URGENT BREAKING NEWS

We are pleased to announce that Guruji’s doctor has given him a clean bill of health and has released him for travel to America. Guruji will be opening the Yoga Studio in Islamorada beginning with a Grand Opening Party on Friday, May 23 from 6PM – 8PM.

We are very sorry for any inconveniences caused by the cancellations in the past two
years but are very excited to share this experience with all students who plan to attend.

Here’s the link to register.

There will be 3 classes and there is no mention of Sharath coming but Saraswathi will be there:

The classes will focus on the primary series sequence, which takes about 1½ hours.

May 23 6:00pm-8:00pm Grand Opening Party

May 24 8:00am Class

May 25 8:00am Class

May 26 8:00am Class

You may have experienced Iyengar classes where the opposite attitude is apparent: use as many props as it takes to mold your body into proper alignment. At various points in the class you are directed to take you two blankets, three belts, one block and chair and re-arrange them to fit the pose.

The many props in Iyengar yoga

A whole industry has sprung up to supply the prop-based yoga practice: bolsters, straps, ropes, calf stretchers, sandbags, gripitz, slings, cushions, eye pillows, head wraps, neti pots and of course mats.

There are stories about how Ashtanga in the olden days was practiced without mats, directly on the floor - and the rougher the floor the better. Weathered yogis relate how they use to practice on packed earth (the dust creating some friction) or even gravel for the most advanced practitioners.

“It makes you feel closer to the earth, and does not bound your space. It is very liberating, and the gravel really toughens you up. I would not go back to mat yoga, it blocks my prana from flowing” commented a teacher who wished to remain anonymous for fear of litigation.

“Gravel? Luxury!” replied another, who would make Keith Richards look like a teenager. “You were lucky to have solid ground to practice on. Back in the day we used to practice in marshland with our heads underwater in downward dog.”

More and more Ashtanga yoga studios are going mat-less: will you be a part of this growing trend?

Today there were some comments on our October 2007 post Guruji in Florida in March 2008 about the workshop next month being canceled.

I asked a friend who had signed up for the second week who said that while she did not receive any official email, when she called up she was told that they were just starting to call students who were registered for the second week (March 24 to 28 2008):

Guruji is not going to make it for the trip - he’s ok but just can’t travel. However, Sharath and Saraswati are still coming but they will only be conducting classes during the first week (see Update below).

It seems students who registered for the second week are given the option to switch to the first week. Here are the details of who to contact from the AYRI.org registration page:

Nargis Lengacher at nargis@sdcreations.org and 831-659-3779 or Camille Kochon at creations@sdcreations.org and 760-804-9333.

I will update this post if anything official is posted.

UPDATE March 4 2008 9:00: According to the Ashtanga.com newsletter:

Sri K. Pattabhi Jois USA Tour 2008: On the advice of his physician, Sri K. Pattabhi Jois will not be traveling to teach at this workshop. We hope you will support Guruji’s new Florida center by joining his daughter Saraswathi and his grandson Sharath for the grand opening party of March 14th followed by classes.
Week 1: March 15-20, 7:00am and 9:00am
Week 2: March 24-28, 7:00am and 9:00am

UPDATE March 4 2008 12:00:On the Ashtanga Yoga Research Institute website is an announcement:

My Beloved Students,

I have just been informed by my physician that it is recommended that I not travel at this time. While I am extremely disappointed that I won’t see each and every one of you. I hope that you will support my new center by joining my daughter Saraswathi and my grandson Sharath for the grand opening party of March 14 followed by classes.

This will be my family’s only visit the United States in 2008. I look forward to your support.

Love, Guruji

UPDATE March 4 2008 14:00: Now I am hearing that the workshop has been canceled completely. As I mentioned above, if you want to find out exactly what is going on contact: Nargis Lengacher at nargis@sdcreations.org and 831-659-3779 or Camille Kochon at creations@sdcreations.org and 760-804-9333.

UPDATE March 7 2008: The AYRI.org site has been updated and the workshop has been officially canceled:

The Florida tour has been cancelled. Further updates will be posted soon.

Guruji is doing fine and resting. Please do not call the family at this time due to the abundance of calls coming through. Further updates will be posted on the website.

The Shala in Mysore will re-open on the 27th of April.

