The end of summer, a time for reflection

I met a woman in Trivandrum who told me she was a "yoga therapist," meaning that she combined yoga postures with therapy. At the time I thought, well, isn't that kinda like the department of redundancy department? In my experience, yoga has been like therapy, just without the talking part. The physical practice of yoga (asana) has made it possible for me to clear emotional, mental and spiritual hurdles that kept me stuck for many years. This works because all our experiences imprint us just as physically as they do mentally. Put another way, as my Guruji said, "Sister, there is no mind apart from the foot."

Understanding this arose from regular meditation practice. Living it would undoubtedly come from more meditation practice, and I do my best. But the fact is, I still do the majority of my meditation on my yoga mat.


Gomateshwara at a Jain temple in Karnataka, one of the largest monolithic statues in the world, one of the seven wonders of India.

Let's face it, asana is hard work. It's just not normal to engage the breath and energy locks while simultaneously exerting and relaxing oneself. During practice I go into a kind of a trance. This has allowed me to see how it's possible off the mat to be having two separate experiences--a person might challenge me in some way that is not relevant to our interaction. To move toward my goal of finding the best in every person I encounter (lofty? yes. doable? well, not so yet and maybe never, but that's ok, too), I need to find a way to stay in our interaction without letting the weight of my personal history interfere. 

This time of year is the perfect example. I dread the end of summer, and so, as the days get shorter, I'll be focusing interactions. How we work with each other, and as a meditative reflection during postures.

Hope to see you in class!

Namaste.

From the annals of unnecessary...

An Indian government body is preparing patents for some 900 yoga postures. That's pretty bad considering that yoga is not actually about the poses (that is a distinctly Western adaptation) and yet, the disingenuous posturing these officials are adopting actually makes it worse.

"It's like soccer and Britain," Suneel Singh–identified as a leading Indian yogi–told the Guardian. "You have given it to the world which is wonderful and generous. But imagine that people started saying they had invented the sport. That would be annoying."

Maybe he should try some pranayama? Meditate on that? Seriously, annoyed as a rationale?

In that same article we are reassured by a Dr VK Gupta, one of the movement's main proponents, that "there is no intention to stop people practising yoga but nobody should misappropriate yoga and start charging franchise money." That is spit-take worthy. Has he seen what they charge at the Astanga Yoga Institute in Mysore? Or he's okay with that because it's in India? What about the Western dude who popularized the shala? Isn't he entitled to a kickback? Is this about kickback? I just don't get it. "Our job is to provide the evidence and let others decide," is what he says, but decide what?

Speaking to the Hindustan Times, Gupta was more direct: "Video recordings of the asanas are also being made and recorded to prevent them from being stolen."

OK, so what if the alignment is different in their Triangle than mine? If you're a regular practitioner you know, yes, those micro-adjustments make a huge difference. And who exactly are we stealing from? This implies that we owe recompense. If anything, this idiotic move encourages people to do yoga and call it something else.

Yoga Posing on the beach@Ashwem, India, 01/10

Ah, the forearm stand/scorpion. What I love about this pose is how energizing it is. Like taking a shot of tequila, without the blackout and hideous other unmentionable consequences...


This is Andrew, my yoga buddy. More important than the practice itself is the community.





And, quite possibly, the amazing locations we yogis tend to flock to...