Patience, Oils, and Changing Ourselves – Sharath Conference 9/9/12

Found these notes taken by Megan, gratitude to her for taking them and sharing on the Jois Yoga page in Facebook.  Interesting things coming out of Msyore, below is the story:

UPDATE: Grimmly pointed out there were notes from the previous conference (9/2) as well, thanks G! – I posted them after the first one here.

For those of you not familiar with Ashtanga, Sharath is the current Director of the Ashtanga Yoga Research Institute in Mysore, India, and once a week he offers a “conference” or, what we would call a “talk”, followed by questions from students.  This one happened last Sunday:

“You can’t change this world but you can change yourself.” –Sharath Jois

There are millions of asanas and only God knows them all.  They are named for many living beings.  We know only a few but think we are masters. The asanas in our practice our divided into three different levels—primary series, intermediate series, and advanced series.  Sharath explained that a new student can’t just begin with advanced series.  Preliminary asanas are there first to gain good health and flexibility.  Changes come to prepare us for the next asana, the next series.  We should be patient.  Sometimes we seek out teachers who give many asanas quickly and think they will be very good teachers but it’s all just marketing.  Sharath referred to Abhyasa, a daily and consistent practice, as a reason we can develop stability in the body and mind. Some students come in flexible as noodles but have no strength.  Others need flexibility.  Guruji said if we did an asana 1,000 times we can perfect that asana.  Backbending drop backs are important first because they require much strength in the back and the legs.  This prepares us to do intermediate backbending like Kapotasana.  We should not rush these openings.  We should give it time because rushing will always cause injuries.  Sharath relayed that he was in one asana for two years.  Guruji would sit on a stool and do his prayers near Sharath while he practiced.  For two years he ended at the same posture.  One day Guruji looked up and said he should do the next one.  Being patient gives us time to get balanced.  If we begin doing handstands too soon, it makes the shoulders too tight for Kapotasana, for example.  Intermediate series, Nadi Shodhana, is more intense but gets easier because of the things learned in primary series.  Finally, addressing Sthira Bhaga, or advanced series, Sharath says we develop even more stability through arm balances, deep backbending, and the work of lifting the body.  By working the asanas, by putting forth effort, many of the inside poisons and toxins come out and the body is purified.  We should rub our sweat into the skin, not off of the body.  He said some asanas are slippery and we might have a towel but not to use a towel too often to wipe sweat.  The sweat created from practice is not “easy” sweat, meaning sweat created by heating the room like in hot yoga.  The sweat we create through our efforts is beneficial if rubbed back into the skin.  Ultimately, through this asana practice, we are working toward the point where this physical body doesn’t bother us.  When sitting for Pranayama, we can be in Padmasana for a long time without disturbing the mind with the body. 

One student asked if kriya techniques were for practitioners.  Sharath said that they are used only when a person has a particular problem.  We are doing asanas and cleansing is already happening.  There is no need to perform a kriya unless something is wrong.  For example, sutra neti, threading string through the nostril and mouth, may be beneficial for a particular allergy or infection.  If there is no sinus infection, jala neti, or the use of a neti pot, may provide relief of congestion.  Nali can be used for incorrect digestion but should be used carefully.  Women, especially, can find it hard on the reproductive organs.  These techniques were for sadhus with no family and before there were hospitals.  People had to treat themselves.   He stressed we should be educated about what we are doing.  The technique can affect us in a different way than intended if we do it and have no problem.  Trataka Kriya, gazing at one fixed point, usually a flame, can be done to improve our concentration in addition to helping certain eye problems.  It is safe to do regularly.  Referring back to sinus troubles and sickness, Sharath reminded us to not practice with fever or a very bad cold because we likely aren’t getting enough air during the practice or we get too heated.  He added with a chuckle that you’ll only make everyone in the shala sick, too. 

Answering a question about the occasional wandering mind, Sharath recommended japa, the repetition of a mantra, for after asana practice. He said something might be bothering you—it happens—and we have a distracted mind. We can’t change the world but we can change ourselves.  Done after practice or before bed for about 30 minutes, using a mantra that has been taught to us, the worry might not be 100% gone but it will be manageable.  Also, he noted, it is important to clean ourselves before we perform these kinds of rituals.  Saucha, or cleanliness, is important before japa just as it is important for asana.  We are trying to be calm individuals and manage ourselves and what comes up.  Mahatma Gandhi was the symbol of ahimsa because he submersed himself in ahimsa and then was, himself, ahimsa.  A yogi is someone who has cultivated all of these things in him or her.  It is a quality.  He asked how many of us can say we are a yogi or yogini.  We have to become sadhakas day by day. 

Next a student asked about teaching a cancer survivor who has undergone chemotherapy.  Even though the treatments are over, the student gets overheated quickly even now.  Sharath suggested that the student drink plenty of water and juice and to use oil to cool the body.  He suggested coconut or almond oil to cool her.  Treatments and medicines can stay in the body a long time.  He said asanas bring heat to the body anyway and we use oil baths to cool the body.  It used to be custom in India to put coconut oil in children’s hair to cool them.  Putting the oil on the head will draw heat out of the body.  For the head, amla oil is very good.  Also, he advised that she should talk to a doctor.  There are many herbs and ayurvedic treatments that can help with diseases and afflictions of the body. 

Sharath ended conference by inviting us to visit a local hospital with him.  A Mysore pediatrician has opened a hospital devoted to children with HIV and AIDS, and Sharath extended an invitation to us to accompany him and see what we can do to help out the hospital and the young patients.  He said he’d provide the date and details soon.  (I will include information as we get it.)

