So Sore in Mysore — What’s Ashtanga Yoga?
Before coming to India, I set a goal for deepening my yoga practice (after all, this is the part of the world where yoga started). The challenge was to find a program that isn’t a YTT (yoga teacher training), which seems to assume you want to be a teacher, and thus comes with a high cost.
Traveling through South India, I heard of Mysore as being a great place to study, especially since its renown for Ashtanga Yoga. What is Ashtanga Yoga though? I read online how Mysore-style Ashtanga Yoga is self-led, where a student goes through the sequence at a self-set pace. So a class full of students might be doing different asanas in the same moment (asana=yoga pose). The job of the teacher here is to assist students as needed. This is different than typical yoga classes where the teacher sets the pace and all students in the class are synchronized.
Since I didn’t know the Ashtanga Yoga sequence, I was told I could find a class where it would be led by a teacher. I also had been told that there was an entire Facebook community about yoga in Mysore that has 12k+ people. I joined the group and posted questions like:
1) Which school/teacher should I learn from?
2) Where should I stay for the several weeks I would be staying there?
I got a wide variety of answers, with people listing their favorite teachers. Some advised learning from the source, K.P. Jois, and I heard other names like Sukesh Raj, Jai Prakash, Vijay Gopala, etc. I felt overwhelmed. Since it would be low-season in May, some of the teachers would either be abroad or on break, so I planned that I would arrive in Mysore and explore the various yoga shalas (schools) in-person, and then decide where to stay after.
I ended up staying at Mystic Yoga School (now being re-branded to Nirvana Yoga Shala). It was the only shala around that had four classes daily, with led-Ashtanga classes. It also has rooms which is convenient.
The Routine
I started my practice with three daily classes:
- Ashtanga yoga at 7:45am
- Hatha yoga at 4pm
- Backbending class at 5:30pm
The first two weeks I was there, all the classes were taught by Srinath. On the first day alone, I saw Srinath demonstrate deeper asanas than I’ve ever seen back home in California in my yoga classes. This made sense after I learned that Srinath has been practicing since he was 12, and has won many medals in life at yoga championships (not sure what those are like!). Seeing these more advanced postures reinforced why I wanted to learn yoga in India.
During the first week I found Ashtanga classes to be difficult, as each class involved doing what felt like a hundred chaturangas (see below). It felt tedious needing to do a chaturanga after each asana, especially with my sore triceps. However after the first week, this became less of an issue as my body adjusted.
After my first few classes, I grasped the concept that Ashtanga yoga is a strict sequence of poses that the student practices. You do the same exact sequence, every time. Some may find this boring, others may enjoy the structure. After three weeks, I ended up liking it, but I’m not sure I would dedicate myself to the Ashtanga practice just yet. I feel that one benefit is that once you learn the sequence, you can focus more on perfecting each asana pose, and see yourself develop in your practice, which is encouraging.
Below is the guide for the asanas for the entire practice, which I found from astangayoga.info. You’ll get an idea of the whole sequence glancing through the images below.
It would have been super-helpful if the yoga school had a poster of this somewhere, or given us these sheets to memorize, rather than me thinking of googling this information myself during my 2nd week.
One thing I enjoy about learning the practice in India is that the teachers are hands-on and adjust you without asking. Back home in California, teacher’s first ask for permission to touch you, which is some form of a formality/boundary. Here in India, the teachers come and adjust you as needed when you’re trying to get in certain poses, and the result is that you develop deeper into your practice with this assistance. Sometimes I was worried that I was being pushed too far, but at other times I was like, “oh wow, I can wrap my arm around my knee and grab my other hand around my back!” You have to trust your teacher, and this forms a more intimate bond compared to the Western-style.
About Gokulum
Gokulum is the name of the main area where many of the yoga shalas are located (there’s also Lakshmipuram, but I didn’t venture there). Gokulum feels like a typical Indian town despite having numerous Westerners who come here to study. I really enjoyed the vibe of Gokulum, as there wasn’t any traffic, I could walk everywhere and find everything I needed in 10 minutes, and the locals don’t push foreigners to buy things like elsewhere in India.
The weather is also something to point out. While the rest of India is burning hot in May, Mysore is moderately hot (it felt like 75–85° F most days). I didn’t bother using the A/C in my room, which I would never do in other parts of India.
Eating out was cheap! I could get a South-Indian lunch thali for 50 rupees ($0.77). I went to Ganesha juicery everyday and had fresh mango juice for 30 rupees ($0.50, see picture below). There’s enough of a local population that lives here so that it doesn’t end up feeling like a tourist spot (along with the tourist marked-up prices!).
There is one restaurant on Gokulum called Tina’s Cafe. Aside from good North Indian cuisine, and the Tibetan flags the sway in the wind with Tibetan music playing in the background, there is a daily celebrity that arrives around lunch time: a crow. The same crow arrives, and hops around the restaurant. The crow is such a regular, that there’s even a painting of him on the wall. The owner feeds the crow every day, outside the restaurant. But sometimes the crow is naughty and will eat off of people’s plates after they’ve left.
