Says dancer & yoga exponent Yamini Muthanna
Mysuru is the Ashtanga Yoga capital of the world, a sobriquet which is music to the ears of Mysureans, after the cleanest city tag for the second time. The city has also produced two of the finest yoga exponents in the world, B.K.S. Iyengar and Pattabhi Jois. However, there is one more Guru, who is quietly doing his bit on whom many discerning yoga practitioners swear — it is B.N.S. Iyengar.
Bengaluru-based Yamini Muthanna, dancer and yoga exponent, is one such. She was in city recently to participate in the launch function of her book “The Power of Yoga” at Dhvanyaloka Open Air Theatre.
After the book launch, organised by the Mysore Book Club, a first-of-its-kind experiment in Mysuru, Yamini, who gave a breath-taking yoga demonstration, shared her views on how the book shaped, the power of yoga, the undue importance for competitions and why everybody should practice yoga, with Senior Journalist N. Niranjan Nikam. Excerpts. — Ed
by N. Niranjan Nikam
SOM: We just saw your demonstration of yoga. I was thinking all the time, aren’t children the best yogis because their body is so flexible. How is it that we lose all that and only when we see people like you, we say to ourselves, “I wish I was like her — flexible, elastic and graceful.”
Yamini Muthanna: Children are natural Yogis. They are so free in their mind and body so the Asanas are easy for them. They do not have points of resistance either in their body and mind due to stress or tension that an adult might have. Therefore, I personally feel that flexibility in a Yoga Asana practice is a product of freeing the body and mind rather than putting in a lot of imposed effort. Anybody can train to be flexible with proper training of the body and freedom in mind. Yoga Asanas are patterned so beautifully that the body can be slowly animated into an Asana with proper judgement and care.
SOM: Yamini, you started yoga at a young age and you have come a long way. What made you write “The Power of Yoga?”
Yamini: My practice of Yoga has been extremely beneficial for me in all circumstances of my life. It helped me cope during my teenage through motherhood. I have been in constant touch with my body and mind and Yoga has helped me to be always aware. Once I started teaching from 2001 onwards, I noticed it was helping my students also to deal with situations better than how they used to handle things before they started practice. I started documenting their progress and started prescribing need-based specific practice sessions. It was helping my students and, therefore, I decided to share it for a larger group of yoga enthusiasts. My message in the book is you can choose your daily practice according to your day’s needs and have tried to explain how it works.
SOM: I learnt a little bit of yoga about 25 years ago from a Guru here. Later, I practiced for quite some time with the book, “Light on Yoga,” by B.K.S. Iyengar. Your book is equally interesting as you make it look very simple, how far have you come?
Yamini: Guru B.K.S Iyengar’s book is my Bible for my personal Asana study. He has set the benchmark of perfection in the Asanas and I am yet to come across another book equal to that of “Light on Yoga.” The book has been my Guru ever since I started personal practice. I did personal practice from 1996 to 2001 before I started to teach. I did a thorough study of the book, summarised by Guru B.N.S. Iyengar’s teachings and built up my practice, experimented my understanding and documented them in a way which would be easy for a Yoga Practitioner to comprehend. My book is not about loads of information but it is a guide to delve deeper in the practice by triggering a curiosity.
SOM: Yamini, you were talking to me about angles and Trikonasana which is the cover page that has caught you in action is such a perfect pose. Share a little about angles and sequences with our audience.
Yamini: I have a strong understanding that Yoga Asanas are geometric patterns from the Sri Chakra Yantra. I do not want to go to the details of it as I do not have proof and specific information about it. Just as Guru B.N.S.Iyengar mentioned in his speech earlier that the body will get chiselled into a fine cut diamond with perfect glitter in the body with the practice of Asanas and Pranayama. I would like to add that perfect geometry exists in pyramids and prisms also creating certain beneficial energy source forming specific benefits in the universe. It is in the same lines I personally feel that Asanas are also patterned to generate specific benefit to the body. Therefore, it is very important to maintain perfect lines in an Asana construction.
