I’ve been practicing Mysore style Ashtanga yoga daily for the last 3 and a half years. As a dedicated practitioner I’ve attended numerous workshops, read countless articles and talked about yoga with fellow Ashtangis until the cows came home!

I count through my practice in Sanskrit every day and can recite the Sanskrit names of all the asanas in primary and some of second series. I know the opening and closing prayers off by heart and have even chanted the yoga sutras a couple of times. But I’m ashamed to say I haven’t really studied much in the way of philosophy.

The other day in the shala, I heard my teacher talking to a beginner about the eight limbs of Ashtanga and the five yamas and I suddenly realised I don’t know what they are! What a bad Ashtangi I am! I raced home that evening after work, grabbed my copy of Yoga Mala (the seminal teachings of our guru Sri K Pattabhi Jois) and feverishly read and re-repeated the eight limbs, the yamas and the niyamas, vowing I’d never forget them again.

And then a strange thing happened. I began to read the yamas in a way I’d never done before. And I began to understand them. I think up until now yoga philosophy for me has mostly been this intangible, distant subject from some forgotten age which I never thought I could relate to. But, as it turns out, the five yamas – a set of principles by which yogis should live their lives – is actually very relevant to all of us, right now. Not only that, I believe they can be applied to many different situations and aspects of life. And I could instantly see how similar they are to my own set of principles for healthy eating:

Ahimsa

The first yama is to do with non-violence. Or more specifically not causing harm to anyone, including animals, in any form, at any time, for any reason – in word, thought or deed.

In relation to diet, I guess the most obvious link here is vegetarianism. But it also has to do with not harming oneself, i.e. not overeating, not starving yourself, not consuming processed or nutritionally devoid foods and not eating foods that don’t agree with you.

Satya

Satya means truth, so we should always tell the truth in thought, word and deed. However, the truth must be pleasant to others so an unpleasant truth should not be told.

I connect this yama with really listening to your body and being truthful with yourself about what your body needs. Are you being honest with yourself about your relationship with food? When do you turn to food for comfort and why?

Asteya

This yama says we should not steal and extends to not being envious of others, not cheating others with sweet words and avoiding gaining selfish ends under the guise of truthfulness.

If you haven’t read the introduction to this series of weekly blog posts you can read it here “sharing The Greatness of Saturn” It’s well worth reading before you dive into the story. This series of posts is inspired by Svoboda’s book: “The Greatness of Saturn – A therapeutic Myth”.

Setting the scene

The Heroic King Vikramaditya once ruled the city of Ujjayani. He was an intellectual philanthropist of a king who protected his citizens like his own family and they in turn looked to their king as a father. He was a righteous man anxious to relieve his subjects of their misery. When he ruled goodness and right conduct permeated every corner of his kingdom.

A man of wisdom and insight who radiated the luster of the the guardians of the 10 directions, King Vikrama drew all the greatest minds of the age to his court like bees drawn to a particularly sweet flower. As bees help a flower to multiply so the king multiplied his own knowledge by drawing these experts into discussion and debate on the issues of the day. The king would consult his court of sages, ritual specialists, strategists and pundits and they would extensively deliberate and debate before finally reaching consensus.

One day the king sat serenely in his finely decorated court, the incense coiling silently around his throne. There had been much debate that morning until a question that was dear to the king’s heart was raised: Which of the nine planets is paramount? The assembled court possessed many great mages who had traversed the vast ocean of astrological knowledge and upon whom had been bestowed the blessings and benefits of the various astrological deities. Each planet had a champion represented at the court in whom the attributes of the celestial beings was embodied.

Stillness descended then on all sides as a space was cleared and the experts gathered to each make their presentation to the benevolent and wise king.

The Sun

The Sun’s champion stepped forward to speak first as the Sun is the brightest of planets. His broad confident face was framed with mane like hair. His steady burning eyes radiated dignity, power and authority. As he spoke his proud and modestly arrogant voice boomed out across the space: “The Sun is superior among all the planets, and he becomes pleased with whoever reveres him consistently. Among the planets he is God incarnate in solar form. Those who regularly and devotedly remember the Sun lose all their worries, disease and poverty – for unwavering worship of the Sun destroys all obstructions and fulfills all cherished desires!”

The Sun wears red flowers and saffron coloured clothes. He carries a red lotus in his hand. His metal is gold or copper and his Gem is ruby. In the body he rules the bones. On earth the Sun rules over Sunday and in the heavens he rules the constellation of Leo.

The Sun’s vehicle is a chariot drawn by 7 green horses. The 7 haritas represent the 7 vedic meters: Gayatri, Tishtup, Anushrup, Jagati, Pankti, Brihati and Ushnik.

There is no reckoning of time without the Sun, and without time there can be no poetic meters, no seasons and no rhythm in the world. The year is the wheel of the Sun’s chariot. That wheel has 12 spokes which are the twelve months. Each month has it’s own deva (deity), apsaras (celestial dancing maidens), Rakshasas (protectors), Serpents, Yakshas (demi gods), Rishis (seers) and Gandharvas (celestial musicians).

