Mark T. Kinder

Jeff and Kathy

Hi,

 

TGIF! We have just finished our eighth week here in Mysore. We had our led class this morning at 4:30 and the day off tomorrow. Of course, that means some celebration is in order for tonight. There are two sides to every coin, and we are also one day closer to the end of our adventure here in India. We realize that this will be our last Friday practice here, as next week there is the new moon and that means no classes. But, we are both looking forward to returning, and especially to see our families and friends, and at the same time we will miss this place and the people and the craziness!

 

The biggest reminder of the fact we are not home in northern NY is the weather. It is sunny and warm almost every day. It is still February, of course, but that means every day will be getting warmer and hotter, as winter is over in India after January. The mosquitos are already out. One morning after yoga practice as I was lying in relaxation pose in the locker room I was bitten seven times by mosquitos! Itchy and scratchy, just like home! It actually rained on Thursday night and early morning, enough for puddles to form. That is very unusual for February, and more like the rainy season of June and July.

 

We thought we would share some of the things we have noticed over here that make us realize we are not in Kansas anymore.

 

“You are what you eat,” they say. We have found quite a few different places to eat and subsequently- metamorphosize. One of the most confusing aspects is the timings of the menus. We found several restaurants where you can only order certain things at certain times or on certain days. Invariably, you spend the first few weeks ordering food you can’t get. Like trying to have a thali meal for dinner, instead of lunch. Or ordering dinner before seven o’clock, and wanting a “chat” or snack at dinner. Or wanting the Sunday special on Sunday, of all things! We have not returned to the Grean Leaf because we never seem to be able to get what we want, we are always too early or too late- even though it is all clearly listed on the menu. One of the most fun things we did last week was go on a road trip, and stop in a very typical small Indian town not used to foreigners, (unlike Mysore which has had many years to adapt to the white devils.) Our taxi drivers, whom we have befriended since coming here in January, showed us to this local “hotel” (Indian for restaurant.) We always like the “thali meals” which are sort of a one-man buffet, with small bowls of various curried dishes, some yogurt, lentils and rice and vegetables and sometimes pudding or soup or whatever. These meals are always different, but similar, wherever you go. This we were used to, but the real fun started when we began to eat. We had asked the drivers to join us and were very glad they did, because there was no silverware or napkins to be found! Not a spoon, not a fork, not a knife. We watched, and learned, how to eat everything with your fingers! At first we used the flat bread to pick up the food, but it was soon apparent there would not be enough bread to save yourself from using your hands. We could not eat as fast as they, but we did a pretty good job for out-of-towners and decided we really liked it after all. So the next time we went out to eat we ordered a thali meal and dove right in up to our wrists! You have to try it to like it, and it’s not a bad thing to realize how we often draw boundaries around ourselves, and when they can be happily discarded.

 

One thing we have noticed is that is is hard to keep enough small change on hand for buying goods and services. A cup of coffee or chai is about 12 rupees, (26 cents), and most of the time the smallest money in your pocket is a 100 rupee note. Most businesses don’t seem to carry any small bills or coins to make change. Especially rickshaw drivers, but also cashiers at the grocery store. Often you don’t get back the right change, or need to come back tomorrow with the correct amount. In the largest grocery store, Loyal World, the cashier did not have any coins at all, and she owed us 2 rupees. So, she asked us if we would take two carmels instead! “Okay,” said Kathy, and the girl reached into the cash register and sure enough, gave us two wrapped candies for change! Wow. I thought it strange, but other people said it happens all the time.

 

In good old northern NY, we deal with seagulls who seem to come from nowhere to try and steal your food and scraps from right off your table. Over here, it’s the job of the monkeys to make sure no scrap goes unattended. At restaurants or even here at our apartment, the guards and staff are on constant lookout for monkeys which will sneak down looking for food. Mostly, they will shoo away with a word or two, or maybe a small stone thrown at them, etc. Gotta keep ‘em out of the garbage, for sure. The other day we say about a dozen or so in the trees outside our third floor balcony. I looked up from my computer to see a large monkey right on the railing of the balcony, about ten feet away. Didn’t try to come inside, although if I had not been there, I am sure it would’ve. Our friend Marika, from Sweden, was awakened one evening to find a monkey in her bedroom. She screamed at it in Swedish to “scat” and he sort of walked away slowly, back out the half open door and eyeing her with some disdain. I guess because she was so loud.

