LMU Yoga Studies: Diving into the Ocean of Yogic Knowledge

As I’ve completed my first year as a masters degree student in the LMU Yoga Studies program, I find myself reflecting on words of advice I heard in my first 200-hour yoga teacher training. “Don’t try and drink the whole ocean. Take a cup to the ocean, scoop up some water, and sit with the contents of your cup.” One of my lead teachers said these words in reference to the overwhelming amount of information we were being exposed to in the training.

Let’s take this analogy further. That introductory 200 hours of yoga teacher training represented sitting with a cup of ocean water. In comparison, my advanced 300 hour yoga teacher training entailed gradually submersing myself into the water. This took place by first dipping my toes in, and then diving under a wave that was crashing on the shoreline. Attending a graduate program in Yoga Studies, then, is akin to being carried out to sea. This experience carries me from the safety of the steady shores to be completely submerged in yoga tradition. (While I may not be literally “drinking” the water, but I am nevertheless absorbing it into every pore of my being.)

As I write this, I am one year into Loyola Marymount University’s Master of Arts in Yoga Studies program. I enrolled as a residential student for on-campus courses, however, due to Covid, instruction has been comprised of virtual learning thus far.

Celebrating Personal Progress in the LMU Yoga Studies Program

Upon reflecting on how much can be absorbed in a single year, I recognize my progress. For example, I can now read, write, and (sorta) comprehend Sanskrit translation! I’ve survived five 10+ page research papers and countless presentations encompassing the therapeutic applications, rich history, and philosophy of Yoga. This takes place all while dancing between the practice of Yoga and the complex theory behind it.

I’m celebrating where I am now, while anticipating what is still to come. This includes the daunting expedition of a final thesis project that weaves together all the information I’ve learned while simultaneously addressing how I plan to bring this knowledge into the world. I know Graduation Day and Thesis Presentations will be here practically tomorrow. Amidst all of the work, I do my best to stay in the practices and remain present to savor the remaining graduate school experiences as they are occurring. Practicing mindfulness through momentary awareness. This halfway point marks a sacred pause between the inhalation of the start of my journey and exhalation of its conclusion.

Summer School and Certificate Program

After a week of mulling over various areas of interest, I finally decided on a research topic for my summer Buddhism course, bearing in mind my final goal. As Buddhism concludes Summer I semester, my cohort and I move into a Jaina Yoga immersion in Summer II before we reconvene in the Fall.

Heavily rooted in ahimsa, or nonviolence, this course is surprisingly weaving together much of what I learned in Yoga, Mindfulness, and Social Change, a year-long certificate program that is an elective requirement and complement to the M.A. degree.

Before embarking on this area of study, I thought I already stood firmly in my commitment to social justice. This year-long course opened my eyes to multiple truths and considerations of how yoga can be a vehicle for social change. For some, this looks like a commitment to veganism, as found in many ancient texts, while others feel strongly about politics and activism. The certificate program has reinforced there are no easy answers. There are only complex, multiple truths, encapsulated in the Jain term: Anekantavada.

(The Yoga, Mindfulness, and Social Change Program begins again in October, 2021 and anyone can enroll in the entire course, or participate in select topics.)

Anticipating the Fall Semester: Yoga Day 2021

In October, 2021, LMU will be celebrating the 10 year anniversary of Yoga Day. Yoga Day is a free event which welcomes scholars from all over the world to present their expertise to share with the public. As a Graduate Assistant for Graduate Yoga Studies, I am the lead facilitator in planning the event.

The Day is another creative opportunity to weave together the multifaceted nature of Yoga scholarship with real world, real-time application. I have the opportunity to participate behind the scenes to make Yoga teachings more equitable and accessible, while honoring its roots in ancient India. I recognize the privilege and responsibility that comes with this role. I am committed to continuing the conversation of the intersection of yoga and social justice and fortunately inspired and empowered by my past year of study. This year’s theme will highlight the paradox of plurality and singularity, exploring our inherent interconnection through individual expressions of divinity.

In the fall, I will continue studying Sanskrit (this time focusing on the Yoga Sutras), along with Comparative Mysticism and the History of Modern Yoga. Rather than philosophy, some of my cohort will opt for a Yoga Therapy concentration. (After graduation, I have the option to continue my studies to receive a Post Graduate Yoga Therapy Certificate.)

Practices in Action

Today, I took a break from planning and writing research papers to visit my grandmother. She is currently 92 years old and was recently moved from an assisted living community to a nursing care facility, since she was unable to move around safely on her own anymore. Her care providers shared that she had a mild case of pneumonia. Information gleaned from my anatomy and physiology graduate course immediately surfaced allowing me to I understand some aspects of my grandmother’s suffering suffering.

Applying Dr. Lori Rubenstein Fazzio’s Health Sciences course, I remembered that the congestion that occurs in a respiratory infection is a manifestation of a kapha imbalance. Oversimplified, according to Ayurveda, her present state vikruti of kapha dosha (dominant energy of earth and water) was intensified because she was not getting much movement in her daily activities. This moment of understanding was accompanied by a feeling of surrender, accepting that there was only so much I can offer my grandma and acknowledging her own path. I may not be able to fix her situation or ease her suffering, but I can offer my support and presence.

How Study Has Changed My Practice

My practice has changed with this acknowledgment that we all have our own path. It is easy to fall into a dichotomy of right versus wrong, especially in our culture. It is also easy to become overwhelmed with the amount of conflicting information grad school—perhaps life in general—presents and feel tempted to shut down. And yet, I return to my mat, to the practices that brought me to this academic path, and embody all that I am digesting and integrating.

If I want to see a more peaceful world, that starts with me. To be clear, it doesn’t end with me or absolve me from taking action. However, the times I look outward and notice how others could be better are opportunities for me to return to the practice and embody the teachings, the changes I wish to see. As a yoga teacher, the true way I can be of service is leading by example: embodying rather than telling, being rather than doing.

Swimming in the Ocean, Finding the Path

Many who begin this academic path are initially unclear when it comes the direction they’re heading and how they to chart their course. My navigational approach has been to dive in and see where the tides, the currents, and the ocean itself take me.

So I continue traversing the seas: usually floating with the current, sometimes catching the wave (feeling like I’m understanding). There are definitely times when I’m completely wiped out or I might be carried away by a rip tide. The solution I’ve found is to embrace my not-knowing or avidya in the face of complex information.

Though the shore I started on is now a distant memory, there is nowhere I’d rather be then learning to ride the waves that come with discovery, multiple truths, and new knowledge.

Learn More about the LMU Yoga Studies Program

Are you interested in learning more about the M.A. in Yoga Studies program? Applications are now being accepted for Fall 2021 (through July 31) and Fall 2022.

View the full curriculum outline, program options including Yoga Studies and Yoga Therapy, and begin your application here: https://bellarmine.lmu.edu/yoga/apply/applicationinformation/

Learn more by emailing: yogastudies@lmu.edu

Katie Davidson

Katie found yoga while pursuing a journalism career in New York City. While finding success at a glamorous fashion and beauty website, she found the Sex and the City-inspired lifestyle she once believed would make her happy didn’t quite fit. Instead, her soul lit up during her yoga and meditation classes, sending her down an entirely different path of life-long learning. She completed her 200-hour yoga teacher training under Hannah Muse and Kenny Graham in Santa Cruz, California, then traveled with Hannah in Costa Rica, Guatemala, Bali, and India to receive her 300-hour certification. She loves sharing what she’s learned with children and has created a yoga program for preschoolers called True Nature. She is a M.A. Yoga Studies candidate at Loyola Marymount University and will graduate in May 2022.

Website: communikates.co
Instagram handle: @communikates.co

communikates.co

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India Supera Traveled the World to Find a Guru and Founded Feathered Pipe Ranch

For 44 years, India Supera floated around the property at the Feathered Pipe Ranch, welcoming new guests like old family, sharing meals on the lawn, and stories in front of the stone fireplace. Stories that included tales of her travels in the 1960s and the extraordinary circumstances that led to her vision for America’s first healing center of its kind.

The 2019 season, however, was different. She had been diagnosed with terminal cancer and given two weeks to two months to live. Leaving her in full preparation mode for the ultimate adventure into the unknown—the transition of her body and transcendence of her soul.

“I see things differently now that I feel like I’m in my final act,” Supera says. “No matter how much you’ve studied, nobody knows what’s on the other side. Now the decades of mindfulness and meditation practice can come together to help me consciously leave my body without resistance.”

In the wake of the news, she’d asked me to visit, to listen as she reconciled the magic and mystery of her life, and ponder what’s next in the presence of an eager ear. With 40 years between us, there was so much to ask, to learn, to preserve from the woman I considered a teacher, an elder, a grandmother. I sensed my own attachments to our relationship taking hold. Desperate to keep her here, yet her steady surrender to what is continually guided me back to presence.

I walked quietly into the bedroom where she rested and slid horizontally across the foot of the bed, her two cats dutifully standing guard but willing to share the space with my warm body. After some shuffling for the four of us to find comfort, we began, as all good stories do, somewhere near the beginning.

Dropping out without Dropping In

Born in Orange County, California, to an artist father and a private detective mother, India Supera became serious about her spiritual path early in life, recalling her first out-of-body experience when she was just seven years old. “I’d tell my mom I was having a conference with my grandmother’s spirit, and she’d just tell me to come to bed whenever I was finished,” Supera says. “My parents never tried to interfere, which only strengthened my psychic abilities.”

Not surprising for a girl who’d rather contemplate alternate dimensions than go to the high school sock hop, Supera felt unmet by her peers. She knew there was more to life than what you could learn in a classroom—and she set out to find it. When she was 16, she ran away to Mexico, where she met John Lily and Timothy Leary, and they bonded over mystical and psychedelic experiences despite the 15 year age gap. “They used to say that I ‘dropped out [of the matrix] without ever having to drop in,’ because I was so young,” Supera recalls with a laugh.

As her appetite for enlightenment grew, her travel focus narrowed. The plan? “Go to India and find my guru.”

The Decade of Adventure

What followed was a decade of adventure: The Summer of Love in San Francisco. Hitchhiking across America. Flying Icelandic Air to Europe and traveling overland through Italy, France, Greece, and Turkey. Supera caught rides through Afghanistan. She contracted an almost fatal illness in Pakistan and was adopted and nursed back to health by the royal family. She was saved from the rushing waters of the Ganges by a group of sadhus then shaved her head, concealed her identity and became a wandering sadhu herself. She slept in Hindu temples, threw her passport into the river and renounced all belongings except for her toothbrush. She met friends along the way, and journeyed on her own when necessary.

Finding the Guru

Finally, she found her guru, Sathya Sai Baba, in Puttaparthi, India, where she lived for several years, learning Ayurvedic cooking, nursing, astrology, yoga, chanting and Hindu rituals. “Sai Baba’s in the 70s was a confluence of the world’s most interesting and influential people—professors, artists, musicians, politicians, philosophers, famous actors,” she recalls. “It was a fast-track to the type of education I valued, and even when I was just living under a tree at the ashram, I wanted to stay forever.”

As they say, the universe has different plans.

Feathered Pipe Ranch + Yoga Journal

In her early twenties, Supera was asked to return to America to care for a friend with terminal cancer. When her friend passed, she left Supera 110 acres of land outside of Helena, Montana—with a dying wish that it would become a healing center.

Owning land and living in the United States was far from Supera’s plan. For a year, she gave away furniture, thought about selling the land, meditated on the purpose of this inheritance, and held sweat lodge ceremonies to pray and connect with spirits, asking for guidance for the way forward. She even returned to India to call on Sai Baba’s wisdom. “Teach what you know,” he said. “Make it a place for leaders.”

Her vision began to become clear. Slowly, and deliberately, the Feathered Pipe Ranch was born. In the summer of 1975, Judith Hanson Lasater taught the first yoga workshop—three weeks for $250, complete with tipis, bonfires, asana and pranayama practices, and delicious vegetarian meals.

