Finding Parampara - keeping yoga authentic
In light of the recent passing of BKS Iyengar, I have found myself contemplating the ever dwindling access to the 'source' of yoga. With yoga becoming ever popular, and teacher training popping up everywhere – even being offered to kids – it is getting harder and harder to trace authentic parampara in yoga. To quote the Shri K Pattabhi Jois Ashtanga Yoga Institute: “Parampara is knowledge that is passed in succession from teacher to student. It is a Sanskrit word that denotes the principle of transmitting knowledge in its most valuable form; knowledge based on direct and practical experience. It is the basis of any lineage: the teacher and student form the links in the chain of instruction that has been passed down for thousands of years. In order for yoga instruction to be effective, true and complete, it should come from within parampara.”
Today, yoga is becoming more commercialised and is often seen as a service industry – studios are trying to pander to a keep-fit mentality, where the important aspects of yoga are being shaved off so it fits the cookie-cutter shape of a mass-produced, slick, fitness factory commodity, with a dash of trendy mindfulness thrown in.
Having experienced some of this shiny, yet somehow vanilla and very ineffective and incomplete yoga, I was extremely fortunate to be blessed with the opportunity to study with Eddie Modestini and Nicki Doane at their Maya Yoga studio in Maui.
Eddie began studying with BKS Iyengar in the early 80s and became a certified Iyengar teacher at a time when it was pretty hard for a westerner to do so.
Later, he and Nicki began making the trek to Mysore in India to learn Ashtanga from Shri K Pattabhi Jois. They were amongst the handful of early westerners making the trip to Mysore at a time when only about eight students at a time got to practise in the old yoga shala – and many of the great names that we recognise in yoga today were in that room together: the likes of Tim Miller, David Williams, David Swensen, Richard Freeman, John Scott, Chuck Miller, Maty Ezraty, Hamish Hendry and Eddie Stern.
(And when he was still travelling abroad, Pattabhi Jois even made the trip to bless their yoga studio in Maui.)
Eddie has been teaching for over 30 years, and Nicky for more than 20. Between them they have taught many of today’s most popular teachers, including Tias Little, Seane Corn, Matt Pesendian, Max Strom, Shiva Rea, Baron Baptiste and Duncan Wong.
Having made the journey through various ‘systems’ of yoga, they now teach what they call a non-system of yoga. It is just yoga. Direct knowledge passed to them from their teachers, applied to their combined 50-something years of practising yoga; and from their direct experiences they pass on to their students the tools of yoga. Unlike many other trainings where it is all about delivering a sequence or compiling the perfect playlist, Nicki and Eddie teach students to first integrate their learning into their own practice – you cannot teach well until you learn from your own daily visit to your mat. And above all, they stress the importance of teaching people, not poses. Anyone can memorise the list of verbal cues to get into a pose, but a good, or even great, teacher will make a pose safely accessible to each individual – the person who can’t touch their toes has a whole different set of requirements from the person who can; and the person who is hypermobile is probably at the greatest risk of all of them.
For anyone who teaches yoga or is training to be a teacher, I would highly recommend grabbing any opportunity you can to study with these wonderful, authentic and highly knowledgeable "teacher’s teachers". And if you can’t make it to Maui, Nicki is visiting Europe soon – she will be in Barcelona, Paris and London for workshops. Check the URLs below:
Barcelona: http://yogaroom-bcn.com/maya-yoga-with-nicki-doane-eddie-modestini/
Paris: http://www.rasa-yogarivegauche.com/en/event.php?event_id=260
London: http://www.triyoga.co.uk/book-courses-workshops?x=1&teacher=100000769
