Greetings, Gifts, and Garlands     by Lisa Rotell

     As soon as I took my first step into India, I was greeted by the immediacy of this magical destination.  It requires your full attention but it returns fully and whole heartedly.  A plethora of sensory delights await and invite you without any pre-requisites.  India meets you exactly where you are and takes you where you need to go.
   My first step into the practice hall at the institute was like walking into India itself.  A symphony of activity where nothing is hidden but much to be uncovered.  The layers of history and dedication permeate the atmosphere calling to mind places such as the Sistine chapel.  It is alive and awake drawing you into all it's offerings.
   Then there is Guruji.  I will forever be amazed that he practices (and lives !) alongside hundreds of new students every month, year after year, decade after decade, without privacy or pretense.  It speaks volumes about him and yoga itself.
   The next gift comes in the form of Geeta.  Her presence envelops my cells and wakes me up to the many parts of myself.  An outstanding teacher who unifies each and every student into the tapestry of her teachings.
   Prashant is equally compelling.  He is a collection of thought provoking aphorisms bringing the yoga sutras into a live and tangible form.  Many times I left his class in a complete state of being.  I question just how many poses and instructions do we actually need when there is a teacher like Prashant.
   The institute is a garland.  A beautiful necklace of knowledge strung together by the remarkable generosity and commitment of Guruji, Geeta, and Prashant.  They have freely opened endless doors and windows for the world.  It is our duty as practioners of this method, to show our gratitude by continuing the journey inward.                          

    With love from India,  Lisa

October 2012 by Tori Milner

I am wrapping up my fifth trip to Pune and reflecting on what an incredible month it has been here with the Iyengar's. This month the mixture of the non-Indian crowd was mostly from Russian, Asia, Europe, the UK,  Australia and a handful of Americans. As the month has gone by, we have gotten to know each other and have shared meals, exchanged emails, notes and appreciation for what we receive here. It is truly a unique and special clan of Iyengar Yogis from every corner of the world that keeps coming together each month. We are the variables. They are the constants - Guruji, Geeta, Prashant, Abhi and all the Indian teachers and students that are blessed to be here every day at the source of the three most skillful teachers of yoga that grace planet today.

Guruji seems very well except for a cough that finally seems to be clearing up. They have installed a lovely glass elevator for him so he no longer has to struggle up the stairs to go up to the practice hall. I am staying next door on the 2nd floor of "the tower", so I sometimes catch a glimpse of him out my window "levitating" in it on his way up or down with Abhijata by his side, their arms entwined around each other's backs so that he remains steady. Raya waits for them on the top balcony and helps lead him inside every morning. He has also been in the medical class quite a bit, working with various family members, a celebrity cricket player and whoever else may catch his razor sharp attention. Sometimes he gets quite fiery, which is quite comforting, except perhaps if you are on the receiving end of it!

The weekly schedule is somewhat changed since I was last here in January 2011. Most mornings, we have a two-hour class with Prashant followed by a three-hour self practice in the presence of Guruji and Abhijata, Raya and a cast of Indian teachers that are always ready for anything that he might need. He has been in great form, working closely with Abhi and her sister, the doctor, Raya and others. Raya is teaching the Monday night class and Abhijata is teaching a Thursday night class. There are lots of new classes filling the main hall as well as upstairs, especially in the early mornings at 6 and 7am and they are unbelievably PACKED!


Guruji continues to train Abhijata in the art of teaching during the Ladies Class on Wednesday's and Saturday's. The points this month have been a methodical building up from the feet and ankles to the "tube of the spine" which we were to feel during our pranayama practice this week. The points are fresh and

Geeta is resting and laying low this month. Her only "official" class is a Friday evening Pranayama class, which she has only taught twice this month, but both were wonderful. She came to a few medical classes and I had the good fortune to speak with her a couple times about a man who I was helping. She is such a complete teacher and although I have enjoyed all my classes immensely, I have definitely missed her teaching this trip. That said, I really admire and am relieved to see her resting and taking time to herself.

Prashant and his clever, ingenious teachings are creative and inspiring as always. He comes up with what seems an endless supply of metaphors to apply to our "embodiment" and it's intricate interactions between body, mind and breath. He is constantly expanding our perspectives on what, how and why we are doing in any given moment. One Tuesday morning, he challenged us to look at our practice as a construction site that has everything there (even the interior decorations, he said!) however, the foundation hasn't been laid yet! During pranayama class a few days ago, he said we are not human beings, but breath-o-beings, and that the breath should be like a swimmer inside the body and we should study how a swimmer moves the water with arms and legs and get to know the "arms and legs" of the breath so it can touch and soak every single part of our existence.

Now, I am breath-logged, with a full heart, sharp limbs, quiet brain and heading home to my family and friends in the chaos of "Frankenstorm" Hurricane Sandified NYC...

March in Pune, by Marcia Monroe

March 5, 2012:
This week forty students from China have arrived at the Institute to be trained under the guidance of the Iyengars. The first class taught by Prashant was very interesting. The hall was packed, and a translator followed Prashant's steps while the students quietly followed the directions. Prashant was very patient and used several analogies to Buddha and Lao-Tze, establishing a warm welcoming feeling throughout the room. Following the class Pandu came in and held an informal orientation meeting. Meanwhile Guruji arrived and greeted them warmly. He then proceeded to his daily practice and teachings to Abhijata and a few lucky bodies.

In the evening Geeta came in and divided the group, having the old students on one side and the Chinese on the other. She also instructed the translator to sit next to her. She was very methodical as some of the students are raw beginners. It was basically a level 1 class, but with Geetaji being very demanding on all levels. One member of the Chinese group was wearing a Shiva T-shirt. Geeta kept calling him Shiva and making remarks such as you should not make the mistake of wearing Shiva's shirt. She was very amusing and very patient throughout the evening. She taught the action of Adho Mukha Upavista Konasana to one of them who was overly flexible (her chest was flat on the ground, but the legs were rolling in). An assistant had her hands on the back of the outer thighs to provide resistance, as the trunk extended forward to adho mukha upavista konasana.
March 7, 2012:
Today the women's class was taught by Abijhata alone as Guruji was in Mumbai to attend a celebration event on behalf of one of the old yoga schools. As in Geetaji's class, the class was tailored to level one, consisting of the standing postures being methodically taught and held. There was no sirsasana, only sarvangasana and setubandha on a bench for the special needs. In the end of sarvangasana some of them were complaining about neck pain and she promptly had them sitting in svastikasana, turning the head from right to the left and vice versa, followed by adho mukha svastikasana,and parivrtta svastikasana. She then asked: Is the pain gone? And most nodded yes. The teaching was excellent, sharp, precise, and clear with not too many words.

*There will be no personal practice on Mondays and Wednesdays throughout the month as the hall will be used to train the Chinese group.

