Cahn, who was a dedicated Ashtanga student for four years and who wrote faithfully about her experiences in the Ashtanga room on her blog Yoga Chickie, has since renounced the practice and has chosen to share her reasons for doing so in this HuffPost piece.  Here’s an excerpt:

I practiced Ashtanga faithfully from 2005 until this year (even taught it for a period of time), when for reasons that I cannot even yet articulate, I found myself growing inexplicably repelled by it. I like to say “I threw myself out of the cult.”

Cahn’s criticism of the Ashtanga system includes the many narrow “rules” inherent in the tradition, the “cranking” that students are supposedly encouraged to impose on their bodies, and her observation that “Ashtangis often talk of pain like it’s a good thing”.

After reading this piece, we must say that we are hugely thankful that our own Santa Barbara-based Ashtanga scene headed up by Steve Dwelley and Michele Nichols hardly resembles the strict, close-minded, competitive, gossipy practice that Cahn describes in her article.  Cahn’s own Ashtanga room in her home state might well have been more regimented and linear than the relatively relaxed one we know in SB.  But our personal observations over the years have led us to conclude that to a large extent, the practice of Ashtanga often becomes what the practitioner decides to make of it.  People whose personalities are generally open and accepting often approach the practice with this attitude, while people who tend to be somewhat uptight and competitive will certainly bring these elements into their relationship to the practice.

In our humble opinion, as much as we appreciate honest dialog about the yoga world, we must conclude that this HuffPost piece is at best controversial and at worst unnecessarily harsh. What do you think?  Check out the article here!

[The Huffington Post]

This past Sunday evening, Santa Barbara yoga instructors Steve Dwelley and Michele Nichols hosted a gathering to honor the life of their teacher, Ashtanga founder Sri K. Pattabhi Jois (or “Guruji“, as he was more affectionately known). The event took place at Santa Barbara Yoga Center, the yoga studio in which Steve and Michele hold their Mysore-style Ashtanga program. This specific evening was chosen because it fell very close to the full moon in July, which would have been Guruji’s 94th birthday (and which happens to be today, July 7! Happy Birthday, Guruji!! )

The evening started off with a daunting practice of 108 non-stop sun salutations – wow! (At least they were A-series and not B-series sun salutes, right? Heh heh.) 108 is a sacred number in India, and practicing this specific number of sun salutations as a group was considered to be a prayer or offering to Pattabhi Jois. Here is a quick picture that we took of this practice:

Steve & Michele are the 2nd and 4th people in the first row; the rest of the group are their students.

After the conclusion of the sun salutations, everyone enjoyed a nourishing vegetarian potluck complemented by delicious chai tea. When the meal was finished, the group gathered in a large circle and shared fond memories of Guruji. Did you know, for example, that Guruji held a workshop at White Lotus Foundation in Santa Barbara in 1987, back when most people had hardly heard of the practice of “yoga”, let alone “Ashtanga Yoga”?

Throughout this sharing of thoughts and recollections, a fun rotating slideshow was projected onto the curved wall which featured iconic photos of Guruji and scenes from his hometown of Mysore, India. Here are a few photos we took of the slideshow itself (we were off at an angle, so we didn’t have a straight-on view of the images, but you can still get the idea of the cool ambiance that was created in the room):

This is a fairly recent photo of Guruji.

This classic image taken from Guruji’s book Yoga Mala shows him in the crazy-lookin’ pose garba pindasana.

This is the iconic sign which hung in front of Guruji’s Ashtanga Yoga Research Institute in Mysore for years.

After the sharing of memories accompanied by revolving photos, Steve and Michele screened the excellent Ashtanga documentary Ashtanga, NY. Featuring engaging interviews with Guruji, his family, and several long-time Ashtanga students, this great movie always inspires some extra Ashtanga motivation in its viewers!

And here is the last photo from the evening we’d like to leave you with! There were several adorable youngsters in attendance at this gathering, and for some strange reason they seemed more interested in running around and playing with each other all evening than in sitting in thoughtful reflection of the life contributions of Pattabhi Jois. Apparently they found a way to have some fun with the Iyengar yoga ropes in the studio next door – check it out!