It was a spark that ignited the fire of yoga in the West and became internationally known in the yoga and healing space.

In addition to Iyengar-style yoga workshops, early programs included Journeys Out of the Body with Robert Monroe, Metabelief Operant Training with John Lily, Human Energy Systems with Jack Schwarz, Natural Healing with Dr. Bernard Jensen and Paavo Ariola, and Goddess in Every Woman with Jean Shinoda Bolen. “Because we were part of the Sai Baba community, we had the most amazing people in our circle,” Supera says. “We were young and had no money, but the right people showed up willing to help, and we did darn well from the beginning because we were the only ones in the country doing non-guru yoga and consciousness retreats—us and Esalen.”

William Staniger, a Montana-native, Janice Paulsen, a business-whiz, and Supera, who held the heart of the group, formed the Holistic Life Foundation (now known as the Feathered Pipe Foundation), which funded and organized the yoga programs at the Ranch. That same year, the foundation paired with Judith and Ike Lasater to create Yoga Journal. “We were a bunch of kids figuring it out, and we had our hands in multiple ventures at once in those days,” says Judith Hanson Lasater, international yoga teacher and cofounder of Yoga Journal. “The Feathered Pipe Ranch, Holistic Life Foundation and Yoga Journal formed a tripod, a three-legged stool of sorts. All helping each other to raise awareness for yoga and increase access to the teachings that we believed in and benefited from.”

Originally known for being “the hippies at the end of the Gulch,” India Supera and the Feathered Pipe Ranch family have built the center into a one-of-a-kind destination, dedicated to preserving the essence of yoga as a lifestyle and way of being. “When many other places have given in to the diffusion of yoga, the Ranch is dedicated to the traditional pillars of service, devotion and ceremony,” says Lasater. “After 44 years, it’s still one of my favorite places on Earth to teach—and to exist as a human being.”

A Final Acceptance

India and I talked for over an hour, resting between answers and allowing her time to sip her fresh-pressed green juice. Her lips turned upward in a childlike grin when I asked her to reflect on how far the Ranch had come since the original vision: “As silly as it sounds, I do believe the Feathered Pipe Ranch has changed the world,” she says. “We were at the beginning of a big paradigm shift in America, and although I pictured it to be more extreme—like the Earth splitting on its axis and everyone valiantly choosing peace—I look back and know this place has been at the center of a lot of healing.”

She adds that change doesn’t always have to be so loud, a sentiment distant from the intensity of her early life, yet a natural progression that’s stemmed from years of watching transformation occur softly every summer in Montana. “People come here and they lie on the lawn, canoe in the lake, participate in sweat lodges, laugh and eat good food—and find a place where they can be themselves, just like I was looking for all those years ago. That alone changes a person.”

Reflecting on her life, Supera tells me she can’t think of a single thing she’d do differently. “I have sheer gratitude for everyone I know—them knowing me and me knowing them. Gratitude to everyone along the way who helped me fulfill this vision. There are no mistakes; it’s really just one big love fest.”

India Supera

India Supera, Founder, Feathered Pipe Ranch: September 4, 1946 – October 29, 2019

Andy Vantrease

Andy Vantrease is a writer, wanderer and holistic health enthusiast. She is currently traveling throughout the Western United States, deepening her connection with the earth through simple living, spiritual practice and play. Follow her adventures on Instagram: @andy.vand

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LiveStream Yoga All Day for a Cause

Our yoga practice is meaningful, whenever and wherever we get on the mat. For any purpose. Even just to pursue our passions. Sunday, May 17, 10 yoga studios have come together to allow people around the world to practice with a purpose that is beyond the personal for the Santa Barbara Virtual Yoga Festival.

In our world today, more people are showing up at food banks looking for support.

The Santa Barbara community studios are opening their doors—virtually—and offering a total of 62 virtual live-streamed classes with 100% of donations collected supporting the SB County Foodbank. Teachers from around the world have offered their time to participate to feed souls and bodies through practice, donations, and food offerings.

The mission of the SB County Foodbank is the tagline for the event.  “Moving the community from hunger to health.”

It is a mission we can get behind. And its a mission we get on our mats to support.

Participating yoga studios include: Santa Barbara Yoga Center, Evolation Yoga, Divinitree, Yoga 4 Mankind, Yoga Soup, The Juicy Life, Hunnyfly Yoga, Power of Your OM, Santa Barbara Yoga Collective, and Yoga Dance Magic.

Donate, practice, check in with your friends, and support all of the ways we can practice with purpose. Take time to move communities from hunger to health.

Register online for the Santa Barbara Virtual Yoga Festival

Learn more, see the full schedule and register online. http://www.santabarbarayogacenter.com/sb-yoga-fest-2020

Felicia M. Tomasko

Felicia Tomasko has spent more of her life practicing Yoga and Ayurveda than not. She first became introduced to the teachings through the writings of the Transcendentalists, through meditation, and using asana to cross-train for her practice of cross-country running. Between beginning her commitment to Yoga and Ayurveda and today, she earned degrees in environmental biology and anthropology and nursing, and certifications in the practice and teaching of yoga, yoga therapy, and Ayurveda while working in fields including cognitive neuroscience and plant biochemistry. Her commitment to writing is at least as long as her commitment to yoga. Working on everything related to the written word from newspapers to magazines to websites to books, Felicia has been writing and editing professionally since college. In order to feel like a teenager again, Felicia has pulled out her running shoes for regular interval sessions throughout Southern California. Since the very first issue of LA YOGA, Felicia has been part of the team and the growth and development of the Bliss Network.

www.blissnetwork.com

The post May 17 Santa Barbara Virtual Yoga Festival Feeds People appeared first on LA Yoga Magazine - Ayurveda & Health.

5 Significant Examples of Yogananda’s Legacy

1. As one of the founding fathers of Yoga in the West, Yogananda brought a fresh new expression of an eternal truth: Self Realization. The essence of Self Realization is free from sectarianism. It cannot be bound by any organization (SRF, Ananda, etc.). It is not group or church realization; instead it is individual, self realization. Yogananda shared how each individual can have personal, direct contact with realization and how this inner harmony will lead to outward unity throughout the world. A quote along those lines from the Autobiography of a Yogi, “Kriya Yoga, the scientific technique of God-realization, he finally said with solemnity, will ultimately spread in all lands, and aid in harmonizing the nations through man’s personal, transcendental perception of the Infinite Father.”
2. In addition to inner communion, Yogananda was very enthusiastic about World Brotherhood Communities. A small group of people coming together with purpose and clarity of heart and mind have the power to change the world. Small intentional communities are a deeply meaningful part of Yogananda’s legacy in the world today. These “Cities of Light” will encircle the globe and usher in a new age of higher consciousness.
3. His perennial spiritual classic, Autobiography of a Yogi, continues to inspire people in all different spheres of life. This includes entertainment “Beam me up, Scotty” to the only book Steve Jobs had on his iPad and the book given out at this funeral service. Autobiography of a Yogi is one of the main manuals for living in this new age of divine energy.
4. Establishing harmony and oneness of Christianity, Hinduism, and all true religions. Uniting science and religion through study and practical realization of the unity of their underlying principles.
5. Furthering the cultural and spiritual understanding between East and West, and the constructive exchange of the distinctive features of their civilizations.

Celebrate Yogananda’s Legacy at YoganandaFest

Celebrate Yogananda’s Legacy at the Free Yogananda Fest on March 7. Schedule and tickets.

Dharmadev Romano

www.anandala.org%20

The post How Yogananda’s Legacy Is Continues to Influence the World Today appeared first on LA Yoga Magazine - Ayurveda & Health.

Searching for a quality yoga teacher training program at times feels like walking through a minefield. The industry has exploded in the last 10 years and there’s no sign of it slowing down. According to the Yoga Journal Yoga in America Study, there are two people interested in becoming a yoga teacher for every one current teacher.

This rapidly increasing demand for yoga has in many cases contributed to compromised and unscrupulous standards; you can now get a teacher training certificate in India or Thailand for less than $1,000. While it certainly feels like the expansion of yoga on this planet is net-positive, the other side of it is an alarming disconnection from the authentic traditions of ancient yoga.

How can the industry address the increasing demand for yoga, while maintaining the authenticity of the ancient traditions of real, Indian yoga?

This was the question the team at East+West was asking themselves when they opened their doors in 2016. In a yoga world that often ask you to take sides between the Lululemon yoga and ashram-style yoga, East+West in Bali is a refreshing middle ground.

In an industry filled with thousands of options, this school truly stands out. They were recently voted the top overall yoga teacher training program in the world by findyogatrainings.com. According to the team, every one of their trainings has sold out since they opened their doors. Their trainings are an eclectic mix of students from every corner of the world, a celebration of the best of everything this world has to offer.

“We created East+West to be the new world standard of teacher trainings,” said East+West program director Julia Ruff.

About the East + West Yoga Teacher Trainings

The Teachers & Vibe

Each one of the programs offered by East + West is a deeply immersive and transformational experience that includes teachers, quite literally, from East and West. On each of their trainings, they pair at least two classically trained master teacher from India — Like Gurumukh Singh, Deep Kumar, and Surinder Singh, with popular teacher from the west like LA’s own Paul Teodo, or world renowned teacher Mark Whitwell.

“Our teachers from India are not the ones you see plastered on the billboards. They are the ones who resonate deep purity, to the point where they even refuse to market themselves to the outside world,” said East+West director Ayla Hoogervorst.

Many students shy away from India the ashram experience because it can require students to buy into esoteric or religiously-inspired beliefs. This combination of teachers from both worlds allows participants to learn the ancient teachings in an environment that is comfortable and familiar.

“Our teachers all studied in the ancient lineages of India, but our programs are not tied to any one specific spiritual tradition. Deep & Gurumukh teach from Buddhism, Hinduism, Christianity, and everything in between,” Ayla Said.

The Resort & Food

While transformation is an inside job, the surrounding environment plays a huge supportive role in that process. This is one of the huge risks of doing extended trainings in India, a place that puts little value on basic comforts. To address this, East+West decided to hold their trainings in luxurious resorts like Ananda Cottages, Om Ham Retreat, and Cosmos Oasis.

“We designed our trainings to be completely immersive and all-inclusive, so all students have to do is show up and focus on their practice. They can put aside all their concerns from their outside world for the time they are with us” said Julia.

“Actually, yoga cannot be done if the basics of the body are not taken care of. Students must be comfortable in their surroundings if they want to focus on going inside themselves,” said East+West teacher Deep Kumar.

Often times “authentic” yoga is associated with austerity, but part of what students learn on their trainings is not to deny themselves the pleasures and abundance the world has to offer. The key, they say, is to do it with mindfulness and moderation. Students go through many exercises on the trainings them help them integrate the teachings into their current lives, including their jobs and relationships. Afterall, yoga is just a “practice,” isn’t it?

Food that Nourishes the Spirit

In ancient times, food was one of the first areas the masters would address. Ancient masters were proponents of a diet that would very much align with what modern science is suggesting is the most optimal diet; whole, natural, unprocessed foods with little animal products.

For example, Alchemy Ubud is one of the dozens of amazing plant-based food options within walking distance of the training

“Food has been such an important component of all our team’s personal transformation. We wanted to offer that to students, giving them some of the best healthy food possible and educating them about it while they are with us,” said East+West co-founder Andrew McFarlane, and LA Native who is also the founder of the popular Open Source Organics in Hollywood.

Everyone gathers for three group meals each day to enjoy dishes lovingly crafted from local fruits and vegetables. Balinese meals offer an infusion of life-force, known in Sanskrit of prana, that fuels both the senses and the soul. While refueling the body during the communal meals, there is time to talk philosophy to nourish the mind. The yoga teacher training course curriculum includes exploration of the yogic diet, holistic nutrition, and the yogic lifestyle.

What’s Included: So You Can Budget Like a Boss

The inclusive pricing for the Yoga East + West Teacher Training Modules puts the clarity into budgeting for a teacher training program. This allows you to reduce the stress caused by financial uncertainty while planning ahead for a peak experience.

