This is a fascinating video of B.K.S. Iyengar teaching yoga in 1968, in Bombay. Look at the mix of younger and older students (there's at least one child, and at least one rather old man). Look at how they're doing Sirsasana (headstand) in the middle of the room. And look at how the neck is extended in Sirsasana in the man shown at 2:30. He's not going to hurt himself in headstand. (I'm of course thinking of that recent NYT article saying how people will hurt themselves in scary poses such as headstand and shoulderstand -- not if they're taught well!)
Even back in the late 1960's, Iyengar and his students show such wonderful extension through the arms, legs, and trunk, keeping their chests open and well-lifted.
There's a vibrancy to the poses as taught in the Iyengar Yoga method (and as shown in this video) that I don't see in many of the other "styles" of yoga that are commonly taught today.
I can tell when "experienced" yoga students come to Harmony Yoga for the first time, whether or not their experience is in Iyengar Yoga. If their yoga background is from another method, there's rarely the extension and vibrancy that we see in poses from experienced Iyengar Yoga students.
(P.S. Iyengar gets his "right" and "left" instructions confused in this video, while he's "mirroring" Virabhadrasana II -- as many of us yoga instructors also do from time to time!)
Wednesday, February 22, 2012
Friday, February 3, 2012
Good Explanation of "What is Iyengar Yoga" -- Iyengar Yoga in South Africa
This is a well-done 9 minute video of South African Iyengar Yoga teacher, Judy Farah, explaining what Iyengar Yoga is. She talks about the philosophy, history, and benefits from practicing this style of yoga.
Judy mentions that she has been practicing yoga since she was quite young, but it was when she was about 40 years old that she experienced Iyengar Yoga for the first time, and she knew this was the style that she was meant to continue with.
Her characterization of Iyengar yoga is that the practice of yoga asanas (postures) in this method is more precise than in other methods, and the poses are held for longer.
Judy gives a good overview of why B.K.S. Iyengar introduced the use of props in this method of yoga:
B.K.S. Iyengar was seeing that people were doing the postures incorrectly, and often injuring themselves, but if they were made to use props for support and assistance, people were able to develop better alignment in the poses, with less chance of injury, and with greater benefits.
Judy also reminds us that the practice of yoga is not just physical. This practice affects us on all levels of our being.
If you've been taking Iyengar Yoga classes for awhile, probably none of this is new to you, but it's a nice overview of this powerful method of practicing yoga.
Judy mentions that she has been practicing yoga since she was quite young, but it was when she was about 40 years old that she experienced Iyengar Yoga for the first time, and she knew this was the style that she was meant to continue with.
Her characterization of Iyengar yoga is that the practice of yoga asanas (postures) in this method is more precise than in other methods, and the poses are held for longer.
Judy gives a good overview of why B.K.S. Iyengar introduced the use of props in this method of yoga:
B.K.S. Iyengar was seeing that people were doing the postures incorrectly, and often injuring themselves, but if they were made to use props for support and assistance, people were able to develop better alignment in the poses, with less chance of injury, and with greater benefits.
Judy also reminds us that the practice of yoga is not just physical. This practice affects us on all levels of our being.
If you've been taking Iyengar Yoga classes for awhile, probably none of this is new to you, but it's a nice overview of this powerful method of practicing yoga.
Sunday, January 22, 2012
Can Yoga Wreck Your Body? Responses to NYT Article: Part 2
Here are a couple other links to well-written responses to the NYT article, How Yoga Can Wreck Your Body.
One is by Eddie Stern (I think) of Ashtanga Yoga New York, How the NYT Can Wreck Yoga .
He does think that the increasing incidence of yoga-related injuries shouldn't be ignored, but he also agrees that the article is unbalanced and sensationalistic.
Eddie writes, "One reason that injury can occur in yoga is due to overzealousness, or even just plain enthusiasm, on the part of the student – I have of course experienced this myself – it is a natural response for a particular type of person when it comes to any activity that has physicality associated with it – no matter what a teacher may caution."
Injuries can occur anytime we do physical activities. They are more apt to happen in the practice of yoga asanas when the practitioner isn't paying attention to warning signs in his/her body (s/he may not know the warning signs yet, or perhaps is ignoring them to show how well they can do difficult poses without proper preparation). They are also more apt to happen under the instruction of unskilled yoga teachers.
