Rich Logan: there is no “right” and “wrong” in yoga

16 December 2018 an interview

Are you from Chicago originally? Do you have your own school there? Tell us about your method.

I have had my own school in Chicago for a long time. The yoga, which I was teaching — it is not a particular style. I tried to combine an experience of my teachers and my own understanding.

I learned a lot from Gabriel Halpern. He is a disciple of Iyengar, and also a profound

researcher of a yoga psychology. I have been studying with him for more than 15 years.

At 2002 I went to India, to Krishnamacharya Yoga Mandiram. By that time, I was already a yoga teacher, I came to Chennai, and chose an intensive course of personal practice. It was a very profound immersion in the yoga. And in a month, I learned more than through years of practicing.

I live in India more constantly for the last three years. Now, most of the time, I spend in Varkala. I study yoga and try to move further in my personal practice. In summer  I come back to the States, in order to spend some time with my teacher, and exchange the experience and new knowledge.

What has become so special for You in the Indian way of teaching yoga ?

I had been studying a lot of the Iyengar Yoga in USA. I like this method, but the focus there is on the work with the body. “ Direct the shoulder-blades down, press the foot” and so on. Such yoga requires discipline and control. In India, not only at Krishnamacharya, but all over the Asia, yoga is much more easy and light. The practice is flexible to the individual needs of a pupil. In the Indian yoga, there is no “right” and “wrong”, there is a living experience and  comprehension.

This approach seems very loyal, but the results of the practice turn out to be very powerful. In a few months, I found that it was very easy to do poses, that were earlier inaccessible for me.

When, after  practicing in India, I went to the habitual class in USA, I had a strange feeling. It was easy to do poses, the body became more flexible and strong. But the class did not look like the yoga( to which I had become accustomed), but it looked like the implementations of the instructions — “ do that”, “do this”, instead of “be here”, “listen to your body”, “notice your limitations”. But I think, each way can lead to the aim of the yoga. Yoga — is a very personal experience, and all of us are very different. But we are looking for the same thing.

Before You became a yoga teacher, You were an actor. Is there something common between the theater and yoga practice?

I am an actor by training. I was a movement based actor. I used the external posture and effected the internal workings of body and mind. That is why, for an actor of this genre, it is important to to feel the body, be able to immerse your attention deeply into a pose and to monitor the connection of emotions and muscles. And it is very close to the work with consciousness  and body in yoga.

Yoga for you, first of all, is a personal experience, spiritual practice. How do you manage to keep this focus during the teaching and transfer your understanding to the group members?

For me, there is several levels of teaching.

The first one, basic level, is the performance of poses, body rebuilding. My goal here is to make the practice secure and effective. As soon as the pose become comfortable and stable for the pupil, I offer him to direct the attention to the breathing. It is the next level. The breath — is something more subtle, than physical body, bones and muscles. The breath — is the bridge between physical and mental. it is a more subtle work for the attention.

Then, we can move one level up — observing emotions and thoughts stream. The energy of emotions and mind is much more subtle, unstable. It is like an invisible ocean. A sudden thought comes up ripple of emotions, and, sometimes, a strong waves.

Further away — the observation and experience of consciousness. Consciousness — is the basis of everything. Without the consciousness, there is no sensation of the body, no emotional experiences, no thoughts. When we observe the consciousness, the “state of yoga” happens. This is a moment of a total experiencing of the present.

Another way to understand the state of yoga — is through love, experiencing the love of the world. Love — is the very unity with the real, being in the moment.

You speak about some state of the unity, when we lose ourselves…

Or find ourselves ( laughing)

Is there no contradictions between accepting everything, letting go of control, and remaining yourself? Action and no-action.

Necessary to notice yourself. “What  am I right now?” I am not the same, as  I used to be. “Where are you at a point in time?” “Where are you in the Universe?”. Life is a stream. And we are moving in this stream. We are part of this stream.

Our mind creates a lot of imaginations, in which we believe. He aspires to describe everything, to create his theory.

Consider a tea. I look at the cup of a tea and I can describe the tea, it’s taste, it’s perfume. I can try and tell about the feelings, after making a sip. But it is a mind work.

Another thing is to drink a tea. I drink the tea and it is a real experience, and I am experiencing the perfume, it’s taste. But it is behind words.

Yoga helps to be attentive. The mind creates a lot of schemes. Instead of perceiving the real, we turn to the prepared schemes. But the yoga teaches us to be open, sincere. To comprehend life through your own experience, ask questions, learn.

What you would like to dedicate your master-classes at the Avatar Festival 2019?

There is still  a lot of time before the beginning of the festival, and I do not like to limite myself with the strict plans. Especially, when it is about yoga. Yoga — is always new openings. Yoga always surprises me. And I would like to share the most  precious things, that will bring me the practice of the coming months.

I will be happy to see you on my beloved Avatar.