A letter from Mike Hannum

As most of you may know, Mike Hannum and his wife Erin are moving to Spokane! Mike is going to be building our mysore program and we are so excited to finally be able to offer you (for starters) morning mysore 4 days a week as well as plenty of other opportunities to be able to study with Mike. I asked him to write a short letter of introduction to help you all get a feel for these exciting changes:


For me Yoga has been an incredibly inspiring and healing journey. My enthusiasm for practicing Yoga and sharing it with others continues to grow with each passing day. This enthusiasm is born of my deep belief in its efficacy … these practices really are healing and transformative. They help keep the body healthy, the mind clear and the heart open. And if we take the teachings to heart, we will surely find Yoga extending off our mats and into every corner of our lives. Each of our lives is an indivisible whole. It is in this way that daily practice and our own highest aspirations can transform our respective lives in very profound ways.

Since I began teaching Yoga I have had the intention to find a home shala, a studio where I could offer a Mysore program and help build a vibrant community of practitioners. As my wife Erin and I start our drive up to Spokane, I am overwhelmed with gratitude for the opportunity to fulfill this intention at the Spokane Yoga Shala. We feel as though we are coming home and we appreciate all that you have done to make us feel welcomed. Special thanks go to Katie and Shelley for their ongoing generosity and support. I’m also grateful for all the opportunities that I have had to teach and build community in the U.S. (especially in Encinitas, California as Tim Miller‘s assistant), Europe and even, most recently, in Istanbul, Turkey. These opportunities have shown me what is possible. They have deepened my resolve. They have given me a taste of the joy and value of being in one place for a long time, of sharing Yoga with inspired people day in and day out and of living in harmony and awareness with others.

As a teacher my goal is to help students gain a deeper enthusiasm and appreciation for the practice. My role is to offer input, adjustments and support so that each student can cultivate self-reliance, self-awareness and a passion for the practice. The reason for this is simple: when we are inspired and focused we consistently do the practice in a safe, appropriate and non-obsessive way. “The practice itself”, to use Tim Miller’s words, “is the best teacher.” We each have to show up and do the work to receive Yoga‘s many benefits. Or, as Sri K. Pattabhi Jois always said: "Practice and all is coming". I look forward to sharing the Ashtanga Yoga practice with you and joining your sangha.

See you on the mat!!

Namaste,
Mike

Changes in May

Hi Everyone - May is a really exciting month for us because we move closer to our goal of offering mysore style classes six days a week which we have been working toward since we opened City Yoga back in the Steamplant Building 7 years ago and Twist downtown 3 years ago! Now, we know that not all of you are sold on the beauty and amazingness of the mysore style of learning and we know that it may never be for everyone - which is why we will continue to offer our led classes, and our Power Flow and our Metta Flow classes.

Another really exciting thing that is happening is the addition of two names you will see on our schedule; Charisse and Mike - it is a compliment beyond words that our little shala has attracted these two, it feels like that whole thing of the seeds being planted and growth and support happens and the universe is bringing together this team where more seeds can be planted etc...etc... Okay its early and I know you want to see this schedule so I'll stop. Here it is:

Mondays: 6-8am Mysore with Mike, 4pm Power Yoga with Margo, 5:40pm Ashtanga Prep with Katie

Tuesdays: 6am Ashtanga Prep with April, 5:40pm Metta Flow with Katie, 7:15 Yoga 101 with Charisse

Wednesdays: 6-8am Mysore with Mike, 9:30am Prep with Judy, 4pm Power with Betsy, 5:40 Prep with Shelley, 7:15 Meditation with Brett

Thursdays: 6am Prep with April, 5:40pm Metta Flow with Shelley, 7:15 Yoga 101 with Charisse

Fridays: 6-8am Mysore with Mike, 9:30am Prep with Katie, 4pm Power with Betsy

Saturdays: 7:30am Primary Series with Shelley, 9:30am Metta with Katie

Sundays: 7:30-9:30am Mysore with Mike, 4:15pm Prep with Karen, 5:30pm Restorative with Joanna

Manju Jois

I should be doing marichiasana d or something right about now with you all down at the shala, but with two sick kids and Dan out of town I'm sitting here thinking about the past week and already starting to feel the post workshop blues... or maybe it's a yoga hangover - I'm not sure. I do know that it is really something special when we all get together and practice and it is even more special when the space is held by someone as gracious and humble and respectful as it was by Manju.