UPDATE March 12 2008: From this post’s comments below:

Paradise Yoga would be happy to host ashtanga classes again this year. If there are any teachers coming to town who would be willing to teach classes or workshops, please give us a call at (305) 517-YOGA. Our schedule can be found online at www.paradise-yoga.net and will be updated with the ashtanga information. We are located 1.5 miles south of the Shala in Islamorada. Thanks and hope to see you- Audra Santoro

As I start to write, I can feel, and start to count, the contractions that are now coming every ten minutes. We are almost there, my baby and I, ready to meet and finally embrace! During the past nine and a half months, he has become my teacher, my guru and my salvation.

I am 38 weeks and almost there. This article is an attempt to capture the magnificent experience”yoga-wise” that this baby has meant for me and my practice.

The level of letting go that I have experienced, I never, ever anticipated. Just when I was enjoying a peak in my practice, very strong and committed, this baby chose me. Third Series was blowing my mind and my body seemed to answer to all the extreme demands this beautiful practice asks.

Mariela Cruz adjusting 9 months pregnant in Costa Rica

I was gifted with a very bendy body that started practicing yoga at a rare young age. My mother was one of those “weird” beings (in a good sense, I realize now) who was always searching. Back then, to practice yoga in Costa Rica, a traditional catholic country, was considered a mortal sin. Anyways, she found a way to take me with her to class when I was about 10 years old. My only memory is watching these beautiful tall, white bright
beings moving in the shala’ s corridors -angels I guess- and since then, I could feel the blessings of yoga.

Life kept moving; I had my four children and I became a lawyer. Although very successful as a lawyer, I found to be absolutely miserable in a career that was not for me.

Mariela 6 months pregnant in scorpion: don’t try this at home!

My first visit to Mysore was 7 years ago. Ashtanga Yoga in Mysore is hard to describe: I can only say that the energy around Guruji and Sharath made me return six more times and always crave for India while I was home. Practicing on my own (since I had no teachers in San Jose where I live) was a small price to pay, compared to the promise of returning every year to see my beloved Guru.

Life started changing very fast. We built the studio and people started coming. Life shifted and I happily gave up my law practice and started teaching full time.

When the news came last June that I was pregnant again, there was a mixture of profound joy and overwhelming worry… “and what about my practice?”

One thing is to theorize about how beautiful having a baby is, especially if you are in love and with the right partner by your side. But then there is the reality of what your body will go through! The first three months were pure hell! Besides that, I decided to go back to India and finish the process of getting authorized by Guruji and Sharath: it was not a very good idea! But my desire to be close to my teachers and finish this first stage was too strong to let go.

I arrived in Mysore last August on my own, being 12 weeks pregnant and after 26 hours of non-stop flights and delays. Pregnancy is such a delicate time. You are as open and vulnerable as ever and flying across the world from Costa Rica through Germany to finally arrive to Bangalore and then Mysore was the biggest challenge I have faced. Constant nausea, vomiting and loneliness made this the hardest trip. Arriving by myself, longing for my husband and children was also very hard.

A dear friend rented me his place, a very cozy little apartment with all the facilities. Mr. and Mrs. Chinnappa, the landlords, were always so kind and respectful. So I felt cared for in the middle of everything. I would stay awake all night, still very jet-lagged, thinking of my loved ones and crying and directly go to the shala at 6 am for practice.

I was assigned to practice with Saraswati. A part inside of me craved for the 5 am practice with Sharath as always, for my teacher friends and the whole gang.

Practicing with all the beginners requested a big dose of humility. But Saraswati’ s gentle approach and daily concern made everything easier for me, even though during practice I had to leave and go vomit every ten minutes. My body was refusing to adapt to so many changes at the same time: baby, food, time zone and broken heart.

Being used to having my body do whatever I asked of it, this felt very confusing. I felt as if I was possessed and couldn’t get it to obey my mind. This started upsetting me deeply, to a point where I started regretting what was actually happening and many doubts started clouding my mind.

Yoga teaches us the art of acceptance. It’s easy to accept things when they happen “your way”; but how about when they completely go upside down?

From a three-hour daily practice, I had to cut short to half Primary Series with a lot of modifications. It was very interesting how Saraswati immediately removed all the twists (Marichyasana C and D). My practice used to give me lots of energy for all the challenges of motherhood and full time yoga teacher, but now I was feeling depleted and above all, profoundly depressed.

