Ross Stambaugh ~ Yogis Helping Yogis

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I am pleased to introduce you to Ross Stambaugh in this podcast titled Yogis Helping Yogis.

Visit Ross on his Instagram site here @ashtanga.yoga.ross
Find him on his website ashtangahub.com

Ross is a 20+ year veteran of Ashtanga Yoga, and is an authorized teacher who learned directly under the teachings of Saraswati Jois in Mysore, India. When he is not traveling internationally for workshops, he welcomes the opportunity to help all levels of dedicated yoga practitioners. He makes annual trips to India to continue his studies and has assisted Saraswati on multiple occasions. Ross seeks to preserve the traditional Ashtanga method by maintaining a daily practice, and has extensive knowledge in the areas of pranayama, philosophy (yoga sutras), and certainly asana.

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Episode Transcript

(00:33):
Welcome to Native yoga,Toddcast. So happy you are here.
My goal with this channel is tobring inspirational speakers to
the mic in the field of yoga,massage bodywork and beyond.
Follow us native yoga, and checkus out at Nativeyogacenter.com.

(00:55):
All right, let's begin.
Wow, yes, I'm so happy you arehere. Today I bring to you a
special guest Ross stem bow. Hiswebsite is Ashtangahub.com. You
gotta go check him out onInstagram. If you don't like

(01:17):
Instagram or use Instagram, Iunderstand. So definitely go to
his website. But he does a greatjob on his IG page. It's
@Ashtanga.yoga.Ross. And alsowant to give a shout out to
Waleah Norton at Red Earth YogaCenter in Oklahoma, check her
out as wellwww.redearthyogacenter.com. She

(01:37):
introduced me to Ross and thoseguys had a chance to practice in
India together and she got me sopumped to speak with him. And
she said you gotta bring thisguy on your podcast. He's great.
And he is great. And I had areally nice conversation with
him. And I hope that you enjoythis. And so on that note. Let

(01:59):
me go ahead and push play foryou here. I'm so excited to have
the opportunity to speak todaywith Ross Stambaugh. Ross, how
are you doing?
Fantastic. Thanks for asking.
I'm so happy that you're here. Ireceived rave reviews from our
mutual friend while Leah whoowns red, a red earth Yoga

(02:22):
Center in Oklahoma. And shementioned that you have visited
her there. Is that true? Youwent and taught some yoga there.
Actually, I taught my firstofficial Ashtanga Yoga workshop
with her I met her in MysoreIndia. And it's kind of a funny

(02:44):
story. She She posted a pictureof her standing in front of her
apartment, and I knew exactlywhere it was. So I knocked on
her door. And she's, you know,she kind of wishes Who is it?
And I said, Hey, you know, myname is Ross. We've talked to
each other on, you know, I thinkat the time was Facebook. And

(03:05):
she kind of looks out and shewas she didn't want to open the
door. So she's like, how do youknow who I am? And then I said,
Well, I put things together andI saw Yes. So but eventually,
over the course of the to thenext two months, we became fast
friends. And she invited me toher studio and we we did a lot
of yoga.

(03:25):
That's awesome. I know she's areally great person. So I
appreciate the introduction.
Thank you. Waleah, and Ross, Inoticed that your website is
Asthangahub.com So anyonelistening I'll put the links in
the description below. So it'sgonna be really easy to find
Ross and also you're onInstagram. What's your handle is

(03:45):
Ashtanga dot yoga dot Ross,which will also be down below.
And I love your Instagram posts.
Since I've gotten a chance tofollow you. You do a great job
with your posts. It seems likeyou're having fun doing it,
which is an art form in and ofitself. And then in the process

(04:07):
of going to your website andlearning about you. You are an
ashtanga yoga practitioner andteacher and you've studied in
Mysore with Sarswati Jois, isthat correct?
That's right. That's right.
Yeah, um, about I think 2014 Itook my first trip to Mysore and
I'm a school teacher. So I hadthe summers off, and that's when

(04:28):
Saraswathi Jois the daughter ofPattabhi Jois, teachers out of
her Charlotte, and yeah, wentthere a couple for a couple of
years. Several years actually,and just fell in love with the
city fell in love with thetemples. Fell in love with
philosophy and of course, ofcourse yoga.

(04:52):
Right. Mysore is an amazingcity. What are some of the
favorite things to do for you inmind? For what do you enjoy
doing while you're there? Apartfrom the yoga?
Yeah, I think, I think everyone,if they want to have a
quintessential Indianexperience, you have to get on a
scooter. And you have to getlost in the city. And you have

(05:17):
to get try to navigate your wayaround the cows and the people
in the temples and just getimmersed in in a culture that's
so very different from ourWestern eyes and ears and cents
and everything.
Nice. I agree. I did. No,actually, I did not rent a

(05:39):
motorbike in India. I was alittle timid of that. I've
rented motorbikes in Thailandand in Indonesia. But when I was
in India, I really just stuckwith the with the rickshaw. And
so that's a bold move to get ona motorbike there. I applaud
that courage, courage. Oh,thanks. Yeah. Have you ever had
any close encounters there?

(06:02):
will lead and I had a few. Yeah,she jumped on the bike. And, of
course, she was holding hercamera up, and I was waving and
a bus. And I came like within awhisker of each other. Oh, I
did. My last trip. I was with mymom. And we it was the last day

(06:23):
and I was running her aroundMysore. And I slipped on some
gravel, and I and I busted up myelbow. Long story short, I'm in
the emergency room in there, andin front of us. I don't know
what happened. Or there's agroup of people there waiting.

