2025

The Power of Celebrating Small Victories in a Supportive Community

A friend sent to me so now I share with you

27

7.15 Miles
at sunset

2014

Okay, let’s talk about Ashtanga yoga, or rather, what it’s become in the hands of the market.

I’ve often spoken about systems and how they behave, and what I see happening with Ashtanga, particularly on platforms like Instagram, is a classic example of a distortion of purpose within a system.

We have a practice, Ashtanga, that by its very nature demands discipline, patience, and internal focus – tools for transformation and self-realization. It’s designed to help us understand ourselves and regulate our nervous systems, to feel better from the inside out.

Yet, what we often see is a system, driven by commercial imperatives, that reduces it to a “visual commodity.” Suddenly, it’s about aesthetics, hyperflexible bodies, and “bite-sized” content.

This isn’t the whole picture, is it? It’s a feedback loop where what’s easily digestible and visually appealing gets amplified, even if it sacrifices the true essence.

Even I, in my own work, might find myself in a situation where I’m participating in the very system I critique, currently running an ad and using my six-pack (fleeting though she may be) as a vehicle for presenting information to get people into yoga and meditation.

That’s the challenge of working within complex systems – there’s often a degree of complicity just by being a part of them. But the critical point is to always remember the true goal of the system.

Ashtanga, despite these external pressures and misrepresentations, persists. Why? Because, as with any truly effective system, it works. It provides real self-love and deep understanding for those willing to commit and dig deeper. It’s a powerful reminder that while external pressures can distort and simplify, the underlying purpose and effectiveness of a well-designed system can still endure for those who seek its authentic benefits.

Come practice.

If you can quit ashtanga, you never started.

This implies that the asana and sequence are what make it authentic— get a grip. Authenticity in Ashtanga Yoga isn’t owned by a family’s sequence.

This is an indigenous insight practice.

It’s a living system.
Held up by people all over the world.
Taught in basements, bedrooms, clubs, and community halls.
Passed down not just by bloodline, but by commitment.

Yes—social media can flatten it, can turn philosophy into posture.
But it can also connect, educate, expand access.
It’s not the platform.
It’s how we use it.

I don’t have to code switch to belong here.
Queer, white, scrappy, tall, vain, neurospicy—I practice.
That’s the thread.
Study. Integrity. Self-reflection. Daily tools.
They make us easier to be around.

That’s the real flex.
And that’s what keeps Ashtanga alive.

#ashtangayoga #authenticyoga #mysorestyle #livingtradition #yogaphilosophy #yogaispractice #systemsnotstyles

WTF is an Ashtanga Influencer?

The internet is creating celebrities instead of role models— and it sounds more Bravo Housewife than it does richard alpert at harvard.

Being visible doesn’t mean being knowledgable.

Having followers doesn’t mean having integrity.
And floating in handstand doesn’t make you a leader.

Influence isn’t wisdom.
Popularity isn’t pedagogy.
Pretty doesn’t equal prepared.

Teaching Ashtanga—really teaching it—takes time, mentorship, oversight, and a commitment to serve.

Not just perform.

And definitely not to posture. How much “peer support” is really a marketing/influence tactic?

We’ve already seen what happens when charisma outpaces ethics. Look around. They physical embodiments of this read are taking money out if the hands of local economies and putting it in their own. Its Ashtanga Amyway, and if youre buying, your supplying. Ask any one of my chilean or argentinian ashtanga friends. Theyll tell you how global white teachers fuck their marketplace.

Lets hear it for one more sexual impropriety!

Ashtanga Yoga is a wisdom tradition.
A system of tools to help you show up better, live better, lead better.

We don’t need more influencers.
We need better leaders.

Support your local Ashtanga shala.

#ashtangayoga #yogaintegrity #ethicsinleadership #notjustasana #ashtangawisdom #yogaisasystem #truthmatters

Ashtanga Yoga isn’t fragile—
But the system that tried to contain it? That one cracked.

When leadership is centralized, the whole thing topples with a single loss.

When authority is gatekept, the system can’t adapt.

But Mysore-style was always meant to be self-practice.

Passed hand to hand.

From one dedicated practitioner to another.

You breathe, you move, you grow.

Someone notices. They ask.

Suddenly, you’re teaching.

No fanfare. No certification ceremony.

Just the work.

Decentralization isn’t the death of tradition.
It’s how it survives.

#decentralizedashtanga #ashtangayoga #mysorestyle #globalsangha #selfpractice #notfragile #theyogaclub

24 years on “who here wit dey bes’ fren”

friday
night
favorites

Chasing perfect alignment in Ashtanga is a trap. The body is not a static structure. It is a living system that changes daily. Fixating on an idealized form can absolutely lead to strain, frustration, and duh injury.

Turning the practice into some sort of like rigid stick that has a sharp edge rather than a dynamic process of growth. Alignment should serve internal balance, not just external aesthetic. Forcing form can cause harm. Alignment should support the body, not push it into shapes. It isn't ready for.

Go team!

My city is under occupation by an armed, masked, Military.

Its not a joke.

I’m watching people get pulled from scooters and beaten them outside of my window on a daily basis

2010

distractions

Article by: Karl Dalén
Photo by: Jason Andrew
for @dagens_nyheter — Sweden’s largest newspaper

Narrated by me, translated by openAi.

Long time Mysore Style Ashtanga Yoga teachers — the ones who have been teaching consecutively for a decade or more— what have you learned?

Long time Ashtanga Yoga Teachers who no longer teach, why not? Please share in the comments.

Resharing because I havent had many teachers respond

a powerful answer from my friend/first apprentice

this is what maggie was responding to.

I love that someone saw this and thought of me