My husband made it to India for his first time, probably intuiting I needed support. The trip ended with my authorization being granted and us returning to Costa Rica. Though things were not easier once we got home.

Normally the nausea and vomiting stop after the third month and Guruji and Saraswati advised against practice during the first three months. However, this was not the case with me. I came back and things got worse. I could barely stand up from my bed. Everything was foggy and couldn’t get the grip of the practice again. Teaching was very hard, but I kept going.

My body felt terrible and I wasn’t able to apply the only medicine I know for body and heart aches: practice. What to do?

I realize this pregnancy has taught me what my regular practice would have never taught me. Suddenly, everything I loved the most was taken away from me. When I say “I loved and love my practice above everything else”, it is because I appreciate so much the perspective it has brought to my human experience.

Giving up such love is no easy task. I had to start from scratch, doing one Surya Namaskar and then collapsing into Child pose for 20 minutes while the room kept turning and turning.

I realize my profound love for practice was definitely a very heavy attachment. My body was used to the chemicals produced by it and I had to go through heavy “detox” with all its consequences: mood swings, sadness, intolerance almost to the verge of depression.

Then slowly, things started shifting. My only option was to surrender. And from that surrender to this tiny teacher inside of me came a second wind. My practice completely changed, even more as I started growing bigger. But as I faced my mat everyday, scared to find I was not able to perform anymore, I started getting real. I found new joy and gratitude in the blessing of knowing there was a life growing inside of me and that somehow he was helping me understand new things. My only sadhana was to become a clean channel for this soul and stop interfering and asking something for myself. Instead, to just be there for whatever he needed from me, beyond my likes and dislikes.

Yoga gives us so much power and there are many ways to use that power. We can use it for our own benefit or we can use it to give and help each other. Even though I always thought that my job as a yoga teacher and my mission as a mother was fulfilling all this, I know there was a part inside that still wanted something for myself.

As Krishna tells Arjuna: surrender the fruits of your actions. This is what I have learned during this last 38 weeks. I can now happily say that I will go back to my practice, after Gael is born, from a different space inside. A space that simply wants to serve and give in a sincere way and use practice as an instrument to prepare body and mind for that.

I feel very blessed by the presence of this little-huge being in my life. He was already in India with me and I plan to take him back next year to Mysore. Gael will always be a constant reminder that yoga is not about achieving anything, but about being grateful for what life offers us. As we all, in our family, embark in this new adventure with baby, I thank all of my children for teaching me how to let go of selfishness.

UPDATE 17th FEB 2008: Gael was born on Friday February 15th at 1:26 pm - baby and mom are doing well.

You will know the importance in your Yoga practice to engage your Pelvic Floor Muscles (PFM) or mula bandha, but did you know that the PFM have other functions such as contributing to spinal stability, pelvic organ support, urinary and faecal continence, sexual function and performance? What a great group of muscles to keep working well! And how do you know that you are contracting the PFM effectively when over 30% of the female population contracts incorrectly at their first attempt? We do not have the statistics for men, yet it would not be far fetched to suggest that the percentage could be higher. Or am I just biased?

Here is what I will cover with this article:

• The basics of Pelvic Floor Muscle anatomy and physiology
• How to correctly engage the PFM
• How to incorporate it into and outside your Yoga and Pilates practice

Pelvic Floor Anatomy

It’s not just all about the muscles: the Pelvic Floor is actually a complex structure made up of muscle and fascia. It can be divided into three sections: the fascia, the levator ani muscles (PFM) and the superficial sphincters/perineal muscles.

The fascia gives attachment to the PFM and surrounds the muscles and pelvic organs. Sometimes there can be a tearing of this fascia and the supporting ligaments which gives rise to Pelvic Floor disorders such as incontinence. It won’t matter then if the PFM are strong and contract at the right time, someone may still have incontinence because the bladder or urethra (figure 1) is not supported in the correct anatomical position.

Figure 1. Schematic Diagram of the PFM and organs.

The levator ani is the collective name given to the PFM (figure 1 and 2) and is sometimes divided into the Pubococcygeus, Puborectalis, Pubovaginalis and Iliococcygeus. The Pubococcygeus arises from each side of the front of the pubic symphysis (midline joint), and passes around the urethra, vagina (in women) and anus to insert onto the coccyx. As you can tell from their names, the Puborectalis is the name given to those muscle fibres that loop from the pubic bone around the rectum and Pubovaginalis from the pubis around the vagina. The Iliococcygeus originates from the right or left Ilium on the pelvis and attaches to the coccyx.

