Sharath London 2009

I just got back from London where I attended Sharath’s week of led Primary. My grasp of second series is in no way advanced enough for led intermediate! Maybe next time: practice practice, all is coming…

Someone asked me what my favourite part of the week was, and I’m finding it hard to pick just one. Some of the aspects I loved were…

1. The count. Sharath counts SLOWLY! But surrendering to that, existing only within the current breath, was a great experience.
2. Conference. This was the first conference of Sharath’s that I have attended: although he was always there, sitting at Guruji’s feet and translating whenever Guruji slipped into Sanskrit, he never answered the questions. In this conference he shone. Kind, funny, gentle, full of stories and anecdotes, generous with advice, keen to tell us all that yoga is more than asana. Tears welled up in my eyes as I realised how grateful I am to have a Guru, a teacher, and this amazing practice in my life.
3. The adjustments. I got at least two each day: sometimes just a drishti alteration, a touch to the head or leg, a whispered “good” as he walked past me. The classic UHP help came to me on the last day. Always subtle but somehow powerful.
4. His sayings. “Don’t dance” (UHP), “don’t come down” (ut pluthi), “don’t hurry”/”why you hurry?” (usually chaturanga into updog),  “leave your leg” (leave it where?! I love that one)
5. When he adjusted me in baddha konasana and said “Oh, still very stiff”! What can I say?! I still giggle when I think of that moment.
6. The shortest savasanas ever! Every day: “Thank you very much. Go home, take rest.” Words for life!

The Wedding Ring

When my husband and I got married, I didn’t practice yoga. I had been to a few classes but didn’t ‘get it’ at all. I would spend the class annoyed by my body (not bendy enough), by the teachers voice, by the fact I would ‘waste’ an hour not getting sweaty or hot with crunching muscles as I would if I joined a body pump class, or ran on the treadmill, or spent that hour in a spin class.

Although my wedding day was one of the happiest days of my life, I wasn’t a very happy person. And a few months after the wedding the wheels began to come off the veneer of the life I had projected as my own.

It was at this point I went back to a yoga class and something just clicked. I floated out of the room and back to our flat: calm, peaceful. Unheard of!

Within six months I had a regular 6 day a week Ashtanga yoga practice, had completed a month-long retreat in Thailand and was on my way to Mysore.

In between Thailand and Mysore my husband and I spent two months in Oman, co-leading an expedition of undergraduates. One day, out diving with some of the team, my husband lost his (very expensive, platinum) wedding ring. We cried, we hugged. The marriage was still there, strong as ever, but the outward symbol of our relationship had gone.

In Mysore, opposite the shala in Gokulum, lives a lady called Meena. She makes and sells jewellery, mostly made from Indian silver. In India the sign of a married lady is her two toe rings, one on each foot, and I bought mine from Meena. On the way out I glimpsed a ring almost exactly like the wedding band lost to the Omani ocean. It was purchased, and worn on my husband’s left ring finger from that day on.

On Monday 18th May 2009 my husband was working away at his desk when he heard a tiny cracking noise. He glanced at his hand: the wedding band had split: a hairline fracture breaking the perfect circular band. Later that day I called him in floods of tears: the news had filtered through from Mysore that our beloved Guruji had left his body. We realised that evening that the crack appeared almost to the minute of Guruji’s passing.

Mu husband still wears the ring, with its tiny crack. On our wedding day neither of us even knew the name Shri K Pattabhi Jois, but his teachings and life saved my own life, and therefore our lives together. The split in the ring shows us where the light comes through. The light of Guruji. OK, so it’s not traditional: but in our situation, for our marriage, its works perfectly.

A picture (and song) is worth a thousand words

A wonderful tribute to Guruji

Guruji

There are no words to describe how I feel today. A part of my heart has died in Mysore. Thank you, dear Guruji, from the very bottom of my heart. Your work transformed my life, and I dedicate the rest of my life to you x

Peace

“Peace. It does not mean to be in a place where there is no noise, trouble, or hard work. It means to be in the midst of those things and still be calm in your heart.”

- Unknown

Ashtanga Yoga in The Guardian

Click here to read the article that appeared in Saturday’s Guardian.

Tat Tvam Asi

In Yoga’s long and complex history, the Upanishads mark a crucial moment of change from the dualist philosophy of the Vedas.

The Vedas, the oldest spritual texts of India, state that there is a separation between ones body and their spirit.

In contrast, the later Upanishads teach that the individual ‘Atman’ is the same as the universal energy of ‘Brahman’. So our individual essence is part of the energy of the universe. Tat Tvam Asi = You Are That. That invisible essence. That is you. Your true self.

Kino MacGregor

I’m just back from a weekend workshop with Kino MacGregor in London. It was awesome, inspiring – and hard, hard work. I’m aching in places I never knew existed.

We began with an evening of chanting, meditation and questions on the practice on Friday evening. Saturday started with led-Primary – man, does she count slowly! Saturday afternoon was spent looking at and exploring strength in the practice, including a detailed look at handstands, sirsasana, bakasana and chaturanga dandasana. Mysore style self-practice took up the whole of Sunday morning, and we ended the weekend with  three-hour backbending workshop.

I would thoroughly recommend her as a teacher and will definitely be attending more of her workshops in the future. There’s a reason Kino is the youngest woman ever to be certified to teach by Guruji – her dedication, commitment and resolve is humbling and inspiring.

Kino’s website is here. You can also watch her on youtube.

Watch this!

A friend introduced me to this film today – we are planning on watching the whole thing in the next few weeks.

Yoga Unveiled

A Quote from Guruji

“By the strength gained through this practice, we can come to know the method for bringing the mind and sense organs under control. Thus we can achieve yoga.”

Yoga Mala, Shri K Pattabhi Jois