 

We have rented a small scooter to putt around with while we are here. I drive a motorcycle back home, and this bike is quite cute, no gears to shift and kind of beat-up, but practical. You drive on the left hand side of the street, (a carry-over from the days of British rule, no doubt), which is already somewhat disconcerting. Four years ago when we first encountered Indian traffic “rules” we were amazed and thrilled and a bit afraid to even venture out onto the streets. Now we are getting somewhat used to driving, and this is what we have noticed; bigger vehicles always have the right of way, (or as one friend told us “Big fish eat small fish.), that makes the bus the king of the road, with dump trucks a close second. Near the bottom of the food chain is the scooter, the bicycle and the pedestrian, in that order. At an intersection, the first one to “beep” his or her horn usually has the right of way, excepting the above mentioned rule about size. In fact, “beeping” is the preferred method of driving. In America, you use your horn in anger, to get revenge or to applaud the “other guy” for some brazen act of stupidity. In India, you are requested to use your horn, (all trucks have the lettering “Please sound horn,” written across the back). It is a sign of respect and if your brakes don’t work, that’s ok- but if your horn doesn’t work- you’re in deep doo-doo. Also, you are allowed to drive on the wrong side of the road if you (a) are in a hurry, (b) only have a little ways to go, or (c) the only other option would be to stop. When you drive on the wrong side you must stay waaaay over to the right so people will know that you know that you are driving on the wrong side on temporary permit. Last Monday there was a road block in Gokulam. I got stopped for driving without my helmet on. (Duh.) My only defense is that we drive very slowly, and about half of the population also drives without a helmet. In fact, only the driver needs one, and only then if stopped (by a road block.) The fine is 100 rupees ($2.20), you pay on the spot and continue on down the road. Oh, the other weird thing, is that there are cows everywhere in the streets. (Occasionally horses and goats and of course, dogs and rarely, a family of pigs.) Sometimes the cows come out in packs, walking slowly across the street. As slowly as they move, they never get hurt, and everyone drives around them and the cows look so peaceful and carefree! Downtown, in Mysore city, we saw a cow cross a four-lane road, gently push a police barricade out of the way, and continue across to the other side. Most people were using the underground tunnel to get across the street, and we don’t know how the chicken would have done it.

 

The last thing we will touch upon is the language business. In Mysore, there are two main choices for language- Kannada and English. Every school child learns English, and Kannada is the language of the state of Karnataka, where we are. In India there are many different states, as in the US, but each state has its’ own language, as well. That leaves English as the common denominator, and this is found on street signs, in menus and used in most packaging, etc. Added to this is  the fact that there are many foreign students here in Gokulam who have come from all over the world- many from Europe, but also many from Japan, South America, the US and Canada.  That makes one very large bowl of polyglot soup. And it seems as if everyone else but Americans can speak at least two languages, some even more. (I can sound like a complete imbecil if French, if  I need to.) It seems to us that knowing a second language gives your brain a chance to spread out, take a small vacation and maybe see what the other side of the world is doing. We imagine that being bi-lingual gives you sort of a leg up on the socio-evolutionary ladder and allows you to be more understanding and accepting of other cultures and, more importantly, other people as well. That’s the up-side. There is always the other side, you recall, and this is when you realize that no matter how hard you try, you can’t get the store clerk to realize you are looking for clothes pins or a can opener and they insist on showing you a drying rack or corkscrew instead. These are the times when you have to laugh and wish you both were a whole lot better at charades. Some other coloquialisms: “plain” water is room temperature, not iced, “black” coffee is instant coffee with milk, “shifting” is moving, as in packing up, “auto” is a small taxi, “in station” means at home and lastly, “bhogy” is someone who practices yoga on the mat but not off the mat.