Each deva is a divine being who occupies the Sun’s mansion during that month and presides over the sun then. These devas increase the Sun’s own superb splendor with their own divine characteristics. The Rishis compose hymns with which to eulogize the Sun. The gandharvas and apsaras serve the solar deity with song and dance. the yakshas and their attendants worship his rays. The serpents carry the Sun and the rakshasas follow him. From sunrise to sunset the Valakhilyas, the 60 thousand thumb-sized Rishis, surround the Sun and lead him on.

The 12 solar devas are the 12 Adityas the sons of Aditi. The 12 Adityas are: Vivasvan, Aryama, Pushan, Tvashtri, Savitri, Bhaga, Dhata, Vidhata, Varuna, Mitra, Shakra and Urukrama.

The Sun’s champion went on to recount numerous tales of the greatness of the Sun. I’ll share one with you: One day the notoriously peevish Rishi Durvasas visited Krishna in his capital city Dwaraka. Lord Krishna welcomed him and showed him every courtesy but Krishna’s son, Samba mocked the ill-tempered Rishi. At first Durvasas managed to control his temper out of respect for Krishna but Samba continued to tease him. Finally Durvasas lost his cool and cursed the boy with white leprosy. On hearing this Krishna went to Durvasas and begged his pardon asking him how the curse could be lifted. Durvasas answered: “Have the boy follow the Sunday Vow and worship the Sun.” Samba did so faithfully and when he was cured he built a beautiful temple to the Sun in gratitude.

The Sun’s champion then addressed the king saying “It is therefore wise to perform regular, disciplined worship of the omnipotent Lord Surya Narayana. By doing the Gayatri the Brahmanas obtain clear discrimination and by doing the sun salutations (surya namaskara) yogis gain health, strength and awareness. Those who regularly repeat the sacred Aditya Hridaya hymn conquer all their foes as surely as Lord Ramachandra slew Ravana in battle. It is to that Sun that I prostrate myself at dawn each morning.”

Next week’s blog post: The moon.

A couple of weeks ago I borrowed Svoboda’s The Greatness of Saturn from a friend. After reading the introduction I realised that the story is best shared. Svoboda writes: “Anyone who takes on a story takes on the responsibility of passing it on.” He also writes: “Some might call it chance that you selected this book to read; I believe instead that it selected you, that you and it were destined to meet.”

In the spirit of his words I’ve decided to do my bit to share the story of the Greatness of Saturn as a series of weekly blog posts. I’ve set aside the time and space to do this each week on Saturday morning – the traditional Ashtanga rest day. ‘Saturnday’ is also the day governed by Saturn so it seems a fitting day to begin.

A thereapeutice myth

The book’s sub-title is: “A therapeutic myth”. Svoboda’s introduction makes for a fascinating analysis of the fading position of myth in Western society. In order to fully experience the therapeutic benefits of the tale he invites us to create a sacred space in which to interact with the story. I invite you to do the same.

A space for Sadhana

• Create a sacred space in your home where you will read the story, remove any distractions, turn off your phone etc…
• Try and sit at the same time of day each time
• Bathe before you sit, or at least wash your hands, face and feet
• Light a candle or a lamp
• Burn some agreeable incense
• If fresh flowers are available – make an offering of one or more
• When you sit down place a small amount of something sweet in front of you – this will absorb some of the vibrations as you read or listen – when you’ve finished reading consume this and it will help you further digest the story more deeply
• Sound is important – even if you read silently try and pronounce the words and names as if you’re saying them out loud
• Experience the fullness of the tale, enter into it and allow it to enter into you.

About Shani

To wet your appetite I thought I might share some interesting aspects of Saturn or Shani as he’s known. Shani is son of Surya (Sun God) and his wife Chhaya. He’s the elder brother of Yama the Hindu god of death.

When Shani first opened his eyes at birth the sun went into eclipse which shows Shani’s powerful influence in astrology. He’s known as the greatest teacher and well wisher for the righteous. He’s also known as the greatest punisher of those who follow the path of evil, betrayal and unjust deeds. He’s dark in colour and wears black. He holds a sword, arrows and two daggers and his mount is a crow.

I look forward to sharing the journey with you!

Here is the first post in the series: The Greatness of Saturn part 1

G

On the Sunday morning, the first day of the week, Sharath gave a Q&A session after practice. These are our notes from some of the more memorable bits:

Yoga is for relieving the suffering caused by the 6 poisons which surround each of our hearts. The 6 poisons are: Kama (lust); Krodha (anger); Moha (delusion); Lobha (greed); Matsarya (envy); Mada (sloth).

It’s recommended to practice 6 days a week but practising 4 days is better than 2 days which is better than not at all. But 6 days is recommended. If you make it part of your life then it won’t be something you feel you have to do, it’s simply something you do every day, like brushing your teeth. He said the asana practice is the foundation of your spiritual practice and the purpose is to make your body healthy. It’s very difficult to be spiritual if you’re not healthy in your body first.

