First Batch: Mysore early Jan 2012

Sharath (Pattabhi Jois' grandson) really impressed me today.. he gave over an hour of discourse and every piece of it was true and beautiful.

here are some highlights, as i wanted to share with you all..

Sending love as always....

• the importance of having ONE teacher and only listening to him/her.  death of the student is when they have 2 teachers or 2 doctors
• the importance of keeping the lineage going and PURE...  don't change the way it is
• how the world is crazy; people want everything yesterday; no patience. YOGA takes a long time.. many years.. we must be paient in our quest to see God in all things and to yoke the individual self with the universal Self.
• many "styles" of yoga now that are not authentic and are making a big business out of yoga; hot yoga, naked yoga, yoga this, yoga that... people are getting lost within the commercialization of yoga and getting confused as to it's TRUE meaning as we modernize yoga and learn from many teachers which is not ideal.
• he said we can sail around in the ocean and get bored and lost.. it's only when we dive into the ocean of our practice and go deep that we will experience transformation
• he spoke about Vairagyam; the things we have to give up in order to achieve the fruits; he laughed and said the words Yogi's and Party have never gone together... "Yogi's" don't go to parties.  He said none of us are Yogi's; we're aspiring Yogi's... (I totally agree with this. It's a huge responsibility to call yourself a Yogi. 
• He talked about devotion, dedication, faith and discipline as the key ingredients.
• he talked a lot about Guruji and how special he was (of course i started to cry at this point...)  how he had the heart and the mind of a baby...
• He talked about how when he gets up at 1am to do his practice he feels Guruji's presence in the room and he practices like Guruji is there with him; watching him.. He spoke about how much he misses Guruji and the adjustments he would give him in backbending...
• he talked a lot about Yamas & Niyamas and the importance of them; that yoga is not about how many postures we can do or will do... it's about the HEART.  
• he said that maybe b/c we're all doing so many postures in this life next time we can come back and be Enlightened rather quickly like Buddha, Jesus,  and many other great leaders like Vivekananda, etc.. He spoke a lot about Jesus and how he feels Jesus was a true Yogi.
• He talked about correct breathing.. he said in Ashtanga yoga we are NOT BREATHING UJJAYI breath... rather, it is just slow, deep breathing with sound.  He said Ujjayi is a Pranayama; not to be mistaken with the kind of breath we breathe when doing this practice.
• He said when we breath correctly pain will not come 
• He talked about the Bhagavad Gita and how those 18 chapters are all about yoga
• he talked a lot about stilling the mind; bringing it under control so that it is still and not agitated or confused or weak.
• At the end he spoke about the Western way of life/society and how different it is from India. He said he feels sad for us b/c we lack the kind of structure and support that the Indian family has... he was saying that for us Westerners it's much harder b/c we're kind of put out on our own and have to figure everything out... he said that we are all very wise to have come to Yoga and to keep practicing.

And lastly, he told us not to feed the local stray dogs ;) 

I hope these notes are inspiring and brought a smile to your heart.

Below are some of the first pictures I took while driving into Mysore proper and then more as I got settled.