I have been an armchair traveller to India almost as long as I can remember. Now, after many, many years of deferring the gratification, I’ll be traveling to India during the next month, on the Namarupa Yatra. This journey is the culmination of my decades-long, long-distance love affair with India, one entirely conducted through years of studying its literature, philosophies, language and history, both ancient and modern.

I’m not going to India to simply practice yoga (although I will be practicing Ashtanga yoga almost every day with a few of the best teachers in the world - and trekking in the Himalayas, too.)  My journey will be a Yatra, or pilgrimage. I’ll be traveling thousands of miles to experience darshan of Hindu Gods and Goddesses, in a variety of temples and sacred places (darshan means source of spiritual renewal, both seeing and being seen by the deity). This intentional, respectful spiritual journey will bring me and my fellow travelers to many of the most highly charged and spiritual places in India - to a land where epic stories unfolded thousands of years ago. It is a place where experiencing the divine is thought to be more possible than anywhere else in the world.

Friends who have been to India before me have all said something along the lines of: “Forget all you think you know of it, don’t try to control what happens to you there, and be prepared to be deeply moved and changed by your trip.” I’m trying my best to follow their advice so that I can fully enjoy and integrate all that India has to teach me. I am as prepared as I will ever be, and very grateful to leave my classes in the hands of my capable and supportive colleagues at AYN -  teachers who have generously offered their time to give me this gift of freedom. Our schedule will remain unchanged, so that you can continue your practice uninterruptedly while I'm gone. 

I think this will be the longest time I will have taken off from teaching Ashtanga in almost 10 years, and I will miss all of you (not to mention, my family and my pets.) I'm grateful to feel everyone’s support as I realize this dream.

Please stop in to practice with me Sunday or Monday morning - I leave on Tuesday October 6. I’ll be back in the studio on Monday morning, November 2. Meanwhile, keep up with your practice, and continue to share your presence and energy with our teachers and the AYN community while I am away!

I'll see you soon.

Love,

Michelle

This is a reposting of a blog essay I wrote back in March of 2013 on my old Florence Yoga Blog. I'm including it here because of a recent request by Angela Jamison of Ashtanga Yoga Ann Arbor to share my story once more. Since I have written this post, I have shared my story with many students and many teachers of the Ashtanga practice, warning them of the risks inherent in these devices for all women - but especially those who practice Ashtanga. The risk of a severe physical and mental toll on women who use Mirena - and I suspect, other IUD forms of birth control as well - far outweighs the benefits. My recommendation: steer clear of IUDs, no matter what your age. 

I've loved the practice ever since my first led Half Primary class 16 years ago. I've struggled with it, loved it and at times, hated it, too - but I have stuck with the practice with little variation because I believe it's brilliant and it works for most humans - if you put the time and effort into it, that is. At one time, though, I literally was unable to do the practice, for about a year, because it hurt way too much. 

In 2004, I was looking for an alternative form of birth control, and an IUD called the Mirena was suggested to me by my well-meaning ObGyn. Placed inside the uterus, good for five years, the Mirena is a very small plastic device shaped like a "T" and it's impregnated with a low dose of hormones, so that you don't get pregnant. "Brilliant", I thought, "hook me up!" So, the device was inserted into my body, and all seemed well. Sex with no muss, no fuss, and no worries! 

I went to one of Nancy Gilgoff's adjustment clinics the following Summer, where she was teaching us Uddhiyana and Nauli Kriya. After demonstrating the how-to for us, she said, ominously, "If you have an IUD in, do NOT do Nauli Kriya. I'm not even certain you should do Uddhiyana Kriya, either." My ears perked up, and I raised my hand and said, "I have an IUD in." Both Nancy and Christine Hoar said, almost simultaneously, "You should have it removed."

My reaction was skepticism, "Yeah, well, sisters, I really, really am done having kids. So, the IUD is staying in." And, so it did.

In year two of the IUD, I stopped getting my periods, but also started noticing an increase in water weight. (Let's be frank: I was really bloated, all over.) I was practicing daily, rigorously, but not a bit of weight was coming off. Practice made me feel so depleted, I would compensate by eating too much. There also was a little bit of back pain now accompanying the lovely bloat, too. Nothing severe, but it was there.

In year three, I started noticing that I could barely move when I woke up in the morning. My back was becoming increasingly stiff, and practice was starting to become difficult. I was noticeably heavier. I had been practicing all of Primary and all of Second before the IUD, but at that point, even Sun Salutes were becoming difficult. And, I had to practice later in the day, vs. the mornings, because my back was just too stiff and painful early in the morning. After an afternoon practice, my back would feel better, and I would think, "Oh, Good, practice fixed it." But, then, I would wake up the next morning, wracked with pain and feeling like I was 80 years old. (I was 40 at the time.)