Trainings typically include

• All accommodations & food
• All training materials and equipment
• All daily classes Monday-Saturday
• Teacher training manuals
• International Yoga Alliance Certification
• Access to all online courses, including a yoga career course with Paul Teodo, and ongoing holistic practices to reduce anxiety and balance hormones.

What’s not included?

You’ll still need to cover your flight to and from Bali and any additional on-island trips you choose to enhance your unique East meets West journey. According to the team, students typically need very little extra money for outside activities.

Modules and Month-Long Programs

The modular format of many of the trainings allow participants to deepen practice and teaching skills with a work-life-vacation balance. They recently launched 100-hour training modules scheduled over 11 days (two weekends) so that participants can savor the immersion while on vacation from a regular job. Some upcoming 100-hour themes include 100-hour Yin and Meditation, Hatha Yoga, Bhakti Yoga, and Holistic Coaching. The 200- and some 300-hour programs are scheduled throughout the year so people can easily find a time on the mat and going beyond the mind in Bali.

Knowing You’re Ready for Transformation

Many students are unsure whether they are prepared or not for teacher trainings. It’s common to be nervous and uncertain, as it is a big life decision. The best measurement is your own dedication and desire to learn more. Understand that a teacher training experience is a full-time commitment, you’re doing classes for 10 hours a day. If you know inside you are ready for that type of dedication, there’s never a wrong time to do it. And you definitely don’t need to want to be a yoga teacher. East+West said almost half of their students do not intend to be teachers but are doing the training to deepen their own practice.

Upcoming Trainings

Here is a schedule of trainings at East + West

2019 Trainings

200 hour teacher trainings: August, October, December
300 Hour teacher training: November
100 hour: Hatha training with Mark Whitwell @ Mysore Palace

2020 Trainings

200 hour teacher trainings: February, March, May, June, July, September, October
300 hour teacher training: November
100 hour Bhakti Training with Govind Das in Bali in June

Felicia M. Tomasko

Felicia Tomasko has spent more of her life practicing Yoga and Ayurveda than not. She first became introduced to the teachings through the writings of the Transcendentalists, through meditation, and using asana to cross-train for her practice of cross-country running. Between beginning her commitment to Yoga and Ayurveda and today, she earned degrees in environmental biology and anthropology and nursing, and certifications in the practice and teaching of yoga, yoga therapy, and Ayurveda while working in fields including cognitive neuroscience and plant biochemistry. Her commitment to writing is at least as long as her commitment to yoga. Working on everything related to the written word from newspapers to magazines to websites to books, Felicia has been writing and editing professionally since college. In order to feel like a teenager again, Felicia has pulled out her running shoes for regular interval sessions throughout Southern California. Since the very first issue of LA YOGA, Felicia has been part of the team and the growth and development of the Bliss Network.

www.blissnetwork.com

The post Is This the World’s Coolest Yoga Teacher Training? appeared first on LA Yoga Magazine - Ayurveda & Health.

International Yoga Day with Cast Members at Disney Parks Worldwide

Nearly 1,000 Disneyland Resort Cast Members celebrated International Yoga Day on June 21, 2018, in Anaheim, California. Only Disneyland Cast Members can watch the sun rise over Sleeping Beauty Castle while practicing yoga with friends.

One of the components to the magic of yoga is connection. This may be the connection we have to ourselves on our mat. It can also be the connection that takes place when we have the opportunity to share our practice with other people. Many people were brought by friends to the class and were trying yoga for the first time. And finding the magic.

Around the world, Disneyland Paris, Hong Kong Disneyland, Shanghai Disneyland and Walt Disney World Resort also participated in this year’s International Yoga Day.

Shanghai Disneyland cast members share a yoga practice on International Yoga Day.

Cast members at Disneyland Paris gather to practice together.

Hong Kong Disneyland cast members practicing yoga.

Felicia M. Tomasko

Felicia Tomasko has spent more of her life practicing Yoga and Ayurveda than not. She first became introduced to the teachings through the writings of the Transcendentalists, through meditation, and using asana to cross-train for her practice of cross-country running. Between beginning her commitment to Yoga and Ayurveda and today, she earned degrees in environmental biology and anthropology and nursing, and certifications in the practice and teaching of yoga, yoga therapy, and Ayurveda while working in fields including cognitive neuroscience and plant biochemistry. Her commitment to writing is at least as long as her commitment to yoga. Working on everything related to the written word from newspapers to magazines to websites to books, Felicia has been writing and editing professionally since college. In order to feel like a teenager again, Felicia has pulled out her running shoes for regular interval sessions throughout Southern California. Since the very first issue of LA YOGA, Felicia has been part of the team and the growth and development of the Bliss Network.

www.blissnetwork.com

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-Paramahansa Yogananda

A gathering storm of smiling yogis collect in the lobby of the Bikram Yoga Fremont Street Studio in Portland, Oregon, a few minutes before the 11am class. The studio has the signature blue carpet, a rack of t-shirts, yoga costumes, and water bottles with the studio logo for sale. Nearby, on the wall, colorized posters of Paramahansa Yogananda and his younger brother Bishnu Gosh represent the lineage that inspired Bikram Choudhury. Bikram famously transported hot asana consciousness to the West in the 1970s.

At the front desk, Sean Lee, a teacher who swears by the 26 asanas (postures) and 2 pranayama (breathing exercises) known as Bikram’s beginning yoga series, keeps it simple: “This yoga place has that.” He says, “I can practice that here and I can teach that here.”

The Bikram Yoga Fremont Studio is communal. It promotes the kind of respectful intimacy that facilitates an environment where perfect strangers can sweat freely wearing next to nothing, just inches apart on yoga mats. It is a safe space for everybody and everybody is welcome.

Each student and teacher has a personal story of transformation through the practice. For example, Jeff lost 100 pounds over the last couple years. Yanming has healed a job-threatening shoulder injury. Rebecca is in her sixth month of her first pregnancy. Rodolfo, a native Spanish speaker who views yoga as a second language brought his family to the practice here. This studio and this practice are a central part of all of their lives.

People filter into the hot room to find a spot as studio owners Gretchen Olsen and Danelle Denstone tend to the last minute details for the class. Gretchen takes one last look at the mirrors to make sure they’re clean, while Danelle goes over the class roster at the front desk. They have a natural synergy that has become more refined with time.

Gretchen and Danelle have more than a lot in common. They’re both Michigan natives who have worked for the same airlines. The two are single mothers of young children and yoginis who became teachers and took on the challenge of becoming studio owners. All of their hard work has paid off. The studio is thriving.

Community and Hot Yoga at Bikram Yoga Fremont Street

The Spiritual Side of Yoga

“We wanted to bring a more spiritual side that isn’t always present in every studio,” Gretchen says. “We want to bring that back to people.” And they’ve done it by creating a community of people who have aligned to practice and support others. “There’s a lot of listening that goes on here,” Rebecca says. It’s not surprising. This studio is run by women. There’s not a lot of over-talking and interrupting at the Fremont Street Yoga Studio.

A Focus on Practice

As Bikram’s public drama plays out somewhere in Mexico, the focus here is on the ever-expanding practice and its lineage. Ahead of the curve, Bikram brought hot yoga to the US at a time when many Americans were focused on The Brady Bunch, disco and pet rocks. Bikram’s teacher, Bishnu Gosh, was the younger brother of spiritual master Paramahansa Yogananda. Bishnu Gosh was the creator of Gosh Yoga, whose 84 postures were later distilled into the 26 and 2.

The future of the 26 and 2 is certain at the Fremont Studio in Portland. The path they’ve cleaved is true. Their intention is pure. The plan is simple: to continue to grow the business and hold space for yoginis and yogis in their Portland studio.

People begin to filter in for the 4:30 class as Gretchen and Danelle reflect in the lobby. A small, framed picture of Ganesha behind the front desk is the only elephant in the room. “I don’t know what’s going on with Bikram in his personal life. He gave me this and I am forever grateful,” Danelle says. “I hope he sees this video and is proud of our work,” then adds “I just think about what Paramahansa Yogananda says, it is our duty to behave divinely ourselves, to be spiritual, to be pure, and to be unselfish.”

Sam Slovick

Award-winning journalist, documentary director and long-term LA Yoga contributor Sam Slovick is the director, writer and producer of the Radicalized documentary, currently working on the Kirtan Road Dogs documentary.

samslovick.com

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When Looking for Ways to Support Our Veterans, the Yoga Mat Might Just Be the Place to Start: 

Veterans Day in November, is the anniversary of the end of World War I. It is a holiday scheduled to honor all veterans of the United States Armed Forces for their patriotism and willingness to serve and sacrifice for the common good of our country. Yet all too often, this service comes with a cost of unseen wounding. This is why a number of organizations around the country, as well as the military itself, is looking at the benefits of yoga for veterans.

The current statistics are staggering: There are a reported 22 veteran suicides each day, 20% of Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans and 30% of Vietnam veterans are diagnosed with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.

PTSD can be Influenced by Yoga

Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) is a condition of persistent mental and emotional anxiety typically occurring after an acute trauma, but can also occur after long-term, chronic stress. Symptoms can include reliving events through flashbacks and nightmares, chronic hype-vigilance, depression, isolation, aggression, and severe generalized anxiety. With PTSD, a person’s nervous system is reacting to the trauma of past memories rather than responding to present moment circumstances.

Often, veterans may express reluctance to admit that they are experiencing the symptoms of PTSD in fear it might reflect on their ability to handle the pressures of the military. This stigma was specifically addressed during a CNN’s Town Hall in September, 2016, when former President Obama said, “You’ve got to get help. There’s nothing weak about that. It’s strong.”

Research on Yoga for Veterans

Recently, more research studies are finding that yoga techniques, when delivered in a trauma-sensitive manner specific to the needs of the veteran population, are having a positive effect on PTSD symptoms.

A study funded by the U.S. Defense Department and led by Sat Bir S. Khalsa, PhD, an Assistant Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School, found that a consistent yoga practice over t10 weeks showed improvement in PTSD symptoms via a clinician-administered PTSD scale. Yoga techniques in this protocol included postures, breathing techniques, and meditation with an emphasis on grounding awareness in the present moment. Several other studies have shown similar positive results.

More of the medical settings that serving veterans have been making yoga classes available. Currently, classes are being held at three sites of the Department of Veterans Affairs in Los Angeles with yoga therapist Jeanne Ortiz. “We are experiencing wonderful results with these programs such as reduction in use of pharmaceutical medicines, better range of mobility, and decreased depression and decreased symptoms of PTSD,” says Ortiz. In addition, a number of organizations have been developing programs to educate teachers on safe and effective yoga practices for veterans. Even so, many veterans are unaware of yoga as a resource for support or how they can find a class or a teacher sensitive to their needs.

On Veterans Day, members of the yoga community have come together to create several initiatives to increase accessibility and awareness of yoga for veterans. These are also opportunities for civilians to show support for veterans as well as the organizations involved in these efforts.

Photo of Sergeant Rebecca Smith by Robert Sturman

Veterans Yoga Project

For example, Veterans Yoga Project, a nonprofit organization founded by Dr. Daniel Libby, offers trainings for yoga teachers to teach skills of self-regulation through yoga and also provides healing retreats for veterans. “I didn’t serve in the military. I believe if you didn’t serve, then it is your responsibility to serve those who have” says Libby. Veterans Yoga Project has created Veterans Gratitude Week from November 4-13 where hundreds of yoga classes around the world will be offered by donation as a way of introducing yoga to veterans and support the work of Veterans Yoga Project.

Los Angeles-based yoga photographer Robert Sturman has also created a call to action surrounding Veterans Day by asking several yoga studios to offer unlimited free yoga for veterans during the month of November. Sturman is known for his exquisite photographs of military personnel and veterans practicing yoga postures. “As an artist who is aware of the veteran suicide statistics, and as a human being who has become friends with many vets, I feel it is my responsibility to bring awareness to not only the crisis, but to the possibility of healing,” offers Sturman.

