Fortunately, the Wizard of the (whiz kid sister to the ) was able to help us. The two main changes are:
NOTE: A student should by no means visit AYRI in Mysore for the sole purpose of getting authorized. Their visit should primarily be for their own education of the lineage to further their own practice under correct guidance of Pattabhi Jois.
NOTE: AUTHORIZATION SHOULD NOT BE REQUESTED BUT GIVEN. The decision to give authorization or certification to teach is by no means solely dependent on the number of times a student has visited Mysore. It is based upon Guruji and Sharath s evaluation of the person, his/her commitment and full respect of the lineage of the practice.
Authorization is given with the trust that an AYRI student will teach as he/she has been taught in Mysore by Guruji and Sharath.
Posted by lisa on December 21, 2006 @ 10:46 pm we talked about Lisa Hill from Chicago who is currently teaching in Tokyo. Here is an interview of some of her students and co-teachers from the Tokyo Yoga studio in Shibuya.
What do you think about yoga students in Tokyo?
It s becoming more competitive. Everyone is too strict, too serious.
Most people are doing only two things: yoga and work. They should enjoy doing some other stuff. Girls, especially, need to make time to find a boyfriend.
Most serious practitioners are not even dating.
What do you get out of Ashtanga?
Makes my creativity sharp, and gives me power to work.
If I don t practice Ashtanga, I am not inspired to do anything but sleep. It is a source of energy. Sometimes physically, it makes me tired, but whenever I practice, my mind and heart get more energy.
Ashtanga can make me exhausted. It’s hard to get heat. Practicing brings results, bringing self confidence.
How is Lisa s teaching different from yours?
I can understand her philosophy about Ashtanga, which is the same for me. I like it, because she teaches calmly.
She feels very settled in my classes. Her style is traditional, not allowing people to skip what they don t like and adjusting so frequently is hard. She has lots of experience teaching Mysore class and we can learn a lot.
We are open to teachers coming in as long as it s traditional.
How do you (Lisa) teach Mysore-style to someone who does not speak the same language? It must challenging dealing with injuries, problem students who push too much, new postures, etc.
That could be a whole article in and of itself. I don t speak in American classes much, so language is not much of a problem. Japanese students are very tolerant.
They never say it hurts as if they trying to keep feeling in. They can be not very honest in that sense. Sometimes maybe they should tell the teacher, “your adjustment is too hard”.
Japanese students are too modest, so they hesitate to say it s not good . Knowing this, I ve been adjusting very gently, working with their own breath, not pushing them. I can tell if there is pain by looking at the student and how they are practicing.
Sometimes I need a translator, but some teachers have decent English, so they can help with that. So far it has not been much of an issue. Pushing too hard, there are a couple, but they refused to listen long before I came into the scene.
Are there any written materials or websites about Ashtanga practice and technique?
Yoga Mala, John Scott, Ashtanga Yoga for Women, yoga sutras websites in Japanese - there aren t any websites for Ashtanga in Japanese. Except for Mindy s blog, which gives them knowledge from some of the scene in Chicago.
What is the workshop scene like in Tokyo (or Japan)?
Very good. We have many good teachers who visit.
Rolf Naujokat, David Swenson, John Scott, David Roche, Danny Paradise, Nancy Gilgoff, Govinda Kai, Mark Darby, Sharath, Petri Raisanen, Anthony Carlisi, Shankra Darby, Natalia Paison, Louisa Sears.
What are the differences you noticed between Ashtanga in Japan and the teachers who come from other parts of the world?
No difference.
They just teach traditional Ashtanga system. We can learn lots of things from experienced teachers. We enjoy studying with the teachers.
It s very good to be taught by someone experienced. Sharing their experience is very good, but we are always looking for our Ashtanga.
Welcome to Tokyo!
Lisa Hill - a contributor to AshtangaNews through her from Chicago, Illinois - is teaching at for three months, and kindly shared her blog, , and with us.