(06:47):
And like India, you know, moneytalks sometimes. And they and
I'm like, wow, I have a I have aflight to catch in like three
hours. i They won't let me onthe airplane. Because I'm just
it's not stuff. You know, Ineeded to get some stitches. And
so in my, in my pocket, I hadall my rupees left. So I had, I

(07:08):
don't know, maybe $200 andrupees. And I take it on my
pocket. And I kind of wave it tothe, to the nurse up there. And
that they they weighed me in andI got the stitches. And I think
I think it was maybe 40 Maybe 60US dollars at the end. Right and

(07:29):
then out the door and I got onmy flight.
Yeah, amazing. That journey fromwhich which airport, were you or
what city were you flying outof?
I was flying out of Bangalore.
So it's a four hour drive fromMysore to Bangalore. So we have
to jump in a taxi and then getthat taxi to the airport.

(07:51):
That's an amazing trip, isn'tit? I remember the first, my
wife and I went to Mysore and2004. And when we got to
Bangalore and walked out thedoors and there was it seemed
like at least 100 people allwilling to help us out. And that
was our first like overwhelminglike, oh my gosh, what did we
do? unique experience. That isamazing. You're right. That's

(08:15):
what makes it so fun to gothere. I'm I'm really curious,
how did how did it evolve thatyou were able to invite your mom
and your mom being willing tosay yes. And how did that
happen?
Well, I would spend time there.
So like I said, I was teaching Ihad a few months off. And my mom
just recently retired. And she'salways been, you know, one very

(08:40):
quiet mom. But she's she's,she's always been has a little
adventure, this venture side toher. And she said, Well, you
know, can I come and see whatyou do you. You talked about
yoga, you practice yoga, you'realways talking, you know, you're
always doing yoga. Can I comeand see what you do? And I said,

(09:02):
Yeah, sure. So she jumped on anairplane and she hung out with
me for almost three weeks. Itwas a great experience. That's
so cool. What a greatopportunity. Yeah, that's
amazing. And when was last timeyou were in India, have you been
there since 2019 2020?

(09:25):
No, I was I last trip was 2018at the end of the summer. And
then of course COVID started tobuild. So I've missed out the
last two seasons. Yeah, threeseasons almost. And so but I'm
hoping to return this comingJuly.
Cool. Yeah. Nice. And I noticedthat you said you're a school

(09:50):
teacher but you you teach art toTilton to the school kids.
Yeah. I'm a middle school artteacher. I've been doing that
for 2022 years. because this is23rd
Wow, that's really cool. Didyou? Have you been an artist
your whole life? Is thatsomething that you were involved
in when you were in middleschool age and then progressed
to wanting to go to school forit and now teach?

(10:13):
Yeah, it was sort of the onlything I could I could get at
school with I would, I would,you know, I would take all the
classes and in, in Junior Highin high school, and of course,
college, and I was a fine artsmajor for two years. I focused
on like, traditional painting.
And I, I didn't really have theaptitude for it, you know, I was

(10:37):
okay. But I wasn't. I was in agroup of people that were better
than okay. You know, they werethey were really driven. And I
noticed right away, I simplydidn't have that level of
talent. But both my parents wereteachers, and my sister's, a
teacher, and all my cousins areteachers. So it just felt like,
a thing to do. I enjoyedtraveling, and I recognize that

(11:02):
a teacher's schedule would allowme to do that. So yeah, I've
been a teacher. And I've beenreally enjoying it.
That's cool. You know, on thatnote, I have a daughter who's in
fourth grade. And as I wasstudying up and getting ready

(11:22):
for this opportunity to speakwith you, I heard her in the
background, she had a substituteteacher, and she said, All he
did was look at his phone allday, he didn't teach us
anything. And I gotta crack up.
They can like, yeah, substituteteacher gig, but when I was in
school, we didn't have cellphones back in the old days,
and, and I just thought, I justkind of cracked me up to think

(11:43):
about a substitute, just likestaring at his or her phone for
the whole session. All right,kids, just do what you want. I'm
guessing, though, that you takea really proactive role in the
education process, can you sharea story or two about what it's
like being a teacher and workingwith middle school aged kids?

(12:04):
Ah, well, you have to beproactive, or else they'll
they'll just eat you alive. Theyou know, I have I have such a
spectrum of abilities and such aspectrum of maturity. And you
have to be able to figure outhow to engage each and every
one. And, you know, sometimesthere's success, and But

(12:24):
oftentimes, there's trial anderror, and we certainly fall on
to the air of things. So I thinkthat's a great kind of segue
into yoga, you know, recognizingwhen the external circumstances

(12:45):
are not in your control, and youhave to rely on a little bit of
faith, and rely on a little bitof skill and a little bit of, of
the unknown to get through theday. And hopefully, you have
something left to give tochildren give to to people that

(13:08):
are, are not, not oftentimeswilling to accept the struggle
of of learning. Right? Wheneverwe grow, especially in yoga,
whenever we grow, we have to beokay with the struggle, which is
certainly hard. Hard to do. Yes,yes. How did you What was your

(13:28):
first yoga classI kind of had to first yoga
classes, my first yoga class, Iwas say, I have to say, junior
or senior in high school. Andthis was in 91, or 92. And at
that time, any, if you wanted todo in the yoga, you either read

(13:52):
it from a book, or you took itfrom someone in, in the basement
of a church. So I did theladder. And it was, you know, I
couldn't even really tell youwhat type of style it was,
except I remember this line onthe floor, believing that this
yoga teacher truly have theability to read minds. And this

(14:13):
is amazing, but I don't want herto read my mind. Because I don't
know. And I thought I thoughtthat was interesting. And but I
I just didn't have the thefocus, you know, as a teenager,

(14:33):
you certainly now focus. And itwasn't until I was done with
college. I was walking down thestreet in Cincinnati, Ohio, and
I look inside a head shop. Andthey were playing a video of
Richard Freeman. And he wasdoing this believable,
unbelievable handstand. It haslegs and Lotus and he did this

(14:56):
beautiful handstand and then hejumps out out of it and he
floats down. And I wasmesmerised. I was hooked. And I
bought the VHS and I brought ithome and I tried to do it. It
was like an hour and 40 minutesof him doing primary series of
Ashtanga yoga system. If youdon't know about that, it's one