Photo by Robyn McClaine.

For those of you who aren’t familiar with the term, uddiyana bandha is an exercise in which yoga practitioners actively draw in their lower abdomens.  The practice is commonly taught in many yoga classes throughout the country.  In fact, in some styles of yoga (specifically Ashtanga), yogis are instructed to hold uddiyana bandha throughout their entire yoga practices – from the opening sun salutations to the ending backbends and inversions.  (As a side note, uninterruptedly engaging uddiyana bandha for the entire duration of a yoga class is quite a tall order, and most yogis (ourselves included!) unconsciously disconnect from this hold multiple times during each practice. But those rare yogis who manage to indefinitely hold a strong uddiyana bandha exhibit the remarkable quality of literally “floating” through their yoga practices.  It’s crazy but true, guys!)

Aside from this “floating” or “lightness” quality that our bodies experience when we engage our cores, uddiyana bandha is also taught because it’s believed to protect the back during potentially intense yoga poses.  The idea is that strengthening the abdomen helps to stabilize the back and therefore avoid back strain.

But is uddiyana bandha really the best tool for a healthy back?  A recent New York Times article begs to differ.  According to the article, which is entitled “Is Your Ab Workout Hurting Your Back?”, strong core muscles do not necessarily correlate with healthy backs:

…there’s growing dissent among sports scientists about whether all of this attention to the deep abdominal muscles actually gives you a more powerful core and a stronger back and whether it’s even safe.

Whether it’s even safe? If core strengthening and uddiyana bandha turn out to be unsafe, many a yoga studio will need to significantly re-arrange its class schedule.  (Good-bye “Yoga for Core Strength” classes; hello “Yoga for Weak Bellies”??)

If your core is stable, your spine remains upright while your body swivels around it. But, McGill says, the muscles forming the core must be balanced to allow the spine to bear large loads. If you concentrate on strengthening only one set of muscles within the core, you can destabilize your spine by pulling it out of alignment.

The key word mentioned here is “balance”.  The article seems to be telling us that core exercises are important for the health of the back, but that our definition of the word “core” is too limited.  Because we have focused solely on the deep abdomen muscles when teaching core strength, we have neglected other important areas within our cores, like the specific muscles which surround and support the spine.  This has resulted in unbalanced muscle development, and therefore potentially compromised spine safety.

To answer the question with which we titled this post, yes, yogis do need to re-think uddiyana bandha.  While the practice is a helpful one, it’s not a complete path to back health.  For a genuinely happy, supported back, we’ll need to incorporate other key poses into our practices, and the article makes a few helpful suggestions:

Instead, he suggests, a core exercise program should emphasize all of the major muscles that girdle the spine, including but not concentrating on the abs. Side plank (lie on your side and raise your upper body) and the “bird dog” (in which, from all fours, you raise an alternate arm and leg) exercise the important muscles embedded along the back and sides of the core.

Both of these examples sound like wise poses to serve the back-strengthening purpose, but we’re going to have to re-name that second one, because we somehow can’t see ourselves practicing “bird dog asana” without laughing!

[New York Times]

1) From the New York Times: “The Self-Employed Depression” by Emily Bazelon.  This insightful piece highlights the unique struggles of the urban-based self-employed during the current economic crisis.  The main star of the article is a New York yoga instructor named Lisa Feuer.  Her life situation is chronicled in great detail, and we’re sure that many of our blog readers can relate to her sobering experiences.

2) As if doga weren’t enough for you… We’ve mentioned a few times the media’s recent coverage of the doga “phenomenon” (yoga classes for humans and their canine pets), but apparently the newest trend of all is to run news stories on coga?!?  (Just kidding – we made that word up.  But we’re not just kidding that CNN ran an article earlier this month about yoga with cats.)

