chicago yoga

Studying the Yoga of Patanjali
with Ted Surman

editorial
january 2005

Studying the Yoga of Patanjali w/ Ted Surman
by Todd Marek, todd@somahq.com

In October I, along with several others, had the pleasure of spending two nights studying the classical yoga of Patanjali with Ted Surman at the newly minted Yoga State studio (http://www.yogastate.com).

Ted Surman is a soft spoken New Zealander who has settled in Maui, Hawaii where he runs a yoga therapy and teaching center called Yoga Awareness (http://www.yogaawareness.com). Ted teaches in the Krisnamacarya lineage, and has studied at the KYM in India and with Gary Kraftsow in the States. He now travels to Chennai, India three times yearly to study at Yoga Raksanam with DV Sridhar, Radha Sridhar and Viji Vasu. He also studies Ayurveda with Dr Ganesh. Ted also travels throughout the states and Japan offering Yoga Awareness workshops, retreats and trainings in New York, California, and Colorado. This was Ted's first visit to Chicago.

The first night of the workshop Ted led us through chanting several vedic passages. Bathing in the afterglow of the vibrations, he began discussing asana theory, as presented in the Yoga Sutras. The focus was on sutra 2.46, sthirasukhamasanam, which as Ted explained, means finding attention without tension, and comfort without slackness. We then practiced to integrate this knowledge with Ted offering suggestions on how to modify our poses to increase or decrease either of the aforementioned qualities. We then spent time performing savasana with Ted guiding us deeper into our breathing and working with different ratios of inhalation and exhalation. Feeling relaxed and alert we proceeded to close the night with a short calming pranayama practice.

On night two we opened with puja for Ganesh, to dedicate the new studio which had just opened that day. We then moved on to a longer introduction to the discipline of Vedic chanting. We worked with the same chants as the first night but spent more time on correct posture, pitch, and learning to read the chant notation. We then moved to a deeper discussion of the theory of asana. Ted introduced us to three modes that asana is taught in, Siksana, Cikitsa, and Raksana. Siksana is the traditional path of developing the body through asana and working through tension. This is exemplified by the attempt to master the classical poses. Cikitsa is what Viniyoga is most often identified with, and means therapy and adaptation. In Cikitsa poses are adapted to allow people to prepare their bodies for the classical poses or to deal with certain physical conditions. Raksana deals with the preservation and maintenance of well being, and combines elements of both Siksana and Cikitsa. Ted had us go through several different asanas to demonstrate how these principles can be applied in our own practice. Following the Asana discussion we did a longer practice that culminated with a rather deep meditation session.

All in all two wonderful evenings that left me grateful that we have been fortunate to receive such profound teachings and have wonderful teachers like Ted to pass them along.

Ted Surman will be returning to Chicago for more workshops in February and May and is planning a one week retreat this summer.

Todd Marek is a recent graduate of the Eight Limbs Teacher Training program, and continues his studies with Ted Surman and Corrine Peterson of the Sweet Pea Studio (http://www.sweetpeasstudio.com). If you have any questions regarding the next workshop please email Todd: todd@somahq.com.