Greetings from Mysore! I have been here for already 3 weeks, and just 3 more to go before I return to Dubai! My time here has been so great that it's kept me away from posting this sooner ;). Also, poor internet connection and regular power cuts are great reasons for taking some time to update everyone on how this trip has been so far. Many people travel to countries, like India, to disconnect. Well, there you go! No internet = disconnect. This, unfortunately, is not going to be a post about what my days are like here in the birthplace of Ashtanga yoga. Instead, and fortunately, this is a very special post. I'd like to share with you notes from my first conference this season. This post is even more special because Nov. 10th was the only conference held during this month. Nov. 3rd and 17th were moon days, and the Himalaya Foundation honored Sharath with the award of Vidyaranya on Nov. 25.
What is conference? Students practicing at KPJAYI gather at the shala on Sundays at 4pm to ask Sharath questions about the practice, yoga philosophy & history, advice... it's also an opportunity for us to listen to Sharath bring up important points about the lineage, tradition and system of Ashtanga yoga. Plus, he is very funny and has a great sense of humor! Conference is a great way to connect with our teacher, Sharath, outside of our daily asana practice. I was lucky to record all of conference on my phone, but the shala was packed and I didn't sit in a very good spot. Here are my notes from conference - almost every word has been noted down exactly how Sharath said it. This way, you'll be hopefully be having the same experience I did. Happy reading!
"In our asana practice, 3 things are very important: posture, breathing and gazing. Just doing asanas without Vinyasa is of no use. The shastra (sacred scripture) says without Vinyasa, don’t do asanas. Even in circus, they’re bending the body. What’s the difference between circus and yoga? If you just bend your body, that doesn’t mean your practicing yoga. When practicing Vinyasa, you’re exercising each and every organ in your body; you’re purifying each and every organ in your body. Blood can circulate properly in our body. If the blood is circulating properly, the blood becomes warm. Whatever toxins are there inside your body, everything will come out through sweat or through exhalation. Vinyasa is very important in our asana practice – how you have to inhale, where you have to inhale, where you have to exhale. Vinyasa also generates internal energy.
Some people, you can make out they watched videos and they learned how to practice. As soon as they come here (the shala in Mysore) we can make out “he” does not come from any lineage, “he” is not learning through Pattabhi Jois school. Easily you can tell – the way he practices, where he inhales, where he exhales. So this is very important to learn the Vinyasa in our asana practice.
Sthira sukham asanam (from the Yoga Sutras, Chapter 2, sentence 46):
The posture (asana) should be stable (sthira) and comfortable (sukha). I know many of you are not comfortable. By practicing the asanas, my grandfather used to say, all this you have to practice one asana 1,000 times. Once we practice one asana 1,000 times, stability will come, you will be comfortable in the posture. Why are you not comfortable? Because your body is not used to that posture. For example in Marichasana D, it is very difficult for many people to do Marichasana D, because your hips are tight, your ankles are tight, you have too much fat in your *points at abdominal region*, your shoulders are tight.
When you practice for a couple of years – for some people it take 1 year, for some people it take 2 years, for some students it takes 3 years – if you keep practicing everyday, then your body will change. You will be more comfortable in the asana and more relaxed in the asana. When you do asanas effortlessly, then it becomes a meditative practice. Now you are worrying about the pain because you want to get into the posture. To get into the posture, there’s lots of pain. Pain can be physical or mental – sometimes mentally you think you’re going to hurt your body, posture not coming. So once these things come, then you are both relaxed in the posture, then you can go further in the posture, it’ll be meditative. You’re totally submerged in that asana. You totally get absorbed in the asana.
The breathing, the Vinyasa, supports the asanas. If you have difficulty in posture, you breath very fast. Your mind always thinking “how can I come out of this posture?”, your body is resisting to stay in the posture. When it becomes sthira sukha, then the breathing also will change. Once you are comfortable in asana, the breathing also will be longer, easier, smooth breathing. And once that smooth breathing comes, then the gazing becomes stronger – you’ll be able to concentrate more in the posture. When you’re thinking about the pain in the body and you’re not comfortable, then it’s impossible to concentrate in the posture. So it’s all linked to each other. It takes practice.
Many people come with stiff bodies, but after many years of practice they become very open. You have to allow the body to change, and that happens when you practice more. One more thing is to take oil baths weekly once. Oil baths make your body more flexible and removes all the pain in your body. Muscle pain, whatever you have, every week once you have to do that.
How many asanas are there? How many living beings are there? That’s how many asanas are there. But in this life, you can’t do all these asanas. Only Ishwara, the supreme god, knows all these asanas. In this tradition (Ashtanga), we know around 600-700 asanas.
There are four different types of living beings [Sharath mentions only 3, so I think it might be just the following 3]:
So how many living things; in humans only how many are we? African, Indian, American… so many! Like that, there are thousands of asanas. Some asanas, we can do. Some asanas are not recommended for women. Some asanas are not recommended for family person. So there are many asanas which family person or women can’t do.
The names of the asanas are all named after living beings. Some asanas are named after rishis, the saints. The rishis discovered these asanas and practiced these asanas. More advanced postures – many are named after saints. Of these asanas, there’s no end. You can keep on learning, but you can’t practice all these asanas. It doesn’t mean that if you practice all the asanas you will reach higher levels of yoga. We are limited; our practice is limited. But we have to reach higher levels of the asanas within our limit. Whatever you learned, you can reach higher limits. The intention should be good, then you can go beyond your limitation."
This is part of conference notes. Part 2 (coming soon!) will be Q&A's. A number of students asked Sharath a few questions, which he gladly answered, as he always does :)
Love from Mysore!