3) We covered the creepy, unsettling, alleged cult-like organization Dahn Yoga a few weeks ago.  This group (whose use of the word ‘yoga’ in its name is entirely questionable) is making headlines because 26 of its former members have banded together to file a lawsuit against it.  Since our initial report earlier this month, we’ve seen the Dahn Yoga controversy covered by two more news outlets: Chicago CBS and WBZ out of Boston.  We are ultra curious to see what becomes of this whole crazy dispute.  Our prediction is that things are not looking so good for Dahn Yoga…

4) The benefits and budgeting of yoga in elementary schools was the subject of this article in the New York new outlet LoHud.

5) The Washington Post covered a decision by PBS to ban future religious programming.  The gist: no new church services or religious lectures may be broadcast on any PBS stations.  This move seems to be an attempt by PBS to more fully embody the notion of “nonsectarian” programming.

6) On June 14th, a major Sri K. Pattabhi Jois memorial was hosted by big-name yogis Donna Karan and Eddie Stern in New York City.  Over 400 people were in attendance, and a short documentary about Jois’ life was screened.  For a nice recap of the flow of the evening and some great photos, visit the Yoga Nation blog.

Don’t you feel extra-informed after reading up on these interesting news items you might have missed?

Related:  Sri K. Pattabhi Jois, the Beloved Guruji of Ashtanga Yoga, Has Died, Images from Sri K. Pattabhi Jois’ Memorial in Mysore

It’s technically an obituary, but this great Economist article is more like an entertaining profile piece with witty observations on the yoga world peppered throughout.  Take, for example, this this well-written opening segment (we had to quote the whole thing because we just like it so much. ):

ONE sure sign that yoga has entered the mainstream of Western society, or at least the urbane bits of it, is that its practitioners have splintered into separate and sometimes competitive tribes. In spas, resorts and studios from Byron Bay, Australia to Big Sur, California, and wherever else one might expect Priuses on the roads and organic kale on the tables, the question is less likely to be “Do you do yoga?” than simply “Ashtanga or Iyengar?”

If the answer is Ashtanga, that has everything to do with Pattabhi Jois—“Guruji”, as his disciples called him. The word Ashtanga, “eight limbs”, originally meant the eight stages yogis must traverse to reach enlightenment, only one of which,asana or “postures”, is the sort of thing Westerners associate with yoga. But used in Mr Jois’s way, which is how most Westerners understand it now, Ashtanga meant stretching, balancing and swinging to the relentless rhythm set by a little, smiling, potbellied man in an undershirt and Calvin Klein shorts, crying “Ekam, inhale! dve, exhale! trini, inhale! catavari, exhale!”, until every member of the class was breathing like Darth Vader and running with rivers of sweat.

The last paragraph of the article also boldly points out some of the controversial contradictions that Jois embodied and which we haven’t seen mentioned in other obituaries.  You can read the entire Economist article here.

And while we’re on the topic of Pattabhi Jois, we couldn’t help but point out a completely bizarre article that we came across from the Star of Mysore newspaper in Mysore, India, entitled “Nude Massage to Foreign Lady at Nature Center, Owner Behind Bars“.  Apparently a Western male/female couple who were in Mysore for Pattabhi Jois’ memorial reported a local massage practitioner to the police because he allegedly asked the female to undress entirely for her massage.  The masseur is now facing sexual harassment charges.  We are just dying to know who this Western couple was!  Check out the article here.

[The Economist]
[Star of Mysore]

Related Posts:
We’re Thinking of Pattabhi Jois Today
Sri K. Pattabhi Jois, the Beloved Guruji of Ashtanga Yoga, Has Died

Today is the official memorial ceremony for Guruji (the affectionate name for Ashtanga Yoga founder Sri K. Pattabhi Jois) in his hometown of Mysore, India. We are thinking of him, his family, and all of his devoted students who travelled all the way to India on short notice in order to honor him today.

As a side note:  Many of you have probably already seen this, but the LA Times published a thoughtful and accurate obituary for Guruji since the last time we reported on the news of his passing.  You might want to take a look at it if you haven’t already checked it out.