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20 Things I wish someone told me before I started practicing Ashtanga yoga
Posted by the Editor on Aug 7, 2010 in Ashtanga | 0 comments
I’ve been having a few of these realizations later, of the things I wish I knew. For example not so long ago I had the one about what I would have liked to know on meditation, now the focus goes into the daily practice, and those things that only could have been whispered in my ear if I was in a “Back to the Future” kind of movie. Here they are, all 20 of them:
1-Breathing is the most important thing
When all is said and done, yoga is a breathing practice. The Ujjaji breath of the Mysore practice is an important and delicate piece.
I have practiced next to the “respirators” as I call people who do it so loudly that it almost hurts to hear, and I have practiced next to people who do not breath at all. It is noticeable. I have been in both extremes myself. It is a practice for that reason, we aim towards the middle balance. The amount of push and sound should be exactly as much as is required to generate heat, focus, and reach the edge of each asana, then transcend it.
2-It is sweaty in there…
Mysore classes can get really hot, especially when the rooms are crowded and it is summer, or you are in a tropical place. Sweat will be profuse if you are doing the practice in the right way and generating heat. Perspiration goes hand in hand with the daily practice, it is best to make peace with it, and do some research on good deodorants.
3-Weight release (weight loss)
Once I reached the marichasanas of the primary series, I became very conscious of what time I took my last meal at night. Deep twists demand empty stomachs, very empty. So now now my last meal for the day happens no later than 7. Yes sometimes there are exceptions, and they are very much felt in practice the next morning. Through the health momentum of yoga I actually released 30 pounds myself.
4-Ladies holidays, to shower before/after, or both? and other musings
Ladies holidays are a topic in itself, I have seen women who never take rest and women who take 2 or even 3 days off. I suppose it is a very personal choice. In india the suggestion is to take three full days of rest. As per the showering, the tacit agreement is that everyone showers both before and after. I used to think that if I was going to “exercise and sweat” then what was the point of the pre-shower anyway, that is until I happened to practice next to a practitioner that smelled, that changed everything. Now I shower before and after, even if I practice alone. Also, showering pre-practice prepares the body and can at times help loosen it. Richard Freeman has an excellent page filled with these details and guidance.
5-If you forget a pose…
About 5 months into my own Mysore experience at a shala one day I skipped a pose, did not notice, and kept going. The teacher came over and had me go back and repeat from where I had skipped, about 7 poses earlier, ouch. I learned the lesson. On the other hand I also started to become “shala smart” and learned to hide my mistakes if they ever happened again, which they did, and to pay more and more attention every day, until the practice became a bit automatic because the body learns, which is in itself another danger. Not all teachers make people go back and repeat, but I feel it was a very good learning experience for me.
6-Pose advancement anxiety
I did not anticipate when I started that I would crave and have internal battles over wanting more poses. Then I noticed that the desire would go in cycles, sometimes I would want more sometimes I would not want anything. I would not say I am completely surrendered to the process by now, but at least I am laughing at it a bit more.
7-Addictive Mysore practice
The practice is addictive, or, perhaps a better word is “habit forming”, once you start practicing you will crave it, and will start practicing everywhere you go, in your brother’s kitchen, or your grandma’s attick when you go visit, in airplanes, or in full display in Bankok airport. It kind of happens. Here is the places where I myself have “done it”
8-It is OK to say no to adjustments
Until trust is established with a teacher it is not only ok but also healthy to keep strong boundaries. In a good way, of course, no need to be mean, but always respecting our bodies and what we know about them. It is of course also good to be careful not to fall too much on the other side of this too, adjustments are useful, and certain poses I am pretty sure are impossible without them, for example supta kurmasana, which takes not just one adjustment but years of them.
9-Why rest on moon days?
Why rest on moon days is a fascinating topic. Even today when someone asks about my practice there is a spark of curiosity about this topic. One such event happened a few months back and here you can read about why moon days?, why indeed.
10-Conversations get technical
Some yogis are very much into the asana part, and you will encounter them, they are fascinating people to talk to because you start to get very precise about what happens and what is needed in a pose, I am grateful to have a few yogis in my life who love discussing every single detail. You will notice that not only do you learn the sanskrit words for the poses, you will also learn the names of the muscles (do you know where your psoas is?), you will spend a lot of time talking about your anus and the perineum. People listening in will wonder.