Teaching yoga has become very difficult in the West as it’s become like $15 per posture, i.e. if you give your students more postures they’ll come back, but if you don’t they won’t. So some teachers just want to give students more and more postures. But he said it’s not about looking for more advanced postures, in fact it’s not about the asana at all. Whatever you’re doing is your practice. If you’re bringing up children they’re part of you so your children become your yoga.

“Yoga is within me. Wherever I am yoga happens.” (This was a defining moment for both of us and even though he said it as an almost throwaway comment, it really struck a chord.)

He said our practice will support many other things in our lives. We have to make many adjustments in our lives, e.g. when we have children. But we shouldn’t stop practising yoga.

He said Yoga is getting very fancy. People want to be very expressive and put their arms up like this (raised his arms in a very elaborate manner). He said it doesn’t matter how you put your arms up, just put them up!

When asked how long to leave it before practising again after having a baby and whether you should only do primary he said you should do whatever feels right, whenever you feel ready, even if this is 1 or 2 years. If you’re pregnant you can practice up to 8 months into your pregnancy, but no twists. After childbirth you should take at least a 3 month break. If you’ve had a ceasarian you should wait at least 6 months and be very careful.

He told a story of when he injured his shoulder when he was younger and he could feel something tearing inside. That afternoon he went to Guruji to tell him he couldn’t practice the next day but Guruji told him he’d volunteered him to give a demonstration. Sharath protested and said he couldn’t even breathe properly but Guruji told him to just do it. So the next day Sharath gave the demonstration which was very painful but once it had fully healed he actually had more flexibility and felt stronger so he could see the benefits of just getting on with the practice.

At the end of the last session he reminded us to keep practising and that places like London need Yoga. He said if we continue to practice with dedication and faith then knowledge will come easily to us.

Om shanti!

We’d been looking forward to John Scott’s evening workshops for some time, so it was with some considerable disappointment that we missed the first session due to the burst water pipe in Croydon which plunged the whole of the south east into complete chaos. Luckily we made it up to Stillpoint Yoga on the second evening and marvelled at the sheer size of the Shard building as we exited London Bridge station right underneath it.

We had no idea what to expect from the sessions, as we discovered John Scott is renowned for his casual approach to workshops, preferring to wing it on the day than plan every minute detail in advance – at least this is certainly how it came across. So as we sat in Starbucks across the road watching the organiser, Scott Johnson, and other excited yogis tucking into coffees, smoothies and sandwiches we found ourselves wondering whether there was going to be any asana practice at all. Once inside the studio, these concerns were further enhanced by a friend who told us the Monday evening session had consisted mainly of talking, pranayama and meditation.

But once the workshop got underway we quickly forgot about our worries as John’s gentle voice and inspiring words led us on a fascinating journey of exploration and discovery. He encouraged us to explore the physical development of a baby’s anatomy and experiment with how a baby finds its centre of gravity and learns to sit, knee and crawl. It was eye opening to realise how much strength it takes to make these tiny baby movements and how quickly this strength can be built up.

We progressed very gently through the surya namaskaras and some of the way through the standing sequence using these small but very focussed baby movements and it was astonishing to discover how much effort this required. He also asked us to join him in calling the Sanskrit count out loud whilst we were moving through the sequence, something which I’d never experienced before and found quite challenging, as coordination of the count, followed by the breath and movement was key. At the end of the session John gave a very inspiring speech about sharing yoga with others, with two memorable quotes being “every yoga class is teacher training” and “we teach others what we most need to learn ourselves”. Great stuff!

On the Wednesday evening we were expecting more of the same but were in for a shock! Apparently Scott had told John to “give them one tonight” so it was a much more physical asana session. However, rather than merely count through the primary series, this was a led class with a difference. John incorporated many of the movements we’d learnt the night before so that he’d lead us gently from one baby movement to the next, then say “now just lean forward and see if you can move your arm this way” and before we knew it we all found ourselves happily sitting in Marichyasana A without quite knowing how we’d got there – and letting out an audible “aah” of realisation! We found ourselves moving into many of the postures this way, which provided a uniquely different perspective than simply launching straight in to the full pose as we so often do normally.

John brought a great deal of humour and humility to the sessions and I found myself fascinated and inspired by all he had to say. He has a very gentle, yet very solid and dedicated approach to the practice and I could quite happily listen to him talk about yoga all day! It was a shame we only got to practice twice with him but it was definitely worth it and both Guy and I are already eagerly anticipating our next opportunity to practice with him – whether that’s in New Zealand, the UK or beyond!

I’d like to thank Scott and Oz for their hospitality and for putting on such a great workshop. Their studio, Stillpoint Yoga, is a lovely big space fantastically located right next to London Bridge station and it was great to finally practice there with them.

Om shanti

Hannah and Guy