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Talking Shop With a Yoga Master By Aadil Palkhivala
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| Tuesday, February 10, 2009 |
I was born in Bombay to the family lawyer. I started my training with the BKS Iyengar yoga at age 7 and age 22 I was a young student to obtain a Certificate Advanced Teacher Training. As a child I taught the teachings of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother of Pondicherry, both of them is my spiritual teacher, along with my wife Mirra, who teaches Purna Yoga Meditation. I became a lawyer, certified naturopath, Ayurvedic practitioners, and agency workers. Mirra and co-direct our studio, Yoga Center, in Bellevue, WA, and I run a food company called Eastern Essence Organic Whole Foods.
I am often asked what it is like to study with Mr. Iyengar as a child. He was very intense. Iyengar is a very strict teacher, although not as tight now he has! Since I was not exactly born supple, I really have to work hard to get the movement that he wanted. But he was more than just my teacher, he was also a friend. He will come to our house, and we will have breakfast and lunch and all that. Often he will stay in our house when he came to teach in Bombay many weekends. So we know the other side of him, who is one of the main reasons my family to stay with yoga. Had we only known as a strong teacher, we may not be fixed, so the other party is very beautiful-soft, sweet, childlike, full of joy, love and adventure. Of course I teach asana is based on the Iyengar method.
I have a very strong belief that yoga is very knowledgeable. I can not say this and you are my yoga yoga, because I believe that yoga is so big that we all must share what we know. I believe that knowledge is a very important mix without losing the core of what you teach. I can not teach Ashtanga: I can not teach Viniyoga. But I can learn from them and see what is right in the system. So what I do, I teach yoga in general, physical methods and internal Iyengar yoga is based on my wife's Mirra teaches meditation, and Sri Aurobindo and the Mother's teachings.
A consistent question is how do I find time for my own practice with a busy schedule. There is just no choice. Every morning I wake up, perform the basic rituals, and then go and practice. Practice is the first thing I do. If I miss practice in the morning, I never practice! So just walk without saying: I always do the first exercise in the morning. People often ask me how I run in the background, so many vocations affect my teaching. It really helps having experience in various fields. Then, when you teach, you can absorb a variety of experiences and use language that resonates with different people. For example, the one that I really like the poem-and I'm talking about classic, gorgeous, romantic poetry of Browning, Milton, Keats, Byron.
And when I quote this, it makes a large difference in the classroom. Similarly, if I use the term legal or anatomical terms, it resonates with certain people, and the rich class. The best advice I can offer is the beginning yoga students to find a teacher who really know the subject, which can be a difficult thing because if you are a new student, you do not know if you know the subject teacher. This is the main pitfall and joy into the early primary students in yoga. It's time to seek out and find someone who really knows their job. And then fixed with a good teacher for five to ten years. And then, of course, yoga became a life long journey of internal revelation. |
posted by neptunus @ 6:51 PM
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