Iyengar Yoga News - issue 12 - Spring 2008

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IYENGAR YOGA NEWS The magazine of the Iyengar Yoga Association of the United Kingdom

ISSUE NUMBER 12

SPRING 2008

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®

IYENGAR YOGA

www.iyengaryoga.org.uk

ASSOCIATION (UK)

President: Yogacharya Sri B.K.S. Iyengar

IYENGAR ® YOGA NEWS

Issue No.12

Editorial Board: Sharon Klaff, John Cotgreave, Philippe

E D I T O R I A L

Harari, Judith Jones, Rachel Lovegrove, Lucy Osman Layout & Design: Rachel Lovegrove, Philippe Harari, Lucy Osman, Articles to: sharon.klaff@btopenworld.com by 1.06.08 Advertising: John Cotgreave jbcotgreave@hotmail.co.uk Printed by: Blueprint Press, Cambridge, on paper made using wood from sustainable forests and without the use of chlorine ® used with permission of BKS IYENGAR, Trade Mark Owner

Spring 2008

In each issue we try to bring you something new and interesting. Issue 12 continues on that path with a feature focus on Thought and Religion. There is a reprint of Guruji’s interview in Los Angeles during his last tour of the USA, Geetaji discusses Christianity and Yoga with Judith Jones, Julia Bennett writes on Mind and Body and Philippe Harari shares his views on Yoga and Politics.

IYA (UK) CONVENTION 13th - 15th June 2008 Northumbria University in Newcastle upon Tyne

Guest Teacher: Birjoo Mehta Book now to secure your place Application forms: Website: www.iyengaryoga.org.uk E-mail: jess@iyengaryoga.org.uk Write to: Jess Wallwork Iyengar Yoga Association (UK) 5 West Grove Bristol BS6 5LS Phone: +44 (0) 117 307 9092 For information about Newcastle before or during the convention: Soo: yoga-on-tyne@blueyonder.co.uk tel: 0191 2655661 Jeannie: JeannieAdams@duncanpr.com tel: 0191 2766269

Geeta S. Iyengar We are delighted to announce that Geetaji has agreed to be the honoured guest teacher at the IYA (UK) Convention in May 2009 For more details please refer to page 49 of this issue

There is also information about the Convention in June 2008 that includes an interview with guest teacher Birjoo Mehta – don’t forget to reserve your space now if you haven’t already booked. There is news from Bellur with details of several fund raising events – perhaps these will inspire you to organise local events as your contribution to this year’s donations. Diane Maimaris presents another interesting interview, and we bring reports of two small bespoke studios to show that you don’t need a vast space in which to practise, teach and bring the joy of Iyengar Yoga to those around you.

Guruji settles the often asked question in Why do we use props? and apart from the now usual slots of Desert Island Asana and the Q&A page we have a new section Around the UK for your local news and interesting snippets. The book review section has returned and the usual reports and assessment results are also included.

The September 2008 edition will be a special 90th birthday issue for Guruji with an absolute deadline for submissions on 1st June 2008. We intend it to be a bumper issue in celebration of the great contribution he has made to mankind. Please send in articles or proposals for articles, photographs and information or anything that you feel might contribute to make this a really special edition dedicated to Guruji.

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CONTENTS SPECIAL FEATURES - focus on thought & religion 2 7 10 14 15

When We Meet – community as a “single thought of yoga” Interview with Guruji in Los Angeles The Maestro and the Master Extracts from Kate Beck’s booklet of quotes by BKS Iyengar and Yehudi Menuhin Yoga & Christianity Judith Jones in conversation with Geeta S Iyengar Mind and Body - yoga and Descartes

by Julia Bennett Yoga and Politics

by Philippe Harari

ARTICLES 17 21 24 25 26 28

30

In Conversation with Genie Hammond by Diane Maimaris IYA Convention 2008: Birjoo Mehta replies interview by Sharon Klaff Newcastle Revealed by Vicky Joseph Bellur Events 2007 Visit to Bellur by Jo Crossley Around the UK: Yoga and Osteoporosis by Trish Taylor The Skiing Granny by Pen Reed Freda Holt Retires by Alan brown Iyengar Yoga Studios around the UK: It’s all about balance at the sweet factory by Simon Edwardson Every home should have one

by Sharon Klaff

32 34 35 37 38 40 43

Desert Island Asanas Kristal Clark interviewed by Laura Potts Book Review: The Woman’s Yoga Book reviewed by Laura Potts Theatre Teaching by Amparo Rodriguez Q & A edited by Elaine Pidgeon and Judith Jones Can Yoga help the Menopause

by Jane Ruthven Mayes The subtleties of Sarvangasana

by Arti H. Mehta Why Do We Use Props? In conversation with BKS Iyengar from Yoga Rahasya

REPORTS & ANNOUNCEMENTS 46 47 48 48 49

Chair Treasurer Membership New Administrators Geeta comes to the UK

50 51 54 56 61

IYA(UK) AGM 2008 Agenda Iyengar Yoga Development Fund Assessment Results Professional Development Days 2008 IYI Maida Vale

50 52 57 58 59

MISCELLANEOUS Teacher Renewal Information Obituary: Angela Marris Teacher Trainers 2008 Classes at RIMIYI Yoga Rahasya Subscription

60 62 64 65 69

Executive Council and Committees Events Listings IYA Merchandise Advertisements Savasana - by Lisa Maimaris

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When We Meet Community as a “Single Thought of Yoga” When Guruji toured the U.S. in October, 2005 on the occasion of the publication of Light on Life, he visited IYILA. The celebration included puja, music, chants, speeches and a feast, but its highlight was a Q & A in which Guruji spoke about the world, the yoga community and the individual. Troubled by divisions in our community, Jacqueline Austin, Editor, of Yoga Vidya, asked the following question. uruji, you are visiting five cities on this trip, each seeded somewhat differently. How do you see these communities separating and joining over time?

G

Guruji: You know, in our human race, division comes on intellectual calculations and emotional disturbances. The brain is the seat of ego and heart is the seat of compassion. We have not understood the union between the egoistic person, which is the brain, and the non-egoistic seat, which is the emotional heart. One side leads you towards compassion, and the other one leads you towards ego. If you learn to subdue by the power of the universal cosmic consciousness, which is in the seat of the heart, that’s why we have that “compassion, friendliness…” [Sutra 1.33], then the animosity, jealousy, hatred – though they are the emotional spokes – the calculation is on the brain, not on the heart.

We have to culture the intellect of the brain. It has to become mature, to be one, to be in union – all that should be associating with the compassionate seat of the heart. And when this training 2

comes, though I’m visiting five cities, there won’t be any differences at all.

I’ve already visited three places.

I saw hundreds of respective eyes in Estes Park, with one eye. In San Francisco, 2,700 people were there. So all 2,700 people, with 5,400 eyes (laughter). All on a single idea. A single thought. So seeing the magnetism of a single thought of yoga, from that time I don’t see that there is any difference between Boston, Washington, or San Francisco, or Los Angeles.

It is our own mind which creates problems in our brain. In order to say how to live, I can only give an example. You and I, when we meet for the first time, we meet without any prejudices, without

any favorites or resistance. But just give this a thought: why after being friends, suddenly so many things change (laughter), when we know each other. Have you ever given a thought to that? We try to study the other person from our standard of intelligence. And the same time, my friend also looks at me from that state of mind. And that’s why differences come in the human race.

What is the first state of acquaintance, when Somebody introduces so-and-so? And they meet each other? We talk to each other, with a lovely affection we talk (laughter). But what happens later?

So we study. I study according to my character, or she studies me according to her character. And so the disturbances come. But as friends, even though they come, we have to learn to live.

The first day we met without these prejudices. Even if prejudices come in time, let us not pay attention to that, so can we meet again as if we had met for the first time!

(Audience murmurs in agreement.)

And that is what yoga teaches us to learn. To be friends. Remember Iyengar Yoga News No. 12 - Spring 2008

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how you were on the first day.

Even after 30 years or 40 years, maintain that same quality in your brain. Then there’s absolutely no room for differences with one another. Because I have come here... In the 50 years I’ve [visited] here, still I have not said to anybody, “I like this man; I do not like this man.” (Big laugh.) Have you ever heard this? Has anybody [here] ever heard this? (Laughter.

Audience: “No.”) So, that’s how I learned simplicity of life. The brain is very complex; the mind is very complex. Because it wants to toss, this goes on tossing and tossing. So we don’t come to the solution. In either case, head or the tail (laughter). Which makes an enmity. So please toss – and touch the head or the tail. And that is what Patañjāli says: “Be steady.”

You know, the snake’s tail: so it is united together. That’s what we have to learn: let us not sow any differences. Let us treat all as if they are all the children of God. Our job is to guide. All yoga students’ job is to guide – not to gain. All yoga students’ job is to be indifferent toward different ideas.

Just as we use a wastepaper basket, so we should toss when it comes. Let us not give too much thought to that, and let us say, “Let us think of the other piece.”

That’s why Patañjāli , the great man, says, “There are seven states of consciousness. Consciousness is nothing. It’s a capsule with the mind, intelligence and ego all Iyengar Yoga News No. 12 - Spring 2008

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inside. Consciousness has nothing to do. It is just a capsule. Just a bag. In that bag there are three containers – ego, intelligence, and mind. Sometimes the mind plays, and it compresses the intelligence; it does not give room for the intelligence to discriminate. And ego, in its place, is compressing the mind and the intelligence. It does not allow the thinking power to think.

This is how we have to study, so that there is no inflation or deflation in these three. So that the capsule may not break and the contents aren’t thrown. If you can

keep that, I can say that all of you, without branding yourselves as yogis, will become true yogis without a word or thought.

Patañjāli has said, “wandering mind and restraining mind.” You have heard people also say, “Restraint of consciousness is yoga.” But nobody has understood, nobody has said, that after the wandering consciousness, and before the restraint of consciousness, there is a pause, a space. And that space we do not study.

If you use your intelligence to use that space between the wandering mind and the restraining mind, and

prolong that space, then there is no room for the wandering mind and the restraining mind (laughter).

That, we do not study. For example, normal breathing. When you are doing this, you cannot inhale immediately after exhalation. You cannot exhale immediately after inhalation. There is a gap. That’s according to biology and medical science. When there is a space between the inhalation and the exhalation, there is time, space, for the heart to relax.

Some doctors have written a book, where they said, as when you take a holiday after six days of work, every seven minutes the heart takes one minute’s rest in between. It was surveyed, experienced, tested, and that’s why I’m saying this.

So, this pause between wandering thought and restraining thought, that space is the space where the head and the heart are nullified. It creates a void – a space. If we understand that, then we understand the unity of the head and the heart. Because we jump quickly, and that’s why we do not understand. That’s why Patañjāli has clearly mentioned, there is śānta k a a. Quietness between the wandering mind and the restraining mind. So he says, please elongate that. As we go on elongating that, he calls that void between the wandering mind and the restraining mind – that is the “concentration.” Not like you all say, two-three concentrations.

He speaks of the natural concentration – because there is no 3

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wandering thought, there is no restraining thought. And that is the space known as ekāgratā pari āma . That is the prayer of concentration, where head and heart will come together.

And again they break off. Why do they break off? After reaching four states? Now this is very interesting today. Meditation classes are going on. And nobody knows the logic of this. They want you to keep quiet and all these things…

When you do halāsana , can you think? Tell me! (Audience: “No.”) When you do rope śīr āsana , what happens to the brain? (Audience: “It’s quiet.”). So when we are experiencing this, do our thoughts not start running again? “Let me go to my meditation class!” (laughter)

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the mind does not function between the wandering mind and the restraining mind. And then he says, “This is samādhi pari āma .”

He speaks of praśānta citta . In that state there is poise, because the mind has no two facets. It’s a single facet. And that’s why he says k a a is śānta citta . And from that śānta citta , he calls it, ekāgratā .

Why do even people who develop, later get disturbed?

He said this makes the person who understands that concentration, he gets the ego. I use the word “intellectual intoxication” (laughter).

So that’s how we have to study the immaturity. When yoga is done with immaturity, still we behave that we are immature.

Patañjāli beautifully explains the character of sleep: abhāva pratyaya āla bana v tti nidrā .

What is sleep? The state where there is no feeling, emotional feeling or intellectual fluctuations, at that time of sleep. And when he has defined nidrā , sleep, the quality of nidrā … The opposite of that is samādhi . “In the wakeful state, having power, having great feeling, I will not oscillate. And maintain it.”

This is samādhi .

So, that is why he calls that pause the state of samādhi . And we do not catch it, we just give the meaning. But practical knowledge says – when he states what is the quality of nidrā and when you go on breathing – there is a space, there is a k a a , moment, where 4

Intellectuals are all intoxicated.

Because they are intellectually intoxicated, I call them “intellectual druggists” (laughter). And they play the game, and as Patañjāli says, nirmā acittāni asmitāmātrāt (IV.4) , “It expresses the quality of ego.” So be careful. When you have reached the full state of wisdom, at that time asmitā appears. And you do not understand that asmitā , which is a pure state of consciousness, but you think “I have learned something; I have reached something.” And that transforms into ego. In the fourth chapter he speaks.

(Break in recording) There is no higher consciousness.

There is only inner consciousness.

We give the terminology from the gross to the subtle. But they are

all hidden, like Russian dolls, where you find seven, eight dolls inside (laughter). Same, eh?

Like that, the consciousness has seven toys. So, we have to conquer them, one after the other. We have to unlock, to undergo them, so that you are one with the divine, so that first vyutthāna citta , which is the starting point, joins with the divine consciousness, and the differences disappear at that moment. And that’s how I said you can remove disparity between the people.

When you learn how to remove disparity between the intellect of the head – I am using the word; please carefully watch – the intellect of the head, with the intelligence of the heart.

Intelligence we call “wisdom.”

Intellect we call vidyā . There’s a difference between the words. You can acquire knowledge through reading books, but experiential knowledge cannot come through books.

Yoga being an experiential knowledge, that is called buddhi ; if you have read Bhagavad Gita, vyavasāyātmika buddhi ekeha kurunandana. Agricultural, culti-

vated, civilized intelligence is one.

It has no “two.” The head can oscillate, but the heart cannot oscillate, according to the Bhagavad Gita, also. Because as I said, when you are doing the āsanas , you are plowing your [field] to remove the intellectual impurities which act as weeds. You remove the weeds, so that you touch the finer mind. And you water it through your prā āyāma .

So that the crop, intelligence, grows well; the intellect grows well, and transforms into intelligence.

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śīr āsana

If the intellect and the intelligence – the intelligence of the head and the intelligence of the heart – if they are blending together because they are in communication, and through communication you commune with each other, then the blending takes place. And at that time you will become a wise man. You will not speak ill of others. No prejudices, no favoritism, no corruption. Nothing of that. And that is where yoga takes you slowly.

When you do setu bandha sarvāngāsana , does the brain work or does the heart work?

Both are silent, no? (Audience murmurs.) The heart is active, but it doesn’t work.

You have to find the differences in action also. When you do sirsasana, your brain is active.

When you do śīr āsana on the rope, the brain is not active. So this is the way you have to frame differences.

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When you do śīr āsana on the rope, there is a – they call it biological – a nervous relaxation.

When you do on the floor it’s a psychological quietness. So there is a vast difference between śīr āsana on the rope, and śīr āsana on the floor. But you people don’t get it. “Mr. Iyengar does śīr āsana on the rope? It’s comfortable, so I will do it!”

(Laughter.)

maintain a hold? That’s how I formed the prop. With a selfish motive (laughter). And it became a selfless motive later. It has helped so many people, but nobody knows from what purpose I did it (laughter).

Suppose you do a pose with that vīparita da āsana box. Can you do vīparita da āsana on the floor? Whereas with this, you can stay for half an hour? What is the state of mind in this half hour with support? What is the state of your mind when you do it independently for your two or three minutes? Here it’s like a volcano (laughter). Right?

And there, everything is quiet. So do we study like that? If you do setu bandha sarvāngāsana like me, you cannot stay even for two minutes, on your hands. But with the setu bandha sarvāngāsana bench, how long can you stay?

That’s how I learned vīparita kara i . I read books, nobody explained exactly what is. So when I heard, in Hatha Yoga Pradipika, when I read that the buttocks

I have created these props on the wall to get a sense of direction.

Am I wrong, am I right? Do triko āsana independently – you do not know where your spine is, where your head is, which side is the leg rotating inside, outside.

Do it against the trestler, and the trestler guides you immediately – where the action is, where the action is not.

So all these props, I have found out only in case something happens to me in my old age (laughter). If I cannot do anything, can I be able to at least,

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should be slightly below the trunk, that means this is possible only in inverted poses, not in any other poses. So, one day I tried sarvāngāsana . I said, let me try vīparita kara i . Keep on the hands.

Let me take the buttocks below my waist. And I could stay only one minute or two minutes. I said, How can I teach the common people? They can’t stay. If I can stay only two minutes, they can stay only for two seconds (laughter).

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All the yoga books say the words, that there is sabīja samādhi and nirbīja samādhi . You are all acquainted with that, right? Is there any book which says, “There is sabīja āsana and nirbīja āsana ?”

(Laughter.)

And that’s how I found out. Now you all enjoy a 15-minute stay in vīparita kara i .

(Laughter; applause.) …Because you are in a peaceful state. The steady quality of the mind at that moment, the character of the mind says, “I want to stay.”

Because your mind does not wander at all. And that is how I traced this – never mind. They get two things, extension and relaxation, at the same time. No other yogis know how to do extension and relaxation together. I learned through these props that you can do both at the same time. Two birds at the same time, this is what I learned. (Laughter; appreciative murmurs.)

So prolong this time, you are in peace of mind. External turmoils will not touch you. But if you have to do things like me, like Light on Yoga, the turmoils will continue (laughter). It requires tremendous willpower to learn independently. …And how I created also the different traditions... You have heard only books write “sabīja prā āyāma and nirbīja prā āyāma .”

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I am also doing nirbīja āsana . I said, it is impossible. I wrote the book; I said all can master āsana in three years. At that time I was a little (laughter) intoxicated (enthusiastic applause)... And that’s why I said you can learn in three years (laughter).

I made a big blunder, not knowing.

In my heart I thought all were like me (laughter). So that’s how I wrote the book. Then after I experienced things, I realized that others cannot do this in such a short period. And now I have to add zeroes (laughter), and that is a wise discernment (laughter). On account of that, I said, no, all cannot do it; except one sarvāngāsana struck me. You will find the support on sarvangasana; only I thought if they had some problems, they could keep the bench behind, which I have shown.

And today I can show all the postures in Light on Yoga with a prop – vīparita da āsana , and setu bandha sarvāngāsana , and so on. I

have shown all 200 āsanas in Light on Yoga, how you can all do them without any pain.

Now there is Biria, who has one kidney which has been taken out.

How many minutes did he stay in kapotāsana , the day before yesterday? Eh? (Answer: “12, 15 minutes.”) Can you see?

You can’t stay half a minute. Now even the most difficult pose, people stay 15 minutes.

So that’s what I learned, how to drug the people – excuse me – (laughter)… It’s true!

(Laughter). So I use these props to keep a natural drug for you to stick to a natural pose (applause). It’s better to lead the people in a right line by using the right “drugs.” I have given that.

So if we all develop that, we can all live as one human single mind. And that’s the answer to your question.

Which you have to struggle, to reach that state.

Thank you. (Prolonged applause.)

Transcribed by Jacqueline Austin.Thanks to Scott Hobbs, who recorded Guruji’s visit to IYILA, to Victoria Austin for her help in transcription, and to Paul Cabanis and Gloria Goldberg for listening and correcting the transcription.

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The Maestro and the Master Extracts from Kate Beck’s booklet of quotes by BKS Iyengar and Yehudi Menuhin

t is said that great minds think alike and this is more than evident when one studies the quotes and statements independently made by the violin maestro Lord Yehudi Menuhin and his “best violin teacher” Yogacharaya BKS Iyengar. Kate Beck of the Iyengar Yoga Association of Switzerland has compiled a booklet of such quotes, which was released last year on the occasion of the historic 50th anniversary of Guruji’s first trip out of India – to Switzerland.

I

centre of Gstaad along the river Saane to the village of Saanen. At various points along the trail, the thoughts and reflections of the great musician and the great yogi are presented on plaques. The philosophical ideas along this path show how closely the two were and are still connected and intend to stimulate a quiet reflection in all those who pass this way.

Yoga Rahasya has reproduced here some of the quotes and added a few more which reflect the connection between the maestro and the master.

Photo Courtesy: RIMYI archives.

A few admirers of Menuhin had suggested that the community of Saanen create a walking trail dedicated to the maestro’s most treasured philosophical ideas. In 2004, this philosophical path was complemented by the philosophical ideas of Yogacharya BKS Iyengar. This sign-posted path winds from the Iyengar Yoga News No. 12 - Spring 2008

was so beautiful and sensitive that I was immediately drawn to him. No one has been a more devoted pupil and loveable human being to me than Yehudi Menuhin. He has completely stolen my heart away.

Iyengar He is my master and my Guru.

What I don’t know in myself, Mr. Iyengar knows. He knows more about me than myself. Ever since I became his pupil and followed his course of exercises, I have not had any drug or medicine to cure any illness. I would trust him completely with my sons on top of a mountain in a thunderstorm, and know that he would bring them back unharmed.

Menuhin On one’s aim in life: Singularity of purpose should be your aim.

Iyengar

On each other: Being a top artist, Yehudi Menuhin has to tone his brain, body and sensitivity to such an extent that it was always a great joy to work and be with him. The quality of his skin

The ultimate aim in life should be to fulfill to the utmost all that is within our ability and to share that which is good and beautiful.

Menuhin 7

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On freedom: Freedom with true discipline is true freedom.

Iyengar The real pleasures are indistinguishable from duties; real freedom is responsibility; and real safeguard is that daily reaching for the ideal, which a musician must attempt.

Menuhin On yoga: Yoga is like music. The rhythm of the body, the melody of the mind, and the harmony of the soul create the symphony of life.

Iyengar 8

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Yoga is an art reduced to the very simplest, in a sense, yet of the most complicated, because it requires no instrument at all. It requires but the instrument you are born with, your body.

Menuhin On experience: Use each experience as a stepping stone.

Iyengar In order to be renewed it is essential to consider the old which we inherited.

Menuhin

On creativity: Nothing is perfect. You can always improve; that is creation of life, creation of interest.

Iyengar Everyone should in some way be creative, irrespective of the quality of that which it creates.

Menuhin On perfection: Perfection eludes us, but this should not lead us to reduce our efforts.

In perfection, your experience and expression find balance and concord.