I went to a doctor, who could find nothing wrong, other than "muscle spasms." I attributed the worsening of the initial, tolerable back pain to lifting heavy furniture. The pain got so bad, I finally decided that it was the Ashtanga practice that was hurting me, so I stopped doing it completely, and thought I'd try some other form of Hatha yoga. For almost a year, I tried other styles. Yin Yoga. Good, but not great. Iyengar. Dull, with too much talking about "how" and not enough doing. Kripalu. Better, but, still not great. Svaroopa. No movement at all, really, and so, no pain, but then the pain would return. I even tried Anusara, which was not a fit. 

None of these practices addressed my physical needs, and certainly, none of them addressed my mental and emotional ones, either. I was getting weaker and weaker, too. Chronic pain, if you have ever experienced it, is extremely debilitating. You just don't want to move at all. After this fruitless search, I decided that the Ashtanga system was the most sane and wise, and the only one that addressed improving strength along with flexibility, and, even if what I was doing wasn't the traditional, "pure" practice, it worked better than all the other forms I had tried.

So, I did an extremely modified Ashtanga practice on my own (really, a series modeled on the Ashtanga sequences - but, no Sun Salutes, no vinyasas, a modified Primary with no forward bending beyond 80 degrees. Some of the first part of Second series, too, nothing beyond camel, `although the twists of Second series and Parighasana were very therapeutic, so I added those at the end of my practice. Shoulderstand sequence, once I hauled myself up into it, felt good and restorative, too. And, I turned to Vipassana meditation, which really helped manage the pain. I started to really read and study the Sutras, and I focused on the other limbs of Ashtanga practice. With these tools, which were nothing like what I had once enjoyed in my "traditional" asana practice, but were actually deeper in many ways, I learned I could manage the pain. My desire to continue on the spiritual path I'd started years earlier was aided by the gentle movements of the highly modified practice, along with the more intense meditation that Vipassana provided.

I did this for a year or so. It worked. Then, I went to a really great bodyworker, who, in just a few sessions, alleviated a great deal of the pain in my low back, allowing the spasming muscles there to relax and release. I very slowly started to do more Suryanamaskar in my practice, lengthening out the sequence of Primary series if it felt good. As soon as I felt my back starting to weaken or go into spasm, I would stop, do a gentle closing, and facilitate the slow but steady return to my former strength and flexibility. 

This really worked well. Pain management was easier, and while I still had a lot of pain in the mornings, I could do the practice. 

Then, I had the IUD removed, in December of 2009. 

Within a week of the device removal, the pain in my back was completely gone.  Within a month of removal, my body shed over 20lbs of water weight. Within six months, I was doing all of Primary and most of Second once more. People who hadn't seen me in a few months didn't recognize me. I felt young again. It was a miracle! 

No, it was the removal of the Mirena. I googled "Mirena back pain" after I had it removed, and was stunned by the sheer number of women who's experiences were similar to mine. 

Subsequently, I've had female students who have complained of back pain in their practice, and it's always one of the first things I ask: "Do you have an IUD inserted?" Upon removal of the IUD, their back pain and bloating went away, too.

Food for thought, IUD users! I know, they are convenient, I know, they are an easy and thought-free means of contraception. But, ease and convenience are definitely not worth the pain. Take it from me.

There’s a saying, “A mile wide and an inch deep.” I heard this many years ago, and it struck me, because I realized it was something that I did all the time. Beside taking care of three children and a home, I was doing yoga, and taking horseback riding lessons. I loved to hike or take walks in nature. I spent an inordinate amount of time doing crafts like knitting, sewing or hooking rugs. I poured over cookbooks and spent a lot of time preparing great meals. I noodled around on the guitar. I was (and still am) a voracious reader. And I was doing a lot of painting, too, on commission. For my “down time” I’d watch too much TV and read fashion magazines. (This was before the Internet, so Facebook and Instagram weren’t around, but those also became distractions in their time.) While most of these things seem quite edifying, I was doing none of them with any sense of cultivating depth or understanding. Generally, most of these activities were all just surface, done for entertainment, to remain busy when I was bored.  

Hearing the “Mile Wide” quote, it dawned on my that I had a desire to learn to do one thing really well in this lifetime, and that one thing was Ashtanga Yoga. Of all my activities, I knew that it was the best for my wellbeing in the long run. I loved how it made me feel, inside and out. I was intrigued by the centuries of knowledge that could be studied, and the states of being that could be experienced. I had a passion for it. But, I still struggled to find the time to practice. While I couldn’t and didn’t want to stop parenting and caring for my home (that was my first priority) I realized it was time to let some of my less edifying and less productive activities drop away, and make room for some depth in my life. 

