The Misfits of Ashtanga

This past month I have been teaching heaps and meeting new yogis in the Aberdeen community, sharing a simple message: practice the misfit asanas, the challenging ones. Don't skip them.

If you practice every day, approach what you have been taught with genuine effort and the practice in turn will take you all the way towards understanding the last three limbs of ashtanga - dharana (concentration), dhyana (meditation), and samadhi (absorption). 

Patanjali calls these last three limbs of ashtanga, a complete form of integration, Samyama. 

The last three limbs come when there is no more wondering or questioning what we are doing in the asana. It is required that we have already done all our work and research and we are able to invite a quiet depth to seep into our practice.

If you are not practicing every day or very often, the misfit asanas will urge you to quit and fidget and fumble instead of experiencing samyama. 

One of the ring leader misfits in the primary series - Janu Sirsasana C - is the posture that most people who are learning ashtanga simply skip. Others are a trifecta of difficult lotus-based asanas - Marichyasana B, D and Garbha Pindasana. These also get specifically left out because they are not easy, nor do they feel good for the first few years of practice.

Work on the difficult asanas that you may want to  overlook. If we are incapable of disciplining ourselves to attempt the challenging asanas, then there is no way that we will understand samyama. 

Without daily effort, how can we expect to advance or be more comfortable in the asanas that are alarming, if we don't go play with them every day?

Daily practice is the backbone of ashtanga yoga. Place practice as a priority over theory and study. You can do all the research you want - watch youtube and videos of pros all over, take workshops and go see famous yogis talk and demonstrate. But if you don't get on your mat and try, by yourself in your kitchen or in the Mysore room - samyama will definitely not happen.

I urge practitioners - whichever asana you are working on - first and foremost, try it every day. Why not spend a little bit more time working on what you are NOT good at and master that challenging misfit asana that is giving you grief? It may be giving you the right lesson you are needing to learn.

Here is my misfit asana - Sayanasa. Don't be fooled, I am not quite there, here I am falling out of it. Maybe in a few more years it will be easier. Well it took four years for that other misfit asana, Janu Sirsasana C to feel good, why would this one be any easier?

Patanjali outlines a perfect remedy for us on 'how-to' attain the riches of yoga. The crux of this method is practice: practice done for a long time, without a break, and with effort. If we can practice the feel-good asanas along WITH the misfit asanas with effort and with devotion, then one day we will understand all of the limbs of ashtanga yoga, including samyama. 

Thank you Aberdeen, for inviting me to teach at the The Yoga Spot, Love Yoga, and at Mo Yoga. A huge thank you to Michele, Rebecca and Mo for inviting me into the community and giving me the opportunity to share my love for ashtanga. And may samyama seep into your practices, dear Aberdeen yogis! And to the yogis beyond Scotland, too!


*Teaching Update:

5 October Chanting and Philosophy class Yoga Spot - 10:30 am

Week-long Mysore intensive at Love Yoga October 14-18

Ashtanga Yoga Edinburgh week intensive October 21-25.

Unraveling in Aberdeen

We moved this past week from Edinburgh to Aberdeen. This stressful time of clean-the-house, pack-the-car, say-goodbye-to-friends, and then move-to-a-new-city is one that requires some recovery time.

Thank you, Ashtanga Yoga Edinburgh!

I begin this new chapter in Aberdeen with rest. Rest is reading books ("The Autograph Man" and "Wolf Hall"), practicing, chanting, making ghee, taking walks, cooking, journaling, and writing letters to friends.

Long walks along my new favorite river, the Don, involve navigating pathways and trails that somehow just end! Though I am often lost, it is familiar to live right among the trees. In less than five minutes I am right at the river's side taking in the smells of the river: sharp detritus of rotting logs, bright green freshwater moss, piles of leaves, and abandoned forts that animals have built left like abandoned Scottish castles.

Intertwined foliage creeps everywhere, all around me, right inside me. It is lush, it is organic, it is juicy. Nature inspires me to practice, so I bring the memories of the natural world in. Can I feel this enamored while in Poorna Matsyendrasana? I shall try.

I have also been cooking as much food as possible with the guidance of Yotam Ottolenghi. Yotam transforms vegetables with heat and fire into a metamorphosis of joy. He may blind side you by asking you to garnish your masterpiece with a voluptuous egg. Deliciously daring!

Yogic practice has been a very relaxed affair; home practices have been sprinkled with peace. There haven’t been any early morning cycling/walking escapades through dark streets to get to practice. Practicing in your living room is sometimes the best place to approach any difficult asana.

Now, after morning coffee I stroll to the runway and the riches of this practice we love come right out. All it takes is a clean room without clutter and a lot of effort. Practice doesn’t need to be a gruel of sweat left drying on your mat like a heap of exhaustion, either. Use the right amount of effort in order to make it successful and joyful. 

Along the River Don, there are many kinds of geese and ducks flying about tending to what needs to be tended to before flying south in the coming cooling months. The cold wind in the air is nature’s warning; these birds know it, and they are hurrying about in their preparations.  

I too am gearing up to teach and join the yoga community in Aberdeen, though I may not be as busy as these birds! I am offering a few workshops in the coming weeks and in the meantime, I shall continue to admire the birds’ efforts and learn from the most glorious guide, nature.

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Teaching schedule in Aberdeen/Edinburgh:

14-15 September, Love Yoga - weekend workshop, book Love Yoga

30-September -7 Oct, The Yoga Spot - week of Mysore intensive. Book The Yoga Spot.

21-25 October Ashtanga Yoga Edinburgh - week of Mysore intensive, book AYE.