our-yoga

This morning, I did full primary and second up to Ardha Matsyendrasana. Why no Karandavasana? Well, my SI joint has been feeling dodgy the last few days. In particular, during full primary on Saturday morning, I felt this twinge in my right SI joint area as I was getting into Kurmasana, and for the rest of the day, my back just felt wrong. I couldn't sit for more than half an hour without feeling my lower back stiffen up.

So this morning, I decided to work slowly from primary. I paid special attention to the first few postures, especially the Suryas. In particular, in Surya B, I tried to apply a few of the things that PakistaniAshtangi recently shared from her workshop with Dena Kingsberg (I'm quoting directly from PakistaniAshtangi's notes here):

(1) "Go deep (and I mean deep) into a squat in the Utkatasana bit – this will help develop strength in the legs needed for standing up from UD, while also developing your ability to do Pasasana (by stretching the Achilles tendons) – then come up from the deep squat to lift the hands overhead, and come up far enough so that your back becomes comfortable (i.e. not scrunched, no butt sticking out), and neck comes up last. When folding over on the next out-breath don’t straighten your legs until your torso is flat against your legs, then straighten the legs. When jumping back, land with arms straight so you can set up your Chaturanga by rolling the shoulders back, lifting the heart, and squeeze the bandhas tight, then lower to chaturanga."

(2) "In upward dog: Keep feet pretty close together, no more than hip width apart (though Dena actually does it with her feet touching to get the maximum effect). When you protect the lower back with your bandhas this will, apparently, minimize strain and pain in lower back and make the other, stiffer parts of the back bend. All toes should press into the floor, and there should be a tension, a stretch, pulling your toes one way and your chest/upper body the other way – which is really important, Dena talked a lot about stretching things in two directions, the tension between two ends of a pose. Only that way will you get the backbend you want."

I discovered that paying attention to all these things really helps you to get so much more out of Surya B. By the time I finished standing, I felt strong enough to go through primary. I tried to apply the same things that Dena emphasized in Surya B to the updog portion of the vinyasas: I realized that I have a tendency to just kind of move quickly through the updogs without paying too much attention to the posture. I discovered this morning that emphasizing the concept of there being an active tension (pulling toes one way, upper body/chest the other way) really makes a difference in stretching and lengthening the front body in between the many forward bends of primary.

When I got to Kurmasana, I paid close attention to getting into the postures without trying to push or yank my way into position. To my pleasant surprise, there were no unpleasant sensations in Kurmasana. I even managed to sit up and get into Supta Kurmasana via Dwi Pada Sirsasana without incident.

Through it all, I think that being mindful of one's breath and movement and paying attention to the bandhas really help to make the practice safe and productive. Speaking of bandhas, I just read Kino's latest blog post. She was teaching her workshop in Chicago last week, and met Richard Freeman (who, incidentally, was conducting a Teacher's Intensive in Chicago at the same time) for coffee and attended his yoga philosophy class. In this class, Freeman discusses Shankaracharya's views on mula banda. Here's Kino's notes on Freeman's talk:


"Mula Bandha – 114

yanmulam sarvabhutanam yanmulam cittabandharam/
mulabandhah sada sevyo yogyo’sau rajayoginam

That which is the root of all existence and on which the cessation of the mind is based is called mulabandha, which should always be served since it is fit for raja-yogis.

Richard says that mula bandha is the cessation of thought so it cannot be something you think or try to do. It is more of a seva, which means service or to attend to and the idea is that mula bandha is treated like a deity and you do seva to the deity at the sacred temple sitting deep within the pelvis. The balancing of energies on the pelvic floor is the way to consecrate the temple and then the goddess serpent Kundalini will stand up when she wants to. The voyeur of the ego prevents the goddess from awakening because you have to invite her as the sacred flame at the root of the pelvic floor so that she inhabits the temple. Mula bandha according to Richard is not a mechanical thing but more like a devotional experience. He suggested doing a bhakti puja to Ganapti in the pelvis to get mula bandha and to invite the god into the temple at the base of the pelvic floor. In the form of the goddess, “sri” is her name. Then with a cheeky smile Richard said that this is the secret part of the lineage and that he shouldn’t have even told us this. I thought for a moment about not sharing his definition of mula bandha but I decided to share it anyway. I hope I haven’t committed an Ashtanga crime."