What I let go of:

1. Television. I grew up in a household where the TV was on 18 hours a day or more, and it really drained me, in retrospect. Saying “no” to TV felt like a gain. I watch less than 6 hours a week now, mostly nature shows or good films on Netflix.
2. My iPhone. My children used to accuse me of being obsessed with my iPhone - and they were right. I constantly used my phone to email, to text, to take photos and videos, to check social media. When the Internet came into my life, I fell into it with gusto, and spent way too much time surfing and gossiping online. While I do still have accounts on Facebook and Instagram to stay in touch with far-flung friends, I make an effort to curtail my use, and occasionally “fast” from social media for several days. The most important thing I have done about my phone is to actually shut off the ringer, so that it remains silent throughout the day. If I don't hear it ring or buzz, I won't answer it, and so, I am less enslaved to it. Admittedly, I'm less accessible: I only answer my phone if I happen to glance and see that someone is calling, and I don't get an alert when texts come in. I simply check the phone periodically, usually after I'm done teaching, and then a few other times during the day. I use the phone as a means of staying in touch - but only when it is convenient for me, and not at the convenience of everyone else - including my family. 

1. Magazines. I canceled almost all of my subscriptions. I notice I’m much happier and less self conscious about how I look or dress, because I no longer expose myself to beautiful but expensive fashions, or to models whom I will never, ever look like. I only subscribe to one weekly magazine now, the New Yorker; the writing is in-depth and excellent, although I rarely make it through an entire issue.
2. Crafts. I got rid of the crafts, and honed it down to just knitting occasionally; it is a meditative practice. I gave away much of my craft gear to family or the Goodwill. Again, not a loss. 
3. Guitar. I stopped playing guitar. I realized I never was going to be a good guitarist, and although I have a decent singing voice, my fantasy of being the lead singer in a blues/rock band might have to wait until my next life.
4. Riding. Riding horses is a movement art form, one that arguably requires even more time, money and effort than yoga. Still, this was a hard choice for me: I have been a horse nut my entire life. I gave this up because it just took too much money and time, and I did not want to be responsible for the care of a horse. 
5. Painting - because it had become a chore. I painted not for pleasure, but for money - which is not a good reason to keep doing anything. I know that there will be a time in my life when I can return to painting for the sake of simply making art; it’s on my back burner for now

I let go of anything that I could not devote conscientious attention to, and more importantly, I let go of anything that didn’t bring me joy.* (This is an adaptation of the KonMari method, from the recent book,  The Lifechanging Magic of Tidying Up.  A great book if you want to start learning how to declutter your home and your life - highly recommended!)

What I didn’t let go of:

1. Reading. I turned my voracious reading habit into one of the niyamas - that of svadhyaya/self study - and began to study in earnest the ancient yoga texts, and Sanskrit. As well, I turned more to classic literature from around the world, versus speed reading through the latest “beach read” or NY Times Bestseller. There's a reason the classic books are classic. They are timeless, and there is much wisdom to be found there. 
2. Hiking. I am fortunate to live in a place where there’s great hiking. To be in the woods or along a river,  with my dogs, or with friends or family, every day if possible, is a form of practice for me. 
3. Cooking. I still spend a good deal of time mindfully preparing healthy, whole, home made unprocessed meals for my family. It is never a chore, but always a fun challenge to create something delicious and nutritious.

Focusing more on these joy-bringing activities, in addition to my Ashtanga practice, has simplified and enriched my life considerably. I feel less stressed and hectic. My home is less cluttered with stuff. I have more time to do what I love: take care of my family, do my practice, hike, and teach Ashtanga Yoga to my wonderful students. 

What can you let go of, to make more room in your life for what brings you joy?


*Granted, sometimes Ashtanga Yoga does not bring me “joy.” Sometimes it’s a slog, and sometimes its really uncomfortable, and sometimes it’s frustrating. But, I’ve found that there is joy in the effort of just doing the practice, even on the days when it doesn’t feel “good.” To sense that I have a deep understanding and connection to my breath, a relationship of awareness and acceptance of my body, and the ability to begin to see more clearly how to act compassionately and be fully human through this practice makes the less “joyful” times worth the effort to get beyond them. Because I always seem to get beyond them, even when practice seems awful!

You’ll often hear me saying to students as they leave, “Thanks for coming, it was good to see you - I’ll see you tomorrow.” Many times their response is filled with chagrin: “I have to (fill in the blank) tomorrow. But, I’ll be back on (choose a day in the near future.)”

