As we enter the Chinese year of the Dragon, we have an opportunity to nurture our spirits by focusing on the qualities of the dragon…strength, courage, belief in yourself. It’s relatively easy for us to remind ourselves to work on the visible/external aspects of ourselves every time we look in the mirror. This year, we’ll, not only work on our physical strength through our asana practice, but also work in the invisible…coaching ourselves to take risks, believe in ourselves, and jump into the fire every one in a while. Here’s a beautiful quote from Rumi to inspire us:

Work In The Invisible
The prophets have wondered to themselves, “How long should we keep pounding this cold iron? How long do we have to whisper into an empty cage?”

Every motion of created beings comes from the creator, The first soul pushes, and your second soul responds, beginning, so don’t stay timid.

Load the ship and set out. No one knows for certain whether the vessel will sink or reach the harbor. Cautious people say, “I’ll do nothing until I can be sure.”

Merchants know better. If you do nothing, you lose. Don’t be one of those merchants who won’t risk the Ocean! This is much more important than losing or making money. This is your connection to God!

You must set fire to have light. Trust means you’re ready to risk what you currently have. Think of your fear and hope about your livelihood. They make you go to work diligently every day.

Now consider what the prophets have done. Abraham wore fire for an anklet. Moses spoke to the sea. David molded iron. Solomon rode the wind.

Work in the invisible world at least as hard as you do in the visible. Be companions with the prophets even though no one here will know that you are, not even the helpers of the Qutub*, the abdals.

You can’t imagine what profit will come! When one of those generous ones invites you into his fire, go quickly!

Don’t say, “But will it burn me? Will it hurt?”

–Rumi

*Qutub or Kutb is a Muslim Sufi word for the highest form of master

Welcoming Another Year of Magic and Blessings

I saw the moon set over the ocean and cast a glow across the water like the sun setting. I felt myself in the path of its beam. I soaked in the glow of the beam and felt the beauty and magic the moon was sharing with me. Then the ocean swallowed the moon and I was left with a feel of having witnesses something miraculous.

This year has cast its beam on my life. I have felt the blessings of another year practicing and teaching yoga at Pacific Ashtanga.  I am grateful for the new students that have found the practice and for the dedicated students who have returned for another year.

The greatest blessing this year was having my mom and dad move from Indiana to Southern California. It has been a dram of mine for a long time to have them near me and be part of the Shala. One of the things making the Shala special is that it is a family business. The Shala has always felt like a family, and now the family is complete.

May we all continue to put ourselves in the path of the Beam and welcome another year of magic and blessings. Thank you for sharing your practice with me.

Love Diana

Sharath Rangaswamy, grandson of Pattabhi Jois, and now director of the Ashtanga Yoga Research Institute in Mysore, India, was in Toronto recently. These are recordings of a conference he held during his visit, thanks to Rochelle and Paul Gold.

In the first video, Sharath talks about Parampara, a traditional Indian cultural practice where knowledge is passed down from one guru to the student. He stresses the importance of finding the right teacher from whom you can learn Ashtanga as it was meant to be.

In the second video, Sharath talks about his beloved grandfather, Pattabhi Jois, or as we all refer to him affectionately as Guruji, and his dedication to the Ashtanga practice.

If you are having issues watching the second video, here is a link to the video on You Tube.
R Sharath Conference 2 on You Tube

Again thank you to Rochelle and Paul Gold for sharing these recordings on YouTube with us.

A great little interview of Pattabhi Jois back from the 70′s. Guruji’s wise words on the practice of Ashtanga Yoga.

Many people are always trying to learn the closing chant. Even with it written down and translated, it’s not easy. So, here’s the video of Sharath reciting the chant, with subtitles. Hopefully you’ll find it helpful.

If there’s one Ashtanga movie many of us recommend, it’s Ashtanga New York. Filmed in 2001, during Guruji’s visit to New York City, it’s an inspirational portrayal of the Ashtanga practice.

Here’s a trailer to the movie. It’s a must see!

The Bhagavad Gita (Song of the Blessed One)

Of all the great spiritual texts, there’s only one that Gandhi carried with him everywhere. Even though The Bhagavad Gita is not about religion, Gandhi called it his “prayer-book” and its the one he lived his life by. The Gita is a beautiful poem that happens to capture the heart of yoga beautifully. It’s also the one book Guruji and many yoga teachers recommend for aspiring yogis.

Like all poetry, the Gita is best read slowly, from your heart, not your head. Because the setting for the story is a war between two families, it’s often confused with supporting violence. However, the war is simply a metaphor for the war we all fight daily. It’s a reminder that our mind can be both friend and foe and you have to stand up and fight the enemies – jealousy, anger, impatience, doubt – the enemies that prevent our true selves from shining through.

The story is told as a conversation between Arjuna, the warrior representing the good family and Krishna representing the Divine. As Arjuna struggles with having to fight this battle he really doesn’t want to fight, Krishna shares insight on relationship with the Atman (our true self or soul), the Divine and Liberation. He also
references yoga and yogis throughout – and never once mentions asana! The Gita defines a yogi as “the lluminated one”. So… we have to be careful about calling ourselves yogis… most of us aren’t quite there yet, we’re simply “on the path”.

Regardless of what’s going on in your life, the Gita can be your compass, offering direction, comfort and wisdom. One time you be may be called to take action, another time surrendering might seem the better option. It reminds us to take care of the physical body that houses our precious soul ; to fight for our svadharma (our personal path), to love our work and the power we have to make the world better because we bring joy to whatever that “job” is ; and to live life fully but let go of attachment to a specific outcome. even though we may relate this to not caring, it’s really just our mind projecting what we think the fruit of our effort should be. Just being present, giving our best effort and being true to ourselves is enough, the
blessings will come.

I have been taking Tai Chi classes from Seiji Hori at Pacific Ashtanga since April. I find that Tai Chi enhances and complements my Yoga practice a great deal. Even though the movements seem slow, and it obviously does not require the same amount of flexibility as Ashtanga, the demand on your breathing and core awareness is very similar. Not to mention the development of Chi, also known as Prana for us yoga folks. Don’t let the slow movement fool you, we work up quite a sweat doing this as well.

Here are two videos of Seiji performing two separate “forms”. Both are of the Chen family style, the original teachers of Tai Chi. Those us who’ve been studying since April are now learning the 19 Step Short Form. No worries though if you want to give it a try, new and returning students are always welcomed and will learn the popular Yang Style 24 Step Form to start with.

Class is on Saturdays at 12:30 Noon and lasts 1 hour for new students. From 1:30 to 2 pm we do the new stuff.

This starts out looking similar to the above form, but you see that it changes after the first few movements.

Back by popular demand, a third Transition Workshop was held on 08-15-09. Diana reviewed the pull through, along with chakrasana (backwards somersault), and many others. Here are some video clips of what was covered. Interested in more? Let us know and maybe Diana will conduct another workshop!

This clip contains brief demos of chakrasana (backward sommersault), Setu Bandhasana entrance, and traditional headstand entrance and exit.

On August 8th, Pacific Ashtanga hosted Dr. Kunchok Gyaltsen for an evening on a talk about Tibetan Medicine. Dr. Gyaltsen is a Tibetan Buddhist Monk and Tibetan Medicine Doctor. He is currently working on his PhD. at UCLA in Public Health. He’s also the President and Founder of the Tibetan Healing Fund. www.tibetanhealingfund.org

Below are video excerpts of Dr. Gyaltsen’s talk from that evening.