#35 - Keen on Yoga Podcast David Williams

David Williams has been practicing yoga daily, without interruption, since 1971. In 1972 while he was at Dr. Swami Gitananda's Ananda Ashram in Pondicherry, South India, he met Manju, the son of K. Pattabhi Jois, and saw him demonstrate the Ashtanga Yoga Primary series. In 1973, he began learning Ashtanga Yoga from K. Pattabhi Jois at his home in Mysore, India. David was one of the first non-Indian students to be taught the complete Ashtanga Yoga system of asanas and pranayama directly from Jois and became one of the first to be certified to teach the Ashtanga Yoga asanas. He was also one of the very few people ever certified by Jois to teach the Ashtanga Yoga pranayama. In 1975 David, along with Nancy Gilgoff organized and sponsored Pattabhi Jois and Manju’s first visit to Encinitas, California and introduced them to America and the western world. David is responsible for teaching the Ashtanga Yoga system to many of the world’s leading teachers and practitioners, including David Swenson, Doug Swenson, Danny Paradise, Cliff Barber, Batiste Marceau, Bryan Kest, Jonny Kest, Clifford Sweatte, Tracy Rich, Chuck Miller, Maty Ezraty, Kathy Cooper, and Andrew Eppler. David is 71 years old. He is a graduate of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He has lived on the island of Maui, Hawaii, since l976. His book My Search For Yoga was 10 years in the making and is his story as a yoga detective from the age of 20. Focusing on the years between 1970 and 1977 throughout Europe, two overland trips to India, and the early days in the Carolinas, Florida, California, and Maui. It includes crazy stories that he has shared in his classes over the years. and highlights the characters who were a part of his journey. The book contains 132 rare color images including photos, original documents of the Ashtanga syllabus and 12 letters from Pattabhi Jois.