What struck me about Lisa s blog - and if you like Japan at all, you will really enjoy reading about her daily adventures living there - is the similarity between what she says about Ashtanga students in Japan, which echoed what Govinda Kai said in his post, . From Lisa:
I have been impressed with the yoga students here in Japan.
More than anywhere else I have taught, there is a natural humility and a deep respect for whoever is teaching This quality makes the process of learning very special, both for the student and for the teacher.
Additionally, I have been impressed by the level of dedication, passion and work ethic that is present in a large number of Japanese yoga students It is clear to me that the deepest levels of yearning for the fruits of yoga practice (truth, expansion and liberation) are very high.
Lisa and Mindy,
who introduced her to Tokyo Yoga
Stay tuned; more to come Lisa s agreed to do an , and we are looking forward to it.
so if you like new york, you will love tokyo. its the same, only it s japan. -
Have any of you practiced Ashtanga in Japan?
Please comment! Generally, any kind of transitional movement in our practice goes from the grosser aspects of our selves to the subtler. What this means is that we are apt to go through more physical changes initially and, over time, we will experience more subtle changes to our mental and emotional states.
Yoga is a process in which we are attempting to awaken and bring forth the more essential parts of our selves. By using the word, essential , I mean those parts of our selves that are transcendent and do not change over time.
The further we move away from what is natural or essential in our selves, the more extra elements we carry around with in our lives.
We eat more than we need to, own more possessions than is needed, talk more than is necessary and so on. It is not so much the fact that
we live with these extra elements, it is the attachment and identification we form with these things that is so harmful and causes such suffering. The stronger the attachment and identification with these extra elements, the more we are apt to forget our essential selves.
Having an awareness of the essential aspects of selves is, in many ways, the essence of what Yoga practice is all about.
So, when we embark upon the path of Yoga, we begin to practice and live our lives in such a way as to begin to let go of these extras .
What you can expect initially is that your body will begin to go through some very strong and often dramatic changes, especially in the first six months of intense and dedicated daily Ashtanga yoga practice.
You will begin to develop what is known as tapas or heat in your practice, in your body. This will result in profuse sweating (of course in some more than others). For some, very strong odors will emit from the body.
Many people experience changes to their skin. Their skin will break out in acne, rashes and such. In more extreme cases, some people develop very large boils.
Other mild to stronger symptoms of purification will begin to appear for most practitioners. It is very common to see the increased occurrence of colds and flu and fevers, as well as, headaches, drowsiness and light-headedness. It is important to honor and respect these kinds of changes, as they can be quite deep in one’s system.
I recommend that you take extra time to rest and be quiet. You can also be mindful of your tendency towards busyness and begin to reduce the general number of activities in your day.
Naturally, because the asana practice is so rigorous, you can expect strong changes to your physique and overall health of your body.
You will get significantly stronger in a very integrated and well-balanced fashion. In particular the core strength of your body will improve. The core refers to the area of the lower trunk and pelvic regions.
Strength in these areas has been shown to dramatically increase the function of balance, smoothness of motion and speed of reflexes. It is common knowledge that athletic performance can be improved significantly through the development of one’s core strength. Flexibility of all areas of your body should increase dramatically.
Govinda Kai in Samakonasana, October 2006
One area of improvement that is often overlooked is the increased functionality of the gastro-intestinal system. The frequency of forward bends in asana practice very powerfully cleans out and reconditions our digestive organs. Most people in our modern culture and society, because of unhealthy diets and stress, have some degree of bowel or digestive dysfunction.
Constipation and excess gas are the norm for most people. One report stated that many people carry up to 20-30 kilos of undigested feces in their bodies at any one time! A well functioning gastro-intestinal system is vital to the optimal functioning of our immune system and hormonal balances.
Overall mental and physical health is dramatically affected by the state of our digestive systems.
Thus, one of the areas of focus as we dive deeper into our practices, is the greater and greater level of mindfulness and care of what, when and how we put food into our bodies. I will speak more elaborately on this topic at some other time.
