Genius in Action: B.K.S. Iyengar (Day 11 of 30 Day Yoga Challenge)

We're over 1/3 of the way through our 30 Day Yoga Challenge!   How are you doing with your practice?  What's difficult about your practice?  What's easy?

This YouTube video is an excerpt from a film tribute shown in Boston in 2005 during B.K.S. Iyengar's "Light On Life" tour of the U.S.    The video quality isn't great in some parts (it's okay) but I hope it inspires you!  

 The video is narrated by Patricia Walden, one of the top two Iyengar Yoga teachers of the U.S.  (The other is Manouso Manos, most recently in Ann Arbor this past November.)

 I won't review the whole video -- I'll let it speak mostly for itself.   But I do want to share some of my thoughts about the references to the practice of yoga.






Patricia narrates that in the 1970's, those who took classes from B.K.S. Iyengar did many, many poses in each class, while he "rained instructions on [them] with a torrent of intensity".  His focus was on movement and action to fuse the body and mind, and to bring about "freedom" in the body and mind.

(BTW, the first set of public classes taught by B.K.S. Iyengar in the U.S. was in Ann Arbor, sponsored by our YMCA in 1973!)

Patricia then says that as the years passed, Guruji (B.K.S. Iyengar) added new dimensions to his teaching.   He taught fewer poses per class, but took the students deeper within each pose.

There's a phrase of his that's mentioned in this video which I've heard before, and which reflects the growth of his teaching and his practice of yoga asanas (poses), "When I was young, I played.  Now, I stay."

When we're new to yoga, it makes more sense (in my mind) to do a lot of poses;  to play in them, to bring about better range of motion in the body, and to wake up the intelligence of the body.   We don't hold them long to begin with -- but we get a taste of the poses and how our bodies and minds react to them.   As we begin to understand the poses better, and begin to develop the stability and alignment to hold them longer with more ease, then we can begin to explore them more deeply.     Even if we are not beginners, when we try a new pose or a new set of poses it's best to just touch on them, to playfully explore them, and as we become more proficient then we can explore them more fully.  (How about those arm balances, for example?   Hard to explore them very deeply when we fall out of them after a second or two!  Or can't quite lift off yet!   So I'm still continuing to work on them, along with the more familiar poses.)

Or if we're feeling sluggish, our minds can't really attend to the more profound elements of the poses, so we move quickly from pose to pose to invigorate the body and mind.  Then maybe we can work more deeply in the poses.    We need both the physical and mental conditioning to do this.

When we are more alert, and when our minds and bodies are attentive, then Guruji asks us to "explore to find out where we are dull or overworking, and to adjust, so consciousness can grace the body evenly throughout."   We don't practice just for the sake of the physical practice, but we practice with with an attentive, discerning mind to explore:   What part of the pose is coming along, what part is not?   Why is it coming along, or not?   How do I change what I need to change?

Patricia comments that Guruji  has "taught us to face difficulty with wide open eyse, and to awaken the boundless intelligence of the heart."

"The Body is My Temple, Asanas Are My Prayers"

This video of BKS Iyengar was recently posted on Youtube.

Description:
"A film montage of yoga demonstrations by Yogacharya Sri BKS Iyengar over the years. Music: Mere Gurudev. Musicians: Cecily Palzewicz (voice), Mihal Palzewicz (cello), Jarvis Chen (piano). Part of a film tribute to BKS Iyengar shown during his 2005 Light On Life tour of the United States."

Observe the vibrancy and intelligence his body shows in the asanas (poses) especially as he's grown older!

Guruji turned 91 this past December.

Yoga and Aging -- Growing older with grace

I've noticed that I've gotten stiffer over the last few years, despite my yoga practice.   I've seen this in some of my long-term students as well.    Our hips, ankles, shoulders, and back just don't move or stretch as freely as they used to, or at least not as quickly.     Our strength and sense of balance eventually start to decrease as well.

Apparently this is an inevitable parting of growing older.   This doesn't mean we give up on our yoga practice -- on the contrary, our yoga practice will keep us stronger, more limber, and overall healthier and happier than if we didn't practice.

I did mention that I am stiffer than I used to be -- this stiffness goes away during practice, although it takes me a little longer to get there.   I can't imagine what my body would be like without this practice, let alone my state of mind!    I'd probably be a hunched-over crank with bad knees and back, and a perpetual scowl on my face if it weren't for my yoga practice!    (Well, hopefully not, but I'm not going to test it!)