Like many of you, I can't get in a morning practice during the school year, so the opportunity to practice four days in a row at the same time of day, in the morning was special and worth every ounce of energy it took to even show up. Manju's quiet presence during the mysore classes felt respectful of our practice - he was un-assuming and provided simple direct and firm adjustments to help us see that we could be feeling something new in a pose that we do everyday.

A big thank you to all of you who made the effort to be there for some or all of the week and of course deep gratitude to Manju - we look forward to seeing you again! If you want to post a comment of email me one we'd love to hear about your experience.

Encouraging words, parampara and more...

Dr. MA Jayashree in Mysore...
Me with Lucy and Sharath in 2004, in San Diego.
David and Joanna last fall...
Lucy's dance teacher out in front there.
Shelley...
Darrel...


"There is no quicker way to stop someone from being successful than from helping them to think they can’t be. And there is no quicker way to help someone be successful than to help someone think they can be."

"Teaching people who are not struggling to figure things out is the easy part; the real teaching comes when we are put in a position to figure out how to provide that foothold for a student or learner who is struggling to get over a wall."

"The real teaching comes when we put our own frustration and doubts aside and stand firmly with our students, letting them know we will not leave them until we both figure out how to get over that wall. The real challenge to being a teacher is understanding what we do as a practice."

These three quotes are from my college rowing coach Jennie Marshall who rowed in the 1988 Olympics in Seoul. I was so lucky to have Jennie as a roll model, and a mentor while I was in college and starting to think about the possibilities that lay beyond. She's still inspiring me to this day, her most recent achievement was getting her PhD and well I guess too her 200hr yoga teaching credential! Her quotes are from her blog Ordinary Olympian where to date she's only written a couple of posts (I keep checking for more)- but these lines really stuck with me and remind me how it important this all is - we are all teachers in one way or another, and I see people who doubt themselves, talk themselves out of sticking-with-this-ness everyday. I read somewhere recently and I wish I could remember where that said something like when we doubt something that means it is really starting to sink in, and the real learning is about to happen - it is right at this moment that we start to move away from pain and towards healing. Thank you Jennie for reminding me of my role in that special moment.

A quote and link from David's blog...

Grace found a copy of the Hanuman Chalisa last night, and asked me to read it to her. Hanuman, has been popping up a lot for me lately. When I was in India, Jennifer was on the lookout for this particular image of Hanuman, where he is tearing his chest open to reveal Ram. And we also found this Hanuman temple on one of the days we were out lost on the scooter. (The picture on top is from that temple). There was also this white guy who was one of the waiters at one of the breakfast places we frequented whose name was Hanuman. I can't remember what nationality he is, but Jennifer (from NYC) told me that his real name was like Mario or something, and when he was little his mom moved him to India with her and changed his name to Hanuman and he has spent most of his life in India. Which got me to thinking that we should change Angus's name to Hanuman because he's larger than life and such a sweetie - but then I realized that I love his name, and I didn't think Dan would let me.

So I was happy to read David's blog from last Sunday because the theme is on Hanuman and his connection to the breath in practice. He explains:

"In the Ramayana, it is said that all of the characters and events take place within the body, within a person's psyche. Ram is the Self and Sita is buddhi; the great intuitive intelligence. Ravana is the ego with its attachment to all the organs of sense (thus he has 10 heads). Symbolically the ego steals away buddhi the intuitive inner wisdom causing a separation between intelligence and Spirit. This split brings darkness and pain and a feeling of lost emptiness void of Self. Yoga practice leads to rejoining intuitive intelligence (Sita) with the Spirit(Ram). Hanuman, leader of the search, is the main instrument in bringing Ram and Sita together again; he symbolizes breath, an unswerving devoted ally and servant who helps rejoin Intelligence with Spirit." read more

You have to read the whole posting, and I recommend that you cut and paste it into a word doc and print it out when you have time to really sit with it.

Homecoming

It is so good to be home!

Be positive in a positive way...

