Volume 24, Issue 4, October - December 2013
IYASE : Iyengar Yoga Association Southeast PRESIDENT’S LETTER Dear Members, This is my final address to you as President of IYASE. It has been
an honor and privilege to serve on the Board for four years, the
FUTURE ARTICLES
last three as president.
If you have information that you would like included in future newsletters, please send an E-mail to Newsletter Chair, newsletter@iyase.org.
on how to go forward. The last 4 years show continued national and international interest
RENEW YOUR MEMBERSHIP IN IYASE AND IYNAUS
yoga for professionals and the public so it will benefit local studios and the national brand?
General Members can renew at iyase.org /Membership_Registration or send in the form on the last page of the newsletter.
IYASE BOARD MEMBERS
Susan Marcus
Rather than re-hash our successes and challenges, lets’ focus
in yoga and spirituality, as well a growing receptivity to yoga in the field of conventional
medicine. This growth begs the question: How do we improve the recognition of Iyengar Here are my thoughts.
First, get more connected within our community.
a. Collaboration and coordination. Competing for students and competing for workshop slots works against us. It overstretches our students’ resources and puts studios at odds
with each other. I acknowledge South Florida as a positive work in progress, where studios are communicating with each other about who is scheduling what seniors for when,
president
president@iyase.org Aretha McKinney
and then sharing this information with all students via email. IYASE is also shifting to cosponsor workshops with studios to provide marketing support, and scholarships to boost
vice president
continuing education chair
vicepresident@iyase.org Graham Williams secretary
secretary@iyase.org Dennis Walker
attendance. Other ideas?
b. Real discounts for IYASE members. Some studios give discounts, most studios do not. A discount encourages more students to come to events, and gives IYASE an attractive benefit to market.
c. Make IYASE more visible in your local studio. Encourage students to join IYASE through
treasurer
scholarship@iyase.org
your membership workshop and by linking to us (and IYNAUS) on your website. Teach-
membership chair
some of the articles.
Jan Boyer
membership@iyase.org Chris O’Brien website chair
website@iyase.org Tay Strauss
ers, when you get your newsletter, bring it into class and engage your students by sharing
d. Utilize technology to distribute self-published documents. IYASE has access to record-
ings and transcripts of workshops and trainings going back over 20 years. These can be scanned and published, with a nominal fee for downloading the documents to one’s local
liason to the board
computer. We need volunteers to help with this.
Karyl Tych pr / communications pr@iyase.org
Second, be bold to share our knowledge with the greater community.
liason@iyase.org
chair
Becky Estes Rachel Mathenia
a. Publicize the research using Iyengar yoga in therapeutic settings. IYNAUS has a wonderful page of the published research using IYENGAR yoga. Each regional association
Continued on Page 5
newsletter
newsletter@iyase.org Marilyn Rubin
scholarship chair
boardmember@iyase.org
Susan Marcus, IYASE President Rosemary Court Yoga Sarasota, FL
Iyengar Yoga Association: Southeast News
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the spotlight
TEACHERS, STUDENTS & STUDIOS KARIN O’BANNON’S CITTA ASSIGNMENT By Mary Ann Travis
During our teacher training with Karin
O’Bannon at Audubon Yoga Studio in New Orleans in January 2013, Karin
gave the dozen or so participants an
assignment: look at all parts of citta and come up with a way to relate the parts to each other.
She instructed us to be creative, to make a chart, a poem,
a play or a picture. Karin said she made the assignment,
“because I feel too many people are turned away from their creativity as children. Many never know the beauty that lies
with them.” Yoga unlocks this inner beauty—and “connects us to our soul,” she said.
At first, a number of students complained to O’Bannon, say-
Student Spotlight
a lake. She represented purusa with a submersible LED light in the bottom of a clear glass bowl filled with water. Susan Brower, Tatyana Wagner and Amanda RubensteinStern made charts and drawings. Other participants wrote poems, a short story and an essay.
Becky Lloyd made a mobile, hanging on a tree branch doz-
ens of collage-like images and words depicting the vrttis, organs of action, organs of perception, samskaras and
the enemies of mind. The one constant was purusa, if not covered up. Becky, who owns and directs the Audubon
Yoga Studio, said, “Karin inspired us to go beyond just an asana practice. She taught us how to express philosophy while teaching.”
We’ve included a few of the assignments that students of Karin’s teacher training did for the “Citta” assignment as well as some memories from her students on pages 9-13.
ing that they couldn’t do the project. But she did not listen to them. “I told them as a child of the Creator, they too
were creators,” she said. “They were to do the project from
ANNUAL Fall Membership Drive
attention to what others were doing, and they would create
for NEW & renewing General Members!
At our February meeting, we presented our projects. And
Join or renew your membership for Fall 2014 and attend a mini-workshop in a location near you, for FREE. All for just $60.00! Yes, attend a free workshop plus receive these member benefits:
their own understanding and life story and without paying something unique and wonderful. And they did.”
the results were amazing. The projects ranged from a
10-feet-long, 3-feet-high poster rolled out and created by
Inge Mullerup-Brookhuis to a sculpture of clear glass representing purusa made by Tedrah Smothers. Smothers included many symbols of the gunas, vrttis, klesas, obstacles and prakrti that lay underneath it all.
