David:The difficult thing within the context of an asana class is to really create a blend so that you don’t, for instance, just chant at the beginning and that’s the last you hear of Sanskrit for the whole rest of the class. Or similarly, just having any of the other elements in the opening of class where you begin to create a devotional atmosphere but then never hearing them again at any other point in the class and just having the rest of the time focused on counting and jumping, whatever it might be.

So for us and this particular style, the real facility is being able to take all of these elements and weave them throughout a class. So that the teacher’s job expands and becomes to constantly remind people of why they are doing what they are doing, how to give it more substance, how to make it a larger practice, a practice of generosity and compassion, rather than one of selfishness or self centered ideas about why they might be doing an asana practice.

How that’s done? Well, let’s take music for example. Every Jivamukti class has a theme. And there are many, many themes. It might be a sutra from the yoga sutras, or it may be an idea like non-violence or might be guru. It could be anything. The music in the class does not just become background to that theme. To really be integrated the music has to demonstrate that theme, to make it more clear through whatever ways music can do that - through the words that are in the music or even through to the actual musical content itself. Somehow the music has to work closely with the theme.

I guess that you can say that that theme is within the weave of the class. The theme is really what brings it all together. So the Sanskrit chants are bound to the theme of the class, the music is bound to the theme of the class. All the other aspects somehow relate to it. And of course, the theme always changes so you have a chance to expand the Sanskrit and all of the ideas that are presented. Sharon: I think most of us at this time think of yoga practice as asana practice and we really are no exception to that. We also view asana as a yogic practice, a spiritual practice. But I think that what we have tried to do is make a contribution to the yoga community not with a redefinition of the word asana but with a focus back unto the true meaning of asana - seat or connection to the Earth. Earth means all beings and all things. It is Mother Nature. And these practices - chanting Sanskirt, study of Sanskrit, devotion, ahimsa, nada yoga, meditation - these are all essential in the practice of asana or in that practice where one tries to make their relationship with the Earth better or harmonious.

Pearls are formed in reaction to an irritation. Something that is viewed as foreign, as an obstacle, actually serves as a catalyst and as the framework for the creation of the beauty that is the pearl. How do you see this as symbolic to experiences gained along the pursuit of the yogic path?

Sharon: I think David should answer this next one because he has a beautiful way of describing the asanas as obstacles that get in the way of enlightenment or insightful revealment in the practice.

David: Using asana practice as the example, many people view a successful yoga practice as doing an asana “correctly”. Or they may think of it as acquiring the ability to do a lot of asanas. By doing this, they then may feel that they have succeeded in their yoga practice. They may even feel that getting stronger, or losing weight, or getting flexible, is their goal so that when they have achieved any of these things, they feel that they have achieved their goal.

But the goal of yoga is clearly explained as enlightenment. So what does asana practice have to do with that if enlightenment is the consideration here?

The asanas really are microcosmic irritations. The idea is to create a state of mind that is serene and calm and then introduce stress in the form of a backbend, or a forward bend, or a twist, or inversion…whatever it may be. And to maintain that serene state of mind despite the outer circumstances that are the asanas. Using an analogy, it is similar to a hurdle race, where the hurdles, the clearing of the hurdles, is not the goal of the racer. The finish line is the goal. The hurdles are just what make it interesting for everybody involved.

Another way to look at asana, another definition of that term, is “something that carries you over.” In the way that the yogi’s seat, the asan, on the ground protects the meditating yogi from things like the dampness, harshness and coldness of sitting right on the ground or on the gravel. The asan or seat, which is often defined as kush grass or a blanket, is what allows the yogi to maintain that serene state of mind without being affected by the adversity of the environment around him. In that context, the successful completion, or the success of an asana practice, is when as a practitioner you can maintain a serene state of mind despite outer circumstances.

So it doesn’t matter if it is extreme or if it’s difficult or if you can do a lot of them. That is irrelevant. What is very relevant is your state of mind. Your ability to maintain that serenity and not give into other possibilities like arrogance, pridefulness or shyness or whatever might prevent you from maintaining the ability to live correctly and yogicly no matter what environment you find yourself in.

A pearl can be thought of a guru, as they are light that can be found in the dark cavern of the oyster. What is the role of the guru, who is the guru, what is the guru?

Sharon: The guru ultimately and essentially has to do with humility and also exaltation. For most of us unenlightened beings that may seem like a contradiction but without humility, without literally bowing down, true joy, everlasting happiness, and insightful knowledge, is almost impossible, if not impossible, to come by.

To acknowledge a guru is the first step in spiritual practice. Yet, I think that this term seems to be very misunderstood at this time, especially among western types of practitioners. It is thought that to bow to a guru is for the sake of the guru, that they need respect or that it would be rude not to show them some kind of acknowledgement. This is a misunderstanding of the whole process of yoga, at least as I understand it, and that the bowing to the guru is for the sake of the one bowing. Because that pearl of humility which is gained is tremendous wealth and can open the doorway to the soul.

Of course the guru is always none other than your own self. It is you. It is that insight or that “Aha” experience where you realize that there is no other to really acknowledge or to bow to, that it is just the oneness of being.

