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We based our classes on the great ancient Indian scriptures-the Upanishads, the Bhagavad Gita, Patanjali's Yoga Sutras, and the Hatha Yoga Pradipika-because we found them genuinely exciting. We hosted many teachers and speakers from other schools of yoga and encouraged our students to educate themselves. We decided that we would teach for as long as people wanted to come.

To our surprise, within the year Jivamukti became a very popular yoga cen- ter. Teachers at other yoga centers were surprised, too, and became curious about us.

One teacher from another yoga center called to ask if we were going to close over the summer. We didn't have air conditioning because we didn't have money to invest in a system, and India is very hot, after all. We told her that we weren't going to close. And she said, "Well, doesn't attendance drop during the hot months?" No, we said, actually July was our biggest month so far this year.

"Well," she said, "You must have some really expensive and up-to-date air conditioning system over there. Could I ask what system?"

"We don't have air conditioning," we told her.

There was a long pause and then she said, "Well, what do you do?"

And Sharon said, "Well, we start by chanting Om."

* * *

At the time, chanting Om to begin a yoga class was considered pretty far out. To divorce yoga practice from its original cultural, spiritual, and philosophical context, however, is like removing the motor from a jet and expecting flight. The jet may still look sharp, and it can certainly roll down the runway, but flying will not be possible. Yogi Sri Krishnaprem described all spiritual paths as the shadows on the earth of the ones who have learned to fly. And we do want to fly! So, at Jivamukti, we start by chanting Om.

We believe that yoga teachings should be based on the yogic scriptures. Yoga teachers should be able to draw meaning from the original texts and apply them to modern life. We're up against a lot of resistance, unfortunately, because many yoga teachers have never even opened these important texts. Many don't believe that it's necessary to have knowledge of the scriptures or for yoga practices to have a devotional aspect in the West-because we aren't Hindus here. They feel a yoga practice can be body-oriented and still be completely beneficial. We disagree, which is why we chant Om at the beginning of class.

Another reason we chant Om is that it means absolutely no-thing. It doesn't belong to any religion or sect. It is too primal for that. Om comprises the three most basic sounds that a human being can make: Ah, Oooh, Mmm. This takes it out of the realm of the intellect. It is beyond thought so it means no-thing. It is liberating to start a practice with the experiential acknowledgment that one can go beyond thought.

A Jivamukti Yoga class is physically challenging; it's about walking the razor's edge. Challenging your preconceptions about your abilities helps you push beyond the limitations imposed by your mind. In a Jivamukti Yoga class you will be encouraged to devote the fruits of this vigorous practice to God, in whatever form you feel comfortable acknowledging God.

The practices should be difficult enough to bring up resistances to your essential nature. Your essential nature is blissful, but when the teacher asks you to put your foot behind your head, you may resist your blissful nature in that moment and identify instead with the physical discomfort of tight hamstrings and your irritation with the request.

When such resistances are brought to light and observed with a detached mind, they are more easily shed. Most of us tend to identify with our problems. We identify with the struggles of the ego-personality, which has been convinced that happiness can be obtained from external sources. Yoga practices shift our identity away from the ego-personality and its struggles so that we can begin to reconnect with the essential nature of our being, which is bliss. We begin to understand that lasting happiness is inside us. We become independent: dependent inward.

If we practice the science of yoga, which is useful to the entire human community and which yields happiness both here and hereafter-if we practice it without fail, we will then attain physical, mental and spiritual happiness and our minds will flood toward the Self.

-Shri K. Pattabhi Jois, Yoga Mala

In a Jivamukti Yoga class you will chant Om and sing Sanskrit prayers. You will be made aware of your breathing and learn pranayama techniques to control it. You may listen to the teacher read and discuss a passage from a yoga scripture. You will practice sequential asanas linked by breath and intention, and you will meditate. You will be encouraged to practice ahimsa (nonviolence), including vege- tarianism. You will also be introduced to other inner and outer practices that may help you achieve the state of yoga, such as satsang, Kriya Yoga (purification practices), and Nada Yoga (the refinement of listening). And you'll hear some great music!

Copyright © 2002 by Sharon Gannon and David Life.

Tags: Yoga