• Joint membership in IYNAUS • Subscription to Yoga Samachar • Discount fees for IYASE Sponsored Workshops • IYASE newsletter • Eligibility for scholarships (workshops, trips to RIMYI & national conventions) Increased membership in our community of
Joanne Boccassini used paint stirrers to show states of
Iyengar yogis will provide the revenue to continue
in cotton balls. The bendable cardboard of the paint stir-
And Teachers! We encourage you to participate! Create a mini-workshop for your students any day between October 1st , 2013 and January 31, 2014. We’ll supply you with flyers, membership forms, and advertising on the IYASE website.
mind: a cloudy and fuzzy mind was a paint stirrer covered
rer meant a flexible mind. A yellow silhouette was a bright, clear, enlightened mind.
Leah Bray Nichols was inspired by the analogy of citta as
2
to offer and expand our member services.
contact tay strauss for more details: taystrauss@me.com
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asana column THE ART OF PRACTICING in the Iyengar Tradition by Sharon Conroy
I attended my first Iyengar class in 1986 and was introduced to a way of
learning that was at the same time
brand new and also quite familiar. For the previous 18 years, I’d worked with
schools, teachers’ centers, and children’s museums that were forging innovative experiential learning programs in
Boston, New York, and New Orleans. Now, here I was in a yoga class where I was being asked to do very much
the same thing that I had been asking young children and
teachers to do in exploring their environment. However,
rather than the external world being the focus of explora-
The classes suited me, and I was especially attracted to
how still my mind became in savasana. While I was encouraged to practice at home, like many beginners, it took me well over a year to muster the will power and self-discipline
to develop a regular home practice. And, it felt like a huge accomplishment when I did!
Sutra I.2 tells us that the purpose of yoga is to still the fluctuations of the mind, citta vrtti nirodhah, and Sutra I.12 tells
us that practice, abhyasa, and detachment, vairagya, are
the means to do this. In his commentary to Sutra 1.12, Guruji says “A bird cannot fly with one wing. It needs two wings
to fly. To reach the highest spiritual goal, the two wings of yoga, abhyasa and vairagya are essential.” He also tells us that they are “interdependent and equally important.”
tion, I was being asked to explore my own body. While
Over the years, I’ve come to think of abhyasa and vairagya
places the teacher asked me to go was like looking for an
very beginning, we need to
I had inhabited that body for almost 40 years, finding the
object in a very dark room. And, even when the place she
named was somewhere I could locate, like my knee caps, I had no idea how to go about lifting them.
While the teacher presented the material in a methodical
as a double action, as doing and undoing. And, from the
In order to get to the mat, we need willpower, we need to act.
and structured way, like any experientially based program,
answers. This was precisely how I’d worked with the young
children’s teachers in workshops whose focus was “learning by doing.” For many adults, the very serious business of play becomes a lost art in the process of “growing up.”
After several yoga classes, I began to see that aligning the
physical body in each pose was the primary guiding principle that the actions the teacher taught aimed to accomplish.
While we are well-designed, how we use our bodies over
the years creates certain misalignments. In Iyengar yoga, we have an opportunity to discover and address these misalignments. Slowly but surely, we can change things.
Tight muscles can be lengthened; weak muscles can be
strengthened. Aches and pains in knees, backs, and shoulders might even disappear.
In order to get to the mat, we need willpower, we need
to act. But, at the same time, we need to detach from all
the things that our mind tells
she was not giving me an “answer” to the poses but rather
asking questions, giving me clues about how to find my own
access both in our practice.
us we should be doing rather
than practice. Then, when we do get to our mat, many of us may hear a steady stream of self-critical comments. To progress, we need to detach from this mental chatter and learn to witness our practice, observe ourselves without
judgment. Put another way, in Utthita Trikonasana we need
to circularize the buttock to the back heel at the same time
that we resist the tendency of the back thigh to move forward. We have to do one thing and simultaneously undo another.
I’ve never had a local teacher. I’ve studied with senior teachers by attending weekend workshops and occasional weeklong intensives. I listened to early advice from Mary Dunn
and for the first 20 years limited myself to three teachers:
Gabriella Giubilaro, Patricia Walden, and John Schumacher. I also learned to leave 3-6 months between workshops,
Iyengar Yoga Association: Southeast News
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giving me time to integrate new actions into my practice. While some actions may speak to our particular body more
than others, there is no right set of actions for any particular pose. That said, whatever actions we use serve an overriding principle- alignment. When I first read Guruji’s statement
“God is the median line” 25 years ago, I didn’t know what to make of it. Now, I know from my own practice, that the more
completely I can integrate the actions, what Guruji at times calls dharana* points, the closer I come to an ideally aligned pose, and the more quiet and focused my mind becomes.
