Lino Miele: True to the Teachings of Pattabhi Jois By Cara Jepsen In the old days, there was one book that explained the Ashtanga vinyasa yoga system as taught by Sri K Pattabhi Jois at his Ashtanga Yoga Research Institute (AYRI) in Mysore, India. There was no Internet, DVDs, or other books (Pattabhi Jois's book, Yoga Mala, was not translated into English until 1999)--just direct experience, word of mouth, and the sole book, Lino Miele's Astanga Yoga (1994 ), which covered the primary and intermediate series. A student brought it out after Suddha Weixler's Saturday Mysore class at Chicago Yoga Center and we all passed it around and wrote down the address where we could order it.

"When you start to understand this book, you understand the yoga system, the state of the asana, and how to move in and out of the asana; the movement leads you into the pose," said Lino at a week-long workshop he gave with partner Désirée Trankaer at Yogaview and Moksha Yoga in April. While writing the book, Lino spent many long afternoons with Pattabhi Jois in Mysore learning the correct number of vinyasas (movements linked with breath) for each of the poses in Ashtanga's primary and intermediate series. "Before the book, no one knew the vinyasa system," Lino said. "Pattabhi Jois only gave led classes outside of Mysore." ["Led classes" are those taught by the teacher as opposed to self-practice where each student practices on his/her own and the teacher adjusts them.] Chicago's splintered local Ashtanga community came together for Lino's first local visit since Pattabhi Jois passed, and he regaled us with stories about his guru. The moment I stood on my mat and brought my palms into prayer for self-practice at YogaView, I felt the energy and presence of the late Pattabhi Jois filling the room, and tears started streaming down my cheeks. Lino, who leads the Astanga Yoga Shala in Rome, began studying with Pattabhi Jois at the AYRI in 1988, and became certified to teach in 1994. He is the creator of Ashtanga schools in Milan, Helsinki, Copenhagen, Buenos Aires, and Estonia. He also produced posters and DVDs with Guruji's permission, and conducts workshops around the world. My first self-practice at Lino's workshop was rickety and halting; a winter fall down the stairs had injured my ankle and lower back, and after a long recovery, I was finally doing second series again--with an ankle brace and some modifications. Yet somehow my practice was pain-free, and Lino got my hands to feet in kapotasana (pigeon pose)--no small feat. I also received many other lovely adjustments from him and Désirée. On the third day Lino got my fingers together on the left side in gomukasana (cow face pose)--something that hadn't happened since Dharma Mittra adjusted me some time ago. Later, I was finishing my backbends in the front row when Lino started helping the person next to me with dropbacks. It was the same setup as the first time I stood up from backbend in Mysore six years ago: in the front, with Lino on my right. But I hadn't done it in eons. Nonetheless, I bounced a couple of times and stood up. Surprised, I waited for my breath to calm and tears to stop before doing three more dropbacks. When Lino came to help me with the final variations, I said, "It's a miracle." He looked around the room. "God is here?" "Well, yes," I said. "But I stood up from backbend--and dropped back three times!" I continued. "What you lose, it always comes back," he said, explaining that the losing it part is a struggle, but is something we must all go through. "I thought that was gone forever," I said. "I thought my body was finished." "You are young. You are strong," he said. And I believed him. The body felt like new at Saturday's final self-practice at Moksha. Lino knew this better than I did, and adjusted me for the first time in bhekasana (frog pose), which includes an intense foot stretch. He also gave me my first foot-on-foot adjustment in supta vajrasana (fixed firm pose), which didn't hurt at all. A few poses later, I pulled off the ankle brace and threw it away. Later, when I asked Lino why my body gets healed when he teaches, he replied, "That is the experience of the teacher." When I asked what makes a good teacher, he said. "Gray hair. Experience makes a good teacher. Guruji was always repeating that yoga is 99 percent practice, one percent theory. You can read hundreds and hundreds of books, but it does not make you a good teacher. You have knowledge from your life and your body, and then you can teach. "Instead of wanting to be students, people want to be teachers right away. I am against it. This is not a job. This is a passion. Tradition is important. Whatever my guru taught me, I am teaching you. "He taught me how to act, how to be with people. How many people had the chance to speak with our guru, eat with our teacher, live with our teacher? Otherwise it becomes 'Bla bla bla.' "Everything I know, my guru taught me." When asked what makes a good student, he said, "Constant determination towards the practice, and being with the teacher. The teacher will take care of the student. How can you be a student without a teacher, if you practice on your own all the time? "The student must respect the teacher all the time, and listen to what the teacher says." Lino began Saturday's led primary series class with a warm-up that included a breakdown of ujjayi breathing and the energy locks ( bandhas ) as well as some gentle knee stretches. He taught the class with his trademark compassion and humor, and counted out the correct vinyasa for each pose in Sanskrit. During the seated postures, he explained how to jump from downward dog to sitting--with straight legs. "Don't use too much the strength," he said. "At first, the legs look longer than the arms--but they are not." After demonstrating, he said, "It took me 15 years to get to this point. It is a matter of the breath; it is a breathing movement--the same movement you did before [exiting out of utkatasana (powerful pose)]. Try it." There was a lot of laughter as students tried it--and failed. "Some of us get stuck--why?" he asked. "It is fear. Let's not put this in our heads. I am not perfect. But you are perfect already." He repeatedly reminded students not to stress the knee in the seated postures, and told them to breathe and move "slowly, slowly." Halfway through, he said, "I have to remind you, Ashtanga yoga is not an easy practice. If you come to a self-practice class, you get stuck in a pose you cannot do. In that case we begin to work on the mind." He explained why we should roll around nine times in garbapindasa (embryo in the womb pose). "Because of gestation. According to Pattabhi Jois, when the baby is breach, by doing this you put the baby at the right position." Before shoulderstand, he told students to lie on their backs for five to ten breaths. "Before we do the ending poses, you should cool down. Your inner organs are still shaking."