11-Led classes are useful. Fun? maybe not so much
Led classes are vital, and yes I know, they are not fun. Once I got used to practicing on my own, I felt I did not need another person counting, that is true, but it is also true that a lot of details are lost when we go solo, we start doing things because we like them this way, or because it is easier, the vinyasa counts are off, the focus of the practice (breathing) gets lost. It is good to find it all back at a led class.
12-Cult accusations
Yes, you might get to be the target of accusations of having joined a cult. This is almost sweet, partly because it is true, and in some cases I admit, it is funny because a few practitioners do get really fanatic. It is a challenge to maintain a sense of humor, an attitude of detachment, and to admit, hey!, other practices also work well. It all come downs to individual inclinations, or gunas as the yogis say.
13-Castor oil baths
Early on a teacher suggested I do a “Saturday practice“. Saturdays are the days of rest, however, it is also a day to take care of the body, and so these baths in castor oil are very helfpul, so much so, that after one of them it is necessary to be very mindful on the next practice, because the body feels strong and supple.
14-Cleansings
I overheard Sharath once tell a student to “eat less chapaties”, what he meant, is that this man was probably a little overweight, which by yoga standards is not really, perhaps all he had was a little fat around his waist, but in any event, cleansings and purifications help on the release, and keep the internal pipes clean.
15-Change in social habits/life
Not everyone enjoys going out with a deadline of “I need to be asleep by 9″. Waking up at 5 on a consistent basis changes things. There is always the possibility of Mysore practice in the afternoon, but for me it has always been better to practice in the morning, because that way I would get the feeling that something was accomplished even before 8 AM.
Patthabi Jois said:”Do you practice and all is coming”, and he is right, all is coming. It is difficult to put in words how this happens, but the chain goes something like this: practicing every day makes me notice my body, which in turn makes me notice what I eat and helps me with elimination, which in turns guides me to eat more healthy and sleep earlier and rest when I notice I need to, which also aids my posture and the way I present myself, which leads to better attention when I am doing chores and keener discrimination in the choices I make every day.
More discriminated choices lead to better results and manifestations, which lead to a general better quality of life. I have witnessed miracles in my life through the practice, guess that is material for another post.
16-Going to Mysore is very highly recommended
There are countless blogs that talk about the Mysore experience. It is indeed something to live through, even if only once. Many of the blogs I link to on the right of the blog (scrolling down) have wonderful accounts by practitioners worth reading.
17-Learning Sanskrit happens
There is no way out, it starts with learning the names of those asanas (poses), with wanting to understand what others are talking about, with asking what is ____asana? and someone mimiking in the bathroom for a response, it just happens. The beautiful thing is that it gets deeper when we realize that in the sound of Sanskrit there is more than just noise, there is magic, power. Sanskrit: it happens, the sooner the better. Besides, it is pretty cool.
18-The yoga sutras are a part of the deal
The yogasutras 
are the other side of the coin, one teacher once told me. The front side is the asana, but without the sutras and after a while they begin to feel empty. Throw the sutras into the mix and it all becomes a matrix of wisdom, one piece at the time, profoundly touching, experientially mind changing.
are the other side of the coin, one teacher once told me. The front side is the asana, but without the sutras and after a while they begin to feel empty. Throw the sutras into the mix and it all becomes a matrix of wisdom, one piece at the time, profoundly touching, experientially mind changing. 19-Indian Mythology and its powerful symbols
There are fantastic stories in Indian Mythology, and they have so many that probably you wont hear them all unless you go all p.h.d. One for example is that of Hanuman (who has a pose named after him (the split)), and how he jumped with split legs from the tip of India to the island of Shri Lanka, another one is that of Shiva and how he drunk the poison that was threatening the world but did not swallow it, just kept it in his throat, and that is the reason why his neck is blue. Another one is about why Ganesh (the God that removes obstacles) is a man with an elephant head. The most fascinating thing about these stories is that they can be thought of as metaphors for daily living.
20-Curiosity for the other limbs (branches) will be awakened
Sooner or later it will happen. What is up with pranayama? and how exactly does one do pratyahara (sense withdrawal)?, and dyhana (concentration), darhana (meditation) on which I wrote some findings, samadhi… Fascinating. There is a deeper reality happening as we speak, a timeless wisdom and intelligence manifesting itself, it is difficult to see this because we are so burdened with the stress of daily life and our minds fall into intense chatter, the aim of yoga is to get in touch with it, the upper limbs contain a map towards it.
So, those are the things I wish someone would have told me, I seem to have a few areas of life where I wish my future self would meet me half way and let me know. Do you?
