the sweat and through exhalation. Many times many people don’t like to put mat, they like to do on the floor. The floor also you shouldn’t do. Asana means a platform also, a place where you sit is also called asana, so once you sit or when you’re doing asana you shouldn’t do it on the floor. There should be some carpet or some mat because whatever energy you generate will drain. The earth will take all those energy.

In Brahamin ritual you will see that no one does any prayer on the floor directly, be sure to put something in between. So that the energy will stay within you. Exactly like that, when you do it outside in the open air. I’ve seen many workshops, they do open air. That as well you shouldn’t do. Why? Again, there is wind outside. The wind will take all your energy. Whatever energy you have generated the wind will take all your energy. So it is very important where you do, what you do and how you do it.

So this is all, oh and yogis frequently traveling. Now there are frequently traveling yogis—travelingyogis.com—but yogis they have to stay in one place, they shouldn’t move too much. A certain place where you practice, that place will generate good energy by doing it every day. Not only will you generate good energy within you, you will also generate good energy in that place around you. One place always doing, oh I’m bored with this place!—you can’t change. This is all, oh, don’t start fighting from next week! “Oh, this is my place!” Don’t push out of the way.

For everything there is a karma, we say, karma means systematically you have to do. Once we generate those energy and once all this sweat is coming through that energy and working out- just doing primary series is lots of hard work—you’re all doing hard work. So that through that hard work sweat comes. Don’t waste that sweat, try to rub it back to your skin. It’s not massage, just rubbing, that’s all. The body becomes strong. Strong means you can go and lift Chamundi Hill. It becomes sturdy and stable and the organs will become healthier. And body becomes very light. If you see for many years of practice you lose weight. Your body will become lighter—when you practice for many years. When you are starting your body feels so heavy because your body is not flexible, your muscles are not flexible. Everything feels so tight. Some body builders you see, they can’t even move. Because there is no flexibility, yoga brings—the asana expecially—bring this flexibility. Why you need this flexibility?

Student: To take the hardships of life.
Sharath: You get flexibility there will also be lots of hard.

Why you need flexibility, stability? Why? So, the more flexibile you are, that doesn’t mean you are big yogi, that is another thing. Why do we do so many asanas to bring stability? So we can sit still in one place. If you ask a body builder and ask him to put padmasana, first of all he can’t put padmasana but he can’t sit still! He can’t sit with crossed legs, he’ll want to remove it.

And to bring calmness within us. To bring a calmer mind, a calmer body. How to relax our body, relax our mind. So that is why we have to do asanas more. That is the reason for doing asana, it is not for showing off, “Oh, I can do this asana.” The more asana you do, the mare familiar you get with the asana. Especially when you get new asana, you get more familiar everyday. Each time you do you get more familiar with that and you get more comfortable with the asana. So that is what first effortlessly we do, when you do asana first easily then there is no effort. If there is no effort in an asana your mind also will become very calm. Is it not true? So once you are sitting in padmasana and nothing is hurting you in padmasana, then automatically your mind becomes very calm. Everything within becomes very calm. You get absorbed within you. Have you felt that in your asana. Sometimes when you go deeper, deeper means when you go deep within your asana you totally get absorbed within that asana. Everything becomes still there. You go and watch a movie you get so involved in the movie, you feel you are in the movie. Nowadays there are good theatres now, IMAX, you go IMAX they make you fall from the sky. You start moving—you get so involved with that movie you feel that you are in that movie and forget everything else. You forget what you are, who you are, where you came from. You are watching only for three hours. Is it not true? You go to a movie you get so involved. So this asana is, and you need to have like love towards that also. You totally get absorbed in that asana, then all the nonsense around you will stop.

I realized this in 1997. Until then I didn’t realize this. I had to do a demo in Australia. With hundreds of people watching. Then I realized the power of asana. Totally when you involve yourself in the asana, it doesn’t matter. 100 people are watching or 100,000 people are watching you, it doesn’t matter. Dhyana is happening inside there. So for that, it is very important that you do it everyday. Generate that energy within you. Generate that focus within you, generate that concentration within you so these kind of realizations can happen through that.

If you have any questions.

Q: What about practicing asana in sacred spaces, like temples? Is that OK? No.
S:
Where is your energy? It’s good to take videos. When you take video, if you take here (gestures to shala) you can’t impress many people. Do Natarajasana over here (points to moldy corner).

