It’s an interesting thing when you meet a Yogi … you know it immediately. It was like that when I met Jason Lobo. He has a presence.
‘Lobo,’ as I like to call him, is a True Yogi. He’s intense and clear, and his yoga is the same way.
Jason is a Yoga Force. He has a command over asana that would rival most Yogis and make all the rest stretch with envy.
His depth of philosophy is the same, he tells stories about Hindu Gods the way parents talk about their children, with a love that comes from only the most intimate and complex of relationships.
‘Lobo,’ as I like to call him, is a True Yogi. He’s intense and clear, and his yoga is the same way.
Jason is a Yoga Force. He has a command over asana that would rival most Yogis and make all the rest stretch with envy.
His depth of philosophy is the same, he tells stories about Hindu Gods the way parents talk about their children, with a love that comes from only the most intimate and complex of relationships.
But what is most interesting about him is his deep interest and embrace of the nuance of the Art of Yoga … as a Comprehensive study. I, of course, like that.
He, like all good teachers is, well, multidimensional. You may find him intense but you will also, most likely, find him approachable, interesting, eager to share his knowledge and funny ... he has a laugh that will shake you to your funny-bone until you have no choice but to laugh too.
But in the interest of our interview, he delivered unto these pages what I gather is just a glimpse of the depth that resides beneath. Here at Om Shanti Road, we’ll take what we can get.
Here’s how it went ...
Who do you consider to be your teachers? Who has influenced your style of teaching the most?
In the past and currently, my teachers are Christina Sell and George Purvis. Those are my two primary teachers. I’ve studied with other really great teachers that I love deeply and have learned from in many ways, Desiree Rumbaugh, among them. She is very inspiring to me and has been very helpful to me on my path. I’ve studied with a lot of really great Iyengar and Anusara teachers but George and Christina are my primary teachers. They’re who I’ve spent long hours with and who I still invoke.
He, like all good teachers is, well, multidimensional. You may find him intense but you will also, most likely, find him approachable, interesting, eager to share his knowledge and funny ... he has a laugh that will shake you to your funny-bone until you have no choice but to laugh too.
But in the interest of our interview, he delivered unto these pages what I gather is just a glimpse of the depth that resides beneath. Here at Om Shanti Road, we’ll take what we can get.
Here’s how it went ...
Who do you consider to be your teachers? Who has influenced your style of teaching the most?
In the past and currently, my teachers are Christina Sell and George Purvis. Those are my two primary teachers. I’ve studied with other really great teachers that I love deeply and have learned from in many ways, Desiree Rumbaugh, among them. She is very inspiring to me and has been very helpful to me on my path. I’ve studied with a lot of really great Iyengar and Anusara teachers but George and Christina are my primary teachers. They’re who I’ve spent long hours with and who I still invoke.
What is your main message? If you could impart anything to your students, what would it be?
That life is really challenging and the yoga offers us a way to become more skillful and able to engage the challenge and the difficulty with both sincerity and vigor in our efforts, and also with a sense of playfulness and gratitude for the opportunity to have a body, to have a life, to have the challenge.
So I use humor to cultivate hard work and try to inspire, as best I can, the necessity of intelligence in the practice … mindfulness as a gateway—as an access point to greater awareness.
Where do you see yourself in 5 years? Where do you see yoga, both locally and nationally in 5 years?
It’s really hard to say ... I think in 5 years—I will continue to study, continue to seek out teachings and go deeper with my own practice, so that in five years time, I’d like to be deeper in my own practice; that’s what I see, [deeper] as well in my understanding [of the teachings].
Also, spending more time in the country, in nature. I would like to have a place outside the city as a retreat, to spend more quality time in that way. Just with the natural world. I spent a lot of time in my youth in nature, a lot of time, and it’s something that I want to bring back into my life.
In terms of yoga, in the local community and global community now and in the future….it’s just on a runaway train of popularity and accessibility. That can lead to a lot of watered down renditions of the practice, if you will. I think as it continues to grow in popularity and more people get turned on to it, the people that are karmically predisposed will find their own path. I see it as it is marketed to the masses. It’s a great opportunity for people to experience a practice that gets them into of their body—that gets them out of their head. For many, that will lead them to a teacher, a method, a teaching, to something that adds value and happiness to their lives. I see it just continuing to grow and grow and grow.
