top of page
Search

Interview with Manju Pattabhi Jois

Alexandra Molnar

The interview was conducted by Istvan Malik Toth one of my teachers and is shared with his permission

 

Ashtanga Yoga is becoming more and more popular. What is your opinion about this phenomenon? Is it good, bad or both?


Manju P. Jois: Well, it is scary, actually. Because in Ashtanga Yoga there are a lot of wrong hands now. And they are making always rules, regulations, abusing my father’s name a lot. You know, it iscompletely not true. My father was a very generous man. He never said you have to finish this to learn this one. He was giving the yoga postures and stuff like that like giving children all the toys so that they can play. That’s the way he taught all of us. And now it is becoming more and more like strict rules, kind of brainwashing, control, you know, all these things are happening. So when this continues, the Ashtanga Yoga is going to lose its value, which is already happening. All I am trying to do is to try to teach it the way it was. It was much more lovable and enjoyable than all these things. So that’s the scary part of it. Everybody is making his own rules and regulations, and that’s not going to be very helpful for the people, because they think Ashtanga is something really rigid or something like that. They are giving the wrong information. So I’d like to keep it…, I’d love to sit down and talk about things, I’m not afraid to say anything, because I know where it is coming from, I know where I had learnt from, I know how it was when I was learning. That’s the same thing. I’d like people to enjoy it instead of getting involved in all these politics about yoga.



Although Ashtanga Yoga comes from India, most teachers now are Westerners. What do you think about this?


Manju P. Jois: In the West all is about business, but not in the East, because there they don’t make a business out of yoga. Because it is a sacred thing. That’s why in the West people practice yoga but they are still confused, because they are not going to the bottom of it. Everybody wants to make money, and then they want to become famous. That’s what they are fighting for. If you want to go deeper you should not have all these ideas in your head that ‘Oh yeah, I am a famous yoga teacher’. So if you don’t stop doing that, it will never going to work. There’ll be still the same.



Is it true that Ashtanga was designed for the young members of the royal family, so it is for the warriors?


Manju P. Jois: Oh, no, no, no. It was for everybody. Ashtanga is discipline, actually. Asana, pranayama, pratyahara, dhyana, dharana, samadhi; these are all the steps. It is open for everybody. And some say this, but I don’t know where it comes from. Everybody does yoga in India, you know. They practice yoga and they have a shrine in their home, they practice yoga, they do yoga, they worship their shrine, and they go on with their life. They don’t talk about it, because it is part of their life.



You are the eldest son of the Ashtanga Guru, Pattabhi Jois. You are the main figure of the so called ’old school’, with a distinct approach and teaching style from that of the Mysore Institute. What do you see as the main difference between the old school and the Mysore Institute?


Manju P. Jois: The old school was very enjoyable. There were no complications, there was no controlling, they didn’t hide anything, or gave it only to some. It was very enjoyable. That’s what we liked about it, that’s why we were able to learn there. You know, my father would tell a story and you got attracted to the story, and you would listen and say ‘oh, that’s beautiful’. The stories were from Ramayana, Mahabharata, for example, how strong Bhima was, all sorts of thing. When you hear all the stories, it is quite an inspiration, actually they are inspiring you, they are not forcing you. And when inspired, you get interested, ‘oh yeah, I can do that’. Then we all enjoyed it – practicing yoga. There was no big deal. There was no fear. You were not afraid of your teacher because he was very gentle, humble, happy, and smiled. It wasn’t like a... it wasn’t cracking or anything. But now in the new school they are very, very cracking. People go there, they pay so much money, they learn nothing. They try to make yoga more and more a dogma, which is not good. So that’s the dangerous part of the whole thing. As I always say, yoga is its own subject, a very deep subject. They don’t understand what yoga is all about, that we have to go deeper and deeper and deeper into it. If you don’t do it… It’s like for example when I go and do the training or something like that and I ask people if they have any questions, you can see that their mind is set on asanas. Their mind is set on ‘when I’m gonna do the second series, when I’m gonna do the third series’. Their mind is more focused on the asana. I want them to change that, so let’s try to go more into learning the philosophy of yoga. It’s much more beneficial. Then they understand, ‘okay, this is the way how to learn’.



You started to practice yoga at a very young age. Where there later periods in your life when you stopped practicing for some time?


Manju P. Jois: I stop practicing only when I’m travelling.



How is your ordinary day [when you travel]? What do you practice?


Manju P. Jois: I just like to get up in the morning, take a shower, do two-three postures and relax, rest, have a

cup of coffee, and go to work.



Meditation is an integral part of yoga. There is no formal meditation in Ashtanga Yoga. How is meditation built in the practice?


Manju P. Jois: Actually in Ashtanga Yoga all the asanas you practice are called meditation actually. Namaskara. When you hear the namaskara, that is called the meditation. So actually you are meditating, but you don’t know it. It is already there.



Have you changed anything in your father’s system?


Manju P. Jois: Not a thing, no.



How would you summarize the main teaching of Ashtanga Yoga?


Manju P. Jois: Just practice. Practice without expectations. That’s what I would say.




34 views0 comments

Comments


bottom of page