The People
I made great friends while in Mysore, and a lot of time was spent socializing with them between and after classes. There’s an easy connection to everyone you meet, since you automatically have a similar interest in choosing to be here in Mysore. And since everyone here stays longer term (weeks to months), there’s time for relationships to develop unlike when you are backpacking and moving around every few days.
I made friends here from the U.S. (Florida, Delaware), UK, Spain, Japan, Netherlands, and yes, also Indians. Some came for Ashtanga yoga, some came for Hatha yoga, others for pranayama, music, or dance.
On Sundays we would all have the day off from practice, so we would either go to the local pool at Silent Shores and hang out, explore Mysore Palace, or other shenanigans.
The Awkward Incident — Can I Touch Your…?
One morning I was walking to Khushi’s Cafe to meet up with the gang for breakfast. Along the way, a 15-year old boy dressed in a religious outfit started following me. He looked like he was part of the temple opening celebration. He asked me my name. I assumed this was the usual interest with foreigners that would just be a quick interaction.
Boy: What’s your name?
Me: Ankur
Boy: Your beard is looking sexy.
Strange wording, but I told him thanks and genuinely accepted the compliment. As we kept walking, I wasn’t sure if he was going to say more or not. He then asked a lot more questions.
Boy: How old are you?
Me: 34.
Boy: Are you married?
Me: No…
Boy: Why not?
Me: (pausing) uh, because I haven’t found the one yet?
Boy: Do you like girls?
For a second, I thought he was questioning if I am gay because I’m 34 and single.
Me: Yes, I like girls.
Boy: Do you know John*?
Me: No
Boy: John let me touch his penis
Whoa! I was then concerned, wondering if John sexually harassed him.
* John isn’t the real name, changed for safety reasons since being gay is illegal in India.
Me: Did you want to touch John’s penis?
Boy: Yes.
Oh. I was still processing this, and then the boy then started staring at my crouch. Creepy!
Boy: Can I touch your penis?
Me: (surprised) No!!!
Boy: Please!
Me: No way, you can’t say please!
Boy: No, we won’t do it here, somewhere else we will do.
Me: Bye!
Luckily we were standing at the front of Khushi’s Cafe, so I walked in, and he didn’t follow. He yelled “please!” a few more times, but I didn’t look back .
I sat down at Khushi’s, feeling weirded out. I was surprised that had just actually happened to me. He was so young! And he was bold enough to ask me this! I guess I now know how white guys feel when being approached in India by Indian men. It also gave me sympathy for women — this is how harassment feels like, and they deal with this often.
It took a few hours for the weird feeling to go away. Now when I sometimes walk around India and I see an Indian guy staring at me a little too much, I get paranoid and defensive.
Reflection and Recommendations
I definitely saw a lot of improvement in my practice over the course of 3 weeks, 4.5 hours a day. However, I still didn’t feel that its a complete experience. I’m searching for something like a YTT-200 program (it’s a certified, 200-hour teacher training) without the hefty price tag. Doing a YTT-200 program in India will cost you between $1300-$3000 USD, which seems like an exorbitant amount for a one-month program, even if it includes food and accommodation. It’s not much cheaper than learning yoga back in California!
I’m seeking to learn more about:
- Pranayama (breathing exercises)
- Anatomy of yoga asanas
- Philosophy of Patanjali yoga sutras
I suppose I could just spend the money for the YTT-200, but I suppose I’m still optimistic that I’ll find what I’m looking for in Rishikesh without paying the commercial price tag.
If you’re looking to come to Mysore to study yoga, here’s some advice:
- You will hear that the K.P. Jois Institute is the source and the place to learn. But you won’t be able to study here without a recommendation and an established Ashtanga Yoga practice. Chatting with students and teachers at other shalas, it seems that the K.P. Jois shala has an elitist attitude, which others may find off-putting. I heard you even sign a contract promising not to study at other studios! However this place remains popular since it is the source and bears a brand name that is recognized worldwide (which is important when people want to teach Ashtanga yoga back home).
- I later learned that the school I studied at had a scandal, and thus the re-branding from Mystic Yoga to Nirvana Yoga. Apparently the owner has a history of harassing female students. You can read a Google review here of a woman’s account. My experience wasn’t affected since the owner wasn’t around most of my stay and didn’t teach any classes. I’m really glad I got to learn from Srinath and Surya, as they are great teachers.
- There are two primary areas where all the yoga shalas are located, Gokulum and Lakshmipuram. They are about 4km from each other. It might be handy to rent a scooter if you need to go between these two places, or you can use Uber. I didn’t explore Lakshmipuram, so I don’t have any tips for that area.
- Finding a place to stay is easy, either your yoga shala will help you, or you can easily find one through posting on the Facebook page for Mysore Yoga.
Hopefully anything in my post doesn’t discourage you from coming to Mysore to study yoga if you are interested, its a wonderful place and community to learn yoga. I’d like to return once in peak season and see how my experience differs.
