Mysore Style

I remember that when I took the Introduction to Ashtanga yoga weekend workshop in London, the teacher encouraged everyone to try out the morning Mysore Style self-practice Ashtanga yoga classes. He emphasized that we should not be intimidated because there was no show off scene but a very appropriate way of learning, practicing ashtanga. At the time, I had no idea what was Mysore style at all. Before the teacher mentioned anything, every time I saw Mysore style in the class schedule, I thought that it was for people who were sore – my sore – that was what I understood. But after the workshop, it got to me and I wanted to try, still I put it off for a month because of all excuses i) it was tooo early for me to wake up, I was studying until late at night, ii) it was tooooo cold to wake up and get out of the bed to go out, etc… but what required was just me doing the leap, without considering any excuses, not slowly, slowly getting used to the idea… Finally, when the Christmas time arrived, the vacation began and there were no excuse of school, studying and all that; therefore, I went to my first Mysore class in mid December and there, that day, after my first Mysore style Ashtanga yoga class, I was mesmerized, I was in love… After that day, I went running to Mysore style classes at 6 in the morning everyday when there was a class. It became my priority for waking up. It became the way to begin a day and go on to whatever was next whether that was studying for classes, or studying for exams, or taking exams... there were no excuses anymore. It became the thing I enjoyed the most, which was for some people too sad! “Is that what you enjoy the most in your life?” they asked with a pitying voice… and I never minded… I enjoyed the silence, I enjoyed practicing with other people, I enjoyed the private attention of my teacher, I also enjoyed when my teacher ignored me, so I would work on what I needed to work on as there was no hurry, I enjoyed the moments I was no-mind and just moving, and I enjoyed the silent intimacy I shared with the people who put their mat next to my mat, or in front of my mat , or behind my mat, or people who were at the other corner of the room. I made friends with people who shared their practice every morning in that room. I got encouragement with a supportive look of a friend practicing next to me when I was fearful of letting myself drop back, I got little celebrating squeak from another friend when I let myself drop back eventually… and so on…
Well, now here I am teaching Mysore style Ashtanga Yoga because that is how I fell in love with yoga; that is how my life changed all over… I try to teach as I was taught, I try to help built a practice for oneself and I try to not forget the goodness of my teachers so I can maybe bring some of it into my classes. Sometimes, it gets challenging because I forget the required patience for building something new and get disappointed when students do not show up regularly, or/and they do get too eager to move forward with learning the primary series without digesting what is given already… when they forget to just enjoy what they do and get preoccupied with what is next. And honestly, not many of us are really, totally immune to all this, including myself. I remember getting frustrated with having no teacher in Istanbul and being stuck with where I was in my practice. But then I valued being stuck as much as moving forward… I guess most of the time life gives us what we need and yes sometimes this statement is damn cruel when things are really not good at all! But maybe I can convince you and myself that regarding our practice, we get what we need… On the other hand, sometimes I also see with clear eyes that it is happening, that there are people moving together in silence and I move around them, helping them, showing them, watching them… and I see they get it, they understand what is this, what is happening in that room… and it is all very beautiful. Then I feel blessed...