By Megan Riley

Conference 9/2/2012

Sunday conferences begin with Sharath taking a seat on the stage area and chanting quietly.  During a recent conference a student asked what the chant was for and today we found out.  As Sharath explained, this specific chant thanks all of his gurus in this lineage—Brahmachari, Krishnamacharya, and Pattabhi Jois.  It is important to thank these people because many students, once they learn, they forget their guru.  He reminded us that we represent our guru in this lineage.  Without them it would be impossible to practice and relish this system of yoga.  Sharath said that few people knew the system of yoga from theYoga Korunta, and Pattabhi Jois kept it alive by teaching it to others and spreading its message.  Yoga is a science and a spiritual development.  The purpose of the sadhaka is to totally submerse himself in the yoga and learn it.

To explain how to be a good student to our guru, Sharath quoted the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali  2.1 tapaḥsvādhyāyeśvarapraṇidhānāni kriyāyogaḥ, which means discipline, self-study, and devotion or surrender to the divine constitutes kriya yoga.  He said it is important to become disciplined so that we do not get distracted and unstable.  This discipline does not come all at once—it is a process that happens year by year.  He reiterated that he wasn’t speaking only of asana but the whole yoga practice.  Everyone wants to rush now, get authorization quickly, but our aim should be to learn first, and this is why self-study becomes important.  Now we may see someone do handstands on a DVD and think they know what they are doing.  He pointed out that even his young son can do handstands.  We should get connected to whichever god or belief we like.  It can be a belief in something without shape.  We have created all of these shapes but there is no one shape for any god.  Once we get connected and surrender to our self and to the divine, we can be very calm.  A sadhaka should always surrender to his teacher.  If that thirst does not exist, what you learn will only be physical.  These three things—devotion, development, and dedication—are important to our practice because it gives meaning to what we are doing.  Otherwise, why spend time doing it?

Questions started with an issue from a previous conference when Sharath referenced Rama shooting arrows at Hanuman, his most devoted disciple.  Hanuman was so devoted that he became Rama.  Student and teacher are one.  Another student asked if we should chant something like “Om Namah Shivaya” during our asana practice instead of counting.  Sharath said when doing asana we should devote ourselves to doing that only.  Our concentration should be in one place, on the breathing.  If we want to chant, that should happen at home before asana practice.  When doing chanting, we should concentrate only on the chant.  When discussing the breath in our practice, Sharath was careful, through the questioning of a student, to differentiate between Ujjayi breathing and “free breathing.”    Ujjayi Pranayama is a breathing technique and not what we should do.  In our practice we are not forcing the breath.  We should inhale and exhale smoothly as this will help to activate our digestive fire.  We should not hold our breath in asana and instead try to have a flowing breath to help our circulation and nervous system.   Someone followed up by asking when a student could learn Pranayama, the fourth limb.  He said he would show us when we are ready but there is one technique we could do on our own.  He demonstrated and explained that he was inhaling through his left nostril and exhaling through his right nostril three times before switching to inhale through the right and exhale through the left.  This was controlled using his right hand with his thumb on his right nostril and two fingers on his left nostril.  Here there is no breath retention.  This can be done after practice, after rest.  A Pranayama practice can get rid of diseases but, done improperly, it can invite diseases into the body and make us crazy.  We should learn properly and follow a system.  It, too, is a science.  Also, there are cosmic reasons for certain actions such as which side of the bed to get up on (right) or which direction your front door should face (East).  When a baby is born, the parents take the baby outside at sunrise so the sun’s rays bring the baby good health.  Just as the sun can bring us positive energy like solar heat and solar powered cars, it can be used incorrectly or negatively, too.  Yoga is like the sun.  It can be healing if used the right way but it also can be used to burn ourselves or someone else.  A teacher has to know what asana is good for students who have imbalances in the physical body.  A teacher should study the student and can’t push everybody.  When questioned about whether we should take time off from practice or push through practice when injured, Sharath cautioned us to be careful.  He said sometimes the body is only changing.  Due to the things we’ve done to the body before our asana practice, we might be working through a lot of stiffness.  Asana makes us free from all of this but during the transition there may be aches and pains in the body. We should practice but we should be careful.  Do not push too much until we feel better.  We don’t respect asana sometimes.  Using himself as an example, he recounted his earlier days in Eka Pada Rajakapotasana.  He thought he could do deeper and deeper until he injured his shoulder.  He demoed for Guruji the next day even though he was injured.  After that day he practiced slowly and was very careful.  It healed and he became more flexible.  He cautioned that we should go slowly, let the body change, and don’t rush it.  Flexibility will come.  When doing this practice, exercises and sports can make us more stiff and susceptible to injury.  He joked that there is no need for other activity unless we really like it and, then, we can do that once in awhile.  He said, in his experience, injuries or pains that we get by asana, asana can heal.  To wrap up he said yoga is bigger than us.  Nobody can copyright it or brand it.  It is our duty to uphold the system and educate people about what proper yoga means.  When we protect dharma, when we protect truth, the truth will protect us.  He sent us off by saying we should keep practicing—it doesn’t happen all at once.  It takes a long time. 

By Megan Riley

Sharath Nose-Diving Safely Into That Marble Floor

A rare demo after conference.  Action starts at around 0:40

I Am Dracula, Don’t Ask About My Practice – Sharath Q&A Friday 13th

Dracula definitely puts the cherry on the top on this Friday the 13th.  I suppose Sharath is the last person I would have thought would compare himself to such a dark, night character, but there you have it.

Here is the Questions and Answers from today, and yes, I had a pen and paper on me, about time!

