Tradition

-by Greg Nadri 

Often times as yoga teachers, we appeal to tradition in order to claim authenticity for our teaching.  But we often have an ambivalent relationship to tradition, enjoying the authority it implies while simultaneously editing anything that presents itself of a distasteful, unappealing, or inconvenient nature.  It seems as though we would like to have our tradition cake and eat it too.  Recently academic research in Yoga studies has attempted to trace the influences that have shaped Modern Yoga.  It should be clear when we look around to the culture surrounding yoga in the west that not everything that is found in Modern yoga is traditional.  The least of which is the abundance of products, styles of yoga, and studios, the celebrity around some yoga teachers, and the pedagogical approach of group classes.  This might leave us to divide up our current yoga culture into “real” yoga and everything else.  Of course, most people interested in these divisions assume that they sit squarely in the midst of a “real” tradition.  According to the textual tradition of yoga, these types of divisions are common, but symptomatic of an underlying problem that yoga seeks to address.  Yoga posits that the conditioning influence of the mind that creates such divisions is actually at the root of all suffering.  Instead, we can approach concerns over authenticity by probing deeper into the meaning of tradition and how we can make room for innovation while still cleaving to those aspects of tradition that make yoga effective.

The paradigm shifting work of yoga scholars have begun to seek into the origins of Modern Yoga in both India and America. They make the case that the rupture that occurred in India as a result of colonization caused a re-interpretation of yoga tradition in order to accommodate post-enlightenment and modern values.  It is this re-interpretation that had the greatest influence on modern yoga through the work of Swami Vivekananda.  A careful study of the cultural influences surrounding the yoga taught by Krishnamacharya in the mysore palace show a tremendous amount of innovation to re-invent traditional yoga techniques and themes in a way that allowed them to thrive in a modern world.  It is this environment that spawned much of the renaissance of Modern Yoga as it is commonly practiced today.  Research has shown that there were traditional practices that were considered entirely unsavory and unsuitable for practice by modern, civilized people and for a long period, yogis, sometimes deservedly, held low esteem in Indian culture due to their uncivilized ways and practices.  Modern Yoga was able to flourish in America as a result of careful editing of the tradition as well as appending it to other popular movements such as the new age movement and alternative health.

If all of this is true, then how do we make sense of “tradition?”  Elizaebeth DeMichelis, in her A History of Modern Yoga, rather generously includes Modern Yoga as a western graft onto the tree of traditional yoga, whereas Mark Singleton in Yoga Body, The Origins of Modern Posture Practice recommends that we view Modern Yoga as a homonym rather than a synonym for traditional yoga.  In other words, it shares the same name, but refers to a wholly different set of practices.  I find that Joseph Alter comes the closest to a definition of tradition that will help us to make sense of modern yoga’s place in the history of yoga.  He defines tradition as something that is unbounded, meaning that instead of a fixed set of practices traditions can be more malleable. In order to find practitioners, it must survive over long periods of time by adjusting to current needs.  While the technique of yoga may change according to culture and period, there are some aspects that will need to remain fixed for the sake of continuity.  What matters most if we are to see the progression of yoga through time is that we understand the aims of traditional yoga.

Traditional yoga, according to the texts is a liberation practice that seeks to free its practitioners from suffering through methods designed to overcome the conditioning influences of the mind.  Accepting that the mind, then, can delude us, it becomes important for us to learn discernment and perspective in our approach to traditional yoga.  There is an element of surrender that comes from understanding that sometimes self- guardianship fails us.  While we have become skeptical of the guru figure in modern culture, it is important to have checks and balances in the form of trusted teachers and peers to help guide our process.  We must put our faith in practices once we have done our due diligence to ensure that they are safe and a good fit for us.  In this way, we elevate the practice above our own desires approaching it with the reverence due to a tradition designed to save us from the whim of desire and fleeting happiness and suffering.  Yoga tradition seeks to establish us in abiding peace by transcending the allure of sensual pleasure.  This isn’t to say that the pleasure of the senses is good or bad, but simply that our attachment and inability to transcend the will of the senses can bind us in a cycle of seeking happiness outside of ourselves, a tactic that will inevitably cause some misery in our lives as our self esteem would then be based on fickle trends that are bound to change leaving us falling flat.