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“She could cope with any responsibility” is what my friend had predicted about Diana! There has never been a moment when my wife hasn’t carried the event, however strange, painful or unremitting its demands upon her imagination and endurance. She has been a constant inspiration, a stimulus, an expression of animated beauty in my life, and in our children’s lives, and thus it has been from the beginning.

Menuhin

Life is not a finished product, it is only what we make of it. Perfection cannot be achieved unless its pursuit becomes a way of life.

Menuhin On universality of yoga and music: Yoga is for all of us. To limit yoga to national or cultural boundaries is the denial of consciousness.

Iyengar As a child, I saw music as an irresistible force for good uniting the human race at its universal depth beneath the divisions, working that magic which Schiller describes in his “Ode to Joy” as “binding together what Custom pulls asunder.”

Menuhin On the body: The capital we are born with, the human body remains unutilized for most of us.

Iyengar

denies us, and too often the violin, inviting surrender, makes rigidity more rigid!

Menuhin On going beyond: Do the maximum knowing the minimum. Then break the maximum to go further and further.

Iyengar In my life, yoga is an aid to wellbeing, permitting me to do more and to do better.

Menuhin On their wives, Ramamani and Diana: Rama was the personification of patience and magnanimity. She was simple, generous and unostentatious. She was quiet, serene, peaceful and remained unruffled in adverse circumstances. She took everything in her stride coolly. She was never harsh to the children yet she commanded high respect and moulded them with discipline. —Iyengar

Elegant management of the body is among the qualities civilization Iyengar Yoga News No. 12 - Spring 2008

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Yoga & Christianity Judith Jones in conversation with Geeta S. Iyengar

In August 2002, following the Jubilee Convention held at Crystal Palace in London in June that year to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the inauguration of the BKS Iyengar Yoga Teachers Association (BKSIYTA), Judith Jones spoke to Geetaji about possible conflicts between yoga and Christianity. That year also marked the 15th birthday of the Light on Yoga Association (LOYA). The convention was significant as it also heralded the unification process which successfully brought the two Associations together one year later to form the IYA (UK), something Guruji had wanted to happen for a long time. Geetaji attended the convention as the honoured guest teacher, the convention being the culmination of her European teaching tour. hristianity is the major Western religion. Christians believe that the only way to God is through Jesus Christ.

C

Some are interested in taking up yoga but see conflict between their religion and yoga. What can we say to them to help them overcome this obstacle?

You are asking me about Westerners because of their Christianity, thinking in that manner, but any religion will question this because basically, this is again pride. We always compare ourselves with our religion thinking that “I am born in this family, so I am a Hindu, I am born within this Christian family, so I am a Christian, I am born in this Buddhist family that’s why I am Buddhist”. So it is not something we are aware of at first. I think Guruji said about this, we are born in that family, so that’s why we think we are Christians, we are Hindus, that kind of thing, but as children do we know all these things? Because our parents follow something, we say we are following that. They go to the temple, I go to the temple. Your parents go to 10

church, so you go to church. What do you understand more than that?

Beyond that we don’t understand anything. So it is like any culture that we develop, we have to develop this culture of religion in this manner.

Now these people, Christians, also if they say, “it is only the path of Jesus Christ we have to follow”, this is their understanding. If the understanding level changes this question will not occur; that means inner wisdom has to come. But as a teacher, if you find this difficulty, because for us also here it is a problem. There are Mohammedans who come to the class. They will say that why should we do yoga, it’s not our religion. And they may not; it doesn’t matter, because maturity comes.

How can we say, how can we force? Then we have to tell them the meaning of it, what it means, as the other day in Crystal Palace I said that it is only in Sanskrit, it doesn’t mean that it belongs to the Hindu. It’s a language. Even if you ask “English, when did it develop?”

Was it there from the time immemorial, the English language? It was not there. So you cannot say all these things because normally we learn from history what language was there, perhaps those languages were not there, perhaps the language was absolutely different at that time.

So, when they come, it is a very practical problem there. It is not a question of criticising either my religion or their religion. The question is everybody wants the health, everybody has this body, everybody has the same emotional problem. Is not yoga helping them, apart from the religion? Does the question of religion come there? And when did Christ say that yoga should not be done? Is there in the Bible to say that “don’t do yoga”? There is no question of it. When he said Ten Commandments, which are equal to yama and niyama , it is only language, Sanskrit language, Patanjali’s language. It is in Sanskrit, but it is Patanjali who has pointed out yama and niyama .

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Do you mean to say that Christianity says that ‘do violence’? There also they speak of non-violence.

They also speak of truthfulness. No human being will say “be against it”.

It is our own weakness; if we are violent it is our own weakness isn’t it? And that’s why such people you find like Hitler. He was killing the people and we know now at this stage that it was wrong. We are not appreciating him there, am I right?

We don’t appreciate because he was wrong there. Just he thought, that everything is in his hand so he can do anything he wants to, and that’s why now we are afraid, if we give the reins in one person’s hand.

He may behave any way he wants to; that’s how the democracy comes into the picture. There should be somebody to control.

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Further, it takes long time for us to be completely yogic-minded. It is not a yogic mind, it’s a pure mind.

Are we pure? We can’t be because we have to train ourselves to become pure. Everybody has to train oneself. So, if these people come and if they question like that, it is nothing to do with the religion.

You want your health. You want to get rid of your problem and if something is there to help you, why not?

And again it will be a wrong thing for a yoga practitioner also to force some ideas when still the mind it is not prepared to take those ideas. I cannot make you to say “I believe in God” when you are not believing it.

I cannot say “look you are not

If we have the Lord you think that now I have to be there to control you, that you are not the Lord, isn’t it?

So, whether it is Hitler or anybody else, we see that as a human being, we want these things like non-violence, truthfulness. Even here I shout if somebody has picked up somebody’s things. I said just now somebody has lost this, so it has to be here. If somebody has picked it up, yes give it back. You cannot steal somebody’s property, it’s wrong! So Christ - has he not said this? So teach them in that manner. We are not asking them to belong to Hindu religion, we don’t tell them that you be completely yogic-minded. How can you become when we also ourselves don’t become?

It takes a long time for us to be totally devoted, dedicated, to yoga.

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believing in God so you go out, I’m not going to teach you. That’s not the way because that is not big problem here that you don’t believe in God. You first begin. You have come. Where is the question of just whether you believe or not? And Patanjali also says this. When he is talking about samādhi he says īśvara pra idhāna , of surrendering to the God (it’s in the first chapter – samādhi pāda ). So when he says all you can surrender to God to

reach that state, he doesn’t say that you pick up whether this or that.

He means to say if you are not capable to surrender yourself to the God have faith, śraddhā , in your practice. Vīrya : have that courage to practise yoga. Sm ti : have the strong memory to practise.

Samādhiprajñā : your intelligence, your wisdom has to be really sharpened to catch this. So, if you are not sharp enough how can somebody force the ideas? So, he said either you meditate on God, that is next, or you have to have faith in this thing. He doesn’t say that you meditate on God to reach the samādhi state.

The other things are there. And when he wants to say that īśvara pra idhāna , he means to say that at that highest level, culmination of your practice, where you begin to understand, yes there is something supreme, because that intelligence now has maturity to understand. It’s not God in a human form, but there is something that is higher than us and I think every scientist also has felt like that. When these people went on moon also they felt the presence of God there. Why did they go and pray? They didn’t know whether they would land on the moon, but there was a faith that there is something, a strong energy, which is about them. You may say energy, you may say power, you can use any word, like supreme, universal soul, because how will you name? There is no name to the God. God is nameless because if you name then you have given some form.

For example, I tell you it is human nature how, when we went to 11

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Poland we went to the Madonna’s Cathedral, when we went inside, I didn’t feel I was in Madonna’s Cathedral, for me it was just like a temple. At the moment when the screen lifted up and we saw the different dresses that had been kept there, it did not make me feel that we are separate religion, that this religion is different to my religion.

Not even once it came into my mind. I was just observing, I said, yes, it is like you are seeing the God, in any form. I really enjoyed those moments because as a special guest we were taken very much near that area where the priests normally sit.

So this question did not arise.

After coming out I started thinking about the Pope. It was explained to us that he is very connected with this place.

Sometimes he just feels like coming to this Cathedral and being there. He spends his quiet moments over there because then he gets energy.

That was explained by that priest to us, that he gets energy. And I totally believe that yes, it was the area where I felt the energy coming and we also consider Kali mater is the one who gives the energy. The mother Goddess is the one who gives the energy. So she is prayed to in that manner. She is worshipped in that manner.

Energy is considered to be the part of omnipotence. If you take God as a human form then Kali Mater or the mother goddess is the energy of that god. You see it’s all our thinking process. There is a God. Then there is the energy of that God. Again we are taking it as a feminine form.

Rupa, Shakti?

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Yes, that is why she is called Adishakti. The power of God is called in Sanskrit, Adishakti – the original power, the very root power. It has no beginning. It is just there and that is the power of the Lord. That Lord is not in a human form. And that is what we were explained, that the Pope comes here sometimes just to get that energy and it’s acceptable.

And that can be found by different people anywhere?

Yes, in any religion. It’s not that my religion came in the way to make me feel this thing. You have to explain when a teacher finds this kind of problem, you have to explain it’s not a question of religion there. And when did we start with the religion? We never started with religion. When Guruji came to England, when yoga was to be introduced to Inner London Education Authority, they said don’t bring the religion when you are teaching.

OK Guruji accepted it because the question of religion does not come only. You don’t say that you become Hindu and then I will teach you yoga, because soon as you have the discipline you follow and everyone wants the discipline.

Human mind wants the discipline, human body wants the discipline.

It’s a question of just the discipline.

No-one is saying behave yourself in an undisciplined way, am I right? You want the discipline, you want to shape your mind, you want to go on the right path, everyone wants that. He didn’t bring the religion at all. And that’s how it was.

Now the question is, that when you started doing it you might be a new person there, you might be new to yoga. From 1960 Guruji is visiting UK - those students in 1960-61, is it not that they felt now they should be reading Yoga Sutra, to find out where is the origin of it? Is it not the inquisitive mind? Is it not a different wisdom to ask “where is the source? Let us find out.” What made them to understand?

What made them to get this feeling? Is it not inner awakening to see that – “yes, let us see the source”.

Suppose if you go to the music concert and some pieces are played, you want to know the source of it. You question now “what is the next?” Or “what was it?” Whether it was Beethoven or Bach? You want to know. Sometimes if you know about it you are waiting for this Beethoven No. so–and–so because you know. The more you know, the more clear it is to you, but suppose if I don’t know?

I just say “oh, I don’t know if it was Bach or if it was Beethoven, but I enjoyed it, it was very nice”. I can enjoy that music because I have got those ears.

But someone who is absolutely ignorant about it will say, “No, I don’t understand anything”. He may not sit there to listen to the concert. He will listen to the concert if he is made to or when his ears are prepared to listen.

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And we need that. Why do we have to listen to that music? Because our ears get prepared.

And that’s why we say “when you have good classical music, why do you go for other music?” Children – when they want to listen to other music – even you people control your children when you think that this music is not good, better that they hear something good – classical. The ears you want to prepare.

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which you pick up, you do it.

Do you question at that time why this religion? Suppose if you want to sing Indian music (there was a westerner who was singing South Indian music) now in South Indian music you find totally the songs are all from the saints, which is called Karnatic music. The base is complete classical music and these songs are almost in praise of the Saints, but giving the classical touch to it. It’s sung in a classical way. So if you pick up Karnatic music you have to sing those songs.

say, “What is this AUM?” But when you are also saying the prayers, at the end you say “Amen”. Why?

The question doesn’t arise because it’s not asking you “this is the God and you think about that.” It’s explaining all that you might hear, like “omnipotent”, “omniscient”. The Lord is in that form. This is only the mind which is coming in the way. If someone bothers you in that manner you can say do it for health sake. When maturity comes, then these people will begin to pick up.

So you can tell them in this manner.

What we can say to them to help them overcome this obstacle is that it is not at all an obstacle! If they have this religiosity they have to know it is not an obstacle at all, but it is the mind of those people who really don’t understand both.

Even in the womb?

Yes! I don’t know western music, but yes, I am prepared to listen because I have heard.

So, when this question comes, it is not going at all against Christianity. It is only the mind of the people.

So it comes back to maturity?

Yes – maturity. And if they don’t understand – fine, give them just the health. Now in Christianity has it been said that you cannot do those exercises, keep fit programme, aerobics etc? Where has it been said? Are they not doing it? Then why they bring the religion here? Because its origin is somewhere?

Yes, karate now, is its origin there in UK? Its origin is in Japan! Are you not accepting it? When they do Karate exercises in Japan they have certain way of saluting. British people, if they pick up karate they have to also follow the same. They don’t say that we will not salute in that way. They do that. If you pick up Indian dance, let us say Bharatnatyam, because you like it, it is good. Is it not something against the culture, but then there is a method of saluting in the dance Iyengar Yoga News No. 12 - Spring 2008

Basically, that is what, when Guruji met the Pope in Rome, it is he who said that everybody should do this.

But, I tell you it is now yoga which has become very much popular and when it becomes popular it gets tainted. And that may bother the people. For example, when you ask us, “teach us meditation” – for you AUM may not be making much sense because you don’t belong to this language, this culture. And you

It’s a mantra?

You understand? So yes, you say it in whichever way. You pray to your God in whichever way you want to.

Even you can meditate on Christ.

What is meditation at the end? To bring clarity. Then it becomes one.

That is why I said when I went to [the] Cathedral, there I didn’t feel I belonged to this religion or that religion. I really totally enjoyed it and I was totally peaceful there. I really liked it.

I said, “This is the thing”. It’s a shrine to be visited by everyone. Everybody becomes quiet, it has got its own beauty, it has been blessed. It doesn’t matter which religion you belong to. OK?

They haven’t understood Christianity, they haven’t understood yoga, they haven’t understood themselves, they don’t know about their own health, they don’t know about their own problems. So it is a kind of ego which holds you, an intelligence which holds you, which stops you. Have an open mind; yes, nothing happens. Bring that maturity – nothing happens then.

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Mind & Body - Yoga & Descartes

by Julia Bennett aving spent the last eight months grappling with philosophy of mind as a part of the final year of my degree, I have come to realise that traditional Western notions of the relationship between mind and body are very different from yogic conceptions, which set me wondering about the implications of this for Western society.

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Since René Descartes (1596-1650) pronounced “I think, therefore I am” Western notions of the relationship between mind and body have taken the mind, often synonymous with the brain, or a part of the brain, as holding the real person, with the body an almost superfluous extra. Descartes came to his conclusion whilst meditating on the nature of reality: how could he be sure that his body was real and not just an elaborate hoax, as illustrated in the film The Matrix?

Whereas because he could think with his mind, he felt that had to exist and was the starting point for determining what was and was not real (this is a very simplistic reading of Descartes). Philosophers were also scientists at this time and hence much of medical science has been influenced by this dualism.

To anyone who practises yoga and sees the effect it has on both body and mind, these notions are difficult to understand. Yoga does not see the body and mind as two separate facets of the person, as both are essential for all aspects of yoga practice. But more than that: yoga does not see the mind as a single entity which holds the essential attributes of the person, but as 14

multi-layered, as is the body, and all these aspects together make up the whole person. This is a complex view of a complex idea – even Western philosophers acknowledge that the concept of a person is a complicated one.

It would seem that this difference must have implications for the way we live our lives. The mind tends to be given more importance and respect: academic prowess is prioritised over physical prowess – whilst David Beckham is acknowledged to be a good footballer he is often ridiculed for not being ‘clever’, whereas no-one criticises Jeremy Paxman for not being able to play football! Using the mind is seen as something that one has control over leading to certain expectations of academic achievement – consider the constant testing of school pupils; whereas physical attributes such as beauty, talent at sports and even physical flexibility, are seen as a matter of luck. And yet Mr Iyengar reminds us that intelligence resides throughout the body, not just in the head or brain.

Obsession with youth and youthfulness is another aspect of this division. Wisdom, which is an aspect of mind, can only come with age, but beauty is seen solely in youth, so that the two cannot coincide: the media often finds fault with women politicians over their looks, and yet if they were young and beautiful they would be criticised for their lack of experience! Other cultures which do not have this separation of mind and body can see physical beauty alongside the beauty of wisdom. We can see this holistic beauty in many of our yoga teachers.

Although we are not all consciously aware of this prioritisation of the mind it has been part of the background to Western culture and politics for the last four hundred years. People in the West, and increasingly throughout the world, are seen as detached individuals – without recognising bodily needs it is easy to forget that people are dependent upon others for their well-being. In the same way that a community needs both people with common aims and a space to be together in order to thrive, a person will only fully flourish when mind and body are working together. Yoga, which brings the body and the mind back together, unifying the person within her/himself and hence with the world, can help to overcome the artificial separation embedded in Western culture.

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Yoga and Politics

by Philippe Harari he idea for this article came while attending classes at the RIMYI in Pune in August 2006. I am a Politics teacher in a Sixth Form College and while I was reading a text book on political ideologies, I began to wonder whether yoga philosophy was linked more closely to one particular ideology rather than another. For example, is yoga philosophy closer to Conservatism or Socialism? Of course, I would have liked to have discovered that yoga philosophy is closest to the specific set of political ideas that I personally believe in, but in fact yoga has ideas in common with all the major political ideologies.

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A political ideology is a set of ideas about: - what the world is like, - what the world should be like, - how to get from here to there.

These are also the central questions of yoga philosophy, but in yoga they apply more to individual human beings, rather than society as a whole. One common point, though, is beliefs about human nature; all political ideologies are based on assumptions about what it means to be human, and yoga texts have a lot to say about this as well.

Liberals view human nature as a set of qualities intrinsic to the individual, and they place little emphasis on social or historical conditioning. They see humans as self-seeking and self-reliant, but also governed by reason and capable of personal development, particularly through education.

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Conservatives, on the other hand, see human beings as essentially limited and security-seeking; people are irrational and intrinsically morally corrupt. Socialists and anarchists hold a much more positive view of human nature; people are basically good, and if they end up behaving badly it is because they have been shaped by their environment and experiences.

They also believe that people are fundamentally sociable and cooperative, with a natural instinct to work for the common good. Finally, ecologists see human nature as part of a broader natural system; materialism, greed and egoism reflect the extent to which humans have become alienated from the one-ness of nature.

The ideology that most obviously links with yoga in this context is ecologism; this is an ideology with holistic ideals that have roots in Taoism, Hinduism and Buddhism.

However, the socialist and anarchist notion that human beings are naturally inclined to help others is reflected in Guruji’s statement in Light on Yoga that “The yogi does not renounce action. He cuts the bonds that tie himself to his actions by dedicating their fruits either to the Lord or to humanity. He believes that it is his privilege to do his duty and that he has no right to the fruits of his actions” (p.31). This is in direct contradiction to the Liberal view that humans are basically selfseeking and have a right to enjoy what they earn. However, the Liberal notion that people have enlightened self-interest and are capable of developing through

education is reflected in Guruji’s statement that “It is by the co-ordinated and concentrated efforts of his body, senses, mind, reason and Self that a man obtains the prize of inner peace …” (LoY, p.30).

Central to both Liberal ideology and yoga philosophy is the notion of the self-motivated individual, trying to better themselves through hard work and commitment. Nowhere in Guruji’s writings does he agree with the Conservative belief that all human beings are basically flawed, but the idea that people do form a kind of ‘moral’ hierarchy is enshrined in his description of the four classes of pupils: feeble, average, superior and supreme (LoY, p.27). Moreover, Guruji’s description of the distractions and obstacles that hinder practice (e.g. indecision, laziness, sensuality etc. LOY, p.24) fits in with the Conservative notion of the human character.

These “obstacles, trials and tribulations in the path of yoga can be removed to a large extent with the help of a Guru” (LOY, p.28). The Guru is a selfless figure who tries his utmost to guide his students.

The student, in turn, is expected to show confidence, devotion and obedience towards his Guru. So where do the different political ideologies stand on the question of authority and hierarchy?

Liberals believe that authority rises from below in that people consent to be governed because it is in their own self-interest. No Guru would force a student to study; as 15

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Guruji says, “Yoga is for everyone, but not everyone is for yoga”, And students are encouraged to ask questions, so it could be argued that the student is choosing to be taught in the same way that Liberals believe people choose to be governed. However, a student is supposed to trust the teacher and we have all been in the situation in a class where we have done something not understanding why, or even believing it would be impossible or harmful, only to discover that the teacher was right all along.

This obedience is close to the Conservative view that authority is exercised from above by virtue of the unequal distribution of experience and wisdom. Socialists are suspicious of authority, regarding it as implicitly oppressive and linked to the interests of the powerful and privileged, although they do approve of the authority of a collective body in checking individual greed. Anarchists go further in this respect and view all forms of authority as unnecessary and destructive.

It is hard to see in this context how a true anarchist could submit to instruction in a yoga class. Yoga practice, on the other hand, with its emphasis on individual experience, self-motivation and self-monitoring, would cause no difficulties for Anarchists, and the deep humility that is necessary to teach and to practise yoga is very much part of both Anarchist and Ecologist ideology. It is this humility, and the willingness to be questioned and challenged by students, that differentiates yoga teaching from the Fascist view that authority should be absolute and unquestionable and is the manifestation of personal charisma possessed by a uniquely gifted individual.

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Having said at the start of this article that yoga philosophy has elements in common with all major political ideologies, this does not include Fascism! This becomes particularly clear when looking at what the different ideologies believe about freedom. Fascists reject any form of individual liberty as nonsense and believe that ‘true’ freedom lies in unquestioning submission to the will of the leader. In contrast, Liberals, Socialists and Anarchists believe individual freedom to be paramount as the realisation of individual potential. Freedom does not simply mean being left alone, but being rationally self-willed and selfdirected. Conservatives have a weaker view of freedom, believing that we are, and should be, constrained by our duties and responsibilities.

This notion of traditional duty, towards one’s parents, for example, is one that exists within yoga philosophy. However, the ideology that is closest to yoga in this respect is Ecologism. Ecologists perceive freedom as the achievement of one-ness and self-realisation through the absorption of the personal ego into the ecosphere.

This notion of ‘inner’ freedom or ‘self-actualisation’ is very close to yogic ideals. In Light on Yoga, Guruji describes sadhana (constant practice) as ‘a key to freedom’ (p. 29). He quotes from chapter six of the Bhagavad Gita in which Sri Krishna is explaining to Arjuna that yoga brings freedom from pain and sorrow: “When the restlessness of the mind, intellect and self is tilled through the practice of Yoga, the yogi, by the grace of the spirit within himself finds fulfilment”. (LoY, p.19).

