The Ashtanga Method that is now known throughout the world was brought to us by a man named K. Pattabhi Jois (1915 – 2009.) The word Ashtanga, however, is much older than Jois and belongs to no one and can be found in ancient texts.
The Ashtanga Method from Pattabhi Jois is a classical style of yoga containing five specific principles and a style of teaching called Mysore Style but also encompasses components of yoga theory referred to as the limbs of yoga (“Ashta” meaning eight and “anga” meaning limb in Sanskrit.)
The eight limbs are:
- yamas (ethical codes for right living in society of which there are five)
- niyamas (personal codes for right living of which there are five)
- asana (posture)
- pranayama (breath control)
- pratyahara (sense withdrawal)
- dharana (concentration)
- dhyana (the ability to merge with the object on which you are concentrating)
- samadhi (union with Universal Consciousness)
If one truly cultivates all eight limbs and not just asana, the Ashtanga Method can bring about great insight, clarity, softness and strength. For greater exploration of yoga theory read Edwin Bryant’s, The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali and The Bhagavad Gita by Eknath Easwaran.
K. Pattahbi Jois Background
He was born in July 1915, the fifth of nine children, in a small village called Kowshika, near Hassan, Karnataka, South India. Jois was the fifth child. His father was an astrologer and priest, his mother tended the home and children. From the age of 5, Jois was instructed in Sanskrit and rituals by his father, standard training for Brahmin boys of his time.
In 1927, when Jois was 12, he met yoga master T. Krishnamacharya, considered to be the father of modern day yoga. Jois presented himself at Krishnamacharaya’s door, boldly asking to be his student. Skeptical at first, the teacher was won over by Jois’ persistence. Thus began their teacher-student relationship that would span two and a half decades. First daily from 1927 – 1929, then later from 1932-1953.
In 1924, Krishnamacharya spent time in the Calcutta University Library researching an ancient text called the Yoga Korunta which was badly damaged and had many missing portions. Before his research, Krishnamacharya had learned this book from his teacher, Rama Mohan Brahmachari in the Himalayas. An entire system of complete practices like pranayama, bandhas, and dristi were included along with asanas and vinyasa. The text had been been transmitted and passed on from teacher to student, from Brahmachari to Krishnamacharya, then from Krishnamacharya to Jois. Perhaps each student received the teachings but not in its entire physical form.
Krishnamacharya instilled in Jois a powerful sense of the authenticity and purity of Ashtanga yoga. Every breath, every posture, every principle had to be done in the correct manner. Pattahbi Jois carried this forward into his own teaching.
After Krishnamacharya passed away, Jois carried on his teaching. By 1973, students from Europe and the US had begun to discover Jois and the Ashtanga Method. By 2000, Westerners were flocking to India to study with him – many of whom became teachers themselves and popularized the Ashtanga Method around the world.
Pattahbi Jois taught the Ashtanga Method for 75 years, handing down his teachings to many of his students. When Pattahbi Jois passed away in 2009, a month shy of his 94th birthday, he left a legacy of his Certified teachers and thousands of dedicated students who are keeping the Ashtanga Method alive.
Pattabhi Jois Legacy Today by Melanie Fawer
Today there is much controversy over Pattabhi Jois. While it is clear he handed down a remarkable, vital method, it has come to light that he abused his position and the teachings he expounded throughout his entire life by inappropriately touching or sexually assaulting a number of women whom he taught both in his Mysore studio and during his world tours. It calls into question and casts a dark shadow over his integrity and worth as a spiritual man and as a great yoga teacher.
As of this writing (7/3/18,) I am the only senior teacher Certified by Jois to have spoken out on in support of his victims. Following, is my statement first published June 18, 2018, meant to acknowledge the victims of Jois. Initially, it contained details of the inappropriate touching that I witnessed in 1994. This version has been amended out of greater deference for Jois victims and others.
As Ashtanga practitioners and others seek clarity on this controversy, I propose that it is not about being “right” or “wrong.” Victims of sexual assault are in varying stages of healing and what is safe or unsafe in their process for one may be limiting to another. This fish has many tentacles and it is my belief that answers and true dialogue can only happen along the points of the spectrum, not at either end.
“To Not Speak Out is Ordinary”
On November 11, 2017, Karen Rain posted a statement on her Facebook page, “After reading other women’s posts, I am inspired by the importance of sharing experiences and naming names. Pattabhi Jois sexually assaulted me regularly in his yoga asana “adjustments.” I also witnessed him sexually assault other women regularly in a similar manner. His actions were protected by a culture of denial and cryptic justifications. I studied Ashtanga Yoga in Mysore for a total of 2 years between 1994 and 1998.” (Links to Rain’s interview transcript and video interview are at the end of this statement.)
Karen and I met in September, 1994, in Mysore, India. I was 25 years old, Karen was 28. Karen was learning Advanced B and I was as green as grass. I didn’t know Pattabhi Jois or anything about him. “Styles” of yoga, the Primary series, drishti, bandha, ujjayi, vinyasa — no idea. When Karen and I met, she was running in circles around her head in a headstand and I was learning Surya Namaskara A. My first two trips to Mysore crossed with hers from 1994-1996. We were there together a total of seven months. Karen and I became friends.
Pattabhi Jois was my teacher from 1994 until his death in 2009. He asked me to take Certification in 2001. The practice for me has only been therapeutic, healing and uplifting. I was neither a victim of inappropriate touching or sexual assault by Jois nor did I receive any adjustments that resulted in any injuries. However, I believe Karen’s story of sexual assault because I have read her testimony, I witnessed Jois inappropriate adjust one woman in Mysore in 1994, (I did not witness Karen’s assaults nor the woman in Mysore she refers to in her interview) and because at the time, there was talk within the inner community of teachers senior to me of his inappropriate touching of women. It disturbs me greatly that no other Jois Certified “senior” teacher to date has stood up to support the women that have been hurt by Jois and that they perpetuate this secret by their silence.
Thanks to Jois’ victims this unfortunate aspect of his legacy can be a part of his full story. I am grateful for this new transparency and hope all that were aware of Jois’ “issue” will acknowledge it. The victims deserve and need to be heard. My hope is that the lack of open communication and the mystique of an Ashtanga community which led to this secret can be broken down and that we, as a community, can move forward with open honesty. “We are only as sick as our secrets.”
After 24 years of practice and 16 years of teaching Mysore Style daily at my studio, I know the method Jois taught is sound and extraordinary. Yoga is Truth. This is what I was seeking when I arrived at Jois’ doorstep in Lakshmipuram — a greater inner knowing of Truth, a greater sense of Self, through yoga. And I suspect that is what we were all looking for, all of us that found our way to Jois’ house. It confounds me that so many have lost their way. It is my hope that shortly, all other “senior” teachers and Jois’ family members will speak out so that healing, balance, and understanding, around all the layers of this “issue,” can be gained and restored. “You shall know the Truth, and the Truth shall set you free.”
Sincerely,
Melanie Fawer
Owner Ashtanga Yoga Room
interview transcript: www.matthewremski.com/wordpress/karen-rain-speaks-about-pattabhi-jois-and-recovering-from-sexual-and-spiritual-abuse-video-interview/
video: http://matthewremski.com/wordpress/karen-rain-speaks-about-pattabhi-jois-and-recovering-from-sexual-and-spiritual-abuse-video-interview/