I find all this really fascinating, especially the idea that mula bandha isn't actually something you do or engage. The idea, as I understand it, is that our daily practice is a daily act of service and devotion to this sacred power that we all possess deep within the pelvis. Over the course of consistent practice, the kundalini will arise of its own volition "when she wants to." Seen in this light, we don't actually try to achieve anything through the practice; the practice is more like the actions of plowing the soil of our being, planting the seeds and watering them consistently. The fruit (kundalini) will arise when the time is ripe. Or, as Guruji would say, "Do your practice, and all is coming."

Speaking of Kino's workshop, on a more personal note, I can't help noting that I was at her Chicago workshop around this time last year. I just couldn't find the time (or money) to go this year, because I am already doing quite a bit of traveling in the next few weeks for academic purposes. You know, when I read about her encounter with Richard Freeman, I couldn't help wondering: What if I had gone to her Chicago workshop last week? If I had, perhaps I would also have had the good fortune of meeting Freeman myself too, if I were thick-skinned enough to shamelessly hang around Kino, and maybe "shadow"/borderline-stalk her to that Starbucks at the time when she met Freeman (hmm... you didn't know I am a yogic stalker, did you? :-)). Well, you know, maybe I could just hang around for a few minutes outside the Starbucks, and then "coincidentally" show up at the Starbucks ("Hey, Kino, you're here too! What a coincidence! Oh, aren't you Richard Freeman? I'm such a great fan of your book (although I haven't actually read it...")). Oh well, I just realized how ridiculous all this is starting to sound. Well, now you know what a ridiculous person I am... 
   

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It's that time of the year again. In the northern hemisphere, much of the land is covered with snow (I don't know about Japan, though; see previous post :-)). That, however, has not deterred many an Ashtangi from making the trip to the K. Pattabhi Jois Ashtanga Yoga Institute (KPJAYI) to study Ashtanga Vinyasa Yoga at the lineage's source with Sharath.

I have recently noticed a growing conversation in the blogosphere: Many a blog and comment thread have been lively with conversations about how important going to Mysore to practice at KPJAYI is to furthering one's practice. I have been following these exchanges with much interest, but since I have not been to Mysore, I don't feel qualified to really say anything about this topic. Yesterday, I decided to ask Kino about her views on this matter. Specifically, I emailed her the following questions:

"How important is it for an Ashtanga practitioner today to go to Mysore, given that (1) Guruji has passed, and (2) there are so many authorized and certified teachers that one can study with, especially in North America, Europe and Australia? Is there something that one can gain from going to Mysore that one cannot from studying with one of these teachers?"

Kino very graciously and promptly responded, and gave me permission to post her response on this blog. I think her response is very well-thought-out and articulated. I hope you will find it enlightening. Here is her response (please excuse the inconsistency in the font size; blogger seems to be making fun of my less-than-adequate software-handling skills :-)):

"The decision to travel to Mysore to study Ashtanga Yoga with R. Sharath Jois at the K. Pattabhi Jois Ashtanga Yoga Institute is something that marks a crucial turning point in an Ashtanga Yoga student's journey into the heart of the method. It is not something that students should force themselves to do, but something that comes as a yearning from deep within. Anyone seeking to teach Ashtanga Yoga certainly would benefit from spending time in Mysore, the birthplace of Ashtanga Yoga. 

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Yesterday afternoon, I took a break from grading papers and exams, and went with a group consisting of a few colleagues from various other departments to a mineral hot spring about 45 minutes from where I am in Idaho. It's funny how it took me almost a year of being here in Idaho to finally make it to a hot spring. But, as they say, better late than never, right? :-)

It was a pleasant afternoon. We spent more than three hours soaking in the spring and chatting about many things. As the only philosophy person in the group, the "responsibility" has fallen upon me over the last few months to be the provider of witty semi-philosophical banter whenever we meet up (the group of us meet together regularly for drinks at a local brewery). Hmm... come to think of it, this may be one of the main reasons why I haven't been blogging much lately: Perhaps most of the verbal-expressive energies that I previously expended on this blog are now taken up with providing witty banter for those around me, so that there is less wit left to spare for this blog.