So, which particular ideology is closest to yoga? Is it Liberalism with its notion of self-motivated individuals seeking to better themselves through their own efforts? Is it Conservatism, an ideology that recognises the flaws in human beings and the need for guidance and tradition? Is it Socialism or Anarchism, with their optimistic views of human nature and their beliefs in self-determination and emancipation? Or is it Ecologism, a political ideology that has its roots in mystical religions and believes that the goal of humanity is to achieve one-ness with nature?

The answer is that, in the same way that people of all sorts of different faiths can practise yoga, people with all sorts of different political beliefs can practise yoga.

There are political principles within yoga philosophy, but no specific political ideology monopolises them. I will end this article with a final quote from Light on Yoga. This is excellent advice for politicians of all colours: “Love begets courage, moderation creates abundance and humility generates power. Courage without love is brutish. Abundance without moderation leads to over-indulgence and decay. Power without humility breeds arrogance and tyranny.” (p.29)

Mahatma Gandhi outside No. 10 Downing Street in 1931 Iyengar Yoga News No. 12 - Spring 2008

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In Conversation with...

Genie Hammond

by Diane Maimaris t was a close encounter with a step-ladder which brought Genie to yoga. “I fell off and as I came down I hit the base of my spine. I had a bruise the size of a dinner plate, and I was in agony”. A friend suggested a local yoga class, the first Iyengar Yoga class in South London, and at the age of 40 in 1969, Genie discovered yoga. “The first class nearly killed me, but it was good and I decided to do a whole term and see how I got on.

After three months, I woke up one morning feeling this was going to be a special day, but not knowing why. That was the first day when for about an hour my back didn’t hurt. After that, every day the pain-free periods were longer and longer”.

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dreamed for a moment that she would teach. After 18 months, May told Genie that Silva Mehta was back from India, and that she ought

still come to her. Genie recalls that there was a crèche and when it came to śavāsana Gill said she needed to go and pick up her baby.

“I said go and get the baby and do your śavāsana with the baby lying on your tummy”. Genie has taught three generations of the same family and has had students aged from 16 to 92. And she says “Sometimes coming up to exam time, students bring their teenagers to classes, and some of them stay on”.

to go to her classes at the College of Physical Education in Baker Street. “After one term Silva told me she wanted me to go to a class in Peckham. I asked her who the teacher was and she said ‘You are!’”.

Until she was 60 she taught every week day in South London, and on Saturdays at the Institute in Maida Vale. She was a teacher trainer both at Catford and at Maida Vale, and taught remedial and pregnancy classes as well as general yoga classes. Genie was one of the founder members of the Iyengar Yoga Institute in Maida Vale and was its chairman for about six years. She put up her own house in Catford as half the collateral for its first premises, and for six years, until the building was paid off, she and the other teachers and administrative staff worked free of charge and then at reduced salaries.

As well as going to classes, Genie practised at home. When she found out about Mr Iyengar’s Light on Yoga, she bought a copy and read the introduction. “I realised that yoga wasn’t just a form of exercise you do at evening classes – the rules, the yama and niyama are just like the ten commandments – only a lot harder”.

Genie’s teacher, May Mooney, started a second class and Genie went along to that too. Yoga soon became an important part of her life, but Genie says she never Iyengar Yoga News No. 12 - Spring 2008

Genie’s class in Peckham became very popular and soon she was teaching another class in Eltham.

Within a year she was teaching every morning and evening. Two of her first students, Diane and Gill,

When Genie was appointed tutorin-charge at Hither Green School, part of Ravensbourne Adult Education College, Catford, she was delighted as she needed the extra 17

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money to pay for her first trip to Pune in 1978. “I had to raise the money to go, so for two years I asked everyone for money for my birthday and Christmas. I didn’t buy myself anything – I didn’t wear tights through the winter and it was freezing, and my underwear was in ribbons, but my money was to get to India.

When I met Mr Iyengar, I told him I thanked God for pushing me off that ladder so I could find yoga.

He said “I think you may be right”.

This was the first of many visits to Pune and the beginning of a warm friendship with Mr Iyengar and his family. When Mr Iyengar and his daughter, Savita, came to the UK, Genie attended his classes, and even once entertained Mr Iyengar, and his party, at her house in her kitchen in Catford. “He’d heard about my chips, and I hadn’t even peeled a potato. I ended up with four pans doing chips for 19 people”. She has a fund of anecdotes about Mr Iyengar, all testifying to his humour and sense of fun, which she shares, in addition to a love of cricket. Although he claimed he couldn’t understand her English, he had no trouble understanding her jokes.

She says that Mr Iyengar uses humour in his classes and is a consummate teacher. “He once did a yoga day at the college in Catford. Our principal asked if he could observe and he told me afterwards that Mr Iyengar used eight different teaching methods in that class. I remember once after one of his teachers’ classes, the others saying it was easy. But I didn’t agree as he’d said so many things about the postures and I wanted to try and remember it all.

Some people are scared of him and 18

five of us sharing a bedroom. We used to take it in turns to be the first to get up for a shower because it had to be at about 5am.

The comradeship was lovely”.

almost subservient. But it’s never occurred to me to be afraid of him. The respect I have for him is immeasurable. The love I have for him is special. He’s had a go at me so many times, but he’s very truthful, and I needed it. I’ve picked up the habit from him. I say how it is in class. If you are going to improve you’re the one who’s got to do it”.

Since her first visit, Genie has been to Pune about a dozen times.

“Being in Pune was just fabulous.

Most of the classes started at 7am and in the early years there were

When Genie first started going to yoga, there were no yoga mats let alone blocks, and in her own classes, unless the floor is very dirty, she doesn’t let her students use mats for standing poses. She says “I’m known as the ‘matless wonder’, but if you’ve got a wooden floor, why do you want a mat? You don’t work your feet if you’re on a mat, because the mat holds your foot. When you have to put the foot down hard so as not to slip, then you’re learning to use your foot”.

Genie says that if a student needs a prop, she avoids using blocks and bolsters, which they probably won’t have at home. “If they come to my house I’ll use a chair, or a table, or things that every house has got, because otherwise they won’t do what I’m showing them when they go home”. She recalls that in the early years at the Institute in Pune, there were no bolsters and no belts. “I remember when the belts arrived in a big bag, and Mr Iyengar told everybody to get four belts.

We had one around the chest, one across the groins and one round each thigh, with the buckle facing outwards. And then we had to stand in tā āsana , and he asked us if we could feel our chest and back pressing equally against the belt.

And when we turned our front leg in triko āsana , the buckle had to stay exactly where it was when you started”.

It was during her visit to Pune that Mr Iyengar asked her to help in the remedial class. “In the next class, I Iyengar Yoga News No. 12 - Spring 2008

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waited to see if he wanted me to help again, and he said ‘Patients die while they wait for the doctor’.”

That was the start of Genie’s career as a remedial teacher, and she continues to give a two-hour class on the first Friday of every month, to which teachers come from as far as London and Brighton. They pay for the class, but can bring along a student who needs remedial help free of charge.

“Sometimes we have five teachers and only one ‘patient’. Other weeks it’s like a doctor’s surgery. If someone is very stiff and has difficulty getting up from the floor, you sit them on a chair and you put their feet on a chair – you bring the floor up to them”. Recently a teacher complained of pain in the back of her knee. “She wasn’t using her calf – her calf muscle was sitting there having a great time doing nothing”. Genie says she can show people what she does but doesn’t know how she does it. “If I put my hand on somebody’s back I can feel heat in a certain place. I can tell where the source of the problem is and that won’t necessarily be where the pain is”. She says that a lot of her remedial work is about putting somebody back in the right shape so that the body can start healing itself.

a nurse but I was 14 on the Friday and in an office on the Monday. I was quite clever at school, and I won a bursary to go to Dame Alice Owens School which would have covered all the costs, including uniforms, bus fares and shoes. But even when the headmistress came

Genie’s interest in anatomy goes back to childhood. “I remember drawing a picture of a skeleton and my mother thought it was gruesome. I told her that without it you’d be a pancake. To me it was wonderful that this frame could hold everything up. I wanted to be

Genie was born in Islington, within the sound of Bow Bells, to a working class family where money was tight. She speaks fondly of her father. “My Dad was a working man but at the end of the week, you went down the pub. Life was hard. You had a few drinks and you

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round and begged and cried in our kitchen, my Mum said no, the day she’s 14 she leaves school. So, in a way yoga has given me my second chance to have my first chance. It is yoga which has treated me kindly; the yoga itself felt as if I was being mothered for the first time”.

had a sing-song with your mates and you’d forget your troubles. I know the rudest songs you’ve ever heard. Once in school, our teacher asked us to sing, and I sang one of my Dad’s songs. After one verse, and there were a lot more, she said that’s enough, and sent a note home to my parents telling them I needed to mind my language”.

Genie says that while she came from a meat-eating, smoking, drinking family, she herself has never smoked, drunk alcohol or eaten meat or butter. From infancy she could not digest cow’s milk or tolerate meat or dairy products. Her father worked at Covent Garden market so there were always plenty of fruit and vegetables. Her mother only cooked vegetables on a Sunday, but her father always made sure she had plenty of fruit and raw vegetables which he kept for her in a bowl of cold water under the sink.

Genie herself has been married 57 years and has a daughter, Gina, a son, Robert, and four grandchildren. Unlike her mother, who she says never really wanted children, Genie was determined that the children should have the opportunities she did not have, in particular a good education. Both, she says, visibly emotional, have done well, and are happily married, with partners with whom she gets on very well.

Genie says she soon came to realise that yoga is much more than just the āsanas . “You need to do 19

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the āsanas and to know them, but yoga is mind, body and spirit. In the Western world we’re led by our mind, and if you do the āsanas with your mind, you’re missing the point, you’ve got to do them with your mind and your body. Mind and body have to be in balance, and then the spirit can move. In śavāsana it’s almost palpable in the class. If you’ve got it right you feel you can almost touch it.

And if your students are only in śavāsana for ten minutes and every single one of them has got that very quiet face and body, then you think, that’s OK, I’ve done my job all right today.”

Genie says it’s very important to have the back of the hand on the floor in śavāsana . “If you see someone lying with the edge of hand on the mat, the hand can’t relax. But when you turn your wrist, the hand is flat and the palm is soft and this indicates what’s happening in the abdomen. If the palm of the hand is hard, so is the abdomen. And it’s the same with the head - the forehead has to be higher than the chin. You mustn’t be on the centre of the back of your head, you’ve got to be below it. Lie down, close your eyes and feel how much activity there is behind the forehead. Now, extend the back of your neck and come below that spot, and close your eyes; the forehead will be quiet”. Genie says she always tries to allow at least ten minutes for śavāsana because she wants her students to go home feeling better than before the class.

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otherwise they may not sleep well”.

I asked Genie about prā āyāma . “I think you have to be a bit wary with prā āyāma . Mr Iyengar used to talk about falling off a shoe. If you fall off your shoe and hurt a muscle it’s very easily mended. But prā āyāma works with the brain and it can cause brain fever. If you don’t know what you’re doing you

Nobody answered and although I was the most junior person in the class, I said, “Your back didn’t move”. He explained that in prā āyāma the skin of the back must not move. You could see that while the skin on the backs of the two English students puffed out, in Mr Iyengar’s case only the side ribs moved outwards”.

Genie quotes Mr Iyengar’s description of the breath.

“He says ‘The breath should be welcomed into the body like a child coming home from school and when it leaves the body it should be as if you had placed your hand gently on the back of a child going out to play’“. She teaches prā āyāma to her students and tries to find time for it in her own practice. “Even if I only get five minutes it’s such a benefit because it aerates the blood so you’ve got a little bit more energy, but it also calms you down”.

can cause a lot of damage which is why Patanjali says prā āyāma should not be taught until āsana is mastered”.

Genie says the first time she went to one of Mr Iyengar’s prā āyāma classes, he was sitting on the stage with two English students on either side of him. “They were sitting cross-legged with their backs to the audience and he said, “Deep inhalation, deep exhalation” and then he asked us what we had observed.

Genie says she has only once experienced dhyāna , the seventh limb or stage of yoga. It was a day when she had the house completely to herself. She walked Gina to school and decided to do some prā āyāma before breakfast. “I sat down cross-legged on the floor, I made myself comfortable and I started to breathe and I felt it was going really well. Then the doorbell went. I opened the door and it was Gina home from school, at teatime. I must have been sitting there from 10 to 3.30pm but I got up and walked, with no problem. It was so blissful; I felt as if I’d been on holiday for a fortnight. God bless Mr Iyengar, and Patañjāli and yoga” Iyengar Yoga News No. 12 - Spring 2008

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IYA (UK) C onven t ion 2 0 0 8 Birjoo Mehta replies Interview by Sharon Klaff irjoo Mehta is the invited guest teacher for the annual IYA (UK) convention to be held in Newcastle 13-15 June 2008. To give you a flavour of the treat that awaits you, I emailed him several questions to which he very generously responded with great candour.

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When did you first start practising yoga?

Since 1952, Guruji used to travel from Pune to Mumbai every weekend to conduct classes.

My father, Hasmukh Mehta joined these classes in 1970.

In 1975, my father inducted my sister Neeta and I into the Sunday class, and since then I have been studying yoga with Guruji.

At that time, I was in the final year of my school. After school, I joined the Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay and graduated with a Bachelor in Technology degree in Electrical Engineering. The campus is only about 40km from my home, and I would return home every weekend and I could continue with the yoga classes.

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What brought you specifically to Iyengar Yoga?

As explained above, it was my father who introduced me to Guruji and I started to learn yoga directly under Guruji. At that time I had no idea that there were different schools and methods, or that this method was radically different from other prevailing methods. To me, yoga was what Guruji taught. At that time, it was not called Iyengar Yoga. I first heard this term only in 1984 in US. I did not read any books on yoga except Light on Yoga or subscribe to any journals. I recall that there were

some other yoga books at home, but I do not recall reading them with any seriousness. In a sense, I was completely innocent and thought that everyone who taught yoga would be teaching in a method similar to the one adopted

by Guruji. Just as there are no fundamentally different methods in

teaching of any academic subject such as Physics or Maths, I imagined that all schools of yoga had a similar approach.

Once you started what attracted you to remain a serious yoga student?

During the early days, doing yoga was very painful. I was very stiff and after class would suffer from all kinds of aches and pains. However, after six months or so, Guruji and yoga became an integral part of my life and my character started to be shaped by both. I am extremely lucky to study yoga under Guruji, and I identified Guruji with yoga and yoga with Guruji. His fiery zeal for the subject and the magnetism of his personality certainly played a role in keeping me on the path of yoga. However, I do not recall having to consciously take a decision to continue yoga. I had started on something and continued. I never felt the need to assess whether I should continue or not. Continuing was natural.

What attracted you to teaching?

After graduating in Engineering, I took up a job in Mumbai. I continued to attend the Sunday yoga class as usual. Once during a 21

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class, in 1983, Guruji asked me what I did during Saturdays and as at that time I worked five days a week, I said “nothing much�. He said that in that case, I should join my sister Neeta and assist him in the Saturday class. At that time, Guruji took a few therapy cases along with the general classes in Mumbai and I was assigned to two or three therapy patients and asked to work with them strictly as instructed by him. In 1984, in US, they were planning the First International Iyengar Yoga Convention in San Francisco and the organisers had invited several senior Indian teachers to teach at the convention.

One Sunday morning, just as the class had begun, Guruji told me that I would be accompanying him to San Francisco to assist him. I was completely taken by surprise as I was not a teacher. I learnt later that Jawahar Bangera and I were asked to accompany Guruji and assist him in any and every manner during the hectic two month tour to US, Canada and UK. While in the UK, I was informed by Guruji that I would have to teach a class at the newly opened Iyengar Yoga Institute in Maida Vale. I was aghast, as I had never taught a class anywhere, not even a small group of children, leave alone teaching a class in UK which had a reputation of having one of the largest groups of Yoga teachers.

Guruji reassured me by saying that he would be around so I did not need to worry. From that day, until the day I was to teach, I worked and refined the sequence I planned 22

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to take by actually practising on the sequence every day. I mentally noted down exactly what I felt during and after each Ä sana and if I did not find myself comfortable, then I knew that the students too, would not be comfortable and then I would refine the sequence. I mentally noted what I did that improved my experience in the pose and that became my sequence and instructions. In US and Canada, Guruji gave a lot of instructions to

the teachers on how to teach and I used all those that I had absorbed.

Ten to fifteen minutes into the class, Guruji came in and jokingly remarked that he thought he was hearing himself speak. I did not teach again until 1987, when again, Jawahar and I accompanied Guruji to the convention in Boston. There I was asked to take three classes. It was only in 1988, that I started taking regular classes in Mumbai,

once a week. This was due to my sister Neeta migrating to US and the trust needed someone to fill her place.

Can you briefly talk about the key differences between Iyengar Yoga and other forms of yoga practice?

I think Prashantji has very fluently articulated the key features of Iyengar Yoga. The aspect of precision, alignment, sequence, timings and the use of props are characteristic of Iyengar Yoga. But we need to understand that these are not important in them selves. They are important because only such a practice leads to stability in the body (sthirata ) and this in turn leads to steadiness in the breath, clarity of the mind and benevolence in experience (sukha ). It is this experience that transforms. We focus on bringing the experience of benevolence in our students.

The techniques of precision and alignment are important, since to be in a position to realise this we need to be attentive and aware. We can be attentive and aware only when we are internalised. We need to constantly evaluate, discriminate to achieve and maintain alignment and precision. This develops intelligence.

Thus the focus on alignment and precision is actually an objective surrogate to achieve subjective intelligent internalisation which is actually benevolence in experience.

In our practice we realise that it is not possible for us to be attentive Iyengar Yoga News No. 12 - Spring 2008

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or even aware of certain parts of the body. How do we bring attention and awareness there? We are lucky that although awareness may not be naturally there on a particular part in a particular pose, in another pose, the awareness is naturally created in that part. We use the impression (sa skāras ) created awareness in a particular part in one pose, to carry forward the awareness to another pose where normally such awareness is not natural, through intelligent use of sequence and timing. With such measures, we are able to deepen our experience of benevolence.

understood what you want them to, before you proceed. You can teach new asanas, as each person can be individually observed and instructed.

Teaching very large classes at conventions must differ profoundly from routine studio teaching. Can you say a little about the different challenges?

You travel extensively to bring Iyengar Yoga to all corners of the world. Do you enjoy this aspect of your teaching?

Yes, it is certainly different. In the routine classes, you have the same set of students and you can build them up gradually. You can take time to ensure each student has

In a convention, you have a short time in which to create an experience. At the same time, you have to leave behind a methodology which the participants can effectively use to continue to practise what they have experienced. Therefore we need to work on simpler āsanas which are practised by most, so that the principles are understood and the experience is felt.

It is certainly not true that I travel extensively to bring Iyengar Yoga to all corners of the world. Firstly, I have a full time job as a telecommunications engineer and I normally teach just five to seven

hours a week in Mumbai. Normally, I take workshops only during my annual leave from work and generally it is not more than one or two per year. During this year and the next it might be a bit more. The workshops that I have conducted so far have always been organised by the national Iyengar Yoga Associations and not by any centre or individual, so it is more of coming home to a corner of the world where Iyengar Yoga is practised and certainly not bringing Iyengar Yoga to all corners of the world. I certainly enjoy being with Iyengar Yoga fraternity. I feel blessed to be a part of a family so large that you can always feel at home in any corner of the world.

What specifically do you look forward to in the UK? I have been to UK quite a few times. I look forward to being with the community again and renewing our friendship.

Birjoo’s Tour Itinerary 2008 Dublin: 3 - 4 June Contact: David Rabinowicz Email: davidrab@indigo.ie Tel: 0035 3868 374 356 Bournemouth: 7 - 8 June Contact Kim Trowell, DHIYI. Email: kimtrowellyoga@googlemail.com Tel 01202 558049 Sheffield: 10 June Contact: Frances Homewood, Jointly run by SADIYA and Sheffield Yoga Centre.

Email: sheffieldyogacentre@tiscali.co.uk Tel 07944 169238 Convention: Newcastle 13 - 15 June Email: jess@iyengaryoga.org.uk At the time of publishing these dates had not been finally confirmed. For further details regarding any changes or time & location please contact either Tessa Bull on tessabull@onetel.com or Helen Graham on helengraham88@mac.com Iyengar Yoga News No. 12 - Spring 2008

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Newcastle Revealed

by Vicky Joseph ewcastle is one of the ‘most regenerated’ northern English cities and there is something unique about its atmosphere. What a wonderful place to be holding the IYA (UK) Annual Convention! If you have any spare time between your prā āyāmas and your āsanas here are some suggestions for your lesiure time.

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First of all, if you don’t fancy staying on campus there are some great hotels in the city. To spoil yourself try Malmaison on Quayside [0191 245 5000] or the Vermont Hotel, Castle Garth [0191 223 1010]. There are also hundreds of cheaper hotels and B&Bs - for straightforward, honest advice on booking a room in Newcastle go to www.bookinhotels.com/newcastle.htm For day or evening entertainment the Sage Concert Hall and the Baltic Art Gallery are just across the iconic Millennium Bridge in Gateshead. The Sage, with its spectacular curved roof is an extraordinary architectural addition to Tyneside’s urban landscape and provides world-class facilities for an eclectic range of world class performers from concert pianists to rock stars. At the time of writing the programme for June 2008 has not been released but a visit to www.thesagegateshead.org/whats_on will give you all the information you might need.

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Baltic, the Centre for Contemporary Art, formerly a disused 1950s grain warehouse, is now one of the biggest and best contemporary art spaces in Europe, also with a premier site on the south bank of

the River Tyne. It has no permanent collection but provides an everchanging calendar from blockbuster exhibitions to innovative new work and projects created by local artists.Again at the time of writing the June programme is not available but check out: www.balticmill.com/whatsOn

In the centre of Newcastle is the 1837 Grade 1 listed Theatre Royal, one of the most famous theatres in the country which plays host to some of the biggest names in

dance, drama, music and comedy. In early June there is a season of Opera North, but yet again no programme available for the days of the convention. You’ll need to visit www.theatreroyal.co.uk/whats_on to find out what’s playing.

For a less cultural experience, and if the rain holds off, Tynemouth Long Sands is worth a trip with half a mile of golden sand stretching well back to the cliffs slopes and wonderful surf. Tynemouth itself is a charming old village located unsurprisingly at the mouth of the River Tyne ten miles east of Newcastle and easily accessible by Metro.

Last but not least, is the Ouseburn Valley, referred to as Newcastle’s best-kept secret, a stone’s throw from the city centre with the river winding through the valley and the area full of cafes, music venues and art galleries.

If the University culinary expertise doesn’t appeal Newcastle is full of excellent restaurants. These are some that have been recommended: The Comfort Food Company [0191 261 1525]; Barn Under A Wandering Star [0191 281 7179]; Jesmond Dene House [0191 212 3000], (Jesmond is the most up market part of Newcastle);Treacle Moon [0191 232 5537]; Blakes Coffee House [0191 261 5463]; La Vina [0191 260 3533].