Operation Yoga

Read more about Operation Yoga in LA Yoga Magazine. 

This Veterans Day, observe the holiday by introducing yoga to a veteran in your life or attending an event to support the efforts of teachers and organizations who are bringing healing to veterans through yoga.

Nationwide Initiatives

Veterans Gratitude Week
November 8-18
Veterans Yoga Project annual fundraiser to support recovery and resilience among veterans, families and communities. Teach or attend a donation-based class.
VeteransYogaProject.org/veterans-gratitude-week

Olivia Kvitne

Olivia Kvitne is founder and director of Yoga For First Responders. She teaches yoga at the Des Moines Veterans Association and is the 2016 recipient of the Warrior Award and Community Choice Award from Yoga Alliance. YogaForFirstResponders.org

www.yogaforfirstreponders.org%20

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Photo by David Young-Wolff

Yoga on Location: Ryan Orrico at 10,000 Buddha Mural Wall by Amanda Giacomini

Ryan Orrico is wearing shirt by SPIRITUALAF.COM.  Photographed in front of the 10,000 Buddha Mural by Amanda Giacomini.  @10000Buddhas in Venice photo by David Young-Wolff (DAVIDYOUNG-WOLFF.COM)

Ryan Orrico teaches burn at Maha Yoga (mahayoga.com/6AMYOGAPARTY). RYANORRICO.COM IG@RYANORRICO

David Young-Wolff

David Young-Wolff loves to tell a story in a single frame. Never satisfied with the ordinary, he strives to creat exciting images with a unique twist. In addition to his assignments, he is currently working on two other projects. One is Coming to LA, which involves photographing people who have moved to LA from other countries. He is also shooting photos to illustrate an upcoming book, Navajo Mothers, Navajo Daughters. davidyoung-wolff.com

davidyoung-wolff.com

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Photos by Patricia Pena

I’ve learned that there is neither magic nor adventure found in our comfort zone. The magic happens on the edge. In this spirit, I faced my own fear of heights (read: fear of falling from heights) by trekking to the very top of Point Dume and standing out on the edge—the very edge.

So, on the very edge of the highest, most jagged rock I sat down in sukhasana for my winter meditation. With eyes closed and hands in prayer, I began to breathe. With each exhale I focused on releasing all that I needed to let go of in order to make space for my new and evolving intentions. There, on the literal edge of death, I killed off that which no longer serves my highest purpose. I exhaled self-judgment, and inhaled self-love. I exhaled people and situations that no longer serve me, and inhaled space for those who would love, accept, and elevate me.

I then opened my eyes to take in the great beauty of the cliffs. There were thick, billowing grey clouds, ominously promising a rain we so desperately needed. Smashing against the rocks below, there was a loud and turbulent tide that was equally terrifying and enticing. Out in the distance I could see still blue waters, which promised peace on the horizon.

I expanded my meditation to all the sensations around me, and welcomed them into my experience, becoming one with nature itself. I felt a cool breeze blow through my hair, and heard the song of seals below, harmonizing with the rolling waves. I inhaled the sticky salt air and felt the spray of the ocean as it crashed against the jagged rocks beneath me.

On this beautifully secluded and dangerous cliffside, at one with my fears, I felt the old die away, making a glorious space for all my New Years’ intentions. I reflected on the power of the famous quote by Albert Camus, “In the depth of Winter, I finally learned that within me there lay an invincible summer.”

Elise Joan is an LA yoga teacher who teaches at Equinox and Exhale (among other locations). She created an online yoga/fitness site that lets you build and save your own yoga and workout playlists from 10 minutes to two hours: elisejoanfitness.com.

justindaviscanada

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LA Yoga Magazine September 2005

After hearing of the death of beloved yoga guru B.K.S Iyengar, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi tweeted, “Generations will remember Shri BKS Iyengar as a fine Guru, scholar & a stalwart who brought Yoga into the lives of many across the world.”

Born in Karnataka, India in 1918, Iyengar suffered from many ailments as a child including malaria, tuberculosis, and typhoid fever leaving him weak and sickly. It was when his brother-in-law Krishnamacharya (now known as the ‘Father of Modern Yoga’) invited him to Mysore, India to practice yoga that his health and strength improved. At 18 years old, he began to teach yoga in Pune, India.

His approach to yoga is best known for the ability to adapt a yoga practice to anyone, including those with major disabilities, by the use of yoga props in order to reach full expression and benefit. He continued to practice many hours of yoga himself, executing challenging asanas and pranayama, well into his last years. He taught that with regular practice of Iyengar Yoga, the body could be used to integrate the the mind and emotions and quiet the intellect and ego.

Iyengar was the author of many books including the well known, Light on Yoga, often used as a reference book in many yoga schools to train teachers. He was also a philanthropist  supporting animals and bringing awareness to multiple sclerosis through the Multiple Sclerosis Society of India. Iyengar was named one of the 100 most influential people in the world by Time magazine.

Iyengar passed away Wednesday, August 20th 2014 at a hospital in Pune, India following kidney problems.

“I always tell people, ‘live happily and die majestically”

-B.K.S. Iyengar

Staff Writer Lakshmi

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Yoga class has increasingly become a staple in the daily schedules of health conscious Westerners. As we throw our yoga mat in the back seat and grab a coffee on the way to the studio, we are about to practice an ancient art that has withstood 2,500 years of transformation.

Whether a serious practitioner or simply flirting with a down dog, it is of value to go beyond the postures and refine your knowledge of the history of yoga. YOGA: The Art of Transformation provides over 130 gems of Indian art borrowed from 25 museums and collections around the world from the second to 20th centuries. It is the only West Coast showing of this exhibition.

Walking through this selection of art reminds us that yoga began as a way to transcend the suffering inherent in human existence; Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras were written to support this journey.

A selection of statues and paintings shows Tantrikas, Jainas, and Hatha yogis practicing austerities in order to reach the state of Samadhi, where the seer and seen are one. Alongside them are statues of the enlightened beings they aspired to become, from Jinas of the Jain religion to Yoginis, fierce flying goddesses. With a combination of auspicious and dangerous symbols commonly found in images of yoginis, the fiery figures uphold an air of both intimidation and veneration.

It’s eye-opening to see these early depictions of the intense self-control the practitioner  must endure to reach the state these deities held, where you are one with the absolute and there is no death. In order to achieve this, practitioners would undergo extreme physical disciplines, detoxifications and devotions. A statue of Buddha in this exhibit is not smiling, chubby or carefree as he can sometimes be depicted, but shown starved and broken in an intense internal quest before he accomplished freedom from the material world. It implies a cruelty to one’s physical body that one must endure and overcome as the tool to enlightenment, as compared to the physical well-being we celebrate in modern day practice. 

In addition to the ancient art shown on display are a selection of early illustrations and explanations of yoga asana, pranayama, and the subtle bodies. We also see a 17th century collection of caricatures of yogis as sly impostors created during conflict with British colonization in India. Finally, we have the opportunity to observe the first American films about India, produced early in the 20th century that depict yogis with the personas of psychics and magicians.

Once I saw the beautiful and authentic traditions that gave birth to yoga in the beginning of the exhibit and later viewed the interpretations from the 17th to 20th centuries, I felt a sense of responsibility to uphold the original intent of the practice; to perceive the Universe within oneself.

The San Francisco Asian Art Museum’s YOGA: The Art of Transformation offers a revelation that will surely give you a new and inspirational layer next time you unroll your mat. It’s an exciting reminder that as we continue to practice yoga we become part of its history and evolution.

The Asian Art Museum’s exhibit of YOGA: The Art of Transformation in San Francisco is currently on view until May 25, 2014. www.asianart.org

Olivia Kvitne is a yoga instructor and Assistant Editor for LA YOGA and the Bliss Network. She specializes in teaching trauma-sensitive yoga to veterans and first responders. She has taught workshops for LAPD and weekly classes for LAFD as well as free yoga workshops for veterans and military, Yoga for Heroes. Olivia is a proud member of Actors Equity Association and a professional dancer. Her most recent credit is the short musical comedy film, Waiting in the Wings The Musical Movie starring Lee Meriwether, Sally Struthers, Shirley Jones and Jeffrey Johns. 

Staff Writer Lakshmi

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On January 26th, Naam Yoga hosted a record setting gathering at The Angel of Independence Monument in Mexico City.

The free Naam Yoga Super Class was attended by nearly 20,000 people in person with thousands more attending around the world via live stream broadcast.

This is the fourth annual Super Class hosted by Naam Yoga. The first year, the event attracted 1,500 people and has subsequently grown to this year’s record-breaking number. “We are grateful to Mexico’s City Government and to INDEPORTE (Mexico’s City Sports Institute) who have made the space available for us and Dr. Levry for his unconditional love and support,” said Rebeca Torres, founder of Naam Mexico.

Dr. Joseph Levry is founder of Naam Yoga and an internationally known spiritual teacher. “It is our responsibility to individually and collectively contribute something positive, healing and uplifting to our planet,” he says. “To be one of thousands of people who came together in the name of peace was the experience of a lifetime,” said Jane Mirshak, Executive Director of Naam Yoga Los Angeles who was live at the event.

Naam Yoga is a non-profit organization, headquartered in Los Angeles, CA. Naam Yoga is a new form of yoga that incorporates sound, movement and breathing, increasing the flow of energy in the body to achieve optimal health and well being.

Staff Writer Lakshmi

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Every true invention garners the same response: I can’t believe that doesn’t exist already—how is that possible?  This just happened to yoga.

While we think we’ve seen everything when it comes to yoga; what the West has not yet seen is an accredited academic program devoted to Yoga studies. Not a teacher training nor certification, but a degree. Before now a person in the US could earn degrees in related subjects such as Comparative Religion, Hindu or Sanskrit studies, or even Exercise Physiology. To date, there has been no Master’s Degree in Yoga Studies available outside of India.

“Why hasn’t it been done?” Good question! Attaining approval at an academic institution is complicated and takes at least 10 years. In this case, it took 15.

Dr. Christopher Key Chapple had the vision for a program like this in his youth. In 1985, he began teaching at Loyola Marymount University; in 1998, he created an extension program focusing on Yoga studies which grew to include two certification programs: Yoga Philosophy and, collaborating with Larry Payne, Yoga Therapeutics.

Siddhis is the Sanskrit word for spiritual powers. It took nothing less than Siddhis for Professor Chapple to jump through every hoop and maintain true vision. Professor Chapple diligently worked with the University — filing applications, appealing to the administration, and raising funds.  In 2012, he received approval from the university, began the student application process, and unveiled a comprehensive curriculum with  courses in science, history, Eastern religions, Sanskrit, and comparative philosophy.

September, 2013, nineteen adventurous students of all ages and backgrounds matriculated in the inaugural Master’s degree in Yoga Studies. While this is the first, it will certainly not be the last.  With Professor Chapple’s commitment for excellence, we can predict this program will be so successful that, like all inventions, we will wonder how we lived without it.

For more information visit: http://bellarmine.lmu.edu/yoga/

Staff Writer Lakshmi

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Satya Narayan Goenka

(January 30, 1924 – September 29, 2013)

Vipassana is a method of meditation in which the mind and body is understood by turning awareness to the senses. Holding that sensation is the gateway to our understanding of the world, the systematic exploration of physical sensation leads to equanimity and the cessation of suffering.

S.N. Goenka spent his life popularizing Vipassana meditation, opening retreat and training centers all over the world. Because it is not tied to any particular sectarian religion, Vipassana is a universally accessible and globally influential path of self-realization.

At the 2000 UN Peace Summit, Goenka said, “Let us focus on the commonalities of all religions, on the inner core of all religions which is purity of heart. We should all give importance to this aspect of religion and avoid conflict over the outer shell of the religions, which is various rites, rituals, festivals and dogmas.”

