One of my teachers once shared with me that some of his students, who practice other styles of yoga, had told him that when they practised Ashtanga, they felt happiest.
Have you ever felt happy for no particular reason? You just feel supreme inner peace, bliss and lightness. I do not dare say 100% that this is precisely because I started practising Ashtanga Vinyasa Yoga, but since I have been doing so, I have repeatedly experienced this feeling of "happy about nothing".
It is a superior state where it feels like I can walk around the world or walk forever because lightness and energy seem boundless and endless. I remember as well when it first happened. I was walking around in Tallinn Kalamaja district in Estonia when I suddenly felt heavenly pleasure from this activity. I said to myself, "Help how pleasant it is to walk."
Since this is not the only experience like this, today I know that it was not a matter of walking, but of my condition. No matter what the feeling is at the moment, everything feels like pure magic, no matter where you are or what you are doing. The weight of the physical body seems to disappear. I am inside my body, but all I experience is how easily it moves and how much strength it has. It's like sitting in a car with which I only experience its ability to move without experiencing tons of weight.
Even after hearing one of my teachers telling me how some of his students, who practice other styles of yoga felt the happiest when they practised Ashtanga, I still do not dare to say with certainty that Ashtanga is causing this condition, but I do not believe that it can be ruled out.
For me, this is certainly not the reason or the purpose for which I practice Ashtanga. For me, this practice is just fierce, as light as it sounds. Even though this ancient system developed can lead to unearthly states, the journey itself is very reputable, full of effort and challenge, spirituality and sometimes even tears. Despite all these difficulties, I roll down my yoga mat in the morning and start my practice. And that's why I share this systemic yoga with others, not because it can lead to a state of bliss, but because I just love this practice with all the challenges.
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Text: Inbodhi Yoga Tallinn 200hr graduate Ave Toomjõe
Photos: From Ave's homepage and Reeme Photography