March 11, 2012:
Today is Sunday and as part of the ritual over the years, I observed the children's class. The auspicious surprise was when Geeta came in the beginning of it addressing corrections, basically taking over the teachings. The whole atmosphere was transformed, even the little ones were following the clear directions and were able to stand still with the full extension of the limbs in Tadasana, urdhva hastasana and several turns of adho mukha svanasana, and virabhadrasana 3.

Some highlights of it:

Urdhva Hastasana to Urdhva Prasarita Ekapadasana, arms in urdhva hastasana are straight and legs in urdhva prasaritta ekapadasana are straight. If the arms are not straight in Urdhva Hastasana, the leg will not go up. The whole body has to work. The arms are up and straight, the leg is up and straight. Do this 3 times with the same leg(motion) then change legs. Synchronize the action.

She commented: I NEVER THOUGHT YOU WOULD HAVE SO MUCH FEAR INSIDE. CHILDREN SHOULD NOT HAVE FEAR.
SOME OF YOU ARE NOT DOING WHAT THE TEACHER IS SAYING.

Virabhadrasana 3: From the arm pit the arms and elbows are straight. The arms in virabhadrasana 3 are like in urdhva hastasana, arms and elbows straight.
Why do you clinch your teeth? Don't do that.


Repeat Virabhadrasana 3.
Those who fell to straighten the arm pit, they lost their balance. The balance is related to the arm pit extension.

Tadasana: Chest forward and shoulders back. In Yoga you have to be strong. The shouders are back, and the chest is forward.

Repeat Virabhadrasana 3. Synchronize the actions, shoulders back,chest forward, hands forward, trunk forward, all have to synchronize.

There were not so much motion as usual, but a few basic asanas emphasizing the extension of the limbs and lift of the chest. The class ended at 9:00am and was followed by the senior students' bash ( some of them are to become teachers).
A few highlights of the senior class consisted of: adho mukha svanasana, uttitha hasta padangusthasna 1(holding the foot) and 3 with the instructions to become tall. The trunk and the lifted leg straight are synchronized. The buttocks are sharp and the chest is up. Followed by ubaia padangusthasana with the instruction of the back lift synchronizing with the abdominal grip, and the balance on the buttocks. Krounchasana with the femur into the socket and the back of the thighs opened. The lower back should not fall. Open the back of the knees and thighs so hamstrings will not break.
Twists ending in marichyasana IV, the heel of the padmasana foot are in line with the navel and the toes are sharp on the root of the thighs. Use a blanket under the marychiasana leg for the padmasna leg to go lower . For stiffness, from dandasana sit straight with both shoulders back and open first the padmasana leg to the side, turn the padmasana leg out (decentralize it). This goes for arkana dhanurasana the knee and thigh have to go back. Followed by Kapilasana(bolster for the back), yoga nidrasana, and ending in supta padangusthasana.


March 12, 2012:
Women's class conducted by Abijatha under the guidance of Guruji. The standing postures being emphasized and taught methodically.
As there was no personal practice, just a few of us teachers and a couple of senior teachers were there. We all witnessed the fascinating class being guided by Guruji. In the end we helped with a few adjustments in sirsasana and setting up the special need group for bench setubandha.

March 14, 2012:
Women's class with the Chinese group class taught by Raia via Guruji.
The westerners moved to the Patanjali's side and Chinese by the props so Guruji could address the corrections.
Standing postures

March 16, 2012: Geetaji's Class
The entire class was devoted to how to use the ropes in their proper sequence. Geeta methodically introduced the various stages from rope 1, building to subsequent, more advanced stages. Because the restrictions of the ropes and the large group, we spend the entire class learning the ropes. We finished in brick setubandha.

March 17, 2012:
Class taught by Abijatha through Guruji. Revision from the previous classes
The sequence consisted of standing postures, twists, followed by sirsasana. In sirsasana, Guruji corrected several times the action of interlocking the fingers. Guruji says that the thumbs do not cross, that is for old people, also he told everyone to bring the legs away from the wall and attempt the balance. After that a sequence of back extension urdhva mukha svanasana,salabasana, dhanurasana, ustrasana, and urdhva dhanurasana on a setubandha bench with a bolster and 2 people sharing the bench. The bolster was used to give a horizontal support for middle of the back (not pelvis).
Sarvangasana with 4 mats, followed by uttanasana and supported paschimottanasana (sited on the sarvangasana mats). End of the class.


March 18, 2012: q/a from the Chinese to Guruji only. This has been video by Jay. In the evening there was the monthly lecture on the Bhagavad-Gita chapter 13 conducted by Geeta.

March 19, 2012: Class conducted by Abijatha and Guruji.

March 21, 2012: Class conducted by Abijatha and Guruji

March 22, 2012: Geeta's pranayama. The class consited of unsupported savasana, ujjayi, viloma, and gentle antara/bahya kumbhaka. Throughout the class there were long interruptions with a masterful teaching on how to see the subtle imbalances and choosing a couple of the students to correct. How to observe and break old habits such as the habitual way to cross the legs, and positioning the feet. She emphasized the importance to learn the asanas before pranayama to understand the gross alignment before addressing the subtle alignment of both sides and their correspondent nadhis(ida and pingala). She then had a brief q/a from the group.

March 23, 2012: Today is a celebration of Gudi Padva to mark the Marathi New Year in India. The New Year is celebrated only in the Maharashtra region. The institute is closed but there will be a celebration and an award for Guruji on behalf of his overall contribution to humanity. The event will take place at 5pm by the Aditya Pratishthan. Although most of the evening was spoken in marathi, Guruji eloquently spoke in English, giving us a taste of his life in Pune, and the depth of his system based on the embodiment of Patanjali Yoga Sutras. This has been filmed and hopefully will be shown.


It has been an auspicious experience to be part of this schedule and valuable learning being passed from the generations. It seems that a new generation is following the natural order of evolution, yet maintaining the roots and essence of the tradition as transmitted from Guruji. To be under his fiery teachings has been pure bliss and blessings.

Marcia Monroe

Blog On, by Richard Jonas

On the day I arrived in Pune the constructions gang began tearing up the road at the Toyota Chowk, then snaking their was along Lakaki Road, right-angling into our apartment parking lot and directly under our windows. The first step involved pick-axing, the next, jackhammers; the small but upright and strong-looking women seemed to do most of the work, including hoisting big disc-like metal containers full of rocks up and onto their heads to be carried away. The men helped a bit, and whole families, including very little children, would watch the work, which was signposted as the installation of a new natural gas pipeline, to reduce pollution in Pune (at once a worthy cause and a long shot). Throughout the length of our road there were piles of small, jagged rocks, and the already heavily-trafficked street became that much narrower, with two lanes of bicycles, scooters, rickshaws and cars jostling against pedestrians, pushed in off the sidewalks. With an odd feeling of completion and full-circle, the building caste members were back at work at the Chowk today, setting right what they’d begun tearing up a month ago.

