Iyengar Yoga News - issue 6 - Spring 2005

IYENGAR YOGA N EWS

®

The magazine of the Iyengar Yoga Association of the United Kingdom

CELEBRATING GEETAJI’S 60th BIRTHDAY

ISSUE

NUMBER

6

-

SPRING

2005

IYENGAR YOGA ®

www.iyengaryoga.org.uk

ASSOCIATION (UK)

President: Yogacharya Sri B.K.S. Iyengar

IYENGAR ® YOGA N EWS - I ssue N o.6 - S pring 2 005 Editorial Board: Kirsten Agar Ward, Philippe Harari, Rachel Lovegrove, Helen Scarlett Printed by: Blueprint Press, Cambridge, on paper made using wood from sustainable forests and without the use of chlorine The photo on the back cover is from ‘The Free Press’, 27 June 1976 at the time of Guruji teaching in Ann Arbor, USA. Thanks to Mr C. Soni, Pune, for providing many of the other photographs used in this magazine. ® used with permission of BKS IYENGAR,Trade Mark Owner

E D I T O R I A L Welcome to the Spring 2005 issue of Iyengar Yoga News. It has been some time since you received the last issue because we have decided to change the publication dates to February and September. We filled the gap casued by this change with a special newsletter last November. We have also redesigned the magazine. We hope you find the new look easy to read and pleasing on the eye.

We have been trying for some time to find a way of printing Sanskrit words with the diacritical marks that indicate correct pronunciation. There have been enormous technical difficulties as no professionally designed PC font seems to have all the marks we need. Having located a font designed by a Sanskrit scholar at the University of Cambridge, we then had to modify it so that it did not look too dissimilar to the rest of the text, and then we had to find a way of getting the copy to the printers with the diacritical marks intact. We have reprinted Joe Burn’s guide to pronouncing words containing diacritical marks at the bottom of page 49.

Finally, we sincerely apologise to the Iyengars and to our readers for publishing the review of a book by E. Kadetsky in the last issue of IYN. The Editorial Board made a mistake in publishing this review; after the magazine came out it was drawn to our attention that Kadetsky’s book is deeply flawed. It contains numerous inaccuracies, untruths, misinterpretatons and misleading information that was never verified by the author. IYN and IYA (UK) wish to dissociate themselves from this book and make it clear that we do not recommend it.

INTRODUCING OUR ADMINISTRATOR Hi everyone!

Just a few lines to introduce myself to you. Here’s me contemplating another heady year of renewals! I have been on board with IYA (UK) for just over a year now and in that time have had my left leg lengthened 2 and a quarter inches, moved house (and office) and had a 60 foot Poplar tree fall on the new place! It has been rather an eventful ride so far - I think you must all have seen me coming. The office is getting busier as more teachers qualify and join IYA (UK); we have 805 teachers at last count with a few more who newly qualified in October still to join. The non-teacher membership is growing daily as more and more people discover the benefits of Iyengar Yoga and get in touch to find classes near to them. Now the office is well established, a quick plea to everyone just to remind you all to get your renewals in to me as quickly as you can so we can keep the process as efficient as possible. If anyone needs any help with their renewal or has any queries relating to anything else to do with IYA, please don’t hesitate to e-mail: admin@iyengaryoga.org.uk or give me a call: 020 8997 6029 and leave a message if you get the answer machine - I will get back to you within 48 hours.

Here’s to 2005 and another year with IYA (UK) and thank you to everyone for making me feel so very welcome.

Leza

Copy deadline for next issue (IYN no. 7): 1st July 2005 IYN No. 7 will focus on “Yoga and Children” and will be published in September 2005 Articles, letters, adverts, photographs and illustrations should be sent to: IYA (UK) c/o Leza Hatchard 23 Queens Walk, Ealing, London W5 1TP telephone: 020 8997 6029 admin@iyengaryoga.org.uk

C 8 10 21 26 32 40 42

2 6 22 24 28 61 30 38 44 45 46 48 49 50 51 52 54 55 56

O

N

T

E

N

T

ARTICLES Guruji: profile of a Yogi Kirsten and Richard Agar Ward present Part 1 of an occasional series: ‘Charity’ Interview with Prashantji Interviewed at the RIMYI in October 2004 The Blind Way to Insight Prashant S. Iyengar writes about the use of bandages in àsana and pràõàyàma The Power to Change Richard Agar Ward describes how yoga can make an unexpected difference to the world Going to Pune Kirsten Agar Ward offers a practical guide for visitors to the RIMYI in Pune The Laughing Policeman Lorraine McConnon describes teaching Iyengar yoga to the Metropolitan Police Modern Yoga Mark Singleton reviews ‘A History of Modern Yoga’ by Elizabeth De Michelis

S

REPORTS Birthdays and Bellur Judith Jones describes her trip to Geetaji’s 60th burthday celebrations and to Bellur village First Impressions of Pune Helen Scarlett describes her first visit to India on the occasion of Geetaji’s 60th birthday “Attention is the Non-O Oscillation of Awareness” - What?

Debbie Bartholomew reports on the IYA (UK) convention - Manchester, Spring 2004 A Weekend with Hanuman Philip Brown reports on the IYA (UK) convention - Reading, Autumn 2004 The Yoga Show Ally Hill and Sheila Haswell report on The Yoga Show, Olympia, November 2004 Justin Langer’s visit to RIMYI A photographic record MISCELLANEOUS Events Listings: your guide to Iyengar Institutes in the UK Classes at RIMYI: details and application form Yoga Rahasya: details and application form IYA (UK) Merchandise IYA (UK) Announcements: Financial Report; Final LOYA (UK) Accounts; Archives; Public Relations; Website;Teachers’ Seminar; Iyengar Yoga Development Fund; 2005 IYA (UK) Conventions; AGM Agenda A Wider Perspective Joe Burn reports on a couple of recent initiatives The Yoga Fellowship (UK) Professional Development Days 2005: Judi Sweeting explains the 2005 programme to teachers Letters from Readers IYA (UK) Executive Council Assessment Congratulations Teacher Trainers and Courses Autumn 2004 Advertisements

BIRTHDAYS AND BELLUR On 6th December 2004, Geetaji celebrated her 60th birthday. At the same time 500 yoga students from all over the world were arriving in Pune to show their respect for this great lady and celebrate her special birthday by practising yoga together. Geetaji had generously offered to conduct classes for as many students as possible. Judith Jones, current Chair of the IYA (UK), was there. She also paid a visit to Bellur, the South Indian village in which Guruji was born and where he is currently undertaking some major projects.

T

he largest hall in Pune had been hired for the event but even so the floor became a patchwork of mats laid edge to edge to accommodate everyone. To make more space to lie down in pràõàyàma classes some even scaled a ladder to use the flat roof of the toilet block at the back of the hall! Geetaji asked us not fight with our neighbours but to make room for all and somehow we managed it. She thanked us for coming for her birthday.

Geetaji arrived each day with a beaming smile and greeted us with namaskar. She looked very well. The course was called Yoga Sàdhanà. She explained that sàdhanà is not merely ‘practice’, despite its English translation, but contains something more.There needs to be a complete gravitation towards inner evolution or improvement. Despite injury or limitations (which she has) sàdhanà has to continue and total involvement and full presence of body, mind and soul are required. Practice can be just on the surface but to be a Yoga Sàdhanà “the inclination has to be there to go deeper inside to reach the very soul.”

Geetaji at Guruji’s 86th birthday celebrations in Pune Iyengar Yoga News 6 - Spring 2005

Sàdhanà can be divided into three: bahiraïga sàdhanà; outer, antaranga sàdhanà; inner and antaràtmà sàdhanà;

innermost. All stages are necessary but we need to start with bahiraïga sàdhanà even if we have been practising for many years. We need to be like beginners and watch with fresh awareness as we “invite the skin, muscles, bones, eyes, ears, inner organic body to do sàdhanà”. We need to be involved in bahiraïga to reach antaràtmà. As we learn to culture our cells through bahiraïga sàdhanà then antaranga sàdhanà is possible to a degree and then antaràtmà sàdhanà to a lesser degree. But penetration has to begin from the outside and we have to give it time, like eating food; first we take time chew and swallow and then digest. Then we need time for absorption and then time for assimilation before we can get energy from the food.Yoga too has to be given time to penetrate deeper and to be absorbed and assimilated so the life inside can be known. There are many obstacles to practice so we have to be ready with mind, intelligence, “the whole cellular body in a state of attention without tension, quiet within, ready to catch”. We shouldn’t just collect teaching points but understand why certain instructions are given and what the effect is.

Every day Guruji would appear during the class, weaving between us, pointing out our inattention, our lack of awareness, our inability to observe, challenging us to concentrate and penetrate more and more. Guruji and Geetaji teaching together meant that instructions came fast, tumbling over each other, so we had to be quick and alert to catch them. Guruji told us not to be aggressive and muscular in our àsanas like the photos in many yoga magazines! He said that yoga has become a physical culture instead of a spiritual culture. Yoga should teach “gracefulness”. There should be an “inner elegance, a graceful stretch to the skin”.We have to use our eyes and the thinking front brain to observe alignment of an àsana, but we have to make this analytical, aggressive brain to recede to allow the reflective back brain to perceive.

Guruji told us to observe the rotation of the thigh in 2

unnecessary thoughts, the false imprints. We have to watch everything in the pose - muscle, bone, skin, mind to reach that part of àsana, the very core, the sanctum sanctorum, where we reach the soul. Instruction from Guruji in adho mukha ÷vànàsana was to “coil the skin circularly towards the bone. All the fibres of the flesh in contact to the bone, from buttock towards the heel coil circularly so the flesh can feel the bones”.