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Bellur Events 2007

Yoga Morning organised by Boxhall Yoga Group raised £435 Christmas Sale of bric-a-brac run by students from Broadbottom, Glossop raised £40 Sponsored Headstand at the Edinburgh Yoga Center raised £3,177 Well done and a big thank you to everyone involved in these events.

You too could get motivated by the superb effort made by these young students of Iyengar Yoga, to raise money for the future of the children of Bellur and the Kolar district. If you have an idea, get going! It could be a yoga event, sponsored event, bring and buy sale, anything. Let’s all help Guruji achieve his ambitious plans for Bellur Iyengar Yoga News No. 12 - Spring 2008

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Visit to Bellur Mr Iyengar’s Birthplace

by Jo Crossley Jo Crossley visited Bellur in August 2006 to see for herself what had been achieved for the people of this very poor community.

Bellur consists of around 2000 residents who live in 750 houses. The houses are very simple, most having only one room and open wood fires to cook on. There are cows, goats,

have been lucky to spend eight months in India combining studying yoga with travelling. I spent November 2005 studying yoga in Pune; while I was there I read Light on Life, Mr Iyengar’s most recent book.

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a lot of concern for his birth place, Bellur” (extract from www.bksiyengar.com).

So far the BKSSNT has organised the construction of a yoga hall which holds regular classes for pupils. Erected a water storage tank which has resolved one of the villagers’ most basic needs – clean drinking water. Built a special high school because the children’s education would generally

High School Building

High school pupils

My experiences in Pune and the book inspired me to want to understand a little bit more about Mr Iyengar’s origins and visit his birthplace Bellur.

Bellur is a small village about 60km from the state capital Bangalore in the state of Karnataka, in Southern India. Visiting Bellur took me totally off the beaten path into the ‘real’ rural India. 80 percent of Indians live in rural communities and lead very simple lives in comparison to their city counterparts.

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hens and so on in the narrow streets. The villagers were not used to visitors and I managed to collect hordes of children as I walked around the village; at times I felt like the Pied piper of Hamelin!

My trip was organised with the help of Mr Iyengar’s son-in-law Raghu who met me in Bangalore and drove me in his air conditioned car to Bellur. The car journey was pure luxury after making my way across India from Goa by public bus. Raghu is very involved in developing Bellur. “The Bellur Krishnamachar & Seshamma Smaraka Niddhi Trust (BKSSNT), was formed with a vision to serve the village Bellur with all the necessities. This helps not only the villagers but also the children of villages near by Bellur. Guruji, who left Bellur at the age of 18 has

Site of Mr Iyengar’s childhood home

discontinue after age 11 since there is no school nearby. When I visited a small hospital complete with operating theatre and an adult skills training centre were underconstruction. I was very impressed with these developments and delighted to see them for myself.* I visited the school which was still being finished, however the ever resourceful teachers and students were using what they had and were holding classes. The students were extremely polite and all stood up as they greeted me saying “good Iyengar Yoga News No. 12 - Spring 2008

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morning madam” in loud unison. If you want to know more about BKSSNT go to www.bksiyengar.com.

I spent the remainder of my time with Lakshmi, the priest of the one and only Patanjali Temple, and his family. I took part in the morning/evening puja and was give huge amounts of prasad (temple blessed food) to eat. The temple was ablaze with tiny fairy lights at night and a loud speaker broadcast Vishnu chants.

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*The expansion of Bellur is an ongoing project. Since Jo’s visit there in August 2006, Bellur hospital has been included as one of the rural training facilities for all newly qualified doctors who since December 2006 have to do part of their internship at rural hospitals. There is also 24 hour medical care with surgery carried out by visiting surgeons from Bangalore and Kolar.

The next day Lakshmi took me on his motorbike to a nearby village of stone masons, where I met the family who make the Patanjali statues that are exported through the Pune Institute.

It’s hard to believe that Guruji was born in such a humble place and very heartening that the Iyengars are putting so much back into the village.

Entrance to Bellur village

A stone mason

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Lakshmi & Patanjali shrine

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Around the UK Yoga & Osteoporosis

by Trish Taylor I was diagnosed with osteoporosis in March 2006 after having broken both my wrists in the previous two years (separate incidents and both heavy falls). I decided not to take the alendronate acid as advised by my doctor, until I had done more research on the matter. I found out that one of the side-effects of the alendronates is gastro-intestinal upset and as it is a weak spot for me, I was worried about it. I also found out that with continuing use of the alendronates, your bones, which are in a constant state of degeneration and reformation, lose their ability to make new bone.

This is accepted by the medical profession, as you are meant to take alendronates for the rest of

your life. I didn't want to take this route, so I have been taking a calcium, magnesium and boron supplement (the magnesium and boron help you to absorb the calcium).

Alongside this, I have been eating a whole-food diet, mainly organic, of fish, vegetables, pulses and some soya products for their estrogenic properties. I have also been taking a herbal tincture for the past 18 months. I was advised not to eat potatoes, tomatoes or peppers as they are acidic and interfere with the calcium uptake. I was also advised not to have caffeine.

I try to walk on a regular basis for the weight bearing, which is good for building bone mass and have been practising Iyengar Yoga on a regular basis.

Editor’s Note: We would be happy to hear from anyone who is aware of any research into or papers/articles about osteoporosis and yoga therapy.

With any knee injury you do need to keep the quadriceps strong. I also found that as well as strength, stretching helped to relieve the pain and improve mobility. These photographs show the postures that are helping my knee joint to recover.

The second pose was only possible when the swelling had reduced, and I was able to kneel up and slowly lower my hips down on to yoga blocks. Later when the fluid had dispersed, I was able to sit on a folded blanket. After walking on uneven ground, I still find this posture helps to relieve pain and restore stability.

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Iyengar Yoga News No. 12 - Spring 2008

The Skiing Granny

by Pen Reed A knee injury while skiing left me with a painful and unstable joint. At first the knee was swollen, I was unable to achieve full flexion or full extension. I used ice to help the swelling, and travelled home limping.

This first pose helped to stretch the front of my leg when the knee was swollen. Taking the weight with my hands on the chair and pushing the front knee forward, a rocking movement.

This has been really good, particularly on my wrists, which were really weak and stiff for some time.

I recently had another dexa-scan just for reassurance, and although the reading for my spine was the same, there was a small improvement in my hip reading. I am very encouraged by this and whilst I can't say for certain that it is just down to the Iyengar Yoga practice, I am sure that all the different weight bearing postures have had an impact. I am certainly feeling healthier than I have for some years and always enjoy and feel better after my yoga practice.

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The third pose has a similar effect. I practice all the poses for about two minutes, frequently through the day.

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The fourth pose shows full extension of the knees. Pressing the thighs firmly down results in the heels lifting from the mat.

After six weeks I am much improved walking for two hours a day with my dog, and able to enjoy my usual yoga practice.

I am hoping to ski again next year!!

It was a great joy for me to ski at 72 years of age with my children and grandchildren. The young ones think I am a cool Granny!!

First published in the magazine of the Manchester and District Institute of Iyengar Yoga

Jeanne said Freda could start the following Thursday. In at the deep end! Mary’s words to Freda were, “Don’t let me down” and she didn’t.

As Freda says, she “sweated blood and tears” to get through the training, and with a young family at

Freda Holt Retires

by Alan Brown On 22nd June 2007 Freda Holt retired after 33 years as an Iyengar Yoga teacher. Freda started yoga as a young mother watching Richard Hittleman on TV. Her variation of shoulder stand involved balancing the children on her feet. She then went to a class in Blackburn with a friend, spurred on by the discovery that she was developing arthritis.

Freda has fond memories of her first class and teacher Mary McLeod, who inspired with commitment, respect and loyalty to her students.

They became good friends and it was Mary who told Jeanne Maslen she had a budding yoga teacher.

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home too.

Freda passed her assessment in 1974, but that was only the beginning as she has always been and still is conscientious in keeping up her practice and attending courses with senior teachers. She worked with Mr Iyengar three times on his visits to England.

On 26th June a well attended retirement lunch was held for Freda near Blackburn, with students and friends old and new. Freda’s first teacher was there as well as many teachers who started yoga with Freda and went on to have their own classes.

Freda received many cards and gifts and a silver watch and bracelet as a token of thanks from her grateful students. She said she had enjoyed every minute of her yoga years and felt very lucky to have worked in a job she loved. Freda is married with three children and five grandchildren with another expected soon, so she will still be kept very busy. She will also be able to enjoy her retirement spending time at her caravan in the Lake District where she loves to walk and enjoy the scenery, And, of course, she will be continuing to practise yoga.

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Iyengar Yoga Studios around the UK It’s all about balance at the sweet factory

by Simon Edwardson It all started back in March 2005 when I decided to move from Chichester to Brighton with my partner to look for a new home.

It had to have enough space somewhere to have a small yoga studio.

I wanted to create a dual purpose room, to create a fully equipped yoga studio and because I still do hairdressing on a part time basis, a small salon at one end – tall order or what!

The very first place we looked at was a beautiful conversion of the old Maynard’s Sweet Factory in Hove; it had been divided into seven work/live units, being sold with planning permission for a small business on the ground floor. Well, after viewing it, I started to get very excited. It was almost perfect.

The work area was a bit narrow – measuring 35 feet by 9 feet, widening to 14 feet at one end – it could work!

The accommodation above was like a town house on three floors. It looked very smart, also a roof 30

terrace and a small garden. It all seemed too good to be true and this was the first place we had viewed, so we kept looking at other properties.

Well, nothing compared. I kept thinking about that long narrow bright room and the amazing home above. I had already sold my house and we put in an offer which was rejected, (you have to try!) Then we went for close to the full asking-price and it was accepted – WOW! I was going to move to Brighton and have an amazing fully equipped yoga studio and a new home.

This was a very exciting time as I had already booked my first trip to Pune for October 2005. I was also doing my Junior Intermediate Training with Judi Sweeting as well, so I had a lot going on. We moved into the Sweet Factory at the end of July. I had a few months to get things sorted, like ordering all the yoga props, having the basin fitted and I would officially open after my trip to India.

Well, things never go according to plan. I could not buy an Indian blanket anywhere in the country which was ironic really because I was going to India and could have

purchased them there. But I had already ordered them and was promised they would arrive whilst away.

A builder friend had the job of fixing the rings for the wall ropes “I would like 32 deep holes on one wall”, “are you sure”; he said “as this is a freshly plastered wall”.

The whole room was taking shape.

It already had a beautiful real-wood ash floor; the ropes were on the wall. The room had lots of light with big windows at each end. One of my students who was also a hair client came up with a great idea for storing the ten bolsters; a beautiful oak kitchen work top which my builder cut up and built a long open

book case at one end of the room so the bolsters could be stacked end up in a row which looked great.

I had created a dual-purpose room, at the wider end I had the basin fitted. I bought all new equipment for the salon and the yoga props.

This was a very expensive time.

The room really works. I teach daytime and evening classes. It is bright, very smart and a great space for yoga!

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Every home should have one

by Sharon Klaff Since my first year of yoga in the late 1970s I had held a secret wish to have a small room in our house devoted to yoga. Those with a young family will know that such a wish can seem selfish, living in a semi in London as we do, with growing children and their everexpanding requirements. So, I attended class at my teacher Jacqui’s house once a week, on a Tuesday evening, doing a little practice at home when time and children and later time / children / work permitted, my secret desire buried somewhere in the musty corners of the brain.

Fast forward to a time when the semi expanded into a mansion as those growing children were suddenly all grown up and at university, never to return on any full-time basis again. Rattling around in a people-free house, I brought that secret desire out of storage. Measuring and scheming, by the time I had decided which room to strip of its wardrobes and carpets, the grandchildren arrived and moved in their spare cots, toys and bath-mats!

So I cast my eye toward the garage and its several decades of old computer boxes kept in the event of a never-required return, three rusty lawn mowers, a lot of old shelving, bits of wood, washing machine and dryer, amongst other stuff that made it hardly possible to even get into the place.

Then one day David (husband) came home and suggested we ditch Iyengar Yoga News No. 12 - Spring 2008

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the rubbish, get a wall mounted boiler and re-locate the laundry machines into the boiler cupboard.

Then the garage could be floored and used to fulfil my secret desire.

It wasn’t long before Martin (trusty builder) arrived with all sorts of building necessities and his expert advice, to create my personal yoga space.

Today I have a room that everybody respects as mine – no shoes, toys or food – just my benders, benches, bolsters, blocks, belts, blankets and mats, as well as one set of wall ropes, from which 16 stone of Martin was required to hang for 15 minutes before I would trust them to deliver a beneficial rope śīr āsana !

So after 30-odd years my secret desire has been realised. I have my own room devoted to yoga, and what a wonderful space that is. The grandchildren love it as much as I do. They call it the “yoga room” and shriek with delight at any suggestion that they can play in it.

They know that this is a shoe and toy-free zone and use this space as only children know how.

shows when they dance and sing to us as their audience and the blankets become their tents when they go camping, the dimmed ceiling lights their stars and the glow of the halogen heater their camp-fire. Sometimes, I sit quietly in the corner and listen to their play and wonder how their imaginations create a world of fantasy, oblivious of my presence.

They also do yoga with me - tree pose, dog pose and some form of floppy head balance. Ben has even been known to conduct the odd yoga class, telling me to do this and this and this as he demonstrates the different turns of his legs and arms.

For me it is my haven, my place of practice and contemplation as well as a very small studio for very small classes. A home doesn’t need a den or TV room, but a space that provides tranquillity and peace as well as stimulation for play and an introduction for children to the workings of yoga. Every home should have one!

It is here that they travel the world in human planes, put on shows, have parties and go camping. The foam blocks are variously presents, birthday cakes, pizzas, books, rivers, roads and walls. The bolsters are their cars, motor-bikes, boats and Torah scrolls. They make benches out of the foam blocks for their 31

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Desert Island Asanas Kristal Clark interviewed by Laura Potts ollowing a move from London in 1996, Kristal is now a well-established teacher in Leeds with thriving classes. She has been practising Iyengar Yoga since 1979 and teaching since 1992. She has been dedicated to a personal yoga practice and to spreading the wonders of Iyengar Yoga since starting out as a teacher.

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What would be the first posture you would take?

What immediately springs to mind is śīr āsana ; it’s one I’ve struggled with, but have really come to enjoy.

It is the supreme pose. I have to unclutter my mind and be absolutely focused. It’s the pose that brings me into the here-andnow moment – once you lose focus you fall over! I like the feeling of being upside-down, being grounded through the head rather than the feet, and the feeling of quietness it brings, even though, in yoga terms, it’s a stimulating pose.

It’s the coolness in the head that I really enjoy.

You said you have grown to like it; is it a posture that you used not to relish so much?

I struggle with the C7 vertebra: it’s been a challenge to find the right position on my head, but once I have the right position, and a strong lift of the shoulders, it’s a very freeing pose. Just being upside down is such a relief, so soothing, and it changes your perspective.

Imagine looking at the sea around the island from being upside down!

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The next posture I would take is ūrdhva dhanurāsana . It’s difficult to get up into the pose and I really struggled with it when I first learnt it, many years ago. It’s a pose I like doing now – partly because I’ve got the flexibility, and a lot more strength in my body. Once I’m up there I like the feeling of the lifting up movement and the full opening of the chest. It’s the only pose for me that gives a total feeling of psychological and physical release.

The ultimate challenge is to bring all the anatomical points of the pose together in an integrated way, in order to give the pose its strength, balance and life, and once that’s done, I can then sometimes get that feeling of complete freedom in my mind. Not every time! but when it comes right it’s a fantastic pose.

The third posture is śīr āsana dropping back into dwi pāda viparīta dandāsana ; I love it for the flow and movement. Sīr āsana is needed to prepare the back and get the lift in the pose, rather than coming from the floor.

Why would this be a good one to take to the desert island, do you think?

This is a pose if I’m feeling sluggish, or I don’t know what to practise, or my energy is a bit low; at those times I like to practise the dropping back several times because it stimulates the energy and brings more life. It’s fun to do. We need some fun too, and I enjoy trying to do it.

And, of course, on the island I can then practise trying to kick back

up, which I’ve only ever managed to do once! That’s a good reason to take it there.

I notice I’ve chosen quite a few inverted postures and strong postures. Where I am now in my life I like being upside down and enjoy the refreshment and movement of these poses, the feeling of not being stuck.When I first started practising Iyengar Yoga I lacked the physical strength that I have now. The challenge of these postures for me now is more mental than physical.

The next one I would take is fullarm balance; there won’t be a wall there, so it’s a chance to practise trying to find that perfect point of balance. Full arm balance would occupy me, when I had built a shelter and foraged for food. And again, it’s an uplifting pose.

Would you be down-spirited then, to be on this island?

Certainly there would be aspects of back home I wouldn’t be missing and although I can live easily on my own, I would miss the company of others. I’m assuming it would be a warm desert island so I would enjoy the warmth and open spaces, and the freedom which these poses all give.

My next pose is hanumānāsana ; it’s one I don’t practise much but one which I enjoy. There’s something about being firmly grounded in the pelvis, with a vigorous and dynamic extension in the legs, lifting up in Iyengar Yoga News No. 12 - Spring 2008

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the trunk and arms, that you don’t get much in everyday life. Being able to do the pose is something I really value; I see lots of people who can’t do it so I do appreciate that I can do this pose and enjoy it. I tend not to teach it often as I’m careful with students; it’s a pose I forget about.

Then a resting pose: supta baddha ko āsana , over a rolled blanket. It’s so relaxing and so opening, without physical hard work.

It’s a change to do something quiet. I tend to do it when I have had enough physical activity or am tired; when I want to rest but I want to find some openness, some gentle passive work in the body. I do a lot of sitting in chairs when I’m not teaching yoga, and I like the openness in the pelvis and length in the trunk, all in a passive way. Sometimes I need to stop working so hard, so supta baddha ko āsana is an ideal posture.

I remember how my teacher once said “I’m going to give you a treat now”; it was around Hallowe’en, so I quipped “Trick or treat?” But there was no trick, just a lifting away of negativity.

I’m going to cheat on the next: it’s three-in-one - sarvāngāsana moving into halāsana moving into kar apīdāsana . Again it’s upside down, but in a very quiet and inward way. Once the shoulders are in a good position and there’s enough lift in the back and spine, then I enjoy the withdrawal, progressively, inwards.

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How and why do you think you would use it on the island?

As well as being part of a full practice, I suppose I would want to use this sequence if I had been very busy in my head, or stressed and anxious about being alone on the

longer than I do, and sense some resistance to holding it for a long time. Students do too. We should give the pose a chance; as soon as we start to feel the benefits of the pose, then it’s easier to stay.

And finally I would have to take paschimottānāsana , because it is so intensely quietening, and gives extension, a good stretch, but release too.

So, what book would you like to take? You get ‘Light on Yoga’ and Guruji’s collected works.

island. It’s a panacea for a busy, stressed mind. All postures are meant to help us calm the mind, but the physical nature of these three has a more palpable effect than trying to calm the mind in triko āsana , for example.

Yes, that’s harder. Last year, Prashant asked us to take triko āsana as though we were in savāsana , to feel what that is like.

I do like the feeling of everything draining down from the feet too.

My legs get tired with a lot of teaching and having to demonstrate standing poses, so a pose that I really love doing is sarvāngāsana .

It’s vital; if I don’t do it enough, I start to get very tired. On the island I might want to practise holding it for half an hour; I know I need to do this posture for a lot

In that case I would choose a classical text. I would have lots of time to read, so perhaps I would take the Bhagavad Gita or the Upanishads, but I think maybe the Hatha Yoga Pradipika, because it complements the Iyengar system, as another reference book.

What would be your luxury?

A custom-built shelter, for practising in the shade, with a mirror and bamboo floor, and eco-friendly yoga equipment.

I think on the radio programme, you aren’t allowed a shelter…

Well, this is just for practice then, a dedicated yoga space, I won’t use it for living. And I don’t like hot weather, so I’ll hope for a temperate climate on this island.

It sounds lovely; I hope you’ll enjoy it.

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Book Review

by Laura Potts contexts shape our doing of an asana. Hormonal fluctuations are an important thread in that web of factors, and Clennell offers a detailed guide to practice through those changes.

Bobby Clennell (2007). The Woman’s Yoga Book: āsana and prā āyāma for all phases of the menstrual cycle. Rodmell Press: Berkeley California. lennell’s book is to be warmly welcomed for many reasons: the measured, detailed instructions for āsana and prā āyāma , so clearly based in her knowledge and learning; the unhurried, quiet tone of the text that never admonishes the reader; the beautifully simple line drawings that accompany each āsana’s explanation without dominating or distracting; and the focus on the realities of women’s lives.

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What I find most inspiring about this book is its quiet insistence that our practice be responsive to our needs and all the many fluctuations we experience, and not just outwardly programmed. I’m reminded of something Prashant said in class last December: that our triko āsana would be completely different when we returned to our ‘tundra homes’ – to the colder, darker places and busier lives. He was, I think, urging us to recognise that all sorts of different settings, influences and 34

This has been a difficult review to write: I have very mixed feelings about the book. My feminism and my yoga practice have almost exactly the same decades-long chronology; I have taught undergraduate and graduate women’s studies while also teaching yoga; both are centrally important to what matters to me and to who I am. This book brings the two aspects face-to-face in a challenging and provocative way. So what’s the problem?

Clennell points out how she has observed that “women’s lives have been transformed as a result of practising yoga with attention to their cycle” (p2), and this is useful and valid, being directly grounded in experience. My concern, however, is the altogether more speculative opinion that ‘the cyclic nature of women’s physiology binds us inextricably to the natural world, and, when this bond is weakened, humankind as a whole suffers’ (p3).

As an introductory thesis, this comes uncomfortably close to the claim that “biology is destiny”, which has, for so long, been used to perpetuate women’s lack of capacity for all sorts of areas of life.

The implications of the suggestion that any part of human suffering is a direct result of women’s suppression of, or transcendence over, biology are worrying. Emily Martin,

in her book The Woman in the Body, observes how 19th c. European thought asserted that “men’s and women’s social roles themselves were grounded in nature, by virtue of the dictates of their bodies” (1987:32). ‘Nature’ has always been a convenient argument to keep women out of the public sphere, and she quotes one such thus: “the attempt to alter the present relations of the sexes is…not an attempt to break the yoke of a mere convention; it is a struggle against Nature”. Let’s be careful how we argue for reclaiming the ‘natural’ and the physiological!