Q: Yoga Sutra 1.33 says that when people are mean to you, you need to be indifferent, does that mean not talk to them at all? – [You may be rightly guessing who asked this – [yes, me]]

Sharath:  The Yoga Sutras are difficult to understand, not easy [laughter].  And they are to be taken in context with other texts too, like the Hatha Yoga Pradipika, the Gita, the Upanishads. So if you have a question ask me in general, not about the Sutras.


Q: OK, suppose a person is mean to you, like they say something really mean and not true to you, and you are working at your yoga and keeping your peace of mind, what do you do?

Sharath: Life is not plain, it is like Lombard Street in San Francisco.  Have you been to San Francisco? How are the streets there? [he gestures hills and ups and downs].  Life is happy and sad, it is not up to us, it is not in your hands.  How we deal with it is important. 


As a yogi nothing must disturb you, when things are happy you remain undisturbed, when things are difficult you remain undisturbed. You are always comfortable. So yes, you ignore.

Lombard Street in San Francisco: Life!

If you look around there is discomfort everywhere, even for our planet, we humans are destroying nature, destroying forests for new construction.  As yogis it is our duty to make this world a better place for our children, for future generations.


People always like to talk, they have their problems and they want to put that on you, but if you are a yogi you know you have peace in you, in your mind, so you ignore and you keep your peace.


Anyone else? Any personal problems? [laughter]

Q: Could you talk about the different energetics of the different series?

Sharath: You go deeper into your practice to be healthy and to keep peace of mind.  There are as many asanas as there are human beings in the planet. There are some you will not do because in order to do some of them you have to follow many observances, you have to have proper diet, celibacy, or the asanas won’t be possible.


If  you are dedicated you will be able to do the asanas but you have to be very diligent.


Guruji taught me so many asanas, some that people have not even seen. So many years of practice with him. 18 years! So, for you, to get to all the series, 108 years! [laughter]


Because being Guruji he expected more of me, and me being his grandson he expected even more. Being his grandson was difficult, he wanted perfection.

For you, you have to work with your body, and to where it allows you to go. When you come to Mysore you progress in asana.


Nadi Sodhana (Nerve-cleansing and also the name of the intermediate series) will not happen just because you do second series.  Nerve cleansing happens through vinyasa.  It will happen through primary series too, because the blood will circulate properly to each organ and all toxines will come out through sweat or exhalation.


Asanas with Vinyasa remove toxins.  Vinyasa is the main tool to get nadi sodhana.

Q: Do you practice all the series every day? Tell us about your practice

Sharath: While I am travelling it is different, it is difficult, but when I am in Mysore, especially for long periods of time as I am planning to be, then it is possible. Don’t ask about my practice, you won’t be able to sleep.

Q: How early do you wake up?

Sharath: I’m like a ghost, I get up at 1 o’clock. I am like Dracula [laughter]

I wake up at 1 o’clock

Q: Do you recommend pranayama? [Breathing extension exercises with or without retention and internal locks]

Sharath: There are thousands of pranayamas. Some basic pranayamas are recommended, for example inhale through the left and exhale through the right nostril, you can do this.


But kumbkaka [retention of breath with or without bandhas (internal locks)] has to be taught properly and by a teacher that has been taught properly and knows the practice.


The Hatha Yoga Pradipika says that you can cure all diseases from pranayama, it has a lot of cleansing effects on the nervous system.  But if you do pranayama wrong you can get diseases.


In the Yoga Sutras it says that pranayama should be attempted when firmly established in asana, only when you have mastered asana.  Many people don’t pay attention to the scriptures, the shastras.


But you can practice the basic inhalation through one nostril and exhalation through the other one (he demonstrates] to get proper oxygen.  If you get dizzy for example it could be because the blood is not circulating properly, and practicing this basic exercise can help you with that.  Also when you practice asanas, make sure to take long breaths.

—
Final Words:

Sharath: I want to thank Sonia and Paul for this beautiful place which has been created in honor of Guruji.  I hear that there is not that much ashtanga available in this area, so this is a good place to come and enjoy.  [The studio will have ashtanga classes around the clock every day]

Practice should be blissful, and that happens when you put your all into it, devotion, dedication.  You may wonder why are there so many pictures of Guruji on the walls, that is beause sometimes you forget your guru.

As a yoga family is good to practice in groups, I don’t like community, but rather groups, and this is a good place for the ashtanga family to practice in.

Related:
The Easiest Yogic Breathing Exercise to Balance the Mind Nadi Sodhana
32 Ways to Start Paying Attention to Your Breath

Q&A with Sharath April 12, Greenwich, CT

Led class was sweaty and full today.  James was put into head-stand with Saraswati’s help.  It was not the first time he did it but it was the first time I saw it, and it was beautiful.

Conference time started with Sharath asking for questions this time. Some came through and again I did not have pen and paper nearby so this is what I remember of the answers.  What was striking was the silence, and respect in the room.

Q: The goal of yoga is to get to the now, to being fully present. During asana practice I find that easier when the poses are very difficult, but when they get easier my mind tends to wander…

Sharath:  Yes, it is important to maintain focus.  It is the mind’s job to wander, we need to work at focusing.  It means you are not focusing enough on your yoga practice so you have to make an effort.

Q: What would you recommend for a person who does not have a teacher nearby? I feel stuck, like I cannot progress.

Sharath: Well, who taught you to brush your teeth?  (my mother she answers), and is she there now when you brush your teeth now, ever morning? (no, she says) (laughter).  It is the same with asanas. You practice and it is the practice itself that takes you deeper.