Guruji standing by the bust of Ramamani outside the Patanjali temple in Bellur, having performed the Mangala Såtra trikoõàsana from the back of the thigh and to come out

of the pose with attention in the back body to keep the meditative quality. When we pressed the inner wrist in adho mukha ÷vànàsana the reflective brain had to observe the effect, the transformation that takes place in the body. Eyes, brain and mind have to become one to allow change. We are then able to remove the sa§skàras, the imprints, and “then we have to remove the new ones!!” The poses have to be done from the âtman not the brain - “bring the soul everywhere, bring the Self everywhere”. Just ‘doing’ is practice. “Sàdhanà means to bring intelligence so you straighten the arms to bring knowledge and emancipation”. Geeta told us to “push the bottom middle shin to straighten the leg in adho mukha ÷vànàsana - is the brain silent? - this is spiritual practice. There is mental control and the mind is brought to a state of pause with no fluctuation. As soon as you bend the leg the mind wanders. Heaviness and tension are immediately felt”. To go inside is purification.

Geeta explained that people who go to the temple circulate around and around the temple, 3 times, 8 times, maybe 108 times to forget about everything else so they think only of the god inside. This is called parikrama circumambulation. The process focuses the mind and brings about parikarma - cleansing. Then they can enter the sanctum sanctorum with a pure mind. So too in àsana we have to go around the body, doing a parikrama of the body with the mind and awareness, finding out how to cleanse everywhere, to get rid of all the impurities and Iyengar Yoga News 6 - Spring 2005

The five days were action-packed with afternoons spent with Geetaji chanting the slokas of the Yoga Såtras and the 108 names of Patanjali, followed by early evening pràõàyàma. We all laid within the confines of our overlapping mats, arms or legs interlocked with our neighbours, feet touching other feet or heads, but it didn’t matter. Geeta’s teaching of pràõàyàma took us so much inside that nothing else existed. She has a gift for conveying in words the sincerity, the depth, the emotion of her own pràõàyàma practice, so that we too can experience new depths, and the clarity of her àsana teaching enables everyone to elevate their practice. Geetaji’s humility, dedication, love and generosity in giving so much from her heart touches and inspires us all. Guruji’s fire, stature, insight is awesome and unique. He stands at the summit while we stumble at the foothills, yet tirelessly he shares with us the richness and illumination of his lifetime’s sàdhanà.

The closing of the course seemed to come much too quickly and I think everyone felt a little emotional.

However this was also a time for celebration as the

The school in Bellur 3

be no floral presentations or gifts given for their birthdays but that charitable donations to the Trust should be made instead. It is Guruji’s desire to complete as much of his vision for Bellur as possible in his lifetime.

The house in Bellur in which Guruji was born

1000 year-old statue of Hanuman

following day was 14th December - Guruji’s 86th birthday.We dressed up in our finery and assembled for a birthday garden party with speeches, a slide presentation about Bellur, felicitations and a meal. A very touching part of the evening was when Guruji’s most long term student paid respects to him - Geetaji knelt at her father’s feet and presented him with flowers.

Two days later some 60 of us set off for the small South Indian village of Bellur - Guruji’s birthplace. Guruji has initiated an ambitious project in Bellur to bring many benefits to the villagers and people of the surrounding area. Guruji himself has already given a great deal of money to re-furbish the primary school in the centre of the village, adding a yoga room and this year he has financed a temple construction which includes the first temple in India dedicated to Patanjali, and another to Hanuman. Last year a Government approved charitable Trust was established and has already received donations from individuals and associations to help further developments. So there is now a community space with a health centre, a well has been drilled to supply a 50,000 litre water tank which provides the village with clean water, and 15 acres of building land have been purchased. This land is the site for a girl’s high school, a technical school, a yoga hall and hospital, all to be funded by the Trust. Guruji has just decided to donate his 60% of the Certification Mark money collected from the UK this year to the Bellur Trust. Guruji and Geetaji also requested that there should Iyengar Yoga News 6 - Spring 2005

We arrived in Bellur in our three buses just before dark and were inquisitively welcomed by the villagers. Guruji was greeted with warmth and respect, the children playfully touching his feet. He is quite a superstar in the community now! Until recently no-one in Bellur even knew such a great man had been born in their village.We were quickly given a tour to see the sights - the now derelict house where Guruji was born and the humble house where he lived as a young boy, the water tower, the remains of an ancient temple, the school with the yoga room, and the temple complex, which was now lit up with multi-coloured lights like Christmas decorations at home, but with palm trees in the background. We then piled back into the buses and were taken to meet local government officials who had arranged a function where we were the VIP’s on an outdoor stage, Guruji’s students from all over the world! Then off again by bus to be given a wonderfully colourful meal served on green banana leaves. After creamy ice-cream we were bussed to our hotel for the night. In bed by midnight we were to leave by 7 the next morning to join in and watch the religious ceremonies at Bellur.

On 31st October 2004 ritual ceremonies took place at Bellur to install the Patanjali idol in the temple. Our visit to Bellur was to witness the culmination of these cere-

The Patanjali temple in Bellur 4

monies, Mahamandala Abhishek, which included pujas to Patanjali, to Hanuman and a symbolic re-enactment of the ceremony Rama made towards Sita after Sita’s death, where he tied the Mangala Såtra around the “form” of Sita. Guruji performed the same act by re-tying the Mangala Såtra (which has the same symbolism as a wedding ring) around a statue of his wife Ramamani. It was fascinating to watch the ceremonial cleansing of the idols and the offering of oil, gee, turmeric, incense, fruit, coconut, garlands, scarves.... The beautifully carved 1000 year old Hanuman idol has now been restored. It is the idol that Guruji would have seen as a boy, which directly faced the house where he lived until he was 9 years old, when he moved to Bangalore. Now it is housed in its own temple. It was a real privilege to be there with Guruji. I marvelled at how that little Indian boy from such a poor and isolated community had managed to become the great man we hold in such admiration, love and respect today.

An impromptu yoga class: trikoõàsana

The ceremonies lasted until 4.30 - eight hours. At one point we tried to join in with the 108 chants to Patanjali that we had practised with Geeta. During the afternoon I took a break to wander again around the village. I took photos of the school with its colourful paintings of anatomy, numbers, fruits etc on its walls for lessons outside. I climbed the steps up to the yoga room accompanied by some girls with the door key.Then followed one of the loveliest interludes of the day - an impromptu yoga class. I asked if they did yoga - no response. So I showed them Tree Pose - they all shouted “vçkùàsana!” and

proceeded to do the pose in their dresses, grinning from ear to ear. Shy at first now they enthusiastically showed me garuóàsana. I showed trikoõàsana and they all chanted the name and did the pose - and so we continued ...... ardha chandràsana, prasàrita pàdotànàsana - laughing through their legs at me, padmàsana, simhàsana with a roar..... It was delightful.

They all did namaskar when we finished and then smiling and giggling crowded round and one by one shook me by the hand.

The day ended sitting cross-legged on matting under colourful decorated awnings erected over the site outside the Patanjali temple, eating with my fingers from a dried banana leaf plate in a remote Indian village - a memory indeed.Then sadly I had to say my farewell to Guruji and the people of Bellur.......... and to India as I flew back home C to the UK.

Performing offerings to Patanjali Iyengar Yoga News 6 - Spring 2005

If you would like to make a donation - however small - to the Bellur project, you may send a cheque made out to IYA(UK) to the Administrator, Leza Hatchard, 23 Queens Walk, Ealing, London W5 1TP. Please state that the cheque is for the Bellur Trust and enclose a stamped self-aaddressed envelope if you require a receipt. Donations will be collected and forwarded to the Bellur Trust. A list of donors’ names will be kept to send on to Guruji.

5

FIRST I MPRESSIONS O F P UNE Helen Scarlett’s first visit to India was a trip to Pune in December 2004 on the occasion of Geetaji’s 60th birthday celebrations.

She describes her first experience of being taught by the Iyengars

I

n December I travelled to Pune, with five other Sheffield yoga practitioners, to attend Geeta Iyengar’s 60th Birthday celebration. This was my first experience of being taught by the Iyengars and my first time in India.The first things that struck me about India were the heat and the unique smell. I got used to both very swiftly. I felt welcomed by the courtesy and interest of the people who greeted us at the airport and our hotel. Having a smooth landing in India takes a bit of prior organisation, and we were fortunate that our plans went so smoothly.

(We did all have to sleep on the hotel conference room floor when we first arrived, but we looked on that as an opportunity to bond as a group!)

After 24 hours of acclimatisation we were straight into Geeta’s Birthday celebration programme of classes. I was expecting the classes to be hard work, and I was not mistaken. It was immediately obvious that the teaching was at a level of detail and subtlety that I had not experienced before. Even in the first session we were given new ways of working in fairly ‘basic’ àsanas, which I could tell would have quite a radical impact on they way we practise them. Holding or repeating àsanas (sometimes up to eight times) was essential in practising and absorbing

these refinements. I was glad to have some of the sticking points in my own practice clarified, and even to hear some of the discoveries I have made confirmed back to me.

