AshtangaNews Ashtanga Yoga Matters (as taught by Sri K Pattabhi Jois)

Part I:

there is something special here. and it has to do with fertility. i have heard that women come to [you tell us!] to get pregnant. the waters are powerful to wade in.

What popular town frequented by Ashtangis is this quote about?

Enough with the beaches, bendy people and temples
Time for something different (from bindifry)

The answer is Byron Bay, Australia where Dena Kingsberg teaches.

Part II:
Where should I got to learn something unusual and interesting about the places I might end up in whilst practicing Ashtanga?

Answer:
bindifry’s itty bitty brain basket. If you are unsure of what non-obvious things to do during your Ashtanga yoga-related travels and want to learn something non-obvious, Lisa’s quiet, quirky writing style and great photos will surely give you a real sense of the place. She writes about many Ashtanga-related topics, but her writing and photos about food and culture are the best.

This is a jaffle. (from bindifry)

All I knew about Byron Bay was the beaches bit…not this, which is really kind of the opposite.

i visited mt.warning, part of tweed volcano -an actual prehistoric volcano-climbed to the top to watch the first sunrise in the world. the hike began at 2am in pitch black on skinny rock filled trails going up. boy were my ankles hurting the next day. the jungle was filled with ancient trees. it felt prehistoric. because it was.

Here’s a short list of a few posts that left me feeling intrigued and smiley, like I have a secret:

• everywhere you look!…babies about Byron Bay, Australia
• kerala faq, kerala faq #2 and kerala faq #3 will come in handy if you go to Lino Miele’s Kovalam retreat or Susanna Finocchi and Jens Bache’s Ashtanga intensive, also in Kovalam.
• and let’s have special time about yummy treats (sweets) in Japan where Sharath recently taught.

We’ve been happy to have Lisa as a writer for AshtangaNews in Interview of Ashtanga Practitioners in Tokyo as well as to highlight her insightful work before in The Ashtanga Role Models of the Future: Live from Tokyo and many of the photos here.

Don’t go anywhere Ashtanga without her.

"ICH is managed by the workers itself.
this means that the waiter can become the manager one day.
you can find it at every corner of kerala." (from bindifry)

Feel free to add to our quiz in the comments. (It was a little brief.)

Do you know who the other lion of Mysore is?

According to Bishwanath Ghosh in an article on Desicritics.org, it is writer, R.K. Narayan.

One made Mysore the international capital of ashtanga yoga, the other gave the city a pseudonym and put it on India’s literary map. Pattabhi Jois and R.K. Narayan, lions in their respective fields; and Mysore, I thought, would bear their signature.

Despite this introduction, Ghosh barely talks about Sri K. Pattabhi Jois and Ashtanga yoga, and when he does, he’s a little dismissive of the whole Ashtanga thang:

Gloomy!
courtesy Govinda Kai

Jois’ Mysore was indoor: chiselled Western bodies striking difficult yoga postures in unison in a gloomy hall.

Gloomy? I haven’t been to AYRI, but the photos of the old and the new shala and the film footage I’ve seen don’t seem to depict gloominess. Then again, who would post gloomy photos of AYRI? No one likes gloomy.

Anyways, Ghosh continues:

“There, on the left,” the friend stopped the car and pointed out, “that’s where Pattabhi Jois used to live.” The door of the house still bears a small signboard: Vidwan Pattabhi Jois. The house looked too simple to have been the world’s biggest export centre of ashtanga yoga. Jois now lives in a more upmarket neighbourhood, Gokulam. He charges Rs 27,900 for the first month of training (doesn’t include food and lodging) and Rs 17,900 for each month thereafter. Little wonder that almost all his students are Westerners.

R.K. Narayan

That’s it about Guruji.

So who is R.K. Narayan? He was a writer and if you’re curious about the community and people of Mysore and southern India, maybe R.K. Narayan’s books will interest you. R.K. Narayan wrote about ordinary people in a fictional small town called Malgudi. Mysore, the (formerly) small town where he lived for most of his life, was the inspiration for his stories. Narayan lived from 1906-2001, which means that this year, he would have been 100 years old.

