Conference

A large part of my decision to come to India and specifically to Mysore for this month is to study yoga in the Ashtanga tradition at KPJAYI. This tradition can be traced back and has been passed along from teacher to student dating back as far as 200 BC, and the texts that it's based on, even before then. I've been fortunate to work and study with a handful of very dedicated and true teachers in every sense of the word, some of whom follow this tradition. So, for me as a student of yoga and of the world, now is the time in my life for me to learn from the source...or as close to it as is possible.

I'm learning quickly that like so many things in India, success in understanding the routine or schedules or directions comes with patience, observation and many questions!! I was finally able to register on Sunday for class beginning on Monday. It's high season here and there are students from all over the world, some, like myself, making their first visit and others, on their 3rd and 4th return. 

Each Sunday at the Shala there is mandatory conference for the students that is led by Sharath, who will be my primary teacher while I'm here. Yesterday he spoke to a packed room...I'd guess around 300 people...about the idea of stability, or in Sanskrit, sthira. He spoke about first discovering and then cultivating stability from within so over time and with practice, this becomes a reliable, steady part of you no matter what is changing or going on around you. And he spoke about how cultivating and doing your own practice can help guide a person toward this.

Before I sign off, I have to take a moment to acknowledge where I am. To be inside the Shala for the first time after hearing so many stories, accounts and descriptions for the past 4-5 years is somewhat surreal. Finding an appropriate analogy is tough but...well, it's akin to Owen Wilson's character, Gil, in the film Midnight in Paris, meeting, working with and receiving critique from influences like Hemingway and Stein, The Fitzgeralds (Zelda too, but of course!) and Picasso....except this is in real time and, for once, not in my imagination! One can hope but also work toward the sort of clarity Gil found in his way toward the end of the film.

So far, this is a definite pinch-me experience.



And because food is something that seems to interest many folks (with good reason...it's delicious!).....THAT'S what I call a dosa.