AN INTERVIEW WITH ABHIJATA SRIDHAR
ON THE EVOLUTION OF HER PRACTICE, LEARNING FROM GURUJI, AND THE FUTURE OF IYENGAR YOGA BY HEATHER HAXO PHILLIPS
“ We have a habit to form a shell, to say that this is all we can do. If things get difficult, we want to avoid it. But once it’s over, you realize it’s not that bad.” Heather Haxo Phillips: During the Florida convention, you told us about your master’s program and how you came to RIMYI. How did you decide that you wanted to teach? That didn’t seem to be your intention when you came to Pune. Abhijata Sridhar: After my graduation in 2005, I wanted to pursue academics, as well as come in to myself through yoga. I spoke to the head of my department, saying that I want to do a Ph.D., but that I wanted to do it by coming to the department only for half a day because I wanted the other half for yoga. She said that I’d have to give a full-day commitment. I think for five years, she said. I thought that’d be too much, so then she told me to go to the U.S. and work on my Ph.D. for a shorter time, if possible. I didn’t want to do that, either. So I decided to take a break from academics for a year to study yoga, to learn yoga. Just learn, do some more classes, do some practice. I planned to see how it went and then get back to my Ph.D. after a year’s break. And that year—it never stopped! Practice went on, and then Guruji told me to start coming to the children’s classes. HHP: To start teaching the children’s classes? AS: Just to come to the children’s classes! To see what was happening and to speak for five or 10 minutes in those classes. Then I started helping in the therapy class, where Guruji was going. Because he was going, I started attending those classes and seeing what they do. I was interested in how they were healing people so miraculously. One day, Guruji asked me to start teaching the children’s classes. I was not confident at first, but he said, “Just start.” HHP: So what was your teacher training experience like? AS: There was no separate teacher training session. None. It 8
was just attending the classes with my aunt and uncle. I would attend classes every day, six days a week when I was in my post-graduation phase. After my post-graduation, I think I cut down on the classes a little and focused on my own practice a little more. There was no teacher training, as such. HHP: How did your relationship with Guruji change as you began studying with him, going from being his granddaughter to being his student? AS: In the beginning, he was just my grandfather. I knew he was a famous man. Then, I started knowing he was a great man, but when I came to Pune, he was just my grandfather. We would write each other letters. When he went abroad, he would buy gifts for when he came back to India, so it was just that. When I started learning from him, during the first five years, I did not practice much. It was mostly attending classes. When I attended the women’s classes, Guruji also told me what to do when Geetaji was teaching—so I had two simultaneous teachers in the class. I don’t know when the relationship of the grandfathergranddaughter faded and the guru-sisya relationship came about. It was not a very clear demarcation. I think it was a fuzzy boundary, and it would just fade in and fade out till the very end. HHP: The sheer physical pain and fear involved in practicing under Guruji’s eyes—how did you make it through that? How did that change you? AS: Once I went through that, once that was over, I realized it was not so bad. We have a habit to form a shell, to say that this is all we can do. If things get difficult, we want to avoid it. But once it’s over, you realize it’s not that bad. Nothing happened. I didn’t die. I didn’t break a bone. I didn’t break a muscle. It’s just Yoga Samachar Fall 2016 / Winter 2017