In recent years, as my awareness penetrates deeper inside, at times, that quiet, still mind seems to expand effortlessly into a place of profound silence
and space. Vimala Thakar says
that the word Isvara, often translated as God, derives from a root that means to permeate
and refers to “the principle of fundamental
intelligence,
the
Supreme Intelligence that per-
Guruji has said that if we’re not present, it’s not yoga
Year after year, I’m reminded of the answer when I study at
RIMYI. For me, nothing is more inspiring, and informative, than watching Guruji practice or seeing him break away
from his practice to instruct a nearby student. It’s from those
times that I’ve gained increasing understanding of how he envisions practice. As I said earlier, working to discover and move closer to a more ideal alignment is the first principle of practicing in the Iyengar tradition. For me, the second
principle is the manner in which we approach our practice.
What perspective or attitude is Guruji asking us to bring to our practice?
At the heart of the Iyengar tradition is a commitment to being present to what is happening in our body and to con-
sciously take action based on what we see and feel. In fact, Guruji has said that if we’re not present, it’s not yoga; it’s
calisthenics. As beginner practitioners, we’re honing our
ability to remain present and to align the pose. From my
experience, as these abilities increase, so does our willingness to open to new possibilities, to detach from the known and move towards the unknown.
meates life.”** I am very clear
As young children, provided nothing interferes with our nat-
ciple of alignment and holding the dharana points with one-
in the present moment and receptive to whatever the world
that it is by adhering to the prin-
pointed attention that I approach this place. Now, “God is the median line” makes all the sense in the world to me!
As we become intermediate students and can more easily integrate multiple actions as well as more closely approximate an ideal alignment, it becomes important to ask
ourselves if we’re becoming attached to a particular way of practicing a pose or to a particular set of actions. That’s what
ural inclination, we are all able to do this. A four year old is presents. He explores his environment fearlessly, asking
lots of questions, and delights in what he discovers. From
what I’ve observed in Pune, this is the mind, this is the per-
spective that Guruji is asking each of us to cultivate and to bring to our practice. In some ways, it’s a return to the fresh
and open, original mind that a young child naturally brings to the world.
Guruji often labels working “mechanically” or “doing yester-
When I watch Guruji in Pune, he approaches his practice
Pune for doing so. When we fall into that trap, we lose the
young child approaches the world, and he works tirelessly
day’s pose today,” and he regularly admonishes students in
ability to see our pose clearly and gain ground. It’s as if we
develop tunnel vision and enter a delusional state, bhrantidarsana. At that point, we may begin to feel that there’s only one “right” way to work in a particular pose or one “right” set of actions to teach. While this is far from the approach
Guruji advocates, we all fall into that trap, from time to time. How can we avoid getting stuck there? How do we learn to strike a balance between abhyasa and vairagya?
in the same receptive, enthusiastic, curious manner that a to help students do the same. Rather than having a narrow
limiting perspective, he seems open to all possibilities. And,
I think that more than anything he wants us to develop that capacity, too.
Ultimately, yoga is about learning to see more clearly. When we can be less attached to the known, to the actions we’ve
already explored, and become more open to observing a
*dharana, concentration, is the sixth limb of yoga ** “Glimpses of Raja Yoga”, page 42
4
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president’s letter, continued from front page
pose in new ways, using new actions, we begin to see more
AND each studio can publish this link on their own websites
able to simultaneously practice the double action of abhy-
b. Publish and present the pedagogy of Iyengar Yoga. Our
through the lense we usually use, we put a new lens on the
as well as what we are taught. Many of my students who are
Then, all sorts of things about our pose that we’ve never
as a result of observing the Iyengar method. How do we
new lenses, have the potential to transform the whole pose.
c. Create an online yoga philosophy course. Check out the
clearly. One might say that being able to do this is being
to increase visibility.
hasa and vairagya. Rather than looking at a particular pose
teachers are good teachers because of how we are taught
camera of our mind, give ourselves new dharana points.
educators have commented that they improved as teachers
noticed begin to reveal themselves. The new actions, the
share this with other educators?
What brings us to this place? Practicing with a friend, a guest
teacher’s workshop, a class with Geetaji or Prashantji, observing Guruji teach a student- all these things can inspire
us to approach a pose in a new way. But, ultimately, we’re to bring ourselves to this place every day. Using Guruji and his practice for inspiration, we can each commit ourselves to move in that direction.
I’ve also found it useful to read and reread the yoga sutras
that relate to practice on a regular basis. My practice is
major changes in education and learning – online is where it’s at! In our community we have some of the greatest
scholars and authors who can provide content and guid-
ance to build a course that can be meaningful across the traditions of yoga and other spiritual practices.
As students and teachers, leaders and members, the future
holds great promise of transformation. And in the words of our most beloved teacher BKS Iyengar, “Transformation is sustained change, and it is achieved through practice.”
changing the mind as well as the body, and each time I re-
In this newsletter, we honor the contributions and memories
Sutras 1.14 and I.20 were especially helpful in the early
longer on the physical plane, her teachings, passion, and
read these sutras, I hear and understand something new.
of one of our senior teachers, Karin O’Bannon. Though no
years.
wisdom remain with many of us in the IYASE community.
