A letter from TKV Desikachar

My Dear Friends

Greetings from Chennai, India. I write to you about an important decision I have taken at this point in my life.

I became a student of my father in 1961, and almost immediately started teaching under his direct supervision. Next year in 2011, even though I will be completing 50 years of association with yoga, I remain a humble student of this great discipline.

In the past five decades, much has changed in the landscape of yoga, and in the reception it received around the world. What was once considered a strange oriental practice, is now a household name in every corner of the globe. I am very happy about this status, and am proud to have played a small part in witnessing these changes.

In all of my association with yoga, my link with it has only been sustained through my relationship with my teacher, the grand master T Krishnamacharya. I consider it the greatest blessing I have received to be his student, and to serve his teaching tradition. Krishnamacharya's contribution to the field of yoga can be generally categorized in the three domains of health, healing and spirituality. It is for this reason, that he was a complete yogi and his work timeless.

I have traveled far and wide over these years to share his most precious teachings with audiences around the world. And today much of yoga's influence on the domains of health and healing, is attributed to his wonderful contribution. The time has now come for me to focus on the spiritual domain of his teaching, and ensure that this will exist for future generations of yogis. I want to give my time and effort to not only translate the work of my teacher in this domain, but also to experience it through practice and reflection. Hence starting in 2011, I have decided to greatly reduce my travel commitments, and will mainly teach here in Chennai.

I am not retiring from yoga, but rather only reducing my travel outside the country. You are always welcome to participate in projects that I am going to teach here in India, be it at the KYM or the KHYF. My commitment to the KHYF network, the KYM and all of my students is steadfast, and will continue as always.

My son and student, Kausthub, has assured me of his whole hearted support for my decision and I am very confident that he will find the right way to support you all. He has already shared with me some of his new ideas for doing this and you will be informed of these plans in the near future.

I want to thank all of you, who I have met during my years of travel, for your affection and kindness. I would like to you embrace this decision.

Warm regards

TKV Desikachar
Chennai, INDIA

~~~~

While it is a shame that Sri Desikachar will no longer be teaching outside of Chennai the part in this letter that struck me the most was this:-

 In the past five decades, much has changed in the landscape of yoga, and in the reception it received around the world. What was once considered a strange oriental practice, is now a household name in every corner of the globe. I am very happy about this status, and am proud to have played a small part in witnessing these changes.

So much time is spent, both in the blogosphere and the real world, debating "Yoga in the West".  Are we spiritual enough?  Austere enough?  Flexible enough?  Should we be vegetarian?  Do we have to look like the models on the front of Yoga Journal?  Should I teach unless I can do every posture (clue:  nobody can do every posture!)?


But when I read these words from the founder of the school of yoga in which I teach, I realised that none of these debates matter.  They certainly don't appear to matter to him, so they certainly don't matter to me!  What matters is we are practicing yoga.  All over the world in many different styles and ways we are practicing yoga.  If Sir (as he is colloquially known in Chennai) is happy, then I am happy.

Keep practicing, in whichever way and whichever style is appropriate to you right now.  Don't worry about what you look like but instead on how you feel.  Open your heart and enjoy!


Join me on the Spring into Yoga 2010 Challenge!!!

(Kathleen has pointed out that for some of you it's more of a Fall into Yoga 2010 Challenge.  Autumn is all about letting go, so join in and let go of those blocks with certain postures, or with practicing yoga more regularly!)

~~~~

This blog is on the move to its own URL. I will be double posting until Monday 8th March and then the whole blog will move over to SuburbanYogini.com.

To follow me in your favourite reader
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Click the orange button with 'Subscribe' next to it and follow the directions.

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To follow me on Google Followers
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Scroll to just below ‘Blogs I'm Following' and click the 'ADD' button. Then just enter the url http://suburbanyogini.com in the pop up box and you should be good to go.

If you are kind enough to link to me on a blogroll or links list I would really appreciate it if you could change the link to Suburban Yogini.

Any problems drop me an email at suburbanyogini at gmail dot com

spring into yoga!

  "Practice and all will come!"

-- K Pattabhi Jois

I don't know about where you are but there is a distinct feeling of spring in the air here in Cambridge. The days are definitely longer and brighter, the bulbs in the garden are all poking their heads through the soil and the air feels lighter somehow, more oxygenated! This Yogini definitely has a spring in her step, awful pun very much intended.