Don’t worry about asana or about progressing.  These days people want more asana to feel that they are progressing, but you don’t need more asanas for that, you just need to practice.  And if you do, even if you do not notice it, progress will be there, if you do it with the right intention.

Q: Do you meditate? And if so when?

Sharath: Meditation can happen at any time, it can happen right now, it can happen as you walk through a garden, it can happen when you are drinking coffee.  What is meditation? It is withdrawal of the mind, but that is not easy to do, it takes practice.

Meditation happens you cannot force it, so it is like a plant, you can use the practice of asana, yamas and niyamas as fertilizers, and the plant will sprout when it is ready.

When I do my practice of asana in the morning all of my focus is there. You can have meditation happen to you during practice.

You can sit if you want and try to focus, then you are practicing, this is also like fertilizing.

Q: How about asanas as we age? It seems some become more difficult?

Sharath: You need to work with your body.  Your body has to cooperate with you [laughter]  so only work to where your body is cooperating.  It is better to be good at 10 than poses than weak at 100 asanas, and then that is your practice and it is good.

Yoga is like an ocean, you have to get into it and then go deep to see the beauty of it.  You don’t need hundreds of asanas for it, you can have just ten asana and go deep.

Someone asked about intentions, but honestly I don’t remember the answer other than in bits and pieces… there was no savasana, so I guess I can cut myself some slack.

The first question was mine.  Again I felt called on, caught.  I know it is not true, it can’t be that I am the only person that looses focus during practice.

I suppose it is good to hear the reminder, it is important to just keep doing, keep focusing, keep going deeper, eliminating distractions, withdrawing from the outer world, creating the right conditions that can serve as fertilizing for meditation, for full presence to happen.

May be all abide in the eternal now today.

Mini Conference Reminders From Sharath

This morning Sarawatti  got me to get the hands through the lotus legs in Garba Pindasana, wedding and engaging ring and all, and with no water sprayed on them… A first.  She also rolled me around and I am pretty sure there is a picture or a video of it, hope it does not make it to the Facebook.  I was just not sweaty enough and I thought I would get away with just rolling with free hands.  Not the case.

Back home I realize it is the rest time of the month for me. No wonder I have little ideas for blog posts.  In a way it is good it came right around now so I can rest today and tomorrow and be back to the shala on Thursday.

Sharath’s mini-conference today took us through another reminder (yesterday it was about the importance of practice).  He seems to just be telling us highlights of what is important to keep in mind.

The reminder today went through how yoga is ancient and how it is important to practice and how it is important to do so every day and for a long period of time.

Every time he talks about this I wonder if he means me.  I do practice everyday! I fear my very slow progress in asana maybe the reason why the reminder comes through.  Doubt it though.  He was addressing over 40 people. I know, just paranoid, will keep practicing.

Would You Let Your Yoga Teacher Stand On You While in Pain And Bleeding?

I struggle with the idea of trusting a teacher so much so as to lay on the floor bleeding and not question his motives. Do you trust your teacher like this? The question comes from T, who commented on one of the Conference Reports from earlier this year in which Sharath related the story of Pattabhi Jois being in Kapotasana, bleeding due to a rock under his arm, while Krishnamacharya gave a lecture standing on him. [picture below].

My first reaction is of course not.  I would not trust anyone to stand on me while I am bleeding.  I feel a deconstruction is in order.

That is Krishnamacharya during a demonstration, standing on young Pattabhi Jois in kapotasana

At the time of the photo, Jois , depicted under the big K above, was between 12 and 14 years old.  The naughty boy was sneaking out of his house, without telling his parents, and going daily to Krishnamacharya for yoga lessons before school. He knew, at that tender age, that the calling of yoga was his. The only thing he wanted was yoga, and he trusted his teacher wholeheartedly.

Even for a youngster getting to kapotasana would take a few months of study is my guess. So I would assume by then he knew him well, he trusted him, and he probably wanted to impress him.

Krishnamacharya, on the other hand, was at the peak of his career having been given a wing at the palace.  A palace! Can you imagine? In those days? and to teach yoga, no less.

He had impressed the Maharaja of Mysore (who healed himself with his help) and with good reason. In his early 40s Krishnamacharya had 30 years of experience in yoga, which had started with him studying and debating scriptures at the age of 10.

How would you like to teach in one of my wings?

At the time of the photo, for what Sharath tells us, he had no idea that Jois was in pain.  We hear from the grandson of Jois himself that when he saw what happened he asked immediately if he was OK to which Jois responded that he was.

Sharath, the main carrier of the Ashtanga lineage these days confessed that he would have screamed himself.  So would I.

So, no, I would not do such thing.  Pattabhi Jois and Krishnamacharya had a special relationship, one that we will never know about in full. One that we cannot really judge from a distance other than by making assumptions and imagining things.

Comparing ourselves and our teachers to them is like comparing bananas and pomegranates.  They are just not the same thing.

I like pomegranates

These days we have so many people out there claiming to be yoga teachers, that it is more important than ever to exercise discrimination (see 12 suggestions to finding a good yoga teacher). That we are careful about who we trust and that we develop a relationship with a teacher over years.

For example, I trust Sharath in full.  Perhaps it is the projections of my mind, a mind trick, call it what you will. I am guilty of it, and I say that because when he is near me, my body tends to be able to do things that normally it does not.  His presence removes mental barriers it seems.  Besides, when he adjusts me he is ever so gentle and careful that I would NEVER get hurt.

John Campbell, my teacher in NYC is also one that I trust. He has put in the hours, he is certified and has been teaching forever. He is also a humble person, someone who exudes trustworthiness. But you bet if I was bleeding I would stop him. In fact I have done this when one time he was helping me walk the hands towards the heels in Urdhva Dhanurasana and it was just too much for me.   He totally understood.