Figure 2. 3D MRI reconstruction of Female PFM
Reprinted with kind permission of Lennox Hoyte

The Superficial Perineal muscles are as their name suggests superficial or less deep than the levator Ani and are thought to have an important role in sexual activity. They all insert and meet at the perineal body, which is almost like a central tendon between the anus and scrotum in men and anus and vagina in women. The external anal sphincter encircles the anus, attaches in the front to the perineal body and behind to the coccyx.

The nerve supply to the Pelvic Floor is mainly through the Pudendal nerve originating from the 2nd to 4th sacral nerve roots. Have you ever noticed little girls or boys walking/bouncing on their tip toes when they want to go to the toilet? This is because the nerve supply to the calf muscles has a similar origin as the PFM, and by contracting the calf muscles, there is a reflex response of the PFM and the bladder contraction is quietened down. So if you ever find yourself caught short, go up and down on your toes vigorously and it’ll give you a few minutes grace. On that note, have you ever been sitting down for a long time, for example on a car journey, get up or out of the car and are suddenly desperate to go to the loo? Again, the skin at the back of your legs has been stimulated whilst you have been sitting down, and this stops the bladder from contracting too strongly. Once you stand up, that reflex inhibition is lost! So if you don’t want to be caught short gain, try contracting your PFM (see below) before you get out of the car.

The muscles of the PF have both slow (type 1) and fast (type 2) twitch muscle fibres, but since the role of the PFM is mainly to provide support over a sustained period of time, they are predominantly type 1. This is important to remember within your yoga (or Pilates) practice. Towards the end of your practice, especially if you have been contracting them too hard, they are going to be more fatigued. So if you develop awareness of these muscles, feel when they can no longer lift and hold, and perhaps call it a day with your practice…until the next time!

Guidelines for activating the PFM

These are the guidelines I use to assist people to activate their PFM (or Mula Bandha):

• Imagine your PFM as a sling that attaches from your tail bone at the back (sacrum and coccyx) to your pubic bone at the front.
• Now take a breath in, and as you breathe out, gently squeeze the muscles around your back passage, as if you were trying to prevent wind (gas/flatulence) escaping.
• Bring this feeling forward (remembering the muscular sling) towards your pubic bone as if you were trying to stop yourself from urinating (having a pee).
• Keep holding this contraction as you imagine that you are on the ground floor of an elevator, you want to lift your PFM as if you were going to the 1st, then 2nd 3rd etc floor.
• Keep breathing as normally as you can, whilst holding onto your PFM. Aim to hold for 10 seconds, before releasing your PFM.
• Repeat up to 10 times, breathing normally.
• Remember to release all the way back to the ground floor, as holding on too much may be as much of a problem as not being able to hold onto them at all.

Also, you may have noticed that your abdominal muscles were also engaged as you pulled in your PFM. This is perfectly normal as long as you do not tilt your pelvis or hold your breath as you do so. In yoga the abdominal muscles activating is part of the Uddiyana Bandha (the abdominal lock), and the Mula Bandha is almost always activated at the same time as that lock.

As I said earlier, many people do not activate their PFM correctly when first asked to do so. Without being examined, we cannot tell for sure whether you’ve got it “right”. Having said that, below are some tips to make sure that you are not activating too much of the incorrect muscle groups:

• Many people bear or push down when they try to activate their PFM, as if they were straining to go to the toilet. Remember to squeeze and lift, as described above, rather than pushing down.
• Keep your buttock cheeks (bottom muscles/butt), inner thigh, and leg muscles relaxed.
• There should be no movement of your spine or pelvis as you engage your PF or abdominal muscles.

Timing of Contraction: It seems that the timing of contraction is as important as strength of PFM contraction. In women who do not have a Pelvic Floor Dysfunction, there is a small PFM contraction before they cough, or raise their intra abdominal pressure. It appears that this pre-contraction is lost in women who have Stress Urinary Incontinence. It maybe the case that this loss of pre-contraction is also lost in other women with prolapse of the pelvic organs, so encouraging them to also do a pre-contraction seems logical. There also seems to be a correlation between Pelvic Floor disorders and back pain, although we have a good idea why this is. So if you get back pain, or if you have noticed that your PFM are not as they used to be, whether due to childbirth, high impact sports such as trampolining, or just aging, its a good habit to contract your PFM just before you cough or sneeze, lift anything heavy, or even just bending over, as well as contracting your PFM as described above twice a day.

