i walked eagerly over to the yoga village on samsara festival to attend simon's lecture. it would be about breathing, i thought it had to be exciting. simon did not start today, he has a name. he must know something...

many came and the tent was quickly full. some arms and legs hanging out into burning sun. simon was soon center of attention, but must say, not only because of his mojo but the tight black yogapants worn without a tee.

as soon as he started talking i knew that this would be fun. he did not take it seriously: i mean in the positive way of laughing and making everyone else laugh. i think this is one of the most important things a teacher must know: being able to laugh, laugh on themselves, and make others laugh. anyways and on themselves too. otherwise it is all just a huge cramp.

he put me off instantly: do not be mat centered, face towards me. people tend to face in the direction of their mats...

then we started. the lecture was terrifyingly interesting. i got to know why iyengar and jois have their shoulders stuck to their ears whenever they lift their arms up in old b&w photographies. and that buddha was not fat just relaxed. that the abdominal muscle can move in directions that are out of this dimension. that it is silly to twist on exhale. and we do not need to learn to take huge slow breathes, but to learn how to budget the almost nothing... so it was fun.

at the end of the lecture i asked him a bit shyishly but still: i asked him to talk about yoga with me. i would put it on my blog, i said smiling. his reaction was brilliant: he welcomed me with great warmth. so two days later we sat down under a tree and talked about yoga.

it is always soothing to hear my own thoughts and realizations from a master who has a lot more knowledge, experience and wisdom. so my direction is right and yoga is one after all...

bpy: What was the reason why you first started doing yoga?

SBO: I think everyone starts doing yoga from a very early age. What happens is that we get taken away from it. And so some people lose that natural child-like quality. So maybe the day you think you started yoga is the day you realize you lost it in the first place. You suddenly go 'gee, if i move like this or breathe like this or think like this, i feel better.' And at some point along the line, someone sais 'that's yoga!'. 'Oh, okay, that feels good, i'll try yoga.' That is what happened to me in the beginning.

bpy: What did yoga give you that nothing else could?

SBO: I can answer that on many different levels.

But if i ever have to answer the ultimate level, is that it gave me the ultimate realization that happiness is your choice. The ultimate realization that we're all connected with some sort of universal conciousness. That is something that yoga gives. And anything that gives you that is yoga.

Some people do not know what yoga is.

bpy: What is the most important message that you would like to teach the people?

SBO: My phylosophy on simple levels is to do three things: enjoy your life, look after your body and help other people enjoy their lives. Simple as that.

You can be happy however you are. If you are just comfortable with yourself and accept your limitations. And if you do a bit of physical yoga, it is actually pretty good, because it helps your body move a bit freer and helps you get a bit of an attitude with yama and niyama.

I try to teach yama and niyama in poses.

As for yamas...

You have to have ahimsa which is not 'non-violence': ahimsa is to be gentle. Not just to say something positive, say something negative. If you say 'don't think of pink elephants, don't think of pink elephants, don't think of pink elephants', you will think of bloody pink elephants. If you say 'don't be violant, don't be violant, don't be violant', it makes you feel like violent someways. But if you say 'be gentle, focus on being gentle, be gentle with other people'...

There is satya. It is about balance, honesty, it is fairness. Honesty is not to tell how horrible you look today. Better be tactful: say i've never seen you in these clothes before, and smile and that is it. Don't even mention what is not to be mentioned.

And you have asteya that sais don't steel. But you will say that the opposite of take is give. You have to give people, give service to yourself, to others. Your body, other people's bodies, brains, minds.

Brahmacarya is not 'no-sex'. My master used to say: why celibate when you can give it away free? As Pattabhi Jois said it is also nice to nourish the growth of a child. But you also nourish the relationship with someone you love. Make love to each other, there is nothing more beautiful. Why would that be outlawed, that is silly. So it is making nourishing relations.

Aparigraha is not 'non-attachement'. It does not mean that if you loose this or that, it doen't matter. But actually aparigraha means freedom: if you are not attached, you are free. Give freedom to yourself and others.

So yama is to be gentle, balanced and give nourishment and freedom.

Niyamas are like this...

Shaucha is not 'to be clean'. But it is cleaning the inside, the blockages that block your energy. So, get rid of the things that block energy: too much tensing, too much stressing, too much breathing, too much drinking, too much eating.

Santosha is not to 'be content'. It is just to choose to be happy, when you want to. Happiness is your choice whenever you like.

Tapas is not 'to struggle and suffer'. It is not just like sticking one hand in the air and suffer for fifteen years. Tapas is being passionate, doing your passion.

Svadhyaya is self-study: the most important study. It is understanding why you are, where you are, who you are. They say in India that there are two types of knowledge: there is knowledge of self and there is all the other, the unimportant stuff. :D

Ishvara-pranidhana is not 'to surrender to God'. What is God? Everything is. They are recognizing that everything is one universal conciousness. To me Ishvara-pranidhana is the surrender to love.

So niyama is the passionate inner quest to remove the obstacles of happiness and inner connections.

bpy: What is yoga?

SBO: In yama terms: it is the gentle, balanced giving of nourishment and freedom.

In niyama terms: it is the passionate quest to remove the obstacles of happiness and loving connections.

But in terms of what yoga is practically: it is learning how to be in stressful situations while being totally relaxed. To learn how to be in really boring, dull, unstimulating situations and be really happy and attentive. And also to be in a miserable life and still choose to be happy.

That is all yoga too.

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