Temple is here, within you. Try to realize this temple which is within you. That is what yoga means. To realize this temple within you. The inner atma, what we say, this is not different from the Supreme soul. Everything is one. You think, you go to the temple, you think, “I’m very spiritual, I go to the temple,” but in your mind there is lots of delusions going on, “how can I cheat this guy, beat this guy—this guy is going further—how can I beat him?” So many thoughts, which there is no point in going to the temple if you really don’t want, if something is not calling you to go into the church. I’ve seen so many children going and crying going to the temple. Crying because they have been forced to go to the temple. That’s the good thing in yoga in India—Indians can get yoga very well—why? Because, from the childhood in our house especially they never took to temple because temple was in my house. The priest was in my house. My grandfather generated that, he always used to do japa in my home. Never used to go there. The temple was within him. First we have to correct here, then there will be a meaning to go to the temple. If you don’t correct here and then go to the temple whatever you do, it’s nonsense. Just in front of the idol you say, some difficulty comes in your life and then you will run to the temple. “Oh God, save me from this difficulty and I’ll put food for one hundred people,” once everything is alright they will forget. I mean, not you, I’m talking generally. It’s human nature like that. Only when we have difficulty we go to the temple, to the god, and ask him to help.

She asked one question and I… create your own temple. Actually in temple you are not supposed to show your leg to the god. In Indian temple when you are doing so many asanas you are not supposed to show your feet to the god. You’re not supposed to show your back to the god.

Q: What do you suggest to people who have a teacher that travels a lot? Or that they have to travel to their teacher and teacher might not be there?

S: Then he is not a good teacher. Teacher should have dedication, stay in one place, TEACH, then he becomes a good teacher. If I keep traveling everywhere all the time, where is your pilgimage? Nowhere. You have to come somewhere. I’m sleeping only four hours to teach you all yoga. To teach you the system which has come from thousands of years, so if your teacher always traveling then he is not a good teacher, he can’t generate a good environment, he can’t build up—establish something. This the meaning of temple also, this can be a temple. The yoga temple, they say. Because everyday we all come here, we generate good energy here. I think you all come with good heart, with good energy, with good intention. This is the temple. If I keep traveling I can’t build temples many places. I travel to bring them here. For six months you come here. Authorization is given here, they have to put the effort to come and learn here. Come to the source, learn, realize, experience.

Q: Will you be teaching here next season? We are worried.

S: That I don’t know. You can’t predict yogis. Sometimes self Sadhana is also very important. You know what I mean? Self-study is also very important. When there is always giving there is no time to…I’m a student, also a yoga student. I’m a little senior than you—much more senior than you—but still I am a student. What student has to do? Student always has to study, learn. Try to get more knowledge. Himalaya I am teaching next year. One week. I can’t go to Himalayas because I have two children. Two children and a wife. Family dharma.

According to Indian philosophy there are four to five different stages in your life. Until teenager brahmacharya, means celibacy, then you get married and become grihastha, that’s the family man/woman who raise a family, then comes, after settling your children into life—that means they earn their own money and have their own family—then you go to vanaprastha, that is when vhairaghya, means non-attachment, when you slowly detach everything you give everything to your children. Then in the last stage, sanyasa, you leave everything, you put attention towards the divine more and try to slowly get totally detached from everything. This is the four stages, some say five stages, your childhood is one stage. Each stage should be accepted, “OH I don’t want to get old! I want to be young!!” You practice yoga, you will be younger than others, but one day the cycle has to go. The cycle nobody can stop. Some people are scared, “Oh I get old I die,” you have to. Nobody knows where we go when we die. These are the North and South pole you can say, the North pole you take birth and South pole you die, in between this—the journey between—what you do that matters. What work you do. That will stay forever. If you become so violent and do everything, people will be scolding you every generation. Oh there was one guy who killed so many people, these crazy people, everyone will start scolding, but if there is one Ghandi. Ghandi brought peace to the world. He didn’t bring freedom to the country he brought peace to the world. Through ahimsa, you can do miracles. He got independence not through fighting, through peace he brought freedom. He will be remembered, for I don’t know how many generations, for good things he will be remembered. I think there is no big yogi in modern yoga, he’s the biggest yogi we’ve ever seen, ghandi. I know you’re all doing asanas everyday, but what is the purpose of doing that, that is very important. The transformation should happen within you, it should change you, put more knowledge in you to understand this life. Then the purpose will be served, asana. Otherwise it will be same. It’s like going to work. Have you seen in New York, everyday they are walking to the office. Next day same guy is walking and he goes, (imitates being at computer) his life is not beyond that. There is no life beyond that, never goes to nature or to forest or experience anything else. Only thing is money- it is important, but you shouldn’t get attached to that.

I had one friend like this—but he’s a nice guy—very rich, business, business. I took him to the forest, to Africa, there was lion next to him, he was so afraid. Three of them, there was lion next to me and he was advising me, “Come this side! It will come and catch you!!” I said, “No, nothing will happen,” it was just laying here in the safari. It was very calm, he was looking at me, very calm.