With the proper attitude and approach, we should then approach our practice of yoga with some earnestness.  We will find benefit from any practice, and as Krishna reminds us in the Bhagavad Gita, no effort in yoga is wasted.  If our goal is to find greater health and more mental peace, then even a little yoga goes a long way.  Yoga should be practiced according to our means and our constitution and this is why we find so many methods throughout the texts of yoga.  However, it is important that we understand that traditionally, increased health was a collateral benefit of the path to wholeness that is yoga.  It is Patanjali who, in the Yoga Sutras, gives us the means of both Abhyasa, or practice, and Vairagya, or non-attachment.  If our goal is total inner freedom, then Patanjali says we should practice with earnestness, uninterruptedly, and over a long period of time.  In the second chapter he gives us his Kriya yoga method of Tapas, or purifying self-discipline, svadhyaya, or study of the sacred texts and self- reflection, and Isvara Pranidhana, or dedication to the sacred.  While many traditions and styles of yoga exist, most would agree that these ingredients are necessary for success in yoga.  It is our commitment to yoga and our reverence for the practice under the guidance of a qualified teacher and in a community of equally dedicated peers that will determine our results.  There are many different aspects of practice that can be discussed as more or less necessary for a traditional practice, but I think that more than upholding dogmas in the name of tradition, we should evaluate our traditions and hold them up to the standard of effectiveness for meeting the stated goals of teachers and practitioners.  The combination of the right teacher, community, method, and practitioner often has everything to do with sharing common goals and approaches, as well as mutual respect and an openness to innovation in our shared passion for yoga tradition.  This perfect combination will lend authenticity and effectiveness to our yoga practices.

Recommended Reading:

“The Story of Yoga in America, The Subtle Body” by Stefanie Syman

“Yoga Body, The Origins of Modern Posture Practice” by Mark Singleton

“The Body between Science and Philosophy, Yoga in Modern India” by Joseph S. Alter

“The Yoga Tradition of the Mysore Palace” by N.E. Sjoman

“A History of Modern Yoga” by Elizabeth De Michelis

“Sinister Yogis” by David Gordon White

Greg Nardi

Greg is one of a select group of Level 2 Authorized Ashtanga yoga teachers worldwide. This designation reflects his years of dedicated practice under the guidance of the K. Pattabhi Jois Ashtanga Yoga Institute in Mysore, India. Greg has been integrally involved in the development of numerous yoga centers and Ashtanga Yoga programs around the United States. For the past 5 years, as a partner, he has been developing the Miami Life Center along with Kino MacGregor and Tim Feldmann. In the past year, Greg has been involved in a teaching and development alliance between White Orchid and Miami Life Center. His studies in yoga, eastern philosophy, and Sanskrit mantra chanting include his numerous trips to Mysore, India, as well as Georg Feuerstein’s Traditional Yoga Studies course, and instruction with the American Sanskrit Institute. In 2009, at the age of 94, Sri. K. Pattabhi Jois passed away leaving behind a legacy that has touched countless lives around the world. Greg is committed to honoring his teacher by spreading the Ashtanga method, which has been such a blessing in his life. Greg teaches internationally sharing the method of Ashtanga Yoga with every interested, inspired student His view on yoga respects the ancient teachings that have been passed down unbroken through the centuries and give the practices the power to transform our consciousness. Greg’s style of teaching assists students in finding the approach to the practice that is most beneficial for them. Through the use of hands on adjustments he will aid each student in building a connection to their body and help them understand how to work in a safe and healthy manner through the series. Go to www.ashtangayogaworldwide.com for more information about Greg.