You’re not a bad yogi if you can’t make it to class because work or family life get in the way. Practice should not be a duty, but should be done because you love it. It took me many years to work up to a 6 day a week practice. And, even after 18 years of doing Ashtanga, I continually have to make choices, and sacrifice the superficial, so that I can do the practice that I love - even if it’s just for 15 minutes of Suryanamaskar, 15 minutes of sitting meditation and rest. 

Working full or part time, raising children, maintaining a strong, happy partnership, taking care of aging parents, going to school, taking care of pets, maintaining a clean and organized home inside and out, etc., etc. There’s a lot on our plates, and most of us don’t have a staff of nannies, gardeners and housecleaners at our disposal to give us the leisure time needed to practice. As modern householders, in a society that looks at yoga as a luxury, we all have huge demands on our time - so much so, that the idea of going to a yoga studio to practice for 60-90 minutes, six days a week can seem preposterous, selfish and frivolous. 

So, I get it, six days a week is a hard recommendation to accept, and that’s why at AYN we ask that you practice a minimum of three days a week to join the Mysore program. 

“Three days!?!” you might scoff, “I don’t even have one morning  or evening to myself, let alone three!” 

There’s some practical reasons we ask for this minimum of three days a week.

First, you will get less benefit and will not be able to learn the series if you arrive just once a week. We are creatures that learn best by repeating, and once a week just doesn’t hack it, frankly. Repetition a minimum of every other day - ideally, every day - makes learning and memorizing easier. 

Second, your body will more quickly adapt to the rigors of the practice if you come to class more consistently. You will see your strength, stamina and flexibility increase at a far greater rate with three days of practice a week. With just once a week, you’re actually setting yourself up for an uphill battle, facing the same pain, tightness and depletion every seven days, vs. working towards a sustainable and sensible practice of doing fewer postures, more often.

Third, if you remember what you did in your practice yesterday, and do not need to be reeducated on it, you’ll become better at memorizing more and more chunks of practice going forward. PLUS, it makes it easier for the teacher to be available to all the students in the Mysore room if you come consistently - and remember consistently. I admit it, I find it frustrating when someone shows up just once a week and needs to be shown - again - what I taught them when I last saw them a week ago. Frustrated not for myself, because I love to teach and have learned patience, but frustrated for the students who come consistently and regularly and with dedication each day, but who will get short shrift because someone who is only dabbling in the practice shows up and needs most of my attention as a beginner. We are a community, and to support the community and our fellow students, serious Mysore practitioners should take responsibility to learn through regular and consistent practice.

So, that’s why starting with three days is our minimum requirement, and I feel it’s a reasonable one. Once three days is established, consider adding another day every six months or so, working over a few years to the six day a week practice. 

While you may agree with the requirement and understand it, you may still feel you can’t practice three mornings a week, even though you love the practice. If that’s the case, just drop in to our Led Classes, and please do not feel guilty that you can't do more right now, because even once a week is a great start. Your life will open up some day, just as mine did, so that you can dedicate more time to it. Remember, practice should not be a duty, but should be done because you love it.

One thing you can do to help develop a more consistency is to begin to consider your practice as a spiritual or mindfulness practice vs. a fitness program. It becomes much easier to facilitate consistency and regularity when you begin to notice the deep inner connection to yourself that happens when you do your yoga practice. Sincere spiritual practice isn’t a leisure activity, something that can be done just one day each week while we avoid looking inwards the other six days. It’s a commitment to do what you can, every day, to become a more conscious, awake and loving human being. 

(Next week, I'll offer some practical advice on how to sacrifice the superficial in your life so that you can find more time to do the practice you love.)

One consistent theme stressed by the teachers I’ve studied with is, “Be yourself when you teach.” It took me a long time to figure out what this really meant. When I first started teaching, I thought I understood, and promptly set the concept aside, because what was important to me when I began teaching Ashtanga 10 years ago was being “liked” by my students. Because if my students liked me, they would keep coming to my classes - and that would mean I was a “good” teacher. 

In the very first class I ever taught, I was excited and scared, but hopeful, too. I was doing what I loved, and what I had trained to do for some time. I was subbing for a senior teacher in the studio, so I’m guessing a few were in the room weren’t happy to see that “their” teacher wasn’t holding the class as usual. I stood at the front of the dozen or so people, and began the Ashtanga invocation. In my nervousness, I forgot a few of the words. Two people abruptly rolled up their mats and walked out.

Not an encouraging start.

