Cliff Side Yoga
   by KaronKarter

Isn’t it funny how life inspirations come to you? A word inspires an idea. A casual conversation leads to an opportunity. A mundane day at the office (or, in my case, on a plane - I’m an international flight attendant) flourishes into a life changing experience. This all happened to me.

I was scheduled to fly Maui - not a bad gig, I know, but it’s work as well. Even so, I was excited about this layover and was looking forward to visiting a friend, Trent Sechrest. Dallasites are funny people. No matter the city, state, or watering hole, we tend to find our own.

Trent, a local Big-D boy, made his home among the Dallasites of Maui. As an avid yoga student, I was telling Trent how I thought it would be cool to take yoga on Maui. Trent knew just the right guy, his yoga instructor who he had met through other Dallas expatriates. As fate would have it, this yogi turned out to be, let’s say, yoga royalty.

If you don’t know David Williams, then you probably don’t know Ashtanga, which is the yoga du jour to the celebrity A-list. Madonna retired her running shoes; Sting is a long time devotee; and Kristy Turlington graced the cover of Time Magazine twisted like a lotus flower. The fact is Ashtanga is a traditional form of yoga with roots winding back thousands of years, according to its current guru, Pattibhi Jois.

David Williams knows this all so well - he studied with Pattibhi Jois in India and in 1972 was one of the first Westerners to bring Ashtanga to America. This visionary sparked the Ashtanga craze by sharing his passion with anybody willing to learn. These days, this Ashtangi lives in paradise, yet his teachings reach all parts of the world and his rock star celebrity roster is long and very impressive. But this morning, he teaches me.

I felt honored yet anxious. The truth is, I do yoga but not Ashtanga, plus my legs were weary from working the flight from Dallas. For all you yoga neophytes, Ashtanga is the intense boot camp kind. Ahead of me was a 90-minute session and my body was registering 9:00 PM bedtime rather than yoga time.

I fixated my eyes past the meticulously groomed gardens, the aqua blue pools to find Mother Nature’s work - jet black volcanic cliffs framing the indigo Pacific Ocean. With every breath, I inhaled her aromas: plumeria, ginger, and bougainvillea - and gazed out to the sea for inspiration.

David began with abdominal lifts. “These,” he said, “are not part of Ashtanga, but a cleansing ritual to stimulate and cleanse the bowels.” His abs gyrated like a belly dancer—up and down, and all around. Mine wouldn’t budge. As seconds passed, I fretted about my bowels - and why my belly rebelled. David reminded me that, “it takes daily practice,” and suggested we try Mula Bandha or root lock. David explained it this way: “lock off your anal muscles.” Really, what were those Ashtangis thinking? But I tried. Mula Bandha, you see, is the heart of Ashtanga: it activates the body’s energy by connecting deep breathing to the body’s core (center) muscles in order to enhance our focus, concentration, and meditative state. “You must,” David explained, “have strong Mula Bandha continually in and out of every pose.”

With my Mula engaged, I prepared for the Sun Salutation series. My body soaked in the sun’s energy while the ocean breeze eased the heat to create the perfect atmosphere for this yoga – the sweatier the better. As I flowed through each pose, my tired muscles surrendered.

My trance deepened as I inhaled fragrances from the sea to Up Dog and exhaled to Down Dog listening to her sounds, waves crashing along the cliffs. David made minor corrections to my form – a foot or hand position yet didn’t scrutinize every move. That’s another Ashtanga truism, just move and eventually the mind, body and soul will acquiesce to the magic of the poses.

I flowed in and out of the standing series, with such poses as Triangle and Warrior, and then the sitting series – holding each pose for five breaths while practicing strong Mula Bandha.

To keep the heat cranked, I had to move from pose to pose with jump-throughs. Imagine sitting on the floor cross-legged, lifting your whole body off the floor with your hands high enough to swing your legs underneath so you clear the floor and land in a push-up position. Yeah right! My butt, needless to say, scraped the floor every time, and after countless repetition I was wishing for the Corpse pose. Even so, as we approached finishing poses, I was not exhausted but had that same blissed-out feeling after a good massage.

I was inspired by David and humbled by Nature’s beauty all in one. He guided me through the poses as if I was touring my body from head to toe. And my body heat was pure and the sweat was natural, unlike that induced indoors by an eighty-degree thermostat. In other words: way cool. I couldn’t help think, practicing yoga over looking the cliffs of Maui was how it was supposed to be done. No wonder David lives here.

If you want to try Ashtanga with David, you can contact him at davidmaui@yahoo.com