The beginning of February brought a record-setting cold snap, but this week’s afternoons set new statistics for heat. Guruji is on fire too, sending students in the Ladies’ Class up into 14 long Urdhva Dhanurasanas, all the lift from the deltoids, the hip sockets, the skin of the thighs. Guruji’s eyes flash fire. Don’t let them come down until you say so, he tells his granddaughter Abhijata, who does most of the actual talking, acting as intermediary between the students and Guruji. He observes her, and them, from his perch, upside down on the trestler, and sometimes she holds the microphone up to him. “Don’t do your old pose!” he insists, “create a new sanskara.” Replaying the class myself when I practice that afternoon in my flat, I do the 14 backbends, trying to rekindle Guruji’s fiery intensity; others say they counted 25; everyone is happy and shaky-legged after the class.

Geetaji, back from Calcutta, teaches magnificent backbends herself on Monday night; I end up in the front row, my head to the platform, near her feet and warmed by her presence. Her directions are so precise, so just-right, that I do some of my best work ever.

Abhi, marshaling the last bit of their strength for backbends, reminded the Ladies’ Class students that next day Pranayama was to begin so they should give it their all, and indeed the Pranayama is, as always, the nectar of our time here. Prashant teaches a morning class beautiful for its thoughtful, thought-provoking nature. The ears, he reminds us, are the highest of the senses; knowledge passed through them, the highest form of knowledge; and we work to sanctify our own. The “tender exhalations” with which we finish are deeply quiet and beautiful.

Geetaji talks about the end of life; she used to leave the stage, walk around, move everyone’s body, showing them the correct way to do the asanas, she says; now she can’t do it anymore, and we must learn to “set right” ourselves.

Raya, the favored assistant, runs at full speed the length of the Asana Hall, holding a heavy teak Viparita Dandasana Bench high above his head, arms straight -- elbows locked. He leaps over the bodies of prone Westerners like Hanuman, making his leap from Ceylon to India.

Jake Clennell shows us a clip from his upcoming film, Guruji. Much of it was filmed last year, but in the Asana Hall here, and during Guruji’s teaching at the conference in Bangalore, Jake has added new footage to refine and amplify the story, not just a biography of B. K. S. Iyengar, but an exploration of his impact on many students, an exploration of the nature of yoga itself.

The rickshaw drivers go on strike from noon to 5 on Saturday, a particularly busy time as R.I.M.Y.I. students leave Ladies’ Class heading to Roopauli or Vaishali for lunch. Don’t go far, a friendly rick driver tells us, or you may get stuck there; don’t take a ride from a “scab” driver, or you may be the target of violence.

People have begun to leave, our month in Pune having, unbelievably, sped away; some are already gone, and the competition for space in classes is less pressing. Some of the best, though, comes last.

Geetaji teaches a beautiful Pranayama, having us lift our center chest up and hold it there with a back-to-front action; the top chest becomes a mountain, the slightly receded navel, a valley. In lifting our chests, we were lifting up our consciences – higher than consciousness, she said, the highest part of us, what separates us from the animals. And if one holds it up and steady, no thoughts will come.

I am fortunate to be in a small group talking to Prashant, who is generous, eloquent, charming. The asanas are an academy for mind-making,” he told us. “When you are connected in that embodiment you have different potentials.” He was asked about meditation. “To be in a sublime thought process: that is meditation. If you are absorbed in natural beauty, you experience this – and are steady.” One should choose to meditate on nature, on a noble ideal or on a religious ideal, he said. “You have to create an ambience or atmosphere so the mind will be quiet. Don’t try to meditate, and then try to quiet the mind.”

Pune Update — Bobby Clennell

BACKBENDS!!!

Pune 2012 — Bobby Clennell

My youngest son Jake and I arrived in Pune on Wednesday 1st February at around 4 am. I attended a 9.30 am Women’s class taught by Guruji and Abhijata. It was a special “jet lag class”. We began with some supported inversions, some of which I had never seen done in quite the same way before. This is my 19th trip to Pune — the first was in 1976 — and I don’t know why I am surprised that they are still coming up with new material!

Viparita Karani/Sirsasana: Sit backwards on a chair with the knees bent over the back of the chair rest. Slide back off chair and place the crown of the head on a vertical bolster. Thread your arms through the chair and hold the back legs. There was much emphasis on lifting through the dorsal spine.

Viparita Dandasana: Sit backwards through the chair. Curve back around the chair seat. Support top of the back of your head on a vertical bolster, and your feet on blocks. Hold the back legs of the chair.

Viparita Karani/Sarvangasana: Proceed as for chair Sarvangasana, with your shoulders resting on a horizontal bolster and the back of the head on the floor, but rather than extending your legs out, bend them over the back of the chair rest. As for regular chair Sarvangasana, there was lots of lifting through the dorsal spine.

Setu Bandasana. Sit backward through the chair. Keeping your knees bent, slide back off the edge of the chair and place the back of your head on a vertical bolster (build up the height of the bolster as needed).

Then, just when you thought that this was going to be a restorative class, we went straight into some simple, but extremely vigorous standing poses (including lots of Adho Mukha Svanasana).

This class was just what was needed to throw off the fatigue and fuzzy-headedness of the journey.

Geetaji taught pranayama on Thursday and standing poses on Friday — fabulous classes both of course. Guruji and Abhyjata taught Saturday’s women’s class, and it reminded me of Guruji’s classes in the 70s. This was a “remembering–what–it’s–like–to–be–taught–by–a–master” sort of a class. There’s just no other way of putting it!

Maty Ezraty doing Pincha Myorasana in the practice session

Mary Reilly in the practice room

One evening a few of us attended a Sufi music festival. Parvathy Bauul from the Bauul sect was the last act. She chanted and danced, and twirled, causing her hem length dreadlocks to swing and flare out like a mandala. It was all meditation for her and a part of her practice. Here is a clip of her from You Tube, although you lose much of the electrifying affect that you get when she is right there in front of you.

Bauul is the equivalent of Sufi in India, particularly in Bengal, where Parvathy comes from. Her impressive beauty, her personality and the intensity of her devotional chanting and rotating dance, Dervish style, make her unique. I will never forget her, or that class with Guruji and Abhyjata.

Guruji then left with Abhyjata and a group of students and teachers for a yoga convention in Bangalore. It had been fascinating watching him in the practice room each morning, coaching his students for a yoga demonstration that they were putting on at the convention.

On Tuesday (almost one week into the course) Prashant taught a class “for the mind”. About half way through the class he directed us through some nostril breathing as we practiced standing poses. Sounds fairly ordinary I know, but taught by Prashantji, it was profound. It was after that class that I finally shook off my jet lag and slept through the night.