Anyway, during those three hours in the spring yesterday, one interesting and unexpected topic of conversation came up... yes, you guessed it: Yoga! I don't normally talk about yoga to my students or colleagues, but sometime in the course of those three hours, one of my colleagues started doing some yoga-like stretches in the water (at one point, she looked like she would probably have gone into the full expression of Prasarita Padottanasana A in the water, if it weren't for the fact that she couldn't breathe underwater...), so I couldn't help remarking that she seemed to be doing some yoga poses. Upon further questioning, it turns out that her sister is a yoga teacher in a major city in the Pacific Northwest, so she knew a few things about the ins and outs and ups and downs of the typical yoga scene in a big city (too many teachers running around all over the place trying to scrap together a living by teaching too many classes, possibly compromising one's own yoga practice in so doing, etc., etc.).

As the conversation progressed, I also let on that I used to teach yoga in a studio in Florida. This prompted my colleague to ask, "Oh... do you intend to teach yoga again sometime in the future?" I replied, "Well, ever since I started doing Ashtanga full-time, I have been feeling less and less qualified to be a yoga teacher." This reply drew puzzled expressions from her and her husband, so I had to basically start from square one, and explain the ins and outs of traditional Ashtanga practice (what Mysore style practice is, how it is different from "conventional" yoga classes, how the only way to really get authorized to teach Ashtanga is by going to KPJAYI and getting authorized, and so on and so forth). I like to think that I succeeded, through this explanation, in conveying to them the spirit and the gravitas of traditional Ashtanga instruction and practice, because they seemed impressed by my dedication to this powerful tradition (at least, I think they looked like they were; I'm not always the best reader of people's facial expressions...).

The husband then asked me whether Ashtanga pays a lot of attention to precise and proper alignment. "Well, we believe that alignment is important, but we don't quite make such a big issue of it as Iyengar." And then, of course, I had to go on to explain to him the main differences in emphasis between Iyengar and Ashtanga.

Who would have thought that my first visit to a hot spring in Idaho would have consisted of me giving a talk on Ashtanga yoga? Life is pretty strange, isn't it? :-)

Oh, and speaking of alignment, after I came back from the spring yesterday, I went on Kino's FB page, and watched this instructional video by Sharath on the proper vinyasa for Utkatasana and Virabhadrasana A and B that she had posted there. I wanted to re-post the video here, but for some reason, it wouldn't show up on my Youtube search. But the video has been around for, like, a thousand years by now (I just haven't had much time to watch, post, or review yoga videos lately, due to the real-world demands for my services as a wit ;-)), so I'm guessing most of you know which video I'm talking about here. If you don't, just go to Kino's FB page; it's in one of her posts from yesterday.

I'm sure that anybody who has even so much as taken a glance at Yoga Journal covers over the last ten years of that illustrious publication's history would know that Sharath's physical alignment in the video is not going to put him on the cover of YJ anytime soon (and that, I suspect, is putting it rather mildly). And this fact is certainly not lost on Kino's Facebook readers either, as a couple of commenters have quite unceremoniously noted. I don't normally quote FB comments on this blog, but these couple of comments are so hilarious, I just can't resist "sharing" them here:

One commenter writes: "...so different than what we do in America. if I stayed up that high in any of my warrior poses my instructor would be on my ass like a fly on poop. he sure does float forward and back gracefully though."

A second commenter, piggy-backing on the first, continues: "Clearly he is the expert but I'm with the other person, he's on his toes in urdhva mukha svanasana, his arms aren't straight above his head, his knee is past his ankle and not at a 90 degree angle in virabhadrasana and the outside blade of his foot is clearly not down, his utkatasana is really high...it's hard seeing this video when I struggle and have instructors drill proper form in class. Is form not as important as it's made out to be or is the form im being taught not really correct? Or bc he's just so awesome he can afford to cheat a lil? :-)"

Well, Sharath, as we all know, is quite awesome. But even so --and I'm not saying any of this with any intention of starting an Ashtanga-vs-Iyengar blog war here--we still can't deny that if Sharath had performed the same Utkatasanas and Virabhadrasanas in any "conventional" yoga class here in this beautiful land of America, any YA-certified teacher worth his or her salt would have descended on Sharath like "a fly on poop", as the above commenter so eloquently put it (nothing like a good poop reference to get a point across ;-)), and it is doubtful that he would have made it through even the first five minutes of class without being the butt of many a well-intentioned adjustment. 

