India trip to KYM
By Fiona Hardie
Towards the end of last year, you might have noticed Barb was teaching a lot of classes! This was because four of Agama’s regular teachers headed off to the KYM (Krishnamacharya Yoga Mandarim) in Chennai for a week of study.
Yoga classes at Agama follow the tradition of Krishnamacharya, who is credited with having brought yoga to the west, including making yoga available to women. We sometimes describe it as ‘classical yoga’, heavily based on the philosophy of yoga, The Yoga Sutras, which explain that the physical practice of yoga (asana) is only one of the 8 ‘limbs’ of yoga. At Agama we teach many of the other limbs too, including pranayama (breath practices) and meditation, as well as chanting; and we also offer yoga for healing, through one-on-one sessions with a yoga therapist.
All this is by way of explaining what the KYM is, and what we studied while we were there. The KYM in Chennai is the home of our tradition. On a daily basis it operates very much like a medical clinic, with patients waiting on the ground floor to see their yoga therapist. Upstairs the KYM runs a range of classes for students who come from all over the world to study teacher training, yoga therapy, chanting, and the study of yoga texts.
Our group was made up of 6 yoga teachers (2 are also yoga therapists, and 1 is also a chanting teacher), all graduates of Agama: Fiona Hardie, Lyn Camilleri, Meg Tucker, Rebecca Nathan (all Agama teachers), and Louise Kyle and Jessica Bleechmore (who teach elsewhere).
We did a week-long course specially designed for our interests. Each day we attended classes on:
The Yoga Sutras (Chapter 3)
Chanting (vedic chants, smrti chants, meanings, benefits)
Medititation, and
The concept of Pratyahara (one of the 8 limbs of yoga – withdrawal of the senses).
Louise and Lyn (the yoga therapists) also observed and enjoyed a yoga therapy session.
A student from Sweden, attending another course at the same time, remarked how lucky we were to have the very most senior teachers from the KYM teaching us, including Nrithya, Srinivasan, Shobana, Padmini, Vasumathi and Bhooma.
We all made our own travel and hotel arrangements, but met up for dinners and cultural events during the week – including classical South Indian dance and - the exact opposite – a stand-up comedy show in a theatre in a slightly dodgy venue up three flights of rickety stairs!
Lunch at Solitude Farm Cafe, Pondicherry
On the weekend we headed down to Pondicherry, where we stayed in the old French quarter. Three of us explored Auroville (including lunch at Solitude Farm) and attended meditation sessions at the Matrimandir (a four-storey-high dome, with a staircase like the Guggenheim, built just for meditation), before heading back to Chennai and flying home, while Lyn and Louise headed off to explore more of Tamil Nadu for another 4 days.
Highlights from each of our travellers
Fiona
As ‘Tour Leader’ I was really happy with how everything worked out. The study was, as usual, incredibly stimulating, and it was fantastic to reunite with all the teachers after the rude interruption of Covid! I also loved going back to Pondicherry, and the Matrimandir. I actually enjoyed it all so much, I think I’ll offer to lead another group again in a year or two. A week at the KYM, and maybe next time a week in Sri Lanka?
Bec
This was my first time travelling to India and I loved every part of the experience. I feel very grateful to Fiona for organising our trip, and the KYM for presenting such interesting and inspiring study sessions. India is a feast for the senses on every level! The highlight for me was sharing this adventure with such a supportive and like-minded group. There was always someone to share a debrief, swap ideas on the teachings or enjoy a meal and a laugh. Our studies at the KYM were a continuation of what we learned in our Teacher Training with Barb at Agama and it was an honour to visit the source of what is so important to students of yoga all around the world. I feel very inspired to share the themes of our studies as we begin our group classes at Agama for 2024.
Meg
I feel so lucky to have been part of the lovely group that went to the KYM in Chennai. India has always been a country I have wanted to visit. The people, the colour, the textiles, the food. All a feast for the senses. Fiona was our much treasured tour guide! The trip was made possible by all the thought and effort she put in. To visit the KYM, to do the courses with the teachers we had was very special. Now I’m back I’m hoping to bring my renewed enthusiasm for meditation and chanting into my classes at Agama.
Lyn
I was so excited to finally get to the KYM after all these years and it was my first trip to India! I was very grateful to be going with Fiona, tour leader extraordinaire, who had together with the KYM, put together a fantastic schedule for us over the 5 days. In particular, I enjoyed the meditative practices and I hope to offer some of these types of practices at Agama in the near future, as well as the chanting and exploring the concept of pratyahara. I observed a yoga therapy session, which was very insightful and also brought out aspects of the different cultures that we operate in!
I also had my own therapy session, resulting in a new personal practice that I have brought home with me. It was such an amazing experience being in Chennai and at the KYM and re-connecting with the experienced teachers who had come to Melbourne to teach in my yoga therapy studies. After Pondicherry, I travelled to Kodaikanal (up in the misty hills of the Western Ghats) via Thajavur and then to Madurai. I really enjoyed visiting all of the impressive Hindu temples, walking around in bare feet and eating delicious food with my hands off a banana leaf and drinking delicious chais (masala, ginger, and turmeric versions). But also glad to be back in the clean air and water (relatively!) of Melbourne.
Louise
To finally visit the KYM in Chennai, the heart of our teachers' training, with these dear friends, was such a joy. It was an honour to study with the wonderful people Fiona named. They teach with such energy and commitment. My class preparation has certainly been nourished by their interesting and challenging teachings.And beyond the doors of the KYM were the marvellous people and cultural riches of Tamil Nadu, INDIA!!!
Jessica
Studying in the tradition of the KYM has been a far deeper learning than I ever imagined. The teachings support me and my life in the most profound and unexpected ways. Seeing the teachers in Chennai at the KYM, a couple who I recognised as Barb bought them to Agama while we were studying our teacher training, was enriching on so many levels. Even without having any classes it was profound knowing this was where Barb had spent so much time over many many years with her teacher and consequently brought these teachings to us. I found the women who taught us chanting inhabited a wise and joyful place. I would like to study these teachings further.
Sharing this trip with Meg and Bec who were in my sanga and the others who over the years have been my teachers was supportive of what we were being taught while there. It was deeper than what is easy to articulate, maybe similar to visiting the place of origin of one’s parents. It all felt deeply right, from Fiona’s first email informing us of her vision for the trip I knew I was going to see the place where the discipline of yoga I have and will continue to study in originated.