Yoga Source is honored to bring Master Teacher Tias Little back to St. Louis for another weekend of amazing classes, January 20 – 22, 2012.
Tias Little has trained in Iyengar and Ashtanga Vinyasa Yoga, has been a student of Tibetan Buddhist Dzogchen practice since 2003, and has practiced Zen since 1995. His teaching specializes in yoga and anatomy, blending both Western and Eastern perspectives. He currently directs Prajna Yoga in Santa Fe, New Mexico, with his wife, Surya, and leads yoga intensives nationally and internationally. www.prajnayoga.net
The article below is excepted from an interview at Kripalu, July 5th 2011.
Q: Describe what you do in 15 words or less.?
Tias: I teach dynamic yogic study, compassionate self-inquiry, and mindful “slow core” practice.
Q: Tell us about a turning point in your life.?
Tias: When I first read the Mahayana teachings—the Middle Way teachings of the Buddhist path. Until then, I thought that yoga was only a physical discipline and my main objective was to open and align my body. Through exposure to the Buddhist dharma, I realized that “mind flexibility” was as important, if not more important, than physical flexibility. There is an expression in Zen: “The hair may turn white, but the mind does not turn white.” Now that I am on enough in years to have grey hair, I realize that yoga is not just extending my body further and further; it requires close investigation of my thoughts, hopes, fears, and judgments.
Q: What do you love about teaching??
Tias: I love the opportunity to see students evolve right before my eyes, dropping their fixed notions of who they think they are and who they think they ought to be. With my machete in hand, I help them hack through the overgrowth of psychological clinging and emotional sticking, and the dense, dark congestion of doubt, confusion, and holding that builds up in the body-mind. I love weaving together various disciplines, including B. K. S. Iyengar’s work, the Ashtanga Vinyasa system of K. Pattabhi Jois, the Dzogchen teaching of Tibetan Buddhism, the work of Ida Rolf, osteopathic medicine, and cranial-sacral therapy.
Q: What are you passionate about right now??
Tias: For the past two years, I have been studying teachings within the Chinese Buddhist tradition, including koan study. Koans are illuminating sayings, conversations, ideas, and questions that have been recorded between master and disciple over the years, and they are often based on the natural world. When I bring metaphors of cranes, cicadas, mountains, and rivers into my teaching, it really inspires students.
For more details on the upcoming workshop visit www.stlouisyogasource.com.