Now, as you begin to become healthier and more in tune physically, you will begin to become sensitive and aware of subtler aspects of your self. For example, you will begin to notice that your senses will generally begin to increase in acute sensitivity. Your sense of smell and sight and hearing will be sharper and clearer.
You will feel temperature and pressure changes in different parts of your body in a way that you never have before. Many people report an increased sensitivity and depth to their sense of taste. What was once flavorful before will begin to taste overly salty, bitter, savory or sweet.
You will find yourself beginning to crave foods that have subtler or even plain flavors.
Guruji in Laxmipuram, July 2002
The process of purification will begin to affect you mentally, emotionally and psychically as well. Usually chronic imbalances in one’s system generally become more acute before any deep healing takes place.
You will find that your thoughts and your emotions will become more intense and frenetic at times causing periods of great discomfort. Bad moods and bouts of edginess and impatience are common during this time. Although it may seem like you are going crazy at times, this part of the process is important and necessary, so don’t worry about it too much.
It is also common to experience intense dreams and very colorful fantasies.
The result of this kind of mental, emotional and psychic purification is that you will find you are becoming far more sensitive and alert to your own state of mind, as well as, the state and energy of the people and environments around you. Many people report an increased occurrence of psychic types of experiences (i.
e., reading other people’s minds, anticipating unrelated events, as well as, an increased occurrence of ). In short, you will become more sensitive to the energy of people and places and things.
You will become more sensitive to those aspects of our reality that remains hidden or unseen to most normal people. In the long run, this will not seem so unusual to you. What is strange is how most of us can be so blind and unaware of basic aspects of our existence for so long.
Again, as you go through this process, be sure to give as much respect and honor to the subtle and not so subtle changes that are taking place. This path of Yoga, this path of purification is very, very powerful. You are awakening great stores of energy, vitality and power within yourself that you perhaps never knew you had.
Anytime, you awaken or come into contact with these kinds of energies, it is important to realize that with greater power, comes greater responsibility. By its nature, the purpose of this power is not intended simply for the gratification of your own selfish desires. In fact, to do so is foolish and dangerous in many different respects.
Reflect deeply and mindfully about this process and take great care.
Hari OM!
[Thank you, Govinda, for sharing some of your philosophy on Ashtanga yoga.
And, thank you, for sharing so many of your wonderful, high-quality Ashtanga photos with the community via . These photos are from Govinda s set titled, . All the captions on these photos are Govinda s.
Readers, please share some of the changes you ve experienced because of your Ashtanga practice in the Comments! -Ed.] Posted by philippe on July 23, 2006 @ 10:45 pm It took a lot of time and effort to establish the Mysore-Style program at the Yoga Is Youthfulness studio, but we have been rewarded more than I could have ever imagined.
In this post, I d like to share how it all came together at our yoga studio.
In a prior post, I outlined some of the .
and I were lucky to have Joseph Hentz full approval (and later, his wife Sabina s) when we embarked on starting a Mysore-Style program at in Mountain View, California (that s 40 miles south of San Francisco - where Google is also based).
It really helped that he was (and is) a dedicated Ashtangi. I think it would be difficult to set up such an intensive program at a studio where the owner did not at least practice Ashtanga yoga.
To get a better picture of how our program progressed over the years, I went back to our old studio schedules (a great way to see the evolution of any yoga studio).
Here s a rough timeline:
A self-practice group is a good seed for a Mysore-Style program.
We took advantage of the January Effect and New s Year resolutions to double our classes. I think it s very important to introduce new classes during busy periods, just to get them going.
Up to this point if we had 10 students a day it was considered a busy day. It had been two years since we had started the program, and there were still days at this point when we were wondering whether we were doing the right thing and whether it would work. We were just short of a full 6 day a week Mysore program.