With Guruji gone (and also Geetaji, who had gone to Calcutta for another yoga convention), we were left in the good hands of three truly excellent Instiute teachers, Navaz Kamdin, Rajlaxmi, and Gulnaas, and later, when Guruji and his entourage returned, Abhijata Iyengar and Raya Ud also taught.

Last night Prashantji taught a challenging back bends class. The sequence included: Padmasana/Setu Bandasana over a block, and Padmasana/Viparita Dandasana on a chair, Ustrasana, and Viparita Dandasana from the ropes. The objective was to come out of the class feeling as cool and calm (Prashantji used the word “sanctified”) as we had after his forward bend class “for the mind”.

This morning, Guruji taught a truly profound and masterful class with Abhyjata. We came onto the points of the fingers whenever the hand was on the floor (Parivrtta Ardha Chandrasana, a version of Virabadrasana III with hands on the floor in frount of us, and Bharadvajasana I: “tiger claws”!).

We are exactly at the halfway point of the month.

Richard Jonas

I love Sunday mornings on Model Colony. There is no traffic. Everything is quiet. I stroll down to the neighborhood café, Lalit Mahal, for breakfast: upma and real coffee. The owner was starting the day with a puja for his garlanded deity, and the fragrance of incense permeates the entire place.

Puja

Interior of the Lalite Mahal

Update from Pune, by Richard Jonas

Everyone Emails that New York -- and much of the U.S. -- is unnervingly warm, no winter yet, but Pune’s February is the coldest in a decade, 4 degrees Celsius this morning as I walk to Prashant-ji’s early morning class, the sky still midnight-dark, the white moon overhead as full and bright as when I walked home last night.

The Punites shiver and pile on track jackets, scarves and woolen caps, but by afternoon it is warm and sunny, even clear, it seems, though the pollution is as bad as ever (on our Sunday off, I work from the Lung series in the back of Light on Yoga), the traffic rather worse.

Guruji and Abhijata, Raya and a few others have left for the Health For All International Conference on Yoga, Naturopathy and Aromatherapy Expo in Bangalore. They spent their time in the Asana Hall our first week here readying for a demonstration lecture, which is said to be Guruji’s last public teaching. My first day here was his first back in the Asana Hall in shorts, his wracking cough of last month cleared up, and I am told later that his teaching in Bangalore is energetic and commanding. Geetaji, too, after giving us two brilliant classes, has left for a conference in Calcutta for two weeks, so we are figurative orphans here, left behind, but it is a good chance to study with the Indian assistants, the lesser-known members of the faculty at R.I.M.Y.I. I have taken class with them before, but many of the students know them only from their helpful suggestions during our daily practice sessions.

Geetaji teaches us Virabhadrasana I completely from the shoulder blades – so we do it completely without pushing in at the lumbar. Abhijata taught several times before she left, notably interpreting Guruji during the Ladies’ Classes. In his long, propped backbends and inversions, Guruji talks to her, and she, with all the time more confidence and clarity, as well as her own developing personality and style as a teacher, interprets his words for the students.

Do not do according to convenience, Abhijata instructs. Leave out old ideas – leave out old samskaras. How many of you are open to see that new samskara of Halasana? Use your body as a prop to culture your intelligence.

Nawaz, one of Guruji’s students and teachers for decades, teaches a few classes while the group is gone, quoting “our Guruji” with nearly every instruction; she combines a gentle, motherly manner with demanding, crystal-clear instructions. “Once we understand the proper skeletal-muscular movements of the body, we can never go wrong,” she says.

“Let the breath be the benefit, the benefactor and the beneficiary” in your work, Prashant tells us. If you donate to a generous person, many people benefit as the largesse is passed on; so it is with the breath.

Each in their own way, interpreting Guruji.

I have been working on the Institute Archives, filing slides of the original photos from Light on Yoga which Martin Brading then scans for preservation. I've seen pictures of Guruji doing incredible asanas, meeting with the famous like Pope John XXIII, visiting yoga centers and Institutes around the world, including ours in New York. At another desk, students file letters testifying to the great benefits of Guruji’s work.

There is a big New York contingent in Pune, including Faculty teachers Carrie Owerko, my housemate, Bobby Clennell, Carolyn Christie and me, plus Association teachers Marcia Monroe and Harshad Shah, who has Bobby, Martin, Association member from Woodstock, NY, and me over for a lavish Jain lunch. Also here: Association members Alisa Grifo and filmmaker Jake Clennell, Bobby and Lindsey’s son, who travels to Bangalore to film Guruji’s teaching.

The authorities are on an ‘anti-Encroachment’ drive on Ferguson College Road; a week ago, a big truck came by and sliced off the front porch of Roopali, where we go for upma and chai after 7 a.m. class. Evidently it was projecting into the public right-of-way, but by the next morning they had built it right back up and tables were set up again for breakfast

An election is underway here, as in the U.S., and we come home to handbills stuffed under the door; roving trucks move up and down the streets sending out highly-amplified political announcements in Marathi. -- Richard Jonas

RIMYI Annual Celebration Day - Jan 2012

Annual Celebration Day

This weekend was the Annual Celebration Day at the RIMYI– really two separate days, starting with a Children’s performance on Saturday evening.

From the moment we arrived at RIMYI we knew it was a special night, as beautiful garlands of flowers were draped high above the front gate. We left our shoes by the entrance and walked on a long red carpet from the gate to the hall entrance. Inside the hall, the platform was transformed to a stage, with evocative sets, lights, microphones, and video cameras all ready.

The room then came to life and was filled with music, dancing, and dramatic performances that were absolutely beautiful! The children were dressed in festive Indian attire. Their dedication showed in flawless memorization, presenting for us a traditional story of Maharashtra (the state in which Pune is located). There were hundreds of spectators and we all sat quite snugly on the floor, sharing mats, blankets, and bolsters. At the end, each child gave her/his name for individual recognition, followed by a long round of applause by the audience!

The festivities continued on Sunday morning, beginning with local students—including three medical practitioners--from the Institute speaking from experience of how their practice of yoga has influenced their professional lives. A foreign student spoke of the healing she’s experienced directly from Guruji, Geeta and Prashant. After a break for chai and cookies, we were treated to an impressive display of authentic Indian music, singing, and dancing began that had everyone swaying and applauding. For many, the highlight of Sunday was a young girl (maybe 9 years old) who hopped up on the platform from the audience – very unassuming in her red shirt, black shorts and two pigtail braids – then took center stage and as the music started, performed a sequence of yoga poses that were amazing! She moved effortlessly from standing poses to backbends, arm balances, inversions and of course performing many while in padmasana! The crowd was in awe of her ability, grace and clear devotion to the practice.

After the performances, a feast of delicious traditional Indian food awaited us outside. It was a beautiful afternoon to meet and mingle with those we rarely have time to speak with in the regular routine of a day.

