He is called “The Architect of American
Yoga”. Ganga White opened the FIRST yoga studio
in Los Angeles California in 1967. He is the father
of “Partner Yoga” and husband to one of
the world's most beautiful and poetic women, Tracey
Rich. Together they founded The White Lotus Foundation,
in Santa Barbara over 20 years ago. Developers of
“The Flow Series”, they released the international
best selling “Total Yoga” videos, with
over 1.8 million sold.
I consider Ganga a treasured friend and honored mentor!
His non-dogmatic approach to yoga has always lead
my yoga practice, and teaching to arise within me
from a deeply organic place. He has challenged me
to let go of my expectation and allow for inspiration,
supported by a realistic and thoughtful basis. I have
been blessed by both his wit and wisdom. Most importantly
he has helped me realize that when you have one foot
in grounded common sense and good judgment and one
foot in the cosmic you lend credibility and vitality
to both.
I sat down with Ganga to talk about his latest and
long awaited creation, his new book: “Yoga
Beyond Belief—Insights to Awaken and Deepen
Your Practice.” Available now at Amazon.com,
www.whitelotus.org
or the White Mountain Yoga Studio.
Syl:
“As I have sat in council with you and Tracey,
I have often heard you speak to the yoga philosophy
and personal experience that I enjoyed finding in
your book—What inspired you and why did you
choose now, to put it all in book form?”
Ganga: “Syl, the short answer
is waiting for the right moment…Yoga interest
and practice have been growing at a tremendous rate.
Now so many students and teachers are looking for
an integrative and contemporary vision to help them
make sense out of the many differing points of view.
The book has been maturing for a long time. Although
I have been sharing this same message and perspective
for many years, it took some time to get it down in
writing. I think the book got better by refining it
over time.”
Syl: “I
found myself picking this book up and finding tremendous
enjoyment in reading chapters at random interest,
like a hand-book—Did you write Yoga Beyond Belief
with the intention that it be so ‘user friendly’?”
Ganga: “Yes, it's meant to
not only be user friendly and easy to understand but
"cross platform". It's written to be practical
and beneficial no matter what approach to yoga a person
is using but for beginner to experienced student to
teacher. I also intended it to be a complete vision
of all aspects of yoga that could be read in whole
and that would stand alone in part--thank you very
much for noticing that!”
Syl: “It
has been my personal observation that people look
for enlightenment so they can obtain some level of
immunity from the mundane, like no more pain, or no
more sickness, etc. —Your book is the first
I have read that speaks to Yoga without the promise
of immunity by practicing one way, or group of postures,
yet it is very inspiring. How do you feel the message
of regular yoga practice can best be expressed in
general, with out sounding like you are promising
the SUN & MOON?:)”
Ganga: “I see yoga as more
of learning a process than attaining a goal. Life
is constant change and growth. We need to awaken our
own vision, perception and insight that guides us
on our own unique journeys. Paths are limited and
fixed, vision is limitless and always in the present.
When you teach someone something as simple as driving
down the road certainly there are many rules to learn
but the essence is to learn to see and respond, and
understand what is going on.
The book, Yoga Beyond Belief, is really designed
to awaken the reader's own insight and understanding
of body, mind and spirit. When we learn to read and
use and develop our internal navigation and feedback
systems we're much better equipped to ride the waves
of life. And it becomes endlessly engaging, interesting
and enjoyable.”
Syl: “Why
do you think yogis in general are so readily looking
to follow a specific yoga dogma, and why is it often
so daunting to come face to face with personal practice
for its own sake?
Ganga: “Life is turbulent
and unpredictable. Without realizing it, we are looking
for certainty and a path to follow so dogmas arise.
Actually it is the unknown that gives joy and verve
to life. Wise sages have pointed out that wisdom is
found in embracing uncertainty. Many hope that yoga
is a pure science, "do this and get that",
or "practice this way and be healthy and happy."
But life and yoga require both art and science--the
art of living and being. When we are free of our rigid
ideas and formulas we move into the art of discovering
what is right for ourselves each moment. This can
seem daunting and scary, but it's actually freeing,
awakening and liberating.”
Syl: “This
book seems a thoughtfully provocative guide, yet what
you say makes perfect sense regarding becoming so
rigid in your beliefs, that you don’t see the
forest for the trees”…
Ganga: “We tend to be conditioned
to beliefs. ‘If I believe, practice and follow,
a certain yoga path, I'll live happily ever after...and
hereafter.’ There is a lot of comfort in belief,
but actually there is much greater freedom, joy and
aliveness in going beyond belief. We have everything
we need to make our lives on Earth a paradise but
instead we're destroying it through the clash of our
beliefs. We live on an overwhelmingly, beautiful planet
in a mind boggling, infinite universe. There are 500,000
million galaxies, each with billions upon billions
of star systems. The beauty, miracle and vast diversity
of life, are more than we can grasp. We too easily
can become numb to it all, but we're immersed in it.
Yoga aims to open our eyes.”
Syl: “As
always, thank you Ganga, Namaste”
Ganga: “Thank you for all
your love and support through the years, Yogini Syl,
Namaste.”
Namaste
SYL