That life is really challenging and the yoga offers us a way to become more skillful and able to engage the challenge and the difficulty with both sincerity and vigor in our efforts, and also with a sense of playfulness and gratitude for the opportunity to have a body, to have a life, to have the challenge.
So I use humor to cultivate hard work and try to inspire, as best I can, the necessity of intelligence in the practice … mindfulness as a gateway—as an access point to greater awareness.
Where do you see yourself in 5 years? Where do you see yoga, both locally and nationally in 5 years?
It’s really hard to say ... I think in 5 years—I will continue to study, continue to seek out teachings and go deeper with my own practice, so that in five years time, I’d like to be deeper in my own practice; that’s what I see, [deeper] as well in my understanding [of the teachings].
Also, spending more time in the country, in nature. I would like to have a place outside the city as a retreat, to spend more quality time in that way. Just with the natural world. I spent a lot of time in my youth in nature, a lot of time, and it’s something that I want to bring back into my life.
In terms of yoga, in the local community and global community now and in the future….it’s just on a runaway train of popularity and accessibility. That can lead to a lot of watered down renditions of the practice, if you will. I think as it continues to grow in popularity and more people get turned on to it, the people that are karmically predisposed will find their own path. I see it as it is marketed to the masses. It’s a great opportunity for people to experience a practice that gets them into of their body—that gets them out of their head. For many, that will lead them to a teacher, a method, a teaching, to something that adds value and happiness to their lives. I see it just continuing to grow and grow and grow.
What do you feel is the ultimate aim of yoga? Do you feel that enlightenment is possible in our modern times.
That’s a really complicated question because it depends on the viewpoint. I would say, kind of Classically speaking, the aim of yoga is enlightenment … Samadhi. But there are a lot of different perspectives.
I think generally the aims of yoga are along the same trajectory toward unified awareness, that we are not separate, mortal, suffering, limited beings. But that we are, and are a part of, something much greater: something immortal, ineffable, eternal, brilliant, and loving.
And yet I believe, from my perspective and my studies in Tantra, that the goal is also to teach us that we are very really [differentiated], mortal, limited, and suffering beings; and we learn how to embrace that too as part of the gift of life. That we shouldn’t look for something that we don’t have as the goal. We should find the goal right where we are.
The modern day yogi, I think, has many motives: fancy yoga clothes, nice butts … I’m teasing, kind of. Just the same motives that people have always had, you know, health, happiness, somewhere to belong—spiritual meaning in a convoluted and dark age of misunderstanding and gross violence on the earth ... to the earth.
The modern day yogi, if we really look, okay, if we really think: yogi, someone that is committed to the Path, someone that is in it for more than just the fashion or the fad, would be committed to the same things that yogis have always been committed to. These are knowledge of Self, expression of knowledge, union with a sense of peacefulness that we’re told is a self-abiding reality, equanimity, poise, grace, all those great things…
That’s a really complicated question because it depends on the viewpoint. I would say, kind of Classically speaking, the aim of yoga is enlightenment … Samadhi. But there are a lot of different perspectives.
I think generally the aims of yoga are along the same trajectory toward unified awareness, that we are not separate, mortal, suffering, limited beings. But that we are, and are a part of, something much greater: something immortal, ineffable, eternal, brilliant, and loving.
And yet I believe, from my perspective and my studies in Tantra, that the goal is also to teach us that we are very really [differentiated], mortal, limited, and suffering beings; and we learn how to embrace that too as part of the gift of life. That we shouldn’t look for something that we don’t have as the goal. We should find the goal right where we are.
The modern day yogi, I think, has many motives: fancy yoga clothes, nice butts … I’m teasing, kind of. Just the same motives that people have always had, you know, health, happiness, somewhere to belong—spiritual meaning in a convoluted and dark age of misunderstanding and gross violence on the earth ... to the earth.