SOM: You have talked at length about asanas, chakras, mudras, pranayama and their benefits, all with photographs and you yourself doing each one of them. However, you have not mentioned time needed for each asana, or have I missed it?
Yamini: No I have not gone too much into the details of these deeper practices of Hatha Yoga as I do not want practitioners to try them on their own with the help of a book as they could be dangerous. It is very important that their first instruction comes from a Guru. I have just mentioned them as an information guide into the future practice.
SOM: You said that you do not believe in giving certificates. I would like to share my experience — I had written a story about yoga talking to a teacher about four years ago titled “Posturing ‘Olympics’ (op)position.” I had read an article in Deccan Herald about a move to include yoga performance in Olympics. The yoga teacher had opposed this idea and I had even quoted that B.K.S. Iyengar was also not in its favour. You yourself and a few noted yoga exponents including Sharath Jois, grandson of Pattabhi Jois, whom I met the other day does not favour it. When I sourced this article of mine which I had promptly forgotten, after four years, I was pleasantly surprised to see that there were 39 comments on it but all blasting me away to glory.
Yamini: I do not agree that Yoga Asana be treated as sports. Yoga is all about a personal well-being routine rather than challenge or competition. Your practice is your personal journey and you don’t need to get a medal or stand on a victory stand to announce your success. You silently practice yoga and reap the glory of the practice by using it in life and your routine mundane activities. It’s not sports.
SOM: But you yourself had participated in competitions earlier. In fact that is how you started your tryst with yoga.
Yamini: I did go for two competitions in 1986 and 1987, won the championships and understood it was a mistake. Master was also not too pleased by it. I did not inform him before entering the contest, because I knew he would not let me. I was sorry for a long time for that mistake.
SOM: What is the difference between a Nadia Comãneci’s perfect ten and yoga postures is the question many ask? Can you highlight the difference?
Yamini: Well, I am going to answer this in brief. Gymnasts use a lot of kinetic energy in their postures and expel a lot of force and energy to get into their perfect positions. Yoga uses potential energy with holds and binds in the asanas conserving energy. So some of the postures look the same but the benefits and the source of construction are different in both Yoga and Gymnastics.
SOM: Yamini you are a Kodava — and Kodavas are slim, tall, elegant, beautiful, handsome, rugged and with wiry bodies. The trouble sometimes is, we stereotype people. Did you turn a vegetarian when you started practicing yoga?
Yamini: I am a proud Kodavathi rooted in my Kodava culture and tradition. I have not given up anything at all. But my personal development has adopted various principles from my study of the two classical disciplines. They are my personal principles that do not interfere with my home culture, which is Kodava. [Daughter of Chendrimada Raja (late) and Sundari, Yamini is married to Kotera C. Muthanna].
No I did not turn vegetarian when I started practicing Yoga, though I changed a lot of principles to suit my practice. However, I am not a great fan of non-vegetarian food. You can call me a “No-fussytarian.” I eat whatever is healthy.
SOM: How much of your yoga has influenced your dance?
Yamini: A lot, in terms of energy and health. Breathing especially gets regulated when we do rigorous dancing. It has helped me keep my body agile and supple and less injury-prone.
SOM: What are your future plans and why the word ‘Power’ in the title of the book?
Yamini: Future plans — I shall keep doing what I am doing with more passion and conviction. I shall keep replenishing my knowledge in these two subjects. With the blessings of my Gurus, I have no doubt in accomplishing this; I will need their support and guidance always. I have already started my next book on Yoga, which would be exclusively for women from 18 to 80. The contents are just shaping up. I feel it will give an interesting perspective on woman’s body and how Yoga could benefit maintenance.
“Power,” I can’t think of a better term for Yoga. Yoga is a source of Power to better your life. As one adapts Yoga into his/her lifestyle, it becomes more and more obvious. I am using the term to emphasise this fact… It’s been my personal Power.
source: http://www.starofmysore.com / Star of Mysore / Home> Feature Articles / by Niranjan Nikam / February 24th, 2016