Just like becoming a seasoned Ashtanga practitioner, it takes years of hard work, self study and perseverance to become a seasoned teacher. It’s 99% practice, 1% theory all over again. So, taking a lesson from the rigors of practice, rather than being discouraged, I worked harder, and taught as much as possible, volunteering and teaching for free in schools, or to friends and family. I put my hours in, just as I had done when I rolled out my mat every day. 

But, even so, that need to be “liked” over being “myself” stayed with me for a very long time. 

This was a deeply ingrained behavior pattern, reaching way back into my childhood. I was a latch key kid with a lot of freedom, and when I wasn’t reading or doing chores, I would be running around the woods with the boys in my neighborhood. I was the only girl, and I developed what was at the time considered “masculine” behaviors. I was very confident of my athleticism and my intellect. I was a bit of a nerd in school, and would talk about science and literature. I refused to wear dresses. My parents, thankfully, did not try to make me more “feminine,” but my behavior perplexed my female peers. I remember once one of them said disparagingly to me, “You’re a girl, but you act like a boy.” The one “girls” birthday party I was invited to in grammar school was a social disaster; in my awkward attempts to fit in, I was shut out harshly by the queen bee, who took an instant and very hostile dislike to me, which swayed everyone else at the party to shun me as well. After a few minutes of hot shame, outrage and awkwardness, I walked home before the cake and ice cream were even served. Remember, this was nearly 40 years ago when gender roles were more strictly defined than today.

As a result, for a long time, I preferred the company of boys, who were familiar and more transparent in their behavior - and more egalitarian, in my experience - than girls.

After several misfires at befriending other girls in the way I had befriended boys, I changed tactics as a teenager. I’d hide my “boyish” nature, and adopt the other girl’s mannerisms and interests to fit in and be “liked” by her or her clique. At first, these girls would like me. But, eventually in my excitement at finding a new friend or group, and feeling accepted by them, I would let my guard down a bit, shed a bit of the persona, and show them my beautifully geeky, outspoken, overly enthusiastic self. In my fears of rejection and need for connection, I would come on too strong: rather than learning how to have a conversation or really listening to would-be friends, I would be nervous and excited, and start talking too much, too quickly, and be a bore in my enthusiasm for subjects like the Lord of the Rings, Arabian horses, 19th Century British writers, or, when I got older, Ashtanga Yoga. (FYI, Aspergers runs in my family.) 

Time and time again, the pattern would repeat itself, well into my adulthood. The childhood socialization behaviors I’d developed with boys - pontification, geekiness, overconfidence - were a turn off for most when it came to making girlfriends. And the coping, conciliatory mechanisms I’d developed as an alternative in my early teens were ultimately unattractive, too. Clearly, I had trouble striking a balance. New girlfriends, exasperated by my vacillating neediness combined with my over-sharing and bombast, would become frustrated, then annoyed - and eventually drop me. Which, of course, crushed me. 

(Those who have remained loyal over the years, and who compassionately look beyond my sometimes exasperating social skills are the most amazingly strong, beautiful and wonderful women I know. Thanks, dear friends, for seeing me.) 

Meanwhile, remember that first Ashtanga class I taught? Well, after that less than auspicious start, it took me some time - let’s be honest, years - to get over my lack of confidence, and my sense of inadequacy. Those first years of teaching deepened my “like me, like me!” behavior. For example: I taught with music because a teacher in the studio who was popular with the students played music; then, because it was “not done” in Ashtanga (and I wanted to be considered a true “Ashtanga” teacher) I taught without music.* Sometimes I tried to be silly and make people laugh; or, sometimes, I’d try to be serious and quiet, because I’d observed those behaviors in successful teachers. 

I tried a lot of methods and experiments and took on a lot of personae. It all felt false and filled me with panic, frankly - and eroded my confidence even more. 

My lack of confidence wasn't helped when was told more than once, "You shouldn’t teach Ashtanga, because you haven't been to Mysore." The censure of those whom you reach out to in your community, and whom you hope to feel are your peers, is devastating. It felt exactly like I had been told not to sit at the cool kids’ table: a repetition of those crushing childhood ostracisms. 

I didn’t become conscious of this self-destructive social behavior pattern (which did more to ultimately push people away from me and cause me suffering) until I had been practicing for several years. And it hasn’t been until I began teaching Mysore style Ashtanga yoga, and really learned how to be a more truly compassionate person, by pulling my own ego out of the equation, that my confidence in myself actually grew, both as a person of value, and as a teacher. When I began to truly listen to, see and serve my students - when I became what I call the “holder of the space” for their experience - only then was I able to let go of the need to be liked. Not just by my students, but by, well...anyone. This wasn’t a conscious choice, but simply arose out of the letting go of my own fears of rejection. I’m more able to feel equanimity in the face of being rejected, through the process of making myself vulnerable without ego. And, I’ve come to understand that most of us are operating from a place of fear - fear of rejection, fear of being judged, fear of being ostracized, fear of not being loved. Because I operated that way for a long time. 