I'm sure you've all heard of WoYoPraMo. World Yoga Practice Month is usually January and the yoga world all pledge to practice every day. I did not take part this year as I spent the first week of this January coughing up my lungs with bronchitis.

Besides I've never practiced every single day of the week. I believe in at least one rest day a week as a time to allow the body, mind and breath to assimilate the practice.  I also think that it is vitally important not to set goals that are unachievable.  It takes a very strong person not to feel a little let down by themselves if they have not achieved a goal that they have set.

A five day per week practice sits perfectly with my life right now, and so for the month of March I want to continue with my five days a week, but I want to focus specifically on poses that I have a tendency to avoid.   These include Baddha Konasana, Janu Sirsasana and Dhanurasana.  Those things we choose to avoid are often the things we need the most, so I will be working on these postures as mindfully as I can (rather than cursing myself in my head!) and keeping in mind my thoughts on 40 days of Ahimsa by being gentle with myself and not pushing or straining.  Just being in these postures that I so dislike. 

Spring always reminds makes me think of the word "bloom", as everything is just bursting, ready to bloom into life.  And that is exactly what I want to be happening on my yoga mat right now.

I would love it if you would join me dear reader.  No earth shattering goals, nothing you can't stick to but if, like me, you practice regularly, try to practice at least one posture you don't like (and we all have them) every day in March.  If you practice yoga but not as regularly as you'd like, try to put aside 20 minutes 2 times a week (my 20 minute practice might come in handy here!).  And for those of you who have never tried yoga before, why not go to a class, any class, just once sometime in March!