One of the primary gifts of the Iyengar tradition is that we’re
Please enjoy the Asana (p.3) and Sutra (p.6) columns. And
ways of working in the poses. While our tradition is certainly
Drive Workshop (p.2).
encouraged, over and over again, to explore many different methodical and structured, it’s also clearly asking us to be open and playful. This, in itself, is a double action.
In every pose we practice, we’re seeking an ideal alignment
that we’ll never quite attain, and, at the same time, we’re
asked to approach our practice in an open and playful way. I’ve come to believe that being asked to do these two things
simultaneously is both the challenge and the gift of our tradition. It’s a demanding path, but the spacious silence and peace of mind that we find is worth the hard work.
As Geetaji has said many times “I give you the clues. The work is yours.”
Sharon Conroy founded the Iyengar community in New Orleans and is certified at the Jr. Intermediate III level. Her email is Sharon@greatwhiteheron.net.
teachers, please sign up to participate in our Membership
I want to acknowledge the Board, who individually and as a team have committed numerous hours to supporting the mission of IYASE, and carrying out the duties of the Board with grace and humor.
I also want to thank the members of IYASE for continuing their membership. Your dues and contributions allow
us to publish our newsletter, generously give scholarships, maintain our website, and stay connected through our new Facebook page and private IYASE Group.
I look forward to staying connected with you – in class, online, at workshops, and always in spirit. Namaste, Susan Marcus, Ph.D.
Iyengar Yoga Association: Southeast News
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sutra column Upeksanam On and Off the Mat BY GARY JAEGER PATANJALI COULD NOT BE CLEARER that the point of yoga is to cease the fluctuations of consciousness. He announces this at the very start of the Yoga Sutras (I.2). This is so much the point of yoga that even non-practitioners,
who know very little else about it, will have the vague idea
that yoga is supposed to make one calm. Of course, these
non-practitioners may also assume that this happens by lounging around on a mat. Those of us who are in the know realize that indeed yoga can make us calm as well as alert, but that this happens only through great effort.
Patanjali also makes it clear that asana must be perfected
before one can ascend to those higher limbs of yoga that
bring concentration, meditation, and the type of spiritual absorption that fully ceases the fluctuations of consciousness
(II.47-48). What is it, though, about asana that must be perfected? How does this effort to perfect our asana practice have the potential to calm our minds?
There are many clues found in the Sutras. In fact, Patanjali
explicitly prescribes several methods for calming the mind
that involve fixing the consciousness on a single object of
focus (I.32-39). What is less explicit is how these prescriptions are to be deployed in our daily asana practice. After all, they seem more suited for a meditation practice.
Asana, itself, can be a type of meditation in which our own
bodies and minds become the object of our focus. By prac-
tionally disrupting our own asana practice if we wish for the practice to become a single-pointed effort.
This is all well and good, but how do we prevent those interruptions? The sutras offer helpful advice here as well.
When Patanjali prescribes the methods for fixing the consciousness, he suggests that we practice the virtue of up-
eksanam or indifference, and in particular an indifference to pleasure and pain, virtue and vice (I.33).
Does this indifference that Patanjali calls for invite us to wantonly throw ourselves through our asana practice, careless of pain or injury? Of course not. Nothing about yoga is
careless. This is why Patanjali tells us that practice must be uninterrupted and alert. However, It might be an invitation to become impartial to pleasure and pain as well as other
Does this indifference that Patanjali calls for invite us to wontonly throw ourselves through our asana practice, carless of pain or injury?
dualities. This would mean
that the search for pleasure and the avoidance
of pain should not be our motive for practicing; nor
should it be our guide on how to practice. Rather, we
should proceed as if asana
is an opportunity to focus
the mind inward, undisturbed by these dualities.
ticing this way, we prepare ourselves for even more pro-
How often do we practice
steps needed to perfect asana so that it is transformed into
our favorite or because we
found types of meditation. How, though, do we take the meditative practice?
Patanjali tells us that only long, uninterrupted, alert practice
can form the foundation from which we cease the fluctua-
tions of consciousness (I.14). This makes good sense. If the mind is calmed by preventing the interruptions to single-
pointed mental focus (III.10), then we should avoid inten-
6
a pose just because it is know it feels good? How often do we avoid other poses
because they are just too intense? Isn’t this just raga and dvesa, or the attachment to pleasure and avoidance of pain
that Patanjali names as afflictions (II.7-8)? If we make ourselves practice the poses we hate in lieu of the ones we love, how difficult is it to detach from our apprehensions
I YAS E
about the pose? Instead of practicing the pose, we end
up practicing our hatred of the pose. We must learn to become indifferent towards all of these attitudes.