“Be kind, everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle.” (Plato)

So, now I understand what my teachers meant when they said you have to “be yourself” when you teach. You have to be your Self when you teach. Which is the True Self, beyond facades, beyond fear - always there and always loving. It feels like coming home. 

“When one raises above I, me and mine, the Atman reveals Itself as the real Self.” 

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*Although I do still teach without music, because there are so few spaces in our modern world where silence is allowed to happen for a sustained period of time.

I've always been a practitioner who's goal was increased health and vitality (and, when I first started practicing, relief from pain, too, as I'd had a bad back since my early teens.) I've never been the type to seek the admiration of my peers for my asana prowess, but, still I was just as addicted to "getting" postures as anyone who does Ashtanga. I wanted to be strong and flexible, and I worked hard at my asana practice in the early years - too hard. I was always trying to "open my hips" and "deepen"  my forward folds and back bends, under the mistaken belief that if I got my legs easily into lotus or my head to my knees in paschimottanasana, I'd have…arrived. Only then would I be happy and strong and really healthy. Only when I could "do" the postures correctly would the dis-ease I felt most of the time finally be eradicated. 

I was trying to use the practice to "fix" myself. 

Practicing in this way pushed my body beyond what was right for it, and it depleted and hurt me, even though my intention was to help my body. It was a form of blindness, and it took an illness to reveal to me that this approach was NOT holistic, but rather had been detrimental for me for many years. With my illness came the complete loss of ability to do asana - and a lot of sadness and grief over this loss. I had to let go of a lot of judgment towards myself, and also fear of being judged by my peers, and find a new way to do the practice so that it didn't harm me. My return to health came only after a patient year or so of using the Primary Series as a guide and teacher - and completely letting go of my old practice at the same time.

The biggest thing I discovered during that time of relearning was that the practices that felt the most therapeutic and joyful to me were those where my breathing was slow and deep, equal in both inhale and exhale, and steady throughout the entire practice - practices where the asana forms I made were secondary in importance to my breathing.  My rule was "Breathing first, asana second." 

("No futzing practices," as Nancy Gilgoff likes to call them. "Free Breathing with sound," was what Guruji would perhaps say. )

Equal, free breathing is referred to as sama vrtti in Sanskrit - and now, it’s what I seek every time I roll out my mat. The simple act of bringing your attention and focus mostly to your breath - really concentrating on that primarily, vs. striving trying to attain the pose - is the key to this no futzing, free breathing practice. To try it yourself, cultivate dharana (concentration) and become a Breath Detective. Listen to your breath when you do your practice. Feel it's rhythm in your body. Notice the qualities of your breath as you practice:

• Is the inhale equal in length to the exhale? 
  
• Are you forcing or squashing the breath while struggling to attain the asana you are seeking? 
  
• Is your exhale being pushed harder than the inhale - or vice versa? 
  
• Are you breathing slowly - or too rapidly? 
  
• Are you breathing freely and easily? 
  

Pay attention to the breath first, refine the breath before refining the asana, and you will notice a beneficial shift, an easing, in your practice. You will feel less depleted, and very likely, the practice itself will feel more joyful, less stressful and I suspect, less uncomfortable and/or painful.

Your breath is the barometer, the gauge, the solace, the guiding light of your practice. If you have to change your physical form (i.e. modify the posture) to find sama vrtti, then change the form and modify the posture. There are no Ashtanga Police, thank goodness. In fact, abhor anyone who makes you feel bad if and when you do modify a posture because it is hurting you or you can't breathe. Let go of judgment (or fear of judgment) and breathe. When sama vrtti returns, let your mind rest in the steady feel and calming sound of your breath. If you wish, only then should you seek to go deeper into the pose. If that results in pain or a change in the breath, be content with where you are at that time and….just breathe. 

Guruji also said, "The asana is correct when the mind is quiet." That's the goal, isn't it?

If you can’t sustain sama vrtti, then consider chanting silently as you practice. Japa helps, and you can chant whatever inspires you (e.g Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound; Om gam ganapataye namaha; Da Doo Run Run Run, Da Doo Run Run.) My personal sama vrtti chant is “lokahah samastaha” on the inhale and “sukhino bhavantu” on the exhale. (from the Mangala Mantra, "May all beings be free from suffering" - including me!) I make an effort to chant silently throughout the whole practice, especially during those times when things get more rigorous. Japa calms, refreshes, enlivens. It need not be spiritual, as long as it helps you keep the rhythm of your breath equal, steady and calming. 