Clennell does recognise this dilemma, and she states clearly that ‘I do not ask you to return to the repressive attitudes of the pre-feminist era’ (p2), but the comparative cultural sources, from religions and anthropological observations, she draws on to support her argument neglect the extensive feminist thinking on this topic which might have helped resolve the question.

Most usefully, she might have considered how our relations to the social, to organisation and meanings, shape and construct our biological experiences. Nonetheless, the book is a significant contribution to the literature on our yoga practice, inviting us to be reflective about important issues, as the author herself clearly has been, and I am glad to have been asked to review it and to have had to think deeply about its content.

The book is designed to help the reader develop and maintain a cyclically responsive practice, and it Iyengar Yoga News No. 12 - Spring 2008

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provides a wonderfully comprehensive exposition of which āsana and prā āyāma work best at different stages of a menstrual cycle. On many occasions, she acknowledges her learning from students she has worked with (she has been a teacher for over thirty years, and is now based at the Iyengar Yoga Institute of New York), as well as drawing on her own experience in practice; she is generous in all her acknowledgements of sources and inspirations. The text is calm and expansive, never abrupt, never leaving anything in question, befitting her aim that readers develop their understanding of the āsana or prā āyāma , not just perform or execute it. For instance, she explains that “this action is important because…“ and describes

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possible difficulties and discomforts in practice, as well as the benefits and cautions for both mental and physical health.

The overall sense, then, is of a book emerging from a reassuringly thorough foundation in long, reflexive experience. And the tone is always compassionate, so that the book will likely, indeed, help many women to a careful and dedicated practice.

But while promoting this “yoga practice that includes attention to the rhythmic patterns of our female energy [which] can strengthen our connection to the cycles of nature and can, in a small way, help to restore balance to the planet” (p3), my concern remains that we are careful this does not lock us once more in the prison of biology, nor

forget all the other ways we can directly restore balance to the planet – starting with ahi sā , a practical philosophy of non-violent action.

With thanks to Pat Spallone for her insightful comments.

Theatre Teaching

by Amparo Rodriguez n the spring of 2007 I received a call from Tim Supple, the director of a group of actors from India and Sri Lanka, looking for an Iyengar Yoga teacher to keep the group in top condition.

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The group was due to perform A Midsummer Night’s Dream in the UK, a play that has endured well in all languages of South Asia as to be the most performed Shakespearean play there. Tim’s adaptation to the West is a visual feast of dancers, acrobats, singers and well-known actors performing together in different languages. Dialogues and scenes exploded in front of peoples’ eyes, difficult and mesmerising rope work was performed by acrobats while Iyengar Yoga News No. 12 - Spring 2008

performing perfect padmāsana . All this against a colourful and dramatic background (an Indian scaffolding). The preferred medium of transference for Shakespearean drama in India has always been the adaptation to which Tim has done justice. I was very lucky to see the play a few times.

Because of the intense rehearsals and some minor injuries they were in need of some stretching and focus. Tim felt the Iyengar method to be the most suitable, having done Iyengar Yoga before and with some of the members of the cast having done Iyengar Yoga in India.

The group consisted of 20 to 30 members of the production:

performers, dancers, musicians and acrobats. Tim often attended the classes when he was not busy with meetings and interviews.

Most of the members of the group are men, with five women and two children included; some very flexible and some very stiff and stressed. Dharminder Pawar (glow worm spirit) and his two small brothers come from a traditional acrobat family from Pune, Archana Ramaswamy (Hippolyta/Titania) is a trained classical dancer, Palani (cobweb spirit) has spent his entire performing life either dancing or defying gravity, Jijoy (Theseus/Oberon) is trained in various forms of martial arts, Padmakumar (mustard seed spirit) 35

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trained in the Kerala martial art form Kalarippayat, to list just a few.

The group had classes every week while they performed at the Roundhouse in North West London, usually 2 hours before they were due to start the show. We used one of the smaller performance spaces within the Roundhouse, beautiful wood floor, but no yoga mats, no foam blocks and no belts. No problem, as they said that they did not use them in India.

(Was it really Iyengar Yoga they practised back in India?)

For me, teaching such a group was a wonderful and challenging experience first of all because not all of them spoke English. The play was performed with bits of English and various South Asian languages and dialects: Tamil, Malayalam, Hindi, Bengali, Marathi and even a smattering of Sanskrit.

I called the name of the āsanas and demonstrated them and was very strict, Indian style. Sometimes some translation was necessary, especially to the two children Ram and Lakhan, but as soon as they understood what was to be done, they did not need much encouraging as they both come from a family of acrobats and are very supple and agile.

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On the other hand, some of the members of the group were suffering from back problems, some had knee pain, one had an unexpected operation, Gopalji’s wife back in India just had a baby so he was not very focused in the practice but feeling extremely happy nevertheless.

With such a mixed group I followed Geeta’s Preliminary

Course, starting with lots of arm work, followed by standing poses.

They particularly enjoyed balancing āsanas , v k āsana , ardha chandrāsana and vīrabhadrāsana III .

Sitting āsanas and some back extensions were introduced later. I did not teach them inversions for the lack of equipment.

After a few sessions the men asked for some āsanas to help reduce the increasing size of their abdomen due to the change in diet, so the two nāvāsana and ūrdhva prasārita pādāsana were introduced to their delight.

the āsana name: āsana is pronounced aa-sana, tā āsana becomes taadaa-sana, triko āsana sounds like trikonaa-sana, though they did not have any problems with my pronunciation of śavāsana.

After six weeks of performing at the Roundhouse the group returned to India for the summer for a much needed rest.

At the beginning of September, they returned to tour other places in London and the rest of the UK. I was asked again to teach them while they were back in London. I also went to Watford, Richmond and other places, always very happy to see them as they were all very interested in learning and were kind and warm.

I was even invited to join them for the rest of the performances in Stratford, Bath, Newcastle, Oxford, Scotland and many other places in the UK.

The sessions were an exchange of knowledge, I taught yoga āsana and they taught me how to pronounce Iyengar Yoga News No. 12 - Spring 2008

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Questions & Answers Edited By Elaine Pigeon and Judith Jones Why are we not allowed to drink water during yoga class?

Jenni If you have ever tried drinking water and then done inversions or arm balances your question would be answered Jenni.

It isn’t necessary to drink water because Iyengar Yoga should not make you sweat. If it does it is because your body needs to get rid of toxins and/or the air around is very hot and humid.

If necessary drink at the end of the class, but juice is better than water because it replaces lost body salts and sugars. If your mouth feels dry during a yoga class curl the tongue towards the throat and the salivary glands will be activated which will wet the mouth.

Can you recommend a good ten minute daily yoga routine to fit into a busy schedule?

Would morning or evening be better?

Carol There are different benefits to practicing in the morning and in the evening. It depends on how it fits into the your schedule. In the morning you have energy but the body is stiffer and takes a little longer to wake up. In the evening there is more suppleness but you might be tired.

Try a spread of standing postures over the week. Inversions, if pracIyengar Yoga News No. 12 - Spring 2008

tised, are good in the evening because they are reviving and should be done every day unless there is a reason not to do them.

Then some forward bends, back bends and twists. It is better to work out a weekly programme.

Good ones that are graded according to experience can be found at the back of Yoga the Iyengar Way by the Mehta family.

Why do we roll toward the right after our relaxation at the end of class?

Sue A good question. Actually Geeta gave a pretty full answer to this question in the prā āyāma class on 16th Oct. 2003 which is part of the Prā āyāma class collection on CD. i) The right side is considered auspicious in India. ii) You are coming out of a lying down position which tends to be tamasic compared to a more rājasic position (sitting or standing), so you have to “activise” the body and the right side of the body is the activising side. This is because the pi galā nā ī is on the right and this is the activising channel on the right side of the spine. It gets stimulated when you turn to the right.

Then the ī a nā ī is on the left side of the spine. This is the calming and cooling channel and when you roll to the right it is on top and its

calming and cooling influence is not lost and the nadis are balanced as you get up. Bending to the floor coming up on the right you push with the left hand. The heart is facing the floor so it doesn’t get jerked and you don’t put too much pressure on it as you get up.

Hopefully, this is an adequate précis of what Geetaji said.

Why should pregnant women not do inversions?

Mandy Pregnant women can do inversions!

They are very beneficial. However, the pregnant woman should already be familiar with the inverted poses and should only practise them if there is no discomfort and if she is confident and happy to do them.

The teacher should also know how to assist the pregnant woman safely with supports tailored to their individual needs and also be confident and capable as there must be no anxiety, fear or distress.

The health and safety of the unborn child has to be considered as well as that of the woman.

Consult a more senior teacher for advice or refer the pregnant student to a more experienced teacher.

The Professional Development Day programme 2008/09 will be covering pregnancy – so make sure you attend a day!

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Can Yoga Help the Menopause?

“This is a critical period of adjustment. At this juncture, practice of yoga asanas is extremely beneficial, as it calms the nervous system and brings equipoise.”

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by Jane Ruthven Mayes Jane Ruthven Mayes qualified as a teacher in 1977 having been part of the first intake of the Inner London Education Authority programme run by Silva Mehta under the watchful eye of BKS Iyengar. She taught regularly for 20 years and is now a journalist working on end-of-life issues. he menopause can be an enormous challenge, both subjectively and objectively, to a woman’s experience of who she is and what it is to live in a female body. It is something all women have to go through at some point, whether as a natural consequence of ageing or an effect of medical treatment, for example for female cancers. While women who practise yoga seriously may not find the menopause too disturbing, teachers should not lose sight of the fact that for millions of women it presents a serious problem, with very little medical relief available.

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The symptoms of a ‘difficult’ menopause can be devastating, both to a woman’s ability to maintain her usual lifestyle and cope with her work and responsibilities, and to her state of mind and emotional wellbeing. Subjective experiences like mood changes, anxiety, melancholia and depression can combine with objective ones like vertigo, numbness of the limbs, headache, palpitations, raised blood pressure and joint and muscle pain to form a disturbing mix which, comple38

mented by sleep disturbance, can throw her completely off her balance.

There are around 30 recognised menopause symptoms and effects, from the bizarre e.g. formication (from the Latin for ant; the feeling that tiny creatures are crawling all over the skin) to the disorientating e.g. a change in body odour to the frankly disturbing e.g. memory lapses.

And then of course there are the hot flushes – scientifically unex-

plained, incomprehensible and sometimes comical to others, awkward at best and at worst terrifying, they can be seriously disruptive both of daytime activities and night time rest, and are often accompanied by nausea, headache and palpitations and can lead to nightmares and panic attacks.

However, a recent scientific studyii from the universities of Washington and Pittsburgh in the United States appears to show that for a range of menopausal symptoms, including

hot flushes and sleep disturbance, regular yoga practice can have a positive effect, even over the short term.

“Although there is a paucity of information about the physiological changes associated with yoga practice in general, there is some evidence that yoga decreases autonomic arousal and increases waking alpha activity (an indicator of a relaxed state) in the brain” say the authors of the study. “As well, yoga has been shown to improve psychological well-being. Such changes may explain why a mindbody intervention like yoga might reduce women’s menopausal symptom expression as well as their subjective experience of these symptoms.”

The study: Twelve appropriately-screened peri-menopausal or menopausal women aged between 45 and 60 were asked to undertake a programme lasting ten weeks consisting of one 75 minute class per week and 15 minutes practice per day. They wore hot flush detectors before and after the ten-week period and were asked to keep symptom diaries. They completed three commonly-used scientific questionnaires, one on the severity and frequency of hot flushes (HFRDIS), one on 13 common symptoms of menopause (Wiklund Symptom Checklist) and one on sleep quality (PSQI) before and Iyengar Yoga News No. 12 - Spring 2008

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after the yoga ‘treatment’. The postures used were termed ‘Hatha yoga’ and were not exclusively Iyengar.

Interestingly, the authors of the study comment that they did not have any problem in recruiting and retaining women – one woman excluded herself by not waiting until the study began to start yoga, and on average the participants attended seven out of the ten classes.

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from when designing classes for menopausal womeniii; access to the full range of basic standing postures would appear to be beneficial, both for establishing good practice and for bone-strengthening (osteoporosis being another effect of menopause) and recuperative postures such as supported forward bends and inverted asanas would obviously be a valuable resource for the fatigue and nervous exhaustion that inevitably accompanies sleeplessness.

Results The participants reported that hot flushes interfered with their daily lives significantly less following the yoga treatment. The severity of their total menopausal symptoms decreased significantly according to the Wiklund Checklist, which showed fewer severe hot flushes, fewer sweats, less dizziness and faintness and less muscle and joint pain, while the PSQI data showed significant improvements in subjective sleep quality, habitual sleep efficiency, sleep disturbances and the overall quality of sleep.

Conclusion The study concludes that under scientific conditions, yoga has been shown to relieve some of the more life-disturbing effects of menopause and that, as there is so little help available within the medical system for these symptoms, further studies should be undertaken. The authors suggest larger studies with control groups, though they might not find women as willing to be in the control group i.e. not to do yoga, as they are to be in the yoga group once they know how much it can improve their quality of life.

Iyengar teachers have a deep well of learning and experience to draw Iyengar Yoga News No. 12 - Spring 2008

Menopausal women can be accommodated in a general class as long as it is remembered that, for some, the intensity of hot flushes is increased by inverted and supine postures and extended forward bends or, in fact, by anything, including savasana.

There are not many scientific peerreviewed studies on the effects of yoga, and neither is there a huge body of research on the menopause itself (there is still no adequate understanding of hot flushes, for instance) so it is particularly satisfying to have evidence that the practice of yoga actually helps the experience of the menopause. We know this anecdo-

tally (which might account for the increasing numbers of women practicing yoga), but there is now evidence which could prompt GPs and other medical professionals to recommend yoga classes to a wider section of the community.

Coming from the ‘conventional’ field of academic research and published in a mainstream journal these findings are more acceptable to the world of conventional science and medicine as an example of the benefits of yoga than our own subjective experiences, valuable as they are. As the results of this study become more widely known, it may be that many more women are encouraged to turn to yoga not only by their friends, but by the medical profession as an effective aid to surviving the menopause and reaching the calmer shores of post-menopause with health and sanity intact.

NOTES: i)

Yoga: A Gem for Women by Dr Geeta S. Iyengar

ii) A pilot study of a Hatha yoga treatment for menopausal symptoms Cathryn Booth-LaForce, University of Washington, United States Rebecca C. Thurston, University of Pittsburgh, United States Mary R. Taylor, University of Washington, United States Published in Maturitas, the European Menopause Journal issue 57, 2007 iii) Light on Yoga by BKS Iyengar Yoga: A Gem for Women by Dr Geeta S. Iyengar Photographs by Justine Lester

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The Subtleties of Sarvangasana

by Arti H. Mehta

S

arvāngāsana is referred to as the “queen of āsanas ”, a rare gem in

the three words as it brings about an overall effect in the practitioner’s body as well as mind. Its regular practice brings about gradual changes such that the āsana itself requires a lot of subtle qualities of patience and emotional stability. The āsana itself requires a lot of subtle adjustments and is not merely a “shoulder balance”. Often we tend to perform the pose mechanically. To give an example, we use a belt around the upper arms, but we do not know why we use it or what we do to learn from it. This article concentrates on some of the subtle adjustments of sarvāngāsana with an explanation on why we do it. The reader is however advised to refer to Light on Yoga and Yoga in Action for the basic methodology for this āsana .

Why do we teach sarvāngāsana before we teach śīr āsana ?

Sarvāngāsana creates confidence in the practitioner to do topsy turvy poses. In both the āsanas the legs are in the air and so they wobble, but, there is an “earth” quality in the legs in sarvāngāsana which is absent from śīr āsana . A student feels more stable and therefore we teach sarvāngāsana .

How can you know intellectually, sensitively, sensibly to understand the unknown within the core?

Yoga is the blending and co-ordination of the action of the motor 40

nerves with the sensory nerves.

When the motor nerves go very close to the sensory nerves, the sensory nerves get jarred and lose their feelings and perceptions.

When that happens, wait for a while and allow the mind to recede from the extension in the motor nerves by your voluntary action.

This will then allow your sensory nerves to guide you on what’s to be done.

The sensation of the motor nerves coming together with the sensory nerves without them rubbing each other is the guide. This will make you grow intellectually, sensitively, sensibly to understand the unknown within the core. How do you learn the right action on the legs in sarvāngāsana ? The correct action on the legs is learnt when the legs are slightly spread apart.

The sensation that you get when they are apart serves as a guide when you bring the legs closer.

Observe the direction of the skin when you spread the legs apart.

The skin of the bottom [lower] leg faces the front, but the skin on the top [frontal thigh] faces the sides.

The skin on the bottom of the legs guides you towards the “correct” positioning of the legs in sarvāngāsana where the legs are joined and kept close to each other. Sensitively, turn the skin on the top of the thighs to face the front. Use the motor nerves in the bottom of the legs to bring the legs closer so that the skin in this part

of the leg continues facing the front.

How does one join the legs in sarvāngāsana ?

Spread your legs apart. Harden the motor nerves on the bottom of the outer side of the lower legs and revolve the skin inwards of the top legs for the legs to come closer.

“Keeping the motor nerves strong, the sensory nerves should circularly move for the motor nerves to come closer without creating passivity”. Pound the bottom of the outer side of the thigh to revolve the skin of the top leg inwards for the thigh to face the front. Where there is pounding is the stable brain, which should not shake and where it’s revolving is the mobile brain. Lengthen the skin as

you join the legs. When the skin is lengthened, the flesh has to lengthen. “Do not work from the motor nerves. They have to follow the sensory nerves”.

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How do you know whether the feeling in the legs is correct or not in sarvāngāsana ?

You should lift the skin from the inner ankle towards the heel of the calf muscles to stretch out like a pencil. Then look at the inner side of the ankle joint of each leg and find out whether it is in a line with the respective eye. If it is not in line then lock the stable point at the bottom of the thigh, get the outer side of the ankle joint to move by taking the sensory nerves inwards. “The inner legs go up, the outer legs do not go up. The outer legs have to be brought in line with the inner leg. That is meditation”.

How should the knees be in

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muscles is exactly in line wit the nipples. The knees should get broader as if they are extending from side to side.

How do you ascend the back of the legs up?

Keep the buttock bones away from the tailbone. Then the groins roll in, the pelvic head gets in and the back of the legs go up.

How do you adjust the trapezius muscles in sarvāngāsana ?

Place exactly the head of the trapezius on the blankets. The muscles should roll towards the kidneys and the skin should move backwards.

sarvāngāsana ?

Watch how the kneecaps behave naturally in the pose. The outer kneecap tends to go out. Roll the outer knees inwards. Watch the movement of the knee. Does the entire knee feel gripped? If not, it

means that the nerves are lifeless at the back of the inner leg near the bottom of the buttocks. Create life there and you can grip the entire knee. The sensory nerves at the outer side of the knee go towards the ligament. Roll the quadricep muscles from outside inwards so the centre of the quadricep Iyengar Yoga News No. 12 - Spring 2008

How should the triceps be in sarvāngāsana ?

The outer banks and the inner banks of the triceps should be evenly touching the blanket. The arch of the thumb helps you to learn how to master sarvāngāsana .

If it does not touch the back then you

have to use the inner arch to make the outer arch strong and stable.

The triceps should be used to raise the ribs and the buttocks up. Nail the triceps to the blankets and then with the help of your fingers (which are placed on the back) charge your back.

How should the biceps be in sarvāngāsana ?

The bottom of the biceps and the top of the biceps should run parallel to each other. “The atten-

tion and elongating of the inner upper arm is the brain in sarvāngāsana ”.

How do you adjust the fingers on the back?

Before you go into the pose, the pores of the skin at the back coils in, but after you are in the pose it does not coil in, but it opens out.

Move the ribs where your fingers are placed towards the front and then ascend the ribs to create an “awakening” in the chest. Do not rest on your hands. Manipulate your back ribs from the intercostal muscles by lifting the intercostal muscles along with the bone.

How do you adjust the cervical spine so as to remove the bulge between the shoulders?

When you stand erect, a portion at the top of the back bulges. This bulge can be rectified while doing sarvāngāsana . Take two thin sticky mats and roll them lengthwise.

Place these on the inner side on the top of the back of the shoulders. The top of the back that was initially convex becomes concave.

To make the neck concave, move the muscles of the outer side of the upper arms of both the hands closer towards each other.

How should you practise sarvāngāsana when you have got neck pain?

If you have neck pain you can use a blanket folded three times vertically under each shoulder while practising at home.

How do you know whether you are doing correct sarvāngāsana or not?

Watch the centre of the abdomen and the outer abdominal viscera.

The outer abdominal viscera are down whereas the centre is up. So, 41

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poke the inner arch of the thumb into the body for the outer abdominal walls to come up. That’s how you learn sarvāngāsana .

Why do you use a belt for the elbows?

The belt is not used merely to support. You use the belt to bring intelligence to the biceps and triceps. With the belt around the upper arms, pin the lateral biceps down, move them towards each other by coiling the skin of the biceps towards the ground. If the skin cuts the belt, you have to roll the upper arms inwards so that it neither cuts the belt nor allows the arms to go out.

How do you adjust the belt and work on the belt?

Sit. Take a belt around the arms at the elbows. Lie down after the belt is put on. The belt gives a sense of direction to the fibres of the forearms. Are they parallel or are they cutting in? The one that is cutting in has to turn out and the moment it turns out the elbow goes in. The reaction of the adjustment of the biceps on the belt is to be learned.

The bottom edge of the belt touches the arm, but the top edge does not. Both the edges of the belt should be even-touching the arm. Now, move your intellectual intelligence on the somic (bodily) intelligence to revolve from the inner side of the biceps to the outer side of the biceps. Only turn the motor and the sensory nerves.

The inner, the top and the back of the arms equally touch the belt when you rotate the biceps from inside out.

Why do you use a belt for the thighs?

The belt is not just used to tie the 42

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legs and keep them straight. You have to observe how the sensory nerves in one leg is almost touching the belt without any constriction on the skin and in the other leg the skin is squeezing the thread of the belt in such a way that it does not allow the sensory nerves to open.

Feel the sensory nerves on the outer side of the thighs where the lower end of the belt and the top end of the belt touches. When you observe the belt, there is a slight fold in the belt. Now gradually stretch using the motor nerves for the sensory nerves to act more than the motor nerves. The fold disappears automatically. The belt also helps to move the quadriceps muscles backwards.

How do you go into the pose using a belt for the legs and arms?

Tie the belt for the legs and lie down. Bend the knees and get the legs closer. Let your intelligence flow into your calf muscles. Let the shoulders roll out. Keep the elbows in line with the upper arms.

Extending the backs of the arms, bend your elbows and extend the upper arms towards the elbows and open the top chest. Now, keeping the top chest alert, exhale, bend your knees and quickly go up into the pose with your hands on the back.

