A great teacher sees his or her students as they truly are. This week, at the age of 94, the great Astanga teacher, Sri K. Pattabhi Jois died following a brief illness. His children report that he taught yoga in his shala up until last week. Jois was one of the great yoga figures of our time and was hugely influential in bringing Astanga, Power and Vinyasa Yoga to the West. He was a skillful, lively and passionate teacher who had the keen ability to see all of his students and teach them exactly what they needed to know in that moment. He met his students at their own level and inspired them to grow strong and steady in both body and mind. Jois stated over and over that a spiritual practice is just that. “99% practice and 1% theory.” Anything else will not serve the yogi.
I had the good fortune of taking a week of early morning Astanga yoga classes with Pattabhi Jois in New York City days following 9/11. For one full week, a few of us local dedicated yogis carpooled into the city. We left at four in the morning and got back into Hartford by lunchtime. I took this amazing yoga class with over two hundred others in the Puck Building. With our yoga mats in toe, we had to pass very close to Ground Zero to get to class. Yellow police tape was everywhere and the gray ash of the devastated Twin Towers floated in the air.
Pattabhi Jois was an unforgettable teacher. His presence was God like. He commanded the classroom like a king. In a room where hundreds of yoga mats were only inches apart, the intuitive and alive teachings of Pattabhi Jois inspired us to laugh, cry, and physically tremble. He opened up my spirit for a strong body and he also opened up my trust in our world to heal.
As a yoga student and yoga teacher, I was starstruck and fell into a hardcore daughter/father crush with Mr. Jois. As I practiced yoga before him, I prayed that I would do everything right so that I would not receive his disapproval. When he asked us to pop up into headstand without the use of a wall, I did. Before that moment, I had always used the crutch of the wall and did not believe I would ever be able to do a headstand without one. Going into headstand on my own for the first time without support is a yoga moment that will live in the memory of my body forever. I can still feel the butterflies.
After aweek of yoga with Mr. Jois as my teacher, my spirit was on fire. I was scheduled to open my very own yoga studio in Manchester the next day. I emerged from that life altering week full of gratitude and deep in my heart I knew that the whole world was one family. Some good meaning people questioned whether I should open my yoga studio so soon after 9/11. That maybe I should hold off on celebrating a new business when the world was still crying. After experiencing all of the love and kindness in New York City immediately following 9/11, I intuitively knew that opening a yoga studio in the aftermath was more necessary than ever.
The late Pattabhi Jois was a great teacher. A great teacher sees his or her students as they truly are. Following 9/11, Mr Jois saw us all as we were in that moment. Strong, resillient, capable of healing and full of lcompassion and love. His passing reminds me to silently acknowledge the many teachers (yogic and non-yogic) that have shaped my life. The teachers who saw you as you were and believed in your abilities and capacities even when you were unsure. A great teacher sparks your soul and brings that yearning for truth and spirit alive.
Since that fateful week in 2001, teaching yoga, fostering growth, compassion and awakening in others has become my life mission. No matter what age, color, culture, socioeconomic status or position in life, we all need to breathe and learn how to take care of our bodies, ease our minds and connect to the divinity that lives within each of us. Pattabhi Jois said, “Yoga cannot be owned. Yoga belongs to everybody.” I couldn't agree more. This yoga is for everyone.
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5 comments:
Thanks for sharing this story Anne. How fortunate you were to experience his grace, wisdom and guidance! It is clear that many of the lessons you took away from that week stuck as I seem them in the way you teach. One of the reasons I love your classes is your ability to connect individually with everyone in the room. We all feel like you are teaching just for us, it's a gift.
I look forward to hearing more about what you gained from him and your other teachers. Peace.
One thing I don't agree with is the use of judgment in yoga. Like "right" or "wrong". When we are being judged throughout our lives, many people come to yoga for nurturing, and I don't feel judgment has a place there. Guidance to a better way to do something, guidance to not hurt yourself, yes, but not a "right/wrong" or feeling your instructor is going to feel bad about you if you do something "wrong".
Anne, wonderful and inspiring tribute to Pattabhi Jois. He lives on in you!
That's so uplifting. Thank you for sharing. It sounds like he was quite an instructor!
"No matter what age, color, culture, socioeconomic status or position in life, we all need to breathe and learn how to take care of our bodies, ease our minds and connect to the divinity that lives within each of us." This quote has touched me deeply ... and I have passed it on to others. Thank you!
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