I guarantee, your practice will feel much better and you will enjoy yourself more if your primary focus is the breath vs. trying to get the posture in it's "classical" sense. Interestingly, after practicing patiently in this manner for some time, your body will shift and open, subtly but profoundly. Your practice will become more integrated and gain depth. As you become a Breath Detective and gain mastery over the breath, turn your attention next to the bandhas, the seals/locks, and the drsti, the gaze, as well. These are the "holy trinity" of Ashtanga practice, that bring peace and joy during the darkest of times. Happy Holidays and Happy Practicing! 

When I first started doing Ashtanga, in 1997, I was in, perhaps, the worst shape of my life. I had just given birth to my third child a few months earlier, and had struggled with the physical and emotional changes from all three of my pregnancies. Laziness and inertia had truly set in after years of carrying children and steadily gaining weight. The way I liked to recharge myself was by watching a French film on DVD from Blockbuster on Sunday nights, along with a glass of wine or two, after everyone had gone to bed (admittedly, I still enjoy doing this occasionally!) 

Although it’s an accepted truth today, the idea that doing yoga could make me both healthier and happier if I just did it consistently was something that no one wrote or talked about at the time. 

When I finally found Ashtanga, after a brief exposure to hatha Yoga in the early ’90’s, it’s beauty and depth (and the intellectual and physical rigor needed to practice it) appealed to me like nothing had before. I was hooked from the first class, but did not become a “daily” practitioner for many years. My path to daily practice - and more importantly, the renewed health and vitality it gave me - wasn’t a steady and straight path. In the first years, I would take off weeks due to demands of family life. Nor did I learn Ashtanga in a Mysore style setting, but only attended Led style classes, as the lovely studio where I took my first Ashtanga classes didn’t offer Mysore style practice*, and I didn’t know how to practice on my own at home. 

(In retrospect, my practice took much longer to evolve and grow, compared to students who practiced more consistently and also those I met later who learned via Mysore style. Seeing my own students today, most of whom are learning the practice in a Mysore style setting, I now know that those who practice more consistently AND do Mysore style practice generally go further in - and get more out of - their practice than those who only practice once or twice a week in led style classes.) 

It was only when I began studying with Nancy Gilgoff and learned that practice need not be a 90 minute led class, but rather, that you could practice 6 days a week by setting aside as little as 15 minutes (if that is all you had time for) to practice sun salutes, the last three padmasanas, then take rest - and that those 15 minutes counted as a daily practice!  Only then did I begin to have a consistent, true Ashtanga practice, because I could do 15 minutes on the days I couldn’t get to led class. And, those 15 minutes soon turned into longer and longer self-practices.

After just a couple of months of daily practice, I noticed a few things: 

First, what was once a demanding practice actually became easier for me, both physically and mentally, even though at first I felt I didn’t have time to do it every day. Admittedly, I wasn’t doing 90 minutes of asana every day, but I was doing at least 30-45 minutes, 6 days a week (with Moons and Menses off, natch). What was important was that it was consistent, mindful and wise practice. I wasn’t as sore or depleted as I had been when I practiced only sporadically, i.e. my former method of once or twice a week for 90 minutes of “kick-asana”-style practice that would leave me wrung out and depleted - and usually feeling discouraged, too. 

Second, I felt that consistent practice made me better able to handle the ups and downs of daily living and family life. To be frank, I was, simply, a nicer person (and a better Mom and partner - just ask my family for proof of this) when I practiced more regularly. I was more patient, less irritable, more cheerful and energized, and therefore better able to sweat the small stuff - and a little better able to handle the big stuff, too. 

And, third, it was only then that I finally began to do yoga. 

Ashtanga practice had become something more to me than merely a means to stay fit or reduce stress. It had become sadhana. When you roll out a mat consistently several times each week, doing the same series of postures again and again, breathing and moving mindfully every day, you begin to notice a few things about who you are, what you struggle with, and what your monkey mind tends to turn towards (generally, quite negatively) like a broken record or some bad pop song looping in your head. This noticing is enhanced when your practice, your sadhana, is quiet: with Ashtanga, it's just you breathing and moving and following the same sequence every day (with effort and kindness in equal measure, egolessly) and, importantly, with little to no distractions to anesthetize you. There is no music blasting, nor is there a teacher shouting at you or telling you constantly what to do. Rather, it’s just the inhale and exhale guiding you into and out of postures that are attempted earnestly and sincerely, but without pushing yourself to injury or despair. (And, when you practice in a Mysore setting, with folks nearby working earnestly themselves, with a teacher there to support you when you need him or her, and the room filled with the sound of the breath, well, that's even better. As AYN teacher Georgiann Kristek likes to say, "How lucky are we?!")