What I especially like out of his response is the following:
"[Yoga] has been reduced from a practice that traditionally demanded dedication, discipline, sacrifice, humility, surrender, love, devotion, and self-investigation – and yes, suffering through rigorous practice – to something that one can now learn to teach in a weekend. Or, more popularly, in a mere 200 hours you can become a bonafide, registered yoga instructor. 200 hours is spit. It is a joke."
Those of us in the Iyengar Yoga tradition who've gone through the strenuous teacher certification process whole-heartedly agree!
Eddie also includes responses from a couple other people that point out the errors within the "Wreck Your Body" article.
Another response is by Senior Iyengar Yoga teacher John Schumacher of Unity Woods Yoga Center:
A Response to "How Yoga Can Wreck Your Body".
As he calmly points out, "we should remind ourselves that the Times is in the business of selling newspapers", and what better way to grab attention than to say that what millions of us are doing with our bodies in our efforts to become physically and mentally healthier could actually severely damage us.
Schumacher also points out (as did one of my students last week), that the author of this article has a book coming out (The Science of Yoga: The Risks and the Rewards
), and what better way to advertise his book than with this attention grabbing article.
It will be interesting to see if the book is more even-handed than the article, or if it will contain some of the same errors that are in the article.
One is by Eddie Stern (I think) of Ashtanga Yoga New York, How the NYT Can Wreck Yoga .
He does think that the increasing incidence of yoga-related injuries shouldn't be ignored, but he also agrees that the article is unbalanced and sensationalistic.
Eddie writes, "One reason that injury can occur in yoga is due to overzealousness, or even just plain enthusiasm, on the part of the student – I have of course experienced this myself – it is a natural response for a particular type of person when it comes to any activity that has physicality associated with it – no matter what a teacher may caution."
Injuries can occur anytime we do physical activities. They are more apt to happen in the practice of yoga asanas when the practitioner isn't paying attention to warning signs in his/her body (s/he may not know the warning signs yet, or perhaps is ignoring them to show how well they can do difficult poses without proper preparation). They are also more apt to happen under the instruction of unskilled yoga teachers.
What I especially like out of his response is the following:
"[Yoga] has been reduced from a practice that traditionally demanded dedication, discipline, sacrifice, humility, surrender, love, devotion, and self-investigation – and yes, suffering through rigorous practice – to something that one can now learn to teach in a weekend. Or, more popularly, in a mere 200 hours you can become a bonafide, registered yoga instructor. 200 hours is spit. It is a joke."
Those of us in the Iyengar Yoga tradition who've gone through the strenuous teacher certification process whole-heartedly agree!
Eddie also includes responses from a couple other people that point out the errors within the "Wreck Your Body" article.
Another response is by Senior Iyengar Yoga teacher John Schumacher of Unity Woods Yoga Center:
A Response to "How Yoga Can Wreck Your Body".
As he calmly points out, "we should remind ourselves that the Times is in the business of selling newspapers", and what better way to grab attention than to say that what millions of us are doing with our bodies in our efforts to become physically and mentally healthier could actually severely damage us.
Schumacher also points out (as did one of my students last week), that the author of this article has a book coming out (The Science of Yoga: The Risks and the Rewards
), and what better way to advertise his book than with this attention grabbing article. It will be interesting to see if the book is more even-handed than the article, or if it will contain some of the same errors that are in the article.
Sunday, January 15, 2012
Can Yoga Wreck Your Body? Responses to NYT Article: Part 1
There's been a lot of discussion about the recent New York Times article How Yoga Can Wreck Your Body, published January 5, 2012.
The article is negative and alarmist in nature, citing anecdotal evidence of yoga students and teachers who have badly injured themselves, and stating that many yoga poses are inherently dangerous for most people.
Well, sure, if you take the average person off the street who has no yoga experience and have him do a headstand or a backbend, of course there'll be problems.
Of course people can hurt themselves doing yoga poses, just as people will get hurt doing any kind of physical activity. I've hurt myself practicing yoga poses -- I didn't know there was a problem with how I was doing those particular poses until it was too late (I certainly learned from those injuries!). But there is nothing inherently wrong with doing any of the yoga poses with the right instructions and preparation. Some people will never do many of the more difficult poses, and they shouldn't try, for various reasons. Others can practice these poses after they develop the strength, control, and awareness to bring their body into the alignment necessary to keep them safe. Accidents / injuries can occur, but they can also be reduced.