How should the energy flow in the body in sarvāngāsana ?

It is a circular coiling movement of energy within the body. The energy flows from the back of the legs up to the heels and then descends down from the metatarsals towards the front. It is a circular action from behind. Energy from the back of the heels goes to the buttocks and from the top of the chest comes to reach and receive that

cycle of the energy flowing down and from the frontal chest the energy goes up to the pelvic girdle.

It is a circular coiling movement of the energy in the body.

Why do you sometimes feel drained in sarvāngāsana ?

This happens because the chest does not open out. The sides of the chest which are in line with the nipples is too narrow while the top chest is broad. To correct this, lie down on the floor in preparation for sarvāngāsana with the blankets supporting your shoulders. Extend

your hands behind and roll the triceps towards you. Keep the palms on the back, press the elbows down on the floor and raise the armpits of the chest. This creates space in your chest.

How to broaden the chest?

Pinning the triceps towards the ground, place the hands on the back and lift the inner tailbone straight up. The chest broadens.

The importance of Sarvangasana is it releases the glandular system.

Why do you need to learn inverted poses in order to learn Prā āyāma ?

Sarvāngāsana , śīr āsana and other inverted poses help to develop the area of the sides of the chest. This area is the storehouse of energy which is important for prā āyāma .

These poses help to conserve energy and are not draining poses.

Compiled from the teachings of Guruji during his 80th birthday and the Silver Jubilee celebrations of RIMYI Iyengar Yoga News No. 12 - Spring 2008

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Why Do We Use Props?

(Yoga Rahasya Vol. 11 No 1 2004) rops are an integral part of practice for Iyengar Yoga students.

However, we have to evolve in our understanding on the use of props.

This concept was clearly demonstrated

by Guruji during his presentation and later articulated by Prashantji during his explanation.

P

“A prop is a prop when it is no longer a prop.”

Prashant S. Iyengar Ask any Iyengar Yoga practitioner what makes them different from any other yoga practitioner? They will promptly list out their “attributes”. These would include “ability” to sequence āsana , stay in the āsana for prolonged duration of time, emphasis on alignment and, of course, the use of props. Props and “Iyengar Yoga” seem to go hand in hand. But how may of us really understand why and how we use the props? We may have attained many experiences but we have not been able to “grasp” or catch these experiences.

The way we use the prop, what we learn from it and what we apply from this learning will depend upon our calibre and the hierarchy in our practice. A disabled patient would be using the prop as a crutch while Guruji would be using the same prop to reach the innermost depth of his own self.

A prop as a crutch: Today hundreds of thousands of patients with problems ranging from slipped disc, arthritis, cervical Iyengar Yoga News No. 12 - Spring 2008

spondylosis to heart ailments and hypertension have benefited from the practice of yoga. A belt, a rope, a crepe bandage, a block are their life-support systems. Most of these patients would never have benefited from the practice of classical yogāsana as they would never have been able to do them if not for the props.

Ask a patient with cervical spondylosis to roll the trapezius muscles back. Even if they know the anatomical position of the muscle they have no access to it. Adjust the rope around the back of their neck for “traction” and observe the sigh of relief on their face!!

Ask a heart patient to open the chest and see the difference when one places a block behind the chest in sharapanjarāsana . Medicines can keep people living but yoga gives one life. But, we need to grow beyond the use of these props as crutches.

wall behind us? How many of us who are stiff and heavy would have learned sarvāngāsana if not for the chair? Fear also impedes our progress. When we are doing the āsana independently, there is always a spot, an area, a region where we “cling on to” for the fear of falling.

For example, while doing vīrabhadrāsana III , we tend to be on the outer heel and outer ankle of the foot, which is on the floor as we have this “false notion” that it is giving us stability. In reality, it is the outer portion of the back of the heel, which brings stability. When we use support for our arms, the weight on the heel of the bottom leg automatically shifts towards the back of the heel and stability sets in.

After all, a critically ill patient is weaned off the ventilator as he starts improving!!

Thus, we need to identify the region where fear is holding us back in each pose. Observe what changes are brought about in this abhinivesic region when we use props and then try to imitate that action when we perform the āsana independently.

A prop to annihilate fear: Fear can devastate an individual, but a prop can help one overcome fear.

Abhiniveśa is eternally translated as clinging to life or as fear of death.

In our practice, it is the fear of losing our balance or fear of falling.

It is one of the impediments, an obstacle in our practice. How many of us would have managed to learn śīr āsana if we never had the

A prop brings in physical and mental stability: Guruji has often said “āsana is motion but coordinated and harmonious actions.” However, the more difficult the physical positioning of the body in an āsana , the more physically unstable we are. We are constantly moving and therefore fail to experience the asana.

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The props serve as a support to help us to stay for longer duration in an āsana and therefore experience the transformations the āsana brings about. I wonder how many of us would be able to stay for 7-10 minutes in vīparita da āsana independently. We may use our willpower, but along with that we may be using our lips and jaws too!!

But, it is common for most of the “Iyengar Yoga” students to be doing vīparita da āsana for 7-10 minutes on a chair. In fact, many of us look forward to the freshness and coolness of mind that vīparita

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A prop aids in bringing humility: I wonder if any of us would have realised this, but whenever we use a prop for any of the āsanas , we automatically start to involute and introspect. Thus, there is no space for pride. Sage Patanjali has very clearly said that the progress in our practice of asana leads us either towards apavarga or bhoga . Many of our neo-yogis can fall from the grace of yoga because of pride of “achievement”. The use of props ensures that there is no room for pride and the practitioner retains

da āsana

brings us, especially when our head is also supported on a bolster.

It is very difficult to keep the consciousness (especially the mind) in a stable state even if we do manage to “stabilise” and balance ourselves physically in an āsana . The citta bhūmi constantly wonders and is in the k iptā (distracted) or vik iptā (alternating) state. Under the instructions of a teacher in class, we may be better focused (but the instructions of a teacher are also a prop!). It takes just a split second for the consciousness to wander especially when we are performing the āsana independently. The use of prop aids the citta bhūmi to be in an ekāgra (one-pointed state) for longer duration of time.

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the time. When does the brain get a time to rest? When does the brain get a chance to feel the quietness and tranquillity? Even if we are doing a “relaxing pose” like śavāsana – the brain directs the body on how to rest.

The only time the brain can be objectified by even a beginner is when they are using the props. The thoughts cease naturally. For example, when we are doing śīr āsana on the rope, the brain becomes totally quiet. The quietness is not dullness, but an active passivity!

This objectification of the brain also happens when our head is rested on a bolster in adho mukha śvānāsana .

We are more stable, quieter and we can stay longer than we can independently. humility, which should be one of the most important tenets for a practitioner.

A prop to objectify the brain: As has been explained in the previous issue of Yoga Rahasya (YR 10.4; p. 40), we tend to use our heads much more than our senses.

We tend to work and direct with the brain rather than spread our intelligence across the entire body.

The brain continues being a subject – directing the rest of the body all

That is the reason that when āsanas are done prior to a prā āyāma practice, we perform many of the āsana with our head

rested. This prepares our brain for the active passivity necessary for prā āyāma .

A prop brings in the feeling of lightness: In the 43rd sutra of the Vibhuti Pada, Sage Patanjali says that an accomplished yogi attains lightness in the Iyengar Yoga News No. 12 - Spring 2008

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body and he is even able to levitate. This sutra clearly gives us a clue as to what we should aim for in our practice of āsanas . We all “enjoy” the āsana when the body feels light. That is exactly what the props do. For example, when ardha chandrāsana is performed with the support of the trestler and the lifted hand is used to revolve the chest, the chest opens. Thus, we never feel the fatigue, but instead feel light and energised by the āsana .

A prop develops sensitivity in the practitioner: As beginners, we start our āsana practice through the gross body.

We tend to use only the muscular body, but as we continue, we need to attain the sensitivity to feel the āsana through the skin and the senses. The prop aids in developing the sensitivity. For example, when we are performing standing āsanas against a trestler, we can learn what the source of the action is. Once we make any particular action, we can study the range of its effects.

Spar a (contact) is an important component of practice. Sensitivity develops when we have some external contact and that is how the props guide us. It is for us to use this sensitivity to trigger our intelligence.

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belt around the bottom calves and move the legs outwards to touch the belt, we will observe that the frontal thigh muscles naturally recede towards the bone and there is no fatigue in the thigh muscles.

So we have to study what the props do to make us perform the asana with greater ease. Their use sparks our intelligence. We have to “catch” these sparks and clues that we get with the props. We should then try to incorporate them while performing the āsana independently.

The props help to adjust the pranas in our system: The prā avāyus are the life force in our system. We are comfortable in any āsana as long as these vāyus are balanced. For example, when the udāna sthāna is tensed or udāna vayu overused the throat and along with it the brain feels choked. Many beginners often tend to unknowingly block or grip the udāna sthāna while doing the āsana especially the twisting āsanas and also the sitting prā āyāma . Such practice can be harmful to the practitioner. The use of props automatically adjusts

the prā avāyus in our system.

For example, vyāna naturally drops while doing śavāsana on the floor.

The vyāna pervades the entire system and can be observed on the lateral sides of the chest. But, the vyāna naturally lifts when a bolster or pillow is used to vertically support the spine in śavāsana . In ūrdhva mukha śvānāsana , the samāna (located around the abdomen) and the vyāna tend to drop. However, when ūrdhva mukha śvānāsana is performed with the palms on a chair or a vīparita da āsana bench, then the samāna and vyāna both get lifted.

We feel lighter and energised.

We should not always use a prop as a crutch or a sofa to flop ourselves in! We should be very clear in our minds as to why we are using a prop for a particular āsana on a specific day.

We should use the prop to trigger our intelligence and generate life in our practices just as Bheesma Pitamah used the bed of arrows to trigger his intelligence and keep himself alive!

The props give us a spark of light, but we fail to catch it. For example, when we are doing ardha chandrāsana , the leg on which we stand tends to become shorter.

The moment we perform the same asana with the trestler, it automatically becomes longer. It is for us to “catch” what the prop does to us.

In sarvāngāsana , the frontal thighs tend to collapse if we stay longer in the āsana and they feel very fatigued. But, if we loosely tie a Iyengar Yoga News No. 12 - Spring 2008

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IYA(UK)REPORTS Chair’s Report Philippe Harari

Since my last report to members at the AGM in June 2007 it has been a very busy time.

Leza Hatchard, our Membership and Office Manager, has left and we have appointed two new administrators to replace her. There have been many other initiatives and events and this brief report is not set out in any particular order: We are delighted that Geeta will come and teach a convention in the UK in May 2009. See Announcements section, p. 49.

Guruji has asked us to look into the possibility of helping Iyengar practitioners in the Republic of Ireland set up their own national association. Currently, there is no association in Ireland, and practitioners are welcome to join the IYA (UK) as full members. The IYA is responsible for teacher training and assessments in Ireland and for giving eligible Irish teachers the Certification Mark and arranging their teaching insurance. Guruji has specified two conditions before we go ahead and help set up an Association for Ireland: 1. There must be a significant majority of Irish members in favour of creating a national association; 2. The IYA (UK) must be of the opinion that this can be done inclusively and with harmony.

Our first step is to set up a small working party whose first task will 46

be to find out whether there is the required majority of Irish members in favour.

Meanwhile, the Irish reps. on the IYA Executive Council have run an Iyengar Yoga stall at the Mind, Body, Spirit Show in Ireland and our thanks go to them for the time and money they put into this venture.

In the last issue of IYN, Joe Burn, the IYA Secretary, invited nominations to fill vacancies for Individual Representatives on the Executive Council. We received three nominations, Alan Brown, Diane Goldrei and Sharon Klaff, and are please to announce that all have been elected unopposed. One of the vacancies was created by the retirement of Elaine Pidgeon as an elected member of the Executive Council.

However, Elaine is not leaving us as we have agreed to co-opt her as an honorary member of the Council so that she can continue with her role in signing Certification Mark documents. I would like to take this opportunity to thank Elaine on behalf of all of us; her contribution to the IYA (UK), and before that to the BKSIYTA, is immeasurable.

Thanks also to Margaret Austin, who has retired from the Assessment and Teacher Training Committee; Margaret has also contributed an immense amount to the IYA and to the BKSIYTA over the years.

We noticed during the course of this year that there was a wide range of democratic procedures amongst our Member Institutes; after finding out what all the different Institutes did when it

came to electing representatives for the Executive Council, for example. We have now agreed standard procedures, which all Member Institutes are expected to adopt. The Iyengar Yoga Institute (Maida Vale), has now agreed in principle that they should seek membership of the IYA (UK).

(Editor’s note: IYI(MV) has since decided not to become a meber Institute of the IYA for the time being.

Many IYA members have been collecting money for the Bellur Trust and we have sent a cheque for £17,778.42 from all of these individual contributions. Thanks to all teachers who organised special fund-raising events, and thanks to everyone who has contributed. The calendar we designed in honour of Guruji’s 90th birthday next year has been selling extremely well. So far, we have made a profit of £5,114 from the calendar, and will be sending every penny of this to the Bellur Trust.

We are planning a redesign of the IYA (UK) website. It will still look much the same as it does now but the ‘find a teacher’ search facility will be much improved. When teachers renew their membership online (this won’t be in place for this year’s renewals) they will be asked to enter details of the classes they teach. This information will automatically be transferred to the website search pages, and teachers can edit this if it changes during the course of the year. These class details will be used for the teacher search so that people will find you whenever they type in the postIyengar Yoga News No. 12 - Spring 2008

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code of where you live, or anywhere that you actually teach.

The arrangements we have made to adopt Yogamatters as the IYA (UK) official supplier of yoga merchandise are going very well.

The only item that is not available from Yogamatters is “Basic Guidelines for Teachers”; this can be obtained from the Main Office.

Patsy, who used to be responsible for IYA merchandising, is still receiving orders, so please make sure that you do not send orders to her any more.

Treasurer Report - Diane Clow

Financial Statements for 2006/07 as at 31st Mar 2007: The financial statements ending Mar 31st 2007 were presented and ratified at the Executive Council meeting in York in Sept 2007.

Instead of being published with this magazine they are now available on-line on the IYA (UK) website in order to save on paper and to make them easily accessible through out the year.

They show that the IYA(UK) has had another healthy year financially with a surplus for the year of £13,232 mainly as a result of the Brunel convention and the Stephanie Quirk workshops. Please do review the accounts when next in the IYA (UK) website and any queries please don’t hesitate to contact me. These financial statements will be presented to the June 2008 AGM for acceptance.

Bellur Trust Donation: The Bellur Trust (B.K.S.S.N.Trust) is Iyengar Yoga News No. 12 - Spring 2008

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now accepting donations after having had to wait for Indian Government approval. The amount of £17,778.42 was transferred electronically to the Trust in Sept.

2007. This represents donations from 2005 - 2007. A big thank you to everyone who has contributed.

Membership and Assessment Fees for 08/09: As previously published in the Autumn IYN fees are all to remain the same except for the increase for individual fees from £13.50 to £15.00 as shown in the table below. Only increases are highlighted:

This was agreed at the Finance and mewmbership meeting 12/09/07 with monitoring of this as part of the annual budget review.

Extension of on-line payments system: Until the overall effect of payments by PayPal is assessed there are no plans to extend it. If it becomes appropriate to extend the PayPal system, e.g. to include payments for conventions, quotations for new online forms from the IT team would be the first course of action. This will be reviewed regularly and monitored as part of the annual budget review. £

Euros

Institute members

6.00

9.00

Individual members

15.00

22.00

Overseas supplement

15.00

22.00

Individual teachers

15.00

22.00

100.00

144.00

Teachers Supplement

35.00

51.00

Teachers concessionary rate

21.00

31.00

Introductory assessment fees I

55.00

80.00

Introductory assessment fees II

88.00

127.00

Junior Intermediate assessment fees

88.00

127.00

Senior Intermediate assessment fees

88.00

127.00

Affiliated Centre

Certification Mark Fee for 08/09: is to reduce from £30 to £25 due to the fact that it is based on $50 USD and exchange rate as at the 1st Nov. It should be noted though that it can also increase in future years depending on the exchange rate.

On-line payments for membership renewal: Fees charged by PayPal for online membership renewal are part of the budgeting process for 2008/09. There is no proposal to introduce a charge.

Promotion of Iyengar Yoga: It was agreed in August to financially support the yoga show in Ireland.

The aspect of making a bigger contingency to support PR events like this was discussed. As a result, it was agreed to ensure that funding for PR events as appropriate is available and will be taken into account in the next round of budgeting. In the meantime, appropriate events (subject to agreement) would be financially supported out of reserves.

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Charges for magazine central mail-out: Currently, Institutes who request central mailing are charged £2 for two mail-outs per year, invoiced separately, £1 in Spring and £1 in Autumn. This was discussed and agreed to be reviewed in the next round of budgeting in January 2008.

As always many thanks to the team: Prabhakara, Philippe and Juliet and to Leza but also a big welcome to Jo and Jess.

Membership Report - Brenda Noble Nesbitt

Membership figures for year 2007/08 Via member Institutes Individuals

Totals

Nonteachers

1218

338

1556

Teachers

524

375

899

Introductory teaching certificate: There are 94 newly qualified teachers (from the Level 2 assessments held in October 2007), who were invited to apply for full teacher membership of IYA (UK) in November.

Seventy teachers opted to take a one year break and suspended their licence to teach Iyengar Yoga.

Consideration is being given to the formation of a new institute category called ‘Partner’ institutes. In September 2007 the Executive Council approved the continuation of negotiations taking place.

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For Teacher Membership renewal in 2007/08: For renewal in 2007/08, teachers were given the option to suspend their Iyengar Yoga teaching licence in order to take a one year break from teaching. However, due to unforeseen legal and insurance complications, this option has been removed for 2008/09. Any teacher who suspended the licence for 2007/08 will need to either rejoin as a full teacher member for 2008/09 or cancel their licence.

There are changes in the requirements to renew the licence to teach Iyengar Yoga for those teachers who hold an Introductory teaching qualification. Teachers who are already qualified are not required to take a first aid course for full teacher membership of IYA (UK). A teacher’s need to have a first aid qualification should be clearly defined by their employer, legal or health and safety reasons.

Guidelines will be included with the renewal papers.

On a personal note: thanks once again to the membership team and an especially big thank you to Leza.

NEW OFFICE STAFF FOR THE IYA (UK) By the time you read this, our two new administrators will have been in post for some months. The previous Membership and Office Manager, Leza Hatchard, left the IYA (UK) to go travelling the world in November 2007. We decided to replace her with two part-timers and advertised the jobs to all of our members. We received a lot of very good applications and decided to appoint Jo Duffin on an 80% contract and Jess Wallwork on a

60% contract.

Jo will be known as the Membership and Office Manager and she is taking on many of the jobs that Leza did. Her responsibilities include processing membership applications and maintaining the membership database and the website; checking teacher applications to see that they have fulfilled the renewal requirements; dealing with e-mail and telephone queries from the public and from members; sending out e-mails to members advertising Iyengar events etc.; public relations; organising the Stephanie Quirk workshops and helping the Events Committee with the organisation of conventions etc.

Jo will also be doing graphic design for us (including adverts, booklets and calendars) and working wiht the Bellur Action Group Jess will be called the Bookings and Finance Administrator and her responsibilities include financial administration, magazine mail-outs; taking bookings and keeping accounts for conventions and workshops. Jess will also be working very closely with the assessment organisers and taking a lot of the administrative work off their shoulders.

Now that we have two people working for us, it is more complicated knowing what to send to whom. As a general rule, contact Jess for everything relating to finance, bookings and assessments and contact Jo for everything else.

Don’t worry if you are not sure – if in doubt, send stuff to Jo and she will forward it to Jess if appropriate. We warmly welcome Jo and Jess to the IYA (UK) and look forward to working with them over the years to come.

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Jo Duffin - (Note: these are the official contact details for the IYA) PO Box 56436 London SE3 7UU Telephone: 020 8269 2595 email: admin@iyengaryoga.org.uk Jo can also be emailed at: jo@iyengaryoga.org.uk Jess Wallwork 15 West Grove Bristol BS6 5LS Telephone: 0117 307 9092 email: jess@iyengaryoga.org.uk Note: if you are not currently receiving regular email notices from the IYA (UK) and would like to, please contact: admin@iyengaryoga.org.uk

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I’m delighted to be on board as the new Membership and Office Manager for the IYA (UK).

I’ve been practising Iyengar Yoga for several years and am currently in my second year of training for the Introductory Level 2 certificate with Sheila Haswell. Iyengar Yoga has given me so much over the last few years and I’m looking forward to being able to give something back. Leza is obviously a very hard act to follow, but I’ll do my best. So please feel free to contact me as I’m looking forward to getting to know you all.

Jo

My fascination with Iyengar Yoga began when I was a child. My mother had a copy of Light on Yoga and I used to ponder the pictures of Mr Iyengar. My first Iyengar Yoga class was in Edinburgh when I joined the Iyengar Yoga Society at University. The classes transformed me. They gave me a feeling of wellbeing, a sense of purpose and a delight in the precision and alignment.

I trained with Ros Bell and passed my Introductory Level 2 Assessment in October 2005. It feels great to be contributing to the work of the IYA (UK).

Jess

IMPORTANT - PLEASE NOTE A transfer of items has been lost in the Christmas post. If you sent assessment papers, cheques for Bellur or a convention booking to the main office during the last three weeks of December please can you contact Jess on 0117 307 9092 to confirm it has been received.

GEETA IS COMING TO THE UK IN 2009 We have just heard the brilliant news that Geetaji has agreed to travel to the UK in 2009 to teach a convention. This is very exciting for us and we have already started preparing for her visit. Geeta wishes to teach a six-day convention and will be travelling with her sister Sunita and her niece Abhijata, who will be assisting her in the classes.

The convention will take place in the last week of May 2009 and Geeta wants people to commit themselves to the whole week. We have only just heard the news and so have yet to confirm a venue or work out a programme of events or how much it will cost, but we do know when it will take place and we also know that it will be wonderful week of yoga and a chance in a lifetime to experience Geetaji’s teaching first hand. She has specified that “there have to be sessions such as morning prā āyāma , chanting, āsana class, therapy class, question and answer sessions, lectures and so on.”

She does not wish to teach at a separate teachers’ convention, but wants a single event, where teachers and non-teachers learn together. We will aim to send out application forms in September 2008 if not earlier, but in the meantime you can block these dates in your diary, book your time off work, and start saving up to pay for it.

