Could not help it, I had not found it when I first wrote the eight stories, but here is the ninth one, and one that I adore:
On the 1950's T.K. was teaching yoga in a college in Chennai, but there was a difference of opinion with the management as of how he should be teaching.
[My note here: What was the management thinking?!!!]
Anyway, Krishnamacharya was not willing to compromise on his teachings and the management threatened to dismiss him. Tirumalai said to them: "Very well, I will have more time for my own practice"
I'll tell you why I love the story, it is because Tirumalai was so sure of his mission, so certain on the benefits of yoga, so trusting that life would take care of him with or without the college that he just followed the only directive worth following, that of his own spirit.
Gotta love the man.
There are a LOT more stories in the A.G. Mohan book
, a really good read.
What is your favorite story from the book or from any other source about Tirumalai?
RELATED POST
The Other 8 Short Stories about Krishnamacharya
On the 1950's T.K. was teaching yoga in a college in Chennai, but there was a difference of opinion with the management as of how he should be teaching.
[My note here: What was the management thinking?!!!]
Anyway, Krishnamacharya was not willing to compromise on his teachings and the management threatened to dismiss him. Tirumalai said to them: "Very well, I will have more time for my own practice"
I'll tell you why I love the story, it is because Tirumalai was so sure of his mission, so certain on the benefits of yoga, so trusting that life would take care of him with or without the college that he just followed the only directive worth following, that of his own spirit.
Gotta love the man.
There are a LOT more stories in the A.G. Mohan book
, a really good read. What is your favorite story from the book or from any other source about Tirumalai?
RELATED POST
The Other 8 Short Stories about Krishnamacharya
Claudia
ReplyDeleteFirst of all Hatha Yoga ( or Physical Yoga ) is a vast subject and has many dimensions to it and this Physical Yoga is only a part of the larger subject called Movement therapy and no one can be considered to be a "real deal" including Krishnamacharya and the only real deal is Lord Shiva the father of all Yogas .Coming to the point regarding Lineage ,I consider that today Lineage is considered more as a form of Branding or to hold monopoly . Sri Krishnamacharya never did such a thing but kept himself innovating and changing his approach according to the times ,situations as well as with respect to the students to whom he taught .Each and every student took one aspect of his teachings and refined it in their own ways and that is why you see a vast difference by way each senior students of Krishnamacharya teaching in a different way i.e Desikachar - a gentle approach , BKS Iyengar - focus on static yoga with emphasis on alignmnet , Pattabhi Joise - focus on Dynamic yoga with intense vinyasas to produce heat etc and all of them claim to follow Krishnamacharya lineage .There are still others like A.G.Mohan and Srivatsa Ramaswamy who have studied with Krishnamacharya but who are not known much and they too have their own unique styles .
Kindly note that each and every student of Krishnamacharya is only representing one phase of his teaching and no one can claim to represent all that he had to offer .
Even Krishnamacharya in spite of his great knowledge on yoga could not solve everyone's problem and as an example the great maverick Guru U.G. Krishnamurti when he went to Sri Krishnamacharya to solve his physical problem he got frustrated by the yoga as taught by Krishnamcharya and left him and took to Tai Chi where he found better relief for his problems .
So let us not consider any one as the real deal . Except almighty Lord Shiva all humans on earth are only representative of one small aspect of the divine knowledge called Yoga .We need to pay our respects to these human masters for protecting , preserving and nurturing one aspect of yoga but if we keep worshiping them as the "Be All and Know All of Yoga " then I am sorry that we are missing out on the much larger picture and will end up with disappointment as life is multi dimensional and it will not help those who stick to a uni dimensional approach to things .
maybe one can say then, "among humans, Krishnamacharya is the real deal"
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