MorningMysore

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April 14-15, 2007
10:00AM - 5:00PM

The famous Yoga Sutras of Sage Patanjali contain, in concise and elegant fashion, a statement of the beginning, ending, and purpose of existence. Explore through chanting, discussion, and asana practice, the relevance of this Vision of Reality while living in 21st century Western society—a condition undoubtedly far removed from Patanjali’s experience. Embrace chanting the Sutras in the original Sanskrit; share in discussions inspired by the ideas within the Sutras; and actualize the Sutras’ purposeful messages in asana sessions. The asanas classes are grounded in the Iyengar style of practice.
Kofi Busia is one of the world’s foremost and best-known teachers in the Iyengar tradition. He began yoga as a student at Oxford University and, as an advanced-certified instructor, has taught yoga professionally worldwide for more than 35 years. Patricia Walden, Rodney Yee, Judith Lasater, John Friend, Ali McGraw, and Angela Davis are but a few of the recognizable names who have studied with him.

At our last yoga sutra discussion, we translated and studied the opening slocum or mantra for our Astanga practice.  We agreed we would like to look at the closing mantra also.  The following is our summary of the interpretation drawing from our own texts and from Richard Freemen’s website yogaworkshop.com.  We also received affirmation from our Sanskrit speaker that our pronunciation is generally very good but for purusakaram where we should lengthen the first and second “a” sounds.

Vande (I bow down) gurunam (multiple gurus) caranaravinde (with my hands/to the lotus feet).  I bow down to the lotus feet of the gurus.

 Sandarasita (to bring sight) svatma (pure soul) sukhavabodhe (happiness, awakened teaching).  The guru is bringing sight of true being and happiness.

 Nihsreyase (refuge) jangalikayamane (jungle doctor or shaman) samsara (conditioned existence) hala hala (poison or disturbance)  Moha (delusion) shantyai (peace)

Jungle doctor provides refuge and removes the poison of conditioned existence.

Abahu (good shoulders) purusakaram (human form)  Down to the shoulders assumes the form of a man.

Sankha (conch shell – divine sound) cakra (circle, wheel, duscus - time) asi (sword – discrimination) dharinam (wearing, holding)  Holding a conch, a discus and a  sword.

 Sahasra (thousands) sirasam (heads) svetam (white, radiant)  A thousand white heads.

 Pranamami (I prostrate) patanjalim (the sage Patanjalim – falling into open hands, falling prayer)  I prostrate myself to Patanjalim.

We meet on moon days when we do not have Mysore practice at the studio from  6:30 a.m. to 7:30 a.m.  We chant the sutras that we have studied so far, we are up to Sutra 12 of the first book, examine one or more of the sutras for it’s literal translation, pronunciation and our understanding and experience of the lesson.  We share based on various texts that we each may bring and our own experience.  Please feel  free to join us anytime.

Hi all,

The Sutra group will meet after the Friday morning led class this week (March 2): Led class 6:30-8:00am, Sutra Group 8:00-8:45am. Since the meeting will be shorter than usual we will discuss the closing mantra.

flickr link

Mojdeh asked me to post my thoughts on the concert last night, Persian music with Hamed Nikpay, Ananda Lahari, and our very own Drew Plant.

The music was wonderful and different, and I enjoyed it very much. There were several Persian instruments that Hamed and Ananda played, and it was fun to watch them play — their hands moving on the instruments, and their faces following each other. They had not practiced all together before, and it was exciting to watch them create the music right in front of us, weaving the music together so beautifully and expertly. The concert was sold out, with 100 people, including some YiY folks.

Many thanks to Mojdeh for organizing and bringing this to YiY.