Iyengar BAI LAB

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BAI LAB{oratory} /: Fieldwork / ZENotes <A> / 27-08-14/ Body:Return of

IN LIGHT OF THE PASSING AWAY OF B.K.S IYENGAR: 4 MODERN MASTERS OF FLUID SYMMETRY Iyengar | posture | Cheng Man | grace | Yip Man | technique | Morihei Ueshiba | freedom

“A little song to show to children tadassana” a close friend, an Iyengar teacher, wrote me on Skype a few

days after Iyengar passed away.

Tadasana, the “standing pose,” Iyengar taught, is the grandfather of yoga, the grandfather of all standing poses {asanas}. “How can you know God if you don’t know your big toe?” he would repeat, instilling to his students, neophytes and senior, the importance of standing right.“The big toe pressing the ground is not the ‘cornerstone’ as you say,” an Iyengar teacher in the Himalayas carrying 35 years of experience under Iyengar himself, reprimanded me — a sweating me in Trikanasana. “It is the engine” he added.“Spreading the heel of the foot, aligning the toes, feeling the five mountains working. The five mountains connecting with ground is the engine of the practice. Not the cornerstone.”

"Once we can master 'tadassana' then all the other poses come" Iyengar used to teach for almost 8 decades. Iyengar Yoga as his type of yoga was called is an integration of various aspects of yoga, custom made and tailored for the modern individual either in the East or the West. Its signature is the attention placed on detail, alignment, precision and breathing as well using of various props: from robes to bricks to chairs. In describing the importance of Tadasana – which in Sanskrit literally means the “mountain pose” Iyengar explains, "People do not pay attention to the correct method of standing. Some stand with the body weight thrown only on one leg, or with one leg turned completely sideways. Others bear all the weight on the heels, or on the inner or outer edges of the feet. This can be noticed by watching where the soles and heels of the shoes wear out. Owing to our faulty method of standing and not distributing the body weight evenly on the feet, we acquire specific deformities which hamper spinal elasticity. Even if the feet are kept apart, it is better to keep the heel and toe in a line parallel to the median plane and not at an angle. By this method, the hips are contracted, the abdomen is pulled in and the chest is brought forward. One feels light in body and the mind acquires agility. If we stand with the body weight thrown only on the heels, we feel the gravity changing; the hips become loose, the abdomen protrudes, the body hangs back and the spine feels the strain and consequently we soon feel fatigued and the mind becomes dull. It is therefore essential to master the art of standing correctly." (Light on Yoga p. 40) The gravity of Iyengar’s words can only be appreciated during yoga practice under an experienced Yoga teacher. Once in an Iyengar Yoga class for the first time a practitioner enters naturally into Tadasana and an hour or two later – with or without lifting a feet – s/he will eventually reenter Tadasana but with an increased awareness in regards to the embodied poetics of ‘simply standing.’ With this fundamental perception of correct alignment hardwired across the mind-body-spirit complex fully grasped the rest of the assanas can unfold organically and performed harmlessly. With time subtle tilts and gentle gestures that can be applied at home, at work, at the grocery or while driving begin expressing themselves naturally — constituting a formal practice outside the yoga studio.“It is through the alignment of the body that I discovered the alignment of my mind, self, and intelligence” explains Iyengar urging the rest of us to pursue our own path to alignment.

1.

B.K.S. IYENGAR DEMONSTRATING TADASSANA समि$थ&त

“I am a mountain strong and tall No wind can make me fall. Repeat.”

Cheng Man Ch’ing was once asked in an interview for New York Times what are three most difficult things one has to face when learning Tai Chi. Cheng Man replied with three words: Relax.

Relax. Relax. From Cheng Man himself, as he reflects upon the word “Relax” itself.

“I have been practicing Tai-Chi Chuan for over fifty years. Only recently have I started to fully understand the word ‘relax’. I remember my Tai-Chi Chuan teacher Yang Cheng-Fu who did not like to talk much. He used to sit all day without saying a word if no one asked him questions. However, in our T’ai-chi class he would tell us to ‘relax’ repeatedly. Sometimes it seemed like he would say the word hundreds of times during the practice so that the word could fill up my ears. Strangely enough he also said that if he did not tell me of this word that I would not be able to learn T’ai-chi in three life-times (meaning never). I doubted his words then. Now that I think back, I truly believe that if he did not keep reminding me of the word ‘relax’, I doubt if I could have learned T’ai-chi Chuan in six life-times.

What is the meaning of ‘relax’ in T’ai-chi? Here is an example to help you understand the word. When we go visit a Buddhist temple we usually see a statue of Me-Lo Buddha. The one who has a big rounded stomach with a big smile on his face. He carries a large bag on his shoulder. On top of this statue we see a motto: ‘Sit with a bag. Walk with a bag. It would be such a relief to drop the bag.’ What does all this mean? To me, a person himself or herself is a bag. Everything he or she owns is baggage, including one’s children, family, position and wealth.

It is difficult to drop any of one’s baggage, especially the ‘self’ bag.