This morning (Monday), the practice hall was back to normal, but everyone seemed to move at a little different pace – with a bit more awareness, intelligence, and appreciation of this gift we receive by being here this month and experiencing Iyengar Yoga at RIMYI.

Ann McDermott-Kave

Happy New Year from lucienne

Hi Folks,

I am reading that the last post was entered about a year ago and that there are only a few followers, so go ahead and click on all those keys on your dashboard to befriend others on this blog so that it grows and grows and grows.

I arrived in Pune at the end of last year and spent New Years Day sleeping in my Pune appartment. This is my 4th time, so I know how to 'behave' in the beginning days to allow the system to adjust to everything that is different here. Typically as with all muladhara disturbances in the first days we experienced a flooding kitchen due to a broken sink pipe, a blocked toilet and a complete black-out. Fortunately these were outside obstacles and easily removed as Ganesha was trumpeting in full galore after just being showered with praise and fragrantly flowered into the New Year.

On January 2nd I went to the Institute for practice but before that the HighLight was to wish Guruji my wishes for the New Year and to bow before him, the Greatest Teacher and our Inspiration. Later during practice I heard him cough a lot and realized that he was not well. In the following days he practiced at his house and had to take antibiotics due to a chest infection. Nevertheless, until he could absolutely not, he was practicing with us and showing us to practice even during vyadhi. He was having coughing attacks and had to do simple forward bending over a stool with his forehead resting on a pillow to calm the spasms of the lungs.

It was profound and touching to see this as in everything he does there is a lesson for us. Don't stop your practice, adjust it.

Now he is back, looking good and well-rested. He has been co-teaching with his grand daughter Abhijata and is joyfully teaching/practicing surrounded by his intimate indian clan.

The classes have been energizing even though it is quite busy at this moment. There have been days that there were not enough mats for everyone. (There is a lack of mats in general and I urge all of you to bring your yoga mat and leave it here like we used to. Many mats in the Institute are overused and quite honestly disgusting.)

Most classes are taught by the Iyengars to my delight. To see Geetaji 3 times this week for the general, woman's and Pranayama was amazing. She looks so much better than 2 years ago and her teaching has been no-nonsense: if you are new you go upstairs (beginners studio) and if you are 'stupid' she does not waste her time with you anymore. We are all to be super alert and move fast; instructions are very minimal, poses follow in quick succession and can be challenging and you get to experience a lot when she says nothing and let's you be in the pose.

There is a minimum use of props, both to save time with so many people but also to remove the crutches that people bring to the practice. She allows you to keep practicing part of the pose, like ardha padmasana, if the full pose does not come, but she will move on with the rest of the class to the zenith.

To receive teachings from the masters you have to be practicing for years, no kidding. Geetaji teaches you how to think and where you are lacking in your personal practice. It is that place she is aiming for; she does not teach teachers to teach points so they can teach those points to their students. In fact she mocks with that concept. She teaches us how to look at ourselves in our practice, so from that insight, the teaching should come. She keeps telling us how she was never 'taught' by her father, but that it was by observing him that she learned.

Class with Abhijata has been wonderful; she is very talented, clear and joyful as a teacher and has the ability to switch fluently between being a stately teacher and a humble student during class times. She has been teaching with clear alignment themes that run through the class: the lifting of the back arch in standing poses, the inner thighs and the anterior/posterior tailbone in inversions, the upper knee cap activation and how to lengthen the inner and outer knee ligaments evenly....etc, to name a few. All great things to take you deeper.

Class with Prashant has been the least surprising/changing however brilliant and inspiring as always. He keeps on challenging us to find out what the practice of all these asanas is about. He encourages us to strip of the external layers of perfection of asanas and find the inner perfection by questioning ourselves, by doing poses for different goals, by applying kriyas, bandhas, by breath modifications, timings etc. He is all about the study of the 'embodiment', the YOG, not the yogaaaaaaaaaaah! Yesterday he said that we should practice for 'lifetime contentment'. This is one of the treasures that YOG offers.

Next week is Institute Day.

Namaste to all,

lucienne vidah

....and I would love to share Geetaji's sitting/padma class with you in February at the Institute during the Tuesday Teachers class at 10am. Please check the schedule.

Update from Richard in Pune

Having watched tens of thousands of dazed, dusty people pass under my windows as they walked uptown from the wreckage of the Towers, hearing still that uncanny silence of 9/11, I don’t think I’ll ever be touched as nearly by terrorism, but the bombing of the German Bakery hits very close to what is for many a second, or third, home here. This sort of thing is not supposed to happen in Pune. Pune is “safe”, “normal”, a haven where in between being taught and practicing and absorbing yoga, one is privileged to observe the rich Indian family life, eat Indian food, be part of the orderly disorder and disorderly order of India, where it seems that nothing will work yet everything does.

I didn’t know about the attack until the next morning; some others I know heard or felt the blast; a surgeon from New York had been in the bakery not long before. Someone knows a friend of an Italian woman, studying meditation at Osho, one of the nine dead.

Things are changed, at least a little and as must be. The Monday morning after, we gathered around Guruji – a reassuring presence – in the Institute lobby. A student from Singapore brought him flowers for the Year of the Tiger; Stephanie Quirk talked about the pair of saving-from-extinction tigers Guruji has adopted. At evening class, Chandru announced students are not to gather outside the gate, by the cocoanut water man and the vegetable woman, least R.I.M.Y.I. become one of those danger magnets where foreigners congregate, “soft targets” as the Times of India calls them. A guard may search your bag at the gate now, but with a smile and a friendly sidewise nod of the head.

What’s important, of course, is the teaching, and that is unchanged, perhaps even more intense, more compelling for being more compelled. In each class Geetaji mentions her coming retirement, and implores, demands, wills us to absorb her lifetime accumulation of knowledge and skill.

We’ve moved into rajas with backbend week, and the weather is appropriately hot and clear-sunny. Geetaji made of the placement of the foot, our presence in our heels, a teaching of Dharana. Do with the body, she said, let the brain be quiet. Backbends are hard work, but the truly difficult action is not just to push, Geeta says, to do; instead, we have to remain inside, senses drawn within to observe. Be with yourself, she says, be with your soul. A long string of Urdhva Dhanurasanas is taught almost entirely from the feet: heels which do not leave the floor, a strong platform of the big toe mound, inner ankle bones lifted, outer edges of the foot cutting knifelike into the floor: Dharana. Afterwards, in Paschimottanasana, legs wide apart, back muscles spreading from center to the side, the frontal armpit chest drawing us forward, Geeta -- teaching purely in terms of the body -- creates a profound quiet in the mind.

