Interview with David Robson

David Robson is a celebrated Toronto yoga teacher who opened a new studio devoted to Ashtanga yoga, in November, on the Day of the Dead. The Ashtanga Yoga Centre of Toronto, at Yonge north of Lawrence, is a traditional Ashtanga yoga studio whose main focus is the mysore practise.

Originally from Toronto, 38-year-old Robson studies with Sharath Rangaswamy, from Mysore, the grandson of the Ashtanga yoga guru. Robson is sponsoring his visit here in May for his first-ever Toronto workshop. It will be at the Harbourfront Community Centre, every morning from 6:30 to 8am, May 20 to 26. Sign-up is at www.sharathtoronto.com

What is Ashtanga yoga? Ashtanga is a dynamic style of Hatha yoga that comes from Mysore, India. The guru of Ashtanga is Pattabhi Jois, and he's based in Mysore.

Ashtanga is a flowing sequence of postures. Unlike some Hatha yoga styles, attention, with Ashtanga, is placed on the journey between the postures, and not just the postures themselves. The physical acts are combined with special breathing patterns. Ujjayi breathing is like a healing breath that sounds like a hissing at the base of the throat. It creates heat, which produces sweat and cleanses the body.

How does it work? You learn the sequences pose by pose. As you become proficient, you add more poses. Along with the opening and closing sequence, there are six series in total, and maybe 40 poses in each.

You do the second series on Sunday, the third on Monday, the fourth on Tuesday, the fifth on Wednesday, the sixth on Thursday and the primary series on Friday. Saturday is traditionally the day of rest. And we also take moon days (full moon and new moon) as rest days, as well.

Most people would only do the primary series all week. You learn sun salutations and, once you become good at those, you add on a few of the standing poses. You do it six days a week.

Ashtanga is a daily, lifelong practice. The sixth series is incredibly difficult; people can't just start doing it from nothing. The poses are too hard. Even the first series is difficult. There's only one person in the world who practices all six series.

Why is it important for it to be daily? It's your meditation practice, as well. It's the time you're going to spend each day looking inwards. Also, in a physical sense, you need to keep the body stretching. If you try to do this only once or twice a week, injuries will happen. Muscles will tighten up in between.

What else distinguishes Ashtanga yoga? Vinyasa Karma is what they call it. It means that there's a count to every breath. So it's actually very defined. And it's a tradition that was handed down from the gurus. We don't make anything up when we're practicing it. We don't freestyle. It requires us to surrender in some ways. You look outside of yourself for instruction in the practice.

You can do this practice on your own, but it's always given to you via the guru. There's a correct way to do it and an incorrect way. As a studio, that's what we're trying to do is promote authentic traditional Ashtanga yoga.

Why is that important? Because it's a method that works. It's a really, really effective system. But it's like medicine. All the ingredients of the medicine have to be correctly put together for it to be effective.

Ashtanga has been offered in a mutated form, where people take out difficult parts of it and skip poses, in attempts to make it more accessible. But it reduces the efficacy of the practice. It waters down the potency.

What is the mysore approach? Ashtanga has been altered in order to fit into the format of led classes, which we do a lot of in the west. But the mysore style has no teacher leading the class. Everyone's doing the practice on their own, in their own time, and the teacher walks around and helps them, giving poses to students as they become ready for them. It's very individualized.

Some people, when they start, only practice for half an hour, because they're only doing sun salutations. Students who are doing the primary series and a bit of the second series could have a two-hour program. That doesn't work in a led class, where you're doing the same thing with everyone. I don't want to sound like too much of a purist, but it loses its power that way.

What does it mean to say Ashtanga yoga "works"? Well, anyone who commits to doing it the proper way has incredible results. You can transform your body very quickly. You become very healthy, extremely strong, extremely flexible. People might have to start slowly, but if they're willing to commit the time and energy, the results are always there. And also, it's more than the health; it's also the meditation.

What do you like best about Ashtanga yoga? I love the fact that it's a lifelong practice. I've practiced a couple of other different styles of yoga, and felt like I wasn't really getting what I needed from them. But I feel like there's a lot of room for me to keep growing with Ashtanga. And I love the fact that it's tied into a tradition. I go to India every year and study there.

I practice every day-I get up at 3 in the morning and do Ashtanga from 4 until 6-and I feel like, as long as I do, everything else in my life seems to run smoothly.

Ashtanga is the real deal. You can't fake an Ashtanga practice. It requires too much. If you're going to do it, then everything has to change. I couldn't do this practice unless I took good care of myself with my other decisions like food and sleep. I can't have a chaotic life.

When did you first start with yoga? I started 12 years ago, but I studied before that out of books. I started doing Ashtanga 10 years ago. I wanted enlightenment, I was drawn to that. My idea of enlightenment then was an escapist fantasy.

How has your interest in yoga evolved since then? I think it's become much more practical. Now it's a living tradition that I do through my day. If enlightenment happens, it's more gradual. I'm more pragmatic now. And I'm seeing this practice bear fruit in my own life. Everything that I'm working toward with yoga is, so far for me, blossoming the way it needs to.

How does that make you feel? Amazing. That's the point. As a practitioner it gives me faith that I'm on the right track; that it's not just something that I'm following; that it works for everybody. It's a powerful, authentic system.