Jivamukti
by YogaVicki
Fame! Baby remember my name
Sharon Gannon and David Life created this famous New York City yoga institution. I first heard about Jivamukti from my yoga instructor in Boise.
Since then I've learned that Jivamukti was instrumental in bringing yoga to mainstream America. This type of yoga incorporates music, chanting, pranayama (breathing), and asanas (poses).
It's a flow practice based on the principals of devotion (bhakti yoga) and non-violence (ahimsa). As an interesting aside, David Life's cafe was featured in the musical Rent, la vie boheme!
Setting
For New York standards, there's a lot of space at this 2nd floor studio. There are multiple rooms, a small boutique shop, and a beautiful cafe with stained glass windows and dark wood tables (very chic).
The reception folks were friendly and knew exactly what to do when I told them that I registered for classes online. Kudos to JivaMukti for making it easy for their students.
The studio had light wood floors and neutral walls adorned with framed pictures of Indian deities and yoga gurus. I was in Vinyasa class for beginners. There were only 3 other people in this class, all young women.
This was surprising, considering it was a normal weekday evening in New York City.
Instruction
I was so very excited to visit this studio after reading so much about it in Yoga Journal Magazine. I'll be quite honest though, the quality of instruction was somewhat abysmal.
My instructor was a middle aged woman, articulate and adept at demonstrating the poses. From the beginning, she did not ask us if we had any injuries, which I consider imperative information for any instructor.
More unsettling was that she came around and made adjustments without asking. Even more unsettling is that these adjustments weren't just gentle suggestive touches, as they tend to be. I was mangled…painfully!
Every time the instructor came around I was nervous that she was going to make a painful adjustment. During Savasana (rest pose) there were even more surprises.
Without letting us know ahead of time, the instructor rubbed oil on our shoulders and back and gave us back massages.
I'm a huge proponent of massage, but if you're going to rub my bare skin with oil, I would like a heads up!
Practice
We began the practice by chanting. The instructor handed out little booklets that gave us the verses and English translations. After chanting, we silently dedicated the class to someone.
We started out with a breathing exercise, sun salutations and then moved on to standing poses. Since this was a beginner class, the instructor took a lot of time to explain each pose.
It wasn't as flowing as I imagined it was designed to be. Of course, that's difficult to pull off when you're teaching a beginner class of only 4 students.
I learned a valuable morsel of information about getting into headstand. Instead of standing by the wall and using it as a crutch,
the instructor had us put our weight in our arms and ease into it from the middle of the room, without using the wall as a brace. I was able to get up with my knees bent and hold it there for a few minutes.
In the last third of the practice the instructor played music with lyrical chanting, but by that point, I was really nervous about her surprise adjustments, so I couldn't appreciate it.
It's too bad, because I've recently been exploring music in my home practice and wanted to get a sense for the type of music used at Jivamukti.
I know that some yoga traditions frown upon using music, saying that it acts as a pacifier, and that only true meditation can occur in silence.
Even so, I'm having fun exploring music and yoga and how it changes my practice.
Summary
All in all, I love the concept of Jivakmukti yoga; incorporating chanting, music, breathing and flow yoga. From this one experience, I felt that the execution and quality of teaching could be improved.
This won't prevent me from going back, and trying other instructors. When I return, I'll focus on having a more meditative practice, hopefully without the distraction of "surprise" adjustments.
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