So, the million-dollar question: Just what is the place of "proper" alignment in Ashtanga? Is alignment also important in Ashtanga, only maybe not as important as in Iyengar? Or is the idea that drishti and bandhas have so much more primacy in Ashtanga, so that, so long as one is really focusing on those things, transgressions in alignment (even major ones, if Sharath's video is anything to go by) can be overlooked? I suspect that maybe the only person who can really speak to these questions is Sharath himself. But since it is really unlikely that I will be able to get him to comment on this post, I'll just leave you with these questions. If you have anything to say on this, please do. I'd love to hear from you.     

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During practice this morning, something which had never happened to me before happened: In Prasarita Padottanasana C, while trying to bring my interlaced fingers to the ground, I lost my balance, fell forward, rolled over and landed in that region somewhere between my butt and legs. It didn't hurt at all, but I think it would have been pretty funny to watch, if somebody had been watching. I'm not sure why this happened this morning, when it has never happened in all these years of practice, but I won't try to analyze this here. This makes me think that somebody should maybe put together a Youtube video consisting of practice bloopers (falling out of the prasaritas, falling out of handstand/headstand, landing heavily on one's butt when jumping through into Bhujapidasana... can anyone think of anything else?). Might be fun to watch :-)

Tim Miller's latest post on his blog is a great read. He relates his struggles with his Monday evening Intro to Ashtanga class. The entire post is very insightful, but the first few lines caught my attention:

"For the past 25 years I have been teaching an Introduction to Ashtanga Yoga class every Monday at 5:30pm.  This class began when we opened the North County Yoga Center in 1988 as my attempt to initiate beginners into a practice that is very challenging on many levels simultaneously.  Over the years I have attempted to present the practice in a user-friendly format, but if the practice is watered down too much it loses its primal potency."   

That last sentence ("if the practice is watered down too much it loses its primal potency") struck me as being a very apt description of what the practice is about. There is something about moving the body in accordance with the breath and a strict vinyasa count that gives a primal, potent transformative character to the practice. In her book, Sacred Fire, Kino observes that you can't beg, borrow, or fake your way through transformation (I'm paraphrasing here, as I don't have the book with me, but I'll be doing a proper review of the book here soon, so stay tuned). The only thing to do is to move and breathe with the vinyasa count as honestly as you can, and let the practice transform you on its own terms.

At his Montana workshop this past weekend, Lino emphasized the same point as well. He said that, in the early days of his studies with Guruji, he knew nothing about the vinyasa count; he didn't even know the names of the poses! He didn't have to, because he had memorized the sequence of postures, and all he had to do was listen to Guruji's instructions on when to do what during practice. The whole time, Guruji was saying a whole bunch of things in Sanskrit (what we now know as the vinyasa count) that nobody understood anything about. Somewhere in the early nineties, Lino began to spend more time studying with Guruji and asking him questions about the practice and the vinyasa count. And this led eventually to his publication of that book detailing the vinyasa count of the primary and intermediate series which is now almost a bible among many Ashtangis. By the way, Lino has published a new book, which I purchased at his workshop. This new book has the vinyasa count for primary, intermediate, as well as Advanced A and B. It also has a Q&A section at the beginning, in which Lino talks about his experiences with the practice and with Guruji. Perhaps I'll try to share excerpts from this book in future posts.

Anyway... that was a whole bunch of neither-here-nor-there thoughts about everything and nothing about the practice and vinyasa and breath. Maybe I'll have more to say later, but for now, there are a whole bunch of things that I need to get done for the day. So I'll leave you here with these thoughts.    