See Greg Nardi’s schedule

This year Navratri Ritual is celebrated from September 28th through 6th of October. Navratri (nav/nine and ratri/nights) is the celebration of manifestations of Shakti (Mother Goddess, the Creative Force). The festival is celebrated over nine to ten days ending with Vijayadashami (the victory tenth): The Day of Durga’s Victory. Change in the number of days celebrated is due the lunar calendar. Though Navratri is celebrated four times year for the four seasons, Sharada Navratri (Fall/Winter) holds the highest importance and is called the Great or Maha Navratri.

Why honor this ritual celebration? This time of year holds junctions of climatic and solar influence. We close summer as the warm weather fades and move into cool and clear days. Farmers are harvesting and offering us abundance of their crops. The universe is aligned with the forces of the Mother Goddess to support us in moving towards our highest selves!

Durga, an embodiment of Shakti, shows herself as Kali to destroy all that is not serving us. She supports us in saying ‘No” so we can transform. We now have room for Lakshmi to bless us in All Ways: material prosperity, health and our true grace. When we see ourselves clearly as whom we really are~ the Goddess herself working through us; we are in the company of Saraswataye’s wisdom and creativity. We ask blessings of all aspects of Shakti to purify, nurture and manifest success in all areas of our lives. Each deity is honored 3 days each accordingly.

I first learned of Navratri from my teacher Shiva Rea four years ago. I was going through a challenging time with my studies and work, which was teaching yoga. I followed some of the rituals to make room, in particular, cleaning my altars. This simple act gifted me a new connection to possibilities, abundance and faith. I have honored this ritual ever since around the times of Vernal and Autumnal Equinox.

A great way to connect with the pulsation of the universe is to invoke through chanting mantra. Chant 108 rounds of AUM AIM HRIM KLIM CHAMUNDAYI VICCE (Infinite awareness knows the one, the many, and she who unites them, transforms them, and makes them whole).

Victory to the Mother Goddess! Jai Ma Shakti!

Good morning, Dear Friend,
Have you heard what I did? 
I woke up at four, jumped right out of bed! 
What’s that you say; you couldn’t get up?
 Lord Shiva and Shakti, you must feel like a schmuck!

You see, I do more yoga than you.

Today I feel great,
Three classes before eight! What about you? This past month just a few? 
How sorry, how sad. Bet you wish what I had.

It’s just, I do more yoga than you.

Lululemon and Prana, 
I’m the fucking Pre-Madonna.
 My abs sure do look great, I can’t choose who to date.
 It’s so tough being me…
And I do more yoga than you.

Paxil, Prozac and Zoloft,
 I accidentally took four days off.
 My shrink says distance from yoga, for me, may be healthy,
 But how else will I learn to be spiritually wealthy?

See, I do more yoga than you (and him, combined).

I’m off centered, out of balance, and all out of whack,
 For the past twenty years I’ve used yoga as crack.
 In missing a class, I’ve fallen behind,
 To my inner-most goddess, I’m becoming so blind.
 At least I still do more yoga than you.

What’s that you say? You made it to a class?
 Excuse me for sounding incredibly crass:
 You phony, you fake, you raving-terrible bitch!
 The only reason you went was to be like me just a titch.
 I do more yoga than you. 
Oops, forgive me, my gosh! What’s gotten into me?
 What I meant was I’m so happy! I hope it sets you free! 
But please let me make myself incredibly clear: I do more yoga than you do, My Dear.

Visit http://recoveringyogi.com/i-do-more-yoga-than-you/

Saturday February 12th, 1-3pm

FREE!!!

We will be offering Valentine’s themed Yoga activities, snacks, games and more.

Join Shanti Yoga Shala’s Karma Kids Yoga teacher Debbie Mangel for this fun, free event! Bring your kiddies and drop them off or hangout and play!

Yoga is a discipline that can lead kids on the path toward a calm and balanced mind, as well as help them build a strong and flexible body – tools they can use in their everyday lives.

