Yoga in Studio Asana

Yoga has to be transmitted in a very personal, almost intimate way. The knowledge, the feeling, the understanding is transmitted directly from body to body. Our bodies understand just by looking, by carefully observing.

The yoga postures are practiced and explained for students of all levels.

The study of anatomy and the anatomy of movement are also important and very much taken into consideration. But eventualy one understands that it is not the physical power that allows us to practice some of the more complicated postures, but something that comes from the inside when the body and the mind are calm and relaxed, and when we are in harmony with ourselves and the outer world.

Students needing more attention (information, support, or when there is a physical difficulty) are able to get what they need, and work in their own time.

The teachers in Studio Asana show the postures during the lessons, interrupting for personal correction or explanation. The students who would like to attempt the more difficult postures are stimulated to do so. With time, practice, dedication and awareness the students eventually may embrace a full advanced yoga practice with body, mind and soul.

The lineage of yoga practice in Yoga Studio Asana ascends to Sri Krishnamacharya, the great and respected teacher of Pattabhi Jois, B.K.S. Iyengar and T.K.V. Desikachar.

Same fundamental elements are necessary to describe this way. They are:

Meditation: Meditation is essential to ensure the quality of the mind during the practice of asanas and pranayamas. Meditation is one of the fundamental yoga systems, coming from a yoga tradition still alive today, and where the central form for the development of consciousness depends upon meditation and the reading of classical texts.
The vital principles during the practice: the harmony and alignment of the body; the consciousness alert to the body and to the enviroment; the concentration in delicate movements and in synchronicity with the breath; the connection to the ground and the space. In this way the movements will continue for a long period of time, and the mind will always be in union with the body.
Study: to deepen our understanding and our practice of yoga it is necessary to get introduced to and study (if only partially) the written tradition.

Vijñāna Yoga

Calling our way of practicing Vijñāna Yoga is but giving recognition to something that has always been there, something that is at the core of our discipline: practicing, feeling, understanding - from inside.
- Orit Sen Gupta

Teresa Caldas

At the age of 18 I bought my first yoga book. I was fascinated, not only by the strange poses, but more by what seemed to emanate from them. Right then, I thought I would learn yoga. However, family needs and political life took priority. When I finally went to a yoga class, I realized that I would have to search a lot to find what I really was looking for. In 1988 I came in contact with Iyengar Yoga at the Kosmos in Amsterdam. I was so enthusiastic that I soon started the Iyengar Yoga Teacher Training Course and began giving lessons. Eager with the desire to go deeper, I traveled to Poona, India to work with Mr. B.K.S. Iyengar himself.

Later I also accomplished the Four Years European Yoga teacher training Course taught by Dona Holleman and Orit Sen-Gupta.

What we pass on is the fruit of our teachers, the wisdom of our friends, the books we read, the information and the observations we gather and finally how this knowledge is absorbed and used in daily yoga/life.

In former times a guru would have only a handful of disciples during his whole lifetime. They were selected according to their background, health, religion, etc., and from an early age they were taught the art of Yoga. These gurus achieved liberation while in the confines of their bodies. They were ephemeral/ethereal and could perform the most amazing feats. The last of these great masters was Sri Krishnamacharya (1883-1987). He was the distinguished teacher and guru of Pattabhi Jois (Ashtanga Yoga), B.K.S. Iyengar (Iyengar Yoga) and T.K.V. Desicachar (Viniyoga). One could say that these three lines put together (the flow, the precision, and a state of wide heart) is what we have come today to call the Vijñāna way.

I believe that the technique of the asana is important and has to be learned. But the integration, the oneness of body mind and soul, the understanding of the landscape of the body, the calmness of the mind to be able to work with the body instead of against it, has to be felt and understood. This takes time. This took me to sit in meditation: to just be. With the meditation came the quietness of the mind, the possibility of "undoing of the body" (not to do - relaxing) and seeing beyond. Only with these elements can we go into a full and intense yoga practice with calmness of the mind, relaxed body and wide heart!

My continuous search in yoga was partially instigated by one Sutra of Patanjali: "The posture is stable and pleasant." It intrigued me tremendously, since what I felt was everything except stable and pleasant. I had to search for a long time, but it was worth the while.

We need to practice and learn from ourselves. It takes discipline and a strong will, it takes devotion which is a state of heart, and it takes believe which is something that comes with the practice and is confirmed by the practice: be it in meditation, pranayama or asana.

Finally I came to understand better the yogic texts. How to unfold them (the Upanishads, the Sutras, or others), how to see some of the hidden secrets, how to integrate such deep teachings. They opened another door to the self and to the possibility to understand a knowledge that can be infinite. I am sure that the yogi of my first book new about these secrets!

I have been teaching now for about 20 years. In October 1995 I opened my yoga studio - Studio Asana in Amsterdam.

I am very grateful to all my teachers.