Once we went to Africa with Gurujji and it was same thing, there were five lions sleeping here. He was very calm. Shraddha was young, “Oh great-grandfather, come this side, lion will catch you!” He say, “Oh nothing will happen.”

If you are peacefully sitting everything becomes peaceful. If you become violent than everything becomes violent. Why do people become violent? Because you are violent. Otherwise everything will be calm. If everyone stays calm, there will be no conflicts at all. Everything will be going smoothly. This calmness has to come in everyone. Getting attached to too many things can also be difficult.

The state of equal—to maintain that is called yoga also. All this equally accepting is called yoga. Sukha Dukha, two extremes of life. One is happiness one is sorrow. One is the good things of life. You don’t want the bad things but want the good things, is impossible. You should accept both the things equally. Every New Years, what we do, we bring neem leaf and bring jaggery and we mix both and we give to everyone. So that in this year, at least, whatever comes we should accept it equally. Neem is so bitter, jaggery so sweet. Life is always. I advise my student, yoga is like four wheel drive. Land Rover. It has terrain management. I like cars so much! There are three, four, five different modes. There is one to go down the hill, it manages and adjusts everything so that it doesn’t slip. For off roading there is one, for smooth road there is one. Yoga is also like that. It doesn’t have dial to move, but automatically it will move. Terrain management is within you!

Has anyone gone to Africa. Africa is poorest, I think, country. In remote places people don’t have clothes to wear, but they have so much joy within them! Went to some small place and they have small, small huts, but they have so much joy within them! They don’t have anything, but they have joy.

Whenever you feel stressed out, sing a Bollywood song. That’s what I do at home. When my wife and I fight I just sing songs. Bollywood song. (I kid you not, he starts to sing. I kid you not again, people cry).

Such a good meaning in there. There is always, we feel our life is finished, but there is always things new. New things to know, new things to realize, new things to know. All the time there is something that beats within you, heartbeats that will bring more life to yourself. You think you are dead, but you are still alive. So many things to know. I can’t say I know everything.

Led Full Primary: Igniting Your Practice

by: Jessica Lynne Trese

Ekam Inhale…

Two words, two languages, one breath, one practice.

Hearing those two words inspire a moment of spontaneous meditation for me. For a moment, I can feel the mat beneath my feet, I can feel Sharath’s presence on the stage nearby. The grace of surrender floods my system and ease fills my heart.

Surrendering to the pulse of Ashtanga Yoga, surrendering to the pace of the vinyasa count allows me to dive into the waters of the moving meditation. Stilling the mind and calming the body. The next 90 minutes are a concentrated experience of Breath, Bandhas and Dṛṣṭi.

Then rest, peace and tranquility pervade the physical, energetic and mental bodies. Stillness abounds.

The Ashtanga Full Primary.

#takepractice



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Conference Notes with R. Sharath Jois – November 2014

Sharath Conference #3
Notes by: Sara Moncivais

Last conference we spoke about three things, asana, breathing, and concentration (drishti). These three things are very important in our practice. Why not bandhas? Uddhiyana, mula, jalandhara bandha. These three, jalandhara means locking the chin, mula is the anus, and uddiyana bandha is below the navel. That is where we lock or contract.

This mula bandha is described in Hatha yoga Pradapika and many texts. These three bhandas, especially mula bandha, is very important. Mula is the source, the base. One verse says, always mula bandha. All the time, when walking, sitting, running, when you shouldn’t do…you know that. Many people come, their first day, oh I want to know all the bhandas! Mula bandha—they don’t even know what it is. People telling, I know some senior student, they giving lecture and they don’t even know what mula bandha is, “Oh, yeah, anus contraction, yeah,” how to do that? How long it will take? What is that?

There’s so many things. The philosophy behind mula bandha no one knows. What is the philosophy behind mula bandha is, that that is the source to control the mind. There’s lots of verses which says, “If you master in mula bandha, even an old person will become young.”

This is another verse that says, “What is the source for this whole existence?” Without the air, nobody can live, fire, earth, ether, space. This fire is very important, without this nobody can survive. What is the source for this fire? I know many of you don’t want to believe in God, because it’s scary, to believe in God. Yeah, I’ve heard it so many times, “Ah, God, I don’t want, no…” So what is the source for this fire? It is the God, the Supreme Energy. This is the Supreme Soul, the Supreme Soul is the source for this fire.

How do you think this is created? There should be someone who created all these things. Created water, created air. Bringing life. This would be some energy, which is there. Energy, we can just feel it, just like yoga. Yoga you do asanas, but real yoga happens within you. Which you feel inside. So, like that is the source for the energy, the fire. What is the source? He’s just giving an example, like how I give all the time, masala dosa. So what is the source for this? To control the mind. Mula bandha is the source.