(15:17):
of the most difficult systems ofyoga, most strenuous styles of
yoga. But I practice every dayuntil that VHS tape broke. And
yeah, the rest. rest was historyhas haven't stopped since.
That's so cool. Ross. I'mcurious. That must have been

(15:39):
around about like, 2002 or sofor you. Yeah. earlier? Yeah.
Especially if you're one doesn'twant it because my first
ashtanga yoga experience wasthrough David Swensons. VHS
tape, his primary series. Yeah,that opening scene where he's

(16:00):
out on the dock out over thewater. And he does that, like,
really beautiful display ofcombination of poses from first
second third series that I waslike, holy cow. What is that?
And that's so cool to hearsomeone else say that from
watching an early you know, someare our heroes from the early

(16:24):
days of Ashtanga just ademonstration was all it takes
to get completely fired up. Oncure. I'm curious, how long did
you practice on your own to theVHS before you then had exposure
to a teacher?
Oh, I'd probably say five, sixyears. Wow, I practiced. And,

(16:45):
you know, I always I neededdiscipline. You know, from the
day of at school, I needed anoutlet to vent and I needed an
outlet to release all thatenergy that's always been pushed
on you. And I thought it wouldbe something more explosive,
like boxing or MMA or something.
But I found that I knew that Ineeded quiet, you know, and it

(17:10):
wasn't happening in my headuntil about the third or fourth
sensation. And I could I couldfeel like I was breathing again.
Nice. And and yeah, so I didthat for five, six years. And
then a studio opened down thestreet from from where I was

(17:31):
living, and they did ashtangathey didn't they didn't call it
ashtanga but they call it astronger but they didn't count.
And then they they you knowthere wasn't a traditional lead
class, but they they did thebest they could with the
knowledge they had phenomenal,phenomenal teachers. And I did

(17:55):
that for six or seven years.
Nice. Awesome. Yeah.
And say like, a pose likeMarichyasana D in relation to
how flexible or not flexiblewhere your hips when you started
practicing from watching anddoing self practice not having a
new anyone assist you. Well,could you do Marichyasana A

(18:19):
right off the bat? Or I'm sorry?
Marichyasana D right off thebat? Or was it something that
was really challenging, but youfigured out how to eventually
slowly ease your way into it?
I'm gonna say both. I could Ican force myself into it. And so

(18:41):
I didn't have a teacher to tellme that. That wasn't the best
way. So I would force myselfinto it. Because at one time
someone told me Oh, Hatha Yogais the way forceful yoga. It's
and I took it as physicallyforceful, not, you know,
mentally, like you need mentalfortitude. And being being an ex

(19:05):
college swimmer and being anathlete. I recognize that you
could push past it. So yeah, Icould I could do it. But I
wasn't doing any yoga. I wasdoing sport yoga.
Yeah, yeah. No,I was just doing doing what what
I what I thought Isaw what was the turning point
that helped you to feel thetransition from sport yoga into

(19:30):
a deeper layer of the yogapractice.
Ah, boy, you know, all of theabove. And I know that's kind of
a wishy washy answer. Irecognize the you know, you grow
into this maturity of, of yogaand it's not like you master any

(19:52):
part of it. I think the exactopposite you, you gain the
knowledge that you don't knowanything and you Then you become
you have to add some humility toyour practice. You know, I
learned at kind of a youngerage, about the limits of the
physical body, you know, I getinjured to another sports,

(20:14):
swimming, judo, you know, I gethurt all the time in judo and
then I'd go practice more yogaand then come back. The you know
that I can't say that there wasa monumental shift, like I woke
up one day and go, Yeah, yoga,it was only recently, when I

(20:36):
look at the 20 year olds thatare now starting yoga, and how
they've been exposed to justphenomenal teachers, and how
easy it is to get thisknowledge. And I recognize that
the knowledge that they'rethey're receiving is the same
knowledge you and I arereceiving or have received,
we're just receiving it, they'rereceiving in a different pace.

(21:00):
And they don't have, which Ididn't have, and neither of us
had at the time is theexperience of yoga. To to have a
filter, clear enough to put someof these bigger philosophies and
these bigger things intoperspective. And use it less as

(21:22):
a as a form of, of argument orcritique. And more of, of a lens
of of inclusion. With with thiswith yoga.
Nice. Yeah, I would agree withall that. That makes perfect
sense. I'm thinking I think,what if you mentioned that you

(21:42):
took your first show your classin like junior senior, and it
was round like 91? Or 92? i Wemust be the same age. Did you
graduate in 92? As a senior?
I graduated in 94. Gotcha. 4047All right.
Yeah, I'm just a year older. Sowe're around about the same time
period. Um, that's, that'sawesome. Nice to meet a fellow

(22:04):
same age God. So, on that note,I'm curious, we know from
watching your Instagram, you'vebeen able to maintain strength
and flexibility to an incredibledegree.
Kind of you say,our youth, does that fit? Does
it feel that way to you?

