This episode is the first in a short series I’m sharing called Ashtanga Love Notes.

I feel Ashtanga has fallen a bit out of fashion and often gets a bad rep for being too difficult, rigid, and well, old school! So I want to talk with friends who like me still practise and teach Ashtanga. And still love it too!

We’ll talk about what we love, what keeps us coming back and what challenges and highlights it’s brought us along the way. Imagine these love notes hand written and close to my heart…

And so to my first guest on the series.

She discovered Ashtanga Yoga by chance in 1990 when, on her way to work one day in London, she spotted a long line of people queuing down the road with yoga mats. Turns out it was just the hugely popular Derek Ireland and Radha Warrell visiting London to teach an Ashtanga Yoga workshop!

She joined them and so began her love affair with Ashtanga.

She was authorised to teach in 1995. The same year she started a family with John Scott whom she met on her first trip to Mysore. She collaborated on the book Ashtanga Yoga with Lino Miele, the first of its kind to lay out the sequences and vinyasa count that are so much part of Ashtanga Yoga. These days she is based in Devon and leads Ashtanga workshops in the UK and around the world.

It is of course, the exceptional Lucy Crawford!

This is Lucy’s 2nd time on the podcast and I made the mistake of re-listening to our first conversation before recording this one and thought, aw heck, is there anything left we can talk about???

Well, as it turns out, there is!

We start our conversation talking about the enduring appeal of Ashtanga Yoga - its traditional roots and systematic approach and how it provides a clear path and framework - for yoga practice and for life.

We explore the importance of breath as a means to connect everything in our bodies. We also share some common misconceptions about Ashtanga Yoga and do our best to debunk them. And ahead of Lucy’s next visit to Glasgow we finish by talking about Tom Myers' work on fascial lines and its application to our Ashtanga Yoga practice.

Lucy sums it all up so well when she says “I mean, it's all beautiful.”

I just loved this conversation and I hope you do too.

Listen below or look for 'The Chai Sessions' on Spotify, Apple Podcasts or Amazon Music. You can also watch our chat on Youtube.

Lucy returns to Merchant City Yoga Friday 1st - Sunday 3rd November 2024. She’ll be sharing three mornings of Mysore style assisted self practice, workshops exploring Tom Myers’ fascial lines in our yoga practice on Saturday & Sunday afternoon and a very special workshop for teachers on the Friday where she’ll work with hands on assists for the postures of Primary & Intermediate series.

Her years of experience in holistic bodywork and Ashtanga Yoga define Lucy’s gentle and profound energy when teaching. You’ll find all the details and booking for our November weekend with Lucy HERE

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Until next time, thank you so much for listening.

Judi x

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