He says, “Mula bandha, he who masters it becomes the greatest yogi, the king of all the yogis.” Raja yogi means, the king of all the yogis. Many commentaries have been written on mula bandha, it doesn’t come, “Oh, I pay shala fees for one month in Mysore and I practice everyday seriously, but I didn’t find mula bandha,” It’s not possible, like that to get. It’s practice. It takes one year, two years, three years, so then you keep on practicing. Like on English man said, “Practice makes man perfect,” my wife the other day she said, “Man has to work to become perfect, but women are already perfect.”

Let’s say everyone perfect! So, how perfection comes? Only through practice. Nowadays it is all fast, fast food, you get everything fast. Everything is take away, no process to cook, or to do anything. Processing the new generation, they don’t like. Masala dosa to go. The process to make masala dosa is two days process, it’s not one day. They have to grind it, leave it the whole night, it gets fermented, long process. So yoga is also a process which should happen. Mula bandha, asanas also. To master an asana it takes time. You have to give the time, if you don’t give the time you won’t know what yoga is. So everything is mula bandha also, it takes one, two, or three years. It might take longer. Day by day when you practice you become more familiar with your asana practice. Then my grandfather always used to teach—if you go to other yoga straightaway the first day they will teach you ten, fifteen asanas straightaway. That asana, this asana, there’s no method.

Here in this state of yoga we always progress slowly, slowly, step by step. Once we master one asana then we move on to next asana. When we practice two to five years then we can realize what we are doing, until then it is just practice, more physical.

How to realize beyond your physical practice? Once we get more clarity within us, the yamas, niyamas, asana. This one subject itself, it takes forever, to learn the purpose of doing it. So many people, they get very confused. Many people who don’t have proper knowledge of yoga, you can stragihtaway know the difference—people who don’t have in-depth knowledge or experience, meaning once you do asanas for many years with devotion—it just becomes physical. Many people they don’t want to do. Asana becomes ego. Ego because you have ego, already, here what we are doing—yoga—to get rid of this thing. These people who don’t have proper understanding of yoga, you can straight away make out they don’t have experience in the system, in yoga. Straightaway—philosophy anyone can talk with a book, “Oh yeah, this is yoga,” but the in-depth experience is only through practical experience and thoughts which come in your practice, and finding answers within you and through the help of your guru. Then you get better clarity within you. Then better understanding will come. Anyone can quote sutras. Lots of translations in English—they say, “Yeah, I know,” anyone can quote sutras. My son, Sambav, can do that.

What is behind Citta Vritti Nirodah—how to do that? Have you realized that or not? You realize that, you gain Saddanah, in-depth knowledge to realize that. You do Saddanah, then only you get better understanding. Exactly for anything in yoga, as I told you, you can purchase certificate, but that won’t make you a yogi. It’s good to put on your wall and they advertise everywhere, “Yogi! Yogi John,”

Long time back I met one student, a wife of one of my friends, she said, “Oh! I am practicing yoga for four years now,” and she is asking me,” What is this? What is that?” I said, “Your teacher didn’t teach you? “ She said no, “I don’t do ashtanga yoga I do hatha yoga.” Me, “Oh OK, what is hatha yoga mean? Can you explain me?”

“Oh, don’t ask me all those things!” So in five years practicing with someone they don’t even know what hatha yoga means and she is asking all the questions to me. Unfortunately these things are happening, some people learn some asanas, they have bendy body, and they say, “I’m a yoga guru.” You see it in the paper. There’s no respect for the yoga guru, they don’t have any respect.

A guru removes all the darkness within us, all the obstacles within us, and takes us towards the brightness. Towards the jnana—the real brightness which we should have. The spiritual knowledge, removes all the ignorance in us, and takes us towards the brightness. To become a guru, this guru should have this experience for many years. This is called guru-shisha parampara. This is the lineage coming from a parampara. This is what happens when there is no parampara. (Gurus and yogi John’s everywhere, etc.) Paramprara means a teacher, a guru or master, a master, which is totally different from a teacher because their experience is in-depth on some subject. Mastering this technique, a student, devoted, the student also has some responsibilities. “Oh, I was in Mysore, I just wanted to do some yoga so I went to KPJ, I was going to Kerala, just passing Mysore, Kerala to do Pancha Karma,” He will be passing through and will never understand what yoga is.

Someone asked, “How do you recognize your guru?” A wise man asks. How to find the guru, he asks a very big master. The master says, “when you hate your guru when you see him the first time.” Then something in your mind says, “I can learn something from him,” but then something in your mind again resists. Finally, he becomes your guru.