In the Ladies’ Class Geeta has students cue up to work at the tall and small stools, the stump and the roller and the Viparita Karini plank. That afternoon Horst from Germany, Hendrik from Poland, Jerry from the U.K. and I replay the setups, adjusting one another.

Last Friday, in one of her truly magical Pranayama classes, Geetaji has us find space at the base of the neck, where it joins the dorsal spine, and at the top, at the base of the skull. The very physical instructions become a bridge to combining Sama (balance) and Sthira (firmness) in our sitting, and a bridge to the Bhagavad Gita, VI:13, when Lord Krishna instructs Arjuna in meditation. Look for stillness first, Geeta says, then within that, find freedom. With this alignment of the neck, the brain becomes quiet, doesn’t wander, she says. We practice an adjustment which brings us deeper into Pratyhara.

Gloria Goldberg is here, arranging for tickets for Geetaji and the assistants to fly to Portland for the May convention for Certified Iyengar Yoga teachers. Often in the morning, Guruji works an important politician, deputy chief minister Chhagan Bhujbal, who’s accompanied by a dozen Pune police offers and security men. Pune has done what New York has not, banning plastic bags; you have to carry a cloth or jute bag to the vegetable seller.

Geeta talks, in nearly every class, about making us understand, passing on the knowledge she holds so surely. She is retiring, she says; sometimes she tells the assistants, No, don’t make them do, don’t help them – I have told them for years, if they haven’t got it now … More often, though, she reaches deeper inside, makes her instructions even more precise, brings more fervor. “That is why I shout!” she says. The Iyengars will be away next week, for a family wedding, and we all talk about that. The idea that Geetaji might not be teaching the next time we return to Pune, though, is more difficult to grasp. A teacher friend tells me, Even if Geeta isn’t teaching, I will always come back, to see Guruji. And somehow that, at least, seems eternal.

Women's class

It turns out that the person Guruji is working on is deputy chief minister Chhagan Bhujal, not someone in the police force as I had mentioned in my last blog. This interesting story can be found in DNA, an Asian on-line news service:

http://www.dnaindia.com/mumbai/report_bhujbal-flies-daily-for-date-with-yoga-guru_1347135

Wonderful women’s class with Geetaji yesterday. We are still in backbend week. One of the things we did was to curve back away from the rope wall, tailbone over the stump, legs extended to rope wall. The stump was placed between two sets of ropes which we held. The taller people held the tall ropes, with another set of ropes slipped through the ends. We curved back and placed our head on a bolster. There were many interesting setups, and I am looking forward to teaching them when I get back!

Namaste,

Bobby Clennell

Back bend week

Monday in Pune
February 15, 2010 by bobbyclennell
Day one of back bend week. We pretty well went straight into Urdhva Dhanurasana. We started with Adho Mukha Virasana, Adho Mukha Svanasana, Prassarita Paddotanasana and Sirsasana, then pushed up into Urdhva Dhanurasana. We did lots of them. Emphasis on turning the toes in and lifting them. Pressing the outer heels down and keeping the heels pressed down as we came up, first onto the crown and then completely up. To bring the hands and feet closer together, we walked the hands in. We were not to disturb the feet! In order not to drop the outer body, we compressed the outer hips in and broadened the back hips and buttocks.

After class Chandru announced to the class that we were no longer to congregate outside of the main gates to the Institute, or even inside. Groups of foreigners are soft targets. It’s very bad news for the coconut man and the vegatable lady who’s livlihoods depend on the Iyengar students.

Namaste,

Bobby Clennell

Terrible news from Pune

Got home last night to hear the terrible news that the German bakery had been blown up. Quite a few students had narrow escapes and were very shaken up. One had seen the blast and quite a few others had heard it. All our hearts go out to the kids that were over there last night, the foreigners, the locals and the people who worked there.

It's strange, because there was a conciderable police presence in and around RIYMI last week. Guruji was working on someone high up in the police force who has two very seriously frozen shoulders to the point where he could hardly use his hands. (We have since discovererd that he had heart problems). He had the undivided attention of the great Master himself, B.K.S. Iyengar, plus many assistants getting props etc.

You feel nothing but friendliness here from the local population.

Peace and blessings.

Bobby Clennell

Jnanendriyas

Geeta is, as always, teaching with amazing vigor, clarity and insight. She repeats many times that she is eager for us to understand the lessons because she is retiring, she also repeats that everything she is asking us to do she has done herself and that she continues to practice daily. She has told us not to just "manage" in the poses but seek out intelligent ways to practice - don't just say "I can't do".
I have found that she references the jnanendriyas a lot. She has spent much time setting us up during the prayers to look from different parts of the eyes - straight forward but from the lower eye lid, slightly above the line of the horizon etc. The effects are quite different. She then carried this into the invocation - having us look just above the line of the horizon from behind the closed eyes. Then in the asana she had our eyes follow the energy or direction of the pose; go with the front leg in Trikonasana, don't be looking back.
Also, in the pranayama practice we did some very profound (although I need to practice it a lot more to get the full effect I am sure) work with the ears. We plugged our ears with our index finger as we brought the head down to jalandhara bandha. The effect of which is a manual pratyahara.
We are working hard but she never lets us forget the meaning of practice or blast through the suttle teachings. Geeta is, from what I have been fortunate enough to observe, a truely inspired teacher.
I give thanks.
Tamar Kelly

Letter from Pune

February 6, 2010 by bobbyclennell
The practice sessions at RIYMI are from 9 – 12 am. Most of the visiting students attend, and there are also some local students. Also in attendance are the teachers who assist in the classes. Guruji and Geetaji practice in these sessions, along with Abhyjata, Guruji’s granddaughter. One morning, Guruli was teaching Abhyjata how to jump from Uttanasana to Adhomukha Svanasana and back again. When Guruji works with someone (often, its Abhyjata), many of us gather around to watch and learn.
When jumping back into Adhomukha Svanasana from Uttanasana, compress the outer hips in. Jump forward from the inner thighs: Lift them and move them into the inner thigh bones. There should be a stronger sound as the feet land back into Adho Mukha, and hardly any sound as the feet land in Uttanasana.
After the mini “master class”, we all drift back to our places and resume our practice, some to practice what we have just learned. Guruji continues with his practice, very often comprising of deep supported back bends.
In the afternoons the strong go shopping. Yesterday, myself, Richard Jonas and Sue Salanic (teacher from An-Arbor) explored one of the jewelry districts. We found M/s Bharatkumar Jewelers (established for over 100 years the owner told us) specializing in traditional silver jewelry which is popular with Iyengar students.
The jewelers has gone into the Pune Guide, which I have been updating since I arrived here. It is now with Fran Carlen a professional proof reader and student at the Institute. After that it will go to two other students who have volunteered their services: Robert Cory, who is going to make a table of content — it’s 60 pages long now, and Daphna Ascoli, who will clean up the type and work on the graphics. Then it will replace the 2008 version, currently on the IYNAUS web site.

