Gee... Guruji

Appreciation for what I have.

This entry is dedicated to my teachers in Santa Monica, California; notably Chuck Miller and his partner, Maty Ezraty. I have been in and out of their classes for the last 6 years. After being here, in Mysore, I am all the more impressed with how they have taken the practice as taught in the Ashtanga yoga shala (shala means school) and refined and evolved it. They have taken it to a higher level with Maty's emphasis on alignment principles and Chuck's philosophical discourses. And I have benefitted from their tireless dedication to the practice and their students. It is through the guidance that they have given me that I have learned that the nature of Yoga is through the "creative frustration" that churns in the body and mind and whips up what in Sanskrit is called tapas or heat. It is through this that the habitual grooves of movement and thought are partially - ideally totally - diminished and one can move freely in the world as a spiritual being. In my heart of hearts, I thank Maty and Chuck for their gifts.

I look forward upon my return to their continued guidance.