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One of the courses I am teaching this semester at the university is Philosophy of Art (a.k.a. aesthetics). Over the past couple of months of teaching this course, I have been trying to read more novels and listen to more music in order to get myself into a more... artistic state of mind. After all, if you only philosophize about something, but have no intuitive experience of the thing in question upon which to base the philosophizing, then the philosophizing becomes a bit fruitless, doesn't it? (Now, who was it who said that "concepts without intuition are empty, intuitions without concepts are blind"?...)

In the course of listening to a lot of great music, I have had the opportunity to witness (on Youtube) many beautiful performances by many wonderfully talented artists. As I do so, I can't help noticing that in many of these performances, it is not just the music being produced that is beautiful. The performer, being fully immersed in the music with her entire being (I suppose this may be what some people call a "flow state"), takes on a certain beauty in her facial expressions, and in the way she moves as she plays her instrument. To give you an example, have a look at this performance of Tchaikovsky's violin concerto in D by Sayaka Shoji. The whole performance is kind of long (almost 38 minutes), and you might not have the time to sit through the whole thing, but if you just watch the first 10 minutes, you'll know what I'm talking about:

After watching this performance for, like, the twentieth time, I still can't decide what is more beautiful: The expressions on Shoji's face, or the music that she is actually playing. But this much seems to be true: Being in a flow state (and if Shoji wasn't in a flow state when she was performing that piece, I don't know who is) is not just something that is experienced by the person who is in that state, but is also often something that we the observers can observe by looking at the person. And if Shoji's case above is anything to go by, it would seem that being in a flow state is not just a beautiful experience for the person experiencing it, it is also a beautiful and inspiring experience for those of us who get to see the effects of that state on the person's face and body. So... yay! More power to flow states! 

But since this is (still) a yoga blog, I suppose I should try to relate everything I just said to yoga. Well, many of us who have doing this practice for a while will readily attest that yoga practice in general (and Ashtanga practice in particular) is quite conducive for producing this flow state in us during practice. If nothing else, the very flowing structure of the vinyasa count ("Ekam, Dwe, Trini...") encourages less (over)thinking and more movement and flow. And I'm pretty sure many of us have at one time or other experienced this kind of flowing feeling of being at one with the practice in the moment of practice.

And this is a very beautiful thing. But at the same time, there is also this perception that yoga is different from the performing arts because yoga practice is somehow personal in a way that the performing arts are not. Perhaps it is because of this perception that openly performance-oriented displays of asana prowess tend to be frowned upon in the yoga world. As a result, there seems to be this tacit consensus among the politically-correct yoga public that if and when teachers or students do poses in public, it should be primarily for educational purposes, i.e. either to show students how a pose is done or to demonstrate a pose in order to educate the public about the benefits of yoga. Doing poses in public without such an educational aim in mind is seen as "showing off" and merely "feeding the ego" (and we know, of course, how bad feeding the ego is in the eyes of the yoga public).

But what if public performances of yoga, like public performances of music, can also have the effect of inspiring the audience with the beautiful sight of somebody who is in a flow state? Imagine if Ms. Shoji were to one day decide, "Hmm... I don't think I'm ever going to perform in public again, because performing in public is showing off and feeds my ego, which is bad for my spiritual development." If she were to decide this (and follow through with her decision), wouldn't the music-loving public be deprived of a wonderful source of beauty and inspiration? After all, we know that great art does not just consist in taking in the art with one of our senses; as we have seen, a big part of the beauty also comes from watching great performers immerse themselves in their art as they perform. In the same way, might it not be the case that at least part of the beauty of yoga comes from seeing your favorite teachers or practitioners perform the poses that they do? Speaking of favorite teachers, here's a recent video of Kino performing lotus handstand in public:

Actually, I don't know just how "public" Kino's performance is in this case, since there doesn't seem to be too many people watching (unless we include the Youtube audience as being part of the "public" in this case). But anyway, I think you get what I'm trying to say here...

But yes, I am aware that yoga and music are not the same thing. After all, yoga is spiritual in a way that music is not (But wait! Do we really want to say that music is not spiritual?...). So maybe public performances of yoga are "wrong" in the way that public performances of music are not. But still... oh well, what do I know? 