(22:28):
It is starting to leave, youknow, I fight you know, you
gotta fight for what you likeyou what you want, and you have
to be okay with what you have.
But I've had to adopt a strengthtraining routine few years ago.
Again, from injuries I I forcedupon myself, like, like, I'm

(22:48):
sure you've heard this, too,Yoga will cure every ailment
that you have. And one ailment Ihad was back pain. And it wasn't
until my third or fourth trip inIndia where I was literally
crawling up the hill back to myapartment because my back was in
such pain. This is 10 years ofback pain. And then I got lucky,

(23:10):
short, short, long story short,got lucky. And there was a
massage therapists and thehealer there that helped me
through the process. But Ilearned that I couldn't yoga
couldn't cure my back pain, Ihad to find a physical
therapist, I actually foundseveral physical therapists and

(23:30):
they brought me back to life.
But one thing I had to do was Ihad to have proper strength
training. And so I startedlifting weights kept kept in my
yoga practice. started eatingmuch, much healthier. And yeah,

(23:52):
took care of my body the best Ican. Yeah,
I hear ya. Awesome, man. Greatto hear. Do Where are you
currently teaching? Are youteaching? locally? Where are
you? So you're in Ohio? Is thatcorrect? All right. Yeah. And do
you do work in a studio do workvia internet. Do you work one on

(24:17):
one? Do you work with groups?
What is your typical teachingschedule look like on a weekly
basis?
Yeah, I'm, I'm reluctant. I'm areluctant yogi. And you know, I
don't I don't have any of thatkind of nailed down. I recently
i i teach abroad a lot now. And,and I tried to dabble in

(24:43):
everything. Dayton, Ohio was notthe hub for Ashtanga Yoga. So I
have to be a little creative. Iuse my my studio here. You can
see back here I have, you know,space for two or three people,
if they if they're in theneighborhood and they wish to
practice So I invite them. ButI've found that my favorite way

(25:07):
to interact is an in personworkshops. I, yeah, a lot of
yoga, yoga, I think is doesn'tnecessarily need to be over
explained. And it doesn'tnecessarily need to be
complicated. But it needs tohave an interaction of a trust
and a certain level ofinteraction that is, that can

(25:30):
that's a give and take. And Ithink that's very difficult to
do online and very, certainlydifficult to do with tutorials.
So I teach pranayama, online forfor some people, and teach a
half lead primary, online. Andthen on the weekends, I do

(25:55):
workshops where I'm invited. SoI have a few coming up right now
this month in the surroundingtri state area, Kentucky and
Tennessee, Raleigh. And then atthe end of the month, I'll be in
New York, and then UK and, andLisbon, and Portugal, and

(26:19):
Madrid. Nice as well. Awesome.
trips planned.
Very cool. I saw that on yourIG, your Instagram, your
schedule posted, and I wasexcited for you to see that.
That's really cool. I know thatfor people that travel and teach
the last two years have beenvery challenging for that. So

(26:41):
I'm always excited to seeanything that resembles that
kind of pre 2020 model. So whenI saw that you're going overseas
and traveling around the area, Iwas like, that's really cool,
man, I'm excited for you, Rossthat you're keeping that going I
do. There is something that'scompletely magical about being
in the room with people andhaving that feedback process and

(27:04):
the energy and the experience ofbeing able to see other
practitioners hear otherpractitioners breathe. So I
agree with you. I also love theonline element, too. I'm really
excited about it. But I see thebenefits and the challenges of
both, for sure. That's cool man.
Do when you teach pranayamaonline? Can you give me any

(27:27):
insight about what type of areyou doing all audio cueing? Or
are you utilizing a camera on infront of you to be able to make
any sort of hand gestures suchas the inhale with your hand
going up or an exhale with yourhand going down or something of
that nature? What have you foundworks well for you?

(27:50):
Well, I found a simple formulato follow is key. Obviously
being on time is key. And q&a,I've found is is really good as
well giving them enough time tothink about, you know, a burning
question and respond. And Ialways find it great. When other

(28:16):
students from other countrieschime in. They always have a
unique perspective, apart fromus kind of Westerners saying,
Okay, did I do it? Right? Did Ido this? Right? You know, they
always want to be reassured thatthey did exactly right. I find
where it more Europeans havelittle softer, more
philosophical approach to theway they form their questions.

(28:39):
So I think we get a great agreat exchange. And, and I think
zoom particularly has made yogateachers have to step up their
game, you know, Assamese areknown for their physical
adjustments, not their cues. Sothey had to be creative. I

(29:02):
certainly had to be creative onhow to explain the nuances of
three konasana tasks to performthis task and I you know, had to
be very creative with that. And,and you have the opportunity now
to study with some absolutelytop notch yoga teachers. And so

(29:24):
it's, it's great to be exposedto people you would you would
never ever be able to be exposedto this way.
Good point. What was your firstexperience with practicing the
traditional, strongest stylepranayama

(29:44):
I hated it. I absolutely hatedevery second of it. By you know,
there's Caitlin's. You know, andeveryone does Asana. You know
Asana is You can't deny themagnitude and attraction of it.

(30:05):
And I was in Mysore. And Iwanted to learn the traditional
pranayama sequence. Tim Millerand in Encinitas, California,
did it at a workshop that Iattended. I don't know when he
was in Columbus, Ohio. And hedidn't do much. He said, I'll
just do a little bit. And he dida little bit. And he wanted, you

(30:26):
know, he wanted to do the wholesequence. And I tried to
piecemeal it together. You know,they're the six techniques, and
no one would teach me in India,I go, and I talked to people and
they go, Oh, no, no, no, it's,it's scary. You're gonna go
crazy. And then I finally foundDavid Roach, he's expat living
in Australia. He's certified aXiangyu. Teacher. I said, Will

(30:49):
you teach me the sequence? Andhe said, Yeah, yeah. Come on,
come tomorrow, and I'll teachthe sequence. And as soon as he
started, you know, he did ittraditionally. But he did it
with a metronome. And hestarted, he's like, let's make
it easy. Let's put it at 30beats per minute, let's two

(31:12):
seconds of beat. And so hestarted to like, Okay, we're
gonna, you know, we're going tokeep this cadence up for the
duration. And, you know, I was acollege swimmer. So I said,
Okay, I think I, you know, Ican, I can, I can do this. And I
did everything I could fromfrom, you know, seeing stars to

(31:35):
trying to pass out and I said,David, thank you so much for
teaching me this guy, myscooter. And I said, never going
to do this again. And, and itwasn't until the next trip, I
went, and I saw him again, whereI, you know, I dug my heels in
and said, Hey, this is there'sgot to be a reason why this is