I found Geeta’s approach to teaching very conducive from the start. She is firm and can certainly be critical if you fail to follow instructions, but from the very beginning she showed a sincere empathy with our inability to reach perfection. This was reassuring and I felt very grateful for her realism. I can’t help thinking that the work she has done in coping with her own health problems has born this fruit in her teaching. At a certain point during each morning àsana class, Mr Iyengar would arrive and join in the teaching. I found this a little jarring to start with, as they seem to have quite different teaching styles. We had to be quite on the ball to keep up with the switches, and adapt to whoever might be speaking next. I have to admit that at first I found this difficult, however as the days went on I began to take this in my stride and began to see our two teachers as complementary. And for all of the stern instructions, no one chastised me for coming out of certain àsanas early. Self-will can take you so far, but I was happy to hear Mr Iyengar say that it is better to be in an ‘aligned’ àsana for ten seconds than to stay in a poor posture.

Geetaji and Guruji in Pune, November 2004 Iyengar Yoga News 6 - Spring 2005

6

There was so much to take in that I hardly know where to start in relaying what we learned. There were some very practical instructions that were new to me - such as stretching up with the metatarsals in inversions. I was amazed at how this adjustment of the angle of my feet could increase the feeling of stability and lightness in ÷ãrùàsana. Likewise we spent a lot of time in årdhva dhanuràsana rolling our big toenails to the floor to spread the backs of the legs and free up the tail bone.

But a particular favourite of mine was the use of the idea of ‘circumambulation’ - parikrama I think the Sanskrit word is. Just as you might circumambulate the shrine in a temple, we were encouraged to circumambulate our àsanas, to keep our consciousness circulating around the pose leaving no area of the internal body untouched.

Another very touching and simple piece of instruction came from Mr Iyengar, I remember him saying that àsana cannot be done with strength; it must be done with “grace” - beautiful and also very helpful in the attempt to stop the internal struggle of a pose. It was clear that physical work is not the point here.We were certainly encouraged to train our bodies to be strong and powerful (Sakti yoga), but told that we must then bring “intelligence” or consciousness to the àsanas (Yukti yoga). Finally we were told that “devotion” or love must enter our practice (Bhakti yoga). It was clear that the Iyengars see yogàsanas not simply as a way to align our physical bodies, but as a way to align our whole selves with something greater; “our inner worlds with our outer worlds”

The yoga hall at Geetaji’s birthday celebrations Iyengar Yoga News 6 - Spring 2005

The statue of Patanjali overlooking Geetaji’s classes

until “the individual becomes universal”. I don’t believe I can have taken in half of the teaching we were given, it was just a continual stream through all the classes. But thankfully my Institute has invested in the CD-ROMs of the full course and we look forward to watching them together for years to come.

For me, the true benefit of these àsana classes became apparent in our daily practice of pràõàyàma. I have a background of meditation practice and really enjoyed the opportunity to sit (or lie in ÷avàsana), for an hour and a half, with 500 other people, simply watching our breath.

The fact that I could sit with no discomfort, and that the time flew by, was no doubt due to the rigorous àsana preparation. The calm and space we created was an absolute delight. Again Geeta’s gentle but precise teaching struck a real cord - I cannot forget the words (in her fabulous Indian accent) “Long smooth inhalation…..Long smooth exhalation...”

My favourite things about being in India were the sweet masala chai, beautiful and vibrant clothing, and the almost consistent friendliness from Indian people.The things that were predictably difficult were the poverty, street children and taxi drivers not having maps. I left India with a new appreciation of the depth of yoga practiced by the Iyengar family, and the fact that the aim of Iyengar yoga is sincerely spiritual. I also bring home with me a real sense of respect and warmth toward Geetaji for her kindness.To celebrate her birthday, she chose to give rather than to receive. C 7

GURUJI: P ROFILE O F A Y OGI Part 1: CHARITY. This is the first part of an occasional series by Kirsten and Richard Agar Ward taking a look at Guruji: a yogi in all respects.The way Guruji lives his life is a shining example of how we should strive to live in a yogic way. As Geetaji has told us, we should imitate Guruji, not just in posture but in character, his devotion to yoga and his philosophy of life. We would like to use this series to help you to get to know Guruji the man.

B

y now you should all have heard of ‘The Bellur Krishnamachar Seshamma Samaraka Nidhi Trust’, a charitable foundation set up by Guruji to help the inhabitants of his native village, Bellur, in Karnataka. (see IYN no. 5 or www.bksiyengar.com for more details). But you may not be aware of the fact that Guruji’s charitable works stretch back decades. His generosity is expressed not only in his teaching but in all aspects of his life. Guruji sets us an example of how we can live a yogic life, not only in the practice room, but in all respects. He is a great humanitarian, truly compassionate, a man of deeds rather than words and he is emphatic that there cannot be spirituality without morality. Guruji says in the introduction to Light on Yoga “Practice of àsanas without the backing of yamas and niyamas is mere acrobatics.” He considers them the essential basis of yoga. In his own life he has strictly adhered to them. For example, asteya (not stealing, taking more than one needs) and aparigraha (not hoarding, absence of greed for possessions beyond one’s need) are demonstrated not only in the fact that although he is no longer a poor man, he still leads a simple life, but also in his willingness, and that of his family, to freely give their personal possessions to those less fortunate. For example, he was very generous to the 2001 earthquake victims in Kutch, Gujerat. Anything new which his family had - jeans, shawls etc. - had to go. Abhijata Sridar, one of his granddaughters, writes “Generosity and helping others are an intrinsic part of his nature.

Some of the best things that he possessed have been given away in charity. After the earthquake in Gujarat in January 2001, he gave away some of the most cherished things that we possessed without a second thought.”

also of compassion - in Yoga Sutras I, 33 Patanjali tells us to cultivate compassion towards those who suffer as a means to overcome the obstacles to yoga. Guruji amply demonstrates these qualities. His compassion is demonstrated in his everyday willingness to help his teachers and pupils, in practice and in class, as well as in his generosity in charitable works.

Guruji has made innumerable and generous charitable donations. Just one example throws light on his generosity.

On 19th June 1967 an address by members of the Vidyamandir-Bellur Panchayat and residents of Bellur village to Guruji noted the following humanitarian contributions since 1961: · Bhoodan (Rupees (Rs) 1,000) · Famine relief Fund (Rs 25,000) · Pune Flood relief (Rs 1,000) · Development of Village Ramagiri (Rs 6,000) · Christian Charity Fund (Rs 1,500) · Famine relief in Bihar (Rs 24,500) · Vidya Mandir at Bellur (Rs 16,750) Since then there have been countless others to add to that list. No one knows how many donations he has made over the years to charitable causes. He certainly does not keep a record nor brag about it - he simply gives.

“Giving does not impoverish and withholding does not enrich.”

BKS Iyengar

From the yoga scriptures point of view Charity can be seen as an expression of the first yama, ahi§sà (love), and Iyengar Yoga News 6 - Spring 2005

What is more he does not only express his charity in gifts, generous and selfless though these are, but also he gives himself through his own personal effort. Thus he has conducted over 15,000 solo yoga demonstrations to create interest in yoga in the public and the proceeds of many of them he has selflessly given away. At his first financial opportunity, back in 1968, Guruji helped his native Bellur village build its very first primary school building (at a cost of Rs 70, 000) in memory of his father Krishnamachar and his mother Seshamma. He has also given numerous demonstrations to raise funds for human8

itarian and cultural activities - such as his benefit demonstration in 1973 for Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, London which promotes Indian culture and in 1967 a yoga demonstration performed by Guruji and pupils to raise money for the Bihar Drought Relief Fund. He has donated proceeds from demonstrations to the Diabetic Association, leprosy charities, cancer research and many educational institutions.You may not realise that many Iyengar Institutes have sprung up as a result of the funds that he has generated from public lecture demonstrations - the proceeds were given to him and he promptly donated them back. Mostly the proceeds of his demonstrations and classes are handed over to the local organisations in such cases. For example, he donated the proceeds of many of his teaching tours in the UK to institutes, such as the Iyengar Yoga Institute (Maida Vale), to help them carry on their work. Similarly in India on 18th December 1993, shortly after his 75th birthday, he gave a demonstration in Mumbai with pupils and gave the funds collected from it to the acquisition of the Iyengar Yoga Institute building in Mumbai.

Guruji has eschewed financial gain and spent most of his life teaching us ordinary people. He is not motivated by greed for money nor for rest, and he continues to work tirelessly. Treating patients with acute and chronic diseases is clearly not done for money - it takes a lot of time and energy for a very few, when there’s a long waiting list for regular classes. Furthermore Guruji gave free classes for many years at the weekends at North Kota Hindu orphanage in Mumbai. As a Pune newspaper article (20.08.76) notes: “The Institute (RIMYI) functions with a strong sense of social commitment. Students are not barred if they cannot afford the fees”. We would all do well to remember his advice to teachers about charging for yoga classes: “It doesn’t matter what you charge, but make sure you give more than you receive” - a good example of asteya in practice.This advice can apply to all people in all walks of life.

Guruji’s actions fully reflect his understanding of charity and his deep understanding of ahi§sà, satya, asteya, C bramacharya and aparigraha in turn.

Guruji himself does not publicise what he gives. Until recently even the residents of Bellur didn’t know who he was, and weren’t even aware that it was he who had built the school there as it was in the name of his parents. Since building the school, he has recently constructed a yoga hall and community centre complex for Bellur which can be used by the villagers for social and family functions.

Another example of his generosity of spirit came at the centre’s inauguration when he gave a lunch for 5,000 people. Despite the fact that he had been up for puja at 4.30 am he did not eat until after they had finished. He has also set up a library there and given numerous books, including priceless original albums from Light on Yoga. He gives the children of Bellur annual medals and awards for school and yoga studies to encourage them. He has also renovated the village’s Temple of Hanuman - it had been neglected and the village community couldn’t afford to pay for its maintenance and upkeep. It was the very temple where his father took Darshan twice every day, many decades ago. On 31st October this year he inaugurated the very first Patanjali temple in the world which he has had constructed in Bellur.