Only by continually working to cultivate an attitude that prevents us from being easily disturbed by the prospect of
pleasure or pain, will we develop the type of asana practice that establishes the foundation for a calmer, more focused mind. Moreover, this attitude cannot be turned on the moment we step onto the mat. It must be practiced
every moment that we are off the mat. In order to practice yoga in a way that meets its intended goal of ceasing the
fluctuations of consciousness, we must perform more than our daily asana routine. We must treat each moment of
the day as an opportunity to cultivate attitudes of indifference towards the dualities that would otherwise disturb us on and off the mat.
Gary Jaeger Intermediate Junior 2 12South Yoga jaeger.gary@gmail.com
IYASE MISSION STATEMENT
The purpose of IYASE is to build community and facilitate the learning and teaching of yoga based on the teachings and philosophy of B.K.S. Iyengar. We currently do this by: 1. Information dissemination: Newsletters distributed three times a year to members and maintenance of internet presence via both a web site (iyase.org) and the mailing of e-bulletins (e-mails to members and others who opt in). 2. Two Continuing Education Workshops per year within our region. 3. A Scholarship program that includes awards for (1) participation in IYASE Continuing Education, (2) expenses associated with going through the Iyengar Yoga Teacher certification process, and (3) studying at RIMYI. 4. Maintaining the Lotus Fellowship Fund, created in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, that now provides IYASE a discretionary means by which to contribute immediate financial assistance to members in times of serious need.
Reflections: A Yogi on Her Journey by Karin O’Bannon
A collection of writings and illustrations by Karin O’Bannon, a senior Iyengar yoga teacher. In poems, reflections and essays on yoga philosophy and the sutras of Patanjali, O’Bannon presents insight into the depths and heights of the yogic adventure, offering readers words of wisdom to ponder on their own journeys. KARIN O’BANNON, a dedicated student of B.K.S. Iyengar, studied with Geeta S. Iyengar, Prashant Iyengar, Manouso Manos and other leading yoga teachers. She conducted teacher-training programs in Los Angeles and New Orleans as well as in India and Malaysia, and taught workshops around the U.S. and in other countries. TO ORDER Reflections: A Yogi on Her Journey, by Karin O’Bannon ISBN 978-0-916620-93-6, Price: $20 www.portalspress.com • www.amazon.com To order by mail, send check to: Portals Press, 4411Fontainebleau Drive, New Orleans, LA 70125, For more information: travport@bellsouth.net
“Her writing speaks beyond the intellect to the feeling and sensory being within.” -Manouso Manos
Iyengar Yoga Association: Southeast News
7
WORKSHOPS 2013 / 2014 Oct 21 - 23
Workshop with Arun Postures,Naples, FL (239) 566-9642 info@postures.com www.postures.com
Oct 25 - 27
Weekend Workshop With Bobby Clennell Graham Williams Yoga Studio Raleigh, North Carolina (919) 609-2456 graham@grahamwilliamsyoga.com www.grahamwilliamsyoga.com
Oct 26 - 27 Weekend Workshop With Kquvien DeWeese Evergreen Yoga Center Memphis, TN 901.726.1115 leah@evergreenyogamemphis.com www.evergreenyogamemphis.com Nov 7 - 10 Gather at the River With Sharon Conroy & Peggy Kelley Asana, Pranayama & Ayurveda St. Benedict, LA 504-331-0177 sharon@greatwhiteheron.net
Nov 7 - 10
Gather at the River With Sharon Conroy & Peggy Kelley The Art of Teaching St. Benedict, LA 504-331-0177 sharon@greatwhiteheron.net
Nov 23 A Day of Yoga & Meditation With John Schumacher & Tara Brach Unity Woods Yoga Center Bethesda, MD 301-656-8992 annick@unitywoods.com www.unitywoods.com Feb 25 - Mar 3 Gather at the River With Carrie Owerko An Intermediate Retreat for Men & Women St. Benedict, LA 504-331-0177 sharon@greatwhiteheron.net Apr 25 - May 1 Gather at the River With Patricia Walden Women’s Advanced Intensive St. Benedict, LA 504-331-0177 sharon@greatwhiteheron.net
n n n
IYASE SPONSORED
Workshop and Teacher Training With Joan White November 1 - 3, 2013 Fri PM & Sat AM, open to students & teachers Sat PM & Sun AM, open to certified teachers, Intro 1 & up 12South Yoga Studio, Nashville, TN 615-385-3600, Arethamckinney@gmail.com www.12southyoga.com
If you have workshops that you would like included in IYASE newsletters, please submit them through www.iyase.org.
Scholarships are available for Continuing Education, Certification and study at Ramamani. Please visit iyase.org/scholarship/ or email scholarship@iyase.org
8
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IN MEMORY OF KARIN O’BANNON We honor the life and passing of one of our senior teachers, Karin O’Bannon. A few of you were very close to her; some travelled the path with her to become teachers; many of you
have had the privilege of studying with her - once or twice, or as part of your regular continu-
ing education. Some of you might have heard her name. And, for some of you this may be the first time you become acquainted with her great spirit.
Karin devoted her life to the path of yoga: with tapas, svadyaya, and ishvara pranidhana. In our community, she was esteemed for her skill as a teacher, and valued for her commitment to bringing Iyengar Yoga to many corners of the globe. She was an author, poet, and inspiration to all.