(31:57):
important. There's got to be areason why it's in this
particular order. You know, IAsana I can't can't live in
Asana forever. And so Iapproached him a second time and
said, Okay, David, I, I confess,I didn't practice, can we start
again. And of course, he said,Yes. And then something

(32:17):
happened, where I, I noticedthat I started to withdrawal in
the ways that were described in,you know, in these texts that we
read, and the stories that welistened to, about pratyahara
about about a truer sensewithdrawal. And it wasn't until

(32:38):
my my guru, or one of mySanskrit teachers, off the cuff,
said, you know, yoga is aboutliving your life at 200% 100%,
internally, 100%, externally.
And that just kind of flooredme, where you have to be able to

(32:58):
be frictionless between thesetwo realms that you live in, and
know that your internal realmdeserves just as much attention
as your external realm. And Icouldn't, I couldn't reach that,
or I couldn't, I couldn't diginto that until I started with a

(33:20):
daily pranayama practice. Andwith that daily, pranayama
practice came an understanding alittle bit more of Asana. And I
noticed that the asana wasn't,wasn't didn't need to go as deep
in order for me to get areaction. You know, internally,

(33:41):
yeah, you know, I didn't need tobeat myself up until I was
exhausted, to feel the, youknow, to feel okay to calm down.
And so, now, if I misspranayama, that for a couple of
days, I noticed my my practice,like physical practice is fine,

(34:04):
but my mental practice throughit isn't the same. Nice. Yeah, I
hear Yeah. It is an amazingpractice. When you teach
students pranayama. So say, forexample, on the very first one
with the red chicka, campaka andportica calm because the exhale

(34:28):
retention and the inherenttension, what type of ratio Do
you like to start people with interms of like, a six second
inhale and a six second, exhale,and then hold for four seconds,
eight seconds, and then on theinhale side? What is your kind
of go to ratio? When you areworking with a group?

(34:55):
Yeah, if I'm, if I'm workingwith anyone more than one on
one, it's always Is count ofeight, you know, and then I kind
of, I started that at, you know,50 beats per minute with a
metronome. And I, I haveeverything as a candidate,
inhale eight XL a hold foreight. Just for a few logistics,

(35:17):
one, it's simple to follow. Toit's, it's for people that have
never done pranayama. It's achallenging pace, but not
impossible. And I try to stressthat we're only doing the
mechanics of it, you know, we'reonly scraping the surface. And
so that holds me accountable fora certain standard, and that

(35:40):
holds them accountable for acertain standard. And I don't, I
don't, one thing I alwaysenjoyed is I that there's no
wishy washy stuff, but thatthere's no unicorns, there's no
mystic chatter, that, that Ihave to give someone, there's
no, there's none of thesemetaphors, that forces forces

(36:04):
their imagination to build. Ithink the idea is to do it. I'm
not going to influence what'shappening, I'm just going to
facilitate what's happening. Andrarely ever, do I have a student
not go through. Like in a wholerange of emotion. I've always

(36:28):
asked, did you guys getfrustrated? And I'd be surprised
how often people put their handup and go, Yeah, I was
frustrated. And then I wouldfollow up, do you? Do you guys
feel calmer, you know, andeveryone will put their hand up?
And I'd say, Do you feelfocused. And they Yeah, and that

(36:48):
is, I find to be a bridge topractice Ihara know, a bridge to
this opportunity to know thatyoga is skill and action. And in
order to develop a skill, youhave to you have to have focus.
And with focus comes this, thiscushion between you and any

(37:11):
distraction. And, and you canfocus on anything, that's the
beauty of it, anything you want.
And an establish a clearunderstanding of you know, it's
not held to the highest regardof a priest or the person that

(37:33):
can bend their back the most.
All you have to do is have abenefit of focus. And I think
you're doing yoga.
Great answer on that, on thattopic, I feel like one of the
things I on the first time, Igot a chance to take a serious

(37:56):
Ashtanga class with a seriousgroup of people and at the
closing posture time, shavasana,or I know, we could debate
whether we should call itAvastin or not, but when you lay
down, that there would just betake rest. And then be quiet.
There was no, you know, now dothis. Now do that. Now imagine

(38:19):
this and I liked that when youmentioned with the pranayama
that there's not a unicorn orrainbow sort of visualization
attached to it more theexperience of the practice and,
and then I also like that youbrought up the range of emotion
that's potential to come up allwithin the same practice that
there can be calm, as well asanxiety, you know it within the

(38:45):
within a 30 to 45 minute routinethat you could go through that
whole range, which is reallyamazing part of the yoga
practice. I agree with you.
That's cool. Our I'm alsocurious, how do you structure
your physical practice timethese days? Do you keep a very
regimented routine in terms oflike, okay, on Sunday, I do

(39:08):
second and Monday, Tuesday,Wednesday, Thursday, I do third
and then on? Whichever dayprimary, or are you waking up?
Or maybe it sounded like maybeyou go to work and then after
teaching is where you enjoypractice at the end of the day
as like a process, a way toprocess everything. How do you

(39:32):
structure your physical practicein relation to the different
series?
Yeah, I always practice afterwork. And I recently I'd say the
last eight months, it's beenprimary one day, second, the

(39:55):
next day and then most of thirdone. I'm practicing a third. The
following day. So I, and then,and then I reverse that to the
rest of the week. So Thursday,Thursday, or sorry, Wednesday
would be third, Thursday wouldbe second, and then Friday, I
always do try to do primary, butit's in the week and I do what I

(40:17):
can. Saturday, I recentlySaturday has become my rest day
and then Sunday I start startthe process again. And, but, you
know, I'm human like anybodyelse. So I'd say, nine out of 10
times I forget two or threepostures or you know, phone

(40:38):
rings or dog has to be fed or,or something. But I would say I
still get a solid time givemyself a solid B plus, when it
comes to keeping, keeping thepostures and I but I do get get
on my mat every day. Even if,even if it's just for a couple
of sun salutations. Nice. But Ihave but I've, I've had, I have