Guruji’s generosity is expressed not only in his charitable donations but also in his teaching. He gives himself in his tireless efforts to teach us and to help those with health problems. Teaching is Guruji’s dharma not just a way to earn a living. Despite what to the rest of us might have been the temptation to teach only the rich and famous Iyengar Yoga News 6 - Spring 2005

Guruji outside the Patanjali temple in Bellur, November 2004 9

INTERVIEW WITH PRASHANTJI Prashant S. Iyengar was interviewed in October 2004 by Richard and Kirsten Agar Ward

P

rashantji we’d like to conduct an interview with a view to publication in “Iyengar Yoga News” which is the magazine of the Iyengar Yoga Association (UK). And probably only a small proportion of the readers have been to Pune and probably they don’t know your teaching, your classes, so we think the readers would find your ideas very interesting and we’d like to relay them to help them in their practice.

yoga. So if it is a yogàsana it must be leading towards a yogic state. An impor tant thing for you and me commoners who have not attained yoga, who are students of yoga, we must attain neutrality, tranquillity, virginity, sublimity, nobility, these noble qualities of mind.

So yogàsanas are those postures which help you turn out that state of mind.

Which Patanjali specifically mentions.

Prashantji: About interview. What is an interview? It should be an inter-view. I cannot be giving my inter-view to people I don’t know or lay people…we speak our hearts to people we know very well. This word interview has that meaning. You can’t expect someone to give an interview - a pressman comes and says I want an interview. Secondly it should be “inter-view” another meaning of interview. And in that case, both should be on the same level. So you and me can be having an interview as students of Guruji, exchange thoughts, whatever. So that word in English I somehow don’t like it. What it means or what it should mean would be completely different than interview. Prashant’s view.

Somebody’s view. OK proceed.

OK, the first question. At the beginning of the classes you’ve been talking about how the poses are starkly physical and you’ve been showing us various methods to progress forward from that.

Yes. See it’s a very simple thing. âsanas are one of the eight limbs, and they are called yogàsanas. They are not postures. ‘This is a posture’ it has been wrongly translated into English. It is a problem of that language. They are àsanas and they don’t mean postures. They are yogàsanas. What is yoga? Yoga is restraint, of mind, mental fluctuations. So if you do a posture which is heading towards, leading towards a yogic state. Merely assuming a physical posture, a physical contortion is not Iyengar Yoga News 6 - Spring 2005

Yes he says “Sthira sukham àsanam prayatna ÷aithilya ananta sàmapattibhyàm” [Yoga Sutra II 46-47] ananta sàmapattibhyàm - is a meditative state, engrossment in the infinite. So it must be a posture which facilitates the process of meditativity.

He mentions Sthira sukham àsanam . He says that the postures should be very firm in the body, very steady in the mind and giving a sense of benevolence and that’s something we miss out on...

True.

...this benevolence.

We remember the body, we may even remember the mind, but often the benevolence is forgotten.

True, yes. So it is steadiness of body, mind and both. It is sukham, benevolence of body, mind and both.That has to be attained through àsanas. So our endeavours should be in that direction. Now usually a student makes an endeavour in àsana in attaining a posture, attain the contortion. Then maintain the contortion for a longer time. Or they have the tolerance to suffer for a longer time and he doesn’t go for peace, comfort, tranquillity, all those qualities.

What he goes for is ‘When will the teacher say to come up? I’m going to hang on. I’m going to stay until the teacher says to come up.’

10

Yes, that is true.

So there’s a kind of grip. Immediately you get into the grip in the àsana.

Yes and that’s why if you have seen, observed in some classes I have not said “Come up and change the side”, I have said “Go on your own”. Because you evolve your pose. When you have evolved your pose it is the time you should know how to undo the pose.You can’t undo the pose anytime, anywhere in any condition.What is the use in undoing the pose when the pose is rotten, or inefficacious, or ineffective and even negatively effective. You stay there. Your whole might is put in and then you stay, stay, stay, stay. You are about to die and then you come up! That is not the time to come up! You are anyway going to come up helplessly, hopelessly, haplessly.That’s not the process of coming up. Just as you go with a positive mind, the execution of trikoõàsana - how do you go? You go with that proper observation, proper restraint and observances are taken care of. But when we come up, we come up helplessly, haplessly, hopelessly or when the teacher says come up, we come up.

Yes. Now, if àsanas have techniques on the plane of body, body techniques are there, skeleto-muscular techniques are there.There are also techniques on the plane of senses, and there are techniques on the plane of mind.

If you apply them then you will get a more composite effect of an àsana. So there are techniques of senses.

Like pratyàhàra. Pratyàhàra is a complete technology of senses. And Patanjali speaks about those techniques these effects and those should be applied. If àsana has to be meditative how can you say that there should be no pratyàhàra but go to meditation?

Yes. Do you follow? Because that’s one of the links. Actually it is the threshold between external practices and internal practices. So how can I say “Enter my house without crossing the threshold”? It’s not possible. So it’s a simple logic that if you are going to evolve meditativity in an àsana you have to see that you touch the pratyàhàric aspects also. How do we touch? So that’s called Sensology. Senses. How to use the senses. What to do with senses. If you have heard my set of five cassettes on “Sensology and Organology”. Our eyes are not merely meant to see. Our eyes can worry. Our eyes can speak. Our eyes can emit love, can emit anger. Everything can be done by the eyes. So the eyes are not just cameras, receiving the images and giving the image to the brain. It’s not just perception.They are motor organs, they are cognitive organs. They can speak, they can make gestures. They can make you understand. They have a language. They have a language of love, hatred, aversion, dislikes whatever, whatever. So the eyes are doing so many functions, why not eyes meditate? Eyes can meditate. Eyes can be pensive. See when you are worried, eyes show the worry. When you are thinking, eyes show the thinking.

When you are pensive, eyes show the pensivity. Why not understand there is a meditative technique of the eyes also?

‘I have done sufficient trikoõàsana on the right side, let me come up.’

Not gracefully.

That’s not the way to undo a pose.You have to undo in a proper state of mind.

Not gracefully. But we come up because the teacher has said or because we can’t stay any more.

Or we come up because there is nothing to stay for and that’s why we come up (laughs)

Exhaustion.

Exhaustion, or there is nothing to explore, there is nothing, no creativity, you might be able to stay physically.

And there is no point in staying, it’s a boredom, or you come with a disgust. ‘I have done sufficient trikoõàsana on the right side, let me come up.’ That’s not the way to undo a pose.You have to undo in a proper state of mind.

One of the things you were talking about was how you can use your eyes to change your mind. I found that very interesting. Can you expand on that?

Iyengar Yoga News 6 - Spring 2005

So how to use the senses nobly is a technique given in the first chapter by Patanjali where he speaks of process of mind purification, 31-32 onward. He speaks about like exhalation, retention, pràõàyàma, there “Viùayavatã và 11

pçavrttiþ utpannà manasaþ sthiti nibandhanã. Interact

with the object in such a way that it will enoble your mind. So if you look at a lotus flower in a florist’s shop how do you look at it? If you look at that same flower in your beloved’s house, how do you look at it? If you look at the flower in a temple, how do you look at it? It’s the same flower but the way of looking at it is different.

Because the meaning is different.

Yes. So you can crazily look at a flower or you can nobly look at a flower. How do you look at a flower nobly? So looking at a flower you can enoble the mind, looking at a flower you can make your mind crazy, you can make your mind delirious. You can make it passionate. So there is a technique to make the mind noble by looking at the rose.

That is the sensory technique.

And Patanjali covers that.

Yes.

Very interesting. From the point of view of our readers who haven’t been in the class how would you explain how to do that practically when doing yogàsanas

remember your eyes go up.You are trying to remember the past, your eyes go up. Because the past records are here! It’s our mysticism. So then your eyes go up, or when you are brooding your eyes are down. When you are meditating your eyes go back. So hind eye awareness, outer eye awareness, inner eye awareness.

So you should start feeling àsanas. Trikoõàsana, when you start feeling, your eyes are different than if you are trying to see your trikoõàsana. Suppose you are doing right in front of a mirror. Then look at the image, reflection, in the mirror, you look in one way. But if you imagine, what is my back doing? How is my spine, shoulder blades, buttock bones? So if you try to think of the pose you do get different eyes.

“Viùayavatã và pçavrttiþ utpannà manasaþ sthiti nibandhanã.”

Interact with the object in such a way that it will enoble your mind.

The other methods of your perception - you also talk about how first when you do the pose the mind and the breath serve the body and then gradually the breath changes and comes to serve the mind. So you can use the breath a bit like a sense organ.

Yes.

Close-up, microsopic.

It’s partly an organ of action and partly an organ of perception.

And on this subject of how the transformation from the body to the mind takes place, how can we structure our practice to facilitate this transformation? For example in the class last night you worked us hard for the first hour in one way and then it changed.

I particularly noticed when you had us doing vãparita daõóàsana on a chair, and how when you gave us the raised blankets the perspective of the pose changed straight away. So there’s partly a subjective attempt to move from the body to the mind but there’s also the use of materials, props. So in people’s practice how would you advise them to try to approach this, this transformation? Because as you said some people just come for the work-out. Whereas for us it was a work-out then it was a work-in. So how can people go from this work-out to the work-in.