So most of you know that I decided to come home a week early. Just after I'd been gone for about two weeks everyone at home started sort of reaching their maximum limit. Lucy had to have a tooth pulled, all three kids sequentially got some sort of stomach bug - Dan's parents tenure was over and Dan had a 5 day stint on his own coordinating babysitters, school, activities - oh yeah and his job - until my mom was to arrive. I have to say Dan never once complained and when I suggested coming back early he really wanted me to feel free to not do that, but if I was to decide to come back early he would not try to stop me. It was an easy decision for me to make - I had originally made my plans around being at the shala for exactly one month, and this change would short me of six practices, which I felt fine about - but what I had a harder time letting go of was one more week of class with Jayashree and Nirasimhan. We attended class four times a week, and usually the first hour was with Jayashree chanting the Yoga Sutras and the second hour was discussion with Nirasimhan. Last week during class Nirasimhan in reference to one of the sutras said that as people learning and adjusting to the most positive aspects of what our society has to offer we should try to "be positive in a positive way". He said that in our hearts we know what is nurturing and healthy for us, and that moving in that direction is positive. What being positive in a positive way means is say for example you decide that you are going to try to get into shape, and that your goal is to run in Bloomsday, but you complain every day that you have to go out for your training run - you still do your run, and you still start to get into better shape, but the over-all impression experienced and imprinted on your body/mind is not positive in a positive way.

Later that day Dan sent me this quote from Melody Beattie:

"Your security doesn't come from trusting others. Your security comes from trusting and cherishing your own heart. Don't let life shut you down. Open your heart as often as you need, your heart can be trusted, don't doubt it. It will inevitably connect you to what is true."

Now you all know me well enough to know that I don't get into the new-agey-its-all-good-even-when-its-dysfunctional-yoga-bs and no one has ever accused me of being overly positive about anything. (In fact last night someone asked me what was my favorite thing and least favorite thing about India - and I totally drew a blank.) But this little bit of wisdom is starting to make a lot of sense to me. Especially as a mom, or a parent, I've learned that trusting intuition, or following my heart is everything. Making the decision to leave everyone and go to India for a month to experience first hand the total departure from my regular life, and total immersion into yoga WAS absolutely nurturing and healthy for me as a person, as a yoga student, and as a yoga studio owner AND making the choice to leave a week early was also absolutely nurturing and healthy for me as a person and a mom to get back here to my little family.

So what I didn't mention is that after catching my heels in urdvha danurasana that day as Sharath predicted, not the next day, but the day that was my last practice at the Shala, I was doing my primary series practice and had resigned myself that I wasn't going to be getting any intermediate series postures especially now since I was leaving early, and was totally okay with that, and putting even greater emphasis as I had been doing the whole trip on open up my back, continuing with my focus of offering my heart upward with every utkatasna, warrior, updog etc... So I did my back bends, and then my drop backs and as I was dropping back I was walking each time my hands closer to my feet hoping to be just that much more open for when Sharath dropped me back, and when I stood up the last time he was standing there and said, "you take pasasana?" And I'm like 'yeah right without you telling me I just thought I'd start intermediate today', and said"no", so he say's "you do pasasana", of course all primed and ready for the deepest backbending of my life and I've to do another asana - and so it goes right? So it is really through these asanas the physical experience of which allows us to play out our deepest inner battles. Sharath even said that in conference last week, how important asana is in the 8 limbs to purity the body/mind through activating the agni which burns, destroys toxins allowing the breath and blood to circulate through. For everyone, especially as we age this is an incredibly amazing tool. So next time you drag yourself out of bed to get down to the Shala at 6am know that you are doing something so positive, nurturing and healthy for yourself - and you can make it even more so by simply acknowledging that if only just in your head as you turn your alarm of and put your feet on the floor!

And also cross your fingers that we get Jayashree and Nirasimhan to Spokane on their next trip to the US!

Friends...

Jen, Phil, Fiona, Me, Jonathan, Vanya, Andrew, Elena, Susie at Santosha's
Fiona, Me, Jonathan and Mikoto
Andrew and Jennifer
Elena in eka pada sirsasana
Lissa and Adam
Lakshmi, Shobha, and Randy
Jennifer (on left) at our Gita class
Fiona and Andrew - four of us in a rickshaw.

So I think I mentioned earlier that I was lucky to have fallen into the "right" crowd. What an awesome group of people, very fun and kind, earnest about practice, and dedicated to exploring how the ashtanga lineage can impact their lives. I think I said too that we all sort of arrived in Mysore around the same time, which means that we pretty much practiced at the same time. So we also often eat at least one meal together. I will miss them, and look forward to our paths crossing again which I think that in the Ashtanga world is quite likely.