The modern day yogi, if we really look, okay, if we really think: yogi, someone that is committed to the Path, someone that is in it for more than just the fashion or the fad, would be committed to the same things that yogis have always been committed to. These are knowledge of Self, expression of knowledge, union with a sense of peacefulness that we’re told is a self-abiding reality, equanimity, poise, grace, all those great things…
Do you think that enlightenment is possible?
I think the better question is, “What happens after Samadhi?” I mean, I think we know it’s possible because people have been there and said, “It’s possible.” I think becoming more skillful on the Path and not being concerned with whether it’s possible or not is the point!
Again, from my perspective, if we put the goal as an experience completely outside of the one that we’re having, it doesn’t have much value for me, immediately or imminently. I think that ultimately the goal is a moving target—that it’s not a fixed point.
It’s like the vessel expands?
Yes, because that’s what the Universe is doing.
If anything, I want to know how to be better at being in the world.
So for you, is that Samadhi, is that a degree of enlightenment?
I have no idea, but for me Samadhi is sort of this state beyond the normal, daily activities. Like get up, make the kids breakfast, get them ready for school. I’m pretty sure that all that stuff isn’t going to go away and I just want to be really good at that now, you know ... and yoga helps me do that.
I think the better question is, “What happens after Samadhi?” I mean, I think we know it’s possible because people have been there and said, “It’s possible.” I think becoming more skillful on the Path and not being concerned with whether it’s possible or not is the point!
Again, from my perspective, if we put the goal as an experience completely outside of the one that we’re having, it doesn’t have much value for me, immediately or imminently. I think that ultimately the goal is a moving target—that it’s not a fixed point.
It’s like the vessel expands?
Yes, because that’s what the Universe is doing.
If anything, I want to know how to be better at being in the world.
So for you, is that Samadhi, is that a degree of enlightenment?
I have no idea, but for me Samadhi is sort of this state beyond the normal, daily activities. Like get up, make the kids breakfast, get them ready for school. I’m pretty sure that all that stuff isn’t going to go away and I just want to be really good at that now, you know ... and yoga helps me do that.
Then, in a way enlightenment is not Samadhi?
I would say that enlightenment is not completely outside the experience that we’re already having. Unless it is. And if it is then that’s just something that I don’t know about.
It’s like one time, you know, my mom is a Christian and she would always read these accounts of what life was like in Heaven and then tell me about life there. One time she was telling me that there is no death. The apples [in Heaven], they never fall off the tree, they never rot, nothing ever dies and isn’t that wonderful and I thought to myself, “I don’t have an experience of that.” I can’t even comprehend what life like that might be because in the world that I live in, things die and that’s part of the world.
So I think it’s a folly for us to long for something that’s far away, that isn’t anything like the experience that we are having because I don’t see how it contributes to any kind of relevance or value to our lives … not that I think it’s wrong to aspire to a state greater than the one that we’re in. But I think that to make that the goal is a mistake.
Then what’s the point of practice?
To become more skillful at … to enter more deeply into the life that we’re already living.
I would say that enlightenment is not completely outside the experience that we’re already having. Unless it is. And if it is then that’s just something that I don’t know about.
It’s like one time, you know, my mom is a Christian and she would always read these accounts of what life was like in Heaven and then tell me about life there. One time she was telling me that there is no death. The apples [in Heaven], they never fall off the tree, they never rot, nothing ever dies and isn’t that wonderful and I thought to myself, “I don’t have an experience of that.” I can’t even comprehend what life like that might be because in the world that I live in, things die and that’s part of the world.
So I think it’s a folly for us to long for something that’s far away, that isn’t anything like the experience that we are having because I don’t see how it contributes to any kind of relevance or value to our lives … not that I think it’s wrong to aspire to a state greater than the one that we’re in. But I think that to make that the goal is a mistake.
Then what’s the point of practice?
To become more skillful at … to enter more deeply into the life that we’re already living.
You can find Jason teaching and sharing his gift locally at Black Swan Yoga and nationally by checking out his website: www.jasonlobo.com
I have to say, that it was a pleasure to interview Mr. Lobo, interesting and inspiring … thanks for your time, man :)
Peace,
Shanti
I have to say, that it was a pleasure to interview Mr. Lobo, interesting and inspiring … thanks for your time, man :)
Peace,
Shanti