This was a first for us: a lot of students who were practicing 2 to 3 times a week took this opportunity to try out daily practice, and as happens often, got hooked. After Dom left, there was no way we could go back to anything less than 6 days a week! We also added a led Friday Primary Series class as it is done in Mysore India.
Anne s Mysore experiences and studying with Guruji and Sharath greatly influenced what we did at YiY, in subtle and not so subtle ways:
How and when postures are given to students can make or break a Mysore-Style program, and Anne s experience was invaluable in that area.
This humble beginning has blossomed into a six-day a week program with more than 20 students attending daily.
Several factors make starting a Mysore-style Ashtanga program more challenging than a traditional, teacher-led yoga class, be it Iyengar, Anusara, Bikram or Vinyasa:
I ve spent a lot of time convincing Mysore-style newbies to try it. The bright side is that once they experience one class, they re usually hooked.
Newer students who have shorter practices may finish in less than an hour and say but I have paid for 1.5 hours of yoga . Eventually, these students may take the entire 2-3 hours of the practice time.
Usually that takes a solid practice of at least 5 years.
This implies there must be strong backing from the studio owner to stick it out during the lean period.
We were fortunate to have the full backing of a committed studio owner, (thank you, Joseph!).
The alternative is to open your own studio, which, of course, carries its own costs and risks.
My next post will be about how the Mysore-style Ashtanga program at Yoga is Youthfulness blossomed over a five-year period into a wonderful community of committed practitioners.
Five years later, a crowded Mysore-style class at Yoga is Youthfulness
Posted by tracy on June 29, 2006 @ 11:05 am Despite prior knowledge of the Primary Series and taking a few years worth of led classes and even though I knew the teachers I d be practicing with quite well, I was still a little nervous about participating in the Mysore-style classes for the first time.
Mysore-style classes turned out to be one of the best experiences of my life. If you ve hesitated, I just want to take a brief moment to say, JUST DO IT!
The individual adjustments and the friendly community in the Mysore-style classes motivated me to attend regularly, and the regular practice and advances I made made me want to practice even more.
In Mysore-style class, each student starts the Ashtanga yoga sequence whenever she arrives and the teacher walks around adjusting students as needed. It s a silent class and students practice at their own pace.
a Mysore class at Yoga is Youthfulness, Mountain View, California
My main fear in trying a Mysore-style class was that I wouldn t remember the sequence of postures.
I did forget the sequence a few times, however Philippe has assured me that no one has ever been kicked out of a Mysore-style class for forgetting a posture.
Fortunately, the teachers at the Yoga Is Youthfulness studio in Mountain View, California have written a friendly and thorough , which is just right for curious or apprehensive Ashtangis.
The conclusion (according to Nancy): It s okay for kids up to 12 years old as long as they don t do headstands.
, one of the first American Ashtangis based on Maui, in a workshop in Munich (October 2002)
Fine for small kids to play with asanas - although no headstands before the age of 12 as the bones of the skull aren t completely fused yet.
Not so good for adolescents circa 14 to 17 - the bones are growing faster than the muscles, joints are unstable, stretching can be very uncomfortable unpleasant.
Her daughter (now 19) does yoga but normally chooses to go to another teacher.
generously wrote out his notes from this workshop, and they are full of nuggets not related to kids as well, a great resource for all of us. Thank you, Alan! Alan s thoughts:
Having gone through the finishing sequence at one of Lino s workshops with Lino s six year old son Oliver and my friend Günther s nine year old son Alex playing next to me, I completely agree.
We like Navasana!
Kids in Japan courtesy of
Looks like I ll have the opportunity to create a class for kids - grade school. I m SO excited about sharing yoga with them.
Does anyone have any advice and experience to share? Diane There were dozens of replies, ranging kids should not do yoga to yoga is the best thing for kids . If you have a Yahoo login, you can follow the whole discussion .
