Today has been a bit of a blah……day. I felt as though 4:30am rolled around far too quickly for my liking this morning and my shower did nothing to pep me up for practice. Even as I walked to the shala I felt heavy and dazed. Once I arrived at the shala I sat and waited outside for Primary Series practice to finish. When it came time for us led second series students to prepare for practice, I found myself hoping for the strength to make it through class. I did…most of practice was a bit uncomfortable – my body was uber tight – but the end of practice made it all worth while – I made more progress in Karandavasa this am, which brought a little sunshine to this not so shiny morning. I was so wiped out from practice though that I didn’t even bother with a coconut– instead I went straight home, had a quick bite to eat, and proceeded to take a nice 1 ½ hour nap! When I woke up Mona and I made way to the Southern Star for an hour of semi-sun before the clouds completely consumed the sky (first day in ages you could really even see the sun – the monsoons haven’t begun – but the season has and it is cloudy all day everyday!)

After our hour in the sun we headed to Anu’s so I could do a bit of emailing – my internet in my flat pooped out on me Friday morning and I’ve yet to be able to get it fixed – hoping that some techs will come out tomorrow and make it all better! Anyway, I spent a good two hours online doing tons of various little things – mainly trying to play a little catch-up with my emails, article writing, pictures, etc……And before I knew it 4:15pm rolled around – it was time to get to the shala for conference!

I scurried over to the shala to find Sharath and Guruji on stage! It was such a pleasure seeing Guruji’s face – it brought a great big ole smile to mine!

Ashley, Sharath didn’t talk about Bandhas today J but everything he said resonated with me so deeply – I hope it resonates with all of you as well!

So here’s the Scoop on Conference:

Sharath’s Words:
- If you have dedication towards your yoga, your guru, you can achieve many things
- It must be good karma from your previous life to come to India and sacrifice life in your country to practice this yoga.
- This dedication that you have, you must make it stronger day by day
- We have to understand what we are, we should keep trying to set our spirit free
- Whatever bad karma you do in this life will carry on in the next life, there is no death of your soul!
- You must practice yoga in this lifetime with DEDICATION – if you do then you will reduce your negative karma for your next life

Guruji’s Words:
- You take practice for long time – good
- You take practice for short time – no good
- Practice, practice, practice

Sharath’s Words:
- Don’t be fickle, you MUST be DEDICATED – Doing asana one year, skipping months or years and resuming is no good – to GROW in your YOGA you MUST BE DEDICATED!
- You must have a GURU!
- Yoga is spreading but many people are spoiling yoga also
- People who change yoga according to their convenience – they are not practicing or teaching YOGA, merely physical movement. These people are spoiling yoga for their own fame.
- The more traditional the yoga is the more benefit you will get
- You must always be a student so that you can share your ongoing knowledge with others
- Worldwide there are hundreds of yoga shalas – they all use the yoga name, but 90% of them don’t know what Yoga is!
- Everyone who learns yoga from a real Guru should teach the yoga of their Guru to keep the tradition alive!
- We cannot stop those people who spoil the traditional yoga, but we must do our part to keep tradition alive by staying connected to our Guru – practice under him and spread his work to others.
- If someone is a serious student and truly wants to learn, they must go to the source!
- It is VERY important to keep the teachings of your Guru pure – that is the only way to keep the tradition alive!


Very good conference today! Sharath leaves soon for two weeks of travel – Saraswati will be here and the shala will be open – but Sharath is offering a credit to people who will be here a while and want to study directly under him (it will be difficult for Saraswati to carry the load of the entire shala alone!) so those who wish to take the credit will do self practice at home while he is gone.

Here’s the Scoop on 2009!
There has been much talk of Sharath taking some time off for his own study and travel. He told me today that he will be doing a world tour beginning in April of next year. He will start in Islamorada and then make his way - ????? - around the world I suppose!! I don’t know much but it seems for sure he will be away April through July and quite possibly longer. From what I understand Saraswati will be here and the shala will be open, but Sharath will not be here teaching. I was personally a little bummed as I’d hoped to be back here next May or early June for my yearly visit, but hey things change and you must gracefully adapt with the change!