Yes, microsopic. So the eyes are used differently. Suppose you are thinking, you do this. But if you are trying to

True, yes. To start you must go for the workout because the body has to be rendered fit to serve the higher

Well, practically I have explained eye visions. Like outer eye vision, see when you are looking at a panoramic view, mountain range, whatever, then you require a wide-angled lens. When you look at a flower, you can have a tunnel vision, but when you look at a farm or an orchard of roses then you have panoramic view, you look at it differently. But when you are looking at one flower in a flower vase you can be looking at it with a tunnel vision. So when you look at a panoramic view you have outer eye awareness. You have wide-angled lenses, you have the awareness in the eyelid corners, so it’s a wide-eyed, outer eye awareness. If you are trying to search a small thing you converge on it on the floor, so then it is inner eye awareness.Your awareness is near.

Iyengar Yoga News 6 - Spring 2005

12

aspects of your being like mind and awareness and consciousness. So we should not start our practice with transcendent motives. We have to start working on the body. Bathe the body, prepare the body, and therefore serve the body by mind, by breath, by every force, try to work on your body. So when the body has been given so much, thereafter the body is rendered fit to serve higher purposes and make use of it. Like you give your child so much. Why is it? So that when the child is grown up he can be giving something, if not to you, to someone else.

He should be able to give. Now he cannot give anything to anyone, except you he can give joy to you as parents.

But why do you give so much to your child? So that when it grows up the child can give to others. Similarly when the body has been served so much, let the body be given a chance to serve the others. So after serving the body you have to start serving the breath. Body serving the breath, mind serving the breath. The second stage is breath should be served, breath system should be served, pràõa should be served.

So when that instrument is also served it is also rendered fit so the mind can be served thereafter by breath and body both. So in the first stage serve the body, second stage serve the breath, in the final stage, make them serve the mind. And there star ts yogàsana.

you require one hour, but then once you know that this is the modus operandi, you can do that in half an hour or lesser time also. Because you were not knowing the modus operandi yesterday.That you had to work on the body first and then because you are going to work on the mind. So once you are matured you know the modus operandi you can have a fast forward of preliminaries.

And then you lose less time in preliminaries. And then you have more time left for essential practice.

And it seems in your classes that some poses are quite key in turning the practice around, for example early last week we did a few standing poses, then we did supta pàdànguùthàsana, which had a profound effect. But at the beginners’ level the effect is not so much profound, it’s more a sense of quickly hitting the physical limitation, so presumably when a person matures in their practice some poses quickly light or spark, quickly come and there are poses like vãparita daõóàsana, others maybe ÷ãrùàsana and so on, but like you say, the transformation comes at an earlier stage and not profoundly.

To start you must go for the workout because the body has to be rendered fit to serve the higher aspects of your being like mind and awareness and consciousness.

And you said the other day that often in the course of the yoga class you get to the fit state at the end of the class and then you go away. Whereas it’s really the beginning.

Yes (laughs).

This paradigm if you like, this yoga paradigm is where it begins.

That is true.

So is there any way that people can build or does it happen naturally? Do you think that they’re faster to get to that state through...

Yes as one matures, the time locked in preliminaries will be lesser and lesser and lesser. Once you mature then Iyengar Yoga News 6 - Spring 2005

Yes true. Read about this, my book will be coming shor tly, already it has gone to the publisher. It is called “Alpha to Omega of Trikoõàsana”. Now there I have said what is the level of beginners, what to teach beginner. The beginners should be taught the pose in piecemeal manner, lopsided. If you keep the legs, don’t bother about the chest. If you keep the chest don’t bother about the legs. Allow them to make mistakes which are not dangerous. Now if you demand from the soles to fingers and feet to head, it should be perfect, then it is too much demanding from beginners.

The beginners should be taught the pose in compartments. So they will know how the legs are in trikoõàsana, then somewhere they will know how the hips are in trikoõàsana, then how the back is in trikoõàsana, then how the chest is in trikoõàsana. But if you demand everything from a beginner it is too much. So beginners should be taught in a piecemeal manner.

Because they can’t link 13

They can’t link. So they should be taught this is how the legs are, this is how the feet are, this is how the arms are, this is how the back is and how the chest is, this is how the head is. And then at second stage you must make them do two things at a time. One is an invariable factor, like feet and knees, feet and thighs, feet and hips, feet and back. So that they know how the feet work for all other parts of the body. And sometimes knees are the invariable; knees and feet, knees and shin, knees and thigh, knee and ribs, knee and back, knee and spine, knee and chest.

So they know how the knees work for every other part of the body. Sometimes hips, sometimes sternum, sometimes shoulder blades. So two things at a time; one is invariable and the other one is variable. So this is at the second level they should be taught. And in the third level they should be taught trikoõàsana with different sequences. Trikoõàsana done usually…you know standing poses are done at the beginning of the class, practice. So it is always given the status of the starter soup. It should not be treated a starter soup. So sometimes do ÷ãrùàsana, so it’s a different mind set. So the perspective of standing poses will be different after ÷ãrùàsana. So sometimes give them after head balance, sometimes give them after twistings. Sometimes give the standing poses after backbends.

You can also try forward bends, or after ropework or jumpings. So different elements will be at work.

Now if you do the standing poses after jumping, vigorous jumping or with jumping, it is done with the element of water/air. All this about elements is there in that book. If you do after, say gastro-enterological movements, or twistings, or backbends, it is done with the element of fire.

So in a sense you could say that trikoõàsana doesn’t really exist except in relation to something else.

Yes.

It exists in relation to when you got up in the morning…

That’s true.

…or when you do ÷ãrùàsana or when you do tàóàsana, or when you do bharadvàjàsana, something like that. It’s hard to define it until you can say what came before and what came after.

Yes. And the other aspect is the beginners come to learn.

So beginners are only learners, actually we wrongly call them a student.Who is a student?

A student is one who studies.

Who can study? Who knows a bit of it can study. A raw beginner is a learner, he is not a student. He doesn’t know ABC. So he is coming there to learn. So raw beginner is a learner. So once he has learned trikoõàsana, you can make him study trikoõàsana.

So sometimes a practitioner should be doing to learn and sometimes doing to study, sometimes doing to consolidate and sometimes doing to mature.

So there’s a difference….

Yes. So they can feel the difference, they don’t every time treat it as a starter soup and then treat it this way

And that’s necessary so that they can really penetrate the pose.

Yes, penetrate and they get a different perspective of a pose.They do in different mind set.

Iyengar Yoga News 6 - Spring 2005

Yes.

Do you follow? So sometimes a practitioner should be doing to learn and sometimes doing to study, sometimes doing to consolidate and sometimes doing to mature. All these paradigms are described in that book. What is trikoõàsana done for learning? When you are learning you can do more and more and more and more because you are exploring unexplored, undone. See beginners, keeping the palm at the ankle; if he has to go down he has never done before, so it’s a new thing, so it’s a new method, so he’s learning. Taking the palm right down. So he learns something. Or he stays longer. If he stays longer he will learn something because easily he might have taken 10 seconds or 15 seconds or one day you say “Stay there for one minute”, so it’s a different experience.Then he learns there.

And they enjoy that because of the novelty in it. If you produce novelty then they learn.

14

They learn.

Because novelty and the learning go together. Whereas study often involves repetition, going over the same material, thinking what have I done….

Yes, everyone is not qualified to study.You must know to some extent. Privilege for a student and one who studies is that he can make mistakes deliberately and correct that. But know how a mistake occurs, when does it occur, why does it occur and how it should be prevented and how it should be corrected. So he can make a mistake deliberately. You should not allow a beginner to commit a mistake. He will make mistakes anyway! But we should not allow him to make a mistake. But a student who is studying can make a mistake. I’ll dull my leg in trikoõàsana and I’ll see what happens.

Not for the beginner.

Not for the beginner. But the student can make mistakes inside the danger zone, not outside the danger zone.

So if it’s knees you’re focusing on then you don’t worry about the chest. You say well next week maybe chest.

Yes.

I see. You referred last evening to how poor we are as pupils at writing agendas for our practice.

Now you’ve written an agenda in a sense with your book Alpha to Omega of Trikoõàsana. So how should we approach this in our own practice, to putting it right?

Yes. Now say in yesterday’s class you should decide that you are going to use your hands for your chest. And then see how you use your hands. Otherwise usually we do whimsically. It strikes, we do it. Our chest is not open, we do use it. So you have to decide as you work that I am going to use my hands for my back, hands for my chest, hands for my shoulders.

I’m not just going to open my chest I’m going to use my hands to open my chest.

Iyengar Yoga News 6 - Spring 2005

Hands. And see how I use it and how I should be using it. Because when you are in that practical act you know how you are using wrongly and how you could have used it better. So this learning process is very subjective and that is why you must have agenda.That I am going to use my hands for tailbone. I am going to use my hands for thoracic (in chair vãparita daõóàsana).

Systematic Systematic. And then see how you use it. Then you will know how you should have used it, how you have not used it.

Methodical and not rambling.

Yes, not rambling. Otherwise we ramble without a proper itinerary, like you go from Sydney to Boston, you come back to Melbourne and go to New York.

A stupid way! Once you have gone to Boston you should finish New York and when you are in Sydney finish Melbourne. Why come to Melbourne from Boston!

So you know from the feet we go to the head, head to back, back to knees, knees to chest, chest to ankles, ankles to hips. In sporadic itinerary so that should not be there, you must have a scheme.