Tips from the clinic to bring your PFM into your Yoga practice

As I have previously said, it’s not all about strength: letting go fully, timing of contraction, endurance and anatomical position of your pelvic organs are all important aspects of good PFM function. So what to do in your Yoga practice? From what we know about PFM physiology to date, these muscles are mainly designed for endurance. There is evidence that the end of a workout, these muscles are as fatigued as the rest of your body. So, if you contract them too hard, they are going to tire and it will be difficult to maintain throughout your practice, potentially leaving your spine and pelvic organs vulnerable to strain. We don’t know how quickly they recover either, so just after your practice, especially if you know that you have a PFM disorder, it maybe well worth contracting your muscles before you lift or bend over, as extra protection.

Back to your practice, as a good rule of thumb, I would suggest contracting around a quarter of your maximum effort. Try this now. Contract your PFM, as detailed above, as hard as you can. Let go of that contraction by half, then by half again. You should still be able to feel the lift, but be able to breathe easily from your diaphragm. Frequently people find it hard to do both!

Over time your awareness, the endurance, coordination and strength of your PFM will improve, allowing you to work harder for longer…should you wish! Yoga is a great way to maintain and improve the health of your Pelvic Floor. Imagine looking and feeling as good on the inside as you do on the out!

Ruth Jones February 2008

When our teachers (Anne and Einar Finstad) returned from 3 months in Mysore in 2004, they made chai and brought it to our studio every Friday morning. We started drinking chai after practice, and we loved it so much, that they started bringing chai on Sundays as well. They charged $2 per cup.

When several of us wanted to learn to make chai, our teachers held an informal chai cooking class. Two couples attended. As a result, both couples bought their own pump pots, and started bringing chai another two days a week. We gradually trained more people, who obtained their own pump pots, until we had a full complement of chai wallahs and substitutes. We kept a schedule and organized the substitutes via email. Our studio had chai service six mornings a week (but not on Saturdays when there was no Mysore practice).

Chai service at Yoga is Youthfulness, the pot, cups and sugar

One person wanted no caffeine, so she bought rooibos in bulk and sold it to some of the others in the group at cost. We found a source for biodegradable cups and again, bought in bulk. Several people didn’t want sugar in their chai, so we stopped adding sugar to the mix, and put out a sugar bowl. Now we label the pots as to the contents (e.g., “Black tea, soy milk, no added sugar”), to accommodate individual preferences and allergies.

The chai service has been wonderful for creating community among the yoga students and teachers. Those who stop after class for chai talk more with the other students as they leave class. It helps us to get to know one another. And having a warm drink after practice is very relaxing and satisfying. This is in marked contrast with some places where it often feels like “ships crossing in the night”. People who have been practicing in the same room for years sometimes have not even exchanged a word…

hanging out after practice at YiY drinking chai (Elaine is on the right)

Over the years, we have lost some of our core chai wallahs, due to changing work schedules, new babies, moving away, etc. At the moment, we have only three chai wallahs. Since two couples bring chai two days a week, we have five of our six practice days covered. One of the chai wallah couples is pregnant, so we may lose their days when their baby is born. The current group of yoga students are not dedicated chai drinkers – or maybe they are pressed for time to get to work, so the chai consumption has decreased. However, with cooler weather, the chai drinking is again on the rise. We hope to train new chai wallahs this winter to have a chai service six days a week. [Ganesh be praised, we have the six days covered now - Ed.]

As an alternative to chai service, we have instituted a “Self-Service tea service”: tea bags, cups, sugar, with hot water available through the water cooler, for 25 cents per tea bag. However, it has not caught on well.

Here is our recipe for chai. While each person has modified the recipe to fit their own tastes, we all started with the same basic recipe courtesy of Anne and Einar Finstad.