Posted by govinda on April 2, 2006 @ 10:27 pm Over the past few months, I have had the great pleasure and honor to teach s Ashtanga Yoga Mysore class at the . A Mysore style ( ) class is a supervised self-practice class in the tradition of Sri K. Pattabhi Jois of Mysore, India.
It is the fundamental way that Ashtanga Vinyasa Yoga is taught. Typically, a Mysore style class is taught in the early mornings.
Each morning I wake up around 3 AM and ride my bicycle to the yoga studio through the quiet and empty streets of Tokyo.
It is such a beautiful time of the day, as there is a peacefulness and a stillness that one does not often get to experience in this intense and crowded city during the busier times of the day.
I practice for a few hours before the class begins, enjoying the deep silence that comes from practicing alone in the early morning hours. Around 6 AM, the room quickly begins to fill up with students, each one filled with intense concentration as they begin their daily practice.
Over the past 10 years or so, I have taught in many different places in the world, primarily in North America (New York City and San Francisco) and in Europe. Teaching in these different locales has given me the opportunity to observe how different cultural settings affect the general “personality” of different student groups.
I have been impressed with the yoga students here in Japan.
More than anywhere else I have taught, there is a natural humility and a deep respect for whoever is teaching. This obviously is an integral part of the culture here in Japan. This quality makes the process of learning very special, both for the student and for the teacher.
This point cannot be emphasized enough. A combination of humility and respect makes it possible for a student to invest him/herself deeply into the practice, making it possible to learn more and progress quickly.
Additionally, I have been impressed by the level of dedication, passion and work ethic that is present in a large number of Japanese yoga students.
These qualities are essential in creating Tapas (meaning heat or austerity in Sanskrit and considered to be one of the essential elements of an authentic yoga practice - ). It is clear to me that the deepest levels of yearning for the fruits of yoga practice (truth, expansion and liberation) are very high. This kind of spiritual hunger is very important to the development of a strong yoga practice.
Additionally, there is a great deal of mutual respect and caring present among those who practice together on a regular basis. Kindness and compassion for one another are other qualities that are vital to the development of a truly powerful yoga practice. These particular qualities also seem to be a part of the culture in Japan.
The orientation towards community that I have found in this country are a great benefit to the practice of yoga.
Because the ideas and beliefs of Shintoism ( ) and Buddhism ( ) are so interwoven into its cultural fabric, Japan is an ideal place for the practice of yoga to become established and grow especially strong. The elements of respect, devotion, surrender, kindness and compassion are all vital to the authentic understanding of this great practice.
Also, there is already a general understanding of such spiritual principles as Karma, Dharma and Satori. I have found many people in Japan to be naturally very strongly spiritual and soulful.
Yoga is first and foremost a spiritual practice.
Through the process of yoga, we turn our attention inwards and begin to know ourselves in very clear and deep ways. We face fears and feelings that we never knew we had. We familiarize ourselves with aspects of ourselves that would never otherwise come to light.
We consciously become students of our breath as a vehicle to developing a more and more sensitive level of awareness of ourselves and of the true nature of our reality. Knowing ourselves more deeply and realistically, we then can begin to let go of our pre-conceived limitations and step into our higher and truer nature. We begin to act less from fear and more from courage, compassion, kindness and love.
It is because of these reasons and more that the practice of yoga has been so warmly and deeply embraced here in Japan. I truly believe that there is the great possibility that the authentic practice of yoga has the chance to profoundly affect Japan and its people in increasingly more and more powerful ways. It is important that great care is taken to ensure that we stay true to the original and authentic intentions of this great practice.
This means staying as true as possible to the roots of traditional yoga practice. It is important that we follow the teachings of the great yoga teachers and texts of the past. We must also resist the temptation to utilize the practice purely for personal or commercial gains.
The practice of yoga is still very young in Japan. As such, every effort must be made to preserve the sanctity and purity of the original teachings. Always seek to practice at the highest level possible.
Seek the best teachers, who have remained connected to the authentic roots of the practice. And above all else, make sure that your heart is in the right place.
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