In our Karma Kids Yoga classes, we practice fun-filled yoga poses and breathing exercises to promote:

• Physical Strength and Flexibility

• Concentration, Focus and Attention

• Inner Strength and Body Awareness

• Confidence and Self-esteem

• Relaxation and Self-control

• A Feeling of Well-being and Respect for Others

• Love for One’s Self, Inside and Out

In our fun environment, children play yoga by imitating animals and nature, and by using creative expression, games, music, art, and storytelling.

Stephen O’Toole

For the Home News

The corner of 27th and Master streets might sprout this spring.

That’s thanks to a new urban farming initiative by the Marathon restaurant company.

“We think it would be an asset to the community,” said Warren McMichael, president of the Brewerytown-Sharswood Community Civic Association.

Marathon representative Patrick Dunn presented the company’s plans for an urban farm at the now-vacant site during a well-attended meeting of the BSCCA last week.

“It was a very productive meeting,” said McMichael.

Dunn, who is now Marathon’s official farmer, will head up the project. (His thoughts and other information about the project can be read at www.marathonfarm.com.)

The final draft of the landscaped plan can also be found at the website. Dunn presented those plans at the BSCCA meeting.

The plans call for a farm stand facing Master Street, a community garden area, vegetable beds, a small orchard, a patch for berries and herbs, a community gathering space, a greenhouse, potting shed and wash station for the farm workers, as well as a compost area.

The city Public Property Department announced on Jan. 4 that it would allow Marathon to use the parcel for two years with a long-term lease to follow if the project succeeds.

Marathon now hopes to raise at least $20,000 by March in order to finance construction of the proposed farm’s infrastructure, including a greenhouse and an irrigation system.

McMichael said community reaction to the project was generally positive following an extensive question-answer session with Dunn.

The restaurant company formed a non-profit organization, Marathon Loves Philadelphia, with the aim of turning vacant city properties into urban farms which will serve its neighbors and customers, all with the slogan, “Spreading the Love, one carrot at a time!”

Donations to the farm project may be made via Marathon’s website. Dunn has been farming for five years. He apprenticed at a farm in Oregon for a year and volunteered at numerous farms around the world before coming to Philadelphia, where he worked at Greensgrow and founded Emerald Street Urban Farm in East Kensington.

Dunn also writes a blog on the marathonfarm.com website that is designed to serve as both an information center for the garden project and as an educational venue for urban farming-related social issues, such as hunger, poverty and access to healthy food.

“Basically a place for me to go on rants about everything farming related,” Dunn writes on his blog. “I hope that I can spread some knowledge about urban farming and what it is, and even give some guidance to doing it yourself, in your backyard, balcony or rooftop.”

“Urban farming is an incredibly important movement in this city and really all over the world. It isn’t just about growing food. Urban farming is deeply rooted in community and education,” wrote Dunn.

The BSCCA meeting also included an update on the Athletic Recreation Center’s ongoing renovations, a performance by the Reynolds School Drum Line, and a presentation by the owner of Mug Shots Coffee House, who, like Marathon’s Dunn, brought refreshments for those in attendance.

The BSCAA meets every third Thursday at 6:30 p.m. in the Boone School at 26th and Master. The next meeting is Feb. 17.

McMichael said the 10-year-old community group will hold its elections soon, and anyone interested in participating should contact him (215-763-5507) or attend the next meeting.**

Learn and develop the skills and tools, knowledge and compassion to teach safe, energetic and empowering Yoga classes.

Dates: April 1st – July 31st (Meeting every Wednesday night from 6:30-9:30pm and every other weekend Saturdays from 1-7pm and Sundays from 1:30-5:30pm)

Cost: $2200, $2000 if you register by March 1st. $500 non-refundable deposit needed to save your spot! Payment plans available!

Deepen and expand your understanding of this beautiful traditional practice through in-depth studies in:

• Teaching asana including alignment, adjustments, structure and sequencing

• Pranayama & meditation

• Anatomy of the physical body and the subtle body

• Yoga philosophy and scripture including studies of Sanskrit, the Yoga Sutras, the Hatha Yoga Pradipika, the Upanishads and more

• Ayurveda; health and wellness

• Business and ethics for Yoga teachers

• Pre-natal and kids yoga

• Karma Yoga and Seva, which is an integral aspect of the shanti yoga shala teacher, learning to use Yoga to facilitate personal empowerment and fostering community collaboration through service.