Einar’s Authentic Indian Chai (Spiced tea)

• 11-12 cups of water
• 2 cups grated ginger (if coarse, otherwise 1.5 cups fine) – about 8-10 ounces if coarse, 6 oz if fine
• 10 cinnamon sticks (approximately 1 ounce)
• large handful of cloves (2 heaping tbsp)
• 1 heaping tbsp cardamom seeds (without pods)
• approximately 2 handfuls black tea (1/2 cup)
• 1/2 gallon soy milk
• approx 1/2 cup sugar (Optional)

1. Boil water.
2. Add grated ginger. Boil 15 minutes.
3. During that 15 minutes, crush and add cinnamon sticks.
4. Crush and add cloves.
5. Crush cardamom seeds.
6. After the ginger/cinnamon/clove mixture has boiled for 15 minutes, add the crushed cardamom to the boiling water. Boil for another 2-3 minutes.
7. Add black tea. Boil for another 7 minutes. The tea mix is now complete. Strain the mixture, and reserve the spices for a second boil, if desired (see below). Refrigerate or continue:

When ready to serve:
8. In a separate pot, bring soy milk to the verge of boiling.
9. As soon as it is warm, add sugar. You can add additional sugar to taste, either now or after combining the sugar/milk mixture with the tea mixture.
10. Mix hot milk with hot tea mixture, and enjoy.

Makes enough for a LARGE crowd.

Additional notes:

If you grind the cinnamon, cloves and cardamom (coffee grinders work very well), then use approximately half the amounts above.
No need to peel the ginger before grating. Cuisinarts work wonders.
A local Indian grocery is a good (and cheap) source for ginger and spices in bulk. These stores also have cardamom seeds without their pods. It is a real pain to shell them.
Cow milk works just as well as soy milk.
Play with the amounts of the spices until it works for you.
Use green tea or rooibos (South African red tea, no caffeine) if you want less/no caffeine.
You can re-use the grounds if you like: just boil the water for longer (maybe 1.5 hours). The caffeine is much much less in the second set of chai, while the ginger gets a little stronger. We keep the second-boil in the fridge, then mix with milk and microwave. It keeps for a week or more.
We often just throw the spices and tea in the pot of boiling water, then boil for about 90 minutes. No need to do the detailed timing as above, or the second boil on the grounds. It works for us.
Variations include adding a vanilla bean (opened and scraped out, or ground up), or adding star anise. Some people add pepper corns or chili peppers to increase the heat.

A happy customer (or addict?)

Thank you so much for the wonderful questions. I had intended to write an article when August (my son) was 6 months old. It has been 14 months now and I am only now having enough energy to indulge any “extra projects”. Any extra time this past year was spent on trying to reconnect with my husband in our marriage, get my practice more regular or catch up on sleep!

I am glad I waited. We recently weaned from nursing and it has been another layer of experience I did not expect. I had some pretty severe (but thankfully short lived, about two weeks) depression when I stopped nursing my son. The mental shift caused by the drop in prolactin was profound for me. What I found interesting during this period is that the dramatic shift allowed me to observe the effect of the hormones on my monkey mind. I was living my dream life and knew that, yet I still felt terrible, like life wasn’t worth living.

baby August in savasana (7 months old)

I practiced off and on through that period and eventually came out of the funk. I would like to say that the physical practice of yoga and meditation brought me out of it, but it didn’t. I practiced as much as I could during that time I tried to meditate more but found it nearly impossible. I was truly overwhelmed with negative thoughts. I was dragging myself through my practice not enjoying a single minute of it. I would like to believe that it would have been worse if I hadn’t practiced, but I am not sure. The only thing that actually helped me was time. I told myself that if the depression went more than two weeks then I would seek medical attention. Luckily I didn’t have to. This depression ended about a week ago and my practice feels more solid than ever.

It is amazing how trauma builds character and devotion. I am thankful I experienced this. The overall big shifts in hormones for the past (almost) two years have been a very educational experience. It has been an opportunity to really separate the mental from the physical and observe my own inner dialog. I believe that this is a journey we can all share even if we don’t carry a pregnancy. We most easily have the opportunity to become the observer when our lives shift. Through changes caused by injury, trauma in family and jobs, moving, even through happy additions to our lives, we have the opportunity to use our practice to observe those mental and physical transformations in ourselves. One day we are strong and flexible, the next day we are not, one day we are happy and the next an overwhelming sadness overtakes us. Gifts are given to us and then in the next breath taken away. These experiences give us an opportunity to separate our identity from these gifts, to get deeper, to find our own true nature. What am I if I am not strong? Happy? Friendly? Flexible? We are then able to feel closer to those around us, to truly understand how we are all fundamentally the same beautiful people wanting to be happy and struggling through life’s journey.

baby August in tadasana

Now onto the questions…

I’d like to know more about your breath. Did you practice ujjayi breathing not only in your practice but during labor as well? Or did you practice other breathing techniques like Lamaze during labor?

