28 January 2005
The Asian Wall Street Journal
Your Life -- Weekend: Flexible Terms
By Ginny Parker
 
 
DON'T CALL DANNY PARADISE a guru. The yoga instructor for luminaries like Madonna and Sting aims to show his students how to find the guru within themselves. Yoga "is not about following a teacher," Mr. Paradise says. "It creates total independence."
That's a bold statement in an era of yoga's soaring popularity, one in which numerous celebrity instructors have achieved fame and fortune by cultivating followers devoted to their classes, methods and products.

Mr. Paradise, however, has yet to make an instructional video or write a book about yoga. He doesn't operate his own yoga studio. Instead, he travels the world for eight to nine months out of the year, staying with friends and holding public classes in which he encourages participants to develop their own daily practice so that they no longer have to rely upon the guidance of a teacher.

Mr. Paradise is on a tour of Asia that will include stops in Khaknar, a tribal village in north-central India, as well as Goa and Bali. He teaches ashtanga yoga, a rigorous form in which practitioners move rhythmically through a series of postures meant to build body heat while improving flexibility, strength and balance. But ashtanga yoga is more than just a tough workout, he says. It's a meditative process that allows people to achieve peace in the face of everyday fears and stresses, as well as when facing the ultimate fear -- death.

"The result of yoga is not the perfect body, and it's not being able to put your foot behind your head," says Mr. Paradise, who at the age of 53 can do that and much more. Rather, it's a matter of tapping into a source of internal strength that allows one to maintain both physical and mental vitality through old age, and, ultimately, to accept death with calm and grace.

Mr. Paradise, a native of Canada, began practicing yoga nearly 30 years ago while in Hawaii, where he met David Williams and Nancy Gilgoff, among the first Westerners to become adept at the ashtanga practice. Soon Mr. Paradise was traveling the world, teaching yoga and playing his guitar in restaurants and clubs. One night, while performing in a Greek restaurant in London, he met a man who would later become Sting's guitar player. This led to an eventual introduction to the singer, with whom he is still close, and to a string of other celebrities who became students, including Madonna, John McEnroe and Donna Karan.

Mr. Paradise is soft-spoken and unassuming, his face framed by a halo of bushy hair. He shies away from prescribing strict rules regarding diet or lifestyle, saying that plenty of yogis enjoy a glass of wine or cup of coffee. He notes, however, that dedication to yoga often forces a shift in priorities. "When you begin these studies of healing yourself, it gives you a renewed energy to re-evaluate your life," Mr. Paradise says. "It forces people to make radical changes."

For those interested in trying yoga for the first time, Mr. Paradise recommends observing a class to find a teacher who is gentle, because moving too far, too fast into poses can cause injury. Many students try several forms of yoga and teachers before finding the right one, he says. The key in any yoga class is to eliminate the idea of achievement, because the yoga postures will unearth numerous weaknesses, both physical and emotional. "You really have to drop your ego," he says. "Yoga is a very humbling experience for everybody."

Danny Paradise Retreats: Khaknar, India: village grounds, Feb. 20-28. Goa, India: Purple Valley Yoga Center, March 5-18. Bali: Four Seasons Resort Bali at Jimbaran Bay, April 1-3. Web: www.dannyparadise.com