Ashtanga Brighton Blog

In mid August we took a week’s holiday from work to practice with Sharath in London as part of his European Tour. We had been planning to commute from Brighton which would have entailed a 3am start to catch the first train to King’s Cross every day, but even we’re not quite that insane. Luckily we found a friend willing to lend us their holiday flat – a gorgeous, rustic-style, attic flat in Notting Hill – very Portobello!

So we were able to swan about town like true Londoners after our daily morning sessions; although as we soon discovered we were a lot more prone to snoozing than swanning about as the week wore on! Our first commute to the Camden Centre on Sunday morning was filled with anticipation and excitement and we soon discovered we weren’t the only ones who’d hardly slept a wink the night before (and I don’t think that was purely down to our friend’s dog repeatedly jumping on us in the middle of the night either).

The whole room was buzzing as we jostled into place on our mats but a sudden hush fell upon the 150-strong Ashtangis as soon as Sharath walked in. And, just as expected, he greeted us with “Samastithi”, then the opening mantra, then “Ekam…Dve…Trini…” and off we went. This was the traditional Sanskrit count with the correct vinyasa; no frills; no funny business; just straight up led primary. And it was amazing! Sharath has the steadiest, slowest count I’ve ever experienced; he’s like a metronome. Oh except when he wanted to hold us in a posture a bit longer, just to give us a little extra challenge!

This was one of the things that surprised me about meeting Sharath. I’d heard so many things about him – what he’s like, how he teaches, etc – so it was incredibly valuable to experience his teaching for myself. And I found he wasn’t at all how I expected – he’s gentle, humorous and incredibly light. He makes Yoga seem very simple. In the West I think we put too much emphasis on perfection – on getting every posture right – and on progress – getting more and more poses. But he said it’s not about the asana; whatever you’re doing is your practice. So it was very refreshing to practice with him and experience his approach. It was also a great contrast to John Scott’s workshop a few weeks ago which was very exploratory, playful and experimental. Being taught 6 counted led primary classes in a row by Sharath has made me realise how inconsistent I am in my own practice. I take extra breaths in vinyasas and fewer breaths in more challenging postures. I now feel inspired to count his slow, steady breaths in my head, whether I’m in Utthita Hasta Padangusthasana, Sirsana or even the devillish Utpluthih!

Sharath’s clear, steady voice became very familiar to me by the end of the week and some of his little sayings will be forever imprinted in my mind during my own practice. Imagine these spoken with an Indian accent: “Don’t cheat, don’t catch your legs” (in Navasana); “Head down only, don’t leave your leg…. Now leave your leg” (coming out of Supta Padangusthasana); “No Chakrasana here” (when people fell over in headstand); “Stay up, don’t come down” (in Utpluthih).

There was a great energy and a wonderful community spirit during the week’s practice and it was lovely to see some familiar faces as well as meeting new friends in Guy’s Twitter buddies. On the last day the primary and intermediate practitioners all came together in one class for the led primary which brought a different energy again. There was something really moving about the sheer number of people coming together to share such a personal and powerful experience, which is very apt seeing as Yoga means “union”. At the end of the final session, after the last vinyasa was completed and Sharath invited us to take rest, the room broke out into spontaneous applause. This was a magical moment and he appeared visibly moved by it. As soon as rest had been taken, a long queue of people formed in front of Sharath to thank him, say a few words and perhaps have a photo taken with him.

From speaking to some of our fellow Ashtangis it seems many people feel inspired to go to Mysore after practising with Sharath, even if they weren’t entirely convinced before. I also want to go now more than ever and hope I’ll be able to before too long.

I feel quite sad that the week is over but incredibly blessed to have had the opportunity to practice with Guruji’s grandson, which is as close to the “source” as I’ll ever get. Thank you to Hamish & Anna and everyone who helped make the event such a resounding success, especially the T-shirt sellers who provided a lovely little materialistic challenge after practice every day! And yes, after agonising over it for days, we both finally caved in and bought one of the most expensive ones each! So much for non-attachment.

Click here if you’d like to read our notes on the Q&A session with Sharath.

Namaste,

Hannah & Guy

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!

August saw Hannah and I catching a train up to Edinburgh for a mid week city break with my Mum, sister and nephew. On my last trip I’d found Bristo Yoga School located in the centre of Edinburgh to practice at during my stay. Karen who runs the school was rather sensibly away in a balmy warmer Mysore, practicing with Sharath at the KPJAYI. Each morning I trudged through the magical snow-covered streets to the studio where I met and practiced with Tim, a decent Aussie bloke, and another guy with a ponytail – sorry dude, but I can’t for the life of me remember your name! You can read more about my last trip and practicing in Edinburgh here.

Fast forward 8 months and this time it’s Hannah and I walking in the early morning light to practice. There have been lots of changes at Bristo Yoga School since my last visit. It’s had a refurb and there’s even a new floor which Tim says was laid about a week ago! Hurrah! No more bandha-busting spongy mats on the floor. We also got to meet the lovely Karen from Florida who is the main teacher of the morning Mysore classes. The other big difference is – lots of students! I didn’t count but there were between 15 to 20+ practitioners each morning who are clearly committed to the path of yoga.

The energy in the room was great – soothing, energising and nicely warm. In fact Hannah remarked after our second morning that she felt really at home in the subterranean vault, like we’d been practicing there much longer. I felt it too – it’s the energy of Ashtangis coming together to practice as the sun rises, with devotion, dedication and commitment. There’s nothing else quite like it.

A big thank you to the Bristo Shala for their hospitality. Anyone looking to practice morning Mysore style Ashtanga yoga in Edinburgh should definitely visit Bristo Yoga School.

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

Our Friend Narayani is offering readers of the Ashtanga Brighton blog 15% off on her new album Maatri Sharanam.

Maatri Sharanam (Take Refuge in the Mother), is a collection of traditional Sanskrit chants set to a range of beautiful melodies composed by Narayani. Mixing slow, gentle tempos with upbeat folk-style harmonies, and accompanied by tabla (Indian drums) and violin, Narayani’s powerful chanting is at once spiritually uplifting and profoundly meditative. And, whilst honouring the Indian tradition and philosophy of Kirtan (call and response chanting), her compositions have a western influence with wide appeal.

You can listen to and download the album on Narayani’s website One Body One Sound. To claim your discount click the add to cart button and then enter ASHTANGA-BRIGHTON underneath the message: Do you have a coupon?

Happy listening!

Namaste,

Guy