MahaMondo

Miami : YogArt 2012 & Miami Yoga Magazine

I will be " Miami Dreaming " next week as I am going to be in snowy Calgary & chilly Vancouver.

If you are headed to Maya-mi for Art Basel , check out YogArt 2012 at the Wynwood Walls.

Vish & The Mayapuris will take you for a swim in the Ocen of Bhakti.

And while you are in South Beach , pick up a copy of Kino MacGregor 's new Miami Yoga Magazine.

Kino always has great & inspiring positive teacher's insights into the total journey of the Ashtanga Vinyasa Yoga practice.

I am also intending to drop-in for AM Mysore at Vancouver's new yogashala , Babylon.

Parampara : Knowledge , Dharma & Surrender

As a traveling student , there is nothing like dropping-in at a traditional Ashtanga YogaShala & knowing that there will be a sense of sameness & continuity there ; wherever that " there " may be.

The image on the left is from the entryway of the AYRI Roma yogashala.

Being back in Los Angeles for the Thanksgiving break , I've been able to practice at my teacher's yogashala the past couple of days. During Led Class , I was on the receiving end of several " welcome back " adjustments , which initially reminded me that , yes , sitting in airplanes for etyended period of times is completely unnatural.

But most importantly , it also reminded me that my dharma as a student of the Ashtanga Vinyasa practice is to breathe through it & Surrender. Then everything makes sense & expansion happens.

From the KPJAYI website comes this new entry ( to me ) which distills parampara , the elements of knowledge , dharma & surrender intrinsic to it.

" Surrendering to parampara is like entering a river of teachings that has been flowing for thousands of years , a river that age-old masters have followed into an ocean of knowledge "

Hari Om Tat Sat !

Maya-mi : Just Be Thankful

Maya is illusion. Maya-mi , the land of illusion , where everything is seductive & sensual. Always happy to be back , to be able to walk on the beach & boardwalk after meetings & get to  practice at Miami Life Center's Mysore evening class.

Patrick is back from Mysore & is full of humor & good cheer. And I found street parking outside MLC prior to each class. South Beach karma.

Not so happy Saturday night as I had to fly to New York early Sunday morning & the party on the hotel roof deck is keeping me awake. Definitely not an illusion , hehe.

I am grateful this Thanksgiving that I received blessings from my Guru Maharaja on the occassion of his Vyasa Puja.

Happy that I had Thanksgiving lunch after artik at the LA Temple today with my teacher.

Led class tom.AM , Mysore class Sun. AM then the Tulasi & Salagrama Festival in the afternoon. Jaya !

First Winter : Sex, Drugs , Yoga & Organic Cooking

I was reading the NY Times in the car on the way to JFK last Friday & was intrigued by this review of the movie " First Winter ". "When winter begins, life is serene for a group of new-age Brooklynites living in a remote country farmhouse. Sex, drugs, yoga, and organic cooking absorb their days, safely tucked away from the stresses of urban life. But when a blackout of apocalyptic proportions strands them with no heat and no electricity during the coldest winter on record, their utopian commune is breached by anxiety and their idyllic harmony begins to lose its tune. As time wears on and the food supply dwindles, power struggles, jealousy, and desire threaten the group's ability to work together in order to survive. In this extraordinary debut feature, filmmaker Benjamin Dickinson explores the fundamental instincts of human nature that arise when perseverance and beliefs are not only tested, but taken to their limits. Nuanced, authentic performances escalate with heightened emotion, while ethereal landscapes intimate that the poetic world of First Winter exists in an undefined time and space, perhaps not so far apart from our own." --Genna Terranova, Tribeca Film Festival

AYRI : Roma

Grazie mille a Rosanna , Maria Paola & Sergio ( all primary students /teachers of Lino Miele ) for all the help , advise & adjustments while I was dropping in for the afternoon Mysore classes at AYRI Roma.