Q&A

Q: What’s the process for developing this mula bandha?

A: There are many asanas. Now you are struggling with uth pluttihi, this is a very big tool. It’s a good tool to improve your mula bandha. Navasana, even jumping through and jumping back, one day I will show you how some people they go to handstand—this is not uth pluttihi—it doesn’t need any strength. As soon as you are mastering it is like flying, you can just jump through. It’s easy. The whole balance of your body will change once there is mula bandha, uth pluttihi is very important—it just means lift up, that’s all. Elevating your body, that’s uth plutthihi, so this one when you practice navasana try to pick up with your whole body off the floor. The feet don’t touch the floor. Once mula bandha comes uddiyana bandha will come. jalandhara bandha is mostly in pranaymana. It stops all the external air, these three bhandas will come. Right now, this things is to do, if you do mula bandha correctly you will find the other two. The source has to be strong. The foundation is not strong, then whatever comes through that will not be strong.

Q: I know of the Sutras, but I don’t know who Patanjali actually is?

A: Patanjali, there will be lots of people suffering with lots of diseases, so if Patanjali takes birth in his form with thousands of heads, people will get scared. That is why he takes form as both a human and serpent. To bring health to the people, the suffering people with diseases (physical or mental), the people are lost with delusion and confusion, lots of ignorance. He comes to preach yoga. Three things he brought is yoga for clarity, for concentration, to bring steadiness to the mind. He brought grammar, without grammar you won’t have better speech and understanding. He brought grammar. To cure diseases, he brought Ayurveda. There are two kinds of yogas— some diseases can be cured by asana practice. Some need Ayurveda.

Without grammar you won’t have better speech, without yoga you can’t have peace of mind, without Ayurveda you won’t have health—there are no side effects in Ayruveda it is all natural. Patanjali brought these three things. In the yoga sutras, yoga was before these sutras also, yoga was always there. The whole universe, the whole existence started and yoga started then. It came before Patanjali. All of this you see, the reminders start coming. Krishna he comes in the Bhagavad Gita and he teaches about yoga, Patanjali comes and he teaches about yoga. In the Bhagavad Gita it says, “Yoga is a very old knowledge and practice, which has come from a lineage, from parampara.” It has come from one generation, guru, to another, student.

There is no time when yoga started. It’s timeless. Why is it timeless? Because yoga can’t be seen, it can only be experienced. You can see me, as soon as I took birth. Yoga is all the experience, which happens within you, if you do in the proper direction with the proper ingredients. If you want to plant a rose plant you have to nourish the earth, the soil, you have to give many things.

If you nourish that soil, then automatically a flower will blossom. If you don’t, the plant will die. Is it not true? You don’t water it or nourish it and it will die. Like that, our body is here and our mind is there. What is the nourishment we have to give for the yoga to happen? Yoga is the flower that blossoms within you. What to do for yoga to blossom? We have to follow yama, niyamas, asana, pranayama. Yamas and Niyamas are very important in our practice, these are the nourishment. Then the yoga will happen. The first four limbs are external exercises. Now I’m doing Dhyana. You can’t say that. Some people want more attention, “Oh yeah, I went to this lady she was doing dhyana!” If you are in the state of dhyana nobody will realize, it happens within you! You can’t advertise, it happens within you! When you are in this state you get absorbed in the deepest meditation, all of your sense organs come together and you go to that deepest state of yoga. Meditation can be focused, drishti can be meditation, that’s all. Dhyana is where you withdraw all your sense organs and everything becomes one. Everything becomes one and you don’t know where you are, then everything becomes clear.

There’s no you and then that thing, everything becomes one. That is again, yoga. Yoga can be described as many things. Self-realization is the perfect word for yoga. Transformation happens when self-realization happens. Transformation happens when you follow yama and niyamas. It becomes clearer, day-by-day and year-by-year as you practice. If the transformation does not happen you are doing something wrong, you are making some mistakes.

Q: Why do injuries happen?

A: There’s lots of reasons. Overdoing it is easy to injure yourself, you do it here and you go home and do it again. You’re doing asana practice you just have to concentrate on asana practice. You can’t go and do bicycling for two hours and then come and do asanas. These are opposite things. When you’re doing asana you don’t need to do anything else. Your body is getting stiffer cycling. Here you are coming and getting flexible. When your body is getting stiff and flexible, stiff and flexible, then you are easy to hurt yourself. Everything in asana practice is opening.

I played lots of cricket when I was young, so when I came back to yoga I could feel that there was so much difference between cricket and yoga. I didn’t play after that. I had to go through so many pains in the practice. When you are getting flexible also you get pain in the body, so many changes. If you go to bad teacher, it is possible to get injured.