I trust John.  I have known him now for over 4 years.  He knows my practice. Our student/teacher relationship developed slowly and over years, he knew when I lost my job and my whole life was in turmoil, he knew when I was getting married, even signed the card and contributed towards the pot present I got from all yogis (sweet them!). I also learned about his life and these days we have a very professional bond in which we share about the practice and about life, his retreats, Sharath coming over to the NY area,  my going to Mysore, etc.

How many teachers do we know today that have been studying yoga for over 30 years in a serious way, you know? Krishanamacharya’s way (waking up at 4 studying it and practicing it  all day long).  Not many.

So these are not those times.  Our teachers are not that teacher. And even if it was the big K, we must remember he did not know that was happening.  If I was Jois, I would probably have said something.  Then again, I am not that student.

12 Steps on How To Find A Good Yoga Teacher

SHARATH IN CONFERENCE: GENERATING POSITIVE ENERGY

Finished talking? I can wait if you want to talk.  Says Sharath at 4:05 PM -shala time, which is 15 minutes ahead of real time- as we begin the conference today. About 350 people in the room, some in the foyer, about three (or three hundred?) children can be heard in the audience.  Feels like family.

Sharath: Many times I’ve told you that by doing asanas, yamas and niyamas are also very important to follow to bring meaning ot the practice. If we want the practice to be complete asana is not enough.  Asana is the beginning not the end, asana is the begining of the spiritual practice.

The Yamas and Niyamas (observances and restraints) together with all other limbs are important.  In the Hatha Yoga Pradipika we are told that first we do asanas and we follow that with yamas and niyamas.

A discomfort in the audience, by the foyer, interrupts the conference. Can you move? There is more room here, he says, and points to the front of the stage on which he sits, on a chair which is half leaning on top of a cleaning rug.  We all move a little, there is really not that much room.  I get to be a bit farther apart from James and closer to the stage.  Better for note taking I suppose.

He continues: So if you are able to do all asanas beautifully, if you do for example handstand which is the common thing everyone wants to show… I don’t know where this habit comes from.  What is this? After Surya Namaskar, dwi, trini, (two, three) and handstand.  (He is refering to people who include handstand into the sun salutations as a way of showing off, but something that is clearly not supposed to be there in the salutations, see Pattabhi Jois’ book Suryanamaskara).  He continues I don’t know why, it seems to attract people, but for a real yogi the transformation happens within.

Cannot find where to buy the book these days, anyone knows?

The reason why we are doing asanas is to purify the body and the mind.  It means that change will happen within us, in how we react to things, how we behave.  It will change our attitude, if you show aggression (which sometimes can be brought about by asanas) if you go and be crazy outside, for example, by the coconut stand in front of everyone, and then you start doing headstand -laughter- that does not mean you are doing yoga, you are building your ego.  That is against yoga.

So whatever you do outside matters.  You may have a beautiful asana practice but outside if you do not understand how to calm and control your mind then you are just doing an aerobics class.  A lot of people confuse ashtanga yoga with aerobics, that is because they do not know the real benefit, they only see the surface.

It is like the sea, you can only see the beauty of it once you dive inside, then you see a whole new world in the ocean.  I have not been to the ocean, I am scared of it, I am from South India and there is no sea here.  We do not learn to swim but I have dived in the spiritual practice and experienced beautiful things.

Like diving into the ocean

So many times people practice but do not understand the meaning of it, sometimes they are even practicing for 20 years but not understanding the reason behind. Then it is of no use.  We keep chanting but if our mind and body are not there, if the chanting does not come from the heart then we are not generating positive energy.

When we involve ourselves completely then we can generate positive energy. Why do chanting? We do it to generate positive energy in us, and around us, just like with the asana practice, we put mind and body together, we bring everything together and then positive energy is generated.

In daily life, ahimsha, non-violence, means not to hurt anyone.  Last night someone asked me if we are hurting ourselves when we practice asana.  But we are not hurting ourselves we are getting rid of karma through our pains.  Many times knowingly or unknowingly we hurts others by words or thoughts.  Once we think bad of others mentally then negative energy is generated.

In India we are always careful with negative energy.  So in new houses outside we put signals. We put pumpkins.  You also call your boyfriend or girlfriend pumpkin -laughter-.  We put the pumpkin in front so that the bad energy is taken away, people will look at it and smile and not have negative energy.

James tells me that they use of the pumpkin is a drishti pariharam, he searches for it on the internet as I type and here is the google explanation.

Hope it takes away the bad energies

Sometimes people have good or bad intentions. Mostly bad. In society there are hundreds of different people and jealous people cannot keep it inside, they have to show it to others: Oh that person has lots of money!  Everywhere we go there are people with positive and people with negative energy.

So first I have to generate positive energy then ahimsha, satya, once we follow them in our daily life then we can be true to ourselves and others, then asteya (non stealing) then bramahcarya (celibacy), aparigraha (detachment from wanting).

Yogis in the past all followed a certain discipline which made them positive.  Once you practice non violence and telling the truth then automatically nothing will bother you.

When you do something wrong it will bother your mind, karma will be generated.  Karma is important, what we do sometimes can hurt someone, or if we do a sin knowingly or unknowingly, we have to pay for that .  So I should not hurt others or I am hurting myself.  If I lie, I am lying to myself.  Then, when we practice this our energy becomes positive.

This is the change within us that we are looking for, Until when this change happens we are not spiritual.  There is no “Oh I do yoga for 3 years”! That is not yoga, yoga happens wherever you go, the change happens within us.