Buddhist meditation teacher, Wes Nisker, reflects on his time sitting with the great Goenka at his early Vipassana retreats.

It was a significant moment in the history of the Dhamma, that winter of 1971 in Bodhgaya, when S. N. Goenka began to teach his 10 day retreats in Vipassana meditation, attended primarily by young people from the West. Most of us had come to India on a pilgrimage to check out the source of this ancient wisdom tradition that we had been reading about at college in paperback books; the writings of hip scholars like Alan Watts and the spiritual beatnik poets.

I attended my first meditation retreat with Goenka that winter, there at the Burmese Buddhist Vihara, where 30 or 40 of us had gathered, spreading our hippie backpacks and sleeping bags across the roof and through the garden; a new generation from the other side of the planet looking for liberation on the road. On the Buddha’s path.

Some have since called it “the meditation retreat that shook the world.” In spite of the fact that it was a somewhat random convergence of individuals, among those in attendance were Ram Dass and his entourage, Joseph Goldstein, Sharon Salzberg, Daniel Goleman, John Travis and others who would return to the West with the jewels of the Dhamma, beautifully polished and presented to us by Goenkaji, as we affectionately called him. That retreat helped to spawn many books and launch many teachers who would eventually help to create a spiritual revolution in the world.

Goenka was a worldly man and taught a straight-ahead Dhamma, perfect for Westerners, using science and common sense and lots of good humor. He used to say, “I’m not teaching Buddhism. I’m teaching the art of living.” He had an interest in theater and happened to have a lovely baritone voice. I will never forget listening to Goenka singing Buddhist chants to us in the early morning and evening, many of the melodies composed by Goenka himself. I can hear his voice mixing with the tinkle of rickshaw bells and the cries of street vendors just outside the Vihara.

Goenkaji’s love of the Dhamma was palpable. We trusted him, practiced hard with him, and under his kind gaze we also fell in love with the Dhamma. Although like many of us who attended those first retreats with Goenka, I went on to study with other teachers, I will always remember scanning my awareness through my body; focusing on the ever-changing physical sensations as Goenkaji chanted to us “Annica! Annica! Impermanent! Impermanent.” I will also remember his sincerity, his wonderful laugh, and his admonishment to us at the close of every sitting: “Be happy! Be happy!”

Goenkaji was a true master of the Dhamma, and his presence will be missed in the world.

Wes “Scoop” Nisker is a Buddhist meditation teacher, author and performer. His books include, Essential Crazy Wisdom and Buddha’s Nature, The Big Bang, The Buddha and the Baby Boom, and Crazy Wisdom Saves the World Again!  He is the founder and co-editor of the Buddhist journal Inquiring Mind, an affiliate teacher at the Spirit Rock Meditation Center, and does regular workshops at Esalen Institute. For more information about Wes, visit wesnisker.com.

Staff Writer Lakshmi

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Out of the eight petals of yoga, the only petal that is exhibitive is the yoga asanas whereas the other petals are very individual and personal. As such there is nothing wrong with holding a competition on the qualitative presentation of yoga asanas. –BKS Iyengar, Yoga Luminary

***

In a kaleidoscopic display of talent and postural form, one by one, advanced yoga practitioners stepped onto a grand stage to demonstrate individual asana routines in front of an audience of hundreds. As they twisted and elongated their bodies into elegant lines and shapes – their faces calm, some even breaking into a wide smile, spectators looked on in admiration and awe. Swept up by the positive energy and community spirit of a yoga championship, the entire event felt like a celebration of personal practices rather than a white-knuckled competition. The weekend of June 8 and 9, 2013, marked my first time attending an international yoga asana competition event.

Day of Finals – Sunday, June 9 2013. Photo: www.davidyoung-wolff.com

The annual International Yoga Asana Championship has been taking place for a decade now. Sponsored in 2013 by the International Yoga Sports Federation (IYSF), this was the largest event yet, drawing a pool of competitors with a broad global reach. Throughout the weekend, 99 athletes from 26 countries descended upon the Grand Ballroom of the Sheraton Gateway LAX, literally minutes away from the airport’s arrival and departure gates, to demonstrate the sport of yoga asana. Judged by an international panel, the conclusion of the weekend meant the highest scoring males and females from the adult and youth divisions would leave the podium with the title of 2013 World Yoga Asana Champion; their bouquets of flowers and shiny gold trophies serving as the decorative trimmings.

The international event is an invitational, comprised of athletes who placed in the top rankings during affiliated national and regional competitions which are open to practitioners from any school or style of yoga. The rules and competitive structure follow the Hatha yoga tradition; championship judges are educated by their Indian Federation counterparts on how to award marks for balance, strength, flexibility, well-paced timing, and appropriate breathing in postures. In turn, points can be deducted for instability, lack of proper alignment, forced or uneven breathing, falling out of a posture, or other factors. Ultimately it is the athletes’ ability to master postures in stillness in the present moment which makes the difference.

2013 Wold Yoga Champion Jared McCann (US) in One Armed Peacock pose. Photo: www.davidyoung-wolff.com

It was on Saturday, an unseasonably cool day in Los Angeles, that all 79 adult competitors – the women’s count had one up on the men’s – demonstrated their routines to qualify for a spot in Sunday’s Final; their individual three minute presentation of seven asanas (five compulsory and two advanced) symbolic of the culmination of months of training, coaching, resting, and dietary discipline. Prior to the moving  into a state of stillness in an asana, the athlete is required to name the pose – whether it be Stretching, Peacock, Handstand Scorpion, Rabbit, Lotus, Tortoise, or Bow, and it is in the moments after this announcement that their performance is evaluated.

In the breaks between demonstrations, the hotel ballroom, which served as the competition space, was a mash up of foreign accents and conversations – a whirlwind of words in French, Swiss French, Spanish, Russian, and British and Irish accents. Hearing the slang of the down to earth Australian contingent was, for me, like being home for a few precious moments (especially when I met one of the yoga athletes, Kowshini Bazil, who happens to teach at my home studio in Lane Cove, Sydney). Though it was a total of around six hours of yoga asana, the length of the day went unnoticed; it was the absence of the heightened energy after I’d left that was fondly reflected upon and missed.

2007 World Yoga Champion Ky Ha & Australian competitor Mark Valenton in the audience. Photo: www.davidyoung-wolff.com

The Los Angeles sun made its appearance for Sunday morning’s Youth Division Finals. The demonstrations of nine boys and eleven girls, who’d flown in from places as close as Mexico and as far away as India, left an audience inspired. Ali Godoy from the US and India’s Arup Bhowmick scored the highest; each was awarded the title of 2013 World Yoga Asana Champion (Youth). A couple of days after her win, Ali, who competed in her first ever International championship this year, wrote to me via email, “It feels amazing to be titled the Youth International Yoga Asana Champion. It is actually sort of incomprehensible; my goal was just to perform to the best of my ability. I never expected to win. I entered because I thought it would be a great way for me to improve my practice and be inspired by the other competitors.” For a 13-year-old, she is already paving the path of service, “In the future I want to volunteer or work with different groups to help introduce yoga to other young people and raise awareness about its benefits.”

I am sure I’m not alone in this reflection; that if only I had known about the sport of yoga asana when I was a teenager, I would have practiced it. For someone who was never interested sports as a kid, I was introduced to yoga in my late twenties and it has been a constant ever since, well into my thirties. In the 1990s, yoga was becoming trendy in America and Australia was seemingly slow to catch up. Today, having the practice so accessible and available globally is a real advantage for the younger generation. I spoke with Rajashree Choudhury, IYSF President and Founder, and five-time All India Yoga Asana Champion about youth and sport a few months ago. She’d said, “Kids have a difficult time when they go through different stages in life; I know this as I raised two kids of my own. There has to be a sport (for them), there has to be a purpose – if they take yoga as a sport, they can constantly improve.”

ChauKei Stefanie Ngai (China) is 2013 World Yoga Asana Champion in Bow Legged Peacock pose. Photo: www.davidyoung-wolff.com

The Adult Finals took place after the Youth Division. Though the number of the routines was condensed to 20, the demonstrations of the top scoring males and females created an atmosphere equally as palpable as on Saturday. The grand finale meant that only one male and one female would walk away with the champion title. In a collective display of flexibility, strength, and technique of routines comprising beautifully executed asanas that only the judges could decipher with precision, Jared McCann (US) and ChauKei Stefanie Ngai (China) were named the 2013 World Yoga Asana Champions.

The embodiment of impending success, Jared had said a few days before his win, “Participation in the yoga competition, for me, means for that minutes onstage I am fully connected to myself, my spirit, and the members of the audience watching my demonstration. Everything else fades away and I become an instrument for something I love and believe in… yoga.”  

Post-competition, my daily yoga sessions have been filled with a greater sense of peace in my practice, a feeling I directly attribute to witnessing the championships. It’s as if it finally clicked – that no matter how advanced or how preliminary one’s practice is, we all share in moments of vulnerability. It’s what connects us. Whether we choose to demonstrate yoga on the stage, in class, or in our own space, it comes down to a mutual unwavering dedication and perseverance of taking part in something that we love.

After six years of competing, ChauKei said of her win, “After this championship, I’m thrilled to see all the pieces come together into a picture of what I’ve been trying to achieve in the past few years. All the small steps, unglamorous changes, and seemingly untimely moments are part of it.” Constantly facing and embracing our emotions in the present moment leads to a series of courageous performances throughout life – it is what epitomizes healthy competition and taps into the champion within all of us.

See results and photos of the 2013 IYSF international Yoga Asana Championship here: www.yogasportsfederation.org/events/

The Closing Ceremony of the 2013 IYSF Yoga Asana Championship. Photo: www.davidyoung-wolff.com

Photos: www.davidyoung-wolff.com

Marina Chetner

Marina Chetner is a Los Angeles-based Australian freelance writer.

The post A Global Celebration of Yoga Asana at the 2013 IYSF Championship appeared first on LA Yoga Magazine - Ayurveda & Health.

Since 2003, a series of annual Regional and National Championships have been held around the world, with top-placed athletes competing each year at the International event. In 2013, the IYSF International Yoga Asana Championship is anticipated to be the largest ever with 98 competitors from 25 countries.

JOSEPH ENCINIA, 27, US Yoga Champion 2009-2011, International Yoga Champion 2011

“Participating in the competition in my first year of yoga practice boosted my passion and love for yoga. If it wasn’t for that I probably wouldn’t have become a teacher.” — Joseph Encinia

Teaching yoga is Encinia’s vocation and the title of Yoga Champion opened doors for him around the world.  “I love to travel. I think the best part of it is that I get to teach in other places.” From Australia to Asia, and Moscow to Mumbai, Encinia has one well-stamped passport.

That said, it’s hard to imagine him housebound for a decade. At a child, he suffered a heart attack, was diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis, and took five pills a day – he gave life beyond Dallas hardly a moment’s thought. “After knee surgery at age 11, I stopped playing; I stopped going outside… As a kid, I remember imagining what my life would be if everything went perfectly. What yoga has given me has far exceeded that,” he laughs. At 19 he left for college and wanted to gain control of his life. A friend introduced him to yoga.

A month into the practice, Encinia remembers feeling good; his joint swelling had decreased and his weight went down. Previous attempts at other fitness regimens hadn’t given him such mobility. From then on, he knew yoga would play a large role in his life. With a renewed sense of confidence and inspired by a workshop led by yoga champion Esak Garcia, he signed up for the regional competition in Texas.

“I was pretty pumped up in my first year of yoga; I had this joy for having some physical ability. It was the first time I could ever participate in an athletic event.” Unprepared, he competed for the sheer fun of it and came last. “I fell out of Standing Head to Knee, Crow, and Locust poses, but after that experience, I knew I would be competing the next year.”

