Eddie Stern - From Ashtanga to Exploration

[@helenryan2848]

Thank you for this very interesting podcast.

[@kalpeshn3092]

As a person born and practicing in the Hindu Tradition, this made me so happy. It's rare to find genuine teachers that do not narcissistically appropriate, but still stay true to yoga's roots. Eddie gets it !

[@janspicher6741]

Thanks Adam for this interview and thanks to Eddie. That inspires me a lot

[@jojowallace5098]

Thanks for sharing this. I am a yoga teacher with a specialty in Ashtanga. I have become so focused on trying to accomplish all of the postures including the second series. I adhered to the notion that other practices like Vinyasa and power yoga were watered down nonspiritual practices. At age 65 I have realized that I need to adapt my practice to honor my body. No more wheel, shoulder or headstands without Iyengar modifications. Why do I keep coming back to the full series? I am obsessed and maybe a tad masochistic. Glad I stumbled across this talk!

[@keenonyoga]

I think it’s worth bearing in mind that the ashtanga sequence is also a respectively new ‘tradition’; in terms of the sequences and many of the postures. And that Krishnamacharya made it up to teach young boys in Mysore and never taught it to adults. There is nothing inherently spiritual’ in the postures. It’s rather the attitude in doing them. In which masochism and ambition won’t help anything! give yourself a break and take care of yourself.

[@georgemaniere7919]

Hands down my favorite yoga teacher is Eddie. The reason is is willingness and abilility to change. Also the joy he brings to other people by just being himself.

[@keenonyoga]

yes, he’s always been innovative and fully engaged without a doubt!

[@palomavillelayoga]

That was really inspiring 🧡 Thank you Adam and Eddie Stern 🧡

[@lakshmikumar6339]

Eddie is one of my favorites teachers. So humble and inspiring

[@Marta-qo6mq]

Absolutely fantastic! Very inspiring. Thank you

[@keenonyoga]

glad you thought so! thanks for listening .

[@sergeysokolnikov5988]

Good understanding of the practice evolution from Eddie Stern. “Jumps back and through” will never lead any of us to Samadhi - all vinyasas and moving sequences are made to draw practitioner’s attention inwards in order to “start the journey”. The more we progress the more static the practice becomes - with eventually one asana (padmasana) and no movement at all where all goals are reached

[@vincentpoeze]

Wonderful! Quite an eye (ear?) opener to hear Eddie speak about his reasons for moving away from Ashtanga... More Ashtangis should hear this.

[@keenonyoga]

yes, I agree, yer I still think we don’t have to ‘throw the baby out with the bath water’ , we can simply take a more holistic approach to the ashtanga practice.

[@amith0tube]

Moved away from Mysore practice i gather? He still incorporates ashtanga to a large extent?

[@taylorwilcox9845]

This is an amazing podcast series you have. One thing I would be cautious of is sometimes I will put one on and I swear there is an ad every 2-3 minutes it makes it tough to listen to if you can’t constantly hit skip. Not sure how that works on youtube. Anyways, keep it up.

[@keenonyoga]

Thanks for your comment, glad to hear you like the content. KZbin sets the amount of ads and you will see them unless you have their premium version, but as you say you can skip them. 🙏

[@Babassecretchannel]

I’ve been saying the same things as Eddie for twenty years. It couldn’t get much more rigid how Jois or his successors teach. It squeezes everything really and actually valuable out from the practice.

[@keenonyoga]

at last you agree with something!! 😂good to hear from you again . 😊

[@Babassecretchannel]

@@keenonyoga What? Maybe you confuse me with someone else because I agree a lot what you and a number of guests have said in many episodes. I'm not a sourpuss at all. Well, maybe a little but just a little! (Resent you a fb request)

[@eviohealth5611]

Thank you so much 🙏

[@keenonyoga]

you’re welcome!! glad you enjoyed it.

[@lulitaviolino]

Such an interest conversation ❤

[@JacintaMcBurney]

Such a lovely, candid conversation ❤ Thank you for enlightening the listeners out here about new and interesting directions.... And thank you for your truth...❤❤❤

[@melissaa.8547]

Thank you for this interview 🙏🏽

[@t2dev]

Thank you Adam and Eddie for this wonderful and insightful interview.

[@keenonyoga]

glad to hear you enjoyed it! 🙏😊

[@cyanemassue2540]

What a treat! Thank you for this amazing interview❤

[@keenonyoga]

absolutely! for me too. glad you liked it.

