Master Status

Malcolm Gladwell is a New York journalist and author whose latest book, Outliers, is a study of the circumstances and experiences necessary for success. The central premise in Outliers is the 10,000 hour rule which says that true mastery of an activity takes at least 10,000 hours of practice. I cannot say I agree completely with the author. I do not believe we can assign a specific value to “master” status. What is a master anyway? Yet, the book makes a good point in light of all of our 200 hour Yoga teacher training programs and western Yogis who practice for several years and give up practicing because they do not become enlightened or even worse, because they believe they are enlightened. If one practices Yoga 3 times a week and the class is 90 minutes, master status, using this guide, comes in a mere 42 years. Even for the serious practitioner practicing 2 hours per day it would take 13 years.

It has been said that the difference between master and disciple is that the master has less fear. As we practice, we move closer to the fearless state and inspire others to live in this same radical way. I have struggled with fear my whole life and fear has made many important life decisions for me, intentionally and unintentionally. In one aha moment in my life I thought how nice it would be to live without worry and then in the next moment I asked what is stopping me from living this way now? In that moment a cellular shift occurred in my body/mind complex. I became, as President! Barack Obama says, intimately acquainted with one of my blind spots, a recurring habit of thought. These blind spots are samskaras in Yoga and they dwell beneath the surface of the conscious mind and color our every thought, word and action. Bringing these blind spots to the light of day and integrating them into life is the work of the Yogi. As Yogis we chase our pain- we interface with that which rattles us willingly and often. And every time we face the rattle, we gain shakti, power, and we become stronger.

You fear. Sharat, no fear.
Sri K. Pattabhi Jois speaking of his nephew, Sharat, the new heir apparent to the Ashtanga Vinyasa lineage.