2. CHENG MAN CHING PERFORMING THE “37 SHORT FORM”

T’ai-chi Chuan is difficult to learn. To relax in practicing T’ai-chi Chuan is the most difficult phase to go through. To relax a person’s mind is the most significant obstacle to overcome in practicing T’ai-Chi. It takes a great effort to train and exercise one’s mind to relax.”

/. Bruce Lee On the Art of Detachment

“My instructor, Professor Yip Man (1893-1972), head of the wing chun school, would come up to me and say: ‘Relax and calm your mind. Forget about yourself and follow your opponent’s movement. Let your mind, the basic reality, do the countermovement without any interfering deliberation. Above all, learn the art of detachment.’

“That was it! I must relax. However, right here I had already done something contradictory, against my will. When I said I must relax, the demand for effort in ‘must’ was already inconsistent with the effortlessness in ‘relax.’ When my acute self-consciousness grew to what the psychologists call the ‘double-blind’ type, my instructor would again approach me and say: ‘Preserve yourself by following the natural bends of things and don’t interfere. Remember never to assert yourself against nature; never be in frontal opposition to any problem, but control it by swinging with it. Don’t practice this week. Go home and think about it.’

“The following week I stayed home. After spending many hours in meditation and practice, I gave up and went sailing alone in a junk. On the sea I thought of all my past training and got mad at myself and punched at the water. Right then at that moment, a thought suddenly struck me: Wasn’t this water, the very basic stuff, the essence of gung fu? Didn’t the common water illustrate to me the principle of gung fu? I struck it just now, but it did not suffer hurt. Again I stabbed it with all my might, yet it was not wounded. I then tried to grasp a handful of it but it was impossible. This water, the softest substance in the world, could fit itself into any container. Although it seemed weak, it could penetrate the hardest substance in the world.

That was it! I wanted to be like the nature of water.”

3. YIP MAN PRACTICING “STICKY HANDS” WITH BRUCE LEE

“After four years of hard training in the art Kung Fu I began to understand and felt the principle of gentleness — the art of neutralizing the effect of the opponent’s effort and minimizing expenditure of one’s energy. All this must be done in calmness and without striving. It sounded simple,but in actual application it was difficult. The moment I engaged in combat with an opponent, my mind was completely perturbed and unstable. Especially after a series of exchanging blows and kicks, all my theory of gentleness was gone. My only thought left was somehow or another I must beat him and win.

WING CHUN KUNG FU CODE OF CONDUCT Remain disciplined - Conduct yourself ethically as a martial artist.

Practice courtesy and righteousness - Serve the society and respect your elders.

Love your fellow students - Be united and avoid conflicts.

Limit your desires and pursuit of bodily pleasures - Preserve the proper spirit.

Train diligently - Maintain your skills.

Learn to develop spiritual tranquillity - Abstain from arguments and fights.

Participate in society - Be moderate and gentle in your manners.

Help the weak and the very young - Use martial skills for the good of humanity.

Pass on the tradition - Preserve this Chinese art and rules of conduct.

Aikido — translated as the ‘Way of Harmonious Spirit” — is perhaps the most noble and least aggressive of martial arts. With a direct connection to Zen Buddhism and Shintoism it includes just a few striking techniques and focuses instead on throws, pins and joint locks with heavy emphasis placed on protecting the opponent and on the practitioner's spiritual and social development. Morihei Ueshiba (1883-1969) developed aikido after spontaneously experiencing three moments of spiritual awakening within a period of 17 years. His first experience occurred in 1925. Ueshiba had defeated the attacks by naval officer with bokken {a wooden katana} unarmed and without hurting the officer. After the fight a pensive Ueshiba walked alone to his garden where he would experience his first awakening. In his own words, “I felt the universe suddenly quake, and that a golden spirit sprang up from the ground, veiled my body, and changed my body into a golden one. At the same time my body became light. I was able to understand the whispering of the birds, and was clearly aware of the mind of God, the creator of the universe.At that moment I was enlightened: the source of budo [the martial way] is God's love – the spirit of loving protection for all beings … Budō is not the felling of an opponent by force; nor is it a tool to lead the world to destruction with arms. True Budō is to accept the spirit of the universe, keep the peace of the world, correctly produce, protect and cultivate all beings in nature.”

His second experience occurred in 1940 when engaged in the ritual purification process of misogi, “Around 2am as I was performing misogi, I suddenly forgot all the martial techniques I had ever learned. The techniques of my teachers appeared completely new. Now they were vehicles for the cultivation of life, knowledge, and virtue, not devices to throw people with.”

His third experience was in 1942 during the worst fighting of World War II, Ueshiba had a vision of the "Great Spirit of Peace".

4. MORIHEI UESHIBA TEACHING AIKIDO

“The Way of the Warrior has been misunderstood. It is not a means to kill and destroy others. Those who seek to compete and better one another are making a terrible mistake. To smash, injure, or destroy is the worst thing a human being can do. The real Way of a Warrior is to prevent such slaughter – it is the Art of Peace, the power of love.”

bioVector /. Utthita Trikonasana

The study of asana is not about Mastering posture. Its about using posture to understand and transform yourself. The rhythm of the body, the melody of the mind and the harmony of the soul create the symphony of lifeâ&#x20AC;? -BKS IYENGAR 1918-2014

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