Jumping Ship and Other Meditations from Mysore

Today I switched my yoga practice from the K. Pattabhi Jois Ashtanga Yoga Institute, the mother ship of Ashtanga yoga, the most famous and revered yoga shala and yoga lineage in the world, to the Mystic School, a tiny shala, adjacent to one of Gokalum’s loveliest parks but also one of its largest, dustiest barrios. It’s like, well, leaving the U.S. to live in India.

Several factors drove my decision to defect from the school that gave birth to all of my Ashtanga yoga teachers up until now. First and foremost, finances. Pattabhi Jois’ shala, now run by his grandson Sharath, charges at least twice as much as every other yoga shala in the greater Mysore area. The fee for Mystic School is exactly one-quarter of the cost of the “main” shala. The money I’m saving on yoga now can be channeled towards my pet charity, which is in desperate need of donations: Mysore’s People For Animals. And I’ll still have enough rupees left over for a new nose ring for me.

Another primary reason I left is due to my general discontent. Too many options. Too many yoga shalas. I suffer from the-grass-is-always-greener syndrome.

After one practice at Mystic (gotta love the name), I’m happy with my decision to jump ship. During my late morning time slot at the main shala upwards of 70 yogis practiced at one time. Saraswathi often taught class without assistants. It was impossible to deepen my practice in the way I was hoping it would deepen in India. Class at Mystic School this morning consisted of six students and the teacher, Jaiprakash. He adjusted me in every single asana except the one–Marichyasana D–I loathe being adjusted in due to a lingering knee injury. It was the most open my body has ever been in an Ashtanga class and the most focused my mind has been since arriving in India.

Tonight I’m taking a Transcendental Meditation course with Narasimhan, with whom I’m also studying Yoga Sutra philosophy. TM, you may recall, was made famous back in the Sixties by the Beatles. Narasimhan and his sister, Dr. M.A. Jayashree, founded the Anantha Research Foundation. I will be writing much, much more about them, since they are far and away the best part about being in Mysore for me. Jayashree teaches Sanskrit and chanting, while Narasimhan focuses on the sutras and philosophy. They are authentic Indian gurus and it’s an honor just to be in their presence.

Last week I took a meditation class with a teacher, Kumar, of Osho meditations. He created a combination of sound and guided meditations with discussions on the science of meditation mixed in. In one guided imagery, Kumar asked us to focus on a place in our bodies where we feel discomfort or pain. He told us to view that place from the inside and see if it has a color, and if so, when was the first time we remember seeing that color. For me it was my left knee which was navy blue. The image of my first noticing navy blue was as a young child on Easter Sunday, done up in a navy blue and white dress with a navy coat, a corsage pinned to it. After other meditative suggestions, Kumar asked if the part of the body with pain had changed color. For me it turned into bright orange and I was back on Easter Sunday, this time wearing a print dress of wild colors: fuchsia, tangerine, lime green, purple. The next day in yoga practice, I was able to sit full lotus for the first time in my life and have been able to do so ever since.

Here are some words of wisdom I took away from Kumar:

When you live life at a particular pace, it’s effortless. Too fast equals no awareness and too slow means you’re not growing.

To be in the right pace, right rhythm is meditation.

Any act can be meditation as long as it’s done with awareness.

Every human being is suffering.

Enlightened beings have suffering. The difference between them and us is that they don’t identify with their suffering. They observe it.

Why are we non-enlightened beings so resistant to meditation? Every time we are about to grow, we fall backwards.

Meditation is an effort to pull yourself up by your bootstraps.