Inspiration
Conversation with Danny Paradise interview & photos by Kia Naddermier
Danny & Kia in Crete, August 2009
My very dear friend and long time teacher Danny Paradise has been practicing and teaching Ashtanga Yoga since before I was born! He is also a wonderful musician and creative life artist in many ways. His compassionate, inspiring and kind nature and teachings have influenced both my practice, life and teaching profoundly. So I wish to share with you a conversation with Danny, please take time to read it –it´s really worth your time… Love kia x
What’s the main difference between Ashtanga Yoga and other types of yoga?
Ashtanga Yoga has specific sequences of postures that incorporate internal locking and continuous movement aligned with deep breath that creates deep heat, sweat, purification, extreme flexibility, strength and balance. The practices of Ashtanga Yoga represent the most concentrated practices in the studies of Hatha Yoga. The order of the sequences represents the science of unlocking the body, creating deep levels of strength, flexibility and balance. Other studies of Hatha Yoga are all valuable in the healing force they create as well as the levels flexibility of and strength that are explored but the physical results are generally more moderate. The practices also create total independence, personal authority and personal responsibility because once the practices are learned you can do them on your own.
Danny shot by Kia, East Village New York 1999
How is a physically demanding type of yoga like Ashtanga also contemplative?
Ashtanga Yoga demands and creates focus, deep concentration, and full attention. Therefore it is meditative. All Yoga practices are prayers to the Universal creative Spirit helping the practitioner understand how to achieve the deepest potential in one’s life. Yoga is a devotional science recognizing the existence of God rather than a search for God. With the creation of stillness, slowing down the mind and increasing levels of intuition, perception, insight and seeing, communication with the soul and the Great Soul are facilitated. Stress and anxiety are doorways to disease and all Yoga helps modify or eliminate these by bringing us completely into the present, slowing the heart, calming the mind… Awareness (or being awake in the moment), the creation of freedom in one’s life to be who one is, to create one’s dream, to live life fully, with joy and compassionately are all the natural results of the disciplines of Yoga.
Can a person with physical limitations or an elderly person practice Ashtanga Yoga?
I´ve been teaching for over 30 years, (since 1979)…I´ve had people in my classes from the ages of 7 to 80. Anyone can learn the practices but they have to be modified according to individual ability, age, physicalproblems, previous injuries, accidents, history etc. I’ve met men and women around the world who have even started Ashtanga Yoga in their mid 50′s and within 4 or 5 years they’ve become very advanced and are practicing 2nd and 3rd series. When one becomes regular at the practices then the limitations of the mind and body fall away very quickly. This is a quantum science. At the same time it’s important to recognize that the primary series is also a lifetime practice. These practices also teach us how to age with grace, vitality and health. People are discovering these are the ways in which to age slowly and gracefully…and consequently never ending up in a deteriorated condition over many years in an old age home being wheeled around. Ultimately the purpose of Yoga may be to teach us how to pass through aging and death with clarity, tranquility and wisdom.
You have taught yoga to many artists over the years (Madonna, Sting, Donna Karan, Paul Simon to mention a few). Can yoga influence creativity?
Yoga expands awareness and initiates a connection with the soul as all Shamanic practices do. Imagination can be considered a force of illumination of the soul. Creativity and imagination are of course intimately linked. So as consciousness expands so does creativity. One of the teachings of Tantra Yoga is that we all have unlimited creativity. Yoga creates life force, clarity, health, and it is an evolutionary tool of consciousness. So for artists it is a magical tool for increasing levels of creativity, awareness, sensitivity and clarity.
How do you look upon the idea of having a teacher or Guru?
To me it´s important to have teachers for periods of time but not teachers who create dependence, followings, disciples etc. The Buddha said `You are your only Master, Who Else? No one purifies another’. The Guru may light your candle….but you have to carry it yourself. Everyone who does Ashtanga Yoga for period of time recognizes that the practices are designed to be self-teaching and self-correcting after a certain amount of classes. The real key is doing the practices alone and developing a personal, private practice. Then a different experience and understanding emerges. As Krishnamurti told Desikachar… `Don´t become a guru….another monkey´! I feel Krishnamurti had the true message. The Yogis have always been known as anarchists, freedom thinkers, outside the regular order of life and advisors to the kings. When I first heard Krishnamurti speak in Ojai in the late ’70s after I began learning Yoga my instincts were confirmed that following anyone in a spiritual lineage was a mistake and not the real path of evolution. Watching how ‘disciples’ of many spiritual lineages behave was also very illuminating. As one of my friends taught me…’Each teacher draws the students whom he or she deserves.’ Teachers who desire to create dependency draw needy people. Those who wish to create independence and freedom draw individuals who wish to be independent and free. It’s not about how many students one has but rather how many masters one is helping create and nurture. X
© Copyright Naddermier / Mysore Yoga Paris 2009. Please do not reproduce any part of the content of this page without permission, if quoting always name the source. / Ne reproduire aucune partie de ce texte sans accord préalable. Toujours citer la source.
