AHH...INDIA

GOT MILK?

India has a way of cutting to the chase and that is what I love about it.  Although, it can be a love-hate relationship.  Usually by the end of my stay, I can't wait to get back to the comforts of my home and then it is only a matter of time before I am planning my next trip.

You need all of your senses to fully appreciate India...the colors, the smells, the noise, the chaos.  But at the same time the sensory overload makes you absolutely crazy.  At home I am flooded with abundance, most of which I take for granted and why shouldn't I....it is all I have ever known.  I live in a nice house and drive a hybrid car on paved roads with structured traffic patterns.  I open my eyes and mouth in the shower.   I drink from the tap and eat raw vegetables (organic of course and with proper utensils) to my heart's desire.  People (for the most part) don't burp and spit at any occasion.  Honking the horn is a sign of aggression and rudeness, and cleanliness (again for the most part) is culturally expected.  I won't even go down the road of how much freedom I have as a woman in the west.  So arriving in India, I am aware of how limited my life experiences are, but it is this extreme that makes India so transforming.  I am grateful to step out of my comfort zone and stretch myself in ways that I am not used to, but only because I know it is temporary.

Journey to Mysore

I had several students ask me before I left if I would blog about my trip to India.  Over the years, I have read many Mysore blogs and found most of them to be quite entertaining, but since I had to travel around the world to completely disconnect from my responsibilities, the only thing I am committed to for the next month (with the exception of my husband of course) is 'being a student'.  Therefore, this may be my one and only post, we'll see how inspired I am.

After seven years of practicing Ashtanga Yoga and two prior trips to India, I finally made it to Mysore.  Traveling to India takes a tremendous amount of planning and support from my family, students and teachers so that life goes on while I am away, not to mention the cost of the trip.  I ran around taking care of endless details for weeks before leaving so that by the time I got on the plane, I was completely exhausted.  After two days of flying and sitting in airports, I arrived in Bangalore at midnight and took a 3 hour taxi ride to Mysore where honestly, the driver could have taken me anywhere and I wouldn't have known the difference.  So if I am completely honest, yes I continuously have moments where I wonder "why the hell am I doing this?"  And somehow, here I am.

I guess you could say it is Sraddha.  The word Sraddha is best translated in English as faith.  Faith that is generated out of conviction, which may not be the result of any rational belief or intellectual wisdom, but a spiritual inspiration.

All of my yoga experiences led me to this place and looking back, I am aware that this is exactly how it should have unfolded.  I am here without any expectation for my asana practice.  I am here to immerse in the lineage.  The shala is a reflection of Guruji, you can feel his presence everywhere.  I can imagine him sitting in the empty chair on the stage and hear his voice saying "eeekam".  The room is filled with pictures of Guruji and Amma, Krishnamacharya, Saraswati and Sharath.  This is the source!  During my first two days of practice, I ended up in relatively the same spot and during my closing postures (while upside down), I had a clear view of this picture.  Not only is this one of my favorite pictures of Guruji, but a sweet reminder of why I am here....Sraddha.

GRATITUDE

At the risk of sounding mushy, Thanksgiving seems like an appropriate day to give gratitude.  Ashtanga yoga continues to change my life and for that I am so grateful.  It didn't happen over night and it certainly hasn't happened without much struggle both physically and emotionally, but as the years have passed, I feel changes taking place.  And for that, I have faith that the system works.  I only had the opportunity to practice with Guruji once back in 2006.  I was still fairly new to ashtanga and went to New York for Guruji's tour.  The sanskrit word "guru" means heavy and even at 90 years old, you could feel Guruji's presence the minute he entered the room.  The trip had a profound effect on me.  I returned to Richmond and three months later, opened Ashtanga Yoga Richmond.  I wanted to practice in a space that was dedicated to ashtanga and create a community to share the experience with.  I must first give thanks to my dear friend and first teacher, Rob Miller for introducing me to ashtanga yoga and nurturing my devotion to the practice.  I am also grateful to Michael Hamilton for sharing his knowledge and teaching experience with me so that I could continue to grow the mysore program at AYR.  I am eternally grateful to my teachers, Lino Miele and Sharath Rangaswamy for teaching me the method.  I continue to study with both teachers and feel that they both offer a deep connection to the source......Guruji.  I feel very fortunate to have had these experiences on my personal path, however, AYR would not be what it is today without the teachers and the students who support it.  I would first like to extend my appreciation to Kyra.  I am fairly certain our paths crossed by some divine intervention and I know I couldn't do this without her.  She is a great friend, mentor, listener and the list goes on and on.  I am also deeply appreciative to all of our teachers for their commitment and dedication to teaching and to the students who continue to show up and make our studio a "community".  Finally, I would like to say thank you to my family...Jared, Haley and Izzy for supporting me.  I know our life is sometimes not the "norm"... early mornings, extended trips to India, yoga, yoga, yoga.  I am so grateful for each of you.  Have a wonderful holiday!