It is always a bit akward initially to be the     " lo straniero " or stranger in a shala. Usually , I can use my teacher , Jorgen C. , as a point of reference in a US or Canadian shala.

AYRI Roma has a very tight community of advanced & newbie Astangis , & I'd like to give them credit for being very Italian in their warmth & accomodation. Troppo gentile.

The teachers made an effort to communicate in English with me & were quite hands on , albeit I was just passing through.

The shala is located at Via Annia 54 , in the historic Celio district of Rome. It was an extremely mind blowing experience to emerge from the Metro stop & to be confronted by " Il Coloseo " , the Colosseum. Very convenient for me to take the Metro A at Piazzale Flaminio , by the hotel I was staying in.

I am not a fan of the Baroque era churches in Rome. One visit I did make time for before my last Mysore class was to the amazing Basilica San Clemente , several blocks away from the shala on Via Labicana.

I am heading out to Miami this coming weekend with the intention of practicing at MLC ; then onwards to NYC & hopefully a drop-in at AYNY the week after. Ci vediamo !

 

May The Longtime Sun : Happy Trails

Santa Monica has been home for me for over a decade now. The image on the left is of Palisades Park looking out towards Malibu.

I'm a 21st CE nomad. Ever since I was put on a plane alone & travelled by myself at the age of 7 , I knew I was destined to never be able to sit still , to commit to anything for an extended period of time.

So its ironic that I have manged to be based in SaMo for all this time ; the city which turned me on to yoga. Perhaps knowing that LAX is just down the road & having the ability to travel every other week for work has kept me here.

I will be going on hiatus for a while. Will be flying out to Dallas & Houston next week , then heading to Italy the following 2 weeks ( I am intending to drop-in at AYRI Roma ) , Chicago end of Oct. & then onwards to Maya-Mi 1st week Nov. ( evening Mysore at MLC South Beach , yes ! ).

" May the longtime sun shine upon you , all love surround you , and the pure light within you , guide your way on. " Sat Nam. Haribol. Jaya !

Travesia de Una Yogini : For Lila Padma DD

Via AshtangaYogaMexico is this recent vdo " en Espanol " documenting their stay in Mysore. This post is for Lila Padma Devi Dasi , who is manifesting our conversation from several months back of devoting more time to " Temples & Yoga " in the upcoming months ; specifically with visits to KPJAYI in Mysore & the ISKCON dhams in Vrindavan. Thank you for all the bhakti , association & adjusts. See you soon. Haribol & jaya !

Yoga Is : A Transformational Journey

Thank you Janeal Bernhart for the email regarding the upcoming release on Sept. 15th of filmmaker Suzanna Bryant's DVD : " Yoga Is : A Transformational Journey ".

The primary reason why I started blogging several years back was to document & communicate the transformative aspects the spiritual & physical practice of Yoga ( both bhakti & ashtanga vinyasa ) has had on my current incarnation.

Suzanna Bryant's journey towards a deeper practice of yoga started with a crisis & led her to India where she studied various disciplines of yoga & met with respected gurus.

Christy Turlington - Burns & Russell Simmons , who have also released their inspiring books on their respective yogic journeys , also make appearances in this film.

You can visit the Magnolia Pictures website or Amazon for more information regarding the DVD's release or to purchase an advance copy.

Sh*t Ashtanga Yogis Say : Kiki Flynn

This one is really funny. You've probably been a fly on the wall before Led Class or on the way out of a yogashala to catch ( & hear ) these gems of " Chatterranga ". That's what happens when you think ( & talk ) too much & over analyze what is supposed to transform you via "99 % Practice , 1 % Theory" , hehe.

Jois Yoga Channel : Greenwich 1st Week

JYS now has an official channel on YouTube.The quality of the videos are great. Check out this one showing the 1st week of the Greenwich yogashala earlier this year. I had a chance to stop by one morning then prior to my meetings in Greenwich & New Canaan.As Sharath says , " Yoga is transformation. "