Malgudi or Mysore?
courtesy Suyog Gaidhani

Ghosh traces Narayan’s steps through old Mysore, noting the changes the city’s undergoing and tries to experience some of the Mysore that Narayan loved. (Ghosh actually quotes the same Deccan Herald article about Mysore we did in a prior post, Brand Mysore.)

Narayan’s books not only capture the people and feel of Mysore - it seems they make for a good read regardless of one’s interest in Mysore:

Setting aside his plentiful and remarkable novels, Narayan firmly occupies a seat in the pantheon of 19th- and 20th-century short-story geniuses, a group that includes Chekhov, O. Henry, Frank O’Connor, and Flannery O’Connor.

The concentration of Narayan’s prose is astonishing. While other writers rely on paragraphs and pages to get their points across, Narayan extracts the full capacity of each sentence, so much so that his stories seem bound by an invisible yet essential mechanism, similar to the metrical and quantitative constraints of poetry. - Jhumpa Lahiri, Boston Review.

Because of Lahiri’s essay, I plan to read Malgudi Days, a collection of short stories, which is also the best-selling Narayan book on Amazon.

Malgudi is dead. Long live Mysore. Today you might have to spend a crore to buy an acre in Mysore. But to buy the whole of Malgudi, you need only Rs 80; and it is available at your nearest bookshop. - Bishwanath Ghosh, desicritics.org

The Whole of Malgudi, an illustration from Malgudi Days by Dr. James M. Fennelly

I got super interested in R.K. Narayan from following the links at the bottom of Wikipedia entry on R.K. Narayan.

Has anyone read R.K. Narayan? If so, how did it affect your experience of Mysore?

Somanthpur Temple, Mysore

Emerging from the shadow of its cosmopolitan neighbour Bangalore, Mysore, witnessing a flurry of activities on many a fronts, is all set to evolve as a brand…Making the task of building ‘Brand Mysore’ easier are the Information Technology (IT) majors, who have committed to invest crores [tens of millions] of Rupees and create thousands of jobs here.

Because so many IT professionals are expected to move to Mysore in the near future, real estate values in some areas of Mysore have doubled recently, according to an article in the Deccan Herald about the business side of Mysore.

Downtown Mysore

What does this mean for Ashtangis looking to experience Mysore’s rich history and regal past and absorb some of its distinct character and quaint charm on the cheap (relative to Western costs)? Any thoughts from repeat visitors to Mysore?

Though Mysore lagged behind Bangalore which is located just 140 km away, by at least three decades in terms of industrialisation, the royal city could take on the State capital as it scored better in offering good quality of life, pollution-free atmosphere and live up to its reputation of being a centre of education and knowledge, according to the IT honchos of the city. -Deccan Herald, August 28, 2006

The pool at Infosys. Does Google have a pool like that?

I love the juxtaposition of the ultra-modern headquarters of Infosys - the first company from India to ring the opening bell on the Nasdaq stock exchange - and the ancient beauty of India. If you do, too, check out this Flickr photoset, The New India (only 10 photos). We touched on this juxtaposition a little in a prior post, What India Do You See?

While I think we all know these kinds of changes are occurring throughout India, I think it’s super interesting to read the concrete details as it applies to Mysore, the home of Ashtanga yoga.

The Bucolic Grounds of the Mysore Palace
(one of about one million photos of Mysore Palace on Flickr)

A similar optimism was evident among the members of the IT Professional Forum, Mysore chapter, who said IT business in the city was expected to grow 300 per cent during the next few years and the quality manpower output from the University of Mysore and other institutions was set to fuel the city’s IT ambitions. With nearly 7,000 English speaking graduates emerging from the city’s educational institutions, the stage was also set for the entry of Business Process Outsourcing firms.

If you like photos of traditional India, I recommend babasteve’s Flickr photostream, which we’ve highlighted in an AshtangaNews post. For more about modern India and Mysore, I think Ashtangi, Russell of Mysore Musings has it right. He’s started an outpost of a legal firm in Mysore.