I’ve never experienced anything else quite like it. After almost 18 years of doing Ashtanga, I am grateful that it’s lessons and gifts keep coming, and hope they will for a long time.

Sometimes students ask me, “Why do you think this works?” I usually say in response, “I don’t know, but it does work. Just keep practicing, even when - especially when - it gets difficult.”  Sometimes, I read them this lovely quote by the Australian Ashtanga teacher Dena Kingsburg (one of Pattabhi Jois’ most advanced students) from the book Guruji by Guy Donahaye and Eddie Stern. It is the best metaphor I've ever read of the Ashtanga practice and explains better than I ever could why the practice works:

“The practice is a purification process, a therapy to make us well. From this state of being well, other things unfold....the rhythmic repetition of movement becomes familiar and soothing, and the mind slips away into the space between thought. I think of it like this: Perception is a window. This window has been marked with the passing of time. Impressions are left upon it by our conditioning...by life’s experiences...damaged by disappointment, trauma and loss, clouded by uncertainly and confusion. I see the practice as the process of cleaning the window. Each day we dip the sponge into the bucket and wipe it across the surface. After some time, the change is apparent. A clear opening arises where it was clouded before, and this unclouded vision brings more light and clarity. It’s enough to keep you dipping. Sometimes there are marks on the glass that are difficult to remove and sometimes there are areas in the practice that are difficult and it seems that we will never be able to pass beyond them. Repetition is the key. We go back to the same place over and over without expectation or judgment ...until eventually catharsis,either subtle or dramatic, occurs as some stubborn or trapped part of us breaks free....Days, weeks, months, years pass, and slowly the mind settles and the window of perception clears.” 


*(In fact, AYN is still one of only two Mysore style Ashtanga shalas in Western Mass, and Mysore style teaching, which teaches students how to practice on their own, is rarely available outside of big cities even today.) 

I recently read a great Facebook posting by certified Ashtanga Teacher and author Gregor Maehle on the subject of heat in the Ashtanga room during practice. While I find the preference of a hot vs. cool room depends on one's constitution (i.e. whether or not your primary dosha is Vata, Pitta, or Kapha) in general, keeping the room at around 80 degrees F in New England seems to work best for most of our practitioners. But, Gregor gives some great insights on heat in the shala, and also, why it may not be necessary to keep the windows shut, too. Read on...

"I keep receiving questions regarding whether it’s important or good to heat the yoga shala and whether this aids in detoxing. I also hear people reasoning that the shala should be heated to emulate the heat of the gangetic plains in India, which is supposed to be the native environment of yogis. Now during the 1980 and 90’s I travelled extensively through the gangetic plains but I must say that I found them surprisingly bereft of yogis. On the other hand if you went up into the freezing Himalayas you found that the yogis were stacked up to the rafters. Surprising, isn’t it!

Do you remember that even Krishnamacharya went up into the Himalayas to practice tummo, yoga of inner fire, while sitting on the ice? You can’t practice that down in the gangetic plains.

Nowadays Western yogis are really emphatic about keeping the windows of the yoga shala closed. I remember that neither KP Jois old shala in Lakshmipuram nor the Parakala Matt in Mysore where T Krishnamacharya taught ever had any windows. And I remember that in January at 4.30 AM I always froze in those drafty windowless rooms. And nobody offered to turn on any heaters because there weren’t any! 

Now of course in many places in which people practice yoga today it gets much colder than in Southern India in winter, such as North America or middle and Northern Europe. In which case it makes sense to heat the room to room temperature, say around 20 to 23°C (68 to 74 °F). Everything above that would mean that if you practice vigorously, the bodies cooling mechanism (sweating) would fail, which can be noticed when the sweat starts to run off and forms puddles. People who practice in such a fashion usually age prematurely and if you look at them 10 years later they have a washed out and drained look to themselves because of all the prana they lost, by practicing too vigorously under too hot conditions.

Notice that the yogis were very concerned about loosing tejas (inner glow) and one of the ways of preventing that is to rub the sweat produced during pranayama back into the skin. This is a technique, however, that should only be used in the context of pranayama and not during asana, during which excessive sweating should be avoided. Hence, do not heat the room too much and if it’s warm outside keep the windows open. Many yogic texts (shastras) state that the shala should be well aired. Hope that helps, Gregor"