• Guest teachers will include Manorama, Ed Zadlo, Andrea Vlachos-Christo, Nicole Bindler and Shiva Das.

This teacher training is a wonderful opportunity to become a qualified teacher or to grow your knowledge as a Yogi even if you have no intention of teaching.

Upon completing this 200 hour training you will be eligible to register as a Yoga Alliance teacher.

For more information go to: www.shantiyogashala.org or email info@shantiyogashala.org

Here’s the recipe:

Home Made Tomato Tortilla Soup

By: Every Day with Rachael Ray Staff

Moon Days
(From www.ashtanga.com)
Ashtanga yoga practitioners should not practice on the days of the new or full moon (learn why). The day you rest is the day of your regular practice time nearest the new or full moon. The lunar phases given here are in Universal Time. Check with your local studio for its observed moon dates.

Why??

Both full and new moon days are observed as yoga holidays in the Ashtanga Yoga tradition. What is the reasoning behind this?

Like all things of a watery nature (human beings are about 70% water), we are affected by the phases of the moon. The phases of the moon are determined by the moon’s relative position to the sun. Full moons occur when they are in opposition and new moons when they are in conjunction. Both sun and moon exert a gravitational pull on the earth. Their relative positions create different energetic experiences that can be compared to the breath cycle. The full moon energy corresponds to the end of inhalation when the force of prana is greatest. This is an expansive, upward moving force that makes us feel energetic and emotional, but not well grounded. The Upanishads state that the main prana lives in the head. During the full moon we tend to be more headstrong.

The new moon energy corresponds to the end of exhalation when the force of apana is greatest. Apana is a contracting, downward moving force that makes us feel calm and grounded, but dense and disinclined towards physical exertion.

The Farmers Almanac recommends planting seeds at the new moon when the rooting force is strongest and transplanting at the full moon when the flowering force is strongest.

Practicing Ashtanga Yoga over time makes us more attuned to natural cycles. Observing moon days is one way to recognize and honor the rhythms of nature so we can live in greater harmony with it.

Monday, September 20, 2010 Click here to see the original article

Some questions we ask today would simply baffle our ancestors. When Christians ask whether believers should practice yoga, they are asking a question that betrays the strangeness of our current cultural moment — a time in which yoga seems almost mainstream in America.

It was not always so. No one tells the story of yoga in America better than Stefanie Syman, whose recent book, The Subtle Body: The Story of Yoga in America, is a masterpiece of cultural history. Syman, an engaging author who is also a fifteen-year devotee of yoga, tells this story well.

Her book actually opens with a scene from this year’s annual White House Easter Egg Roll. President Barack Obama made a few comments and then introduced First Lady Michelle Obama, who said: “Our goal today is just to have fun. We want to focus on activity, healthy eating. We’ve got yoga, we’ve got dancing, we’ve got storytelling, we’ve got Easter-egg decorating.”

Syman describes the yoga on the White House lawn as “sanitized, sanctioned, and family-friendly,” and she noted the rather amazing fact that a practice once seen as so exotic and even dangerous was now included as an activity sufficiently safe and mainstream for children.

In her words:

There certainly was no better proof that Americans had assimilated this spiritual discipline. We had turned a technique for God realization that had, at various points in time, enjoined its adherents to reduce their diet to rice, milk, and a few vegetables, fix their minds on a set of, to us, incomprehensible syllables, and self-administer daily enemas (without the benefit of equipment), to name just a few of its prerequisites, into an activity suitable for children. Though yoga has no coherent tradition in India, being preserved instead by thousands of gurus and hundreds of lineages, each of which makes a unique claim to authenticity, we had managed to turn it into a singular thing: a way to stay healthy and relaxed.