(41:03):
a lifestyle that permits me tohave that extra time. And I've
always I've always held that tohigh regard. And with that
comes, you know, you have to,you have to put some walls up to
be able to have that choice,yeah. compliant, in relation to
relationships with other peopleand then wanting us to do

(41:28):
something and you saying, No, Idon't have I got a I want this
time for me. Is that what you'realluding to? Or a different type
of putting up barriers? Or is itall the one one of the same
thing?
I, I've had to put up somebarriers, certainly, we're

(41:48):
probably about the age wheredrinking just simply doesn't
appeal to me at all. It's been along, long time, since about any
sort of reaction to a drink, ora drink itself. So that's not
easy to bet, or that's easy todistance myself from from people
to do that, that's easy. Theother part that becomes a little

(42:10):
bit more and more difficult todo is have a barrier at work,
you know, where I can't give,I'm not willing to give that the
emotional time the physicalafter school time, and, and
simply the intellectual time. Itneeds that, that I see a lot of

(42:30):
teachers do. Just for my ownmental health, too. I need to
dial that back. And that gets meon the mat. More and more often.
That makes sense. And it reallyis just going to bed on time.
Yeah. Yeah, I hear Yeah. Yeah,I don't think I've seen 10
o'clock on a on an alarm clock.

(42:53):
In 1015 years. He's like,I even if I tried, like, I get
up at five every day, and evenif I tried to sleep in like some
days, I'm gonna give a realgood, honest effort to sleep in
like, I my body at five o'clock,like, I'll look at the clock and
it's 500 like I'm gonna come.

(43:14):
Why? It's crazy how, howstructured it can become. I'm
curious, in terms of when youwere talking about Ponte Yama,
and I guess where I want to headdown to this question is with
vinyasa flow. But I remember Ihad asked him Miller about
pranayama. He had prided himselfand being one of the pioneers of

(43:35):
being very focused, regimented,Ashtanga teacher, but also
pioneering the vinyasa flowtechnique with other teachers,
as far as like, you know, if wehave this here, and we could put
that there and wonder what wouldhappen? And then I'd ask them,
Tim with pranayama Do you everdo pranayama flow, you know, and
he's like, Nope. Nope. Like,that's the one thing I will not

(43:59):
mess with. And I was like, Cool,I get it, I get it. And in
relation to what you had said,like the consistency of the
pronoun, I think, yes, that isan A is a really amazing part of
it. How much do you in terms ofthe asana world, either in your
own practice and or in relationto teaching Do you deviate from

(44:20):
the norm in terms of like usingresearch poses or even going
outside of that box into likeyin yoga or I can't even think
of a different type of godifferent type of yoga. Thank
you go yoga.
Yeah. I am. I'm atraditionalist. I wouldn't say

(44:46):
fundamentalist, but I'mcertainly a traditionalist. i
There is a rhyme and reason toit. And it and I also think
that, you know, yoga, it can bearbitrary. You can put any two
yoga postures together. And ifyou breathe through it and you
have focus and the integrity isthere, then that's yoga plain

(45:06):
and simple. And but I have tohold myself to a standard as a
teacher, so I can remove thatpersonal bias to the best of my
ability, and not force mypersonal opinions on, on the
physicality of the asana. Butthat is a double edged sword.

(45:30):
When you're working with withstudents that obviously have
limitations. With within theirstrongest system, it gets
complicated. So what I, what Itry to encourage and give my
students that I work with is, isthe integrity of the posture

(45:50):
there. are that are theyengaging, you know, the muscles
the right way? I guess I could,I could say that, do I see the
tension? Right? And then I, Itry my best to introduce, like,
a steadiness that gets themthrough the first posture to

(46:12):
whatever posture they're workingon. And that steadiness is there
for a reason, because your mindis mentally preparing you. Right
for these upcoming morechallenging poses. And I noticed
I noticed this, and it happensin me too. You'd have this

(46:32):
beautiful, primary series, youknow, oh, there, they look
absolutely. Fantastic. And thencopper toxins come in, you know,
and you see him, you know, yousee them just mentally fall
apart. And I think you worked anentire hour to do yoga to neural

(46:53):
Aha, you're right to calm thesensations of the mind. And what
does it do? As soon as you needto bend backwards? It messes
with your head. So they weren'tusing yoga, they were using you
yoga in the asthma sense. Andthey were totally giving up on
on the mental of it. But that's,we all do that. And it's so

(47:18):
easy. It is so easy to trickourselves.
Yeah.
Because our their mind has amind of its own. Yeah.
That is something that I loveabout the Ashtanga series. Yeah,
that's a great point. It'sreally easy to avoid the hard
stuff. Make excuses. I hearYeah. I'm curious when a lot of

(47:40):
people go to Mysore, they'rehungry for, you know, now
practice with Schrott and youstudy and practice with his mom.
Sarswati. And how did thatevolve for you? Did you when you
went to Mysore? Did you knowwhich person you would take to

(48:01):
the lid tender? Or was itsomething that evolved on your
first trip there?
Well, at summer times, shewasn't teaching and Saraswathi
was teaching. So it was just amatter of who was there. And so
I walk into her Shala. And atthe time, there was you know,

(48:22):
about 80 people, maybe 100people, and it right away. My
very first practice there, so Iwas, you know, I did yoga for
maybe 10 years, I did shunga for10 years. So I, you know, I knew
I knew the ropes, and also wasan athlete, so I knew how to be

(48:44):
coached. And I would justremember putting my hands up
Senator mascara, you know, wedid opening chant we did, we're
going to do my sword. And I saidto myself, I don't need to be
here. I don't need to learn off.
I know what I'm doing. And I,you know, I kind of look to my

(49:05):
left and right. And I said, Iwant to be here. I want to be in
this room and I want toexperience these this stuff
called Yoga, I want to I want tofigure it out, you know, I
didn't want it. I didn't want itto be secondhand knowledge
anymore. I was tired of peopletelling me what it was like. So