Her physical presence will be missed. Her spirit will live on through our practice and teaching. The Self cannot be pierced by weapons or burned by fire; water cannot wet it, nor can the wind dry it. The Self cannot be
pierced or burned, made wet or dry. It is everlasting and infinite, standing on the motionless foundations of eternity. The Self is unmanifested, beyond all thought, beyond all change. Knowing this, you should not grieve. ~ Bhagavad Gita, 2.23
“Ishvara’s Thanksgiving” By Joseph Perra
Avidya sits on a high stool in the corner of the kitchen with
her mouth agape and her eyes wide as she watches the Guna siblings, and their Klesa friends remove themselves from the kitchen and head towards the den.
Avidya: It amazes me how those three can work together so seamlessly at times. They really out did themselves in preparing Thanksgiving dinner today!
Ishvara, the head of the household, glanced over the work and then to Avidya and smiled.
Tamas rubbed his belly and let out a grunt as he let his
knees go and crashed down on the couch. He stared blankly at the dark TV screen.
Sattva walked past the couch turned in front of the fire and
sat crossed legged with her back warming in the light. “Lets see whats on”.
Rajas, doing a semi pace about the small room trying not to knock into sleeping Abhinivesha, stuffed himself into an old
worn extra large car seat sitting in the middle of the floor. Rajas picks up the remote and hands it to Tamas. Tamas slowly methodically begins to flip through every channel expecting Satva to call out at any moment.
Avidya watches Tamas pace around Abhinvesha through the kitchen doorway.
I don’t understand why that child insists on continually inhabiting that old car seat, Avidya said to Ishvara.
He is as bad as Rajas and his blanket with that thumb in his mouth. I don’t understand. I just don’t understand. I’ll just wait and hope they grow out of it, Avidya added.
Why cant they be more like my beautiful Asmita. She knows she’s the best and that’s why she deserves the best! Avidya smirks and says, shes a chip of the old block I’d say. Ishvara peers down and rolls her eyes. Dvesa just then crashes in the back door. It stinks in here!
Everything smells gross! She continues into the living room to the couch.
Iyengar Yoga Association: Southeast News
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I just don’t know what to do with that girl, Avidya says to Ishvara. She hates to eat. She never likes anything I make.
Says it makes her sick. Never made any of the other kids sick. Good luck getting her to eat today.
OK! Everything is ready, everyone come in for dinner, Ishvara calls out.
They all come in and sit around the table, hold hands and look up at Ishvara.
She speaks strongly and softly.
some karuna (compassion), some mudita (joy), and lots of upeksa (equanimity).
As we proceed in the game, we notice how we shift in and
out of various mental states (vrtti): sometimes we are op-
erating with correct knowledge (pramana), other times our perceptions are wrong (viparyaya). We can spend our time
in daydreams (vikalpa), or with our memories (smrti). We regularly seem to lose our consciousness when we sleep (nidra), but maybe we just lose our fearful clinging to it.
Speaking of clinging brings the klesah to mind, our feet
Yogah citta vritti nirodhah.
of clay that cause us to repeatedly stumble and lose our
They all bow their heads in silence.
(our pride), raga (our desires for pleasure), dvesa (our
equilibrium. These are: avidya (our ignorance), asmita aversion to pain and discomfort), and abhinivesa (our
The Necessary Journey: A Board Game of Consciousness
By KATHY O’SHAUGHNESSY We start at “Go,” knowing our consciousness is composed of three parts: buddhi, our intellect, our ability to reason
and to discriminate; manas, our mind, our feelings, our
emotions, our reactions to sensations; and ahamkara, our sense of self, our ego, that which separates us from oth-
fear of death and desperate clinging to life). We stand
despondent; almost overwhelmed with the challenge of facing these afflictions.
But then the dice are tossed again. We must manage to accumulate enough credits from previous rounds to pull a
Chance card. The card says “Yoga,” an excellent tool and
just what we need to help us start rooting out the source of all these stumbling blocks.
ers. We see we are not alone on this journey through the
As we play on, we notice the clothing we are wearing, and
These are the ones from which our ahamkara separates
dressed in red, jumping and shouting, screaming out in ra-
aspects as we.
trudging forward in tamas? Perhaps we decide that bal-
What the board looks like depends on all the previ-
black, a little balance between mobility and stability. So we
game. Others move around us, ahead, behind, to the sides.
have the ability to decide if we want to change it. Are we
us. Buddhi reasons that these others have the same three
jas? Or are we dressed in black, sleepy and dull, barely
ous times we’ve played this game. Our only assurance
is that life will provide us with the exact opportunities we need to move on.
