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1. NEW ARTICLE: THE KINO KONVERSATION
Inevitably, three to four weeks into a Mysore yoga practice, a person discovers Kino Macgregor on YouTube. Consequently, we have the Kino Konversation. I have now, with practice, honed it to a reliable spiel, which you can read on the Portland Ashtanga Yoga blog. 2. MAY INTRO TO ASHTANGA YOGA INTENSIVE Short of coming to your house and spoon-feeding you Ashtanga Yoga, I have made starting a consistent yoga practice easier than ever with the May Intro to Ashtanga Yoga Intensive. It runs May 5-15. It is 2 weeks long, 3x/week --- Mon-Wed-Fri from 6:30-7:30a.m. It is the first 2 weeks of membership at Portland Ashtanga Yoga. Help friends, family, or co-workers take the first step toward building a daily, consistent yoga practice. They can read more about the Intensive, and they can sign up, here. 3. UPCOMING WORKSHOPS Did you know I teach workshops? I have a series of 'advanced' Yoga asana workshops beginning this Saturday at Yoga Pearl. The class will run 1:30-4. I called it "Yoga Burn" because I wanted to create a series of seminar-style classes during which we could really turn up the heat. The name "Yoga Burn" also reminds me of a mid-90's-era workout video, which brings me no end of joy. Perhaps the next one will be called "Yoga Insanity." Anyway, come this Saturday and kick out the jams. You can read more about it, and sign up, here: I am also doing other events, including an 'Adjustment Intensive.' Please visit the Events page of the site. 4. WANTED: SUMMER RENTAL FOR VISITING YOGI Seasonal Portland resident Gregg S. is set to return to Portland this summer. He's looking to rent a house, apartment, condo or mansion (please no teepees, wigwams or yurts). He's looking for a place mid-to-late June through late September (or all of September). If you know anyone or anyplace, please reply to Gregg. 5. CLASS PHOTOS Many of the more astute studio members have noticed that, on occasion during the last few weeks, Portland Ashtanga Yoga member Reza E. has turned up the lights and shot photos. Reza is a photojournalist, and has been shooting photos for submission to a news agency. If he planned to submit a photo of you, he would have contacted you to sign a release. If he has not done so, you needn't worry --- a picture of you will not run in Time above an article about yoga. (Although if it ran in Time magazine, no one would see it anyway.) I have used several photos in a new slideshow, now on the main page of the site.
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Kino Macgregor is an Ashtanga teacher based in Miami. She is currently one of the chief populizers of Ashtanga, and works hard to spread the practice of Ashtanga throughout the world. She runs a thriving YouTube channel, travels internationally teaching workshops, and has produced several DVDs of the Ashtanga sequences.
Inevitably, three to four weeks into a Mysore yoga practice, a person will discover Kino on YouTube. Consequently, we have the Kino Conversation, which I have now, with practice, honed to a reliable spiel. To sum up the spiel: 1. Kino has an exquisite asana practice. 2. YOUR practice may not, or will not, look like Kino's practice. 3. The fact that your practice does not resemble Kino's practice is not a problem. 4. You are not striving to have your practice look like Kino's. 5. Receive Kino's asana performances as you would a poem, a painting, or a fine bottle of bourbon: they are expressions meant for you to savor. Not imitate. It's unfortunate, but a side-effect of the 'propaganda' aspect of Ashtanga presentation is to reduce it to asana perfection. Best to think of her videos as offerings of beauty and inspiration, not modeling. Maybe you're thinking of taking your experience of Ashtanga yoga deeper by traveling to practice.
The current expression of the sequences we practice originated specifically in Mysore, a city in the Indian state of Karnatka. Pattabhi Jois taught there for 70 years, and since he passed in 2009, his daughter Saraswati and Sharath continue to teach daily for about 8 months of the year at the Ashtanga Yoga Institute. This means it is still possible for you to practice in the place where Ashtanga first flowered. Typically, people travel there to practice for 1 to 3 months. If the time and cost of a trip to India are not of interest to you, you can travel less far and stay less time to practice with one of several great teachers, many of whom have been practicing and teaching for 35 to 40 years. This is by no means an exhaustive list. I can recommend my teacher of many years, Tim Miller, who still teaches daily in Encinitas, California, and holds 1- and 2-week long "teacher trainings" that are great immersive experiences. I understand Richard Freeman's classes in Boulder are packed, while Nancy Gilgoff still teachers daily on Maui. You can find David Swenson and David Williams on the weekend workshop circuit. If you have questions about my personal experiences with other teachers, feel free to drop me a line — the list above is not exhaustive, and meant only to include 35-year-plus teachers! |
AuthorJason owns and directs Portland Ashtanga Yoga. Archives
February 2018
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