It depends on how skillful the teacher is, and how capable the student is, mentally and physically.
The good that has come out of this article is that there is this discussion about what it means to practice yoga, and how to practice the asanas in a safe, intelligent manor.
The bad is that some readers will take this article at face value and be afraid to try a yoga class that could be helpful and appropriate for their own bodies, thinking they'll have to do dangerous poses and risk suffering from severe injuries or stroke.
Luckily there have been many well-reasoned responses to this article from skillful, highly-trained yoga teachers and very experienced yoga students from different lineages pointing out errors and misconceptions in this article.
Read the response from Intermediate Junior III Iyengar Yoga teacher Roger Cole on Facebook --
Roger points out that the article seems to imply that B.K.S. Iyengar teaches Salamba Sarvangasana (shoulder stand) in an unsafe way, having people over-stretch their neck which could lead to damaging the vertebral arteries. The NYT article also says that Roger Cole was the innovator of the safer way to do shoulder stand, using a blanket platform under the shoulders so the neck wouldn't over-stretch.
Roger sets the issue straight, correctly stating that B.K.S. Iyengar is the one who developed this blanket platform system, and that Iyengar insists students practice Sarvangasana with this support.
Read Roger Cole's article on YogaJournal.com, Keep the Neck Healthy in Shoulderstand to learn how this way of practicing shoulderstand protects the neck.
The article is negative and alarmist in nature, citing anecdotal evidence of yoga students and teachers who have badly injured themselves, and stating that many yoga poses are inherently dangerous for most people.
Well, sure, if you take the average person off the street who has no yoga experience and have him do a headstand or a backbend, of course there'll be problems.
Of course people can hurt themselves doing yoga poses, just as people will get hurt doing any kind of physical activity. I've hurt myself practicing yoga poses -- I didn't know there was a problem with how I was doing those particular poses until it was too late (I certainly learned from those injuries!). But there is nothing inherently wrong with doing any of the yoga poses with the right instructions and preparation. Some people will never do many of the more difficult poses, and they shouldn't try, for various reasons. Others can practice these poses after they develop the strength, control, and awareness to bring their body into the alignment necessary to keep them safe. Accidents / injuries can occur, but they can also be reduced.
It depends on how skillful the teacher is, and how capable the student is, mentally and physically.
The good that has come out of this article is that there is this discussion about what it means to practice yoga, and how to practice the asanas in a safe, intelligent manor.
The bad is that some readers will take this article at face value and be afraid to try a yoga class that could be helpful and appropriate for their own bodies, thinking they'll have to do dangerous poses and risk suffering from severe injuries or stroke.
Luckily there have been many well-reasoned responses to this article from skillful, highly-trained yoga teachers and very experienced yoga students from different lineages pointing out errors and misconceptions in this article.
Read the response from Intermediate Junior III Iyengar Yoga teacher Roger Cole on Facebook --
Roger points out that the article seems to imply that B.K.S. Iyengar teaches Salamba Sarvangasana (shoulder stand) in an unsafe way, having people over-stretch their neck which could lead to damaging the vertebral arteries. The NYT article also says that Roger Cole was the innovator of the safer way to do shoulder stand, using a blanket platform under the shoulders so the neck wouldn't over-stretch.
Roger sets the issue straight, correctly stating that B.K.S. Iyengar is the one who developed this blanket platform system, and that Iyengar insists students practice Sarvangasana with this support.
Read Roger Cole's article on YogaJournal.com, Keep the Neck Healthy in Shoulderstand to learn how this way of practicing shoulderstand protects the neck.
Monday, December 26, 2011
Happy Holidays! Now go do a yoga practice for yourself!
Happy Holidays from Harmony Yoga of Ann Arbor! I hope you are all enjoying this special time of the year.
We've been enjoying family and friends coming over to our house, including our two sons and daughter-in-law, and our 3 month old grandson (our first grandchild!). It's been wonderful to see everyone.