DAY 13

Day 13 and the numbers are falling off a bit......any comment?  Are you practicing at home on the days you don't make it to the studio and if so, why?  Is it scheduling, work, family?  Did you start the month thinking you would practice all 19 days and something changed?  Did you miss one day and now it makes it easier to miss another?  I have recently been working with a meditation teacher and one of the things that she continually repeats is that with each breath you have the opportunity to let go and start again.  This speaks volumes to me as I tend to favor the "all or nothing" concept but it has been so helpful in allowing me the freedom to start again (and hopefully without judgement).  I would like to revisit the idea of daily practice, day in, day out, over the years.....In the Guruji book, Annie Pace said "Abhyasa is consistent practice over a long period of time with clear intentions.  Whatever our practice, if we are doing it consistently, even if it's a small practice, we benefit a lot.  There comes a point where certain aspects of the practice do become integrated and Guruji told me this point is twelve years.  After twelve years, okay, we start to become established in a practice.  These phases start at 3, 6, 9 months, 1 year, 3 years, 6 years, 12 years and so on- these chunks of time.  When we have been practicing for a long time, we can then actually step away from the practice for our family duties or whatever might be calling us away and step right back into the practice and be right on the boat.  With a short-term practice it's a little harder to get back on the boat.  Whatever practice it is, it becomes established over years, decades, over lifetimes.  The inner quality is a steadiness that comes from that integration."

DAILY PRACTICE

What is the value of daily practice, day in and day out, year after year, decade after decade?  Graeme Northfield responded in the Guruji book "If we work intelligently, with daily practice we can start to understand not only what's going on in the body, but also the fluctuations of the mind.  At first its a letting go, a softening of our attitude.  In the beginning we're striving and working towards more asanas.  But one needs to let go of that, let go of this whole goal oriented practice.  Then we need to see our condition as we are, here and now.  The next step is to be at peace with that, to actually accept our condition as we are here and now.  And from that point, practice with feeling and connection, integrating the whole body and the breath."  For some of you, 19 days of practice in November is no different from any other month other than the fact that there are more people practicing in the room.  But for others, this may be a real challenge.  Getting up early everyday usually equates to going to bed early, being mindful of what time you eat dinner (not to mention what you eat for dinner) and can overall, just feel like too much structure.   Your body hurts, it's cold outside, you need more sleep... these all seem to be valid reasons for staying in bed.  So why a daily practice?  Does it really matter if you practice 2, 4 or 6 days a week?  Let me first say, that any amount of practice is better than none.  Practice is the path to awareness and transformation and it does not happen unless you do the work.   In my own experience, when I have traveled to India with the sole purpose of practicing yoga, there was no question whether or not I would practice everyday.  If you didn't show up to the shala, no matter how much you believed you were lost in the crowd, you were sure to get asked "Where were you?" Not practicing was not an option!  And that is fine when you have traveled to India with one intention....practice yoga.  But how does that fit in to our daily lives here in Richmond where most of us have a plate full of other responsibilities throughout the day.  I really liked what Graeme Northfield had to say about daily practice.  It can feel like you are just going through the motions, doing the same asanas, same series everyday.  But what if we approach it from a different perspective.   Not a goal oriented practice but rather an observation of the present moment, staying connected to the body and letting go of the mind.  And on the days when you just can't let go of the mind, finding some joy in the experience, whatever that experience may be.  Everyday is different.  A daily practice gives you the opportunity to arrive each day and start again.

ADJUSTMENTS

I would first like to thank each of you for showing up and making the commitment to practice 19 days in November and also for taking the time to share your insight.  Again, you can comment as much or as little as you like.  Wow!  What a morning....19 students (how fitting).   I know this is a long stretch of practice for most of you who attended the workshop with Tim Feldmann this past weekend and I am very aware that most of you were "stretched to your limits" and feeling a bit sore and fatigued.   I am delighted to see that everyone is honoring their bodies and doing what feels appropriate.  So this brings me to an important subject in the ashtanga practice....Adjustments.  How do you feel about adjustments or lack of adjustments?  Did anything come up for you when Tim adjusted you this weekend and took you deeper in a posture than you are used to going?  Or how about this morning, with 19 students I was not able to give everyone the same attention that I usually try to give.  Does this bring anything up for you?  How important are adjustments to the quality of your practice and how does your practice differ on days when you practice at home or during self practice with no teacher?

DAY 1

I will start with a paragraph from the Guruji book. The question is "What do you think is the essence of Guruji's teachings?" David Swenson answered: "Every person you ask will probably have a different answer to that. The essence is the yoga, the essence is prana, the essence is seeking the Self, and this is the great paradox of yoga, of ashtanga yoga. You look and at first glance it's all about asanas, it's about jumping around, it's about doing this and that, but the paradox is, as David Williams says, the real yoga is what we cannot see. It lies beneath the surface, it's what is happening in that mind, what's happening in our breath, in our energy." He goes on to say that "Spirituality is not determined by the practice itself, but rather by the focus and intent of the practitioner and the choices they make and the quality of their character." "IS THE WORLD A BETTER PLACE BY OUR PRESENCE IN IT?"