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After writing my previous post, I decided to ask Kino herself what she thinks about this whole alignment-in-Ashtanga issue. I emailed her, and she got back to me within the hour. Which is very admirable, considering her very busy schedule. Her answer is brief but very illuminating, and she has also very generously allowed me to share it here on this blog. This is what Kino says:

"Alignment is not an end in and of itself. The purpose of good alignment is to facilitate a deeper inner experience. If you focus on alignment as the end goal then it diffuses the true power of yoga. The method of yoga is essentially also very simple. In Utkatasana the knees are bent and the hands are up. The depth with which Western teachers, including myself, describe the inner experience of energy and alignment is something that Guruji and Sharath have always left up to the individual to directly experience for themselves. This way each student has the framework for direct perception of the inner body and ultimately their true self and there is more room for variety, experimentation and modification. Sharath is the first person to say that he does not have a beautiful practice according to Western standards. Yet at the same time if you ask him if alignment is important he says yes, for sure, to prevent injury and help the energy flow in the body. I think the key is to find a balance between emphasizing the physical over subtle and disregarding the physical for the spiritual."

I hope you find her answer as illuminating as I have.  

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This morning, I did full primary and second up to Ardha Matsyendrasana, followed by three UDs and dropbacks and standups, and then went on to commence my daily adventures in half-tick-tocking, doing three half-tick-tocks and standing-up. The tick-tocking itself was more or less the same as yesterday's experience, except that I managed to hold the handstand for a couple of seconds on the second attempt. But considering the fact that I did the second series backbends before coming to tick-tocks, this is probably the most amount of backbending I have done in a single practice. Like ever.

Speaking of second series, I actually did not do any second series at all during the two self practice sessions at Lino's workshop this past weekend. Part of the reason was because I somehow felt it to be more respectful to do only primary in front of a teacher whom I had never practiced with before. The other part of the reason was that I was feeling like I wanted to take it easy and not over-extend/over-exert myself, especially because there's always this tendency to want to impress senior teachers (at least, I have this tendency...). So the primary-only rule was my way of counteracting this tendency. But now, after the workshop, I'm beginning to second-guess my decision here: I can't help but wonder if Lino and his assistants might not have given me some really useful feedback on second series if they had been able to see my second series practice. Ah well... what was that saying?... "If ifs and buts were candy and nuts, we'd all have a merry Christmas."

I have definitely been feeling the effects of all that backbending today. My quads (especially the left quad) have this nice sore, achy sensation. And there's also this emotional feeling of being open. When I went down to my car to drive to campus, I couldn't help feeling that the sky seemed especially clear (even if it wasn't) and the air especially crisp and fresh (even if it wasn't). So much so, that I couldn't help standing there in the middle of the road and looking up at the sky for a couple of minutes. Then suddenly, I heard a low rumbling sound behind me. I turned around, and saw that it was my neighbor trying to drive past me. I quickly got out of the way. Hmm... yoga does ruin your life, doesn't it? It might cause you to almost get run over by your neighbor :-)


In other news: Kino has just very generously sent me copies of her books Sacred Fire and The Power of Ashtanga Yoga, along with a CD of chants by her. Hopefully, I will be posting reviews of these books on this blog pretty soon. I know that I am very much behind the bandwagon (is this the correct expression?) on this: Both her books have been out for a while now, and probably millions of people have already reviewed them. But you must know that I am not usually in the reviewing products business; over the last year or so, people have approached me several times to review their products and/or websites on this blog, but I have always declined, because, well, this is not a yoga-product-reviewing website. But Kino is different, because she is, well, Kino. So stay tuned for these upcoming reviews.   

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Over the last few days, I have been playing and experimenting with some of the finer points of floating in the Surya Namaskaras. If you are not familiar with floating, here's a short video (complete with very powerful drumbeat) of David Robson demonstrating this technique:

But there's a slight problem here: I have never done a Skype interview, nor do I have any experience with posting it on my blog (obviously). I know, I'm a bit deficient technology-wise. But I also know that at least some of you out there have experience with doing and posting Skype interviews. If you do, and wouldn't mind giving me some technical assistance in this area, please get in touch with me; you can find my email in the "Greetings" section of this blog, in the top-right-hand corner. I won't have much to offer you in the way of material reward, but you will at least have my eternal, eternal gratitude and over-whelming respect. So yeah, do give this a thought, if you happen to possess the requisite expertise.  