Saturday afternoon's adjustment workshop began with a lively Q&A, where we learned that jalandhara bandha (the chin lock) is not used--which was an eye-opener for me. He said that it is only used for pranayama. "There are a few things that Guruji was very particular to teach," he said. "This is how I know if it came from him or somewhere else. "Once the guru dies, everyone goes like this," he said, spreading out his arms. "I don't want to go like this." Lino said we should follow the technique and stay within the lineage of Guruji, but not focus too much on one thing. "This is a complete practice. It is not just breath and movement. It's the bandhas and dristi (gazing point)." "If we emphasize too much the technique, it's not good," he continued. "If we focus too much on the breath, we lose our mind. How to make it easy? Don't be attached. When there is no attachment, there is happiness, and you give energy to yourself and to others." We also learned about the location of mula bandha (the root lock). When he was writing the books with Guruji (they also completed a book on advanced A and B series, which has not yet been published), Lino said he brought in some other yoga books, and told Guruji he was confused about mula bandha. "Gurji threw away the books. He said, 'I am the book. You and I are writing the book, and you go to other books?' "OK, Guruji--but where is mula bandha?"

"'The anus.'" A student asked about ujjayi, or victorious breathing. "Another translation I like more is psychic breath," he said. "If I have long breath with movement, I don't think. If you follow your breath, you don't think. "If you have a problem and start practicing, the mind calms down and you solve the problem. That is non-attachment." He spoke about his early days at Guruji's old shala in Mysore. "What made Sri K. Pattabhi Jois great was his humanity. He was a great human being. He was a father for all of us. When you are a good, wonderful human being, that's all you need. "Guruji said that one month with him was like 12 months by yourself. I said, 'I think this man wants my money.' I was wrong.

"You can be with him one month and see things come out: crying, etc., people were asking for help. They find in the guru the help they need. The teacher has to help you. What is the best way to help? Adjustments. Because the body doesn't think." Someone asked Lino how he knows what the student needs. "She tells me," he said. "I come to her. I touch her. She reacts. I listen. She speaks to me through her body.. When you stay with a teacher, we start to know you. "I stayed with Guruji a long time; he started to know me. He didn't speak English at that time. He was speaking through the body." Lino showed us how to individually teach students ujjayi breath and uddayana bandha (abdominal lock), and how to have a firm touch and adjust without losing energy or causing harm to the student in poses such as downward dog, triangle pose, prasarita padottanasana (wide-leg forward bend), and handstands. "The first time a student comes, you don't jump on them, you don't touch them until after some weeks or months," he explained. "If they have pain in a pose, or it's difficult, don't touch. You can direct the student: 'Straighten your legs.' It depends on who is in front of you." The final session on Sunday was a strenuous full vinyasa primary series practice, which dispels all confusion about how to enter and exit a pose. For example, getting in and out of baddha konasana (bound angle) requires 15 precise vinyasas, or movements. "The vinyasa number gives the message to the body," said Lino. "You don't have to think, you just move. By having the number in the book, you have what Pattabhi Jois called a scientific method. Because when you do this system, you don't think. "When I used to demonstrate with Guruji, he called out the vinyasa and the pose. When you know the system, you become the system. But to know the system, you have to practice it." ....... Lino Miele will lead his annual retreat in Kovalam, South India, in December and January. For more info on his retreats and workshops, visit the Astanga Yoga Research Institute in Italy at www.ayri.it .

Cara Jepsen, RYT-500, teaches private lessons and workplace classes for all levels, and specializes in breathing, meditation, and yoga for back care and depression. She is a direct student of Pattabhi Jois and Dharma Mittra, and will give a pranayama and meditation workshop at YogaNow on July 16 and a Dharma Mittra workshop at YogaNow on August 21. She teaches at the Chicago Yoga Center, YogaNow, Pipal Tree Yoga, East Bank Club, Lincoln Park Athletic Club, and DePaul University's Ray Meyer Fitness and Recreation Center. For more information, visit carajepsen.com, or contact her at 773.315.5489 or carajepsen@yahoo.com. index | home