Okay not a long item on the pros and cons of a home ashtanga yoga practice (or any yoga for that matter). That I feel is for another day. The pros, as shown in this photograph, are that I get to practice with unbrushed hair in my pyjamas at home. The cons are fairly obvious here. My beautiful old Labrador likes to come and practice his down dogs on my mat and occasionally licks my face when I fully absorbed in my drishti. I wouldn't have it any other way :-)

Lovely video clip by these yogis in production. Saw a number of familiar faces from this years trip to Mysore in here :-)

A burning desire must fuel your discipline. You must make the effort to continuously study the subject. You must devote all your efforts to the supreme self. These are the actions to be taken to realise yoga. Tapah: Yoga Sutra 11.1 by Patanjali

Thinking we can find some lasting pleasure and avoid pain is what in Buddhism is called Samsara. A hopeless cycle that goes round and round endlessly and causes us to suffer greatly when things fall apart. Pema Chodron

So this is the one thing in Sharath's new book ASTANGA YOGA ANUSTHANA that took me slightly by surprise. At the end of the yoga practice Sharath says "take rest". In Mysore he says "go home and take rest". Many, many books and teachers (including myself) refer to the pose below as savasana. Sharath says in his book this is NOT  savasana as no asana (pose) is being done. Thoughts anyone?

Some great old footage. Not sure when this was taken, but Sharath looks quite young. Thank you to  Dmitry Baryshnikov  for sharing.

To know oneself is to know one's body, mind and soul. The inward journey will allow you to explore and integrate each of these aspects of your being. from your physical body, you will journey inward to discover your "subtle bodies"-your energy body, where breath and emotions reside; your mental body, where thoughts and obsessions can be mastered: your intellectual body, where intelligence and wisdom can can be found; and your divine body, where the universal soul can be glimpsed. B.K.S Iyengar (Light on Life)