Guest guest Posted September 28, 2008 Report Share Posted September 28, 2008 Hi, I've been practicing ashtanga yoga for a few years and am interested in deepening my practice. Now I'm practicing the primary series 6-days a week, 5-days with a teacher (Mysore-style with 5-10 other students). I was considering planning a trip to Mysore, but I wanted to know what peoples' experiences where going there lately. I heard that Sharath mostly teaches and there are over 60 students in the class. This seems like a lot for one person to go around and make adjustments to. Also, how long would a first visit generally be? If you practice in the morning, what do you do for the rest of the day? How much does it cost to stay in Mysore? Most of all I would just like to hear people's stories/thoughts/feelings and general experiences when going to Mysore (recently). Thanks for sharing! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted September 29, 2008 Report Share Posted September 29, 2008 Hi  I've been in Mysore for months and it's an amazing experience. Sharath teaches over 60 students as you say, but he's most of the time helped by his mother, Saraswati, who is also an excellent teacher and has her own class mostly for beginners.  The energy in the shala is wonderful and Sharath is the god of Ashtanga yoga, he's able to adjust lot of people (though we are not all at the same time since the first people start a 4:45am and the last at 7am or something, in July it was so crowded that some students started at nearly 9am !). He knows exactly where everybody is and when they need an adjustement, and when they have to stop. He seems to remember the name of most students. He knows if you have missed one class even in July when we were maybe 200 students ! I think he has a special charism, and just being near him is a gift.  The energy in the shala is so amazing that it helps you to improve. It's important to come with a positive and loyal mind (in the respect of the tradition of Parampara), because you truly get what you expect form you practice and the shala. I came with an open mind although I was a bit skeptikal about studying with 70 or 80 people, I was not sure if I would stay more than one month and I have done 5 months here !  Your visit should be at least one month, but its even better if you can stay 3 or 4 months. I have met some people who could stay only 2 weeks and in this case they were sent with Saraswati, who has her own class just after him. The advantage to study with her is that she has fewer students (maybe a dozen) and so you will get more attention. She's also amazing, she at more than 65 years's old, she teaches 7 days a week. she helps her son every morning at 4.45 than she teaches her own class, and then she teaches again some indians in the afternoon !  The rest of the days, you have many opportunities, you can learn chanting and sanskrit with Lakshmish or with Jayashre, yoga sutras philosophy and TM meditation with Nahasima, take a traditional Mysore painting class, find a class of music, reading (its easy to find very good yoga books here), giving your time to teach english (freely) to defavorised kids of fundraising for charities, you can go to the swimming pool, learn ayurvedic massage...there's many things to do. On Friday evening there's Kirtan (devotionnal chanting) in some places. Sharath gives every sunday a conference where you can ask questions.  For the money, you can spend very much or very little, a room is around INR6000/month but you can find more or less expensive. I spend about 200/day for my meals but I eat out and I go mostly to places for the westerners, you can spend less if you cook or go to Indian places. A rickshaw driver costs you 40 roupies to go to the city for example, if you go in bus you would pay 7 roupies !  Hope it helps --- On Sun, 28/9/08, earthsky30 <earthsky30 wrote: earthsky30 <earthsky30 ashtanga yoga Experiences in Mysore ashtangayoga Sunday, 28 September, 2008, 9:37 PM Hi, I've been practicing ashtanga yoga for a few years and am interested in deepening my practice. Now I'm practicing the primary series 6-days a week, 5-days with a teacher (Mysore-style with 5-10 other students). I was considering planning a trip to Mysore, but I wanted to know what peoples' experiences where going there lately. I heard that Sharath mostly teaches and there are over 60 students in the class. This seems like a lot for one person to go around and make adjustments to. Also, how long would a first visit generally be? If you practice in the morning, what do you do for the rest of the day? How much does it cost to stay in Mysore? Most of all I would just like to hear people's stories/thoughts/ feelings and general experiences when going to Mysore (recently). Thanks for sharing! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted September 29, 2008 Report Share Posted September 29, 2008 mysore has a good environment to practise yoga its tiny and quite u knw even tought its getting developped nowadays...... anything else just ask..... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted September 30, 2008 Report Share Posted September 30, 2008 Awesome! Thanks so much Barbara (and sonshine)for taking the time to tell me your Mysore story- it sounds like a really positive place. I'm still saving money to go because I'd like to go for an extended time (at least 3 months) to really delve into it. After reading your posts it makes me really motivated to keep saving up! It's nice to hear that even though there are alot of people (and alot of energy too on the positive side!) that Sharath is aware and attentive. Very inspirational. love earth & sky Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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