And that’s why there needs to be an agenda. If you have an agenda, you know you are going to start ÷ãrùàsana from the palms and arms and shoulders and then you proceed.The moment you jump up you think of the feet, oh my palms are not right and you come down to ground. It’s not proper.

Yes. People tend to feel that some poses, for example, the more complex ones, are more important than other poses, but you explained how actually it’s the motivation in your approach that is the important thing not the particular pose. So how can people get a sense that they are progressing in their practice?

Well the basic concept is that certain difficult poses are considered as advanced poses. They are not advanced poses. In that case Guruji in the intensive courses would have spoken about kapotàsana longer than tàóàsana.

15

Why are intricacies given in trikoõàsana and tàóàsana?

Because you can negotiate, you can execute and you can manage. But then in kapotàsana he did not explain fifth metatarsal, fourth metatarsal and instep and outstep.

Those are complicated poses, they cannot be advanced poses. You cannot advance in kapotàsana, because you cannot observe intricacies. You can observe the intricacies in poses like trikoõàsana, tàóàsana. That means trikoõàsana you can advance more the yogic state than kapotàsana or vç÷chikàsana. Vç÷chikàsana cannot advance, it has a limit. Now those poses are only good because they can help your trikoõàsana improve.

Yes that’s what the teachers have to explain to the student. They have to prepare them that as you all the time observe the body and try to attain precision, perfection of the body condition. At times make them watch the breath. Is it spasmodic, is it sporadic, is it bumpy, is it asthmatic? Or is it comfortable? Is it efficacious? Does it have freedom for trafficking? Does it have traversing freedom, or is it stuck somewhere? So make them observe the breath so they can understand the breath is free or not free, is it spasmodic or rhythmic? So once they are aware of it they will start watching the breath and they will also try to strike the breath postures. That in ÷ãrùàsana my breath should not be spasmodic. It Yes, they refer back. should have rhythm. So they will become breath aware.

So at some point in time you have to make them breath Yes. Actually they are subserving poses.They help you to aware, not all the time keep them body aware. Perfection give you better clarity in of the body, alignment of the tàóàsana , better tolerance in body, physical body.They must go trikoõàsana , tàóàsana . Better towards the breath and see that tàóàsana , penetration in the breath is also given that trikoõàsana .

Having done status. That body aligns with feet, kapotàsana you will have better that the body should be aligned, penetration. So they are actually perfect, good, centred etc. Let the subserving poses, they are mind also be centred. Why not secondary poses. But they are give centering to the mind? And kapotàsana wrongly understood as advanced so the mind also should be quiet, poses. So the improvement has serene, unvibrating, unrambling. to be seen in the motive of the So that mind also has to be student. What does he…what is attended to. So teachers have to his drive? What is he trying to give this perspective to students, attain in trikoõàsana? Is he trying that often watch the breath also, to attain knee perfection, toning and see that you do the pose for muscles, toning leg muscles or the breath and get to that. And trikoõàsana, tàóàsana. do vãparita daõóàsana for the back muscles? Or is he aiming at breath and do it for the mind. In higher aspects of mind? I want that case you are not going for neutrality, composure, tranquillity.

So that is advancement. What is the drive? What is the hard calf muscles and hard quadriceps. motivation? Motivation tells you about what is your hierarchy. I am aiming for kapotàsana and vç÷chikàsana.That Yes. And there are perhaps intermediate stages which doesn’t mean you are an advanced student. Maybe a 20 can point the way, for example, in ÷ãrùàsana, if you have years or 14 years or 15 years girl. She will apply for it and a problem upper back then if you focus the breath on she can do it. So you can’t brand her she is an advanced the upper back to try to make the upper back function student, she does vç÷chikàsana or whatever.You can get properly, rhythmically… a supple girl she will do everything!

True.

And she’ll do the photogenic pose. You were talking about photogenic poses and mindogenic and breatho- ...it takes you more towards the breath and it somehow genic. If one isn’t accustomed to observing things in the shifts the emotion of the pose... way that you’ve been talking about, how can you know that you’re doing it in a breathogenic way or a mindogenic Yes. way? How can you be sure you’re on the right lines?

Those are complicated poses, they cannot be advanced poses.You cannot advance in , because you cannot observe intricacies.You can observe the intricacies in poses like

Iyengar Yoga News 6 - Spring 2005

16

...and then you’ve also talked about how the breath can be associated with certain types of emotion, for example in pràõàyàma the inhalation is humility and then the exhalation is surrendering. So if people can go, thinking how to go from body to breath, and from breath to mind, then there are these stages where, I know you’ve taught, where you culture a breathisation, if you like, of the physical part, and an observation of the breath to see what the emotion is to make the mind more noble, so it’s at these substages as well, so its very interesting how they arise.

Multifaceted. Make them aware. Otherwise mind is mind - theoretically body is body, mind is mind. It is multifaceted, Make them aware. Make the student aware that the body is multifaceted, the mind is also multifaceted, the breath is multifaceted.

Yes, true. Even in the case of the body. If you take ÷ãrùàsana. If you become thigh aware watch the state of mind, and become face aware. Now the face is also a physical part. Thigh is also a physical part. There are muscles, there are muscles. But when you become thigh aware it is a rough mind, tough mind, conative mind. But if you become face aware it becomes tender mind. So even varying body awareness, if you try to feel different parts of the body, how do you feel the skin of the palm and how do you feel the skin of the foot? Now that’s also skin and this is also skin. How do you feel the facial skin and how do you feel the skin of the sole? That’s also skin, but you have different mind. So even in body awareness you can make them aware. “Now start feeling your face.” It is a physical part of the body. Your awareness is tender, gentle. So feel your thighs and feel your calf muscles in ÷ãrùàsana, or tàóàsana, it’s a different mind. So within the body itself you can see that the mind can be made multifaceted, and they can realise it, they can feel it. Now when you are going to feel the breath, similarly the breath in different parts. How do you feel your breath in the nostrils? If you have to feel your diaphragm it’s a different way of feeling it, it’s a different mind. So like you feel the breath in the back, you feel the breath in the spine, you feel the breath on the laterals, you feel the breath in the breath, you feel it in the floating ribs, or abdomen. It’s all different mind there. So the whole...

And without seeing the interpenetration. Another question - often in your classes you’ve been critical of the way Iyengar teachers approach the subject of yoga, for example you talk of them being alignment fanatics. How would you advise them to refine their approach to the subject?

Yes. I think this is the problem we often have with the practice is that if you say the constitutents are body, breath, mind, people tend to think block, block, block.

Mm true.

What is on the right is not on the left.

What is on the left is not on the right. So the body alignment itself is not a proper thing. Alignment is always in the mind.

Multifaceted.

Iyengar Yoga News 6 - Spring 2005

Yes basically higher teachings are all on interpretation. See when you are teaching the child, the child doesn’t interpret, ‘egg’ or ‘apple’ or whatever. It doesn’t interpret. It has to just learn. But higher education training is always interpretation. So the word alignment has not been properly construed, by students. Now see alignment is of the body. Actually the body can never be aligned.

Because what is on the right side body is not on the left side of the body. Do you follow? It’s not even body right-sided, half weight and left side has half weight. It’s not like that. The organs have different sizes, dimensions.

Different organs are in different parts of the body. You don’t have right liver and left liver, right lung and left lung and right stomach, left stomach. What is on the right is not on the left. What is on the left is not on the right. So the body alignment itself is not a proper thing. Alignment is always in the mind. Your mind can be aligned. Like substance, water. If you put it in a vessel it is going to maintain the level everywhere. Do you follow? So water will be aligned in that vessel.

The content.

Content will be. So basically alignment is of the mind.

Samatvam yoga uchchate is the definition. Now that 17

samatvam is of the mind.The mind can be even.The body can never be even. Even if you cut your body in half it will not be even. If you have to divide the body in weight then you will cut the body in a different shape. The two sides will be different in form, shape and volume, if you divide it in weight. So the question is whether you are going to divide in weight or dimensions? So the alignment of the body…it’s not that you have to be in balance tàóàsana not back, not front, not right, not left. So why call it alignment? It’s not the proper word. And it doesn’t convey proper meaning also.

Right. I see.

Now how can you be aligned in trikoõàsana? Right leg has more weight, if you are doing on the right side. Left leg has less weight. How will you align? You cannot make the weight even on two legs in trikoõàsana or pàr÷vakoõàsana. Because the body has gone to one side.

Yes. It’s as you say mentally and therefore internally, so that was my supplementary question.

What should be aligned so that pupils do not become fanatics of alignment?

Ah yes. Alignment is that mind should be neutral in an àsana. When you do an àsana try to strike neutrality.

Balance of mind. Not going for dualities. Success, failure or loss, gain, etc. etc.

You were saying, I think it was last night, that inspiration is more important than aspiration.

Aspiration should not be there. “Abhyàsa vairàgyà” [Yoga Sutra 1.12] Dispassion is the means of yoga. Now how can you say that you aspire dispassionately? It’s a contradiction! In all other endeavours we must have passion.We are passionate students of art, science, whatever business. We must be passionate students. But yoga is a spiritual subject and that’s why there is a first condition “dispassion is the means of yoga”.

You can’t be aspiring. You can be inspiring, but not aspiring. If you aspire, you are passionate. If you are passionate then you are polarised.

Alignment is that mind should be neutral in an àsana.

When you do an àsana try to strike neutrality.

The mind should be even. So if the mind has to be even it means mind should be neutral. Mind should not be not polarised towards success, towards failure.

