Mysore Palace

Larry in Samastitihi, Pattabhi Jois adjusting a student circa 1978

Published in Common Ground Magazine

The Mysore Lineage

By Larry Schultz

To learn about Mysore yoga, you have to start at the gates of the Mysore Palace. This is where the king, Maharajah Krishna Raja Wadiyar IV, one of the richest men in India, fell ill and sought healing through yoga after conventional medicines failed. In 1924, he summoned Krishnamacharya, the well-known yoga siddha (one who has attained spiritual powers) credited with being the father of modern yoga. Krishnamacharya ably healed the maharajah and was rewarded with running the Ayurvedic college of Bassaragu.

            At the college, Krishnamacharya attracted many famous students, including K. Pattabhi Jois, who had already run away from home to find a yoga master. The year was 1932, and Jois was 17 at the time. During Jois’ studies with Krishnamacharya, they discovered a manuscript at the library in Calcutta called the Yoga Kurunta. A bundle of palm leaves, it contained a series of poses for beginner, intermediate and advanced levels. This bundle birthed what is now recognized as the Ashtanga Vinyasa system of yoga, the basis of Jois’ teaching method.

            Ashtanga means “eight limbs” in Sanskrit and refers to the eight-limbed path based on the yoga sutras of Patanjali. The Ashtanga Vinyasa system that Jois developed over time focused on the third and fourth limb, stringing together a meditative garland of poses with breath and motion.

            After many years as a householder and teacher within the palace, Jois eventually left to form his first yoga shala (school), where he developed a particular approach that would become known as “Mysore style” for the Indian city where Jois lived. Instead of teacher-led classes, the Mysore approach placed students of varying levels into the same warm room to practice at their own pace. The teacher’s role was to monitor and provide individual adjustments.

            In 1972, David Williams, an American yogi based in Maui, was visiting India when he witnessed a yoga demonstration by a young man who turned out to be Pattabhi Jois’ son Manju. Williams was impressed. He quickly packed his bags for Mysore, where he waited for two weeks on the steps of Jois’ house before being admitted as the first non-Indian student.

            Three years later, Williams organized Jois’ first trip to the U.S. (Encinitas, California), and thus began the official spread of Mysore style Ashtanga yoga. Williams himself is responsible for teaching the system to many of today’s leading teachers, including David Swenson, Danny Paradise, Bryan Kest, Tracy Rich, Chuck Miller and Maty Ezraty. Eventually the practice would attract celebrities such as Madonna, Sting, Paul Simon, Gwyneth Paltrow, Bob Weir, Mickey Hart, Phil Lesh, Chris Botti, Gwen Stefani, Mikey D of the Red Hot Chili Peppers and many more. For all students, celebrity or otherwise, the training is identical.

            In the late 1970s, Pattabhi Jois continued to travel with his wife to the States.

My life changed quite perchance when Jois first visited Austin, Texas, where I was living. Immediately, tutelage ensued for a group of us who lived and practiced together at the home of Stan and Johanna Heffner, who were proud to be hosting “the best asana teacher in the world.” It was a great time of learning and discovery, as Jois and his wife would return to Austin every year to advance the teachings.

            But every year, as Jois would prepare his return to India, the question resurfaced as to who would teach us in his absence. One day, I raised my hand and said I would teach. Many of my peers laughed, saying that I couldn’t teach.

            “Why?” I asked. “I’ve been here as long as you have.”

            “You can’t do everything perfectly,” they replied.

            “Oh yeah,” I remarked, “I forgot that part.”

            Suffice it to say that it took me another seven years of practice to complete the first series and perfect all 72 poses. I opened the first Ashtanga yoga center, called It’s Yoga, in San Francisco in 1989, where I continue to teach.

            With heavy heart, I commemorate my late guruji Pathabhi Jois, who passed on May 18. I suggest that the greatness of the man is measured by his legacy. For not only did he inspire me, he was instrumental in carrying on a tradition instilled in him by the late great Krishnamacharya. This mystical lineage has inspired us to become greater than we would ever have been.

Larry Schultz founded It’s Yoga in San Francisco in 1989 and helped launch 20 other Ashtanga yoga schools around the country. He is credited for developing a variation called the Rocket Vinyasa System (named by Grateful Dead guitarist Bob Weir), which instructs 66 poses in 75 minutes and is said to “get you there faster