Jonny Kest - Chico Kidd

Inspiring Teachers
Chico Kidd
Moving
Towards Stillness
www.yogamagazine.co.uk
The Life Journey of
Yogi and Vegan
Jonny Kest
As practitioners of yoga, we study
equanimity, but it is difficult to suppress a twinge of
jealousy at the thought of Jonny Kest’s childhood in
Maui in Hawaii – yoga on the beach in the early
morning with his father and brothers; travelling to
India at the age of 15, and meeting with the great
guru Pattabi Jois. With such a start in life it was
almost inevitable that Jonny himself became a
teacher.Yet this practice sprang out of something
quite mundane: his father’s bad back.
Photos: Daniel Lippitt
YOGA magazine 21
Inspiring Teachers
“Having a centre truly helps one stay centred. I believe a
very large role of a teacher is to help create community.”
22 YOGA magazine
some key individuals that allow me to continue
teaching without distraction. Having a centre truly
helps one stay centred. I believe a very large role of
a teacher is to help create community.”
Jonny’s yoga philosophy is simple: it is “all about listening”. He elaborates: “The art of teaching yoga
requires one to first understand, and then to be
understood. In yoga, the truth is inside each one of
us...The greatest journey then is the one inside. It’s
all about listening and letting go of the wall and
barriers that separate us from real love and unity.
“Yoga is about learning to listen deeply to ourselves. In school, we learn to speak, read and write.
We do not really learn how to listen.There is no
more important relationship in the world than the
relationship between our mind and body.”
Jonny’s father had him reading Krishnamurti when
he first introduced the boy to yoga. “It really planted the seed of desire for spiritual growth,” says
Jonny, but he came to meditation only after leaving
college. “It is quite common,” he remarks, “for yoga
students to start asking about meditation practice
after a number of years of asana practice. It is a
natural progression to move toward stillness.”
Stillness is certainly something that Jonny has
embraced to the full.The form of meditation he
favors,Vipasana, is a very deep silent meditation
said to come from the teachings of the Buddha. It
has been kept in a very pristine purity for over
2,500 years... passed unchanged from lineage to lineage. It sounds tremendously demanding, but ultimately rewarding. Asked what it is like, Jonny
explains: “Vipasana courses are 10-day silent
retreats that begin at 4:30 am and end each day at
9:30 pm.They are very long and challenging days,
however, there are tremendous insights that make
you lighter and stronger... almost everyone comes
out smiling and successful.”
10 days in complete silence. No eye contact, no
gestures. Wow. “It’s called noble silence,” says Jonny.
And lasting the distance is a challenge. “It seems to
become very difficult for a lot of people on the
second day.That is when you will see people leave.
And also the sixth day.The fourth day is when they
introduce the actual technique. Up to that point,
you are just to observe your breath. Once you hit
the fifth and sixth day, you feel like running. After
the sixth day you are in the home stretch. It’s still
hard, but you feel that you will get through it.”
He continues: “It shifted my whole yoga practice. It
Additional Source: A Dialog with Jonny Kest by Clyde Chafer (excerpt from “The
Journey” Mind~Body~Soul Expo Official Program & Guide) August 2006
wasn’t so much about asana. I became less competitive. My practice was more internal. Each time it
seems I go through another layer.This meditation
has taught me how important it is to let go.”
Asked if he has any thoughts on where yoga is
going, in a wider sense, Jonny answers, “Yoga will
continue to grow as more and more people look
for a way to counter the breakneck speed in which
we operate our lives. We eat fast, drive fast... we
even breathe too fast. As we listen to our breath, as
we hear how it speaks to us, we can learn so many
things. We breathe over 20,000 breaths a day and
most go unnoticed. We suppress our breath rather
than connecting with it. Imagine what would happen if we could tap into that place of breath and
connect with the perfection of that moment. We
would feel such joy.
“Yoga,” he concludes, “requires our nervous system to slow down and be more present from
moment to moment... allowing each breath to
make a difference inside and out. What will push
yoga into the next decade is its ability to help others listen and to serve.Yoga is not just about looking good. It is about feeling alive. Even if you come
to yoga for a workout, it doesn’t take long before
you realize transformation is taking place.You are
calmer, less reactive, you listen more deeply. By
coming to the mat, you set yourself up for personal
transformation. It’s inevitable.”
Jonny Kest
Jonny is an avid supporter
of human and animal rights.