(49:27):
I wanted to take charge of theexperience of other stronger
yoga for me. And that gave methis this drive of belief that
that still stays with me that Ican teach myself that yoga is

(49:48):
going to be self self serving,and it's going to be a lot of
self learning. learning as well.
You do, do your work on yourselfor yourself. Which kind of
sounds selfish. But once youhave someone that knows

(50:12):
themselves, well, they'rethey're like a rock. You know,
there's they're steady and andunimposing. You know, they're
humble. They don't need to proveanything to anyone. And, and
when I meet a few people likethat it's pretty exciting. And I

(50:35):
can't put them I can't put itinto words. But I just know, I
know him. And I look at them,and you can just see in their
face or you can see in their, intheir, in their speech that
they're not budging. You knowthat when they're right, they're
right. And then nothing you cando to the budge. And I saw that

(50:57):
in a couple of people I waspracticing with. And I noticed
that their practice wasn'tfantastic. They were older, more
experience of life. And Inoticed that they didn't need us
and that to have that thatresolve to to be focused on that
resolved to stand firm. So Iknew that they had other

(51:21):
experiences that that gave themthat ability. And they just they
just brought it into yoga. Youknow, it was fantastic.
Nice. That's really cool. Greatpoint. I'm enjoying listening to
speak. So sorry, it's taken me asecond to formulate my next

(51:46):
question.
That's fine. That's fine. I kindof ramble sometimes.
No, you're clear. It's good. Iappreciate it. You know? Have
you experienced serioussuffering and or sadness and or

(52:08):
loss in life? Or do you feellike that wasn't a major reason
for you to seek out yoga?
No, no, no, I've I've certainlybeen of age, I've certainly lost

(52:28):
family members and closefriends. Some naturally someone
naturally. And in the weird partof that is that I'd recognize
recognize numbness and numbnessisn't what I'm really looking

(52:51):
for. But shock. You know, whereyou're, you're moving, but you
don't know it. You know, I andbut the one thing I've noticed
about it, there's a few timeswhere I had a heavy loss and
started leaving my sensesbehind. And I said, Okay, wait,

(53:13):
I I've experienced this before.
Actually, I've experienced thisfeeling a lot. And it happens
when I'm in deep Kameyama when Ihave a good pranayama part where
I'm starting to pull apart. Andthe thing the other thing I
noticed immediately immediatelyis everything. Everyone around
me is going about the business.

(53:39):
Nothing, nothing changes. It's anormal, everyday interaction in
a day. And, and I try toremember that when when things
get tough. You know, I also I'llshare with you when I had a good

(54:02):
friend of mine was killed on amotorcycle. And I was with him
and it was shocking. And acouple of weeks go by and I I
kind of come out of this cloudand start to re re you know, go
back into some hobbies at thetime was rock climbing. And I
ran into some friends and youknow, they buddy of mine was

(54:25):
rock climbing partner as well.
And they said hey, you know howyou doing? And I'm doing okay,
you know, my dad just passed andand everyone everyone I talked
to had someone who died.
Everyone, you know, Hey, Mom,you know, my mom died. Dad died.
My cousin died. And I wasn't youknow, I wasn't mean. It wasn't a

(54:49):
self selfish thing to hold thatin. It was it was nice to be
able to recommend you scan theroom and say I'm no better. I'm
no different. I'm no worse thananyone else. In this room, and
here we are doing doing theregular thing that regular
people do. And we, and we carrythis grief and we carry this

(55:11):
loss. And we carry these, theseheavy burdens somehow. And we
don't often get a way to come toterms with them. Until I until I
think until we find some yoga,or find some balance.
Yeah. I like the way that youmentioned, when you first use

(55:35):
the word numb, and then yousaid, that's not really the word
I'm looking for. And then yousaid, like, my body's moving
forward, but I'm not aware ofit. That's a good way to explain
that. That sort of feeling whensomeone's experiencing grief and
or loss. On the flip side of thecoin, when is the time recently

(55:57):
that you've felt incredible joy?
And you know, where you're justan absolute all of life, and
this opportunity to be alive?
Have you had a man? No, I mean,I have, you know, day after day,
you know, get a nicer routinegoing. And so I'm not

(56:18):
necessarily always looking forlike, I need to be overwhelmed
with joy, although I do reallyenjoy that, of course. But have
you had an experience latelywhere you've been floored and
appreciation and gratitude andjust amazement.
This may be cliche, but I dofeel immense gratitude when I

(56:40):
get an opportunity to teach. Andwhen I see a student have an aha
moment. And if I present it theright way, if I can present it,
as it was presented to me withthe same intention behind it,
then I feel I feel comfortable.
Like you can anyone can do likea jump through or a fancy

(57:03):
handstand and someone go, oh,wow, that's neat. That's not the
type of credit I like toreceive. I like like when a
student kind of goes, Okay, letme let me try it. And the
mechanics work. And they go,that's something I can take that
that that touches me. Thattouches me. That's cool. Yeah.

(57:29):
What about the feeling when youconclude a three day weekend
workshop? Can you explain Canyou explain like what you feel
when you've had that opportunityinteract with people and then
it's come to a close, you'veleft and you're maybe they're
going on a plane or a train orsomething like that? Personally,

(57:52):
I've always found that to be areally amazing experience, but
I'm curious what, what yourthoughts are there?
There, I've never left aworkshop, saying, I don't want
to do that again. I've alwayssaid I can't this is so much the
so pleasurable, you know, peoplethat do yoga are not on there,

(58:19):
they're not to be trifled withbecause they're highly
intelligent. You can't say no tothem, because they're they're
doers, they will do you knowwhat you ask them to do. So I've
always tried my best to dosomething that's a that's
practical, B that was taught tome that I can teach someone

(58:43):
else. And I try never to kind ofget on a soapbox and pontificate
about something that is notnecessary and the people in
front of me had been practicingyoga whether I'm there or not,
they're still going to work. SoI I try to just be be in be in

(59:05):
my lane and be the role I'msupposed to play. Some teachers
are really that they have a lotof energy and they like to shout
and they like to like get peopleexcited. That's not I don't
think that's that's my style.
Other people are almost aloof,but I like to think that I'm you

(59:26):
know, I just like I'm a kid wholikes not a kid anymore, but who
likes to practice yoga and youstill uses it as a way to
recharge to on a healthy kind oflike I need. I need my space. I
need my movement. I need myself.

