Hi Francisco.
I think you should practice with whichever teacher you feel most intuitively drawn to. If that feeling of inner connection is there for a particular teacher, then you should explore it. I also feel that it is important to develop a long term relationship with one teacher, if you really want to go deep in the practice. This will provide more integration and stability in your practice. It is much more valuable to have an ongoing relationship with a teacher who you can see regularly, then to have a one time experience with a well known teacher. Don’t count out the lesser known teachers. They often have as much, or more, experience and depth in their practice and teaching than the famous teachers do. I don’t recommend Rolf and Marci in Goa, based on what I have observed and experienced there.
Good luck and all the best to you.
Iain

Great to hear from you, Manlio. Please share my best wishes with all the San Francisco/Sidney Mysore community. I’ve heard great things about the new space that Sidney is holding classes in. I hope you’re enjoying it.

What you say about the negative reports of Mysore being people’s own karmic patterns expressed onto an external situation is a tricky subject, and worthy of a long article of it’s own! I feel there is some truth to that, in many cases. True yoga (in whatever form of practice, be it Ashtanga Vinyasa Asana, Meditation, Yama/Niyama, etc.) when applied correctly, is designed to bring our samskaras/sankaras out onto the surface for us, and possibly everyone else, to see. Then we have the choice, of either observing and working with them in a way that they will weaken, or we can also go the opposite route and use the opportunity to strengthen them, taking us deeper into the delusions that cause us to suffer. Negative habit patterns will come up for everyone that is practicing. The mark of a practitioner with real depth of understanding is how we choose to work with those patterns that come up. The real work of yoga!

Thank you Johnny, I’m sure we’ll meet up eventually in the small world of Ashtanga!

I believe the backlash against “orthodox Ashtanga” has been created by practitioners and authors who have misunderstood the system. Those who took a strongly fundamentalist and narrow minded interpretation of the system, and later abandoned it because it did not work for them or their students, can tend to be very outspoken against what they see as a very rigid system. I think this shows more about the inner tendencies of these practitioners than it does about the system itself.

Sharath’s approach to teaching the system does not fall into this narrow minded category, from what I have observed. Sharath treats each student as an individual, and sets different standards for physical expectations based on the individual’s unique characteristics of age, injury, health, etc. He may set stronger standards for a young, healthy or physically capable student to achieve perfection in a difficult asana before moving them on in the series. With other students who are older, injured, or simply do not have the physical capacity, he will move them on without having achieved the same degree of perfection that other students may be expected to have. He may grant teaching authorization to someone who is less advanced in the physical practice, while someone who is further along may not be authorized.

In conference talks, Sharath constantly emphasizes that physical development in asana is only a doorway to the real yoga, which must happen inside oneself. He reminds us that someone who “only” does half of primary series can be a real yogi, while someone practicing advanced series may not attain this inner understanding and transformation of yoga. Sharath expounds the message that yoga is the transformation of the entire person, and that physical attainments in asana are not a guarantee of this inner transformation.

I have never met or practiced with an Ashtanga teacher who falls into the narrow minded, fundamentalist category as described by the author of the quoted article. Although I am sure such teachers do exist, I think they are by far a minority, and the greater Ashtanga community (especially those who are seeking training from Sharath today) do not fall into this category.

My own personal approach, and the approach taken by other teachers and peers that I respect and have worked with, is to adapt the system to bring healing and transformation to each student – on all levels of the being. A 65 year old with various chronic pains and injuries can practice the same system as a 25 year old who is strong and healthy. They can learn the same sequences. What will be very different is how they practice these sequences. The older, less physically capable student will likely move more slowly and possibly with some temporary or permanent modifications of challenging hip rotations, etc. The younger student may move more quickly, but be asked to stay at certain postures until the requisite physical changes to complete the postures come about. I have taught numerous students in the older and less physically able category, and found that they can attain great benefits from the practice, without having to change very much about the postures or sequences. Due to their maturity, their focus and understanding of the inner aspects of the practice is often much deeper than that of the younger and more physically able students.

As a teacher, I try to work intuitively and in direct relationship with each student as they really are, from moment to moment, rather than placing them in a certain category (like the author of the quoted article does) and following a formula. I try to see how the set sequence of the Ashtanga system can be made to work for each practitioner and their unique individual characteristics, so that the real yoga can happen on the inside. This allows for endless possibilities.

Following rigid interpretations of “Pananjali yoga”, “meditation” and “pranayama” can become just as dogmatic and unhealthy as rigid interpretations of the physical aspects of asana. All of these aspects of yoga have dual potential as either tools to help us deepen our relationship with ourselves, or as rigid dogmas which only serve to take us deeper in bondage and delusion. The difference lies in the intention and awareness that we bring to whichever practice or scripture it is.

It talks about the issue of orthodox Ashtanga and whether the traditional practice instructions should be strictly followed without modification.

Not only this, but also our brief conversations here in Mysore.
Looking forward to learning from you in May!!!

You have such a beautiful and peaceful practice! Hope to meet you before I leave!