The dice are tossed, and we advance, picking things up as
we go. Will these things be used as weapons or as tools? If our sense of self is fragile, if it feels vulnerable to attack, we
will most likely collect weapons for our protection. We plod
on. How many times around the board before it occurs to us that there might be more to the game than beating down
the other players? What will it take to start making alliances instead of waging war? Maybe some maitri (friendliness),
10
anced attire might suit our journey better—a little red, a little
change our outfit, and looking down we see that now we’ve been rewarded. Our balanced attire has allowed us to put on the silver shoes of sattva. Those shoes can carry us a
long way, calmly, clearly. And look, the silver is luminous. We see the way more clearly now. Now, we can choose a
simpler path, avoiding both the rugged rajasic cliffs, and the tamasic quagmires. Now, we can move steadily forward through rolling hills and valleys.
Even suitably attired, we will still meet adversaries. When we least expect it, here is passion, there is anger, around
the bend lurks greed, delusion, and pride. All these high-
I YAS E
waymen lie in wait, hoping to divert us, to throw us off the
living in Shreveport, LA and set out on a mission to get to
telligence to reason out the consequences of falling prey
leans. She was one of my assessors in 2000, I had seen
path. It is time to exercise our buddhi. Can we use our into these enemies of consciousness? Each might offer
riches, but discrimination can discover that they will only bring us suffering.
The dice are tossed again and again. How many turns will
land us on one of the obstacles? Here is doubt, here lazi-
ness. Ahead we see sickness, inertia, sorrow. With luck,
know her and invite her to teach a workshop in New Orher in India, heard about her for years, but did not know her
personally. My first experience of getting to know Karin was at an IYASE sponsored teacher training at Stillwater Studio
in Atlanta. I quickly knew I wanted to study with her for the
years to come and was fortunate to begin one of the most meaningful relationships I’m sure to ever experience.
maybe we can avoid sensual overindulgence, careless-
She came to New Orleans to lead a workshop and shortly
seem to stem from manas; our feelings and emotions run
bon Yoga Studio. Karin instilled confidence in us with a deli-
ness, backsliding, and despair. So many of these obstacles wild and toss us into a churning lake of upheaval. We need a boat. And one is waiting for us; the name on its hull is aum. Clinging to this boat can carry us through the waves of obstacles and land us safely.
And so we progress, round after round through the game,
our Yoga card leading us through all eight aspects, and gradually our consciousness becomes refined. We sense
thereafter she began the teacher training program at Audu-
cate balance of sternness and encouragement. She found different methods to awaken the gifts she saw in each student. Our group grew closer through the many creative
assignments she challenged us with. Her passion for all
aspects of yoga revealed to us the depth of her experience and the importance for us to teach from our hearts rather than just from our heads.
that our abhyasa (practice) and vairagya (detachment, dis-
She had a unique way of engaging with students. She al-
sharpened, our manas has blossomed, and we become
like arrows and she really exemplified that during that very
passion), are bringing us towards our goal. Our buddhi has
aware of a radical change taking place in our ahamkara. Our sense of self, our separate little ego we early on fought
so hard to maintain, begins to open its inner eye, and at last we see the point of this whole journey—we discover the
very thing we knew at the start but so quickly forgot: we are not a separate self at all, but along with all the other players, a glorious part of a single consciousness, an eternal, and perfect self journeying back home.
ways taught us that our words (instructions) should shoot first workshop I had with her. My mind was awake and alert in a new kind of way.
At one workshop she had cutout figures from the Mahab-
harata that she had made and laminated. She gave us a wonderful introduction to the Bhagavad Gita using these figures to introduce us to the different characters. She was a FANTASTIC storyteller- she would become very animated
and dramatic! She touched on aspects of philosophy that I hadn’t heard before relating the teachings to our practice
BECKY LOYD, Certified Iyengar Yoga Teacher Audubon Yoga, New Orleans, LA
Writing about Karin for a publication has been really diffi-
cult. I have been journaling a lot and am processing a lot in my dreams. Do I write about her as my teacher? My friend?
What she meant to me? To our community? This is what I have come up with...
I was shocked when I first learned that Karin O’Bannon was
and everyday life- this was very natural for her.
And some of the most powerful times I had with Karin were just sitting around the kitchen table (or in the last month in
her bed) talking about God. She had such a strong relationship with God. Her journals revealed decades of searching and coming to know God. And I was reminded that this was
why I had initially been drawn to yoga. I saw that she really felt it was her duty to pass on her knowledge and to serve others as an offering to God.
Iyengar Yoga Association: Southeast News 1 1
I will always hear her in Om. Liminal State
By ELIZABETH BEAUVAIS When she’s teaching me how to breathe, my teacher tells me to exhale fully.
Then exhale again,
even when there is nothing there.
The second time, she says, don’t push it.
Just release. Allow.
“Let yourself pause in that total stillness of both body and mind.
Feel the satisfaction of emptiness.”
Then listen –
Listen to the subtle body, to the quieting of the mind Yoga citti vritti nirodha -
And all without gripping my toes.
AMANDA RUBINSTEIN-STERN, Vinyasa Teacher Wild Lotus Yoga, New Orleans
I studied with Karin O’Bannon for 4 1/2 years, 3 1/2 in the
Advanced Studies program in New Orleans. The first year I applied I wasn’t accepted because I did not teach in Mr. Iy-
engar’s style. Over that year I took every class Karin taught other than the advanced studies. The second year I was accepted into the program.