We have to practice differently as we get older than when we were younger.    Perhaps we can't throw ourselves into poses with the joy and abandon of younger practitioners, but our body awareness develops so that we can more intelligently and more skillfully work to increase our physical and mental health, or at least to maintain for longer our current level of health.

This photo of B.K.S. Iyengar is from the Vanity Fair article link, below.  This was taken when he was 88.
The Yoga Portfolio Outtakes Entertainment & Culture: vanityfair.com
Of course this photo is meant to inspire-- most of us won't have such a beautiful back arch at any age perhaps, but it shows that the human body is capable of more than we think it is.    B.K.S. Iyengar doesn't "hit the perfect pose" right off the bat, however.   He moves his body with intelligence during his practice, skillfully moving deeper and deeper into his poses, with the aid of props and keen mental awareness.   This is how we all need to work as we get older -- mindfully and intelligently.

The photo of the woman doing paschimottanasana ( seated forward bend) is also inspiring, and more accessible to more of us.   But it's still a pose that needs intelligent and mindful work if we want to deepen the pose without injury.

In the Denver Post article, Turning Age on it's Head , one of the teachers that is interviewed says, " Iyengar is the safest yoga for older practitioners because of Iyengar's focus on proper alignment and the use of props — blankets, blocks, straps, chairs and ropes — to assist poses.
"Mr. Iyengar's genius engineering in the use of props and sequencing makes the essence and benefit of each pose available to any student, regardless of ability, strength, flexibility, experience or age,"

If you're new to yoga, and are starting to feel the effects of age, you may prefer to find a "Gentle" yoga class or a "Yoga for Seniors" class as your introduction into this practice, so that you're with other like-minded, and like-bodied people.    Yoga IS for everyone, but not every beginning yoga class will be suitable for all beginners.   Some will prefer an active, vigorous class (I think many younger people need this activity), while some need a slower-paced, more supported class that gently strengthens and stretches and opens the body.  

Again, from the Denver Post article, one of the interviewed teachers says,
"For those who practice yoga regularly, stiffness turns to suppleness. Closed joint spaces open so the life-force energy known as 'prana' can flow to bring vitality," Frechette says. "And the oxygenated flow of blood brings youth-promoting nutrients to all the nooks and crannies of our aging bodies."

Yoga and Meditation -- Part 3

When we talk about Yoga and Meditation, many people consider them to be different although compatible practices.   We often think of Yoga as the physical practice of poses, and Meditation as sitting in contemplation.

The full practice of yoga, though, includes more than just the practice of poses.   It also includes meditation.

The eight limbs of Yoga are:

• Yama --  ethical practices toward society
• Niyama -- ethical practices towards yourself
• Asana -- practice of poses 
• Pranayama -- breathing exercises
• Pratyahara -- withdrawal of the senses
• Dharana -- concentration
• Dhyana -- meditation
• Samadhi -- enlightenment, being one with the universe

We can embody all of these limbs of yoga within the practice of asana (and in some later posting I may discuss these more fully).    Very briefly, the practice of Pratyahara (withdrawal of the senses; looking inward) leads to Dharana (concentration), which leads to Dhyana (a more profound concentration -- or meditation), which leads to Samadhi (being at one with God or with the universe).

Many people have described the practice of yoga asanas as a physical meditation or a meditation in movement.    To practice well, to do the poses as a meditation, we have to turn our awareness inward while practicing the pose.  We learn to discriminate between the different movements of the body, we  learn to develop more of an awareness of our full self, as we move deeper into the practice of the pose, an awareness not just of the physical body, but also the physiological, mental, emotional, and spiritual layers of ourselves.

B.K.S. Iyengar writes in "The Tree of Yoga", "We must learn in our performance of asanas to express the outer form and beauty of the pose without losing our inner attention."  He talks about reflecting in the pose, judging whether we are doing it correctly -- where it is wrong, and where it is right.  He continues, "You have judged.  You have reached a state of balance, so there is oneness.   There is awareness through your whole being from the skin to the self and from the self to the skin.  Then you know how to see outside and how to see inside.  There is fullness inside and fullness outside."   Later, " Can I extend my awareness of my self and bring it to each and every part of my body without any variation...[...] ...I learn to how to be at one with my body, my brain, my mind, my intelligence, my consciousness and my soul without any divisions at all.   That is how I practice.  That is why for me there is no difference between asana and dhyana."