Namaste,

Bobby Clennell

Richard Jonas

Each morning in the Asana Hall Guruji works with his granddaughter Abhi, imparting insights and wisdom to another generation – and to those of us who gather around to watch and listen. He has Abhi and a student stand side by side, then asks Ray, a medical doctor from New York, to observe as the two do Samasthiti, then Utkatasana Whose legs are long in the front, Guruji asks, whose long in the back? Is the skin on their thighs moving up or moving down? And can any of the doctor’s sophisticated instruments measure this? No, the doctor admits. Guruji smiles.

Next he tells us that one of the assistants, Raya, is also a musician. At Guruji’s direction, Raya does Trikonasana. Now feel the vibration in your front leg, Guruji tells him. Raya nods. Is it the same as the vibration in your back leg? No, Raya says. Guruji has Raya take his back leg further back, then re-establish the pose. Now how is the vibration? he asks. Raya nods. It is in tune. Guruji laughs. Raya makes music with an instrument, he says, but I use the body as the instrument, and I bring it into tune.

Guruji has Raya take Utthita Parsvakonasana, as more students gather. Is there vibration in this leg? Guruji asks, touching the back one. Yes, Raya says. But not in this leg, the front? he asks. No. That’s because the back leg is longer, Guruji says, having Raya move deeper into the bend, coming lower. Now is there a vibration in the front leg too? especially the outer thigh? Yes, Raya says, noticeably straining after his long time in the posture. That is how I make music with the body, Guruji says.

In Wednesday’s Ladies Class, which I observe, Geetaji talks, movingly and profoundly, about aging. When one is young, she says, one can do; when she was young, she easily did this or that asana or part of the asana – for example, taking the mid-buttock deeply in, in standing postures and backbends, as she is teaching today. Then it came without thinking, she says. It is not that she has just discovered these points that she is teaching now; it is that, with an older body, one has to work differently, with more awareness and intelligence. This is how she does her asanas now, she says, and this is the answer to the questions we ask her: How can I do? What should I do when This bothers me, or That pains me?

In another class we spend a long time preparing the arms for Virabhadrasana I and III. Afterwards we stand again, arms in Urdhva Namaskarasana. Take the arms back, Geeta says, back behind the ears! Elbows straight! Shoulders and trapezius back! Armpit chest open! Back ribs in! Make the arms a window for the head!

Now, where is the opening? Where does the breath go? she asks, as mine floods the sides of my chest. I have given you these external points so you can find the openness inside, she tells us.

Prashant talks about learning to be a student. We can – many people do – do yoga to perform, to show off, to be fit, to have a “lens perfect” pose, he says. Or we can develop a learner’s culture, studying the body, the mind, the breath, the effect they have on one another. In these subtle, inward dynamics we will find yoga, he says, and only there.

A sizeable New York contingent is here, Bobby Clennell, Michelle LaRue, Tamar Kelly and myself from the Iyengar Institute staff, plus Nikki Costello, Sheila Bunnell, Cheryl Malter, Barbara Boris and Martin Brading. Senior Teacher Mary Reilly taught a workshop at the Institute just before coming to Pune; Senior Teachers Judy Brick Freedman, Chris Saudek, who taught at last year’s Mary Dunn Weekend, and Anna Delury, who joined us for Mary’s memorial service, are here too.

You see them and others in the practice hall, at lunch and dinner, walking around, but not, this year, at the internet café near the Ambience Hotel. That is closed. More people have wifi in their apartments now; others find somewhere else from which to write home and hear news of blizzards and record cold in New York. Pune is clear-sunny and warm, not too hot yet. The pollution seems no worse but traffic is a chaos of bicycles, rickshaws, motorcycles, more and more cars, especially on the FC and JM roads, newly made one-way. It will be months, the Times of India says, before the city installs pedestrian crossings. Big banners at Pune Central, the giant shopping complex almost across the street from the Institute, offer “51 Percent Off Happiness.”

My friend Eric, who lives in Pune, picks me up on his new motorcycle, and we ride to the 8th-century rock-cut temple of Pataleshwar Caves, to a park, to the river, to street stands for ice cream, spooning out tastes for the little boys who stand pulling at our sleeves, motioning piteously to their mouths, holding up their little bowls.

From the first, practice at R.I.M.Y.I. seems involving, grounded, soaring. After the sustained hard work of the standing poses in Geeta’s class, it is wonderfully quiet and restful to be in Sirsasana, one tall tree among a forest, undisturbed by the slight stir of the ceiling fan.

The sky is black when I leave in the morning, still dark when I arrive early for the 7:00 class. A dozen people are lying down or working at the ropes. The Asana Hall is not yet lit, but at the window, from across the small courtyard, comes a light from Guruji’s room, where he sits at his desk. Another day in Pune begins.

Just sharing this little interchange between myself and Stephanie Quirk on face book earlier today. Hope it makes sense to those who read it:

Bobby Clennell: Woke up this morning to discover I had calf muscles. Awesome class with Geetaji last night -- lots of Virabhadrasana I and III.

Stephanie Quirk . . . Probably was the sankatasana at the beginning of the class, and the virabhadrasana 4's.

Bobby Clennell. Virabhadrasana 4 was with the arms straight back and arms to side, right?

Stephanie Quirk. nope virabhadrasana 4 (1st version) was like parigasana but extended arms parallel to to the extended leg, (2nd version) had 1x leg like parigasana and the other like mulabandasana.
Virabhadrasana 3 with arms out to sides was given reference to vimanasana.

Bobby Clennell. Thanks Stephanie! Walking through the park to class this morning with Rita. She told me which pose was called Sankatasana: Kneeling with toes turned under, palms on floor under shoulders. Then lift knees, so shins parellel to floor. Yup! That's the one I can still feel in my upper calves.

Namaste,

Bobby Clennell

Geetaji's class

The asana room was electric last night. We were all held on the edge of the moment with Geetaji’s powerful teaching. Among other things, we did lots of Virabhadrasana I and III. Long holdings in Vira I. We did Vira III with three arm positions: 1) Straight ahead in the classical manner (triceps drawn onto the upper arm bones). 2) Vira IV: Straight back and out to the sides, like an airoplane.

The variation in arm positions give those who cannot easily (such as breast cancer surivors with scar tissue that they are working on) or should not (hypertension) take their arms above the head. And for the rest of us, it’s good to work in a different way sometimes.