As part of his competition preparation, Encinia fundraised enough money to attend Bikram Yoga Teacher Training. In his third year of competing regionally, he achieved a milestone. “At the time, it felt like the biggest accomplishment of my yoga career. I was the Texas Yoga Champion and I was teaching yoga.” In that same year, he went on to place second in the Nationals and qualified for the Internationals. “As I didn’t expect to move to up to the International level so quickly, it was a big surprise. I was so excited, and my ego got really big… then I fell sideways out of One-Legged Wheel.” He didn’t place but reached another milestone – he moved from Dallas and headed to San Diego to be coached at a higher level by Jim Kallet.

“Jim helped rein my senses in,” say Encinia of his mentor and competition coach. “He taught the Bhagavad Gita… He trained me to be a champion in my spirit even before I walked on stage. The asana practice – well, that just came with it.” Encinia studied videos of champions to refine his technique and deepened his knowledge through reading philosophy. The next year, he placed second at the Internationals. Things seemed to be looking up until life took a turn. Encinia ended a long-term relationship and lost his focus. Knowing he needed a change, he landed in India where he taught yoga for a year.

“Competition is so engrained in the Indian culture that being a US yoga champion gave me brownie points – the title holds a lot of weight there and they respect that. The biggest learning that I got from India was how to live yoga… Even though it’s so chaotic, people flow with the chaos. They are very present – regardless of what they’re doing. That’s where I honed my skills to become International champion the following year.”

The night before his 2011 win, Encinia needed to regroup. He had scraped into the Finals (he placed seventh out of 10 in the Semi-finals) and was feeling the pressure. Stepping out of his own way and with Kallet’s guidance, he reflected on why he’d started a yoga practice:  It made him feel good, and it helped heal his mind, body, and spirit. The next day, he stood onstage with that intention and recalls, “During that performance, for first time in my life, I felt stillness.” He won.

Roseann Wang Photography: roseannwang.com

CYNTHIA WEHR, 35, US Yoga Champion 2005 and 2007, International Yoga Champion 2007

“I was truly in shock as I didn’t think I was going to win. I didn’t feel like a champion. I couldn’t even say it for a good while.” — Cynthia Wehr

The year was 2007. After four years of competing in yoga championships and not qualifying for Internationals in 2006 – “I did a good routine but it was a trying year,” Wehr prepared for her upcoming event by simply letting go. “I fed my spirit. I listened to music and ate what I wanted. I didn’t care about the result.” Then it happened. Wehr won the title of the International Yoga Champion, Women’s Division. A lesson waiting in the wings, she defines the moment as a turning point in her life, “I really understood what it meant to listen to my intuition.”

It took a few years for Wehr to fully embrace being a champion. Her mentor and fellow yoga teacher, Michele Vennard, encouraged Wehr to use the accolade as a platform to inspire others and to own the title “for the betterment of mankind.”

A few months after the win, Wehr and fellow Male Division champion Ky Ha embarked on a world tour to spread the love of yoga as positive role models and representatives of the practice. “That brought it to the next level. It opened doors; we met students and people who were inspired to work harder. We demonstrated, and our practices got better. Being an ambassador for yoga is incredible.” The two traveled on behalf of USA Yoga for six months – across the USA, and to Portugal, Singapore, The Netherlands, and Paris, France.

At 19, Wehr was studying theatre/acting at NYU; amidst her studies, she practiced at Jivamukti and Bikram Yoga in the city. After a move to LA, she continued her yoga practice, and in 2003, became a Bikram Yoga teacher. When her father suffered a stroke the following year, she immersed herself in the practice. “With all the stuff that came into my life, and my dad being sick, I could have easily gone to the doctor and asked for medication. It was either that, or I could take a yoga class. I practiced to deal with my emotions,” Wehr explains.

After winning the national title in 2005, she was offered the opportunity to teach yoga in Japan for eight months. She loved it there and returned after her international championship tour, contemplating  relocation, but it wasn’t meant to be. In 2010, Wehr moved home to Northern California to be closer to her parents (her father passed away in 2012) where she now lives with her mom.

These days, Wehr sits on the other side of the competition stage as a judge. She will also be celebrating two years as a yoga studio owner this July (in Mountain View, California). “I never wanted to be a studio owner, I never planned it, I never dreamed it – and I think that’s because I never thought I could have it. But the stars aligned… and when the moment came, I said, ‘Sure, let’s do it’. Something was telling me this was the next chapter.” Running a business and creating a community in her yoga space brings new meaning to family. Says Wehr, “The fact that I can bring people together and witness students becoming friends from afar, that makes my heart sing.” In the future, she’s looking to write a book fusing art and yoga. What about her initial aspirations for acting? “When I teach a class, it’s almost like a performance. It’s real, which makes it all the more profound. I have been able to keep my extroverted, theatrical nature and I use my body to express who I am rather than through words.” Two weeks after she opened her studio in 2011, Wehr was asked to perform in San Jose in an eight show theatrical run of ‘In our own Words: the Pioneers of AA’ by Jackie Bendzinski. “The stage will always be calling in some shape or form.”

Photography by Steve DiBartolomeo: westsidestudioimages.com

The IYSF International Yoga Asana Championship will be held on June 8-9, 2013 in Los Angeles. For more information, visit: iysf.org

Marina Chetner is the Managing Editor for Find Bliss LA as well as a writer, blogger, and content manager for various publications, websites, and yoga organizations. www.linkedin.com/in/marinachetner @mchetner

Marina Chetner

Marina Chetner is a Los Angeles-based Australian freelance writer.

The post Championing Life Through Yoga Asana appeared first on LA Yoga Magazine - Ayurveda & Health.

She steps onto the stage, bows in Namaste to the judges and audience, turns to the right and announces the first Asana, “Standing Head to Knee pose.” Except for the hum of neon lights overhead, the room is silent. She folds into the pose; with both hands, she lifts her right leg up. The muscles of her standing leg are engaged, her face is calm. In a one-legged balance, she sways a little to the right, then back to the left. Within a couple of seconds she regains her composure, her stillness. She proceeds to kick out her leg until it is perpendicular to the floor, hugs her elbows around her calf, and touches her forehead to her knee. All the while, the crowd hasn’t made a sound. They are transfixed but you can feel their energy – a “you can do it” group-think of support. Moments later, she exits a beautifully executed posture. My eyes well up as I bear witness to such a powerful and personal practice. In anticipation of the next pose, she announces: “Standing Bow Pulling pose.”

~~~

The California Regional Yoga Asana Championship was held in Los Angeles Saturday, January 19. Here, 47 youth and adults from all corners of the state of California congregated at the Edward Roybal Learning Center, located in the city’s downtown area, to partake in the region’s 10th Asana Competition.

Yoga Asana competitions been run in India for hundreds of years, and for the same reason the USA Yoga Federation coordinates these events in the States and around the world—to promote Yoga for the betterment of people’s health. The organization’s aim is to develop Yoga Asana as a sport.

Judging Panel

Preparation for Championship
Each yoga competitor trains as an athlete would months prior to demonstrate a series of five compulsory, and two optional (advanced) postures within a three minute time span – on stage, in front of a captive audience.

Said Valerie McCann, Southern California competitor:
“I train throughout the year, practicing regularly – with the occasional double class… Whenever I have time after class I stay and work on a few advanced postures. As it comes closer to competition, I start thinking about the routine and focus on my optional poses. I work on those after class, as well as any other postures or stretches that will complement those postures. The week before competition I try to take it easy. I do class really well, run the routine once or twice for timing and grace details, and then forget about it. Two days before, I take a day off and get a massage, and then really take it easy until competition. Trust that all of your months and years of practice are there.”

In the Audience: Yoga Asana competiton

Posture Series Demonstration
On the stage and under the spotlight, the success of a yoga athlete’s performance is dependent on their ability to “master the moment.” Working in unison with the mind, body, breath, balance, strength, and postural alignment is essential for the masterful execution of Asanas.

Christian Kline, competitor from Southern California, explained his experience to me:
“For me, once I’m into doing the postures, my mind gets pretty quiet. Back stage my mind gets get pretty loud, but I think once the yoga starts my mind knows it’s time to slow down. I know that there is a big internal sigh of relief after getting out of Standing Bow Pulling pose, when the real balance work is done… If I could calm my mind throughout life as much as I can when I’m on stage competing I would be a much calmer person. That’s why I keep doing yoga.”

Judging panel: Emmy Cleaves, Rajashree Choudhury, Jon Ghans (shown, l-r)

Judging
It’s one thing to perform on stage; it’s another to perform in front of a judging panel that includes Rajashree – USA Yoga President, Emmy Cleaves and Jon Gans – senior yoga teachers, and Susan and Joe Elliott – yoga studio owners. Their job is to closely watch each pose and assess it on such elements as technique, grace, and balance. To put it into perspective, where the highest score per posture is 10, bent wrists in Floor Bow pose means deduction of ½ a point. Falling out of a pose is a 5 point deduction; not attempting it a second and final time would mean a nil score.

“People work hard on their practices in California. All the winners from California are a good bet to go far in the National competition in March,” observed judge Gans. He went on to say, “Even though I am judging, I am also rooting for every competitor to nail his/her routine. And when I give a score, a good one or not so good, I feel like I am helping that competitor by giving him/her my honest and impartial feedback.”

