So a little bit about the practice, for the non-ashtanga folks: ashtanga is a set series of poses meant to be done in a very specific order. Traditionally how it has been taught is what has come to be know as 'mysore style'. This is not a lead lead class where the teacher calls the poses and you follow along. You usually have a large block of time to show up and do your practice at your own pace, remembering the poses that you have been 'given'. So you go to a teacher and they teach you one pose at a time and as you 'master' the poses, more poses are added on to your practice. Depending on what you are practicing your practice could be half an hour long or two and a half hours long. As you progress further on in the practice you may drop certain poses, to accommodate the new poses you have been given.
There is a great deal of discussion and disagreement about how this practice is now taught outside of the shala in mysore india. For that matter there is a great deal of discussion and disagreement about how it is taught there too. It is my feeling that westerners want to make concrete something that just can't be defined so clearly. Yoga does not have to be a religion but in many ways it is passed down in a religious sort of way, and it requires a certain amount of faith. My understanding of 'faith' is belief in something that can never be proven. So i do my practice with faith and i am going into this trip with faith that things will play out the way they are meant to.
Another note about the practice, and it is far too complicated to explain the exact whys of this, but generally speaking, when you go to mysore to study ashtanga at The Shri K Pattabhi Jois Ashtanga Yoga Institute, if this is your first trip, no matter who you study with and how much of a rock star yogi you may think you are, they are gonna start you right at the beginning. The next time you come, if there is a next time, they WILL remember what poses they gave you, and you will pick up there. So while, here, i am gratefully working on Dwi Pada Sirsasana (a ridiculous pose where you stick your feet behind your head and balance on your rear end with hands in prayer at your heart), i will have a reprieve from all of my second series poses for the month i am there.
ashtanga info
That said, to answer a question posed to me the other day, 'are they going to be closed while you are there?'. This is a question that comes up a lot. Things in India don't always go in the well planned manner we westerners expect. When you show up to study at SKPJAYI, will the shala be open? As it turns out, the shala will be closed for one week while i am there. This is not tragic to me as i think i may be due for 'ladies holiday' that week anyways, so for that week i will be able to practice on my own and continue to fight with balancing on my ass with two feet behind my head. Who does this anyways?
Ok, sorry if this is the most boring post ever. Things are bound to get more interesting. Well, for me at least :)
Aliya- i am counting on you to make any corrections where they are needed :)
16 comments:
You'll be getting no corrections from me... only encouragement. And the occasional smart-ass remark. ;-)
i do look forward to the smart-ass remarks :P
I think this is the best explanation of the practice for laymen that I've ever seen. I'm gonna rip it off next time I have to try to explain this crazy practice. :-)
(The faith part is particularly lovely, and instructive for people both in AND out of the cult.)
You forgot to use the word crank. That's very important.
One of my favorite explanations was...
"we get up at the ass-crack of dawn and stretch for god"
:-)
Of course, yours probably conveys a little more sensible meaning.
of course, now with "praisemoves" (google it), i think we need to be a little more specific when we say "stretch for god."
and for you, aliya, you simply skip out on going to bed. (^_^)
I'd never skip out on going to bed when you're in it!
:-D
Oh yes I did... all here on Tova's public blog 'n everything!
oh my :)
Happy pooping, Tova!
thank you, Carl :)
I'm only going to India if I can do 4th series.
HA HA HA!!!
Isn't it more about the experience than showing your tricks anyway? That's what I would think. But then, I tend to be an under achiever sometimes.
"It is my feeling that westerners want to make concrete something that just can't be defined so clearly."- nicely put.
"It is my feeling that westerners want to make concrete something that just can't be defined so clearly."
I think that's a problem for everyone... southerners, northerners, easterners, and westerners. ;-)
Aliya, you don't think that some cultures give over to the divine a little easier than ours? my impression in that westerners have a distinct problem with negative capability:
'The concept of Negative Capability is the ability to contemplate the world without the desire to try and reconcile contradictory aspects or fit it into closed and rational systems.'
i think it is kind of built into our culture to not be comfortable with the questions left hanging. again it is my impression that buddhist and hindu cultures are more apt to accept things that don't fit in the box, so to speak. this isn't a passing of judgment. i think a balance of both is pretty critical.
Eh, perhaps. I'm certainly no expert so I cannot say with certainty. But I think we all have a lot more in common than we think and that creating these kinds of false binaries is more often harmful than beneficial. In my little experience, your place of birth seems to be like a lot other delineations, such as color, gender, sexual orientation, etc.
i think my gramma has it right: she's got her buddhist/shinto mini-shrine in one room and a painting of jesus in another room. ha ha.
word to yer granny! i actually have a shrine with sarawswati, white tara, and a little st. joseph figurine :P
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