White
Mountain Yoga Interview
He is called “The Architect of American Yoga”.
Ganga White opened the FIRST yoga studio in Los Angeles
California in 1967. He is the father of “Partner
Yoga” and husband to one of the world's most beautiful
and poetic women, Tracey Rich. Together they founded
The White Lotus Foundation, in Santa Barbara over 20
years ago. Developers of “The Flow Series”,
they released the international best selling “Total
Yoga” videos, with over 1.8 million sold.
I consider Ganga a treasured friend and honored mentor!
His non-dogmatic approach to yoga has always lead my
yoga practice, and teaching to arise within me from
a deeply organic place. He has challenged me to let
go of my expectation and allow for inspiration, supported
by a realistic and thoughtful basis. I have been blessed
by both his wit and wisdom. Most importantly he has
helped me realize that when you have one foot in grounded
common sense and good judgment and one foot in the cosmic
you lend credibility and vitality to both.
I sat down with Ganga to talk about his latest and
long awaited creation, his new book: “Yoga
Beyond Belief—Insights to Awaken and Deepen Your
Practice.” Available now at Amazon.com, www.whitelotus.org
or the White Mountain Yoga Studio.
Syl: “As I have sat in council with you
and Tracey, I have often heard you speak to the yoga
philosophy and personal experience that I enjoyed finding
in your book—What inspired you and why did you
choose now, to put it all in book form?”
Ganga: “Syl, the short answer
is waiting for the right moment…Yoga interest
and practice have been growing at a tremendous rate.
Now so many students and teachers are looking for an
integrative and contemporary vision to help them make
sense out of the many differing points of view. The
book has been maturing for a long time. Although I have
been sharing this same message and perspective for many
years, it took some time to get it down in writing.
I think the book got better by refining it over time.”
Syl: “I found myself picking this book
up and finding tremendous enjoyment in reading chapters
at random interest, like a hand-book—Did you write
Yoga Beyond Belief with the intention that it be so
‘user friendly’?”
Ganga: “Yes, it's meant to not
only be user friendly and easy to understand but "cross
platform". It's written to be practical and beneficial
no matter what approach to yoga a person is using but
for beginner to experienced student to teacher. I also
intended it to be a complete vision of all aspects of
yoga that could be read in whole and that would stand
alone in part--thank you very much for noticing that!”
Syl: “It has been my personal observation
that people look for enlightenment so they can obtain
some level of immunity from the mundane, like no more
pain, or no more sickness, etc. —Your book is
the first I have read that speaks to Yoga without the
promise of immunity by practicing one way, or group
of postures, yet it is very inspiring. How do you feel
the message of regular yoga practice can best be expressed
in general, with out sounding like you are promising
the SUN & MOON?:)”
Ganga: “I see yoga as more of
learning a process than attaining a goal. Life is constant
change and growth. We need to awaken our own vision,
perception and insight that guides us on our own unique
journeys. Paths are limited and fixed, vision is limitless
and always in the present. When you teach someone something
as simple as driving down the road certainly there are
many rules to learn but the essence is to learn to see
and respond, and understand what is going on.
The book, Yoga Beyond Belief, is really designed to
awaken the reader's own insight and understanding of
body, mind and spirit. When we learn to read and use
and develop our internal navigation and feedback systems
we're much better equipped to ride the waves of life.
And it becomes endlessly engaging, interesting and enjoyable.”
Syl: “Why do you think yogis in general
are so readily looking to follow a specific yoga dogma,
and why is it often so daunting to come face to face
with personal practice for its own sake?
Ganga: “Life is turbulent and
unpredictable. Without realizing it, we are looking
for certainty and a path to follow so dogmas arise.
Actually it is the unknown that gives joy and verve
to life. Wise sages have pointed out that wisdom is
found in embracing uncertainty. Many hope that yoga
is a pure science, "do this and get that",
or "practice this way and be healthy and happy."
But life and yoga require both art and science--the
art of living and being. When we are free of our rigid
ideas and formulas we move into the art of discovering
what is right for ourselves each moment. This can seem
daunting and scary, but it's actually freeing, awakening
and liberating.”
Syl: “This book seems a thoughtfully
provocative guide, yet what you say makes perfect sense
regarding becoming so rigid in your beliefs, that you
don’t see the forest for the trees”…
Ganga: “We tend to be conditioned
to beliefs. ‘If I believe, practice and follow,
a certain yoga path, I'll live happily ever after...and
hereafter.’ There is a lot of comfort in belief,
but actually there is much greater freedom, joy and
aliveness in going beyond belief. We have everything
we need to make our lives on Earth a paradise but instead
we're destroying it through the clash of our beliefs.
We live on an overwhelmingly, beautiful planet in a
mind boggling, infinite universe. There are 500,000
million galaxies, each with billions upon billions of
star systems. The beauty, miracle and vast diversity
of life, are more than we can grasp. We too easily can
become numb to it all, but we're immersed in it. Yoga
aims to open our eyes.”
Syl: “As always, thank you Ganga, Namaste”
Ganga: “Thank you for all your
love and support through the years, Yogini Syl, Namaste.”
Namaste
SYL |