Karin knew what she was talking about; she didn’t always
Funny, it’s never felt like satisfaction -
think she knew, but she did. I wanted to study with her be-
the death of one breath
that. Her email address was “Yogima,” which I thought
It’s felt like suspense, like anxiety,
of her, but mostly it was because I loved her so much and
But my teacher finds satisfaction in the emptiness of
mighty but she was always around for the fallout. That was
that caught moment between
cause of that. She was a master. But she was more than
and the birth of another.
meant”yogi mom.” I thought of her that way: I was afraid
exposure in the wilderness – even danger.
didn’t want to disappoint her. She could be sharp and
No-thought, no-breath.
what molded us.
What would it mean to follow her example, to calmly inhabit
the living state of a neutral zone,
its sand bordered by an ending and a beginning?
Would the pain and impatience of unacknowledgement we’ve all felt – you, me, Israel loosen, lift up, and evaporate? To follow my teacher,
I’d have to be brave enough to empty out
She made us learn, she made us form opinions, and she let us argue. She made sure we loved each other. For me that is what makes life rich. There are pieces of Karin all over my practice: phantom touches; an index finger to the
tailbone in Adho Mukha Svanasana; her guidance when I teach others with a touch, not a push. I think of her before
every class; I wonder why anyone is listening to me teach and I think of how she said that even recently, she would
have her moment of doubt, but ten minutes into the class, her uncertainty was gone. So I wait my ten minutes.
… without promise of the next breath.
I think Karin thought of herself more like a child than a moth-
soften my throat.
and was contagious. Karin had a colorful sense of humor.
rooted at the threshold, the passing place where few stop,
breathing in Sarvangasana basically because my breasts
flower, in the liminal state
‘burn the bra?’ Unleash and free them.” (“unsnapping” did
I’d have to quiet my eyes,
er. Her appetite and delight in this world seemed enormous
I’d have to stand, as she’s taught me in tadasana
When I first started studying with her I had a lot of trouble
plant myself in the shade of her great
seemed to sit on my wind pipe. Karin said “How about you
12
I YAS E
help!) The next time she came to town and I walked into
the studio she leaned over to me and whispered in my ear. “There is Beauty and the Breast.” I felt complimented.
Another time I said I was afraid to say “vairagya” because I might say “viagra” and she said, “Well that is the opposite
of detachment isn’t it?” I cannot believe someone so alive isn’t alive. I miss her.
SUSAN BROWER, Iyengar Yoga Teacher in Training New Orleans, LA
I first met Karin when she came to Audubon Yoga to lead
workshops. She emanated a deep spirituality and an earth-
iness; an ability to be serious on the one hand, and yet find (and create) humor, on the other. I was especially moved
when, after not seeing her for a year or so, she turned
those deep, luminous blue eyes on me and said, “Yes, I remember you.”
FLORIANA TULLIO
Student, Shreveport, LA
When Karin began the teacher training program in New Orleans, I jumped at the opportunity. Initially, I intended only to
Karin O’Bannon came to my life sometime between the
deepen my personal practice, but I soon became inspired
the brightest of the stars; her radiance and her love for
to me: “Take it slow and easy. Caution and Courage (sic) is
her students. She taught me so much about asanas, dhar-
first yama of life and teaching.”
Spring and the Summer of 2006. For me she was always
to teach. Upon the eve of the first class I taught, Karin wrote
teaching was felt very deeply in each and every class by all
the requirement for the beginning teacher. Ahimsa is the
ma, about Yoga Sutras and Yoga Philosophy, Motherhood,
Womanhood and about the mystical, Sacred aspects of life.
Karin was intense, but even if she became irritated she always showed the love that she felt for each of us. When she
Karin was a fountain of wisdom. She inspired such deep
looked at me, I felt her seeing straight through to my soul,
dent, was to surrender. Her magical guidance allowed me
that sustains me to this day on my path toward certification.
transformation that the only thing you could do as her stu-
and I saw in her eyes “I love you” and “I believe in you.” And
to let go of ego and fear. My heart is forever deeply touched
and transformed by her love and her teachings. I am immensely blessed and grateful to have been her student. And I love her very very very much!
NICOLE BAKER, Certified Iyengar Yoga Teacher Studio Om Yoga of Mississippi
Karin gave me clarity and insight on what “yoga” really is BARBARA PIGOTT
Studio Om Yoga of Mississippi I was a participant in Karin’s teacher training classes
and means and the confidence to apply the knowledge to
my teaching of Iyengar Yoga. She was a true inspiration. I was drawn to her and will miss her but I know she will always be with me. She is Light.
in New Orleans for the last four years. What I appreciated
most about her was the ability to exhibit such uncondi-
tional love when she gave constructive criticism to make you a better teacher. I cherished her words and work to
put them into practice. And, she called me “Babaji” and I never asked why…
Iyengar Yoga Association: Southeast News 1 3