You have to allow your body to change. You see someone else doing a pose and oh you want to do!! Then you do and don’t give time for your body to change, then you hurt yourself. You should understand how to use the asanas. You can’t do all the asanas and you have to give time. The more time you give, the more you can perfect. You want perfection or you want to learn 100 asanas without any perfection? I would rather do ten asanas or twenty with perfection.

There’s lots of changes to happen in your body. This process should happen. Sometimes you get pain and it quickly goes away, sometimes you get pain and it doesn’t go away for years.

Once in 93/94, guruji taught me a deep back bending and I wanted to go deeper and deeper. It was eka pada raja kapotasana, you bring the leg behind you and catch the ankle with both hands, I was already deep—my heel was here (he points to his nose)—and I thought, “Oh, I can go deeper,” so I pulled and heard a tear here. I couldn’t lift my hand. The morning it happened, I came home, I could take deep breath, in the evening an institution came and wanted us to give demo. My grandfather said, “Yeah, tomorrow we will give, no problem,” I said, “Who is doing the demo? I’m injured, I can’t lift my hand or breath.” There was no one to do the demo, I had to do the demo. I don’t know how I did, but I did kapotasana. After that for one month I couldn’t move my body—even Surya Namaskara was hard! Sometimes we don’t put enough attention in asana practice. The attention should only be in asana practice, when your mind gets distracted, you’re physically here but your mind is somewhere else, many times you get injured like this.

The whole attention should be on your practice. It’s a kind of meditation also, which you learn and it automatically becomes a meditative practice. All of your attention is towards, “Oh what’s he doing? Oh she’s doing kapotasna,” then you go have coffee and discuss all the asanas. Concentrate on your practice. Put everything into your practice. Do that for one week, two weeks, two months and your practice becomes a meditative practice. You do that and your practice will change, you can feel this is not just physical exercise, but a spiritual practice. So many changes will happen within you when this happens.

I’ve done so many demonstrations. 5,000 or 6,000 people I have seen at demonstrations. As soon as I go to my postures I don’t know what happens around me. I’m not worried about how I can perform the asanas. It took many years of practice like that. Getting up at 1 o’clock everyday and practicing 2 or 3 hours I have developed that. As soon as I come to yoga practice my attention comes to my practice. This is what you have to develop within you. Once you develop that you can go to another level of yoga. You can straightaway experience something different.

Q: 99% of practice is not just for the practice, the yamas and niyamas also.

A: Guruji taught 99% practice but people didn’t understand what he was telling. Guruji’s English was very limited, but he learned so much over the years. Later on he became more fluent, but 99% practice many people think, “I have to do asanas here, I have to go home and do asanas, I have to do asanas there.” 99% practice, they didn’t have proper understanding what it was. The real experience only comes when we practice and we realize what it is.

Into The Shadows – the elusive search for happiness in Ashtanga Yoga

A question from a long-time student:

“Some days, the Ashtanga practice leaves me feeling peaceful, light and joyful. Then other days I’m left feeling grumpy, and tight with heaps of unpleasant feelings bubbling up inside. What the h*** is wrong with me?!?!”

Here are my thoughts:

The practice of Ashtanga Yoga shines a light in our hearts, it shines a light on our true Self. And it’s not until this light is shone that our darkest and deepest shadows are finally revealed. They are revealed as a part of the path to healing, a part of the path to happiness, but at first, they are often painful, and they sometimes cause sadness, frustration and/or anger.

Yoga is a practice of turning inward and connecting with the true Self, the light, the divine, the God within each one of us. But first, Yoga asks us to begin by calming our mind, trying to tame the monkey mind.

The monkey mind creates fluctuations in the mind like the ripples created from throwing pebbles into a lake; one thought, one pebble creates ripples that expand outward and continue rippling long after the pebble first broke the surface of the water. If we can start to calm these fluctuations, begin to still the waters of the mind, only then can we begin to see the true reflection of our Self. Only then can the light begin to shine, allowing us to see the shadows lying deep within.

While the initial work of calming the mind is crucial, it really is only the beginning of the journey. Once the mind is calm, then we’re finally able to actually see the shadows which have been buried in the depths of our consciousness. Like debris, which has settled on the bottom of the lake, long forgotten, these shadows are still there, shaping the landscape of our mind, and altering our behavior and thought patterns whether we realize it or not.

Ashtanga Yoga provides an opportunity to dredge this lake of the mind, an opportunity to finally remove the debris which no longer serves us, chipping away at the shadows which cause us suffering, this is the real work of Ashtanga Yoga, and this is the really really hard work of Ashtanga Yoga.

