Re the previous post on the right way to lift up into Upavishta konasana, the thought struck me
'...we're not talking fancy extra handstands here, this is in Yoga Mala, Jois sat down and wrote it out like that and it's a very carefully written book but forehead to knee has been dropped, eight counts have gone, four vinyasas in paschi?... gone ( what are we down to now two?). Full vinyasa gone (except when Lino's in town)....we keep tearing pages out of yoga mala there won't be anything left. Seems a bit of a shame, got a soft spot for that old text.
And it's true, I do have a soft spot for Yoga Mala, though haven't sat down with it for a while. At the moment I'm practising just Primary from Ashtanga, Vinyasa Krama for everything else. So if I'm going to be doing Primary then why not go back the Primary text ( as my old philosophy professor used drill into us).
So a new project, to practice my primary just as it is in Yoga Mala, not as it's taught this year in Mysore or in this Shala or that, on this DVD or that or even as Jois taught it in the 80's or 90's but just as he wrote it down, as close as possible to the text.
Not because one way is right another wrong or one way of practicing it better than any other but just to rediscover the practice in that particular text at that particular time. I've noticed a lot of things I've missed in the Vinyasa Krama project while going back to Ramaswami's books, little things that have changed between his earlier and later books, a different focus shift of attention.
And of course this is something I'm more able to do practicing at home, than if I was at a shala
Why not, it's appealing no?
I'm thinking, starting Jan 1st 2012, a post a week on a paragraph from the intro and one of the asana/vinyasa descriptions, perhaps use that framework to glance back to Krishnamacharya and his Yoga Makaranda as well as ahead at some of the developments/changes/shifts in focus.
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Hi Grimmly:) That's how my man David Williams teaches it:) That's the way I practice, how my teacher taught me and how his teacher(guruji) taught him. Manju also teaches this way:) Thank you so much for all of devotion and time you give to the practice and to us, your happy readers. Happy Holiday:)
This reminds me of discussions we are having in my extended family right now (which we have every year) -- what, exactly, do we traditionally put into the Christmas Eve spaghetti sauce? It's changed in tiny ways since my grandmother's day, for many reasons -- the fallibility of memory certainly being one.
It's a fascinating project that Sharath is responsible for: how to keep what is largely a performative (at least the tristana part) tradition. I assume that's why he -- like Guruji -- wants direct transmission from teacher to student, with great value placed on the new teachers learning their chops in Mysore. Also why there are led classes. I've seen flourishes to poses sweep through shalas -- humans love to mimic each other! -- but that's at the expense of "purity" of the system.
It's a losing battle, to keep anything the same over time, but also a noble calling when you're talking about sacred texts or systems.
Hm, time to look at it again, good reminder...
Thank you J, one of the things that interests me is that Yoga Mala was written even before David went to Mysore ( I have David's Poster by the way, wonderful). I'm hoping to take a workshop with Manju this year, facinated in how his father taught him in, what, the fifties and sixties.
Spaghetti sauce...at Christmas karen : )
I think there are good reasons for many of the changes that came about since yoga mala, some no doubt better than others... wouldn't you like to take a look at grandma's original recipe (is it written down anywhere?) and make it just as it was then to see how it tastes?
It's not a question of memory, how David Williams remembers it or even Manju but how Jois wrote it down himself over two to three years, by hand, in the evenings. Aren't you fascinated by the care put into each description, wonderful stuff.
It is interesting what Sharath is doing, though I question your use of tradition and his of lineage, don't see it, the tristana for instance is highly questionable but then Jois was developing Ashtanga in the context of the western and the distant student. I do appreciate that AYRI is still going, that anyone can go there and that you still have to go several times before you can be authorised.
Always liked the close reading of a text idea, going through it line by line, miss the Heidegger reading groups we used to have, sitting in living rooms with cake(s) waiting in the kitchen for afterwards, perhaps that's what I should do, a line or two from the introduction and one description of an asana, post on it.
Oh, I have no problem with the Yoga Mala text! I was commenting more on the shifts as people try to remember what they believe is the practice.
I dunno, I've just been really conscious of people sharing ideas and working together, lately -- certainly see it at work: people perceive things differently, take different things away from the same message, hear communications slightly differently, prioritize things differently, etc., etc. Even while trying to all be on the same page.
Grandma's recipe WAS written down, but without specific measurements. :-) She was into the art of cooking -- the way things tasted in the moment, but within some parameters she'd learned from her mom and her mom's mom.
'Oh, I have no problem with the Yoga Mala text! I was commenting more on the shifts as people try to remember what they believe is the practice'.
..that's what i thought you meant.
Drives M. mad that I never write a recipe down, never tastes the same twice.
I know what you mean though about how things sweep through an office (and elsewhere), certain mannerisms or expressions.
re the recent conference notes from Suzy, I thought Sharath was jumping on the fancy flourish bandwagon re the virabhadrasana exit but there it is in on p 67 of yoga mala
'Next, place the hands on the floor on either side of the right foot and without allowing the legs to touch the floor, lift both the left leg and the bent right leg completely off the floor using only the strength of the hands; this is the 11th vinyasa.'
Who knew ; )
"...oh, right... Thre IS shrimp in the Christmas sauce..." or eka pada bakasana in the vinyasa. Same same. Ha!
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