Warning: This blog is coming from my soapbox...

At Nandi
Tea stall at Chamundi Hill...
This is the priest at the Nandi at Chamundi Hill - he blessed this string and then tied around our wrists.
We are inside of the cave where Swamiji is praying, and again blessing us - this family is coming in to pray, the little girl above is the same from the previous post photos. That is her brother looking at me.
School girls waiting in line at Chamundi Temple.

So I mentioned this in an earlier post but today it really came back to me while I was practicing because I noticed my friend Jon, who starts after me, when he was finishing because he went up on the stage I think so that Sharath could help him in sarvangasana. It jarred my memory that since he is doing everything in the series up to Marichiasana A, he does not do backbending yet. I think it is standard that you don't start working on urdvha dhanurasana even in a modified way until you can bind in Marichi C ( I don't know that this is some sort of actual benchmark, and I'd be inclined to think that it is probably different for different people, but unless we are in a led class it seems pretty standard). And it is hard for some people who have come here who when at home do backbending, they feel like they aren't being allowed to do something they can do and probably like to do. Personally I am experiencing the same type of thing - in my case it is just a few poses later - and I was prepared for the fact that when you come to Mysore for your first time it is standard practice to do primary series for one month before being given any postures from Intermediate... and because I am really a two year old at heart, or maybe because I spend so much of my time around that concrete thinking age group - I want to know why???

Then today in our philosophy class Nirasimhan said that learning and knowledge is sequential, and that reminded me that yoga is a science - and one that has proven over hundreds of years to work. It is a science that works to eradicate disease in the body through the elimination of toxins and to rid the spiritual heart of unhealthy ego addictions that manifest in emotional pain. In yoga you work with your body to heal your mind, and your mind to heal your body through the different practices. And these practices are specific and though you can read about them in a book the ideal situation is that you learn from a teacher who themselves have experienced the learning place that you are at. And if you are a teacher you should teach what you learned from your teacher, and if you decide to tweak some things here or there in my humble opinion, the closer you stay to the backbone of whatever particular technique you are teaching the greater the results your students will yield.

The yoga sutras talk very specifically about 3 major components of a successful endeavor into the science of yoga; tapas, svadyaya and ishvara pranidanani. In conference this past weekend Sharath brought up svadyaya in particular - which translates to "self-study", and which does not mean study the parts that your self wants to study, but it means do what your Guru told you to do - and Guruji used to say "Good student telling once..." which boils down to you and I taking responsibility for our own learning and doing the best that we can. But following the words of a teacher takes the guess work out of it which in turn creates space for reflection because you are not getting caught up in what I do which is ask "why" all the time!

So this practice is a formula, and the sequence of postures in their order, under the guidence of a teacher who has an understanding of the bigger picture is an incredibly powerful platform for us to aquire knowledge about ourselves. So in my case the focal point of my time here on my mat has been a majorly renewed appreciation and a healthy respect for the brilliance of the Primary Series, and if I got one and only one thing out of this experience it is to not skip poses - even if you are short on time, or you practice once a week. Yup, that's what I think. I miss you all and will see you soon! Love, Katie

Chamundi Hill

Today was the moon /rest day so we decided to go up to Chamundi Hill. Chamundi Hill is where the Chamundeswaari temple is, which is a huge temple for the Goddess Chamundi, plus also a few other smaller temples. It is a big tourist spot, and even though we left Gokulum at 7:30am there were still several 100's of people there when we arrived. Lots of buses and field trips, mostly all Indians, few westerners were there. Chamundi is an aspect of Durga or the goddess energy - she is one the more fierce of the female goddess having slain some demons to achieve her popularity. We drove the scooter up the road, and Fiona and Andrew took a rickshaw. There are two ways to get into the temple, one is the free line which wound all the way around the temple, and the other was the paid line which was much short - so we paid 20 ruppees to go into the temple and waited in a line for maybe 20 minutes, went in and got blessed by a priest in there (no cameras were allowed). It was really chaotic - and people like us who didn't know what to do were probably part of that problem - there were lots of kids, families etc. The priest stay behind the partitions and you can hand them offerings like money, or flowers and they seem to be constantly involved in performing tasks having to do with Chamundi who is back some ways sort of through smaller and smaller door ways if that makes sense.

