Teacher Highlight: Sri Shubha Mohankumar
Sri Shubha Mohankumar is the youngest daughter of Tirumalai Krishnamacharya, the “godfather” of modern yoga. Her father invented Vinyāsa Krama, which is the origin of the Ashtanga (Aṣṭāṅga) Vinyāsa style. Sri Shubha also teaches yoga postures in the Vinyāsa Krama style, where the emphasis is on slow, fluid movements, in synchronisation with the breath, and following a sequence which folds back in on itself, ending finally where you began. In addition to āsana (yoga posture), Sri Shubha teaches prāṇāyāma (liberation of the breath), and also Sanskrit chanting. Today, she is always expressing amazement and gratitude for all that her father taught her. As a young person growing up in Mysore during the 1960s and ‘70s however, she used to tell her friends that her father was a professor--he did have multiple doctorates--consciously not mentioning that he was a well respected yoga teacher, as yoga was not widely understood or accepted at that time. Without even realising how special it was, Sri Shubha grew up in a household where her entire family learned and practiced yoga under her father’s teachings.
Sri Shubha’s style of teaching is fresh and friendly, she adapts to her students’ needs and to the realities of modern life, acknowledging the complexities we all face. Her classes are always punctuated by her infectious laughter, and her smile is like a thousand suns rising. For decades she taught yoga in the traditional style of 1:1, with students from around her hometown and also specialising in serving students with special needs. More recently she has been connecting with yoga students worldwide through teaching online, and she was one of the headliners for this year’s Mysore Yoga Traditions Conference in Mysore, which has been running annually for the past eight years.
Monica & I have been have been greatly enjoying taking Sanskrit chanting classes with Sri Shubha over Omstars, in a series which began last September. She has been teaching us her father’s text the Yogāñjalisāram, a poetic composition of 32 shlokas (a bit like a stanza) each containing nuggets of wisdom from yoga. It is lovely to see how inspiring her father is to her, and how she truly embodies the lessons of yoga her father eternalised in the Yogāñjalisāram. Included for you below are two shlokas, with a translation by Sri Shubha’s son Deepak:
aṣhṭāṅgākhyam yogābhyāsanam
mukthiṃ bhukthiṃ pradhadhāthyanaghām।
yadhi guru padhavīm anugatham athavā
chithaṃ bhagavat padayorlagnam॥ 12॥
Follow your Guru’s guidance,
contemplate the Lord’s holy feet;
with steady practice of Aṣṭāṅga Yoga,
gain happiness or liberation, as your heart desires.
thavā vā mamavā sadānusaraṇāt
namanān mananāth prasanna chitthaḥ ।
bhagavān vāñchita makhilaṃ datthvā
kiṃ the bhūyaḥ priyamithi hasathi ॥ 13 ॥
Whether it is “your Lord” or “my Lord” it makes no difference.
What matters is a sincere reflection, and a clear heart,
the Lord, grants all that is desired,
and smilingly asks, “What more can I give you?”