May 8, 2008

Yoga boot camp
A trip to India charges up local instructor
By Alec O'Meara aomeara@hippopress.com

Contocook native Asa Dustin, owner of the At Om Yoga Studio in Concord and the newly opened Shakti Flow studio in Manchester, recently returned from a three-and-a-half-month sabbatical in India, where he trained with a high-ranking guru. Dustin hopes to take the philosophies he learned from his trip and implement them in his classes to sretch not only the bodies of his clients, but their souls as well.

Q:What is the soul of yoga?
Basically it is a non-dualistic philosophy, so it is a belief that all things are interconnected. … That recognition allows one and inspires one to live in a way that honors all beings.

In the 10 years you’ve studied yoga, when did it change from something you do to something that is a way of life for you?
Very quickly. I fell in love with the asanas [yoga postures] first, as most of us do, because it makes you feel so good physically. Eventually, when you are healthy and strong, you don’t need to focus on yourself so much. Once you are healthy, you can offer yourself to help others.

How intense was your training in India?
Fairly intense. I mean, it’s all day, every day. It is really a way of life. You wake up with your mantras and you do all sorts of different harmonious practices, asana, the study of scripture and philosophy. It is kind of my practice to try and bring these potentially inaccessible ideas back and make them accessible to every contemporary Western practitioner.

Does it bother you at all that there’s a real commercial aspect to yoga today? That there are people who see the fitness aspect and not much else?
I think that is an introduction to it, and that is important. That is how a lot of people get introduced to yoga, as a form of fitness. But inevitably, if your teachers are conscious of it, then the practices that allow you to be a more positive force in the world will instill themselves. So even though there is a commercialization of yoga ... in the end, that can only serve the population.

How is the culture different in India?
It’s very quickly becoming Americanized, actually. The Indian culture is moving towards a more Western paradigm, which is interesting in comparison to the explosion of yoga here, as there is more of an interest in the Eastern paradigm, so there’s kind of an evening out going on. It really depends on where you go in India. There is devastating tragic poverty, but in that material lack, there is a spiritual wealth that is unparalleled and very inspiring. That despite the poverty, there is an abundance of happiness, which I think is unique. I’m very tempted to contrast it to here, in that there is a lot of poverty but not the same kind of happiness. I think that stems from an ability to look to within and not to look to external things to complete them.

Give me an idea of yoga’s place in Indian culture.
They are very steeped in it for most of their lives, generally speaking. There are specific scriptures and texts that are very effective learning tools, especially for children, because the deities are very colorful and the stories are kind of wild. But it is a much different thing. The asana is a very different thing there. People aren’t doing as much posturing yoga. There is instead an abundance of devotional yoga. … Many practices in different faiths can be seen as yoga, whether it be praying in church or singing in the choir. From the perspective of a yogi, that is yoga. Anything you do with mindfulness and a higher intention is yoga.

What was your mental state after a full day of this kind of training?
Very heightened. All of the senses are very clear and vivid. The consciousness is very clear. Physically, it is very energizing. In fact, a lot of the practices can take the place of sleep. You don’t have to sleep as much anymore to have the same level of energy, and the clarity of consciousness allows for the path to be very clear. To know what to do next, from a very intuitive and heartfelt place, becomes very apparent when you’ve been doing practices.

The people who come to study yoga with you, is it a physical activity or a mental one?
Oh both, definitely. It is at first very physical and a lot of fun, challenging, but accessible. My intention is to honor the tradition of yoga while fostering its evolution in that we are taking a lot of those practices and taking the most effective aspects and weaving that into one 90-minute class. Most of that is posturing, but we do some meditation and work in some breath work and scripture and philosophy.

How many of your students do you think get it to the level you are talking about?
Hard to say. All of them, I guess, or they wouldn’t come back. Or they just want a really good workout, I suppose, which is fine too and perfectly valid.
— Alec O’Meara