~~~

It’s time for the winners to be announced; the audience’s happy chatter subsides yet their mood remains positively charged. The finalists are called; cheers erupt as the names are called for those who have placed 3rd, then 2nd, then 1st. When the winners accept their awards, I notice they act as humbly as they did while performing their Asana series on stage. “Our competitors are ordinary people like you and me. When you are watching a series of ordinary people get up on stage and do extraordinary things with their bodies, you can’t help but be inspired… to practice harder. Or if you don’t practice, to check it (yoga) out.”Adding to judge Gans’ sentiment, Yoga Asana championships are symbolic to me of how beautifully the human spirit shines when people come together to celebrate sport.

~~~

Results: 1st place winners from SoCal, Adult: Valerie McCann and Christian Kline, Youth: Alankane D’quebec. From NorCal, Adult: Victoria Gonzalez and Jeff Jones, Youth: Ali Godoy. For more information, see www.usayoga.org/results

National Championship: The winners will go on to compete at the National Championships for title of USA Yoga Asana Champion. This event is held in March in NYC. See www.usayoga.org for details.

Yoga Asana Competitors

Marina Chetner

Marina Chetner is a Los Angeles-based Australian freelance writer.

The post Championing Yoga Asana in Los Angeles appeared first on LA Yoga Magazine - Ayurveda & Health.

Yoga Session Held in Mexico City to Inspire Peace

Could you imagine practicing yoga with 15,000 people? This was the scene in what is purported to be the world’s largest yoga class. At the culmination of the holiday weekend, on Sunday, November 25, 2012, over 15,000 first and longtime yogis gathered to salute the sun and partake in a massive Naam Yoga session in Mexico City. The yogic mob gathered under Mexico City’s Revolution Monument in the morning, not to mourn over the country’s recent drug war between rival cartels, but to call for peace within the country.

The yoga session offered 15,000 + citizens the internal and external space to unite, representing the majority of the country who seek peace in their homeland.

Naam Yoga, who has a location in Santa Monica, was founded by Dr. Levry as a catalyst for wellbeing, health and peace. The 501(3) has locations throughout the United States as well as in Brazil, Canada, England, Israel, Mexico, Spain, and beyond. The centers host a variety of healing workshops, yoga classes, and teacher training programs to fit their cross-cultural clientele’s desires and needs.

So do these Gandhi-inspired nonviolent protests really have that major of an impact on the grand scale? How are yoga and peace connected anyway? In the 8 Limbs of Yoga, ahimsa, or nonviolence in thoughts and words is the first major tenant in the “Yamas” or our sense of universal morality and ethical standards. In The Yoga Sutras, Patanjali states, “Ahimsa Pratistayam tat sannidhu vaira tyagah” meaning by practicing nonviolence internally, we are less inclined to encounter or engage in hostile acts with others. As violence in action is almost always preceded by violent thoughts (with the exception of self-defense) it is important to first be pure in thoughts and intentions. When hosting a colossal gathering focused on nonviolence and cultivating peace like the one Naam Yoga conducted in Mexico City, the effects can be revolutionary as these moments represent an immense amount  of brainpower focused on healing.

In line with their mission to help the community and encourage self-healing, Naam Yoga’s successful yoga gathering in Mexico proves that by cultivating peace within, even the largest rivalries and a country in distress has the potential to unite. Prayer first, and world peace will follow.

By Vanessa Harris

Staff Writer Lakshmi

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A Meal to Be Happy About…

Here’s a meal to be happy about: McDonalds announced its plans to open its first vegetarian restaurant in India next year. The double arched and second largest fast food chain in the world will be replacing their Big Macs with vegetarian options like McAloo Tikki burgers and more.

Despite the fact that the current population of India is 1.2 billion, it has been challenging for the restaurant to break through and impact the market, even with a menu that is 50 percent vegetarian.

As cows are considered sacred by the Hindus and the consumption of pork is prohibited for Muslims, McDonalds deemed it was time to step up their game. “When you look at the potential of the country, it’s one of the top priority countries and we’re laying the groundwork for capturing the market,” a spokesman for McDonald’s in northern India, Rajesh Kumar Maini, told AFP. “It was the whole idea of going local and creating flavours that would create acceptance for us.”

Who knew the franchise infamous for its poor treatment of animals would be the first fast food chain to break through as leaders in cow protection? It’s surely a sign that the times are a-changin’.

The vegetarian fast food chain will be located next to the Golden Temple, a pilgrimage site sacred to Sikhs and located in Amritsar. “It will be the first time we have opened a vegetarian restaurant in the world,” said Maini to AFP. The company will be opening a second location in Kashmir, near the Vaishno Devi shrine.

Planning a pilgrimage through India next year? This might just be worth breaking your fast and spending a few extra rupees. The cows will thank you and the Gods might just even bless you.

Now, we’re left wishing on a lucky star: wouldn’t it be great to see the fast food chain open the doors of its next vegetarian restaurant in the states?

Staff Writer Lakshmi

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In 2010, SFO, the Bay Area’s largest airport, was voted “North America’s Best Airport” by passengers for its modern and efficient facilities and it’s multi-modal transportation systems. Now, the airport has stepped up its game by inaugurating the first ever Yoga Room in an airport. At the ceremony, Airport Director John L. Martin officially opened the room, designed specifically for travelers to relax and enjoy a transcendent experience before or after flying through the air.

Anyone who has flown knows that nothing sounds better than a nice stretch to fend off the stiffness and maybe even some movement to shake off the stagnation. We’re used to seeing people huddling into the small outside smoking corners of airports in attempts to ward off traveling stress and anxiety, but we all know this only does more harm to the body and soul. Now is the time to replace bad habits with the good. With the grace and goodwill of SFO directors and staff, the Yoga Room has been created to do just that, providing travelers a space to find true peace amidst traveling chaos.

By Vanessa Harris

Staff Writer Lakshmi

The post Airport Yoga: A New Era appeared first on LA Yoga Magazine - Ayurveda & Health.

Joseph Encinia

Yoga On The Road To The Olympics…

  For some people, it’s puzzling: “Yoga is not a competitive sport,” they say. For others, the road to the Olympics is paved with determination and the desire to see the practice become a fully integrated part of one of the world’s largest mainstream celebrations of human potential. Rajashree Choudhury, founder of the USA Yoga Federation, as well as a five-time all-India champion herself, is steadfast in her commitment to see “the athleticism, discipline, and grace of Yoga at the Olympic games.”

Whether you agree or disagree, love to see the grace of Yoga asana demonstrated or think it should remain in the studio, the championship is a very public demonstration of the transformational power of the practice. Current National Champion Joseph Encinia feels this is the case.

  LA YOGA: What inspired you to participate?

  Joseph: My thirst to be the best I can be in this life. Coming from adolescence full of medical problems, I have been given a second chance in this life with Yoga. After my healing; I vowed not to waste it. After six years of competing, the Championship is no longer 100% about winning or losing. It’s about proving to myself, and humanity, that with determination, self-control, patience, concentration, and faith, any broken-down junk mind/body can be changed to do amazing things!

(Each participant demonstrates some compulsory and some optional poses.)

LA YOGA: How did you select your optional postures?

Gianna Purcell

  Joseph: At the 2011 National Yoga Asana Championship, I demonstrated scorpion and peacock pose; I feel they demonstrate presently who I am. When I was younger, my rheumatologist and orthopedic surgeon told me by the time I was in my mid-twenties I wouldn’t be able to do much physical activity because of rheumatoid arthritis. I wanted to prove to myself with these postures that I would be able to go beyond the usual and do something exceptional.

I’ve been doing the scorpion pose since my first competition—in every variation ( entering the pose from locust, tiger, and handstand). Stamping my feet to my head symbolizes the removal of emotions such as pride, anger, hatred, jealousy, intolerance, and malice, which are more deadly to the mind than the poison a scorpion carries. Through Yoga, I strive to obtain
a mind free of these emotions.

I chose peacock because it demonstrates strength and balance, mentally and physically. The appearance of a weightless body defeating gravity on two hands is something I could only dream about when I struggled with my weight. Through the execution of this pose, I wanted to demonstrate to everyone who struggles with weight issues that, with determined effort, the body would even appear to overcome gravity.

LA YOGA: What message would you like to share with young people considering participating in the championship?

Joseph: Competition drives us to be the best we can be, and a champion in Yoga or any athletic sport is one who has learned to control the fluctuations of the mind while doing what one does best.

As it is said in the great yogic text,
The Bhagavad Gita:
Be Steadfast in Yoga, O Arjun.
Perform your duty without attachment, remaining equal to success or failure
Such equanimity is called Yoga.

Jeffery Rangel

  FINALISTS 2011

Men’s Division

1. Joseph Encinia, Texas
2. Zeb Homison, Pennsylvania
3. Bel Carpenter, Colorado

Women’s Division

1. Afton Carraway, Florida
2. Emily Carpenter, Colorado
3. Emily Vendemmia, Maryland

For more information on the International Yoga Federation Asana Championships  visit: usayoga.org

Joni Yung

Joni Yung loves finding things to do around LA — especially ones that are free and good for you. Follow her on Twitter at @ayogist

blog.accidentalyogist.com/

The post We Are The Champions appeared first on LA Yoga Magazine - Ayurveda & Health.

By Editor

  The USA Yoga Federation hosted the Annual International Yoga Championships, February, 2010, in Los Angeles.

While Yoga Championships, demonstrations of the art of asana, are a feature of Yoga in India, the first championship was held on U.S. soil in 2003, in Los Angeles, where each of the subsequent final events has been held. The nonprofit USA Yoga Federation was formed to promote the advancement of Yoga and the group has their eyes on the 2016 Olympics. It can be tempting to denounce the introduction of competition into a spiritual practice, but let us be honest with ourselves when we consider the one-upmanship that takes place in many a studio space. When considering the idea of a Yoga championship or even Yoga introduced as an Olympic sport, let us remember how we are inspired by the grace and beauty of ballroom dance, gymnastics, synchronized swimming, ice dancing and other demonstrative events. Those of us who love the challenge of diving deep into practice and celebrating th glory of asana can appreciate the efforts of the Federation and the yogi-athletes publicly taking to the mat.

For more information about or to support the USA Yoga Federation and the ongoing regional, national and international championships, visit: usayoga.org

Partial results from the February, 2010 event (for full standings, visit: usayoga.org).

U.S. Men’s Division

1.   Joseph Encinia
2.   Bel Carpenter
3.   Jeffrey Rangel

U.S. Women’s Division

1.   Brandy Winfield
2.   Ann Marie Paul
3.   Afton Carrawa

International Yoga Asana Championship, Bishnu Charan Ghosh Cup - 2010 Gold Medalists Kasper Van Den Wijngaard-Netherlands, Brandy Winfield-Las Vegas, Nevada

Pictured: Kasper, Brandy, Chaukei, Raj Bhavsar

Brian Chance

The post Yogis Are The Champions! appeared first on LA Yoga Magazine - Ayurveda & Health.

“No one owns Yoga,” said Sharath Rangaswamy, the grandson of the late Ashtanga Yoga guru, Sri K. Pattabhi Jois.

Sharath paused comfortably, sanguinely sitting in lotus. He looked around the room, and then continued, “You don’t own it. I don’t own it. No one owns it.”

We had gathered at Ashtanga Yoga New York and Sri Ganesha Temple in New York City in May, 2010, during Sharath’s world tour. During the silence that followed this pronouncement I glanced at a fellow Yoga practitioner, who earlier that morning was elaborating on her apartment in Mysore, India, the city where Ashtanga Yoga practitioners go to practice for months at a time. This acquaintance commented on her balcony furniture, her new ceiling fan, her oven, her volunteering, her recent training at the yogashala, her relationship to the yogashala, her friends there, her tuk tuk driver. All was hers. The result of the conversation seemed less of an exchange of experience and more of a list that eclipsed my own experience of India. I surely didn’t have all the coveted things that this person had when I was there. Mulling Sharath’s statement around in my head, I wondered if this type of dominion was what he meant.

Who Owns Yoga?

The habit of claiming mine to something in which we are intimately involved is part of our lovely friend “Ego.” Strong attachments can lead to wanting to own and covet more of what we love. We identify with those things we love and the attachment deepens. We fall in love with Yoga because it makes us feel good, stretches us, relaxes us, de-stresses us. We buy into the accoutrements of Yoga: the mat, the rug, the clothes, the trips, the workshops, the experiences. We identify as yogis and yoginis. But wait.

“We are not yogis or yoginis,” Sharath said, to a ripple of giggles at this gentle Indian’s speaking of the word yogini.

Now I was further confused. What was he saying?

Sharath’s entire life has been about Yoga in one way or another. He grew up in a Yoga lineage. His grandfather studied under Sri T. Krishnamacharya, whose students include many of today’s most influential teachers: B.K.S. Iyengar, the late Indra Devi, Srivatsa Ramaswami, A.G. Mohan, and Krishnamacharya’s sons T.K. Srinivasan, T.K.V. Desikachar and T.K. Sribhashyam, along with the late Pattabhi Jois. Sharath’s mother, Saraswati, and uncle, Manju, are longtime Ashtanga Yoga teachers, having learned from their father. This family’s life is imbued in Yoga. I sensed this wasn’t about dominion the way my Western mind thought of it as; there must be something more.

I recalled the copyright debate regarding the Bikram style of Yoga. In 2003, Bikram Choudhury, an Indian-born Yoga entrepreneur, whose following includes celebrities, star athletes and supermodels, obtained a copyright on a sequence of 26 Yoga postures, also known as hot Yoga, practiced at a room temperature of over 100 degrees Fahrenheit. How unyogic, people cried. Yoga has been around for 5,000 years, and has been shared with the rest of the world. How can anyone claim ownership? Yet it is our Western system, the U.S. to be exact, where Bikram obtained the copyright to protect the commercial value of his registered property. In 2005, a group called Open Source Yoga challenged Bikram’s copyright ultimately settling the case, but not settling the question.