Because of my own busy-ness in getting everything ready for guests, I've neglected my yoga practice, and I'm feeling it. So today, the day after Christmas, I'll be devoting a good couple hours to my own practice, starting out rather gently, including sirsasana (head stand) and sarvangasana (shoulder stand), and seeing where it goes. I'm so looking forward to it!
I know many of you who attend classes at Harmony Yoga of Ann Arbor are disappointed that there are no classes offered this week. I suggest to you that you also find time today, or sometime this week, to devote to your own yoga practice. No, not two hours (unless you are so moved!), but I bet you can find 20 - 30 minutes for a practice at least once this week. Yes, I know it's easier to come to class and follow along with what I'm teaching, but if you've been taking yoga classes regularly for a few months or more, you have a good idea of what poses you can practice at home.
If you need ideas to get you going, I suggest standing poses be your base practice, and also include adho mukha svanasana (downward facing dog pose) and any inversions you feel safe in practicing on your own (legs up the wall, headstand, shoulderstand).
Also refer to these Sequences for Practice for more ideas.
For those of you who are taking the Gentle Yoga classes, you might do the supine leg stretch pose (lie on your back and take a belt, strap, or bathrobe sash over your foot and stretch that leg up and hold for 10 -- 30 seconds, then take it to the side and hold for the same amount of time), followed by simple seated poses, including twists. Then a downward facing dog pose with hands to a chair (against a wall!), or hands to your kitchen counter. A standing pose or two will be good for you also, if you remember how to do them, and if you feel you have the stamina for them.
Don't worry if you don't get the pose exactly right! Move mindfully, and observe how your body is reacting to the poses you're doing.
Enjoy!
We've been enjoying family and friends coming over to our house, including our two sons and daughter-in-law, and our 3 month old grandson (our first grandchild!). It's been wonderful to see everyone.
Because of my own busy-ness in getting everything ready for guests, I've neglected my yoga practice, and I'm feeling it. So today, the day after Christmas, I'll be devoting a good couple hours to my own practice, starting out rather gently, including sirsasana (head stand) and sarvangasana (shoulder stand), and seeing where it goes. I'm so looking forward to it!
I know many of you who attend classes at Harmony Yoga of Ann Arbor are disappointed that there are no classes offered this week. I suggest to you that you also find time today, or sometime this week, to devote to your own yoga practice. No, not two hours (unless you are so moved!), but I bet you can find 20 - 30 minutes for a practice at least once this week. Yes, I know it's easier to come to class and follow along with what I'm teaching, but if you've been taking yoga classes regularly for a few months or more, you have a good idea of what poses you can practice at home.
If you need ideas to get you going, I suggest standing poses be your base practice, and also include adho mukha svanasana (downward facing dog pose) and any inversions you feel safe in practicing on your own (legs up the wall, headstand, shoulderstand).
Also refer to these Sequences for Practice for more ideas.
For those of you who are taking the Gentle Yoga classes, you might do the supine leg stretch pose (lie on your back and take a belt, strap, or bathrobe sash over your foot and stretch that leg up and hold for 10 -- 30 seconds, then take it to the side and hold for the same amount of time), followed by simple seated poses, including twists. Then a downward facing dog pose with hands to a chair (against a wall!), or hands to your kitchen counter. A standing pose or two will be good for you also, if you remember how to do them, and if you feel you have the stamina for them.
Don't worry if you don't get the pose exactly right! Move mindfully, and observe how your body is reacting to the poses you're doing.
Enjoy!
Monday, December 5, 2011
Lightness and Ease with Strength and Flexibility
Some texts say that with enough yoga practice, we can learn to levitate. Well, I have my doubts about that. But this video shows a young man who is a close to levitation as anyone could get. He combines strength and flexibility to create this astounding routine that looks light and effortless, as if he's almost floating. This takes an incredible amount of perseverance and body awareness.
Wednesday, November 9, 2011
Yoga and Healing Trauma | Matthew Sanford
Matthew Sanford is a wise man! Well worth watching this video.
Click on the image to start video. COMMENT It took awhile for the video to load -- be patient.
You can also go to the Yoga Journal page with the video:
Yoga and Healing Trauma.
Click on the image to start video. COMMENT It took awhile for the video to load -- be patient.
You can also go to the Yoga Journal page with the video:
Yoga and Healing Trauma.
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