 

Thank you all so very much for your correspondence and news from home. We have enjoyed hearing from you all. We appreciate all of your words of support, even for these lengthy e-mails. We have just one week left and will be returning on March 8th. We leave at 5 in the morning from Bangalore and arrive at around 10:30 the same (calendar) day in Syracuse. Actual travel time will be over 28 hours, though. Gonna outrace the sun, I guess. Hoping to share some more good times and some great yoga with you when we get back. Please take good care of yourselves and we shall see you very soon.

 

Love and peace,

 

Jeff and Kathy

recommended reading.

just finished reading "many lives, many masters."
by brian weiss, m.d.
VERY INTERESTING - here's a link to the first chapter for a little preview.

http://www.brianweiss.com/ml_chap1.html

if you get a chance to read it let me know what you think!
love, ashley

Mark T. Kinder

In doing research for a grant proposal, I stumbled upon this article that tackles some of the very questions I will be researching.  Though it only scratches the surface, it's an interesting interview with Sharath, Pattabhi Jois' grandson who is now running the Ashtanga Yoga Institute in Mysore.

Question & Answer w/ Sharath Assistant Director of Ashtanga Yoga Research Institute

Giam recently did a great question and answer style interview with Sharath, Pattabhi Jois's grandson. Sharah is  the assistant director of the Ashtanga Yoga Research Institute and one of the few people chosen to continue  the organization's legacy. The article is below.

While its roots stretch back in time to an ancient sage named Vamana Rishi, nearly 80 years ago the Ashtanga yoga system was passed to Sri K. Pattabhi Jois from the legendary yogi, T. Krishnamacharya. Since 1948, this Jois has been teaching this disciplined style of yoga from his Ashtanga Yoga Research Institute, located in Mysore, southern India, instructing many thousands of people worldwide.

R. Sharath is the Assistant Director of the Ashtanga Yoga Research Institute and Sri K. Pattabhi Jois's grandson. Sharath is also Jois's only student to have mastered all five series in the Ashtanga yoga system, and is currently studying several asanas in the sixth and final series. He resides and teaches yoga in Mysore with his wife Shruthi and daughter, Shraddha.

The Sanskrit word "ashtanga" literally means eight limbs, which, according to Patanjali's Yoga Sutras, correspond to eight distinct practices designed as a means to control the mind and purify the internal being: Yama (moral codes), Niyama (self-purification and study), Asana (posture), Pranayama (breath control), Pratyahara (sense control), Dharana (concentration), Dhyana (meditation) and Samadhi (absorption).

Asthanga focuses first on a daily asana practice to strengthen and make flexible the body and sense organs, the fundamental physical state for steadying the mind. Asana is assembled into six different series: Primary (Yoga Chikitsa) detoxifies and aligns the body; Intermediate (Nadi Shodhana) purifies the nervous system; Advanced A, B, C and D (Sthira Bhaga) integrate strength and balance and are curative for many deep diseases.

We spoke with Sharath in New York City who, along with his mother Saraswati, was recently in the US to assist Sri K. Pattabhi Jois in a series of yoga workshops.

What is the difference between how you were taught yoga and how it is taught in the west?

My grandfather has been teaching western students for the past 35 years. When I was a child, foreigners started coming to Mysore, in India. So from that time on they have been learning yoga from him. What we are teaching is the same for Indians or for foreigners. In the same way that my grandfather has taught me, he has been teaching to the foreigners as well.

What is missing from western practices?

Many people think yoga is like a gym, or like going to a work out, but that is not yoga. Nowadays, it has become a trend to take a yoga course for something like one month, and then you are able to say that you have become a teacher. But that is not yoga. Yoga is spiritual. You should consider it a spiritual practice, not just exercise. Spiritual.

Asana (posture) is only one step on the path of yoga. Yoga really means self-consciousness, self-realization — that is the ultimate meaning of yoga. Not just doing postures. This is only one aspect, but it is the foundation for you to realize what you are. To realize the source, what we are inside, that is real yoga.