Iyengar Yoga News No. 12 - Spring 2008

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IYA(UK) AGM Saturday 14 th June 2008 (in the afternoon) At the IYA(UK) Convention in The University of Northumbria, Newcastle upon Tyne Agenda: Apologies Minutes of AGM 2007 Chair’s report Treasurer’s report Secretary’s report Membership Secretary’s report AOB Please note that if any member of the IYA(UK) wants a motion passed then it must be sent to the secretary of the association (Joe Burn) 40 days in advance of the meeting; it must be proposed and seconded by members of the association.

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The Certification Mark Licence and Teacher Membership Renewal It is well established now that all teachers must complete at least 25 hours of Iyengar yoga tuition during each membership year to renew their Certification Mark licence in the subsequent year.

Iyengar Yoga teachers are expected to continually develop their yoga practice, not only by commitment to their own regular home practice, but also by attending classes to receive tuition from teachers who hold higher certification, or have more teaching experience than themselves. It is also very beneficial to participate in some professional development or training which is more specialised than the programme they might generally receive at regular classes.

In March 2006 it was a requirement for membership renewal that all teachers complete five hours of such ‘Specialised Training’ at least every other year as part the annual 25 hours of tuition. However it has now been decided to relax this rule for Introductory teachers.

Therefore any Introductory teacher who has not completed any specialised training will still be eligible to renew their Teacher Membership in March 2008. Although this training is no longer compulsory for Intro-

ductory teachers they are very much encouraged to still attend Professional Development Days.

Junior Intermediate and Senior Intermediate teachers are still required to attend 5 hours of Specialised Training at least every other year. More is expected of teachers with higher levels of certification.

Specialised Training options for 08/09 include: General classes at the Ramamani Iyengar Memorial Yoga Institute (RIMYI), India Professional Development Days – organised by IYA (UK) Remedial or Therapeutic training with a teacher approved by BKS Iyengar to run such a course These options have been selected because: Attendance at the RIMYI general classes is regarded as being the most valuable experience.

The Professional Development Day programmes keep teachers in touch with current methods and information from the RIMYI. The Therapeutic Courses with Stephanie Quirk were arranged by the IYA (UK) in response to requests from teachers that more remedial training should be offered.

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approved by BKS Iyengar to run such courses is also acceptable.

N.B. The Teachers’ Day at the IYA Convention is not listed above for renewal in March 2009 as in future there will not be a special Teachers’ Day, but for renewal in March 2008 attendance at the 2007 Convention Teachers’ Day is still acceptable.

There have been many suggestions for Intermediate Junior and Senior training hours to be included in the list of Specialised Training. This is not included because for experienced teachers training in the practice and teaching of more advanced asanas is simply a straightforward extension, in depth and scope, of what they are already doing. Also IYA (UK) does not currently offer training courses which are formally designated as Intermediate Junior or Senior teacher training courses, even though it does arrange assessments at all levels for those teachers who fulfil the relevant requirements.

Participation in a training course is not required in order to take an assessment at these levels.

Most teachers have no problem completing 25 hours training each year and most do far more than what is required. However if any teacher is genuinely unable to meet the requirement please contact the main office and each case will be considered on an individual basis.

Ethics & Certification Committee & Membership Sec . (Nov 2007) Iyengar Yoga News No. 12 - Spring 2008

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Iyengar Yoga Development Fund (IYDF) The IYDF is able to fund classes for students who would not normally benefit from Iyengar yoga. If you would like to teach a class in your community and know of a host organisation who you could work in partnership with then why not apply to the fund.

Existing IYDF teachers work with a range of organisations including a special needs school, a women’s refuge and a drugs rehabilitation programme. teachers will be paid £40 per class by the IYDF the classes should be arranged through an organisation in your locality that works with people who suffer some sort of deprivation and/or hardship the host organisation will be responsible for identifying students and publicising classes and providing a venue the classes will be for beginners and will use minimal equipment teachers must be at least Junior Intermediate Level 1, however teachers at this grade would be asked not to take classes with people who have remedial issues Please contact Sam Robb-King for an application form. Please note there are limited funds available. sam@robb-king.eclipse.co.uk 0114 255 6824

Since October 2006, all newly qualified teachers have been required to undergo first aid training as part of the Iyengar yoga teacher training course before they can become a full teacher member of IYA (UK). There is no change in this requirement. After much discussion, and recommendations from appropriate committees, the Executive Council has decided not to extend the compulsory requirement to all those teachers who have already qualified.

Once qualified, a teacher’s need to have a first aid qualification becomes selfregulatory. Where necessary, for employment, legal or health and safety regulations, many teachers are required to obtain a first aid qualification. IYA (UK) will continue to support this need by advertising first aid courses organised by institutes or individual members. First aid training is also readily available through many private agencies, in all areas. For information only, some guidelines from IYA (UK) will be sent out with the teacher membership renewal papers.

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Obituary - Angela Marris teachers retire at 65 years of age.

n the last edition of IYA News we announced the death of Angela Marris. It was clear from the letters from Mr Iyengar and Geetaji, which were published there, the high regard in which she was held by them. Those who knew Angela personally also talk of her as a person whom they greatly esteemed.

Most IYA members probably know little about her as she was 91 when she died and had been retired for many years.

I

She was one of three new students in Mr Iyengar’s first classes in 1961. It was through these she met Beatrice Harthan and together they became known for their presence when Mr Iyengar visited London. They were some of the first Iyengar teachers in the country. After Mr Iyengar’s first classes in 1961 he left Diana Clifton to lead the group of students. The following year he authorised some of these students to teach in pairs. Angela and Beatrice were among that number.

However, they didn’t become as well known as many later teachers as they had full-time jobs, and taught at a time when the Inner London Education Authority insisted that all 52

Rayner Curtis was one of their students and she writes of Angela: “Angela was my first teacher, with Beatrice Harthan, after Guruji. She has played a very important part in my yogic life and education. I will always remember her with love and gratitude. She travelled unfailingly from London to Brighton to teach us on dark winter nights some 40 years ago.

Angela was selflessly dedicated to yoga and Guruji.”

It was this same selfless dedication that brought Angela to the Iyengar Yoga Institute in Maida Vale either to advise in meetings or support when lectures were held. She was last in Maida Vale on the 13th May, 2005 when Rajvi Mehta gave a talk on Bellur as part of the celebrations for the Institute’s 21st anniversary. The last major national occasion when Angela was present was at Crystal Palace when Geeta taught there. It was, as Geeta has written, the first time she met her though they had been corresponding for many years.

What most people don’t know is the important role Angela played in the development of Iyengar Yoga – and the part her role played in so many lives in the years since 1961. Without her input the early classes might not have flourished and Iyengar Yoga would not now be so well known in Britain.

by Lorna Walker Diana Clifton writes of Angela: “I first met Angela Marris in June 1961 when we were in the first class that Mr Iyengar took in the UK. Yehudi Menuhin was the president of the Asian Music Circle and it was they who first brought him over.

Angela was the secretary of the AMC and she organised the yoga classes after that. After Mr Iyengar’s first visit I was asked to continue the classes and Angela collected 2/6 (12.5p) from each of us. This way we managed to raise enough money for his fare the following year.

Angela organised the classes each year, so she was a great help to Mr Iyengar and to the rest of us! As you can imagine the classes got bigger every year, becoming quite a headache for Angela! Somehow she managed to please most people!

We often went for a curry meal after classes with Mr. Iyengar and I remember that Angela didn't like curry and just had rice and yoghurt! She was always calm and efficient and had a great sense of humour! “ It was through those first classes that Angela met Beatrice Harthan. They soon became close friends and between them they typed up the manuscript for Light on Yoga before the days of the word-processor. Working on a typewriter took great accuracy and attention to detail as there was no easy way to correct mistakes. Beatrice introduced Mr Iyengar and Light on Yoga to Peter McIntosh who, as Head of Physical Education, encouraged the setting up of Iyengar Yoga News No. 12 - Spring 2008

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Iyengar Yoga classes in the Inner London Education Authority Adult Education Institutes.

While Angela remained loyal to Mr Iyengar and in touch with him by letter through the remainder of her life, it is interesting to note that her first contact was through Yehudi (later Lord) Menuhin. She met Lord Menuhin when she went backstage to get his autograph after a concert. Menuhin was talking to someone else and began writing on her programme. He apologised for doing so and told her to return the following night when he would sign again. From there a friendship was born and Angela became important in Menuhin and his wife’s life. She became their knitter and was delighted to see him wearing one of the sweaters she had knitted when he was photographed for a record sleeve. Angela also organised things for the Asian Music Circle through which the first yoga classes were arranged.

Angela had a sad early life. She was born in India. Her mother brought her to England and left her at boarding school. After a time her boarding school fees were not being paid and Angela was, in a sense, adopted by the owner of the boarding school and remained with her during the school holidays. She was, much later in her life, reunited with her mother and would appear not to have held a grudge about how she had been treated in her childhood. She started work as a secretary in a law firm, was noted for her meticulous accuracy, moved up Iyengar Yoga News No. 12 - Spring 2008

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the ladder there and was very highly regarded by her employer, who arranged and was present at her funeral.

An only child, she had no family to turn to once her parents died. However, she was a central figure in the Iyengar Yoga community and was always an appreciated visitor at major national events and at the Iyengar Yoga Institute in Maida Vale.

Penny Chaplin, who knew Angela well, and met with her regularly up to a few weeks before her death, says she never lost her interest in yoga. She was always keen to hear about any changes and the latest props that were being used. Of course, in the early days there were no props other than the towel that students brought with them for doing the sitting poses. Angela was also interested in news when Penny visited Pune despite the fact that she wrote regularly to Mr Iyengar. Penny recounts how she would say that she had just heard from Mr Iyengar but wouldn’t reply for a couple of weeks as he always wrote back directly.

Angela continued to practise standing poses by the wall until about a year before her death.

Mr Iyengar then gave her a new programme for angina and Penny went to help her with it.

They had to use props on the bed, as Angela could no longer manage to get safely to the floor. Penny says she was trying to help her get into Setubanda Sarvangasana. Unable to get into the position, Angela burst out laughing and said:

“He always asked me to do the most impossible things”.

It is indicative of Angela’s spirit that she would try things but could also see the funny side and laugh when she was having difficulty. In the Autumn of 2006 Angela saw an advertisement for an over 50’s yoga class starting up near her in the Barbican. Ever mindful of the reputation of Iyengar Yoga, she went along to check it was genuine. It was through her contact with that class and its students that we heard of her sudden death. Jane Williams, the teacher, said that she could still do excellent chair twists. Angela sat out the beginning of the first class but joined in for the twists. Immediately she joined in Jane recognised that this was someone of long practice and substantial knowledge and decided to find out exactly who she was. At the end of the class Angela introduced herself and explained her interest.

Penny remembers that Angela enjoyed going out for a meal and she and Silvia Prescott used to go and take her out from time to time. She was also visited by Jane Sill, Editor of Yoga and Health who, shortly before her death, had taken her out to buy cactus plants for her flat, something she much preferred to flowers.

Angela will be much missed by the many yoga students in the London region and by those around the country who met her and came to respect her straightforward nature and her support for Mr Iyengar and his work.

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A S S E S S M E N T

R E S U L T S

INTRODUCTORY CERTIFICATE LEVEL 1 Alaina Halford Alex Gunn Alison Brophy Alison Roberts Andrea Ferencikova Ann Larner Anna Holmes Anne Tooke-Kirby Antonia Piras Binni Collings Brian Walker Bruna Naitana Cat Harrison Charlotte Everitt Clare Bingham Clare Newton Claudia Dossena Corrina Norton David O'Neill Demetra Browning Diane Double Elaine Bull Elaine Scott Elizabeth Adams Elizabeth Elden Elizabeth Hanson Emily Milsom Emma McGurn Erica Brealey Francesca Nixon Gaynor Mullin Georgia Pearson Gillian Spence Guillaume Sacchini Hannah Cliff Helen Henderson Himat Singh

Irene Sheehy Jacob Rihosek Jade Mellish James Gawne Janine Lauder Jeffrey Day Jenny Reynish Jo Duffin John Walker Jose Barrientos Julie Baker Julie Barlow Kaori Kashiwagi Karen Abraham Karen Foote Karen Webster Kathy Howard Kerri Molyneaux Kim Thornton Laurie Bray Leonore Bunyard Linda Louise Stevenson Lisa Bedford Lisa Durant Louise Allen Lucy Martin Mairead Higgins Maragret Blythe Maria Byrne Martyn Van Lancker Mary Hearn Maurice Finn Michelle Mangeolles Monica Rooney Muriel Barclay Natalie Barrow Natalie Elfersey Nicky Vesper

Nicola Hollas Olivia McCannon Penny Quilter Ralf Russow Richard Glover Rita Mori Rob Doyle Rose Newbold Rosemary Moss Rossella Riccobono Sally-Ann Gardiner Sam McKeown Sarah Noble Sarah Peart Sarra Whicheloe Saundra Stephen Sheila Allan Sheila Reilly Shel Hesketh-Mare Shelagh Gotto Silvie Labatut Simon Newbronner Siobhan Simpson Solomon Adler Stephen Dowsett Steve Gowenlock Stuart Macrow Stuart Randle Sue Cresswell Sue Oliver Susan Callagher Suzanne Kenyon Svava Sparey Theresa Correia Toby Willis Veronica Greene Vesna Eringer Viktor Borosnyai

All teachers who are working towards Junior or Senior certificates themselves or are teaching this to others need to be familiar with the up-to-date syllabuses for whichever level of work they are practising or teaching. This information is available to be downloaded on the IYA website (in the ‘Policy Documents’ section) or from the IYA office.

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INTRODUCTORY CERTIFICATE LEVEL II Adriana Demetriou Alex Klein Alison Hahlo Allen Shaw Amanda Bryce Smith Anastasia Alexander Angela Beattie Angela Newson Ann Traynor Annie Rossi Arabella Wright Audrey Walker Billie France Bridget Strong Caroline Hannum Cath Brzeski Catherine Mitchell Cathy Slow Christine Juckes Craig Duffy Dave Dayes Davy Burns Deirdre Crowe Deirdre Gillespie Diana Harris Diana Penny Emma Catling Emma Rattenbury Ernest Brown Evelyn Crosskey Gareth Ormerod Gavin Tilstone

SENIOR LEVEL I Alicia Lester Kirsten Agar Ward Wendy McGuire

Iyengar Yoga News No. 12 - Spring 2008

Gertie Lynch Grace Maher Hazel Sumner Heather Lafferty Heidi Walter Helen Arnold Helen Scarlet Hilary Leeves Ishani Erasmus Jane Williams Jenny Phillips Jill Johnson Judy Waldman Julian Marley Julie Amers Julie Howarth Karen Hood Kate Hailston Kate Stannard Kathryn Bell Keith Finn Kim Skinner Kimberley Mitchell Kira O'Reilly Lara Speroni Layaly Morton Lee Kennedy Lisa Tonelli-Smith Loll Pownall Maria Kapsali Maria Silva-Leal Maria Walsh

SENIOR LEVEL II Alan Brown Dawn Hodgson Judith Richards

Marie Feirtear Marta Studzinska Maxine McCotter Megan Lawrence Michaela Woods Michelle Albury Mike Harris Mike Heath Pascale Vacher Rachel Morrell Ravi Punjabi Rebecca Harrington Jones Rebecca Hellen Robert Lee Roberta Levent Roy Russell Ruth Walshe Sandra McLellan Sara Falvey Sarah Myers Sharon Boyle Sharon Jay Sheena Sutton Sheena Teeder Siobhan Rosenberg Sue Harnan Susan Stannard Suzanne Kealy Vanessa Baggott Wendy Weller Davies

SENIOR LEVEL III Aisling Guirke Alice Appleton Barbara Leyland Berte Scholtz Christina Niewola David Reddicen Debra Bartholomew Julie Royle June Whittaker-Pisano Liz Tonner Pamela Butler Bob Waters Shirin Marshall Sue Vassar 55

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IYA (UK) Professional Development days 2008 AREA South West SWIYI Chagford

ORGANISER

DATE

MOD

27th Sept

Pen Reed

Anita Butcher 0136 4653012 peter.butcher@virgin.net

7th Sept DHIYI Kim Trowel l01202558049 West & South Wales Edgar Stringer 01249 716235 (office hours) 21st Sept AIYI yoglyded@yahoo.com Greater London & South East 1st Nov NELIYI Catherine Coulson 07767 366152 Catherine.Coulson@tns-global.com

Julie Brown

IIYS

Brian Ingram01444 236714 brianiyoga@tesco.net

15th Nov

Brenda Booth

IYIMV

Korinna Pilafidis-Williams 0207 6243080 korinnapw@btinternet.com

30th Nov

Penny Chaplin

IYISL

Glenys Shepherd 0208 6940155 iyisl@btclick.com

20th July

Jayne Orton

North West Region MDIIY & LDIYI East Central & North SADIYI & BDIYI

Margaret Hall 01457 871296 21st June 22nd Nov

Jeanne Maslen & Tricia Booth Diane Coats

North East & Cumbria NEIYI

Dorothea Irvin 0191 3888593 gdirvin@talktalk.net

4th Oct

Margaret Austin

West Central MCIYI

Jayne Orton 0121 608 2229 jayne@iyengaryoga.uk.com

13th April

Jayne Orton

South Central ORIYI

Sheila Haswell 01494 521107 sheila@sarva.co.uk

22nd Nov

Sheila Haswell

Mona Hislop 01968 675546 mona.hislop@btopenworld.com

28th Sept

Elaine Pidgeon & Meg Laing

Helen Graham 01416420476 helengraham88@mac.com

30th March Judi Sweeting

Margaret Cashman 01884 0017 info@iyengaryogacentre.com

4th Oct

Pen Reed

Helen Gillan 00353 719146171 helengillan@eircom.net

22nd Feb

Sheila Haswell

Margaret Gunn-King 0282 586 1202(mcgk120hotmail.com)

26th April

Dave Browne

Scotland Edinburgh

Glasgow Ireland North County Dublin

Alan Brown 0153 563 7359 alan@dianalan.plus.com

Judith Jones Richard Agar-Ward

County Sligo Northern Ireland

We will be covering Teaching Pregnant Women at a basic level following the recommendations of Guruji and Geetaji (please see IYA News No. 8 Spring 2006 page 33). Later in the day we will be covering Teaching Children. This PD Day will be two workshops taught by the Moderator and local teachers with specialised knowledge.

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TEACHER TRAINERS 2008 NAME Kirsten Agar Ward Richard Agar Ward Gordon Austin Margaret Austin Rosamund Bell Brenda Booth Tricia Booth Alan Brown Julie Brown David Browne Pamela Butler Sophie Carrington Gerry Chambers Penny Chaplin Diane Coats Lyn Farquhar Helen Gillan Grainne Gilleece George Glen Helen Graham Sheila Green Aisling Guirke Cecilia Harrison Sheila Haswell Julie Hodges Dawn Hodgson Frances Homewood Judith Jones Marion Kilburn Meg Laing Susan Long Alaric Newcombe Christina Niewola Jayne Orton Sasha Perryman Elaine Pidgeon Silvia Prescott Lynda Purvis Pen Reed Judith Richards Ursula Schoonraad Judith Soffa Sallie Sullivan Judi Sweeting Elizabeth Tonner Judith Van Dop Sue Vassar

AREA Bath & North East Somerset Bath & North East Somerset Tyne and Wear Tyne and Wear London Kent Derbyshire West Yorkshire Cheshire Tyne and Wear Kent London Bristol London Tyne and Wear Perthshire Co.Sligo Co.Dublin Midlothian Glasgow Herefordshire Co.Dublin Nottinghamshire Buckinghamshire London County Durham South Yorkshire Berkshire Manchester MidLothian Essex London Cheshire West Midlands Cambridgeshire MidLothian London Bristol Cheshire Surrey London Merseyside East Sussex Gloucestershire West Yorkshire Cornwall Somerset

EMAIL office@bath-iyengar-yoga.com office@bath-iyengar-yoga.com yoga@austinmg.fsnet.co.uk yoga@austinmg.fsnet.co.uk r.j.bell@open.ac.uk brendaboothkent@aol.com tricia@booth1.plus.com alan@dianalan.plus.com julie.brownie@virgin.net davebrowne100@yahoo.co.uk p.butler@3mail.com sophie_am_carrington@yahoo.com office@yogawest.co.uk Pennyyoga@btopenworld.com coats@ukonline.co.uk helengillan@eircom.net grainne.gilleece@ireland.com georgeglenok@yahoo.co.uk heleng.yoga@ntlworld.com jonathanmgreen@hotmail.com aislingguirke@eircom.net cecilia.harrison@ntlworld.com Sheila@sarva.co.uk harriesjh@aol.com franceshomewood@hotmail.com jjyoga@btinternet.com marionkilburnyoga@hotmail.com m.laing@ed.ac.uk alaricnewcombe@yahoo.co.uk chris@niewola.com info@iyengaryoga.uk.com sashaperryman@yahoo.co.uk elaine.pidgeon@virgin.net office@yogawest.co.uk penreed24@aol.com judithrich@btinternet.com enquiries@iyyoga.com mail@yogastudio.f9.co.uk sallie.sullivan@virgin.net ciyc@talk21.com liztonner@hotmail.com judithvandop@hotmail.com susan.vassar@btinternet.com

TELEPHONE 01225319699 01225319699 01915487457 01915487457 02083409899 01892740876 01663732927 01535637359 01625879090 01915213470 01689851232 02087787640 01179243330 02076244287 01914154132 01786823174 +353719146171 +35382393410 01875320765 01416420476 01981580081 +353872891664 01159857692 01494711589 02083929120 01325721518 01142335753 0148871838 01614429003 01316677790 01245421496 02072819491 01260 279565 01216082229 01223515929 01315529871 02076244577 01179243330 01614271763 02083981741 02086727315 01517094923 01273478271 01285653742 01484315736 01736360880 01643704260

Names in italics are of people currently in training to become Teacher Trainers.

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CLASSES AT RIMYI If you wish to attend classes at the Ramamani Iyengar Memorial Yoga Institute, Pune, you must apply through the IYA (UK). Individual applications sent directly to the RIMYI will not be accepted (people from some other countries with less well established national associations do apply directly to the Institute using a form that they download from the RIMYI website, but this option is not open to people from the UK, and definitely does not result in getting onto classes earlier). The application process is as follows: 1. Download an application form from the IYA (UK) website (www.iyengaryoga.org.uk) or contact our Office Manager on 020 8269 2595 or at admin@iyengaryoga.org.uk 2. Fill out the form and send with a Bankers Draft for US$150 made out to RIMYI to: Penny Chaplin, Flat 1, St. Johns Court, Finchley Road, London NW3 6LL Please do not include photos or personal mail. Please note: For admission, the RIMYI requests that the student’s practice of eight years reflects an understanding of the foundation of Iyengar Yoga. This would include the regular practice of inverted poses (8-10 mins. in the inverted postures), and the regular practise of prā āyāma.

