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.
Posted by philippe on November 7, 2006 @ 11:44 pm The rumours have been flying around for months, but now it s official: Pattabhi Jois is opening a new shala on American soil, in the South of Florida, called the Ashtanga Yoga Institute USA. :
My beloved students,
For the last 30 years I have been visiting the United States to spread my teachings.
With great pleasure, I am proud to announce the opening of my new yoga center in Florida.
I would like to invite each and every one of you to join myself, my daughter Saraswathi and my grandson Sharath for the grand opening party on March 24th, followed by a 2-week workshop. This will be our only visit to the United States in 2007.
I look forward to seeing you there!
Love, Guruji
Second week (5 days): April 1, 3, 4, 5, 6 (April 2nd moon day holiday)
Fees: 5-day workshop $200, single class $50
Apparently it was financed by a very dedicated student of his.
Islamorada, at the very tip of the Eastern Coast of the USA
Islamorada purple island is part of the Florida Keys about 2 hours drive from Miami Airport - so a little bit easier to get to for most students than Mysore.
The climate should as close to Southern Indian as you can get in the continental US, and from the photos it looks like paradise (you know, the lying on the beach kind of paradise).
Someone should alert their tourist board that they are about to receive a lot more attention in the years to come!
From the way it has been presented though, it does not look as if AYIU will be a replacement for going to Mysore, especially for teaching authorization puposes (part of the are 4 trips to AYRI).
It seems to be more of a replacement of the annual multi-city World Tour for now. At least in 2007, the World Tour will take place at AYIU.
Perhaps in the future, the Jois family will decide to teach Mysore-Style classes in Islamorada.
In any case, this is a big milestone in the development of Ashtanga Vinyasa Yoga and we welcome it wholeheartedly! “It’s one of Christine’s gifts – she’s very good at connecting people,” says Tre McCarney, a studio regular. “Christine will make sure that you are introduced to the person next to you.
Everyone is made to feel welcome. People who visit say how supportive this community is. It’s noticeable.
”
in another trip to Mysore, Hoar taught yoga twice a week to a group of women who had been rescued from the sex trade. They practiced on a cement roof with no mats and no stretchy yoga clothing; Hoar spoke only a few words of their language – the words for inhale and exhale, up and down – but it was enough to get them into the postures. “They kept coming back,” says Hoar.
“No one made them come, but they liked it. It made them smile.” Hoar admits that in Mysore, where a roomful of Ashtanga devotees are all practicing together, vying for the special attention of the guru, the atmosphere can get highly competitive.
“People are focusing on a single aspect of yoga – the physical asana. It can border on (and cross into) self-absorption,” she reflected in a note from India. Christine Hoar has been .
Bristol Yoga hosts many and lists Christine s travel schedule.
Christine came to my birthday dinner a couple of years ago when she visited in Mountain View, California, and she s really cool. My first experience was with Zoe Slatoff at the beautiful Yoga Sutra studio in front of Bryant park.
The studio itself is on the second floor and looks stunning. Zoe has a well attended afternoon class and her students evidently love her. It was a real treat practicing in the afternoon - everything feels easier due to the increased flexiblity.
I knew Zoe from when she was teaching in Berkeley at , so the class was immediately familiar. This feeling increased when one of my students from Mountain View, Terence, unexpectedly walked in through the door and put his mat next to mine. What a coincidence!
I always make a point of visiting the local Ashtanga studio whenever I travel. Since the practice is the same around the world, it feels like a home away from home. No matter how exotic the places you visit, the opening mantra will be the same anywhere.
Daily practice is such an intense commitment that I believe there is a bond between all practioners. The students you meet are always happy to share information, it feels like a big family. Truly a wonderful feeling.
My second stop was at Guy Donahaye s Ashtanga Yoga Shala in the East Village, on Tompkins Square. The studio is located in a basement away from the beaten path. It is quite a few blocks from the nearest subway station, and for many people, that means it might as well be on the moon.
I got lost while trying to find it and good thing I saw someone holding a yoga mat at a street corner; otherwise, I think I would have missed the class altogether.
It was my first time meeting Guy and he gave me the sense that a tight community had emerged at the shala. Since you have to go the extra mile - literally - to get there, students at Ashtanga Yoga Shala have to have a certain dedication to come to the studio every day.
From the practice room in the basement, you can see the bottom of the sidewalk. This gives the shala a real feeling of practicing in the middle of a living city; yet, the space is very much apart from the hustle and bustle of New York city. Beautiful, contemporary paintings of Guruji enhance this feeling.
Last, but definitely not least was Eddie Stern s Ashtanga Yoga New York. This visit was my third in 5 years, and as with my previous visit, the layout of the shala had changed. Before, Ashtangis went to an upstairs room for the finishing postures, and now finising postures are done in an anteroom to the main practice room.
That practice area is where was shot, by the way. There is also now what is the smallest and neatest office I have ever seen, a 4-by-4 foot space right in the corner of the building.
Ashtanga Yoga New York has two Mysore-style classes in the morning: 6:30-9:30 am and 11:00-12:30 pm.
During peak season, up to 200 students practice there daily , which must make it one of the best attended and largest Mysore-style classes in the world. Only about 30 or so fit in the room, so when it is full (as is usually the case), students write their names on a blackboard and wait to be called. There are one or two assistants to help out with adjustments.
The students are advanced - during my visit, there were more Intermediate Series than Primary Series practitioners.
With the room so full of energy, practicing at Ashtanga Yoga New York is truly uplifting. I was able to meet up with , with Spiros of fame, whom I ve been wanting to meet for years.
As an additional plus is just round the corner, one of the most authentic French brasserie in New York with a wonderful bakery. Highly recommended for breakfast, and a lot of students hang out on the benches outside of it after practice now that the chai place is gone from Eddie s studio.
All in all, New York has one of the most diverse and high quality set of Mysore-style classes anywhere, and Ashtangis lucky enough to visit there will really be spoilt for choice with special places to practice Ashtanga.
Dersy Beach, Agonda, Goa
by
A new generation of pilgrims, including Ashtangis, have been hitting India s hippie trail according to a . (Thanks for the tip, Bala.)
The article - an entertaining read - explains how this enclave was a destination for the Haight-Ashbury crowd in the sixties and has become a destination for the yogaphiles and Burning Man groupies of today.
Foreigners have flocked to tiny Goa — whose statewide population of 1.4 million is about one-tenth that of Mumbai, 300 miles north — ever since the Portuguese established a Spice Route colony there in the 1500 s.
kindly indicates Goa s location
for curious Ashtangis, Burners Hippies
Talking of yogaphiles, Goa also happens to have one of the foremost centers of Ashtanga yoga at the .
The NY Times specifically mentions the Purple Valley:
Come daylight, Goa s dedication to partying is matched by its dedication to the healing arts, the yang to the night s yin. At Purple Valley yoga center, rejuvenation might take the form of Ashtanga poses or vinyasa flow exercises, two of the daily courses offered. The leading name on Goa s yoga circuit, the center has brought in pretzel-limbed luminaries from the globe s four corners, including the sometime teacher of Madonna and Sting, Danny Paradise.
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