Not stealing (asteya) including postures (laugher again).  It is a strange thing, many people say “I am a yogi” but do not do what their teacher teaches them, they steal from other teachers, they take from Iyengar, Ashtanga, Sivananda.  Now every day there is a new yoga…

Swami Sivananda

Bramacharya is very important. Be true to your partner.

And so in the spiritual practice by following these we create an energy within us. A positive energy.

Aparigraha (non attachment). There is greed. We want more.  There are people who are so greedy, that would do anything to acquire more and more things, wealth, popularity.

If you get a yoga magazine you see people saying “yeah yeah yeah, I taught this and done this and done this for so many years”, a real yogi would never say that.  Our practice is a very private thing, we do not need to show it to others.

He quotes some scripture in Sanskrit that escapes my knowledge, he translates as: “by following the eight limbs we can get rid of the impurities and spiritual knowledge will glow from within, we become very wise” .  We might do asana for 30 years and still not have a spiritual practice.

I was in an American tour once and a senior student, someone that has been practicing for over 25 years came to me and said that anyone that was coming to my workshop had come to visit him first.  Fine, I said, so what? –  I am a senior teacher, the student said.  I felt sad.  Instead of anger I felt sadness because after 25 years of practicing he still did not understand the meaning of yoga.

Nobody is great, there are many things that we do not know.

When you say you know everything it means you know nothing and when you admit you don’t know anything then any real knowledge may start to come.

So you could be doing primary series or half of primary series and feel the energy of transformation within.  Once we bring calmness into the practice many things start to happen.

Saucha or cleanliness is of two kinds: (1) internal, in mind, by keeping it pure and also in body which happens internally when we do asanas or poses, the body is cleansed, but also (2) external in the sense of taking a shower before practice .  Some people come to practice and I cannot help because I would go unconscious -laughter-  The skin accumulates dust, when you take a shower you take the dust and dirt away, and also when you take a hot shower your muscles relax.  Also external cleanliness in the sense of keeping your house and environment clean.

Santosha or contentment is also important. Be happy, but not happy like this [he demonstrates a forced smile]. and then says that this is the kind that has a hidden agenda.  Not like that.

Some people have everything and still are unhappy. A wise man told me once that the animal has one agenda, food, and once it is obtained then the animal is happy. For humans once food is obtained then 100% of the problems start.

To be happy if you go to parts of Africa or even India in Mumbai, even Mysore and see the slums, there are people who are hungry, people who have very little to eat, who struggle to feed their children, but they are happy.  A rich person with meals for the whole week is unhappy.

A Mumbai Slum

Tapas or austerities means we follow a strict life, we wake up at 6 and do our practice, then we eat, not eat all the time, just when it is time.  We do not party all the time.  A strict life is important to any sadhana (spiritual practice) and involves leaving many things and being careful in what we do.

If you meet people with bad energy then that bad energy comes into you and you start acting like them.

Yogis used to go to the Himalayans because they wanted to keep the purity with them.  It can be lost easily if the mind is not stable, if we do not think about what it is we are doing.

I have two children and a wife so I cannot go to the Himalayas.  But we can still do it here in daily life, and the positive energy will build within us.

Svadhyaya or self study is often misunderstood  as “I do my own yoga which I created myself”.  But Svadhyaya means we discover through the guide of a guru.  For example your mother is the first teacher and she shows you how to eat, how to put food in your mouth, she can show you but that does not feed your stomach you need to put the food in your mouth.  I teach asana and tell you it should be practice like this and you do it, you think about it, then you discover it.

I show you asana but you have to be on your mat, try to discover the spirituality in your practice.  Self study, when taken to a certain level totally submerges us.  We think about Ganesha or Krishna or Jesus or whoever you like, Ala, whoever you are connected to.  Everyone has a Deity in their life. I like Krishna, which to me is the biggest yogi ever born so I connect to that deity.

Then once we connect Ishwara Pranidhana (the last Niyama or surrender) happens.  This is very important, once you surrender you become God.  When practiced properly Iswara Pranidama can lead to samadhi (liberation freedom).

For example in the Ramayama, Rama wanted to show what a real devotee is, what kind of devotion is showed by a real devotee so he fights with his number one devotee, the greatest devotee of all, Hanumanan.  Can you imagine that?  Fighting your own master? And Rama throws all his powers and weapons but Hanumanan keeps repeating: Rama Rama Rama and nothing happens to him, that is because he becomes Rama.

These things are very important.  We can change not just ourselves but also our environment, our society. Yoga is a very powerful tool and we need to know how to use it.  It is like an Apple computer if we don’t know how to use it… disaster! But if we do we can create miracles.  Yoga is like that, we need to know how to use it through the guide of our teacher.

It can generate miracles…

I chant the mantra to the guru with the intention of transformation to happen, to be led from ignorance to brightness. Knowledge should glow within us.

Once we have this knolwedge shining within us then if someone does something bad to us it means nothing, it is nonsense, we realize is childish, like the story of that student that came to me in America, we realize they are like a baby, crawling into yoga practice.

When spiritual knowledge grows stronger we should focus on that, not as I have said many times, on certification which is just something to put in the wall of our house.  A real certificate is the glow within you and it is not physical.  The more practice we do the more we understand.

—

He did not take questions this time, said we can have 7 days to think of questions.

He finished by saying: Bring your cards tomorrow so I know your name and when your end date is.  And also I noticed Korean and Japanese and Russian students who are shy, or don’t speak English, then pick a student and pass along sensible questions so they can ask for you, don’t be shy.  I only speak English but I try to do my best to teach yoga.