Women should know what is to be practised during menstruation. All students should have read, at the minimum, the introductory chapter to Light on Yoga 58

and be familiar with the terms and principles covered in that chapter; RIMYI offers one or two months admission. No extensions beyond two months under any circumstances; The total cost is $US400 a month and a $US150 must be paid in advance, with the balance payable on arrival at the RIMYI. The advance deposit is part of the fees and hence not transferable to any other person or course. It is non-refundable. In additon to the balance of $US250 payable on arrival at the RIMYI, you will need to present your letter of confirmation and two photocopies of your passport and visa; Six classes are given per week, each for two hours duration. A schedule will be given on arrival; The last week of each month will be prā āyāma classes; The classes will be conducted by BKS Iyengar or his daughter or son or by staff members; When applying please include relevant bio-data with any health conditions; Certificates will not be issued at the end of the course; You will need to make your own arrangements for board and lodging; Applications are for individuals only - no groups. However, if you would like to go at the same time as a friend, you should both indicate this clearly on your application form.

the RIMYI, please enclose a sae.

All application forms are automatically forwarded to Pune and there is absolutely no selection process at this stage.

4. When the administrator at RIMYI, Mr Pandurang Rao, receives your application form he will automatically place you on the next available course and send you a confirmation letter.

Please note: The RIMYI receives many applications from all over the world; the waiting list for classes is around two years; You may have to wait from three months to a year to receive your confirmation letter; If your confirmation letter comes direct from India please let Penny know. You will know the letter has come direct from India by the stamp and postmark. If you receive a photocopied letter posted from London then your confirmation letter has gone through Penny and you don’t need to inform her. (Pandu sometimes sends a group of confirmation letters to Penny for her to forward to applicants); Do not ask to change the date you are given unless you have a serious need to do so on compassionate grounds.

Check the IYA (UK) website for more information, travel details, contact numbers for accommodation etc. www.iyengaryoga.org.uk

3. If you would like a confirmation that your application form and bankers draft has been sent to Iyengar Yoga News No. 12 - Spring 2008

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R A H A S Y A

Yoga Rahasya is a quarterly Iyengar yoga journal published in India. Four issues a year are mailed to you, normally starting from the next available issue. Back copies are sometimes available (£3.50 each); please write a separate note if you are enquiring about these, listing the issues you are seeking. To subscribe, or to renew an existing subscription, please complete and return the form below with a cheque made payable to “IYA (UK)” to: Tig Whattler, 64 Watermoor Road, Cirencester, Glos. GL7 1LD. Queries to this address or to info@cotswoldiyengar.co.uk.

Please write very clearly (or type the information on a separate piece of paper).

In order to comply with the provisions of the Data Protection Act 1998, IYA (UK) agrees not to release the details you give us here to any external party without first seeking your permission. We may pass on these details to our Indian Yoga Rahasya publishing partners.This information is collected, stored and processed for the purposes of Yoga Rahasya journal subscription and distribution administration. IYA (UK) does not sell or exchange its membership lists with other organisations.

Name: ...................................................................................................................................................................................................

Address: ............................................................................................................................................................................................... .............................................................................................................................................Post code: ...............................................

Telephone: ............................................................ email: .................................................................................................................

Is this a renewal? ............ If so, please state issue no. new subscription is to start with, if known. Vol. ............ No...........

Amount enclosed (cheque to “IYA (UK)” please) £........................................ (one year’s subscription (4 issues) is £16) Please enclose a stamped s.a.e. if you require a receipt.

Signature ............................................................................................................ Date .......................................................................

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IYA (UK) Executive Council Officer

Rep.

Name

E-mail

Telephone

Chairperson

Philippe Harari

philippe.harari@runbox.com

01223523410

Treasurer

Diane Clow

dclow@hotmail.co.uk

01313347544

Secretary

Joe Burn

joe.burn@virgin.net

01224591271

Membership Sec.

Brenda Noble Nesbitt b.noblenesbitt@gmail.com

01913884118

Vice Chairperson

Ros Bell

r.j.bell@open.ac.uk

02083409899

AIYI

Edgar Stringer

yoglyded@yahoo.co.uk

01761435468

BDIYI

Helen White

white.helen@btinternet.com

01132746463

CIYI

vacancy Andrea Smith

andrea@iyengaryoga.me.uk

02392466750

ESIYI

Julie Anderson

julieindia@hotmail .com

GWISIYI

Helen Graham

heleng.yoga@ntlworld.com

01416420476

IIYS

Andy Roughton

amroughton@yahoo.co.uk

01273326205

LIYI

Helen Green

h.young@merseymail.com

07794579874

Prabhakara

prabhakara@freeuk.com

01214497496

MDIIY

Debbie Bartholomew

debrabartholomew@btinternet.com 01422844808

MDIIY

Deb Bartholomew

orchestrasurreal@talk21.com

NEIIY

Brenda Noble-Nesbitt b.noblenesbitt@gmail.com

01913884118

NELIYI

Tessa Bull

tessabull@onetel.com

02083402091

ORIYI

Judith Jones

jjyoga@btinternet.com

0148 871838

SADIYA

Mary Carol

aloxley@waitrose.com

01142517359

SWIYI

Janice Chesher

janicechesher@waitrose.com

01872552867

R of Ireland Rep

Aisling Guirke

aisling_guirke@hotmail.com

00353872891664

R of Ireland Rep

Eileen Cameron

eileencameron@eircom.net

0035312841799

Honorary Member

Elaine Pidgeon

elaine.pidgeon@virgin.net

01315529871

Individual

Brenda Booth

brendaboothkent@aol.com

01892740876

Individual

Patsy Sparksman

patsyyoga@aol.com

0208455 6366

Individual

Louise Cartledge

louise.cartledge@btinternet.com

01428 645825

Individual

Alan Brown

alan@dianalan.plus.com

01535637359

Individual

Diane Maimaris

dianegoldrei@googlemail.com

0208 883 2074

Individual

Sharon Klaff

sharon.klaff@btopenworld.com

07799626277

Deputy Secretary DHIYI

Deputy Treasurer MCIYI

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Committee members: Note: Committee chairs are in bold. Co-opted (ie. non-Executive Council) members are in italics.

Management Committee: Ros Bell, Alan Brown, Joe Burn, Di Clow, Philippe Harari, Judith Jones Planning: Ros Bell, Joe Burn, Alan Brown, Louise Cartledge, Di Clow, Philippe Harari, Judith Jones, Brenda Noble Nesbitt, Prabhakara, Andrea Smith Ethics and Certification: Ros Bell, Penny Chaplin, Judith Jones, Pen Reed, Judi Soffa, Judi Sweeting, Tig Whattler Assessment and Teacher Training: Margaret Austin, Debbie Bartholomew, Alan Brown, Julie Brown, Brenda Booth, Sheila Haswell, Meg Laing, Jayne Orton, Sasha Perryman Communications & Public Relations: John Cotgreave (IYN), Diane Goldrei (PR), Philippe Harari, Judith Jones (IYN), Sharon Klaff (IYN), Rachel Lovegrove (IYN), Lucy Osman (IYN), Andy Roughton (website), Archives/Research: Debbie Bartholomew Conventions/Events: Tessa Bull, Helen Graham, Patsy Sparksman Moderators: Richard Agar Ward, Margaret Austin, Brenda Booth, Tricia Booth, Julie Brown, Dave Browne, Penny Chaplin, Diane Coats, Sheila Haswell, Judith Jones, Meg Laing, Sasha Perryman, Elaine Pidgeon, Jayne Orton, Pen Reed, Judi Sweeting Professional Development Days Co-ordinator: Judi Sweeting Assessment Coordinator: Meg Laing Senior Intermediate Assessment Organiser: Jayne Orton Junior Intermediate Assessment Organiser: Sasha Perryman Introductory Assessment Organiser: Sheila Haswell Republic of Ireland Assessment Co-ordinator: Margaret Austin

Now that the IYA (UK) Office is being run between two people we need to ensure you are sending everything to the right address. Please send all convention and workshop bookings, assessment paperwork, invoices, expenses claims, cheques for Bellur directly to Jess Wallwork, Bookings and Finance Administrator IYA (UK), 15 West Grove, Bristol, BS6 5LS. Send everything else to Jo in the main office.

IMPORTANT - PLEASE NOTE A transfer of items has been lost in the Christmas post. If you sent assessment papers, cheques for Bellur or a convention booking to the main office during the last three weeks of December please can you contact Jess on 0117 307 9092 to confirm it has been received.

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EVENTS LISTINGS: YOUR GUIDE TO Avon Iyengar Yoga Institute Bob Philips yogabob@homecall.co.uk 0117 9639006

Bradford and District Iyengar Yoga Institute Alan Brown 01535 637357 alan@dianalan.plus.com

Cambridge Iyengar Yoga Institute Sasha Perryman - 01223 515929 sashaperryman@yahoo.co.uk www.cambridgeyoga.co.uk

Dorset and Hampshire Iyengar Yoga Institute Secretary - Ealine Rees - 01202 483951 www.DHIYI.co.uk

East of Scotland Iyengar Yoga Institute www.gwsiyi.org.uk

Please contact the events organiser for details of events and classes, or see the ‘events’ page on the IYA (UK) website: www.iyengaryoga.org.uk

Sunday 11 May, Saturday 12 July 2008, Saturday 13 September 2008, Saturday 1 November 2008 Greenacre Community Centre, Rawdon, Leeds Sallie Sullivan Cost: £8 Member / £12 non-member Contact: 01282 868378 / bdiyievents@btinternet.com

Sunday workshops with Sasha Perryman 10-1pm lunch 2 March, Intensive 21 - 24 March, 6 April 27 April, 25 May, 22 June

Please contact the events organiser, Kim Trowell on 01202 445049 for details of events and classes, or see the ‘events’ page on the IYA (UK) website: www.iyengaryoga.org.uk

Sun 6 April George Glen Fri 31 May & Sat 1 June Judi Sweeting Sun 28 May PD Day Nov Guruji's 90th Birthday celebration - details to be announced

Glasgow and West of Scotland Iyengar Yoga Institute

Please contact the events organiser for details of events and classes, or see the ‘events’ page on the IYA (UK) website: www.iyengaryoga.org.uk

www.gwsiyi.org

Institute of Iyengar Yoga in Sussex Brian Ingram www.iiys.org.uk 01444 236714; brianiyoga@tesco.net

Liverpool Iyengar Yoga Institute

13 April 2008 - Morning of Yoga with Brenda Booth followed by IIYS AGM at Washington Village Hall

19-20 July - Stephane Lalo, Brighton Natural Health Centre

15 Nov - Profeesional Development Day, Brighton Natural Health Centre

17 & 18 May 2008 Annie Ciekanski

Judi Soffa 0151 7094923 mail@yogastudio.f9.co.uk 62

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IYENGAR INSTITUTES IN THE UK Midland Counties Iyengar Yoga Institute www.mciyi.co.uk Brian Jack 01789 205322 wejacksis@btinternet.com

Manchester and District Institute of Iyengar Yoga Janice Yates www.iyengar-yoga-mcr.org.uk 01613 683614 mdiiyoga@amserve.net

North East Institute of Iyengar Yoga Gordon Austin 01915 487457 yoga@austinmg.wanadoo.co.uk

North East London Iyengar Yoga Institute www.neliyi.org.uk Nancy Clarke 0208 44 20617

Please contact the events organiser for details of events and classes, or see the ‘events’ page on the IYA (UK) website: www.iyengaryoga.org.uk

15 March – Debbie Bartholomew 28-31 March – Stephanie Quirk 17 May – Jayne Orton 7 June – First Aid Course 20 September – Julie Brown 24-27 October – Stephanie Quirk October – Christian Pisano Please contact the events organiser for details of events and classes, or see the ‘events’ page on the IYA (UK) website: www.iyengaryoga.org.uk

16 March 2008, Brigid Phillip, Harringay Club 27 April 2008, Susan Long, Harringay Cub 1 November 2008 PD day with Richard Agar Ward

nancyclarke@btinternet.com

Oxford and Region Iyengar Yoga Institute O . R . I . Y. I .

www.oriyi.org.uk Jenny Furby - 01264 324107 jennyfurby@btinternet.com

Sheffield and District Iyengar Yoga Association Dominic Batten 0114 264 9418 dombatten@aol.com

South West Iyengar Yoga Institute www.swiyengaryoga.ukf.net Jean Kutz 01872 572807 jean_kutz@hotmail.co.uk

Iyengar Yoga News No. 12 - Spring 2008

26 April 2008 - Marion Kilburn 12 July 2008 - Kirsten Agar Ward 1 November 2008 - Judi Sweeting and Tig Whattler Members £15 for half day am/pm or £25 for full day. £5 for day membership.

Please contact the events organiser for details of events and classes, or see the ‘events’ page on the IYA (UK) website: www.iyengaryoga.org.uk

15 March - Kirsten Agar Ward and 16th March - Richard Agar Ward - Penryn, Cornwall

30 & 31 May - Frances Homewood - Penryn, Cornwall 26 July - Kirsten Agar Ward 27 July - Richard Agar Ward - Penryn, Cornwall 27 September - Professional Development Day 28 September - Pen Reed - Chagford, Devon 4 October - Richard Agar Ward - Penryn, Cornwall 63

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Iyengar Yoga merchandise from Yogamatters Yogamatters is the official supplier chosen by the iya(uk). We supply a wide range of yoga mats, props, books and other media. Wholesale rates are available.

You can order online at www.yogamatters.com or by ‘phone 020 8888 8588 or by post to Yogamatters, 32 Clarendon Road, London, n8 0dj

Prashant Iyengar

The Alpha and Omega of Trikonasana

£6.99

BKS Iyengar

Archive Project 2007 (Limited Edition)

£19.99

BKS Iyengar

Art of Yoga (Indian edition back in print)

£10.99

BKS Iyengar

Astadala Yogamala Vol 1 – 5

BKS Iyengar

Tree of Yoga (Indian/us editions back in print)

£9.99

Prashant Iyengar

A ‘Class’ After a Class

£3.99

Prashant Iyengar

Guruji Uwach

£5.99

each: £9.99

Manouso Manos (ed)

Iyengar: His Life and Works

£12.99

BKS Iyengar

Iyengar Intensive at Estes Park (5 dvd set)

£69.99

BKS Iyengar

Iyengar Yoga for Beginners

Geeta Iyengar

Iyengar Yoga for Motherhood (due soon)

£16.99

Kofi Busia (ed)

Iyengar: The Yoga Master, Essays & Appreciations

£14.99

BKS Iyengar

Light on Life

£12.99

BKS Iyengar

Light on Pranayama

BKS Iyengar

Light on the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali

£12.99

BKS Iyengar

Light on Yoga

£14.99

Prashant Iyengar

Lyricised Yoga Sutras

Krishna Raman

A Matter of Health

£27.99

Prashant Iyengar

Prashant Uvacha

£9.99

Dr JT Shah

Therapeutic Yoga

£17.99

Geeta Iyengar

Yoga: A Gem for Women

£10.99

£9.99

£9.99

£4.99

Swati & Rajiv Chanchani Yoga for Children Geeta Iyengar

£10.99

Yoga In Action: Preliminary Course

Chris Saudek

Yoga Kurunta

BKS Iyengar

Yoga Rahasya Volume a + b

Geeta Iyengar

Yoga Sadhana: Mobility in Stability

BKS Iyengar

Yoga The Path to Holistic Health

£6.99 £12.99 set: £15.99 £4.99 £25.00

Various

Yogadhara

£10.99

Bobby Clennell

The Woman’s Yoga Book

£14.99

Wholesale rates available on all titles

Special offers and more titles online

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ADVERTISEMENTS

ADVERTISING in IYENGAR YOGA NEWS We only print quarter page adverts (80mm wide by 118mm high); you can either send the completed artwork (as a ‘press quality’ PDF, a high resolution JPEG or a QuarkXpress document) OR you can send the images (as high res. JPEGs) and wording and we will make the advert up for you. Please note: · Advertisements for yoga classes, events, holidays etc. - will be only be accepted from certificated Iyengar Yoga teachers · Advertisements for Yoga Centres will only be accepted from official Iyengar yoga organisations · Where yoga equipment is itemised in an advert, this will only be accepted for equipment which is used within the Iyengar method. The name ‘Iyengar’ must not be used as an adjective attached to specific items of equipment e.g. use ‘blocks for Iyengar practice’ rather than ‘Iyengar blocks’ etc. · Goods or services which are not used in yoga and/or which are not acceptable within the Iyengar method will not be advertised in IYN · Advertisements for other goods (e.g. Books/CD ROMS/videos) will only be published if they concern the Iyengar method or have otherwise been approved by the Ethics & Certification Committee of the IYA (UK) If you wish to advertise in the next issue of Iyengar Yoga News, please send all text, photographs or artwork by the next issue deadline of June 1st, 2008 to: jbcotgreave@hotmail.co.uk Advertising rates Circulation: 2800 Quarter page: £40; Small ads: 50p per word NB. the Editorial Board reserves the right to refuse to accept advertisements or parts of advertisements that are deemed to be at variance with the stated aims of the Iyengar Yoga Association (UK). IYA (UK) does not necessarily endorse any products etc. advertised in this magazine.

Iyengar Yoga News No. 12 - Spring 2008

S M A L L Y o g a

A D S

S u p p l i e s

Inexpensive INDIAN YOGA BELTS, BANDAGES, BOLSTER SETS, PRANAYAMA SETS, ROPES. Call 01225 319699 or e-mail kirsten@bath-iyengar-yoga.com for price list

A l g a r v e I y e n g a r Yo g a Summer Holidays / Winter & Spring Breaks Local Classes All Levels Welcome Further details: www.orangetreeyoga.com rachel@orangetreeyoga.com

Yoga Retreat in Camerino with Swati and Rajiv Chanchani 12th May 2008 - 17th May 2008 Iyengar Yoga Retreat in Camerino, Le Marche, Italy.

Two yoga classes a day, morning and evening, including asana, pranayama and philosophy.

To include 5 nights accommodation, daily vegetarian brunch, yoga tuition and two evening meals.

Travel to the venue, and insurance NOT included.

Cost: From £364 Contact: Katie Rutherford katie.rutherford@blueyonder.co.uk Tel: 0131 447 4708 65

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Instructional Iyengar Yoga DVD/Video

DO YOU NEED HELP TO PRACTICE YOGA AT HOME? ‘Practice and Enjoy’ with Julie Brown

Designed to help you practice yoga at home as well as in your class. For beginners and experienced students alike.

5 sessions of 15-20 minutes each.

Includes a relaxation session, plus limbering-in poses for the beginning of each session.

To order ‘Practice and Enjoy’ with Julie Brown or for fur ther information : 01625 879090 Julie.brownie@virgin.net £12.99 each plus P&P (Discounts for bulk orders) Julie Brown has taught for over 25 years and is a Qualified Senior Teacher of Iyengar Yoga

A fantastic combination of sunshine, Art, Cooking and Iyengar Yoga in the South of France with Iyengar yoga teacher Karen Stamper Accomodation, tuition, meals all inclusive Suitable for all levels from absolute beginners to regular practitioners Beautiful house, studio and swimming pool April – November 2008 Tel: 0044(0)1223 415654 Email: acy_holidays@yahoo.co.uk Website: www.acy-holidays.com 66

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GREEK ISLAND YOGA HOLIDAY WEST CRETE

with Iyengar Teacher Margaret Gunn-King 20th - 27th May 2008 Small friendly hotel (with fully equipped yoga studio) in the beautiful unspoilt Bay of Kissamos (Kestelli) with its quiet sandy beach,orange and olive groves.

Price ÂŁ410 includes accommodation, breakfast, 1 evening meal, airport transfers from Chania, guided walks, daily yoga programme.

Direct flights from Belfast and other UK airports.

For brochure/details contact Margaret at 028 25861202

e-mail; mcgk120@hotmail.com

Iyengar Yoga Institute of

Birmingham

Iyengar Yoga School, 120 Knockan Road, Broughshane BT43 7LE (N.I.)

I y e n g a r Yo g a H o l i d a y s 2 0 0 8 near Carcassonne, South West France

with Lois Shilton.

9th to 12th May 2008 12th to 15th September 2008 prices from ÂŁ265 per person

150 Westley Road, Acocks Green, Birmingham Tel. 0121 608 2229

21-24th March 08 - Easter Intensive With Jayne, Steve And Andrew

13th April 08 - Professional Development Day (Pregnancy And Childrens Classes)

9-11th May 08 - Christian Pisano and June Whittaker intensive course

9-16th August 08 - Portugal beginners/general intensive with Stephen Lamont / Andrew Hall

16-23rd August 08 - Portugal teachers intensive with Jayne Orton

w w w .i y e n g a r y o g a .u k .c o m

Iyengar Yoga News No. 12 - Spring 2008

This beautiful old farmhouse has fully equipped yoga studio and heated swimming pool. for more information please contact

Liz Elden 01371 875959 loisshilton@aol.com

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YOGAWEST Bristol Iyengar Yoga Centre

Directors: Gerry Chambers and Lynda Purvis

Rajiv Chanchani 3 day workshop 2 - 4 May 2008

Gerry Chambers and Lynda Purvis Yoga retreat Le Marche, Italy 28 June – 5 July 2008 Further details and booking forms at our website

www.yogawest.co.uk office@yogawest.co.uk 0 11 7 9 2 4 3 3 3 0

YOGA INTENSIVE AT PENPONT BRECON 2008 with Sasha Perryman (senior teacher) Friday March 14th class: Saturday & Sunday class: Recuperative & pranayama: Monday class: Cost: £265

4.30-6.30pm 8.30 – 11am 5-6.30pm 8-9.30am

Saturday August 16th – 22nd Sat class: 4.30-6.30pm Sun – Thurs: Classes: 9-11am 5-6.30pm Friday 8-9.30pm Cost: £435 Please bring your own towels and yoga equipment Deposit (non-refundable) of £50 required 6 wks prior to course commencement.

Balance of payment 2 wks before

CIYC 59 Norfolk Terrace Cambridge CB1 2NG Tel: 01223 515929 Email: sashaperryman@yahoo.co.uk

Eco-friendly cork bricks from £5 each

Mats Blocks Bricks Belts Bolsters Ropes Chairs Blankets

yogamatters.com 020 8888 8588

yoga mats & props [ yoga media [ yoga clothes [ yoga gifts

68

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Resting deep as wood My body is long as day Rest caresses like water spreads like Rivers in my limbs Limbs that have felt the sky touched the earth My back is breathing as a sea It sinks silently into the ground My mind an active stone recalling how every nook has opened up Stretched

Savasana

by Lisa Maimaris

Takes pleasure in this rewarding rest

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