Inside Infosys. So gleaming white!

Maybe at some point, Mysoreans will visit the US to practice Ashtanga or begin taking up mat space at home at AYRI? It seems AYRI may still be a little pricey for most locals, even the more affluent. Presently, the first month of practice at Guruji’s shala in Mysore costs 27,900 rupees, while average per capita income in the Karnataka state of India (where Mysore is located) is 18,324 rupees annually. As comparison, presently the wealthiest one-third of households in Bangalore - one of the fastest growing (and wealthiest) cities in southern India, which the Deccan Herald

To be replaced by Gap ads?

article compares to Mysore - earn an average of 25,000 rupees monthly.

But according to the Deccan Herald,

The average Indian can look forward to an eight-fold increase in incomes over the next 40 years.

Thanks again to our friend and fellow Ashtangi, Bala, who continues to keep us up to date on India.

By the way, Wikipedia is a great source for learning more about the city of Mysore, Bangalore, Karnataka state, and even Ashtanga yoga.

As noted in the first of what’s turning into a series on beautiful Ashtanga photos taken at Moksha Yoga Center in Chicago, Illinois, we’re highlighting Bindifry’s Flickr stream.

I especially like her Ashtanga set and India 2005 - 2006 set.

This practice favors neither sex. - Bindifry

Hey! Is that Bindify, aka Lisa Hill, with Lino Miele at our local yoga studio, Yoga is Youthfulness in Mountain View, California?

Bindifry with Lino Miele at YiY

Philippe, have you met this person who has commented thoughtfully on your post about starting a Mysore-style Ashtanga program?

In Bindifry’s comment on her Ashtanga set, she explains Ashtanga, and includes this important bit:

PLEASE do NOT attempt these postures without proper supervision.

Bhekasana

This studio looks so nice.

Along with:

Do your practice and all is coming.

- Sri K. Pattabhis Jois

Bindifry has a blog about her travels called Adventures in India. Her entry related to this photo:

…afterwards we decided to hire an omni bus and go to wagha border-the border of pakistan and india-to watch the border guards do their competetive good natured dance. this is done daily at sunrise and sunset. the scene is very much like a high school pep ralley. the guards open the border gates and they do a marching kick dance that is reminiscent of john cleese’s “silly walk” from monty python. this was the most fun i have ever had in india and i went back to my hotel unable to wipe the smile off my face.

At the Wagha border

February 2004

Thank you, Bindifry (aka Lisa Hill)! And best wishes on your travels.

being sarcastic, silly, & obnoxious. taken at the southern star hotel pool in mysore, karnataka, south india

We don’t know who took these photos of India but we like them - a lot. If you know, would you let us know?

(The full set is in the format of a Powerpoint file (1.7MB) and it’s well worth watching; you can download a Powerpoint viewer here.)

Thank you to Lori for forwarding these to us.

What can I add to beauty like this?

Name that building!

Anyone ever get her tea this way? Really?

Peace and warmth
(enough with the smart comments already)

Normally we like to talk about, well, Ashtanga. Ashtanga Vinyasa yoga to be precise.

Sometimes, it’s nice to look at the bigger picture, and in this post, we invite you to look at an India that’s maybe a little different from the one that many foreigners – and possibly because of the practice, Ashtangis moreso than others - usually think of when they think India.

As an example, as of today, Flickr had 244,575 photos tagged India, and the photos on the first several pages of those deemed Most Interesting, depict that ancient, sometimes decrepit, thoroughly unmodern, yet warm and colorful world that is stereotypical India.

A few of the 244,575 photos tagged “India” on Flickr

India, however, is a lot more like the U.S. than you might think. Fareed Zakaria wrote that about India in India Rising in the March 6, 2006 issue of Newsweek:

…India, one of the poorest countries in the world, looks strikingly similar to the world’s wealthiest country, the United States of America. In both places, society has triumphed over the state.