When I spoke with Bikram he recalled a conversation with one of his students, Janet Reno, the former White House Counsel under the Clinton Administration, who said, “When in Rome, do as the Romans.” Yet with the U.S. case, the Indian government awoke to a usurping of a cultural treasure. Asana, or Yoga poses, have been around for thousands of years, they cried. To copyright something that has been in the public trust of another country seemed completely unfounded. India has now galvanized to better protect Yoga poses and other national treasures. But if Bikram Choudhury can trademark Yoga and is, therefore, protected from others teaching it, and therefore profiting from, Bikram Yoga, how can we say no one owns Yoga?

We don’t walk out our door, Yoga mat in hand, to buy Yoga at a store as if it were a consumer good. We pay for a class, a transaction that compensates the teacher – someone who has dedicated his or her life to Yoga – for their time and knowledge. Was owning Yoga a question of legalities? Profit? I sensed Sharath’s cautionary words were directed towards a modern interpretation of Yoga. He was trying to tell us something, but to contemplate this I had to delve deeper.

Traditionally, Yoga in India was practiced by renunciates, generally men, who eschewed the life of a householder, a householder being someone who would marry and support his family and in many cases extended family, in order to study Yoga. Yoga in this form was to inherit or adopt a lifestyle or path involving the spiritual study of Yoga philosophy. These Yogis studied the Vedas in religious fashion in an attempt to cease the life/death/life cycle. In fact, in the Vedas, instruction on the physical elements of Yoga is minute compared to the voluminous historical texts written on Yoga as the path to enlightenment.

Westerners, on the other hand, have gravitated to the physical practice of Yoga like wildfire. Every day a new yogashala, or studio, opens somewhere in the U.S., gym memberships have the advantage of Yoga classes and Yoga is a billion dollar industry. As a culture who values physical appearance and empirical evidence, we are lured by the results of Yoga, how it makes us feel and look. Most of our Yoga introductions are through a class performing consecutive postures. Some people look at Yoga for a work out substitute, some add Yoga to their regimen to stretch, others begin in an effort to reduce stress. Few are introduced to Yoga in a Vedic theory class.

So our Yoga path begins.

Pattabhi Jois said, “Practice, practice and all things coming.”

The founder of the Shri K. Pattabhi Jois Ashtanga Yoga Institute, Pattabhi Jois, left his house as a young man after a Yoga demonstration he saw in Hassan, Karnataka, in 1927. He was immediately drawn to the teachings of his guru Krishnamacharya. In unconventional fashion of the times, he was not renouncing life as a householder but embarking on a study that would endure throughout his life. Through Norman Allen, the first Westerner to travel to India to study with him, Pattabhi Jois introduced his own guru’s teachings of physical asana practice to the West. Over the years, he made many trips back, teaching Ashtanga to rooms packed with devotees. Yet during his lifetime, Pattabhi Jois did not book lecture tours on the subject, he did not focus on the exact, precise alignment of every posture in class, instead, he focused on the practice: the continuous flow of breath and movement, and most importantly, devotion.

“Practice is the foundation for the actual understanding of philosophy. Unless things become practical and we can come to experience it, for what use is it? Yoga hinam katham moksam bhavati druvam (which means, without practical experience how can the pursuit of liberation ever be possible?)” [From an interview of Pattahbi Jois in Namarupa Magazine titled “3 Gurus,” Autumn, 2004.]

Whether intentional or not, Pattabhi Jois and many of his contemporaries bridged East and West not by theory but through practical, physical asana. Yet, Pattabhi Jois insisted “Yoga is not physical, very wrong.” It is not the “ultimate benefit of Yoga.” [Namarupa Magazine, 2004]]

It’s hard to deny that Yoga isn’t physical. What is then, the ultimate benefit and how do we understand it? As though searching for the Holy Grail, I ventured to one of the most physically challenging well-known Yoga schools in Los Angeles to see for myself if there was anything beyond sweating.

“I was the first to bring Hatha Yoga into the states for medical purposes,” Bikram told me after sweating through his entertaining class. As the only Yoga teacher to be accredited by the State of California Board of Secondary Education, and with his charismatic teaching approach, imbued wirth cursing and irreverence, I witnessed his unique approach to packing “Bikram’s torture chamber,” as he described it through his Brittany Spears-style headset. He had just returned from a trip to Hawaii to speak to the members of the Pentagon about Yoga and world peace. Not to mention that Bikram Yoga is featured in the January 2010 issue of O Magazine, the mother of all marketers.

Svelte bodies abound Bikram’s school, some practicing in bathing suits, gearing up for an hour and a half of intense sweaty heat, I felt I was part of an NFL summer training camp. Trying to introduce my knee to my forehead in dandayamana-janushirasana, Bikram called out to the class of one hundred students, “Leslie, what are you doing?” “I don’t know,” I thought, as my quivering standing leg fought my will not to lose the posture. I’d been introduced to him before class, so my name was fresh, but others were tested with monikers such as, “Blue Shirt” or “Hey Chinese.” Anyone on the street would’ve thought those were fighting words, but no one stormed out of the room, egos unchecked.

In Bikram’s book, Bikram Yoga, he explains that through Yoga, unhappy societies, like the U.S., can learn from the failures of older cultures, like India, by focusing priorities on “humanity, Spirutalism, and love…we can seek to promote the continued evolution of all life. The ultimate destination of human life is mental happiness and peace through the realization of love.”

Although I heard nothing like this stated in his class, I did see the attraction many had to his tough love approach. The unassailable fact is that most Yoga in the West is physical, some schools to the nth degree, yet people return to practice and sweat out their demons.

Through the physical practice, muscles are strengthened and limbs are stretched, but as Yoga practitioners become devoted to the physical practice their relationship with Yoga inevitably grows in tandem and takes on incremental meaning and effect. The practice becomes far from simply physical. What Pattabhi Jois and other gurus have known, is that through the practice the mind is opening, the mind is balancing, the mind is calming. A union forms, a dedication, a devotion to make space for Yoga takes place. It is believed as asana practice develops we purify internally. “When Yoga is performed in the right way, over a long period of time, the nervous system is purified, and so is the mind.” [Pattabhi Jois, Namarupa Magazine, 2004]. Jois continues, “pratyahara, dharana and dhyana naturally becomes more established and then greater clarity of mind and increased receptivity of self is brought about.”

As Yoga helps our minds to calm and our bodies to strengthen, the benefits become more and more patent; the dedication deepens and a devotion to an inner calmness widens. In Ashtanga and other forms of Yoga, practitioners follow their dristi, breathe ujjaya breath, suck up the bandhas, sweat and stretch. Our relationship to Yoga grows, and hence the union between the small self (who we are) and the big self, (how we transcend) develops. We stretch internally through our minds and our soul. We adjust to this practice, our eating habits change, sleep patterns change, our health changes, we approach life with a greater receptivity to something more internally profound. We venture off the mat and read and inquire into this Yoga that adds so much to our lives.

So our Yoga path progresses.

Inside Bikram’s office, photographs filled with family, his guru, and a restaurant wall of celebrities, he sat back with his legs resting on top of his desk like an oilman, still in his teaching attire, a small black sash of shorts. As one of the most well-known Yoga teachers in the country, I asked Bikram what he thought his role was in defining Yoga. “I get them on the right track, mind and body. They learn. People go off into different directions in life; I get them back on the right track.”

Bikram started practicing Yoga at the age of four with Bishnu Charan Ghosh, brother of Paramahansa Yogananda (author of Autobiography of a Yogi, founder of the Self-Realization Fellowship in Los Angeles). At the age of thirteen, he won the National India Yoga Competition and was undefeated for three years. It is true he has benefited enormously creating Bikram Yoga, which he claims is simply Hatha Yoga done under his creative sequence. But when asked, now that you franchised Bikram Yoga, can you tell me, “Who owns Yoga,” he furrowed his brow and blasted a response, “Who owns Yoga? No one owns Yoga. Yoga is everything, air, God, love.”

“Do your teachers teach this?” I asked.

“Of course, everyday.”

The Sanskrit root of Yoga is yug = to join, harness, yoke, junction, connection. Some believe Yoga is a union within our selves, a union to the higher self, a higher power, some say, to God, and, to which, is universal. It is part of a collective public domain accessible by all individuals around the world and capable of being shared by all, at any time. Everyone has the ability to tap into the higher self, whether it be through Yoga, church, community work, helping others, love, or reverence towards mankind. “Self realization is your birthright, in this lifetime,” said James Butkevich, long-time student of Pattabhi Jois and teacher of Ashtanga Yoga. “No one owns that. With enthusiastic hard work, sweat, self-discipline, and the love of everything that’s good, it is possible.”

Claiming rights to a physical set of asana or postures might be possible, but owning the path to liberation is a much different proposition.

If one defines Yoga as a means to discovering this inner light, then copyright is irrelevant. Yoga transcends commercial boundaries because the practice is not simply an asana sequence or a business. Everyday, Yoga teachers around the globe use various postures to assist their students on their own Yoga path. In many schools of Yoga, teachers create and teach, a sequence learned from their teachers, and their teachers’ teachers. They place their thumbprint on any given class. Under their tutelage, the student will learn, experience, and ultimately benefit from the practice of Yoga. At each step, the practice, perhaps starting out physical, becomes far from quantifying.

So our Yoga practice deepens.

As it deepens, more questions arise and we search for answers. Sometimes the questions spring unexpectedly from our teachers, like Sharath’s statement, which cause us to dig deeper into our own understandings. The answers found might be varied and depend on where one is on their own Yoga path. Yet how we learn and interpret Yoga’s heritage, and hence the visceral potential of Yoga, will depend largely on the lineage of each given teacher and/or school.

The ineluctable draw of Yoga continues to become more and more mainstream. How will teachers and therefore students learn about their Yoga heritage? How will our culture continue to make it our own? What spin, modifications, trends, and changes will we make? Will the legal system become more involved and will legislative trends appearing in different states continue to increase? Will courts and laws define Yoga as a sport or religion or something else? Will we have a governing Yoga body that is more tha a voluntary registry? Will Yoga become qualified for the Olympics as the USA Yoga Federation is striving to accomomplish? Changes are inevitable, but perhaps as the hundreds of people around the world flocking to Yoga increases, so will a truer understanding of the nature and tradition of Yoga passed down through the Vedas and ancient texts. This is in the hands our teachers, and therefore in all of us. For Yoga is not something to be owned, but something to be loved and shared, interpreted and taught as in the original intentions written in the Vedas.

Roughly 150 teachers are authorized in the Ashtanga method taught by Pattabhi Jois. There is no set structure in how Jois gave authorization, but generally speaking, a person must present himself to practice in Mysore over a period of time for a number of years. After practice develops and the aspirant demonstrates an appropriate attitude, devotion towards the practice, and a respect for the tradition of parampara, the succession of teacher and disciple, Jois would then give the authorization. Yet there are more than 1,000 teachers around the world teaching his method. When asked about this, Jois responded, “Let other teacher be there, but I hope their students finally one day get what they deserve.” Just as Jois learned from his guru, he wished for students to learn the lineage from their teachers.

Sharath has now taken the helm of the Ashtanga Yoga tradition. When Sharath spoke in New York it was just weeks before his beloved grandfather died. Reflecting on the statement “No one owns Yoga,” a statement his grandfather often made, it appears timely and also timeless. As we strive to become Yogis and Yoginis, Yoga has taken, and will continue to take, different interpretations as it travels globally into the future. The shepherd of one school of Yoga, Sharath offers clarity. If we cling to Yoga and attach ourselves, or make it someone’s chattel, then we are nowhere near to Yoga’s ultimate benefit. We become less capable of understanding and therefore, experiencing, Yoga’s heritage and therefore its richness, derived not through ownership but through liberation.

A few days ago, I thought about my acquaintance in Mysore who sparked my questioning of Sharath’s statement. Looking on her Facebook page I felt a better understanding of compassion. As Yoga philosophy teacher, Narasimhan, said one day in Mysore, we as Yoga students the world over are yearning to learn something more than what our Western culture affords us. I realized through the process, that I now had more compassion for my fellow Yoga practitioners, but moreover, I found some for myself. For who knows where my friend’s ego stood in her statements, and who was I to jump to conclusions? The next day on the mat, I placed my hands together and chanted the morning prayer. I thanked my teachers, the ones I knew, never knew or whom I have yet to meet, and I specifically thanked my fellow students who also show us the way. I reached into the transforming sky, jumped back and moved forward.

All is coming.

Leslie Hendry

Leslie Hendry is an advanced Ashtanga Yoga practitioner who lives in Los Angeles and is also rooted in India and her native Texas. A former New York attorney, she designed the #3-ranked kids app “Everything Has a Home” and is working on her second book.

www.azawhistle.com

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