I just finished a wonderful week of study at the Krishnamacharya Yoga Mandiram in Chennai, India. I had a great time exploring the Yoga Sutras, and the Bhagavad Gita with Mr. V. Srinivasan, working on Vedic chanting with SaiKripa, and learning new meditation practices with Padmini. Sri T. Krishnamacharya is such a big influence on our modern teaching and practicing of yoga. Is there a yogi practicing today who hasn’t been at least somewhat influenced by Mysore Ashtanga, Iyengar Yoga, Vinyasa Krama and the Yoga Therapy teachings of T.K.V. Desikachar? All of the founders of these yoga styles were students of this great yogi. What an incredible figure in our yoga community.
I love to teach and share the teaching of my teachers with my students but my first love has always been to practice, to study, to learn more about yoga and yoga philosophy, and to grow.
The Yoga Sutras and the Bhagavad Gita were first introduced to me in my first 200hr TT program with Annie Carpenter and James Brown. It was very hard for me to grasp even the most basic concept of yoga philosophy back then. I remember sitting with Paul Cabanis and with Professor John Casey from LMU, as they explained Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras and being completely lost. But with many years of continued practice and continued study, my awareness has increased and much of the philosophy first introduced back then has become very clear to me now.
“You must contemplate the knowledge you are learning.” - Sri Dharma Mittra
You have to study. You have to practice and keep trying to learn and grow.
“Yoga is achieving something you have not been able to achieve before.” - Sri T. Krishnamacharya
Concentrate. Keep studying. Keep learning. Keep practicing. Keep growing. And remember to enjoy the journey.
See you on your mat! Excited to practice with you all this year. Namaste.