The country might have several Silicon Valleys, but it also has three Nigerias within it, more than 300 million people living on less than a dollar a day. India is home to 40 percent of the world’s poor…

But that is the familiar India, the India of poverty and disease. The India of the future contains all this but also something new. You can feel the change even in the midst of the slums.

Definitely take a look at the full article, and take a look at some photos of India that are a little different from the usual fare at AshtangaNews. (Thank you to Bala for pointing out this story to us.)

Traffic in Rajasthan

Traffic in Mumbai

India is, by all accounts, the most pro-American country in the world. The Pew Global Attitudes Survey, released in June 2005, asked people in 6 countries whether they had a favorable impression of the United States. A stunning 71 percent of Indians said yes. Only Americans had a more favorable view of America (83 percent).

Webodrome in Mumbai
courtesy of Katherine Mieszowksi of Salon.com

Google Code Jam in Bangalore

Traffic in Chennai

A Shopping Mall in India

Drew, an Ashtanga yoga student at Yoga Is Youthfulness in the San Francisco Bay Area, published a photo essay of his trip to Kovalam, India to practice with Lino Miele.

Kovalam - a very, very nice place

Drew’s photos are entirely of the sites and people of Kovalam and not at all about the yoga practice (how can you take pictures when you are practicing anyway?). It’s wonderful to see what the actual city looks like, and the snapshots of daily life.

Soccer on Kovalam beach at sunset

And apparently, Kerala - the Indian state where Kovalam is located - is getting more and more popular, as mentioned in this New York Times article:

Not long ago, India, a country of one billion people and more than 100 languages, seemed to have just three tourist destinations: Delhi, Mumbai and the Rajasthan-Taj Mahal circuit. Then, almost out of nowhere, Americans got adventurous and discovered Kerala, a lush southwestern state full of rivers, jungles, ayurvedic medicine and rich, spicy cuisine.

Maybe Lino’s annual retreats had something to do with this.

Here are Lino’s upcoming workshops. And thank you, Drew!

People of Kovalam

The India Department of Tourism has launched a microsite promoting India as a yoga destination:

Stand on your head. Breathe in deep.
And let 50 centuries of science, spirituality
and civilization cleanse your stress away.
Get a dose of Yoga.
It’s as amazing as the land that invented it.

It’s targeting the 15 million people (at the last count - 5% of the population!) who say they practice yoga in the US.

By digging around the Internet, I found out that there were about 550,000 US tourist arrivals to India last year (as opposed to 270,000 Indian arrivals to the US). So that leaves room for a lot of growth in the future.

Billboard in Manhattan,
January 2006

The microsite has a Yoga School listing page with 9 schools on it. Pattabhis Jois’ shala in Mysore is the first one listed, despite the fact that they are not listed alphabetically nor by size. Could the webmaster be an ashtangi?

Also on the site is a Find Your Yoga Style page with a series of multiple choice questions which will help you find a suitable yoga style. Here’s a good one:

4. What would you do if a rampaging rhino were to come at you?

a. Grasp its horn and flip over its back
b. Dodge it and run
c. Fend it off with my crutch
d. Reconcile myself to fate

Perhaps needless to say, those who choose (a) are directed towards Ashtanga…

Thanks to Marc E. Babej of Being Reasonable for pointing out this nicely written and well informed site.

Our rain here in the San Francisco Bay Area is nothing compared to a really rainy day in places like Bangalore, a city near Mysore, India, the location of Pattabhis Jois’ yoga shala.

When it rains in the tropics, it really rains.

Mysore Highway, October 2005

Our friend, Bala, a student at Yoga is Youthfulness in the San Francisco Bay Area, sent us these photos of the heaviest rain in decades (PowerPoint presentation) taken in October 2005, which includes a few photos from Mysore. It rained 9 inches in one day. Thank you, Bala.

(If you don’t have PowerPoint, you can view these photos with a PowerPoint viewer. It’s free.)

The AshtangaNews official recommendation regarding rain is: Teva-style sandals are better than flip flops, which can fall off your feet and float away or get stuck in mud.

Teva sandal

Flip flop