(59:49):
Nice. Yeah, I get that. Are youso you're, we're getting close
to I know we scheduled in tohave an hour together and so I
really appreciate you taking allthis time with me and I feel
like I have a few morequestions, but I want to be
concise as well and, and helpboth you and I stay in our
lanes. But on that note, I'mreally curious to know if as a

(01:00:12):
school teacher and then teachingart, and as a yoga teacher, have
you had a samadhi experience orlike a union experience between
those two endeavors? Like, Iguess what I'm wondering is, do
you have a moment where you canwalk into the classroom with the
students and feel like theexperience of interacting with

(01:00:35):
them and teaching and then say,walking into a workshop setting
and working with students andhaving the experience of
teaching interacting is reallythe same thing and, like a
merging of those experiences? Orare they still separate? Due to
some unforeseen reason?
Well, they're there, they couldbe one in the same. There are

(01:00:59):
times that they have differentskill sets, of course, but there
are times where, where I havethe opportunity to impart
something, to to them so so say,typically, in a drawing class,
you know, I work with 13 yearolds, so their attention span is

(01:01:23):
very, very short. So if I get anopportunity to get one or two of
them to get progress done, or Ican get the okay from them, I
feel successful. And, and Ican't ask for that number to be
much higher in a group of 1015adults who do yoga, you know, I

(01:01:45):
know that one or two tips if Ican portray and influence them
by just one or two things thatthey can take home then.
Success.
The point that's cool, Ross. Nowwell, I've thoroughly enjoyed

(01:02:05):
this opportunity to get to meetyou and to have a chance to ask
you some questions and get someinsights into your teaching. Is
there any other thought ortidbit of motivation,
inspiration or advice that you'dlike to help us close with?

(01:02:27):
Yeah, just keep practicing.
yoga, yoga, yoga doesn't workunless unless you work for the
yoga. So give yourself some timeto practice. Give yourself some
mental space to practice. Youknow, put your get your day in
order. So you can enjoy thebenefits of what yoga can offer.

(01:02:49):
Nice, Ross. Thank you so much,man.
You don't Yeah, you don't needto have a fantastic backbend.
You don't need to have a threehour practice. You don't need to
get on an airplane and fly allover the world even though it's
great. If you could, you knowyou need to own own yourself and

(01:03:10):
and believe in yourself andnever give up. Yeah.
Agreed. Agreed. It feels good tokind of keep it going, doesn't
it? Because you've had over 20years now of consistent Ashtanga
practice longer if we go all theway back to that first high
school session, and the thingyou said was a church, church

(01:03:31):
basement. church basement. Wouldyou agree it gets better? Even
though like okay, yeah, maybethe physical part changes but
from like the wisdom and thematurity aspect would you do you
feel like you're in a like agrowing better phase?
I certainly feeling like I can,I'm I'm have the ability to

(01:03:54):
trust myself more and more everyday. And that comes always comes
from a challenge you don't thinkyou can overcome. And, you know,
we get into the phase of ourlives where life starts taking
things away from us. And I thinkthat's when a truer sense of
gratitude comes in to your toyour day whether it's finances

(01:04:17):
or whether it's a job or whetherit's loved ones but it I think
it also is most poignant in aphysical aspect when you start
losing these awesome knows whenyou when you know when that ego
has to be checked. And you canvery easily see the clock
ticking.

(01:04:37):
Yeah. Yeah.
And I think that's one benefitof being older is you don't you
do not have time to mess aroundanymore. No, you don't. You just
don't have have thatprocrastination in you. Yeah,
anymore. Yeah,good point. Awesome, man. Well,
I'm so thankful and I hope Ihave to have the opportunity to

(01:05:00):
meet you in person for everyonelistening if you prefer to watch
Ross and I talk this will I willupload this on to YouTube on our
native yoga center channel butif you whether you enjoyed it
listening and or viewing wereally appreciate you all
joining in and Ross, thank youso much for taking time out of

(01:05:20):
your day to speak with me. Ireally do appreciate it.
Thought it was absolutely mypleasure. Any anytime brother.
You know your Yogi's helpingYogi's? Right,
I love that. So then yourwebsite that you have that as a
key point of concentration andfocus, and I think that's really
important. Yes, agreed. Inoticed that you'd written. I

(01:05:44):
know yoga studios are tough. Andso as a traveling teacher, like
like, let's figure somethingout, and Yogi's helping Yogi's
and I thought, dude, I lovethat. Okay, that's unnecessary.
We appreciate that.
Yeah, you know, I love travel somuch and I, and I've yet to meet
a yoga studio owner that, youknow, that makes an abundance of

(01:06:10):
money. They just they worked atail off and I can't be more
more proud. And then the studioowners I know. It's great
people.
Well, thank you so much. And I'mgonna keep in. I'll keep you
posted here and I can't wait tofurther a conversation down the
road.
Anytime, anytime.

(01:06:30):
Cool, man. Have a good one.
Cheers. Cheers. Thank you. Ofcourse. Native yoga podcast is
produced by myself. The thememusic is dreamed up by Bryce
Allen. If you liked this show,let me know if there's room for
improvement. I want to hear thattoo. We are curious to know what

(01:06:51):
you think and what you want moreof what I can improve. And if
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(01:07:14):
time