Noah Williams:Dedicated to the Practice
By Melissa Hoon
Photos by David Young-Wolff
Kirtan in the living room was part of Noah Williams’ North County San Diego childhood. His hippie parents and all their friends hosted these sacred music events along with Yoga and meditation classes, rituals, sweat lodges, and more led by Indian and Native American teachers. At the time, he thought this is what everyone did. It was only later when he realized just how unique his family’s way of life really was. Now 37, Noah began practicing Yoga at the age of eight; whenever he wasn’t on a surfboard or skateboard he participated in chanting and asana practice with his stepfather who had studied Yoga while living in India for several years.
At age eleven, unexpected tragedy struck, further inspiring his practice. While he and his younger brother were skateboarding, Noah witnessed his brother’s death when he was struck by a car and killed instantly. Noah stood over the body wondering, “Where did he go?” His mother pointed him toward religion, but after exploring various traditions, Noah had still not found the answers he sought.
“I didn’t want hearsay or to know someone else’s idea,” Noah said. “I wanted to see with my own mind what really happens after death.”
Noah began attending services at the Self-Realization Center in Encinitas on Sundays with his mother who felt it would help in the wake of the passing of her youngest son. There he became inspired by Paramahansa Yogananda, Kriya Yoga master and author of Autobiography of a Yogi.
On Noah’s quest to find his soul’s true purpose, he discovered silent meditation through Kriya and pranayama – the spiritual basics taught to children at the temple. Then at the age of 16, after a few years of silent meditation, Noah had a dream while camping in the Sierra Nevada Mountains. In the dream, he was given forceful, yet intangible, instruction to find prana or chi. Upon his return home, he began studying Yoga and martial arts, including Tai Chi, Qigong and Tang Soo Do under Mark Rosenberg, the first teacher with whom he seriously practiced asanas.
“It was inspiring to meet Mark Rosenberg,” Noah said. “He was someone who I really felt knew what I wanted to know.”
Rosenberg taught him more about asana, leading Noah to devour every Yoga book he could, including The Upanishads, which inspired further study to gain a better understanding of the soul. He began practicing in his hometown of Encinitas with Tim Miller, who was one of the first to bring Sri K. Pattabhi Jois’s lineage of Ashtanga Yoga to America.
“The primary emphasis in Ashtanga Yoga is the practice of asana,” Noah said. “Then the focus becomes the movement of prana. Then the focus is on controlling your mind. Ashtanga Yoga is the integration of asana with perfect concentration, or meditation.”
When Noah met Miller at the age of 17, he committed to three years of practice to answer the question raised at his brother’s death; the question that started it all: “Where did he go?” After three years, Noah yearned for an experience beyond the physical practice of asana, so Tim suggested his own teacher, Pattahbi Jois. At the age of 20, Noah boarded a plane to India, where he studied with Jois for six consecutive months, when Jois was still teaching in a small room at the back of his house.
“Pattabhi Jois laughed because I was so young. He just said to practice, practice, practice for a very long time.” When Noah told Jois he was a college student, Jois replied, “Don’t waste your life. Yoga is real. You come to me, I will teach you Yoga.”
“Slowly, I understood how the practice of asana was Yoga. Once I had that realization, he began to verbally answer my questions,” Noah said. “I could feel Ashtanga Yoga was doing something, but I couldn’t really understand what. But that is what Yoga is all about – a lot of times we do not even understand because it is working on such deep levels of consciousness. After daily practice for ten years, I began to have a deeper understanding of what I was doing and how asanas work on a deeper level, opposed to other exercise.”
At age 21 Noah began teaching Yoga in Los Angeles, as directed by Jois. A year later, in 1996, Noah opened Ashtanga Yoga Shala in Silver Lake with his then-wife and two of his students. Always connecting first to his identity as a student, Noah’s primary motivation to teach was to finance his Yoga studies. For the next 13 years, he spent six months each year teaching in Los Angeles and six months studying in Mysore with Jois. He first brought Jois to Los Angeles in 2001 and was overwhelmed by the number of people who wanted to learn Ashtanga Yoga. Noah spent the next three years teaching a daily four-hour Mysore-style class of 80 students, while also practicing five hours each day on his own.
During the onslaught that followed Jois’s first LA visit, Noah’s marriage ended, he lost his studio, and he learned that Jois was dying. He traveled to Mysore to spend Jois’s last days with his teacher. While in India, Noah sustained an abdominal injury and was confined to bed rest, unable to practice Yoga for the next three months following surgery. During this time (three years ago), Noah realized just how chaotic the mind is, and his appreciation for Yoga grew even more.
Following his initial recovery and Sri Pattabhi Jois’ passing in 2009, Noah returned to LA to a group of students who expressed their desire to practice with him by their frequent phone calls while he was on the road.
“My experiences [in recent years] showed me that things are out of my hands,” Noah said. “LA is my home. My family and students are here. The only thing that makes you a Yoga teacher is your students.”
Noah is now happy to be back in Silver Lake teaching at Ashtanga Yoga Nilayam, housed in a dance studio at Hyperion, just north of Sunset Boulevard, Mondays through Thursdays from 7 to 10 a.m. and Fridays from 7 to 9:40 a.m. Beginning in July, the hours will change to 7 to 11 a.m. He will soon open a studio at a new Silver Lake location.
“Yoga will manifest anything you desire,” said Noah. “Yoga makes you happy, and really, what more is there than being happy?”
On Noah’s Bookshelf: His Titles that Inspire
The Life of Milarepa: Milarepa was a great Yogi, but he was also a normal person who made a lot of mistakes in his youth but still aspired to the highest realization of Yoga.
The Wandering Taoist by Deng Ming-Dao: This is the story of a boy who learned to master prana or chi. His studies inspire me to practice.
Old Path, White Clouds: Walking in the Footsteps of Buddha by Thich Nhat Hanh: The story of Buddha’s life.
Autobiography of a Yogi by Paramhansa Yogananda: I feel a strong kinship to Paramhansa Yogananda since I grew up in Encinitas. His presence is felt there, and his writing and deep understanding of Yoga are an inspiration to me.
The Bhagavad Gita and The Yoga Sutras: The great books on Yoga philosophy.
Noah Williams can be found at the Ashtanga Yoga Nilayam: ashtangayoganilayam.com
Melissa Hoon is an Orange County-based writer who works at Chapman University and is studying to become a Yoga instructor. She lives her passion through service and travel through stints working in Vietnam, South Africa, and New Orleans when she’s not writing for LA YOGA: about.me/melissahoon
David Young-Wolff loves to tell a story in a single frame. Never satisfied with the ordinary, he strives to create exciting images with a unique twist. In addition to his assignments, he is currently working on two projects. One is coming to LA, which involves photographing people who are moved to LA from other countries. He is also shooting photos to illustrate an upcoming book, Navajo Mothers, Navajo Daughters. davidyoung-wolff.com
Melissa Hoon is a journalist currently training to become a Yoga instructor. She is a devoted graduate student of cultural studies and is passionate about her volunteer work, including in Vietnam on medical missions, in New Orleans rebuilding Hurricane Katrina victims’ homes, and in South Africa at a home for abandoned, abused, and neglected children. These experiences have led Melissa to seek a lifestyle of helping and healing, namely through various meditation practices.