Most of us, if not all, have experienced desire in our lives that led us on a quest. We feel strongly drawn to something so much so that we look for traces and clues that will lead us along to the next step in our journey. Maybe we have an endpoint in mind that marks having fulfilled that desire such as wanting to become and then becoming, a yoga teacher. Maybe we just want to immerse ourselves in the world of that particular desire.
Desire is often seen in a negative light. Our desires can lead us astray, down hedonistic, unhealthy paths. This is true. But, it is equally true that desire can be the rocket fuel that propels us along towards wonderful accomplishments. In my own case this has played out many times to my benefit including and especially my deep attraction to yoga. Very early on in my practice, I was “bitten by the bug” and bitten pretty hard. I knew I wanted to explore yoga deeply and becoming a teacher was an excellent way to do just that.
There are many practitioners with decades’ long yoga practices who are willing to share their journey…their search. David Williams is one such journeyman. He recently published a book called “My Search for Yoga” which I read from cover to cover upon receipt. I’m now in my second, more thoughtful reading and in this post, I’d like to share a little about this inspiring volume.
First a little background as to why I wanted to read this book: There are a handful of folks, now in their 70’s who went to India in the early 1970’s in their early twenties as seekers of spirituality and or yoga. David was one of these folks. In the early chapters of his book, it is 1970 and he experiences his first yoga class at the Atlanta International Pop Festival. This leaves a lasting impression upon him. Through a series of events and repeated encounters with different people who are doing yoga, in 1971, he decides to go to India to find the “real yoga”. At the time, this involved getting to Europe, making your way to Turkey and then taking the overland trip through Iran, Afghanistan, and Pakistan to get to India. To say that his travel adventures are interesting is an understatement. Once in India, he does not have immediate success finding the “real yoga”. He ends up traveling from the west to the east and finally towards the southeast part of the country to find a teacher that seems to fit the bill. He and his girlfriend end up in an ashram where they study for several months until their visas expire and they have to go home. He returns home but wants to get back to India as soon as he has enough money.
His second overland trip to India began in the summer of 1973. He makes his way back to the same ashram by October. But, things there do not work out. The swami ends up being a big disappointment and he leaves. David has heard of another teacher in Mysore that seems promising. With his then girlfriend, Nancy Gilgoff, he heads there. That teacher was Patabi Jois, more commonly known as “Guruji”. David is able to convince Jois to take them as his students and they commit to the training. Jois teaches Ashtanga yoga which is comprised of four different set practices of about 40 postures each: Primary, Intermediate, Advanced A and Advanced B. While most people don’t get past the Intermediate series, David has his heart set on learning all four of the practices. He devoted himself to the practice.
Unfortunately, at the end of his second trip and at the last class with Jois, Jois gives David a hands on assist that results in a serious injury to David’s back. While David believes in the practice and goes onto continue practicing everyday (now for over 50 years), he shifts his perspective about Jois. In a recent lecture I attended given by David, he classifies Jois as his yoga coach and not his guru. He explains that his real guru was a friend named Bootie who taught him that “Your only limitation is your imagination”. This idea spurred him on in his journey to become a yogi.
David’s search for yoga as described in the book ends at chapter one hundred and seventy with his learning the last posture of the Advanced B practice in June of 1977. At that time, he was the only person practicing the complete Ashtanga Yoga Syllabus.
David’s journey as he has described it is an amazing story. Woven into the story are many nuggets of knowledge that are now informing my own practice as well as future blog posts here.
There is a poster that David produced of himself in all of the postures of the four series. When I ordered the book a few months ago, I ordered the poster too. It came beautifully packaged by David himself. I was unsure what I should do with it. At first, it was just pictures of this young man performing the poses — some of them probably will never be within my reach to replicate in my body. I considered simply folding the poster up and using it as reference material. Folded, it would be easy to transport. But, then, after I read the book, I decided to have it framed which I knew would be rather expensive because the poster is quite large. I’m waiting for it to come back from the framers now. I know where it is going to hang. I no longer see it as just pictures of poses. I now see the poster as a statement of David’s search and while I can’t get my body into some those shapes, I understand and connect with the desire that propelled David to immerse himself so deeply into yoga and then to share his experiences with us. I am immensely grateful for these gifts and the inspiration they have brought to my practice.
Very well written!! Our quest never ends fully in my opinion – I still reread all my yoga texts regularly and each time pick up another nugget.