Keep in mind that this interview was done in 1988. Yoga today has become quite a business in many of the ways that Martyn talked about over 25 years ago. Shelley Piser: What direction do you think Yoga is going in the West? Martyn Jackson: I feel a little nervous about it because I can see I feel that I…
Martyn Jackson on Pranayama Practice
In 1981 I was introduced to Pranayama practice in Martyn Jackson’s teachers course. We practiced pranayama for one hour every morning before asana practice. This practice created the greatest shift in my own asana practice. Shelley Piser: You say often that Pranayama, is the most important part of your practice. Martyn Jackson: I feel so. If I can get you…
THE INTELLIGENCE OF BREATH
Breathing is the action of merging with life. When you think about something or someone that you love. When you are with that person or enjoying an experience that you love, you can take in a very big breath. You can also exhale in a way that brings total relaxation to your body and to your mind. All things that we…
MARTYN JACKSON: Changes
In 1987 Martyn Jackson was diagnosed with a lesion on his brain. A fellow student told me that Martyn received a call at his school. The call was from his 27 year old son telling Martyn that he (son) had melanoma cancer. Martyn hung up the phone and screamed “Why couldn’t it be me!” Shortly after that Martyn was diagnosed…
Martyn Jackson: As a teacher
Shelley Piser: How do you differ from what you have been taught and how did you evolve into your own? Martyn Jackson: I am a therapist, really. I am physio trained but never did the examination because there were other things on my mind like, I wanted to do that training, I wanted dance and there were so many things…
Martyn Jackson: From the Beginning.
This is the beginning of my 1988 interview with Martyn Jackson in Sydney Australia. Here Martyn speaks of his time leading up to getting involved with Yoga and BKS Iyengar Shelley Piser: What were the circumstances that drew you to yoga and when? Martyn Jackson: It was in early 1960, I was recovering from an abdominal operation, I was working…
Excerpts from an Interview: Martyn Jackson on studying with BKS Iyengar
This was part of an interview which I did in Sydney Australia with Martyn Jackson in 1988. I will be posting more. This portion will be published in the Iyengar publication of Yoga Vidya in December. Stay tuned for more. “For every student, there is one teacher who makes an impression, which ripples from that moment on to change and expand…
THE YIELDING SOLE
I walk almost every day up a steep hill. My feet have to be intelligent enough to assume the spontaneous demands of a rocky, uneven ground while my eyes are looking out at the horizon in front of me. In yoga poses where the feet are the roots for the rest of the body as in standing, balance, and backbends…
YOGA VERSUS CHAOS
Every week you go to your yoga class, practice moving your body in ways that you typically never do, you breathe in a way that you haven’t breathed all week. You relax on a level that seemed foreign to you all week long. You walk out of your class relaxed, renewed ad refreshed. You get into your car heading for…
NIP IT IN THE BUD
I started doing yoga when I was a teenager, doing headstands against the wall, my mom yelling at me for getting footprints on the wall, then taking classes and taking advantage of my natural flexibility and athletic strength. Present time… Now I am older and yoga has been a revealing tool to show me the subtle changes taking place. You…