Namaste,

Bobby Clennell

I do not really know the audience of this blog but I guess that most of you practice Adho Mukha Svanasana at least a couple of times a week....meaning to say that it does not matter to hear similarities in stories about the life in Pune from me. Each experience is unique and beholds the promise of renewed inspiration.
I am here almost 4 weeks now, long enough to have passed the abdominal and nasal stress test. Passed yes, meaning that my immune system is up for the battle. However the little guys (germs) are lurking everywhere and constant vigilance is in place. I am convinced that my "icanbreathe" mask and the GSE extract are of major importance to the survival in Pune. It is my 3rd time here and the pollution is oppressive to say the least. More cars than ever fill the streets and even the relative peace at Guruji's school is disturbed since FC road has been turned into a one way road. Last night's restorative class was a sound sculpture of sneezes, scrapings and nose blows. So be prepared you blog readers!
Studying In Pune with the family is a huge treat, privilege and indeed also a deep experience of belonging. All the practice, all the teachings from back home, from past years and years to follow, have their root here. So no matter what our cultural background is,here we meet at the mula, the root and we form a community, a group of people sharing the common language of yoga under the auspices of the Iyengar family. We are already yoked simply by walking through the gate of the school.....I know that you, stranger from the other side of the world, practice and love the same art as I do. Therefore: "Namaskar!"
Entering the school (it feels more like a school than an institute to me) almost each day is a special experience: material life stands still here and there is something of a 'higher' atmosphere as if the air molecules inside here are ever containing the essence of years of hard work, sweat, spiritual break- through moments and yogic vibrations.
Rooms are bare, minimally outfitted and the bathrooms are from the first day of earth's existence. The architecture of the building is interesting, slightly disorienting with hidden rooms and wings. Shri Hanuman presides over the top. Everything you touch has a function, there is nothing superfluous. Upstairs is the great yoga room and this room gets filled to the max with students or as we know in good Iyengar style: sometimes there are more props than students, sometimes more students than props. However: this is our school. Guruji practices with us most mornings and Geetaji comes in late morning. This again illustrates the sense of community that I find deeply moving: we are all in the same room, we are all one in yoga.
During practice times Guruji is practicing with us; sometimes he retreats into his own poses, sometimes he teaches to whomever is in front of him and many times he is simply teaching while leaning against the horse. Always sharp, seeing everything. He also instructs senior teachers to perform in front of him or for them to correct another student, while he observes. He does not hesitate to ask the confrontational question: 'so if you don't know the pose yourself, how can you teach it?'. He is investigating how your mind works. How often do we think that we know certain asanas? How often do we assume that a senior teacher knows more than a junior teacher? To Guruji we are all the same. He kicks all pillars away that one has built their own yoga institution on and consequently your ideas and beliefs are under direct scrutiny and exposure.
In order to practice yoga we have to come level with humility and innocence as they bring about respect for the subject as well as purity and curiosity.
Knowing all the points that create a perfect asana or having the technical ability to perform a perfect asana........this knowing still consists of the three gunas and is therefore fluctuating knowledge. Guruji wants us to be humble and innocent in order to closely observe how the intelligence penetrates the body.
He asks us: what is heavy? what is light? where is thickness? where is thinness? where is the skin white or red? how does the skin move? did any change happen? did you observe it? why did you not do it? how is it moving? which is the direction? when you press the big toe...what is the change all over, do you see it?
This very questioning brings the alertness and curiosity into the practice. It means also that we have to try things to see if they work, that we have to repeat and refine in order to have that intelligence moving everywhere.
Similarly, Geeta has asked us this month to use the right tools to enable the deepening of the asana. We have been working with the tools of movement and repetition during many classes this month. Pumping, Pushing, Rolling, Swinging and Throwing (as in throwing the trunk sideways in Parivtitta Janu Sirsasana). These tools take us out of the classic way of entering and exiting a poses and give new information. Only if we ask ourselves afterwards: did something happen, is there a difference, does the pose come better? Otherwise it is mindless doing, or as Prashantji would say: 'Okay if you can't help it , go ahead and do your exercises!'
He said it very well too: frequency and repetition within asana is very important for the advanced practitioner.....otherwise there can be no exploration.

So here I am. Navigating and tending to the mind behind the practice. Puna itself serving as a huge metaphor for cittavritti. All the dust, the sweeping, the honking, the crowds, the fumes.......and then suddenly, a smile of a girl in a bright pink dress, the sight of beautiful red apples perfectly arranged on an old cart, orange flowers falling from a tree, the scent of agarbattis and the sound of a prayer bell........ Gems are here to be caught.

Thank you dear Iyengar family for your tremendous hospitality.
Lucienne

a moment from Pune

dear Everyone Namaskar!

It has been a delightfully dense learning in the embrace of the Iyengars; so much is packed in each ray of guidance they shine upon us, Geetaji and Prashantji in formal class, Guruji Iyengar in wonderful moments that you chance upon in your goings and comings in the Institute. One such moment was a late afternoon that I came to the Institue, and happened upon a gathering of Russian visitors, students of Iyengar yoga who were interviewing Mr. Iyengar. I promptly sat down amongst them and listened. I share with you some of these gems that I was able to note down...:

"art is infinite; it is like an ocean. Our minds are limited. .. As you go on doing, new gates open, reach that level as far as possible.

On the future and the past:
"I never look at the past nor the future. Only the present. The moment is stable, so I am stable. I will not get caught in the cycle of movement. Do you call the river, past, present, future? The river flows to the sea. . death is the culmination of the river going to the sea..

"If you get in frame of mind 'I want this', what is coming, you don't see. You make a frame and you don't know the content. Don't have a frame! That is called as without mind... the mind's dual role: the soul and the senses of perception - it [the mind] doesn't take you here and there, you don't sink nor swim. Yoga makes the dual mind into a single mind through asanas."

On the role of the teacher:
"A teacher should be a student, learn from students the mistakes; be a learner; practice at home why mistakes are made; correct them experientially; how students go wrong, correct, play with your body - take the shape and then correct it - learn how to shift the intelligence there - then guide. Be a learner like the raw student who does innocently - mind is innocent, you do calculatedly!"

On practice:
"Anatomy of the asana and anatomy of the human body - learn to synchronise the two. Don't disturb the anatomy of the body".

"Steps to clean the mind: experiential state that cannot be explained; experience = look!

"Make the intelligence to feel each and every part.

"Trace the avenues in the body so that the intelligence can move through; trace the intelligence in par with the body - evenly : 'sthira shukham asanam'".

You will find it delightful to know that Mr. Iyengar corrected the alignment of one of his students right there and then, the gentleman was in full street clothes, long pants and button down shirt: but Mr. Iyengar corrected the direction of the lift of the skin of his thighs and calfs to correct his Tadasana! Later he corrected the shape of his knees in Virasana, without ever looking at him straight on = the student was sitting on the floor in virasana right next to him (Guruji's left); not once did he look at the student, but saw all misalignments and by correcting the positioning of the buttuck bones, the direction of the calf muscle, he corrected this man's virasana! A delight was this to witness!

I wish everyone an opportunity to visit Pune too.

with blessings and love
naghmeh