MY SECOND MOST SIGNIFICANT YOGA TEACHER, MICHELE NICHOLS

Right after Thanksgiving 2000 I had just returned from Rancho Le Puerta and woke up early thinking I would like to go to yoga. We lived 45 minutes out of Santa Barbara on a ranch. It required driving down switchbacks to get to the freeway. So by the time I got into town, parked, and made it to the Santa Barbara Yoga Center I was determined to take a class. The only class going on was Ashtanga Mysore.

I kind of knew what Ashtanga was. I’d been doing yoga for 2 ½ years (starting at age 47 and I had just turned 50). But it was extremely intimidating to walk into the studio and see people self-practicing, doing stuff that looked about as doable as Cirque du Soleil.

Michele Nichols and her then boyfriend (later husband) Steve Dwelley (who I will write about next) were the instructors. Michele got me set up and explained that everyone practices at their own level in Ashtanga. “I am happy to teach you the primary series,” she said. “But we ask that you commit or we don’t want to spend the time with you.”

I agreed and got ½ through the practice in that session. Even though I could not do most of the poses very well, and ended up sweaty, with sore muscles, I was hooked.

Ashtanga is the traditional form of yoga from which commercialized “hot” and “flow” yoga practices are derived. It’s taught as a system that begins with the primary series—the same poses in sequence—and works through six series. I am not sure is there is a living person doing the sixth series, but I’m fairly certain that that level involves levitation and becoming invisible (just kidding!—but not really . . . .) Suffice it to say if you’ve reached that level you are no longer mortal.

The reason the practice is referred to as Mysore-style Ashtanga is that was the home of the late Sri K. Pattabhi Jois, also known as Guriji, who as a young man learned the Ashtanga sequences from his guru Krishnamacharya and carried out his teachings in his home town of Mysore, India at the Ashtanga Research Institute. There Westerners flocked to learn the practice under Guruji’s tutelage until May 18, 2009 when he died at the age of 93. Guruji’s mantle has been passed to his grandson Sharath.

Ashtanga focuses on the breath called ujjayi pranayama, which is coordinated (linked) with movement and asanas that lead you into a meditative state. Of all the types of yoga practices, Ashtanga is perhaps the most injurious and so, as I explained in my previous yoga post, you end up with an endorphin high, thus the addictive quality.

In Ashtanga the eyes focus on a “drishti” a meditative point of reference whether it be your hands or navel. This helps develop the meditative focus throughout your practice.

“Bandhas” (energetic locks) are practiced to foster awareness and generate internal energy and heat. During practice the lifting of your pelvic floor, called “mulabhanda” and the drawing up of your lower abdomen, called “uddiyana bandha” also provides strength, heat, and energy. These techniques provide stability throughout your practice.

Shortly after I began practicing with Michele I asked her if she had read the New Yorker article about Ashtanga, and she replied, “Yes, I read it, and that’s me in the photograph.”

Why was I not surprised? You can read more about Michele and her dance background on her website. Michele was close to Guruji for good reason, as she is the real thing. Before the birth of her twins (and she didn’t know she was having twins until they were born), she told me, “I was practicing standing backbends until two weeks before I gave birth. But I gave it up then because it didn’t feel that good anymore.” Okay, most of us could not even DO a standing backbend without help much less being nine months pregnant with twins.

Michele has been an inspiration to me and I consider her a teacher for life. Thank you Michele for all you taught me about Ashtanga yoga.

Om Shanti.

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