We made it back down to town for lunch, and then back to Gokulum by 2pm - which sort of ended up being our day.

Tomorrow we have led primary at 6am - I know that some of you are reading my friend Jonathon's blog - and maybe you read what he wrote on his last post that he "loves the led classes because Sharath walks around teaching and Saraswathi adjusts"... hmmm - he and I must be in different classes! The led classes here are my least favorite - and I really have to practice my yoga if you know what I mean in order to even go to practice my yoga! As I mentioned in an earlier post which was I think after I'd been here about a week - and at the time I'd still not gotten one adjustment, nor had any interaction with Sharath or Saraswathi - you remember - well I still have yet to get adjusted in any postures. Now that said every day one of them helps you after you've done drop backs with the 3 drop-backs hands crossed over chest, and then the attempt to grab your ankles deal - and on Thursday after Sharath helped me with this he held his forefinger and thumb together in front of me about an inch from each other indicating the distance my fingers where to my feet and said, "on Monday you take your ankles". And so it goes...

So I have more to say about that, but this post is already getting kind of long and I need to read a little and go to sleep. I hope you enjoy the pictures and you have a wonderful weekend.

Much love...

Ritual

this is an edited version of the "sponge bob" post from last night.

"To our ancient mother, India – origin of civilization long before our written history dawned, abode of the noble ones (aryas), land who brought forth an endless stream of sages and liberated ones (rishis), who produced the manifold sciences (vidyas) and the language of wisdom (sanskrita), and who does not cease to provide paths for those who dare. May there dawn a new age that reveals again your original splendor. "

This is the dedication to Gregor Maehle’s new book on the Intermediate Series that I brought with me. I love this but if I was to write this I would change the last line to “May there dawn a new age that reveals your effulgent spiritual knowledge to all."... or something like that - because all you need to is come to India and you will see the original splendor is a living thing here - it's in other places maybe that I hope will learn from this place and integrate it's bountiful offerings.

Everywhere you look there are offerings, in sight, smell and sound, little details everywhere depict the stories of luminosity and divinity - and in nooks and crannies, in the weirdest dirtiest places you will find a statue of Ganesha, or a few flowers, a little spot for puja. The "call to prayer" coming from the mosque nearby is eerie sounding, and well... loud, way louder than the Rocket Market, and at 5am no less, and not to mention the other morning a band of kirtan carolers complete with cymbols were strolling down our street at 5:30am, singing a song to Sita and Ram. As a child here in India you would be as familiar with devotion, ritual and the teachings associated with spiritual knowledge as my kids are with Sponge Bob,the Disney princesses and how to work On Demand!

Here, these simple acts are tokens of devotion and aids to meditation which can be performed by anyone of any age at any time. Last night Jennifer told me that Richard Freeman used to talk about reaching down for flowers and offering them up toward the heavens during utkatasana in the sun salutations, she was using this beautiful image to try to help me understand how to extend my chest upward, not just in utkatasana but throughout, so this morning every warrior, or upward dog was an offering of my heart, and the physical action required, the energetic action, was profound. I finally started to feel like I was coiling my spine, and really lifting, and that my head was extending rather than falling back onto my trapezious muscles. It became part of the ritual of my practice - and it was much more than deepening my back bend for the sake of having a deep backbend. It was just like lighting a stick of incense, or singing a beautiful song, or placing flowers in a bowl of water, each successive time recalled my mind to the thought behind the act. Even in a busy day this simple method is especially accessible for the beginner or those who don't know what to think of God or spirituality talk. Thank you Ma India for this teaching.

Happy Birthday Jennifer!

Happy Birthday Jennifer! Thank you for being my yoga sister, my teacher, my friend and now my chauffeur!

Monday Morning

the steps and door into the shala
the gates at the shala
woman making chai at Sandhya's

Today is Monday - 4 days of mysore style before another led class (I much prefer the mysore) and 4 days of Jayashree. Jennifer rented us a scooter and yesterday we made our way all over so we now have much more independence - though it is a little frightening. The driving here is a bit wild, whole families are on a scooter (even little babies). Yeah, car seats are pretty much non-existent from what I can see - well few people actually drive cars. There are many things here that are different, but mostly just a different take on the same theme, however one thing I've noticed here in India is that lougie hauking - hawking? - anyone know how to spell loogie hawking? - in public doesn't seem to carry the same social stigma here in India as it does in the US. It's interesting. Well off for a bucket bath and then to shala for practice. I hope you are all having a nice warm Sunday evening. Thanks for all the comments - I appreciate hearing from you. Love, Katie

Old Shala and conference...

