as I was allowed to. And I had no desire even
to come up to the piano.
15 years later, music came back into my life. I
had to forget the rules to find ways to express
myself with music. Before, my brain was too
stuffed with things to keep in mind that I
couldn’t hear my own voice; I couldn’t
improvise.
Of course, musical education has changed a
lot since the Soviet Union times. These days
there’re many studios where students get the
freedom to do things they like, express
themselves and learn the tools that help them
do it.
But the point is: learn the rules, feel how they
work for you. And then ignore the rules and let
your spirit guide you.
As time passes, I do more and more variations
on poses and perform only a few asanas
precisely the way they’re described in classical
texts. I see traditional poses as pointers. They
instruct us on what could be done. So, we try
them out and see how it feels in our bodies.
They let us understand the basic principles of
bodywork. But, of course, they can’t take into