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Dear Bangkok Yogi!

Hope you are well.

Here is the December 2010 Ashtanga Jiva newsletter.

Moon Days

This month, December, the new moon day is tomorrow, Monday the 5th, and the full moon day on Tuesday the 21st.

December Dates for your Diary

Monday the 5th New Moon Day and class is 9am - 12 midday

Friday the 10th Class is 9am – 12 midday. Jamie to teach

Sunday the 12th Jamie to teach the Mysore class

Tuesday the 14th Lukes last Mysore class before his annual US trip

Saturday the 18th Matt Sweeney “Jumping Through and Jumping Back” workshop, see www.ashtangajiva.com/Site/Mattworkshop.html for details.

Tuesday the 21st Full Moon Day

Thursday 30th Last practice at Amarin before the studio closes. It reopens on Tuesday the 4th of January (which is a New Moon Day).

From the archives - Christmas and New Year 2002 / 2003 I was traveling in India for the first time. I took a two week break from Ashtanga practice and tried something different...

Stay Up Forever

Om Namo Sivaye,

Picture this - exhilarated young men in Mini-buses adorned with pictures of their Hindu idols and garlands of flowers chase around Southern India at insane speeds at all hours. I wondered at their behavior, probably because we Western young men have a tendency to chase other things.

Led by Swami G (Govinda Devananda), current director of the Sivananda Yoga Vedanta Dhanwantari Ashram, Neyyar Dam, Kerala, Southern India, around ten of us join the faithful at four thirty in the morning to bathe in the sacred waters of Kanyakamari. This is India's Land's End at the Southern tip, and the place where the three oceans, Indian, Arabian, and Bengal, meet in a crashing chaos of waves seeming to come from every direction. The water is not so warm at this time in the morning, and the dip is brief.

Then it's back on the bus to the Vivekananda Ashram, a huge setup where the emphasis seems to be on simple housing and feeding of as many folk as possible, rather than spiritual training. After four hours of sleep at the ashram, the refreshing water was just the antidote for sleepiness.

Next it's sunrise on the beach, joined by the other ten or so who didn't make the four o'clock wake up call. Then it's once again on the bus, heading for a hike up Marutwa Malai holy mountain. It's around a four hour round trip up and down, during which we meet holy men who stay in the various caves and hollows of the mountain, perhaps finding enlightenment for themselves. One old man had spent eighteen years living on the mountain! The views from the top are spectacular, and an old man permanently stationed there at the peak, offers us burnt cow dung ash and sandalwood paste to daub our foreheads with. He also offers us each a handful of a slimy and stinky unpasteurized dairy product, which tastes absolutely awful! When he turns his back I fling the remainder of mine down the mountain, out of sight.

It is back to the Vivekananda Ashram’s huge canteen for lunch at midday. Then we are joining the bus-loads again, heading for the Sucheendram Temple – a vast complex of corridors, halls and vault-like shrines, where usually only Hindu's are allowed. People have been worshipping here for at least 1,500 years and some of the idols are said to be so old they are from another yuga (age). As is the custom, we men are bare-chested, though not the women - who are dressed in their multi-layered sari finery.

Because of the esteem attached to Swami G, regardless of our non-Hindu status, we are hurriedly squeezed into one of the shrines. This is a puja - what a scene! It's already packed with sweaty people who emanate hysterical anticipation. Lit with dozens of oil lamps,

It's boiling hot, and the air is thick with incense and oil. A beautiful female voice endlessly intones, Om-Namo-Sivaye (I bow to you), bells ring, drums beat a wild rhythm and a horn blasts a tune I cannot follow. To these ears all the sounds begin to merge and intone an Om sound (honestly!). Suddenly the doors of the shrine are flung open and it's craziness! Shouting, hands grabbing, everyone wants to see the idol, and cup with their hands the smoke from the oil lamp that has encircled it. The sense of daily worship going back to antiquity is tangible, the vibe is catching, and I too want a piece of the action!

Later, on the bus again, forehead, neck and torso smeared with ash, paste and God knows what else from several of these pujas, we are no longer fatigued from the rigors of the day, but emphatically thrilled and exhilarated. After a twenty-two hour day, I finally get to bed at around two in the morning with the idea that I now have some understanding of what the young Indian guys get out of their excursions.

The trip was the culmination of the, Yoga, Ayurveda and Cultural Program, given by the Sivananda Ashram. It was an incredibly rich experience. The program included classical Indian music concerts, dance and other performance, martial arts and extraordinary talks on healing, symbolism, ayurveda, sanskrit, philosophy etc. Indians famously claim that thousands of years ago they were the first to discover medicine, the sciences, philosophy, psychology, astrology, mathematics, architecture, modern language etc. But did you know that they also discovered at that time, psychedelic rock music? It's true! One of the concerts at the ashram featured a virtuoso player of the veena. This wondrous instrument when amplified sounds for all intents and purposes like an electric guitar. The player was a cool and elegant, immensely tall, Alan Ginsberg look-alike, resplendent in long kaftan and almost equally long beard.

The Sivananda philosophy promotes proper healthy living, the wisdom of yoga condensed into 5 principles for physical, mental and spiritual well-being, as follows:

1. Proper Exercise (Yoga Asana)

2. Proper Breathing (Pranayama)

3. Proper Relaxation (Savasana)

4. Proper Diet (Vegetarian)

5. Positive Thinking & Meditation (Vedanta & Dhyana)

http://www.sivananda.org/teachings/fivepoints.html

The daily program also included; four hours of asanas (I can finally do a respectable and relaxed head stand, seemingly indefinitely), energizing and cleansing Pranayama breathing exercises, karma yoga sessions, perfect food, morning and evening meditation and morning and evening chanting and singing - yes lots of Om-ing, and happy-clappy business - I don't care what you think, it makes you feel good!

Quote of the Month

Awakening begins when a man realizes that he is going nowhere and does not know where to go.