The Art of Yoga

The Chinese have a curse “May you be blessed to live in interesting times.”

Today we spoke with Timothy Lynch, an artist, father, philosopher, husband, activist, and deeply connected human being. One thing we could all agree on was that these were certainly “interesting times!”

Timothy Lynch spoke to us about the personal sacrifice he made.

Like in a giant cyclical wheel, the bubble of energy expanded… Ashtanga Yoga was triumphant and golden at the turn of the millennium, and all things seemed to arise and live inside of her as within Krishna’s cosmic bosom.

Then, a decade after the death of Pattabhi Jois, the bubble exploded in the wake of #metoo. The chintzy shine was tarnished. The “now” big boss was humbled and, controversially, avoiding the proverbial elephant in the room. And, it was at this point that Timothy felt propelled to sacrifice his place within the lineage, and walk away from the official “authorized list” of recognized teachers. A very sincere and conscious choice, a stance taken as a personal protest to authoritarianism.

"We were all punks first," Timothy said. And so he reminded us of our punk ethos when he took his name away.

Throughout our conversation with Timothy, we were reminded of what Krishna says during his last teachings to Arjuna in the Bhagavad Gita:

sarva dharmaan parityajya maamekam sharanam vraja
aham twaa sarvapaapebhyo mokshayishyaami maa shuchah (BG 18.66)

“Completely relinquish all forms of dharma, come to me as your only shelter. I shall grant you freedom from all misfortune — do not despair!”

Timothy received his BFA from the School of Visual Arts in Painting in NY and quickly became a gallery assistant at the world renowned (actually) Pace Wildenstein Gallery. In the midst of this quite intense little job, which he describes as being akin to an emergency medical technician for paintings he came to Yoga.

We touched upon the ephemeral quality of the asana practice and how it can be seen as making art with your body, like dance or music, it appears and then it’s gone.

“Love is being able to see the qualities in someone else that they can’t see in themselves, and as a Mysore teacher it’s our job to support individuals to grow into a space where they can see themselves for who they truly are. “

Timothy publicly renounced his Authorization and liberated his consciousness to continue practicing on his own terms.

We’re all in this together and love is what will get us through in the end.

LEARN MORE ABOUT TIMOTHY

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