Patanjala Yoga Shala - Mysore
I originally went to Mysore to study Ashtanga Vinyasa Yoga at the Sri K Pattabhi Jois Ashtanga Yoga Institute (KPJAYI), following in the footsteps of my teachers. I heard so many incredible stories about Sri K Pattabhi Jois that I wanted to come to the source and practice with the guru. After he recently stopped teaching, I went to visit another senior teacher in Mysore, BNS Iyengar who, like Pattabhi Jois studied under Krishnamacharya, the grandfather of modern yoga. I liked the idea of studying with ‘older men’ in their 80s and 90s because I felt that they would have a lot to share having been on the yoga path for decades. I also wanted to study pranayama, yoga philosophy, the inner limbs of Ashtanga, and not focus exclusively on asana as they do at KPJAYI.
I’d heard of BNS Iyengar from some of my ‘eastern’ European yoga pals who couldn’t afford the tuition at KPJAYI and had raved about the old man. I also heard that the Parakal Mutt, where his studio, Patanjala Yogashala, is located was the original place where Krishnamacharya taught both Pattabhi Jois and the ‘other’ famous Iyengar – BKS Iyengar. BNS Iyengar, himself, told me that Krishnamacharya taught there, but he might have meant that he studied there when his great-grandfather was the Pontiff of the Parakala Math. (Not sure why it’s now called Parakal Mutt.)
Some say that the Parakal Mutt isn’t where they were taught, that Krishnamacharya taught in the old Sanskrit college. In any case, Patanjala Yogashala is on the top floor of a beautiful old building, part of the Jagamohan Palace, which it shares with a prominent Vishnu temple, and several smaller shrines in the back. It is a hive of Brahmin activity and has a good energy that supports the yoga.
In our first conversation, BNS Iyengar spoke of death and said that yoga is training for our own death. I liked him instantly. He had an aura of integrity and intellectual weight, laced with faith and devotion. No pussy-footing around; no Californian sugar-coated yoga here. He was deep into the traditional path to raise the kundalini and attain enlightenment. This is what I had come to hear. Sure, I’d read about it in the yoga texts, but here was someone who was believer and a practitioner of the ancient yoga path. Patanjala Yogashala is a gritty place where most of the practitioners are Indians. In fact, there were only 5 westerners studying asana. I signed up immediately and began a practice of asana, pranayama and kundalini philosophy to put it all in context.
There is much lore about contemporary Ashtanga practice in Mysore, so much so that it’s become almost religious with students fervently espousing dogma about the merits of their own particular school. Some people are adamant that Sri K Pattabhi Jois invented the Ashtanga series as we know it in the west, while others say he and Krishnamacharya found it written down on old papyrus leaves that were conveniently destroyed. We know that Krishnamacharya continued to refine his yoga techniques through the decades.
BNS Iyengar studied with both of them and says he teaches in the ’old school’ style of Krishmacharya that involves stepping to the left in the Primary Series, rather than to the right as they do at KPJAYI. He says Pattabhi Jois changed it for westerners, as well as adding extra vinyasas between each side of the asanas to make it harder. The BNS method also includes a few extra asanas that supposedly Sri K Pattabhi Jois edited out of the original sequence. I figure Pattabhi Jois can do what he likes. He often said, "more research necessary" as he made subtle changes to the practice.
All this, of course, is hard to verify and is curious since BNS considers Pattabhi Jois to be his ‘guru’ and studied asana under his tutelage when Krishmacharya left Mysore in 1950 when the generous funds of the Maharaja of Mysore ended due to British rule. (The new minister of Mysore did not consider yoga important and the school was closed within 3 months.) Nancy Gilgoff also verified that Pattabhi Jois was teaching the series to the right when she met him in the 70s and, at that time, the Indian students in the class were also doing it the same way.
There is always controversy shifting from one school to another but I have great respect for most the aged teachers who have devoted a life to yoga. I hope that the dissemination of Krishnamacharya’s teachings through all his illustrious students will lead me to my own enlightenment. Ultimately, the guru lies within.
To contact Sri BNS Iyengar, SEE HERE