Sit down with a cuppa as this is a long one. It’s taken me 6 months to complete my Ashtanga theory, but it has been 6 years in the making. It’s a painfully slow process being self-taught, and my discipline has wavered many many times, but I keep coming back to it. I only teach what I know, and this means a lot of the primary series is unavailable to my practise and therefore what i can teach, I like to pick and choose what suits me best and then do the same for my Ashtangis. I am passionate about teaching safe Ashtanga, which is suitable for modern bodies. Tradition asks you to get on your mat 6 times a week unless it’s a moon day (rest day) but most people I teach are too busy to do so and that one hour they spend with me at the village hall is their only time they have to themselves. You can’t expect someone to be learning advanced yoga with just one practise a week and generally people don’t want or need the advanced stuff, and if they do then I will help them find an Ashtanga teacher who can provide that for them. Ashtanga asks for discipline, dedication, and commitment, and if that means you can only roll out your mat once a week, I will be there every Monday evening to help you to the best of my ability.
As for my own Ashtanga journey? I’ll keep putting the slow steady work in as then when I learn something new, I can pass it onto my ashtangis, knowing I’ve grafted for it on my own terms and in my own time. This is my path, and I’ll carve it on my own even if it is painfully slow.
Random fact: My dad was the first to introduce me to yoga, he gave me a book of yoga when i was a teenager that he used to use in the 70s, it was a TV 📺 program and you could send off for the book to practise at home, the book is falling apart but it’s still just as relevant today, thanks dad!
Older Blogs 2022-08-04
