Gannon - Yoga Assists

All rights reserved, including without limitation the right to reproduce this ebook or any portion thereof in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of the publisher.

Caution : The yoga practices in this book are to be undertaken only under the guidance of a certified Jivamukti Yoga teacher. Consult your physician before beginning this or any yoga program. The instructions in this book are in no way intended as a substitute for medical counseling. The authors disclaim any liability for loss, personal or otherwise, resulting from the procedures in this book.

Copyright 2013 by Sharon Gannon and David Life

Designed and illustrated by David Life

All photographs 2012 by Guzman except as noted

ISBN: 978-1-4976-6523-1

This edition published in 2014 by Open Road Integrated Media, Inc.

180 Maiden Lane

New York, NY 10038

www.openroadmedia.com

Go Vegan!

The world that the ancient Buddhist teacher Shantideva speaks of will be all of ours to sharea realitywhen all of us can extend kindness and compassion to all beings, including other animals. And for this reason progress in your yoga practice will be accelerated when you embrace a vegan diet/lifestyle for ethical reasons. Learning from master teachers and receiving skilled hands-on assists in your asana practice will take you far, but combined with a compassionate diet, you will be assured of achieving the goal of yogaenlightenment or lasting happiness.

Jivamukti Yoga

Through the blessings of our teachers this living lineage is passed on in Jivamukti Yoga schools where the ideas in this book are put into practice every day. If you need help finding an experienced teacher we invite you to visit www.jivamuktiyoga.com where you'll find the locations of Jivamukti Yoga schools and certified Jivamukti teachers around the world.

We thank the many Jivamukti Yoga teachers appearing in this book as they learned and applied the techniques of hands-on assists.

Acknowledgments

The photographic duo known around the world as Guzman conveys through photographyin ways that words cantthe beautiful energetic dance of yoga assists in Micro and Macro. Thank you Connie and Russell.

Derek Goodwin and Will Lau provided the photos taken at some of our Jivamukti Yoga Teacher Trainings. Weve noted their photos DG or WL .

All the rest of the photos are from our personal collection. We hope that they help illustrate some of the concepts in this book, better than words.

Karl Straub dedicated much time over several years to editing and writing this book. Without his enthusiasm, persistence and gentle direction, this project would never have seen the light of day.

We would also like to thank some of the people who helped make this happen in beautiful and selfless ways. Julie Kirkpatrick was our model for the early planning phases and contributed helpful ideas. Paul (Gopal) Steinberg, copy editor extraordinaire, organized our text and gave priceless feedback. Jules Febre provided invaluable substantive and editing assistance.

The Shantideva verses in this book are taken from the Entry Point for Children of the Victorious Buddhas, a Tibetan commentary by Gyaltsab Je Darma Rinchen (1364-1432) on the book called Guide to the Bodhisattva's Way of Life by Master Shantideva (c. 700 AD), and translated by Geshe Michael Roach, who, along with Christie McNally, modeled the assists shown in this book.

Contents

Introduction

You have an interest in yoga, and youve just picked up this book on how to assist yoga asana. You may experience an urge to take a quick look at the pictures, and run out to try one of these assists on somebody.

But lets slow down and ask some basic questions about the whole idea of a yoga assistbecause offering and receiving great assists depends first on knowing what an assist is.

Back in the old days of yoga they used to call them corrections. The idea was that the student was doing something wrong and that the teacher could manipulate the wrongness away. This relationship is based on the notion that there is ignorance in the student and knowledge in the teacher. The teacher then does something to the student to clue them in.

Later came the word adjustment, which is a little better: You are on the right track, but some adjustments are needed. There is a negative association with the word though, as when we say someones attitude needs adjustment.

In this book we use the word assist. This word communicates the idea that there are actually two beings interacting together on various levels of consciousness simultaneously in order to foster a decrease in avidya, mis-knowing, and an increase in vidya, or the knowing principle. A yoga assist then, is action taken in a microcosmic relationship that reveals macrocosmic truths. It is action undertaken in mutuality with the best of intentions and the blessing of the teachers teachers.