Tuesday, May 19, 2009

Astanga

It was kind of amazing to wake up this morning and step onto my mat as I imagined thousands of other people were doing around the world. Perhaps they were practising at different times, but all with the same intention of drishti, breath, bandha, as well as the philosophical underpinning of Patanjali's yoga.

And many of us thinking about Guruji and his lifetime teaching the Astanga Vinyasa yoga system, our own role in that lineage.

“Because this man taught this yoga to my teachers, I'm now doing this yoga.”

As I teach Astanga to my own students, I'm deeply aware of passing something on that is rare and valuable, not mine, but something given to me.

It reminded me of the Easter service I recently attended, where a single candle flame burned in the darkness, then lit another. Then another and another. Each flame coming from the same source, each individual responsible to keep their own light burning.

“Practice and all is coming”.

2 comments:

Michelle said...

Beautifully said Kai. One question, you are a Christian and a Yogi?

Kaivalya said...

@Michelle: I'm not a Christian (I'm a practising Buddhist). But I was recently a guest at an Orthodox Greek Easter Service and I found it very moving!