If I am doing trikoõàsana and I am brooding or I am having worry or I am not getting what I should have got or I could have done better, Guruji does better. I am not doing good.This is not an aligned mind.The mind should be neutral. Whether you get or don’t get. The mind should be neutral.That is alignment of the mind. So in an àsana we have to strike neutrality of the mind, It is not polarised towards success or failure, loss or gain, excitement or anxiety or worry. So the mind should be neutral, centred, which means that you don’t aspire, there is no, what you call, brooding, there is no grudge. Otherwise many times students start with a grudge. “You do better, I don’t do better.” This is not the way of practising. He does whatever he is qualified to do, I do whatever I am qualified to do.

Iyengar Yoga News 6 - Spring 2005

Yamas and niyamas.

I see. And you said something in the class it was again last night how often as students of Iyengar yoga we’re intellectually constipated and emotionally constipated and may be even a little bit physically constipated! So could you expand on that? How this stasis arises?

Yes, both are given, taken Iyengar yoga as a very physical yoga, rigorous physical yoga.They sincerely work very, very hard.Then what happens? They become rough and tough. They become intolerant. Then they become unaccommodative, or they lose the emotional tenderness.Those who are working very hard in àsanas they will never be emotionally tender.They will not be understanding others.They will want everyone to understand them but they will not want to understand anyone. You know physical practices always take to that state. See if you have worked very hard cleaning your house, somebody comes and spoils your house, you get infuriated. But if I just decided mentally I am going to clean my house on Sunday.Tomorrow I am going to clean my house, and somebody comes and spoils your house on Saturday, it doesn’t bother much because you haven’t 18

done anything physically.You have only planned mentally.

That I will start from kitchen, then I’ll go to this room, that room and finally bedroom or whatever. So you have just planned on cleaning the house and somebody spoils it, you, it doesn’t agitate you much. But you have cleaned the house physically, somebody comes and slightest thing he does, he is abused or cursed. So those who put a lot of physical effort it’s always the case that you become intolerant. If you have put mental effort, you won’t be intolerant. And that care has to be taken, if I have worked absolutely physically because it is wrongly thought that Iyengar system is rigorous practice and rigorous physicality then they put a lot of physical effort and then something goes against it then they won’t dare.

Yes. I know he’s suffered a lot.

What you’ve said in the class is that we should work actively, passively, reflectively, and then you’ve used a lot of other adjectives….

Yes, true.

Yes.

…so what people are doing is they’re working actively they’re not working reflectively…

True yes.

…they’re not working passively.

They’re not working thoughtfully.

So if people practice to become gentler and tolerant then it’s the right thing to practise?

Yes. True. Yoga should give you an extra tolerance than you had ever before. It has become the other way round.

People were better before!

It’s this benevolence again. If people miss it out…

...stop to reflect.

... if reflective practices are there then ... yoga is not dangerous.

But practising wrongly and under garb of yoga is dangerous.

Like yesterday, if you use that essential paradigm every time in your practice maybe for 10 minutes, 15 minutes during your session, then you develop that mature mind.You become tolerant, you become accommodative. But if you do hundred vãparita chakràsanas and then somebody comes and offends you, you will slap him! But if you have done long half halàsana and vãparita karaõi and someone offends you, you neglect! You have done pràõàyàma, or done passive poses, somebody says something, you neglect. Why? Because you have tolerance then. So we have to see that a part of our practice is to essential paradigm, so that we develop these qualities, we culture that mind and you don’t become intolerant and have fights in all Associations. It’s very, very heartbreaking, Guruji’s did for so many years in all these countries, everywhere, even in India, it’s same thing here also. And lot of frustration for him actually, although he doesn’t show.

Iyengar Yoga News 6 - Spring 2005

Yes he’s suffered a lot. Such a hard work he put in, you know he did so much of good intentions and now people are fighting within themselves.

True, true. See if reflective practices are there then you definitely…yoga is not dangerous. But practising wrongly and under garb of yoga is dangerous. This is what happens.They say “I practise yoga regularly” but what actually they practise is unyogic and that is more harmful. If you don’t practice, doesn’t matter,

It can become destructive.

Yes, true.

Is that what you meant when you said it’s worse that if you know something not to do it, than if you were to remain ignorant?

Yes. Some people are better who don’t practise at all.

Than those who are working rigorously, seriously, vigorously. They were better 20 years back. And people say that they were better people, and now they are unaccommodative, intolerant and hard and agitated, they agitate each other, they also get agitated by slightest things.That tenderness is not good. If they don’t practise this tenderness, they get that tenderness. They can develop it evilly.

Pride comes up.

19

Pride yes. One of the saints has said that pride is most delicate thing, although it looks to be very stubborn. A slight bubble, blow a bubble on it…

A pinprick.

Yes pinprick.

Last question. What are the differences between civilisation and culture?

Yes this is all modern metropolitan life. And our etiquette. Why do we have etiquette? We show that we are polished.We are understanding, we have all the tolerance, all good qualities. But it’s all face. Things that we show on the face. All the time showing a smiling face and then inside we have devilish face. So in civilisation we try to fool others. Mannerisms, etiquette.

Iyengar Yoga News 6 - Spring 2005

Accomplishments. People want their children to be accomplished.

Yes. Behaviour yes. Now what is the behaviour? Behaviour is always with someone else. Now if you are locked in your room behaviour question doesn’t come. The conduct comes there if you are in your room all alone.

What is your conduct? The conduct is on test when you are all alone. Behaviour is never on test when you are all alone.

And so the civilisation is about behaviour?

Yes it’s about behaviour, that we should be good to others. Culture is something intrinsic and inherent.

Thank you.

C

20

THE B LIND W AY T O I NSIGHT Prashant S. Iyengar writes about the use of bandages in àsana and pràõàyàma

B

andage can be effectively used while practising static asanas. However, it is not meant for raw beginners, or people who are apprehensive, depressed, timid or fearful in nature. Such people should NOT use a bandage to blindfold their eyes. They may be advised to use the bandage only for the forehead when they are suffering from a headache, high blood pressure (hypertension).

The use of bandage The bandage can be used in different ways. More prominent ways are: 1. tight for the forehead only 2. forehead and eyes 3. only for the eyes 4. skull fracture bandage Bandage: quietening the pituitary-p pineal glands The pituitary and pineal glands are stimulated by lights.

Excess stimulation of those glands over stimulates the sex gland. Therefore, it is seen that poultry farms are lit at nights so that the hens have greater productivity. Blindfolding the eyes in static àsanas prevents light stimulation of the pituitary-pineal glands. Thus tranquillity and sublimity is on the rise. Blindfolding also augments the biochemistry of brahmacharya.

Bandaging the eyes: quietening the brain The eyes are the windows to the brain.Thus, when these windows are shut they correspondingly quieten brain activity.The eyes have a phenomenal reticular activity and a phenomenal nerve activity. Blindfolding the eyes abates this hectic brain activity.The brain has a great respite with

Iyengar Yoga News 6 - Spring 2005

the eyes at rest. Thus, the use of the bandage over the eyes has a great advantage. The mind is greatly facilitated for the process of quietening and restraint.

Resting the eyes The eyes are easily put to rest by bandaging them.The eyes may be over-activated because of various reasons and these can easily be put to rest by some static àsanas done by blindfolding the eyes. Over-reading, over-awake conditions, lack of sleep, worrying, anxiety, tensions are better countered and remedied by àsanas done blindfolded.

Pratyahara and Meditativety The pratyàhàra and meditative aspects of asana and pranayama are quickened and augmented. The mind can easily become inward in àsanas and pràõàyàma when performed with a blind-fold.The eyes are relaxed, pacified, quietened and hibernated quickly by bandaging them.This facilitates a meditative state in àsanas and pràõàyàma.

There is a blind way of becoming “insightful” by using a bandage. The practice is more discerning when done by closing the eyes by bandaging.

The bandage also has an analgesic effect when one has a headache or a bout of migraine.

Caution However, there is word of caution. A raw beginner, a case of nervous debility, case of fear syndrome and depression cases are advised not to use the bandage for C blindfolding.

21

“ATTENTION IS THE NON-O OSCILLATION OF AWARENESS” - WHAT? Debbie Bartholomew listens and learns from Rajvi and Birjoo Mehta at the the IYA (UK) 2004 Spring Convention in Manchester

I

couldn’t believe my luck when it was announced that the Summer 2004 convention was to be held again in Manchester. Only eight miles from home meant that I could go home in the evening and sleep in my own bed, (always an advantage in an action packed weekend!).

I had been lucky enough to attend Birjoo’s weekend in Rawdon hosted by the Bradford and District Institute, so I knew I was in for a real treat. It would also mean that I would hopefully, be able to consolidate some of the points he had already given then. Rajvi wasn’t with him at Rawdon so I was looking forward to her teaching too.

One of the things I love about being taught by our Indian teachers is the way in which they use the English language much more descriptively than we English!

Here are a few examples:

This attention to the fingertips and level-ness is the nonoscillation of awareness. I’m glad I didn’t have to explain that one!

Rajvi explained that we should “slide your body over” to the straight leg in jànu ÷ãrùàsana “do not rotate”.

In ÷ãrùàsana, Rajvi said our lower abdomen and back should be “very close”. Later that there should be a “semicircular shape from outer ankle to inner, … the skin should turn like an anklet.”

Whilst teaching viloma pràõàyàma the breath had to be welcomed like “a revered guest” and as one exhaled we had to “show the breath out”.

When one is slowing the breath down for viloma pràõàyàma it is like “ braking for traffic lights. Brake slowly, then accelerate away slowly.”