I'd love to know how you get on so do share!

~~~~

This blog is on the move to its own URL. I will be double posting until Monday 8th March and then the whole blog will move over to SuburbanYogini.com.

To follow me in your favourite reader
Go to Suburban Yogini
Click the orange button with 'Subscribe' next to it and follow the directions.

Or just paste http://suburbanyogini.com/feeds into your "Add" window.

To follow me on Google Followers
Open Dashboard
Scroll to just below ‘Blogs I'm Following' and click the 'ADD' button. Then just enter the url http://suburbanyogini.com in the pop up box and you should be good to go.

If you are kind enough to link to me on a blogroll or links list I would really appreciate it if you could change the link to Suburban Yogini.

Any problems drop me an email at suburbanyogini at gmail dot com

The Suburban Yogini's Ten Commandments

As inspired by Kathleen and The Happiness Project.
(Kathleen also inspired me to choose my word of 2010 which will be "mindfulness" - but more on that later)
--

One: I am Rachel.
Not anyone else’s perception of Rachel,
Or an imitation,
but true to myself.

Two: I will accept
that not everything will always go to plan.
I will accept
that this is just the way things are meant to be.

Three: I know my strengths.
I know my weaknesses.
I embrace them
and am honest with myself about who I am.

Four: I will be conscious,
I will be mindful and alive
with all of my senses
at every moment.

Five: I will accept
my limitations as part of who I am,
and work
with them rather than against them.

Six: I will learn
to receive as well as give,
to be inspired as well as to inspire,
to be kind to myself as well as to others.

Seven: I will love
with every ounce of my being.
I will say
“I love you” more often.

Eight: I will accept
my past self as part who I am.
I will no longer
be ashamed of past actions.

Nine: I will always remember
that living is so much more than getting through the day,
and only I
am responsible for my own happiness.

Ten: I am not my scoliosis.
The reality is much deeper within
than even my own spine.
It cannot hold me back.

101 in 1001

This seemed appropriate for my 101st post!

I know that several of you are in various stages of a "101 things to do in 1001 days". I made mine back in January 2008 as I was planning to leave my corporate law job. At first the list had many overambitious goals on it that in reality I just wasn't going to achieve. Learning to become a blacksmith for example takes some time and a lot of commitment. Get a grip, Rachel! So recently I decided to tidy it up and publish it here to remind me of all that I have achieved.

Enjoy (the things I have done are marked in bold)!

1. Host Christmas Dinner
2. Have friends round to dinner at least 4 times
3. Rise above all family squabbles
4. Record all family history/photographs
5. Go out to dinner with Himself once a month (26/33)
6. Play golf with my dad
7. Meet at least 3 online friends in real life.
8. Write more handwritten notes, cards and letters rather than sending emails.
9. Swim 4 times a week for 3 months
10. Complete a 40 day Samadha
11. Practice 10 minutes deep relaxation every day for 3 months.
12. No alcohol for one month.
13. Don't leave the house without breakfast.
14. Practice Judith Lassater's Moon Club sequence for 3 consecutive months.
15. Practice yoga 5 times a week.
16. Drink hot water with fresh lemon every morning when I wake up.
17. Stop smoking
18. Make home cooked meals and packed lunches at least four times a week for 6 months.
19. Bake once a week for 3 months.
20. Buy only eco-friendly cleaning and household products or make my own.
21. Clear out clothes and shoes.
22. Have a massage once a week for a month.
23. Go to the chiropractor once a month for a year.
24. Go to bed before 10pm for seven consecutive nights.
25. Run 50 miles in 30 days.
26. Give up City law job by 1st April 08.
27. Take "Teaching Pregnancy Yoga" course.
28. Set up Pregnancy Yoga classes.
29. Set up Mum and Baby Yoga classes.
30. Get "Yoga and Scoliosis" paper published.
31. Teach volunteer yoga.
32. Learn HTML.
33. Take "Yoga for Cancer" course.
34. Take "Sequencing in Yoga Classes" course.
35. Teach on an overseas yoga retreat.
36. Set up own business (set up and subsequently sold!!)
37. Double length of "in progress" novel.
38. Re-visit Keats's House.
39. Become inspired in the Poetry Cafe.
40. Enrol on a Creative Writing Course or join a writers' group.
41. Finish knitting blanket.
42. Learn to play piano (I can now play Happy Birthday and a variety of Christmas songs as well as The Can-Can)
43. Write in a paper journal every day for 1001 days.
44. Have a poem published.
45. Make a scrapbook of photos, tickets and mementos of 2008.
46. Take photos of my last walk along the South Bank to work and put in an album.
47. Learn to crochet.
48. Pay off my credit card by the end of 1001 days.
49. Live within my budget for 6 months.
50. Update my Will.
51. Get my eyes tested.
52. Go to the ballet.
53. Go to the opera.
54. Kneel at the grave of James Douglas Morrison.
55. See Shakespeare in Stratford-upon-Avon.
56. Read "Dubliners" (I think the reason I've never completed any Joyce is that I have not started small enough).
57. Read "Watership Down"
58. Read "Finn Family Moomintroll"
59. Read entire series of Inspector Morse novels.
60. Read entire series of Falco novels.
61. Read 15 Victorian novels (12/15)
62. Re-read Byron's "Don Juan"
63. Have tea at the Ritz.
64. Go camping.
65. Have a pyjama day with Himself.
66. Take Himself to Manna
67. Have a long weekend in Dublin.
68. Have a long weekend in Paris.
69. Grow my hair.
70. Make a list of 50 things that make me happy.
71. Watch 50 films I've never seen before (50/50)
72. Listen to 50 albums I've never listened to before (43/50)
73. Grow my own herbs.
74. Grow an aubergine (eggplant).
75. Paddle in the sea on Christmas Day.
76. Get a new tattoo designed by Joolz.
77. Visit 6 British towns I've never visited before (4/6)
78. Spend 7 consecutive nights by the sea.
79. Give blood.
80. Win a game of chess.
81. Watch the sun rise on midsummer's day.
82. Read a book on the English Civil War.
83. Read a book on the American Civil War.
84. Make Jam
85. Make Marmalde.
86. Bake all our own bread.
87. Read all three parts of "The Lord of the Rings" without a break and then watch all three films.
88. Scan in file and sort out family archive.
89. Move out of London so I can fall in love with it again.
90. Blog every day for 30 days.
91. Watch the stars from the top of Primrose Hill.
92. Have a pedicure.
93. Have a facial
94. Paint a Mater.
95. Learn to play a 3 chord punk song on guitar.
96. Learn to make sushi.
97. After growing my hair for 1000 days have an expensive cut and colour on the 1001st day.
98. Smile every day
99. Give £1 to The Cats Protection League for every goal I don't make.
100. Make a new list.
101. Remember that the only people who have done everything they need to do are dead.