–
Notes from the Conference on January 29th 2012.

OTHER CONFERENCES I REPORTED ON IN 2012

JANUARY 22th: MYSORE MAGIC FILM AND CONFERENCE ON PARAMPARA

FEBRUARY 7th: I AM NOT IN FACEBOOK, I MADE THAT MISTAKE BEFORE

SUNDAY SHARATH’S CONFERENCE: MYSORE MAGIC FILM

Everyone set? You come to this site! Those were Sharath words this morning as he was, once again, directing traffic within the shala at the most crowded conference I have ever seen, with possibly around 400 people in it.

That is early on, there was no room for a single more body when it filled completely

I never take pictures in the shala because there is a sign that says it is forbidden,  so imagine my surprise when the assistatn director of the documentary that was about to be shown, a project headed and directed by Alex Medin, told me that it was OK, that she needed a few, and liked my camera. I jumped at the opportunity. How exciting!

People kept coming in

The Movie

Sharath said that he wanted to show this film which was ‘the fastest documentary in history’ (referring to how fast it was put together) last week but there was a festival (harvesting) and today he wanted to show it in the evening but there is a gathering of Yoga authorities that have recognized him together with another 3 teachers as great teachers and want to honor him.  So he wants to graciously accept the offer that is made with love.

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The documentary is called Mysore Magic Yoga At The Source, and runs for about 25 minutes.  It features students/teachers from around the world telling of why they come to Mysore and how the practice has changed/affected their lives.   For example, Kino tells of how she reckons it takes more than a few years to actually witness the transformation that happens with the practice,  her husband Tim talks about how you begin to observe what goes on within as you go along, and that it is not always beautiful.  Some of the students in the film I recognized, others I did not.

Alex (the director) and Angie, who are two of the team of 3 behind the movie Jimmy, the third memeber, has already gone back to North Dakota. Thank you guys!

Overall a beautiful collage of why people come to the source, how it helps them deal with anger, bring them peace into their lives, and how it is possible to trust once you come to a place with a teacher who is a very long term, soundly trained, dedicated practitioner, like Sharath or Saraswathi.

Sharath mentions in the film that he does not see himself as a guru. If people see him as a guru then he is for those students, if others do not, then he is not for those others. As per him, he is always a student. He said, and everyone laughed: “a guru never says he is a guru”.

At the end of the movie Alex gave thanks to Angie and Jimmy who helped him put together the movie and explained how all proceeds from it (it is now streaming for about 5 dollars) will go both to benefit the Pattabhi Jois Charitable Trust and the making of a second documentary.  He also said that people who promote them on their sites can get 10% of purchases.

Alex thanking everyone and telling us about the movie

Then Sharath takes the chair again and the after-movie conference begun.

The Conference:

In our lives, whenever we come into something that is good, and transforming, it is good to share it with many people. These are the opening words of Sharath.  He goes on: It was both Krishnamacharya and Pattabhi Jois’ vision to share the message.  P. Jois discovered this method from Krishnamacharya and he tried to pass it on to many people, we are one of them.

Whenever we receive something good it is also a tradition in India to give something back. He cites a Sanskrit word that I cannot place and says that the meaning of it is to give something back to the Guru.

In the west, Sharath continues, we tend to challenge the Guru rather than accept but not in India.  The idea of parampara is to always treat the Guru with respect, because the Guru transmits what he has learned from his own Guru and the student should eventually be capable to pass it along as well.  If there is confusion in the mind of the student then the knowledge will simply not pass on.

My own Guru, Pattabhi Jois, says Sharath, would sometimes be very silent for days.  Gurus are human and sometimes work very hard for many hours teaching students. They are people. And so Guruji would sometimes be silent for days.  I would come to him, like many students do, with so many doubts and he would say, “oh, I will tell you some other day”, and remain silent. Yet one day he would come around and say so many things that would clear all the doubts.

My grandfather had so much knowledge, he was like a library, he was always reading books.  You would have to experience it to see what it was like when he would talk to you, the things he would say.  Even though his English was not good students understood and it was because he created a certain energy.

It is important for a teacher to create a certain energy.

Guruji would wake up at 3:30 and do his chanting and then teach for long hours, he created a lot of energy.  Krishnamacharya placed the seeds in Mysore and Guruji continued the work and sowing the seeds of Ashtanga Yoga and now it has grown like a tree and spreaded all over the world.  I hope it keeps growing.

As I said in the documentary, Yoga does not belong to any particular person, it can be practiced by anybody. But we need to develop discipline within us, and dedication towards yoga. Nobody can force you to do it, it has to come from within, you need to cultivate it yourself.

Many people talk about how Patanjali says this or Patanjali says that, but just reading does not explain anything, it is through the practice, the work put into asanas, yamas, and niyamas that we start the transformation. The mind changes, our attitudes change, the behavior starts to change.  They happen when we practice yoga.  What is the use of asana if we are then violent? What is the use if we are not disciplined in body and mind?

Everyone has purity within them. We do not realize this but the practice can get us out of the delusions and bring us purity.

We need to beautifully accept and practice the eight limbs, get rid of the impurities then knowledge grows within us and greatness comes. Keep practicing because things won’t happen in 1 year or 10 years but little by little we keep going deeper and towards realizing true.

I taught three classes today so my voice is going.  Enjoy the rest day and don’t eat too much. See you on Tuesday (Monday is the moon day here)

You can preview, rent or buy the movie here. Enjoy!

The notes are from the Conference on Sunday January 22nd, 2012.