So, if we can start with acknowledging a lifting of the separation between beings, if we can acknowledge that potential with one other person, it opens the doorway. And traditionally a guru is someone who lets you do that. That’s their job. They sit there and let you do that. They let you touch their feet. They let you work out your stuff in front of them without a personal judgement involved. They care. I’m all for guru. I am pro-guru.

Since each of you has so many pearls of wisdom to share, I thought it would be wonderful if each of you could ask the other a question that would evoke some of the wisdom that you know the other person would cherish sharing.

David: Sharon, the oyster is often referred to as the mother of the pearl. How would you say the taking away of the pearl from the mother relates to human beings’ relationship to the environment and our tendency to rob the mother of pearls and take them for our own?

Sharon: We know that pearls are something that are very highly valued in many cultures. Not just American culture but certainly Chinese culture, European culture, and Indian culture, which is basically the same culture. They are highly valued items that are attained through painful means, through causing pain.

Even if we are not raising the pearls, the irritation has caused pain in the oyster. But that is nothing compared to the pain caused by taking the pearl out of the oyster because the oyster loses its own gift of life. But then that same pearl is relegated to this highly esteemed item. And the more pearls you have, the better off you are and the more envied and the more beautiful and all of those attributes.

I think this is an apt metaphor for what motivates most of us at this time in our culture since we don’t really think twice about the pain that is caused to others. We think more, a lot more, about what we can gain from that pain. And for the most part, the exploitation of another is not even considered in the equation. What is considered is the profit that would be made.

In fact, when we think of something as commonplace as drinking a glass of milk most of us in our culture do not even consider the exploitation involved, the enslavement of the mother cow, and that that glass of milk, just like the pearl, was obtained through tremendous suffering. And no one gained except for the person who is drinking the milk or the person who is wearing the pearls. Certainly the Mother did not gain. The Mother in the larger sense - the Mother cow did not gain, the oyster did not gain, Mother Earth did not gain.

Mother Earth does not belong to us. That is one of the major myths of our culture. We all tend to think that Mother Earth belongs to us and we are the crown of creation, and that it can’t get any better than human beings. Because of that we feel we can exploit and use her. In fact, we feel that it is our duty to use the resources of the Earth. That’s where our wealth comes from, from exploiting the Earth.

Well, I think that yoga, the ancient practices of yoga, which are older than this culture, has come into popularity at this time because we need more yogis who acknowledge that the true wealth in life is learning how to live harmoniously with Mother Earth. And the true power lies in not exploiting another but in being kind to another.

It is said that the practice of yoga has come from Lord Shiva who is called Pashipati, which means the “protector of the animal”, not the one who has dominion over them and can instruct in their exploitation. I think that at this time it is a very crucial time for all of us who share this planet and this community of life that we are beginning to see that the resources of Mother Earth are not limitless. And perhaps she doesn’t have limitless patience with us either.

For that reason, yoga is something that could be a salvation for the Earth because traditionally the yogi was always the one in their community who was the environmentalist, the vegetarian, the protector of the animals. That’s why we try our best to emphasize the yogi as the worshipper of the Goddess. And that yoga is that practice where you strive to live harmoniously with Mother Earth. And the practices of vegetarianism and environmentalism and social activism all stem from that.

Sharon: David, before you were a full-on 100% yoga practitioner you were an artist, a painter - that was your main focus. Your spiritual practice was through your expression in an artistic way. How has that changed? Has that changed?

David: I don’t feel that I am less of an artist but instead that the medium has perhaps changed. I was studying art at university in the Sixties and a big part of the explosion of consciousness in the Sixties was what was called Happenings. Within the Happenings was a multi-media event. And so the job of the artist, the coordinator of those events, was to bring in elements from many areas - music, performing arts, poetry, environmental pieces and so on - and to blend them in a way that benefited everything. So that nothing was hurt by that blending but that everything complemented everything else.

I feel that as a yoga teacher it is my job to bring together such diverse elements of a very old traditional practice into this very modern age in which we are living. To bring in aspects of technology that could better explicate these traditional practices, in the form of modern music as well as modern theatre ideas about the disappearance of the audience in true art.

What happens in a room where there is a yoga class going on is not that everyone is watching everyone else doing it but that everyone does it together. It is just like the idea of the Sixtie’s Happenings where everyone, together as a community of people interested in elevating consciousness, pulled together elements, as many means as they had, to create an atmosphere that would nurture that awakening of consciousness. And while I think that there were many naïve aspects to it I feel that what we do now is no less artistic than what I was doing then in those college days through blending diverse elements in order to create this, almost a magical atmosphere, which nurtured the highest in everyone that was there. That honored everybody’s presence. That didn’t isolate the artist as perform-er or show-er or tell-er. That understood that everyone has that within them, both the seed of creativity and also the seed of the Creatrix, where we all came from, where any true creative moment arises out of - the unformed form.

And yoga is just a little bit more direct route to the same place. So I always regard it as an artistic challenge to teach a yoga class, to make it fresh, inspiring, uplifting, and creative. All the things that it should be.

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