[@idabeniamin]

:) This made me so happy !! Thank you Adam and Eddie !! We are so lucky teachers like you do what you do , so grateful !

[@carolinebrichard7239]

Such an interesting and sincere talk. It seems that Eddie prefered a radical choice and decided to stop ashtanga completely instead of adapting the series or variation of postures... I wonder why?

[@keenonyoga]

too much water under the bridge so to speak i think, and he wanted to adapt and vary asana more..

[@dharmainthenorth]

So delightfully honest and inspiring - brilliant!

[@davidfredriksson2113]

Good one! Nice to hear some truth and honesty from Eddie 👏🏼 I wish more Ashtanga teachers would have the bravery to be honest and open about what they actually are doing/teaching. There is definitely a laundry list of teachers that don’t teach Ashtanga yoga anymore. But they sure do like to Capitalize of the name… To me this is highly disingenuous and extremely confusing to yoga students that get fooled into thinking that they are learning Ashtanga yoga. It would be so much better for everyone if this wasn’t the case. Personally, I too started with Hatha yoga. And I could possibly see myself going in that direction one day. But I would never personally be confused, dishonest or ambiguous about which style I’m teaching. And this is exactly what Eddie is doing, he is not confusing anyone or being dishonest about his own Sequencing. Because he doesn’t attach the name Ashtanga to it. I’m also inline with so much of what he is talking about regarding the body/asana practice etc. I just go about it in a different way. Like I said, good one…

[@keenonyoga]

glad you liked it. yes: i think it took a lot of courage for Eddie to step away from what was not only his work but also his social identity. Pretty impressive.

[@Snowymoon14]

I don't know how old Eddie is but I would be interested in hearing him talk about the practice in his experience in different age ranges both as a teacher and as a student.

[@keenonyoga]

well he did say that a bit i think…. maybe not so much a a teacher , but he was basically ‘on program’ as a strict teacher of the Myisre style i believe until around the pandemic ..

[@daryakondrateva]

Interesting interview 🩷 thank you, Adam and Eddie! I also would really like to listen to the interview with Ty Landrum and Rose Erin Vaughan 🙏

[@Snowymoon14]

And here is me at 51 stopping to learn eka pada for now and still working dropbacks thinking I will just continually move forward the best I can in my own way through aging until something in my body stops me...and then I'll just modify and carry on...😂❤❤❤

[@Snowymoon14]

I'll let you know how that goes if I stick to it.😂

[@keenonyoga]

I still don’t think that’s inherently a bad thing as long as you’re not putting yourself in pain to do so - but , by the same token. physical advancements shouldn’t be taken for anything other than that ..

[@melissaa.8547]

THIS is such an important point

[@pilaralvarez7105]

I think that Krishnamacharya and Guruji have left us a great legacy by creating the series, the only thing we can do as their followers is to limit ourselves to learning it and experimenting with our own body, as he said, 99% practice... if we have the possibility that someone can adjust us even better, but the work is ours, we are the only ones who can teach ourselves.

[@sigib911]

I think it would be interesting to ask Eddie Stern about the point when the Ashtanga Yoga Vinyasa series were originally meant for children, as taught by Krishnamacharya to Pathabi Jois and other kids. However, Krishnamacharya actually taught Viniyoga as his more mature approach.

[@keenonyoga]

well that’s common knowledge, and the sequences work ok as long as there is the capacity and allowance for adaption..

[@goansunborn]

32:10 😕

[@pilaralvarez7105]

I believe that, like many, Ashtanga or yoga is something that cannot be taught... please stop using the words "teach and teacher", yoga is ethereal and each person must experience it with their own body and each body is different, which is why it cannot be TAUGHT.

[@keenonyoga]

Well, I somehwhat agree, but, n the meantime, we have to do something; which is teach the method whereby they may have a personal experience - which then makes us a 'teacher' of sorts. Just like yoga cannot, in the end, be taught, words do, similarly, not express full ideas without further clarification. - which, I felt, by the tenure of our conversation, was provided here.

[@pilaralvarez7105]

I think that Krishnamacharya and Guruji have left us a great legacy by creating the series, the only thing we can do as their followers is to limit ourselves to learning it and experimenting with our own body, as he said, 99% practice... if we have the possibility that someone can adjust us even better, but the work is ours, we are the only ones who can teach ourselves.