OTHER CONFERENCES I REPORTED ON IN 2012

JANUARY 22ND: MYSORE MAGIC FILM AND CONFERENCE: PARAMPARA

FEBRUARY 7th: I AM NOT IN FACEBOOK, I MADE THAT MISTAKE BEFORE

No Pain, No Asana, No Come, And A Few Pictures

I discovered that the saying: “no pain, no asana, no come”,  Pattabhi Jois’s way of saying “no pain no gain”, is very true. 

I prefer his command of English better than the popular saying because of the “asana” part in the middle, the implication that for an asana to come to us, especially those difficult ones, some pain has to be felt.  True words.  

No Pain, No Asana, No Come

Ever since recovering from being sick I have been grateful for the asnas I have, and been concentrating on where I am at, polishing what needs cleaning up, like supta kurmasana, garba pindasana and the dropping back business.

Interestingly enough that is where I am receiving the most adjustments, and twice now, have been getting into a lot of pain. Lower back pain. Thank God for the ancient Chinese ways of healing.

This is teaching me two things:

1- How true the saying is.  The difficult asanas come to me while I go beyond where I “think” I can go, and then something hurts.  The slight pain indicates perhaps I pushed too far. This is the “good” kind of pain, of course, I NEVER force.  But the never forcing can fall into complacency too.  It needs to be checked.

Whenever I return to the mat after feeling pain, there is a new awareness that goes into the body as I move every little inch, so that the pain will not return.  And there is also a bit of fear that goes along with that too.

2.- Finding more of the spiritual side of asanas.  Yoga is about separating what is real from what is not.  Fear is one of those things that are not real but made by our minds, by our anxiety and expectations, by our human condition.  

What better opportunity to get the mind to connect with actual reality that going beyond what we mentally hold dearly as “possible”.

This morning I did not think I could do much backbending because of the back pain I have been experiencing.  I knew I would attempt to drop back but I was weary of it.  Affraid.

However, an excellent teacher will always help us get into that space, of “no mind”.  And true to the word, Sharath helped me drop-back and the bending got deeper than ever, as in the hands walking in 3 times, closer to the heels, when normally they barely move only once.  For some reason his adjustments make my body do things that normaly it would not do.

There was no fear.  There was no chatter. Five whole breaths of no mind. Hands closer to the heels than ever.  Surrounded by a field of infinite possibilities, not even silence was heard.

—

Aaaaaannnnd on another front, Sharath’s new home is coming along.

No Facebook and Meditation Comes Through Asana

?

I read Suzy’s post on Sharath’s Nov 20th conference at the edge of my chair. No Facebook? What did he mean?

As a blogger I work the social network as a matter of ritual. Writing and keeping a blog has the social component embebbed and that is one of the ways in which I share and learn.

But it was in a different light that Sharath was presenting it, or so I think.  “Socializing is important but is not life“. Agreed.

It all comes down to balance, if we make Facebook and “drinking coconut with friends” a priority then we have no time to find the silence, to go within, to let yoga work through us.

MEDITATION IN ASANA?

Then a student posed a question… “Do you teach sitted meditation”? To which the answer came in the form of another question “What is meditation“?.  The student said “it is concentration on a object and then becoming unified with the object“. That is the classic yoga sutra response.

Sharath continued “You have to be able to control the senses” he said.  And he is right, for this [meditation] to happen we have to be able to bring the fiery sight that wants to own everything by placing its retine over things, the curious smell, the pleasure seeking touch, the lustrous taste, the eager hearing, under full control. Not an easy feast.

“When does dhyana [focusing (pre-meditation)] happen? -Sharath went on- In asana practice when drawing the senses in, when thoughts are only on the asana – that is meditation. When you are struggling in an asana you forget many other things, when you don’t have to struggle you think many other things. So dhyana is very difficult”

Shoes left at the shala’s entrance before practice

This leaves me wondering.  So Sharath seems to think there is no need for sitted practice?  Just asana is enough?

I see how in finding balance in each and every asana, going as far as I can then a little more, noticing that if my mind is wondering then I am not practicing asana as hard as I could and hence adjusting then it does become a meditation in motion, a total absortion and concentration into what is happening in the body. I am fully present and this helps me be more present during the day.

Ramana Maharshi came to a state of silence all on his own after all, he did not even need asanas!  But then again, maybe there was something genetic in him, karmic, something that pre-destined him.

He didn’t even do asanas!

MY CONCLUSION

I don’t know if I have a full blown conclusion, what I do know is that for me, the practice of asana is key to getting my mind calm, in place.  After I come out of kurmasana for example, my mind is in a different place, that is so hard that a switch does detonate and suddenly I am more poised calm.

After working Kurmasana my mind definitelly gets into a different state

This in turn helps me discriminate more during the day, not waste my energy and use Facebook only when necessary, then go back to the silence, to not-thinking.

Meditation practice, the ritual of it has come and gone during the years.  Totally disappeared while I got very sick this year for example, and then life comes in the way many, many times.

I find that it is easier for me to find a few minutes to calm the mind as I go, to observe my mind constantly, to drop out the leaves of old thinking in the moment rather than making time every day.
Not that there is anything wrong with that, and I actually miss the ritual, but it happens when it happens.  Life as a house-holder is pretty intense.

We do our practice until we find the way in which we can get into the silence and drop the pre-conceptions, until the asana and purification of the body works on us so that we find our own way into the silence all the time, not just at sitted time.


And, we need remember that different energies, karmas, genetic dispositions may need different practices, and for some it might happen to be that asana is enough…

Wonder how Sharath would feel about Twitter/Linked In/Klout/Google +/ FourSquare etc?