In her book, Syman tells the fascinating story of how yoga was transformed in the American mind from a foreign and “even heathen” practice into a cultural reality that is widely admired and practiced.

In telling this story, Syman documents the ties between yoga and groups or movements such as the Transcendentalists and New Thought — movements that sought to provide a spirituality that would be a clear alternative to biblical Christianity. She traces the influence of leading figures such as Swami Vivekananda and Swami Prabhavananda, along with Pierre Bernard and the now lesser-known Margaret Woodrow Wilson. Each of these figures played a role in the growing acceptance of yoga in America, but most were controversial at the time — some extremely so.

Syman describes yoga as a varied practice, but she makes clear that yoga cannot be fully extricated from its spiritual roots in Hinduism and Buddhism. She is also straightforward in explaining the role of sexual energy in virtually all forms of yoga and of ritualized sex in some yoga traditions. She also explains that yoga “is one of the first and most successful products of globalization, and it has augured a truly post-Christian, spiritually polyglot country.”

Reading The Subtle Body is an eye-opening and truly interesting experience. To a remarkable degree, the growing acceptance of yoga points to the retreat of biblical Christianity in the culture. Yoga begins and ends with an understanding of the body that is, to say the very least, at odds with the Christian understanding. Christians are not called to empty the mind or to see the human body as a means of connecting to and coming to know the divine. Believers are called to meditate upon the Word of God — an external Word that comes to us by divine revelation — not to meditate by means of incomprehensible syllables.

Nevertheless, a significant number of American Christians either experiment with yoga or become adherents of some yoga discipline. Most seem unaware that yoga cannot be neatly separated into physical and spiritual dimensions. The physical is the spiritual in yoga, and the exercises and disciplines of yoga are meant to connect with the divine.

Douglas R. Groothuis, Professor of Philosophy at Denver Seminary and a respected specialist on the New Age Movement, warns Christians that yoga is not merely about physical exercise or health. “All forms of yoga involve occult assumptions,” he warns, “even hatha yoga, which is often presented as a merely physical discipline.” While most adherents of yoga avoid the more exotic forms of ritualized sex that are associated with tantric yoga, virtually all forms of yoga involve an emphasis on channeling sexual energy throughout the body as a means of spiritual enlightenment.

Stefanie Syman documents how yoga was transformed in American culture from an exotic and heathen practice into a central component of our national cult of health. Of course, her story would end differently if Americans still had cultural access to the notion of “heathen.”

The nation of India is almost manically syncretistic, blending worldviews over and over again. But, in more recent times, America has developed its own obsession with syncretism, mixing elements of worldviews with little or no attention to what each mix means. Americans have turned yoga into an exercise ritual, a means of focusing attention, and an avenue to longer life and greater health. Many Americans attempt to deny or minimize the spiritual aspects of yoga — to the great consternation of many in India.

When Christians practice yoga, they must either deny the reality of what yoga represents or fail to see the contradictions between their Christian commitments and their embrace of yoga. The contradictions are not few, nor are they peripheral. The bare fact is that yoga is a spiritual discipline by which the adherent is trained to use the body as a vehicle for achieving consciousness of the divine. Christians are called to look to Christ for all that we need and to obey Christ through obeying his Word. We are not called to escape the consciousness of this world by achieving an elevated state of consciousness, but to follow Christ in the way of faithfulness.

There is nothing wrong with physical exercise, and yoga positions in themselves are not the main issue. But these positions are teaching postures with a spiritual purpose. Consider this — if you have to meditate intensely in order to achieve or to maintain a physical posture, it is no longer merely a physical posture.

The embrace of yoga is a symptom of our postmodern spiritual confusion, and, to our shame, this confusion reaches into the church. Stefanie Syman is telling us something important when she writes that yoga “has augured a truly post-Christian, spiritually polyglot country.” Christians who practice yoga are embracing, or at minimum flirting with, a spiritual practice that threatens to transform their own spiritual lives into a “post-Christian, spiritually polyglot” reality. Should any Christian willingly risk that?