One Happy Yogi

Upstairs Studio

Yes, of course Yoga can be practiced anywhere. It would be a counsel of despair to say that it could only be done in India. Nevertheless, just as pilgrims of all religions make their way to the primordial sites of their faith, so too Yogis and Yoginis in the West often head for India. Rishikesh, city of the Rishis, the inspired seers and mystics, holds a special attraction within India itself. It has sometimes been described as the “Yoga capital of the world,” though perhaps these days Mysore is vying for that title. Little matter. Rishikesh is a beautiful spot in the foothills of the Himalayas, with the Ganges flowing through its centre.

Rooftop View, Anand Prakash Ashram

Everywhere you turn in Rishikesh there is someone or some institution offering Yoga – classes, teacher training, therapies – not to mention Ayurveda, Yoga’s sister science. I have opted for Anand Prakash Yoga Ashram on the recommendation of friends in Ottawa who have known Vishvketu and his wife Chétana either there or here. Further, I have wanted to spend time in a Yoga Ashram that is run by a householder, rather than by renunciates. Much as I appreciate a monastic milieu, I think it is worth seeing how a family builds a life around the practice and teaching of Yoga.

Garden, Anand Prakash Ashram

So, how is it? This is where I start to gush. I have known many wonderful teachers over the years. Vishvketu is certainly in the first rank. Though small in stature, he has a large presence, though always one with warmth, humour, and ease. His classes are simply wonderful. We’ve been getting quite a range of styles of practice. All begin with chant and conclude with meditation. This morning, we had a Raja Yoga class. There is a sequence of fairly simple asanas (postures) but each is accompanied by brahmari, the “bumble bee breath.” That is made on the exhalation by placing the tongue on the roof of the mouth and humming like a bee. Its benefits are numerous, but I’ll just mention its powerful effect in refining, lengthening, and extending the exhalation. Indeed, whatever style Vishvaji teaches, there is always great emphasis on the breath. Pranayama is well and thoroughly integrated throughout the practice. (Among the other styles I’ve known him to teach this month are Yoga Nidra, Kundalini, and an intermediate Hatha flow.) This is in rather stark contrast to so many Yoga classes in the West. Years ago in Kerala a teacher with whom I studied named Binu said, “Ah, you Westerners, always wanting more and more asanas.” So true. Perhaps the quest for abs of steel and toned butts leads people to want a strenuous workout, but it’s often at the expense of attending to the breath and its possibilities. Not so with Binu; certainly not with Vishvaji. Of course, any competent teacher will remind students that without the breath they are only having a stretching class, not Yoga. What gets overlooked is the interplay between body and breath. A way of expressing the connection between asana (posture) and pranayama (breath) is to say that when the breath is at the service of the body it is asana and when the body is at the service of the breath it is pranayama.

Vishvaji’s well-structured classes, with their good balance between asana and pranayama, his sense of humour and spirit of encouragement, his insistence that we listen to our own bodies before all else, all of this combines to create experiences that are challenging, uplifting, and invigorating. What is more, they also lead you deeply inside where, whether you’re in India or Canada, the true Yoga must take place.