Karyn Grenfell: A Hero's Journey
We were engrossed in conversation with our dear friend, Certified teacher Karyn Grenfell, Founder of Ashtanga Yoga Melbourne, when she mentioned a hilarious old trick... Karyn recounted, while backpacking (back in the day, before cell phones and the internet) how she planned to meet a friend at a particular time, on a particular date, in a particular city neither had been to, on the corner of two streets... Months in advance!
These days, we’re so inured to the constant flow of information and communication, it’s difficult to remember a time (not so long ago) when we would have to use books as guides, public phone-booths for calls, Travelers Cheques for cash, and paper maps for directions.
Can you imagine opening a book to determine if a country you are trapped in, takes Travelers Cheques?
Karyn has a very particular and idiosyncratic way of living her life. She is not dissimilar to a Tibetan nun, simply here and present, offering goodness to all beings.
She’s not bored. Or at least she’s come to terms with a certain pace of life. And, she’s inculcating that same quality of patience and peacefulness in her child. Karyn is keeping alive traditions that feel as if they belong in another century, a predigital age, activities that keep her refreshingly grounded and self-aware.
If you’re at all in doubt about the value of an Ashtanga Yoga practice, or if you’re fretting and insecure, be assured that the 20 years of practice in a dark room at 3:00 in the morning DOES HAVE an effect.
It changes a person.
And, for the better.
You can become someone that doesn’t need anything from anyone, but simply wants to help others with their suffering.
Karyn is a long time practitioner of Ashtanga yoga and has been teaching the Mysore - style method in Melbourne for over 20 years. Originally a nurse in a busy Melbourne hospital, Karyn discovered yoga to help her deal with high levels of daily stress. Her study of yoga led her to Mysore, India where she was taught by Shri K. Pattabhi Jois and his grandson, Sharath. Pattabhi Jois authorised her to teach this method in 2001, then she received her Advanced Certificate from Sharathji in 2012. She is one of only a handful of women in the world to receive this Certification. She built the first dedicated Mysore program in Melbourne, Australia and is the only Certified Ashtanga teacher in Melbourne.
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Opening and closing music compliments of my dear friend teaching Ashtanga yoga in Eindhoven, Nick Evans, with his band “dawnSong” from the album “for Morgan.”
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