My husband can probably answer that question better than I could. The details of the labor are very fuzzy to me now. I remember getting momentarily very angry at Terence, my husband, when he wasn’t “breathing right”. We had been taught one technique in our classes, but then when we got down to the labor, I found that technique very stressful, it was making me anxious. So through my declaration, “don’t do that! Do like yoga, yoga breath.” We immediately began doing some long deep breathing. (Terence says that the counting associated with yoga breathing really seemed to help bridge through the contractions.)

How far were you in your practice before you got pregnant?

(I am going to assume that this is a question about where in the Ashtanga sequence I was when I got pregnant.) I was blessed with a flexible back, so when I started Ashtanga second series was actually easier for me than first. I think that is true for many people. I had a very traditional hard-nosed teacher who took away all the postures and started me with a half primary and was very conservative with giving our postures. I was officially just barely into second series when I got pregnant. However, I teach “vinyasa” and practice and teach all kinds of different postures. So, I wasn’t always just doing primary series. Also, I found that I was really testing the patience of my teachers during this time. I added the splits sequence in there for a while, I did some pigeons and extra lunges.

At what point did you stop doing postures on your belly and forward-bending postures?

The very first thing I lost or modified was anything where my chest hit the ground. I found that my breasts were very tender as soon as I was pregnant. This made most things that required any chest on the floor impossible. The soreness lasted until just a couple of months ago. I did a modified preparation for dhanurasana and bekasana where I never rested completely on my front before going into the postures.

upward dog?

And what was your practice like after the baby? Assuming you were up nursing, etc., were you able to go to mysore practice, logistically and energy wise?

I waited a month and then practiced a TON as soon as I could. For a few months there I was practicing every day. I was lucky enough to get a 5 month maternity leave, so I could get up super early and nap in the afternoons (or when the baby was). August (the baby) was not sleeping through the night until he was a year old. My husband was nice enough to take the baby and I would go very early before he had to go to work. Often August would sleep while I was gone, so it didn’t put Terence out too much.

Finally, how has your practice changed since you became a mom?

I went back to work after 5 months and the party was over! (I am a software designer) It was extremely difficult to practice at first. We didn’t want to leave August at daycare too long during the day. My husband still needs to exercise too, and our schedules at work aren’t as regular as we like. Sometimes Terence needs to travel or be on a conference call at 6 am. Things are getting better with each day as we learn to create more of a routine in our lives.

Also, there is another interesting element that I didn’t anticipate that makes practicing hard. There is this powerful maternal compulsion to spend every waking moment with your offspring! I had to convince my husband to force me to leave in the mornings to go do yoga.

I am lucky these days to practice ~4 days a week. Every once in a blue moon I will get in 6 days, but that is super rare. It is even more difficult now that the baby wakes up anywhere from 5:30-7 in the morning. I have recently added in a little jogging to supplement my yoga. This is something that my son and I can do together. It is difficult to practice with a toddler who is either crawling all over you or causing chaos in another room. I also get the extra support from my husband to teach 5 yoga classes a week. When I first came back I was attempting to teach 10 and then I was never doing my personal practice.

Is there any way I can return to my previous shape? Will I be able to do backbends again and also in pregnancy?

I can say that I am in different shape than before, better and worse in a lot of ways. I have a little pot belly now and I am not sure my abs will ever be quite like they were before. However, the new softness makes the jump throughs better in a lot of ways. I don’t try to force it, they just magically come. I was able to do backbends after a few months of healing. The mula (pelvic floor) area can take quite a long while to rebuild, especially if your child’s head is 15.5 inches! One of the things that was always very easy for me, salamba sarvangasana (shoulder stand) took an unbelievably long time to rebuild, while arm balances came back quite easily and better than before.

You really cannot predict how a pregnancy is going to feel until you are there and if practice is even possible. I hope to practice again while pregnant. Who knows if that will even be possible – if I will be blessed with another baby or one that seems to enjoy the practice as much as August does. I will definitely let you know how it goes if we are able to explore another yoga pregnancy!

Wendy and August (October 2007)

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.)