I think it is good that yoga is growing everywhere, that people want to do yoga. But people should look for authenticity. Find an authentic yoga method and go to the source to learn. For example Ashtanga Yoga came from Mysore, from Pattabhi Jois; and you have to go there, to the roots, to learn the yoga.

Many people come for one or two months and then become very big teachers in the West, but they don't ever learn about themselves. Their self. This is also the roots of the yoga practice. To learn this, it is very important for find an authentic yoga teacher: someone who know the real meaning of yoga. This is very important.

Is there anything that we in the West are getting right?

Yoga is so powerful that even if you practice without thinking or believing anything — you will benefit. If you are thinking that yoga is only exercise — still you receive benefits. But you can also dig deeper, research further, and learn about yoga philosophy, a process that is never ending. You can keep learning your whole lifetime.

It also depends upon how you think about yoga. Some people think it is only about asana, exercise and practice. Yet still they receive the benefits to their health. Problems will solve. They become concentrated.

Many people have come to me and said, "I started practicing yoga and my life has been changed." People can improve their whole lifestyle.

Yoga changes your life. It doesn't matter what or how you think. It has already changed so many lives, that's why it is getting more popular.

Has there been a change in the type of Western students, between the early ones and those who come now?

Now there are more dedicated students. They want to learn more. Many students are getting deeper into Sanskrit, yoga philosophy and the Vedas. Not all of them — maybe twenty percent of the yoga practioners that we see. But that twenty percent, they really want to know: "What is yoga?"

Indian culture it is totally different. I would say that Western culture is opposite.

How?

There are many ways that we are born to family, caste and tradition. Yoga was born in India, so it is easier for an Indian to learn about yoga, but it is still hard to learn yoga. And nowadays the westerner is starting to understand yoga, at least that twenty percent. This is really good, because the culture is totally different. And yoga does not impose religious preferences. It doesn't say only these people who think this way can practice — anyone can practice. It's universal. Anyone can enjoy the benefits of yoga.

But we must "go to the source" to learn?

This is called guru parampara. In Indian culture, you go to a teacher and learn from him, like you in the west go to a school and learn the ABC's. But we devote everything to this lineage, from the teacher's guru through to you. It transfers like that. And then, after many years, a guru says, "Okay, you have learned what I have to teach you, now go out into the world and teach." Only then can you teach. It's not like doing a two week teacher's training course. You have to be a student before you can become a teacher. You have to be a student before you can realize "What is yoga?"

You have to experience it before you can teach others.

What do you think about the fact that nowadays there are more yoga teachers in the West than in India?

It's a market. That's why. Everybody wants to become a guru immediately. Fifteen days, one month, and then they want to become a big star, be in the magazines ... [laughing] All the [ancient] yogis, they didn't come in magazines. They never advertised themselves. They didn't say, "Hey, I'm a big yogi." That's just ego. You have follow the yamas (moral codes of conduct) and niyamas (self-purification and study).

We get so many calls from westerners. They call, "How can I become a teacher?" They write to us, "How can I become a teacher?" You have to become a student first. For a long time. Maybe ten years.

Teaching is very difficult. And unless you really want to understand what yoga is, how can you teach?

Do you have any closing words about yoga?

You have to be a student your whole life. Yoga is never ending. It's like the ocean and what we have learned is like a small drop. There's a lot to learn and for our whole life, we keep learning.

What is an Ashtanga Yoga practice?

If someone doesn't have an hour and a half to watch. Ask them if they have 3 minutes........
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YeEOPif8WXE&feature=player_embedded#at=80

Mark T. Kinder

Shanthi Mantra

Om saha naa vavatu /
Saha nau bhunaktu /
Saha viiryam /
Karavaa vahai /
Tejas vinaa vadhiita mastu ma /
Vidvishaa vahaihi //
Om shantih shantih shantihi


“May Braham protect us both together. May he nourish us both together. May we both work together with
great energy. May our study be vigorous and effective. May we never hate each other. May peace,
physical, mental and spiritual, be on us forever. Om peace peace peace.”

Sirsa = head