This is also the best work we can do for our Self, the best work we can do for our world.

As these shadows of our consciousness are revealed, in some way, we must re-experience them. We must accept that they are there, and then we have a choice to make. The choice to either continue carrying them around buried within our minds, allowing these shadows to shape who we are. Or we can start to release them, facing them honestly as we begin to clear away the debris, and let the light of the Divine shine on these shadows, filling our hearts and our lives with peace and light.

So, if you sometimes feel grumpy in or after your practice, maybe that’s OK – maybe it can be another way for us to heal if we let ourselves honestly surrender to the process of releasing past pain and suffering. But, it is our choice. We can choose to release the shadows and rise above the suffering of our conditioned minds. Or not, and continue to let these shadows rule our consciousness.

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“…and in all earnestness”

In Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras – THE ‘how-to’ book for yoga, not only do the sutras define Yoga, they also provide a roadmap for our journey, shedding light on the obstacles that will arise and providing us with tools to overcome these obstacles.

In the second sutra, Patanjali informs us what goal of yoga is:
Yogaś chitta vṛtti nirodhaḥ | 1.2
“The restraint of the modifications of the mind-stuff is Yoga.”
So basically the calming of the monkey mind is Yoga, this is why we practice. And, the rest of the sutras expound upon this single goal – calming the mind. For most of us though, the calming of the mind is not as simple as just flipping a switch and turning that internal chatter off. For this reason, Patanjali uses the rest of the sutras to show us how to accomplish the calming of the mind.

A few sutras in, Patanjali tells us how we can become grounded in this practice of calming the mind:
Sa tu dīrgha kāla nairantarya satkārāsevito dṛḍhabhūmiḥ | 1.14
“The practice becomes firmly grounded when well attended to for a long time, without break and in all earnestness.”

Here, the sage Patanjali tells us how to become firmly grounded in the practice of stilling the mind. First, we attend to the practice for a long time, dīrgha kāla. Second, we must practice without break, nairantarya. And lastly, the practice must be preformed in all earnestness, satkārāsevito. The first two requirements are fairly easy to comprehend – practice for a long time (maybe even lifetimes) and without break. But what does it mean to practice in all earnestness?

To me, that is the big question, how do we practice in all earnestness?

To practice Ashtanga Yoga in all earnestness we must practice with devotion, respect, austerity and faith. Each day when we roll out the mat, we must make a choice. The choice to practice with devotion. The choice to practice with respect. The choice to practice with austerity. The choice to practice with faith. Every time the mind begins to wander, we must continually bring it back to the tristhana method. Rising above the ego’s need for praise, and perfection, we practice not to gain poses or to be able to accomplish some physical feat. We practice to learn about ourselves, trying to uncover and overcome our unconscious patterns of conditioning.

When we allow our mind to be immersed in only the breath, the bandhas and the gaze we are able to transform our practice into a moving meditation. This moving meditation is a tool to overcome suffering. It allows us to begin to identify our unconscious conditioning, it allows us to begin to see the ways we bring suffering to others and ourselves. Without this step, we will remain caught in a continual cycle of suffering – samsāra, we will remain caught in the illusions of the ego.

Each day, when we roll out our mats, may we practice as a way to begin to know our Self, as a way to overcome suffering, as a way to bring more peace to the world through our own experience of internal peace.


* About Jessica

* Ashtanga Eco-Retreat, Costa Rica – May 25-31, 2016

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Guru Gratitude

The full moon of July is celebrated with a Hindu festival known as GURU PURNIMA. This is a day honoring spiritual and academic teachers and is mostly celebrated by hindus and buddhists as a way of thanking their teachers.

The full moon of July is also the anniversary of the birth of Sri K. Pattabhi Jois, born on this day in 1915. Our beloved teacher, Guruji, the Father of Ashtanga Yoga was born on the day to honor our gurus.

Sri K. Pattabhi Jois a Guru, one who destroys/dispels darkness, the bringer of light, the guide on the spiritual journey of yoga. His eyes sparkled with peaceful joy and his smile invoked inspiration in all. His presence was humbling, comforting, and inspiring. He was a natural teacher and a true representation of yoga. And now, his grandson R. Sharath Jois continues to lead the Ashtanga tradition with honor and grace, our modern Ashtanga guru. Sharath’s teachings are honest and pure, wrapped in humor to inspire and motivate students from around the world, shining light into our hearts through the Ashtanga Yoga practice.

I am thankful for my teachers every day. I hear their words in my practice, inspiring me to roll out my mat, encouraging me to practice kapotasana one more time. And when I doubt the practice, when I doubt myself, I remember Guruji’s message to me “You, you come back, you take practice” and I do.

