The Heart of Yoga EP 12 - From India to Germany in the Guru Parampara of Krishnamacharya – with R. Sriram
Sriram is my Gurubhai – brothers of the same teacher. He is particularly interesting to me in that he is indigenous to South India, born into the society and language of Krishnamacharya and Desikachar. Whereas I migrated into that culture and knew nothing of it in my early life.
As a modern man in the West, Sriram is an extremely informed Yoga teacher who is able to communicate the nuance of the culture of our teachers in modern and useful ways.
Sriram speaks of growing up in South India as a radical young explorer of life and his journey into Yoga — a riveting and a brilliant window into how radical Desikachar himself was, absolutely not a traditionally religious or conservative yoga school. And the inspiring story of his relationship with his German wife Anjali and move to Germany.
R. Sriram has been working as a yoga teacher in Germany since 1988. In 1977 he began to systematically learn yoga with Śri TKV Desikachar in Chennai, his hometown - he received private and group lessons from him. Sriram also took private Ayurveda lessons with Dr. V. Narayanaswami and attended group lessons with Śri T. Krishnamacharya. For several years, Sriram taught under the guidance of Śri TKV Desikachar at the Krishnamacharya Yoga Mandiram in Chennai Yoga and contributed to the development of the then young institute.
The philosophical source texts of yoga, therapy with yoga, mantra yoga and yoga with children from mainstream and special schools were and are his focus.
Thanks to his language skills and the support of his German wife, the Indian dancer Anjali, he has become an important link between east and west for many yoga practitioners. Since the nineties he has taught at many yoga training centers and universities and has brought many people closer to yoga in all its aspects in private lessons.
With his therapeutic knowledge he was able to give many people the opportunity to find a new, healthy way of dealing with their complaints and illnesses. In this way, R. Sriram has been able to train many students to become well-founded yoga teachers over the years. These teachers offer yoga all over Germany, Austria and Switzerland.
- Sriram's childhood in South India and his introduction into spiritual life through music
- His involvement with radical Chennai theatre communities in the 1970s
- On meeting his wife, famous German-born Indian classical dancer Anjali Sriram, and the meeting of East and West
- Memories of J. Krishnamurti and TKV Desikachar and why Desikachar ignored his questions about spirituality
- Breaking out of cultural expectations and how Yoga helped resolve conflicts
- Reflections on the culture of the Mandiram community and those teaching and studying there
- Vedic chanting and the relationship with music
- Desikachar as “no more than a friend, no less than a friend” and his radical acceptance
- Dealing with the dreaded question – “What type of yoga do you teach?”
- Dealing with religious fears and prejudice over 30 years of working as a Yoga teacher in Germany, and how it has changed in that time.
You can learn more and connect with Sriram on his:
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