I am delighted to share my thoughts and discoveries about the art, science and philosophy of Iyengar Yoga. Visit this blog for ideas about practice, notes from workshops with senior Iyengar Yoga teachers, and reflections about how yoga can help and support us in the art of living.
You can also check the archives for entries about my visits to the Ramamani Iyengar Yoga Institute (RIMYI) for yoga study with the Iyengar family in Pune, India.
Thanks for visiting!
As the New Year approaches, it is a good time to reflect upon how fortunate we are to be on the path of yoga. There is a beautiful Buddhist teaching called “leisure and opportunity.” It reminds us that instead of focusing on our perceived limitations and challenges, we can instead recognize how extremely lucky we are to have the chance to practice.
Not everyone is interested in yoga. Yet we are lucky enough to be drawn to the subject. We have developed some desire to improve our health, learn to relax, and develop deeper self awareness. It is a huge blessing to feel the inner call to practice.
Interest cannot help us much unless we also have leisure – free time and energy to spend on practice. If we have the time and financial resources to train and study, we should rejoice!
To pursue yoga, we also need opportunity. Many people wish to study yoga, but there is no teacher available, or no transportation to the class, or any variety of obstacles that make it difficult to study.
The final important factor is to be lucky enough to encounter a genuine spiritual teaching from a highly evolved master. To have been born during the lifetime of BKS Iyengar is an amazing thing! In one hundred years, students will be studying Light on Yoga, and perhaps thinking, “What must it have been like to have lived during his life, or to have met him, or studied with him?” Being alive during his life span has given us a vey direct connection with his teaching, and it is almost impossible to express what a huge boon this is.
I feel deeply blessed to have encountered yoga and the method of Iyengar Yoga in my life. I appreciate the love, guidance and support that I received from Mary Dunn, and that I continue to receive from Dean and Rebecca Lerner and Laurie Blakeney. These teachers are like beacons, calling me on to pursue the yogic path, not with struggle, but with joy and appreciation for the chance to grow.
Yoga is a means of bringing unity to body, breath and mind in the present moment. I had a beautiful reminder of this while taking Patricia Walden’s backbend class at the recent Iyengar Yoga Conference in Chicago. Patricia reminded us that in each pose, we should take time to be present, breathe and sense the wholeness of the pose and the fullness of the moment. Without this moment of integration, our practice can become mechanical.
In a detail oriented method like Iyengar Yoga, it is important to connect the parts to the whole and the whole to the parts. The last thought we have in a pose should not be a specific physical action, even if it is correct. The last few breaths in a pose present an opportunity for integration – connection of every aspect of our being into that moment. BKS Iyengar says that we need to spread our consciousness from the core to the periphery, and from the periphery to the core.
Inspired by Patricia’s advice, at the end of a pose I take a few moments to spread my awareness to the connection between body, breath and mind. I let go of detailed physical adjustment and generate a sense of contentment with the present moment as it is, and the pose as it is. Though we may work for many years to improve and refine the asanas, we can have those moments of repose every time we practice. Patricia said that this makes the pose more nourishing.
I was struck by this idea of the pose being a form of nourishment and this single idea is transforming the way I am approaching my practice.
Namaste.