This is sort of an addendum to the last post - which is sort of out of order if you are trying to follow what is going on. Because today is your Friday night, so Saturday morning here, (no practice day) and our marathon chanting day was Thursday. Yesterday after the led class, we did some errands and I did some quality skyping with Lucy and then Jen and I went to Sandhya's in Laxmipuram near the old shala for lunch. Some of the photos from below are from Sandhya's place - the food was amazing and it was nice to meet with Fiona and Andrew and also meet Chris from Scotland and a few other really nice people. One woman named Christa from Orlando is six months pregnant with her first child, she is looking amazing, and has a beautiful practice but I recognize all too well that sort of tired-but-managing-look, I think it would be hard to be here and be pregnant, but that is just me - over being pregnant-anywhere.

So anyway we stopped by the old Shala on our way back (pictures above). When Jen was here last it was at the old shala so she was a little sentimental and showed me the famous "stairs" where you would wait for your turn, and she talked about where Guruji would come out and sit for conference - it is all really amazing to see, and to think about how fancy and huge the new shala is - how this one man taught for the majority of his life in this teeny tiny place with a handful of students - and it reminded me of conference last weekend with Sharath that I didn't really write about.

Sharath started off by saying he was going to tell us how his Grandfather made Mysore a famous yoga destination. He briefly told us the story of when Guruji met T.K.V. Krishnamacharya at a yoga demonstration in 1927 and how Ashtanga Yoga came to be what it is today. He talked about how important vinyasa is, breath, and how this practice is so much more than just asana. He talked about practicing the yamas and niyamas and that people think they understand yoga just from taking practice from this or that teacher without really applying themselves for many years to daily practice. He said that dedication is the most important aspect. He said many people think they know what yoga is because they do a teacher training program, and now they teach yoga, but they don't know what yoga is. He quoted a sutra at this point I think, though it might have been from the Pradapika but from my memory it was this:

Practice becomes firmly grounded when it has been cultivated for a long time, uninterruptedly, with earnest devotion. (Sa tu-dirghakala-nairantarya-satkara-adara -asevito-drdhabhumih) Sutra 1.14

This section of the yoga sutras right now is my favorite, because a few sutras later it talks about having faith - or in sanskrit sraddha - which I believe is Sharath's daughters name. In one of my sutra books it says that the faith Patanjali is talking about is "provisional, flexible, undogmatic, open to doubt and reason. True faith is not like a picture frame, a permanently limited area of acceptance. It is like a plant which keeps on throwing forth shoots and growing. All we require, at the beginning, is a seed." (Swami Prabhavananda) And the seed need be nothing more than a feeling of interest in the possibility of living a more meaningful life, a more deeply connected or integrated life, encompassing all aspects of who we are; our physical bodies because we live in this body and our relationships to ourselves and everyone/thing we come in contact with because we do not exist in a vacuum.

He said this with a smile on his face, “without true dedication, it is very difficult to understand yoga.” People like to pick and choose which aspects of yoga they "like" and they have an aversion to really dedicating themselves to one system or one teacher and taking practice daily, making the time for it, and allowing the transformation away from self-limiting, pain inducing patterns - it seems they think they know better. It was in some ways gratifying and reinforcing to listen to Sharath, but for a moment it made me sad that the whole commodifation of yoga thing is such a huge movement. And being a yoga studio owner am I just playing into all of that, and should I even be teaching yoga at all, and I really shouldn't be doing teacher training - ahhhhhhh! But then I remember the old shala, and Sharath's grandfather getting up and teaching everyday for 65 years or more, and that handful of dedicated students who got us to where we are today - got me to be sitting here in Mysore, India taking practice everyday, and I think of all of you back home coming to the shala, as often as you can, taking practice with pure intention and good hearts and the ripple effect of what your practice has done for your bodies, your minds, your relationships with your children, spouces and friends andI know a seed has been planted and in that I have faith and in that I am so grateful for.