Thank you Guruji, thank you Sharath, thank you Ashtanga Yoga.

About Jessica

Yoga and the quest to know it ALL!

Inspired by Conference with R. Sharath Jois

11/10/13 – Mysore, India

Yoga is a journey of Self-Discovery, a journey of knowledge. And along this path we will learn a LOT. The journey inspires curiosity and awakens a ‘thirst’ for knowledge within the practitioners. We learn about our bodies, we learn to stretch our limits both physically and mentally and we learn to perform seemingly impossible feats of the body through its physical manipulation.

We also begin to learn more about our selves – what makes us happy, what makes us sad, what pushes us out of our comfort zones and we can even begin to identify our typical ‘programmed’ responses. Additionally, yoga teaches us to be a witness to our own actions, to see the way our actions impact our environment and the people around us.

Often, this perspective gives us the inspiration to learn EVEN more, to try to understand our place in the world and why people exist in the way they do.

This path of Self-discovery leads many practitioners to begin to learn and explore many new disciplines that seem to align with the practice of yoga, including Yoga Sutras, Philosophical studies, Ayurvedic medicine, Reiki, Meditation, Sanskrit Chanting, – just to name a few. These are extremely healing and powerful practices that open the doors of knowledge even wider, providing a flood of information for the practitioner to integrate into their daily lives, this is information that can also be used to help others along their own path of healing.

While, as students begin we to heal ourselves, and maybe we even start to help others heal along this path of Self-discovery; it can be easy for some to fall into the mindset of thinking they ‘know it all’.

In conference this week, Sharath was talking about what it’s like being a student, he mentioned the tendency for students to feel as if they know everything, and shared his insights with us. Please keep in mind, I’m paraphrasing what Sharath explained here – when I know there is more for me to learn, then the door to knowledge is opened. The man who thinks he knows everything cannot grow, because in his eyes, there is nothing left to know. While the man who knows everything, would never admit he knows everything, he will always be searching, exploring, and seeking to uncover more truth.

To me, this is a beautiful perspective. The idea that we will ALWAYS be learning, and that we are not expected to ever know everything is very liberating!!! Acknowledging that we will be wrong sometimes, that we WILL make mistakes, and that making mistakes is ok, it’s part of our process as humans; we make mistakes, we hopefully learn from them (eventually at least), and because of these mistakes we learn, we grow, and then we make different mistakes!!!

The more we learn and discover on this journey the more we see we have much still to learn. Embrace your knowledge, and at the same time, celebrate the opportunity to continue learning, to continue growing, and to continue exploring. The ability to change, adapt, grow and evolve is an amazing quality we humans possess – Let’s celebrate the fact that we can change – we can grow, and we can spend the rest of our lives doing just that, while making a few mistakes along the way!!

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  • The Ashtanga Yoga practice is an intense practice of Self-Discovery and HEALING and the journey is unique for each person. This practice is not only physically demanding, it’s emotionally demanding as well. The practice leads students inward, toward their TRUE SELF, allowing them to live happier, more honest and peaceful lives. On this journey, students will no doubt encounter painful, challenging and even frightening moments. It is in these moments when we really learn the most about our self. It is through these painful, challenging and frightening moments when the real yoga happens and we can start to break down the conditioned patterns that we need to let go…

  • Keeping Guruji With You When You Practice
  • Last summer, in one of Sharath’s conferences, he was talking to us about the importance of practicing with one teacher, when a student asked ‘What if jobs, family and finances won’t allow us to make it to Mysore to practice with you every year?’….

  • The Heart of Ashtanga Yoga: The Tristhana Method
  • Asthanga Yoga method provides an opportunity for practitioners to practice releasing these distractions and focusing the mind on one single point. Thus, leading students on a path of Self-discovery…..

  • Ashtanga Yoga is a breath practice. Seriously, it REALLY is!!!!
  • Walk in to any Mysore class around the world and the first two things you will probably notice are the breath and the postures. All the students in the room are moving at their own pace, with focused minds, graceful movements and the same deep, steady and even breath. There is a rhythm to this breath. It has an almost hypnotic quality, continually drawing students inward to the present moment. Allowing them to experience their yoga practice for all it is in each moment…

  • The Seven Words That Changed My Practice
  • It was 2008, I was traveling in India for the first time and immersing myself in Ashtanga Yoga. I’ll be honest, when I first traveled to Mysore, I was not a dedicated Ashtanga practitioner. I LOVED Ashtanga Yoga, I just didn’t practice it 6 days a week. Yet, I was ready to dive in and see what it would be like to commit to the daily Asthanga practice.
    At this time, Guruji was still with us…