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Here's a test case. Earlier today, I visited Kino's Facebook page, and saw that she had posted her very popular video on Yoganidrasana, which has had more than 2 million views to date. In case you haven't seen it, here it is:

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Before I begin this post, I should make a couple of disclaimers:

(1) I probably have no business writing this post, all things considered. I don't know that much about ninjas (although I can at least claim an active interest in them; this blog, for instance, is named after one of my favorite kungfu movies, Ninja in the Dragon's Den. Also, when I was a kid, I wanted to become a ninja when I grew up. Well, I'm sure you know how that turned out...). I also don't know if being a ninja would make you a better yogi, or vice versa. But there are times when I just can't resist the urge to write about stuff that I know shit about. This is one of them.    

(2) I have nothing against Sadie Nardini, either as a person, as a yoga teacher, or as a ninja(?). I have nothing against her as a person, because I don't know her personally. I also have nothing against her as a yoga teacher, because although I have never taken any classes or workshops with her, she seems to know what she's doing asana-wise; at least, that's the impression I get from having watched a couple of her videos, even if I really don't get the ninja connection in her yoga. But more on this later. And I don't really have anything against her as a ninja either, because, as I said, I really don't know enough about being a ninja to say whether she is one, let alone a good one. But I do think I know a few things about yoga; at any rate, I think I know enough to be able to be genuinely puzzled at the ninja connections that she claims in her yoga teaching. Again, more on this later.

Wow, that was a very long-winded couple of disclaimers. But I thought I'd put these out there, so that those of you out there who are fans of Sadie would (hopefully) refrain from leaving hateful comments or sending me hateful emails. Moreover, I of all people should know the pain of seeing one's own teacher trashed online. So I'll try to refrain from groundless trashing. No promises, but I'll try.

So what on earth is this post even about? You might be wondering. Well, it's probably best to start at the beginning. Yesterday, I read this very interesting post over at the Babarazzi about the supposed ninja credentials of Sadie Nardini... Well, as with anything of such a controversial nature, it's best to hear it straight from the proverbial horse's mouth. Here is Sadie addressing rumors about her ninja credentials:

After all, as you may know, the whole point of being a ninja is for the rest of the world not to know that you are a ninja. If they knew, then your freaking cover would be blown; which would totally defeat the purpose of being a ninja. That said, I'm actually pretty sure that Kino is not a ninja, even if I have no way of being absolutely certain about this.

Well... I'm actually pretty worn-out right now. All this ninja talk has given my brain quite a bit of a workout. Maybe I'll go see a movie or something. More later.   

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I just read Brian Penny's review on Huffington Post of Kino's latest book, The Power of Ashtanga Yoga. Since I have yet to read the book, I won't say anything here about the book itself. But here's an excerpt from Penny's review that very nicely sums up where Kino is coming from, and the spirit that informs her teaching and writing:

"Many yoga teachers seem to be afraid of imparting all of their knowledge. They hold back because they view their books, videos, etc. simply as marketing tools to get you into their classes. It's just merchandise, and you're just a consumer. This train of thought leads to these yogis holding back important information. Kino does the opposite, proving both her teaching ability and business savvy by explaining everything in as much detail as possible. Between her books and videos, she easily imparts more than 200 hours' worth of yogic wisdom for anyone willing to put in the effort. Instead of only giving you a sample in hopes that you'll come to her and give her your money like many other teachers, she gives every ounce of information she can fit into each situation she's teaching.

Because of her deep well of knowledge, The Power of Ashtanga Yoga works on its own as a teacher. In it, Kino manages to incorporate everything you ever wanted to know from a yogi. She seamlessly incorporates personal experiences, useful gems of wisdom, and detailed technical knowledge of the practice. Rather than bombarding you with an overload of technical information or droning on and on about generic information as most yoga books tend to do, Kino stops quite often to relate the information on a personal level. She manages this quite well because she doesn't hold back. Sometimes it feels like she knows the objections you have to a concept before even you do."

I guess I won't say too much more here; Penny's words pretty much speak for themselves. Maybe I'll get myself a copy of the book soon.  

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