His practice of compassion
goes well beyond his yoga
mat as he and his family
incorporate ahimsa (nonviolence) and compassion
into their daily life, leading
them to be devout vegans,
and encouraging others to
explore this path.
Director and programme
founder of Michigan’s
Center for Yoga, Jonny has
been a student of Ashtanga/
Vinyasa Yoga and meditation for over 25 years. He
lives in Birmingham,
Missouri, with his wife Milla
and his three boys Jonah,
Nathan, and Benjy (plus
one on the way).Together
they have created one of
the most successful and
flourishing yoga communities in the USA.
He holds Teacher Training
twice yearly in Michigan at
the Center for Yoga and
next year is introducing
his very first two-week
on-site teacher training
retreat, which will be held
in California in July 2009.
Jonny Kest has dedicated
his life to the service of
others.Through the practice and his teaching of
yoga, he encourages,
inspires, and shares his
compassion with all beings.
His secret to doing it all?
He replies with a smile,
“Continuity of practice IS
the secret of success!”
www.jonnykest.com
www.centerforyoga.com
www.midwestyoga.com
www.artofvinyasa.com
www.southwestyoga.com
YOGA magazine 23
www.yogamagazine.co.uk
After a serious injury, Jonny explains, his Dad, Rohm Kest, when he was only
42 was unable to continue working (he was an oral facial surgeon) because
of debilitating lower back pain. He underwent three back surgeries to no avail
and was still in agony.Traditional methods brought no relief, so he sought out
alternative therapies and at last came to yoga. Fortunately, he heard about a
yoga teacher – who turned out to be none other than Pattabi Jois himself –
visiting from India, who could possibly help in his recovery.
There were immediate benefits and Jonny’s father became a huge proponent
of yoga as a therapeutic tool for the mind and body. He also became great
friends with Pattabi Jois, who developed a special class for him and others with
crippling injuries.Today, says Jonny, his Dad is 70 years old and rarely misses a day
of yoga practice. He is stronger and healthier now than he was 30 years ago.
After meeting Pattabi Jois in Hawaii and experiencing remarkable changes
in his health, Jonny’s Dad began taking yearly trips to Mysore in India.
Fortunately, Jonny managed to convince him to take
him along on one of these visits.They spent three
months travelling through India, meeting saints and
sages from various lineages of yoga and meditation,
including Guruji Pattabi Jois. It was a trip, Jonny
remarks, “that I will always carry with me. My father
was searching for a balanced, healthy, more harmonious life and wanted to share that with us. He
found yoga to be like a fountain of youth.”
Returning to the US in 1984, a time when yoga
wasn’t as widely popular as it is now, Jonny might
have anticipated problems finding teachers, but in
fact his high school PE teacher asked him to teach
yoga weekly to his class. “And thus,” says Jonny, “my
yoga career sprouted.”
He continues,“Yoga just became a way of life for me...
it was very natural for me to give it away... to share it.
Wherever I went I would look for workshops, studios,
seminars.Whatever I could find to cultivate the seed
that was planted. It wasn’t easy in a lot of places.” Yet he
emphasises that his greatest teachers have always been
the students that he teaches every day.
“I started teaching in a private house,” he says, “and
invited all my friends and relatives the first week and
no one showed up. So I tried again the next week
and again no one showed up.The third week a couple of people showed and it stayed that way for a
while and then it finally took off. I eventually rented a
space from the Self Realization Fellowship, and it
grew to the point that I needed my own space.”
So, Jonny’s opening yoga centres comes from a
desire to bring yoga to as many people as possible.
“Yoga, meditation and spiritual consciousness have
always been something I’ve wanted to cultivate,” he
explains. “That is really is the only reason I have
opened up these yoga centres... out of a selfish
desire to keep my practice growing. I never want to
lose my practice. It’s so important to have support
and community with your own practice.”
Jonny’s passion for his teachings and practice is infinite. He also organises yoga conferences all over the
USA, including the Annual Midwest Yoga Conference
in Chicago, which is turning 10 in 2009. He launched
the boutique Art of Vinyasa yoga conference which is
returning to Miami Beach this month, and this
October is adding the Southwest yoga conference in
Austin to the portfolio. Plus he is a dad, a writer, he
travels around sharing yoga… how does he fit it all in?
“Well,” he replies, “as the saying goes, ‘it takes a village’.
We have grown organically and I have cultivated