In tàóàsana we had to “iron out the wrinkles on the soles of the feet as though we were making the bed and smoothing out the sheets”.

Also in tàóàsana, we had to have “discriminative intelligence in the wrist” - err what? Mine mustn’t have been the only blank face. Birjoo explained, that the thumb side of the wrist was heavier in tàóàsana than the little finger side. I tried it with arms at my sides, arms out sideways and in årdhva hastàsana and found this to be the case.

Why oh why hadn’t I noticed this before?

Then there was “attention is the non-oscillation of awareness”. What on earth did that mean? OK, if I went home and thought about it for a week or two, or I went to ask my teacher, but in the middle of class? No need to worry, Birjoo explained it so plainly and clearly, with an asana, of course.We had to stand in tàóàsana (just how important is this posture!?), take our arms out to the side and as we inhaled we had to extend our arms, then as we exhaled we had to observe what happened to the arms. (The arms shrink back again).Then we had to breathe in deeply and maintain the extension, bringing the “awareness to the fingertips” and “attend to the level-ness of the pose”.

Iyengar Yoga News 6 - Spring 2005

We had “virtual heads” and “physiological heads”.

When we exhaled we had to “let the breath go like placing a baby on the bed.”

When we breathe in our lungs had to “soak up the breath like a sponge” and we had to “let (the breath) go like evaporation. “ I could list lots more.

Guruji always says we should include yoga in our everyday life and both Birjoo and Rajvi do that. We had changing the bed sheets, jewellery, traffic lights, braking, acceleration, computer speak, babies, water and sponges and evaporation! I do try to look at the world in a different light but I need someone to show me the way most of the time.

Both Birjoo and Rajvi gave us so much food for thought and body over the weekend. A big thank you to them and to the organisers for putting on such a good event. More C please and soon!

22

Iyengar Yoga News 6 - Spring 2005

23

A WEEKEND WITH HANUMAN Philip Brown was one of the organisers of the IYA (UK) 2004 Autumn convention, held in Reading. A good time was had by all.

F

or once last summer the sun did shine and the neartropical gardens of Bulmershe court in Reading looked unexpectedly beautiful - all was set for what turned out to be a really fine weekend of yoga and a surprise Yogic Pantomime.

The core classes of the weekend were taken by three pairs of teachers all working together; we had Lilian Biggs and her daughter Sheila Haswell, then there was Margaret Austin and her “hubby” Gordon along with another husband and wife team in Judi Sweeting and Tig Whattler.

The teachers were allocated halls and three student groups rotated through the various rooms.There had also been a teacher’s class with Jeanne Maslen with about eighty attending on the Friday. Judi and Tig were ‘India fresh’ and put everyone through their paces with their characteristic zeal. I’d not been to a class with Lilian or Sheila before but I was really very impressed, not only with the amazing tales from Lilian but also the pair’s ability to tap into the rich vein of Iyengar yoga with such clarity.

It was great to have Margaret and Gordon back from the North East again (Margaret taught at the last Oxford LOYA convention in 1996), her infectious enthusiasm and heartiness are very endearing but the bonhomie is not without content - these two teach really well. And besides anyone who naturally says “all right chuck?” wins me over!

Although the college is set in a rag tag of buildings the grounds were surprisingly pretty offering pleasant moments to relax in front of the pond. And then there was that startling ‘Indian bean’ tree with its incredibly large leaves offering welcome dappled shade, a shade that proved to be an ideal spot for Judi and Tig’s forward bend class. All the classes were intentionally kept small, around fifty to a room, making it more personable, which was important, as it seemed that a fair proportion of students were convention first timers.

On Saturday afternoon we had two yoga displays, including, for the first time a Women’s display, finishing with Jeanne Maslen in hanumànàsana from - a pose which most of us

gave up dreaming of a long time ago! The cheeky monkey god Hanuman from whom that pose gets its name cropped up a few hours later in an incredibly well organised Yogic Pantomime written and directed by Ally Hill with a cast made up of Sheila Haswell’s yoga students. I would love to write reams to glorify this wonderful piece of theatre but alas space does not permit. Briefly I shall try and convey the splendour therein. The story is loosely based on the Ramayana in which the evil lord Ravana wants to get rid of Prince Rama, so that he can take over his lands. Rama has fallen for Sita.To bring Rama to Lanka where Ravana hopes to imprison him, Ravana sends his henchmen to capture Sita. An intrepid band of Rama and others travel to Lanka.

They trick Ravana into a competition of Yoga postures, Rama is injured so cannot take part but his faithful servant Han (Hanuman, played by Sheila Haswell) beats Ravana with a splendid display of that pose. Ravana is shown the unyogic-ness of his ways and is filled with remorse. The Panto had its obligatory fairy godmother but the surprise was that it was Lillian Biggs herself!

The laughter was hearty and the pantomime descended into total chaos at times. Dame Dhoti was well played by Steve Braham who had his work cut out with such an unruly audience! It appeared to me that some of the convention’s teaching staff were, as they say nowadays, “giving it large”! The Dame, having engaged Margaret Austin in some jolly banter thanked the good lady, whereupon another (nameless) teacher was heard to yell, “That’s no lady, that’s Margaret Austin!” The Panto concluded with the Fairy Godmother no less also producing a breathtaking hanumànàsana.

The staging, script, music and organisation that went into this production was excellent, and although there was not a professional on stage, it’s easy to underestimate the huge behind-the-scenes effort that such good comedy requires. Rumour has it that there will be a repeat performance of this work…..catch it if you can.

More pictures can be viewed at w w w . o r i y i . o r g . u k

C

The 2005 conventions are being held at Brunel University 18th-119th June and at Bath University 2nd-44th September (application forms available from Leza Hatchard admin@iyengaryoga.org.uk - or on our website www.iyengaryoga.org.uk) Iyengar Yoga News 6 - Spring 2005

24

Under the Indian bean Tree Forward Bends with Judi and Tig

Friday’s teaching class with Lilian Biggs

The battle is won!

Han beats Ravana with an adept display of THAT pose!

Women’s display with students of Judi Sweeting Iyengar Yoga News 6 - Spring 2005

25

THE POWER TO CHANGE Richard Agar Ward describes how yoga changed the world of Rugby Union

O

n 22nd November 2003, in front of 80,000 fans in Sydney and watched by an estimated worldwide TV audience of more than a billion, the England Rugby Union football team beat the holders Australia to win the William Webb Ellis trophy and become the new world champions. The reaction to this event in England and in India could scarcely have been of greater contrast.

Euphoria took hold at home in England while India looked on, if at all, with almost complete indifference. Cricket is the Indian game, not Rugby. And yet how many people the world over realised, as Jonny Wilkinson’s triumphant drop kick seized the trophy in the dying moments of extra time in that epic final, that India had made a very important contribution to England’s first ever World Cup victory in the sport?

I teach Iyengar Yoga in Bath with my wife Kirsten. At the end of June 2003 I was contacted by the Fitness Trainer of Bath Rugby Union Football Club, Mike Yates. He said that the club wanted to introduce yoga to the first team squad as part of pre-season training (alongside other activities such as Pilates and Judo). Bath RFC has long been one of the very top English clubs and to my knowledge this was the first time that any major club in any sport in the UK had sought to expose its first team squad to yoga in this way. I began teaching the 26 or so players in the first team squad on 9th July and continued three times per week.

The introduction was successful from the start. Mike Yates, who joined in the classes said that every single player had something positive to say about yoga and none had complained despite some initial scepticism.Yoga was seen as the best of the extra pre-season activities.They noticed that they recovered more quickly from their training sessions and had a speedier recovery from injuries. Soon after commencing I wrote to Guruji to inform him about these developments and he kindly replied with advice on what to teach and how they should progress.

It is not the intention of this article to describe precisely how such sportsmen should be taught yoga but I discovered through their experiences how much yoga has to offer them to counter their difficulties and enhance their performances. My initial focus was on the standing poses with the aim of giving mobility and extension to their limbs. Many players who had not benefited much from Iyengar Yoga News 6 - Spring 2005

weights training because they could not lift and stretch their arms properly above their head could soon do so.

Others who had suffered shoulder dislocation injuries reported more firmness in the joints through yoga. One player said that yoga was making his knee more stable following his cartilage operation, while another found that bharadvàjàsana on the chair and standing poses helped his dorsal spinal disc problem. The recuperative poses such as supta baddha koõàsana, supta pàdànguùthàsana1, 2 & 3 were very necessary and popular for restoring energy and for helping with hip, pelvic and lower back problems. They loved ÷avàsana at the end of each class, especially when bandages were wound round the eyes and ears.

In particular yoga was of very great help to one highly experienced and talented England international back by the name of Mike Catt. The previous season at Bath had been a very difficult one for the thirty-one year old.

Forced out of the England team at the end of 2001 with lower back and hamstring problems he was unable to play for Bath on more than three occasions all season 2002 2003. As soon as he returned to the team he would injure himself once more and despite intensive physiotherapy all season and into the close season he was no nearer to a return. However, after less than a fortnight of yoga classes he came to me and said that yoga had made an “incredible difference” to his condition, that the pain was vanishing and that he had even managed to do lower leg weights training the previous day for the first time in two to three years.

At that time the England Rugby World Cup squad, some forty in number, was in full training for the autumn tournament at their camp. Catt was not included nor barely considered since there was no place for injured players in manager Clive (now Sir Clive) Woodward’s plans. Catt had only been told by Woodward at the start of the summer to go and get fit. I said to Catt that he ought to be on the plane to Australia. He said that, yes, he thought he should, but that Woodward was not even returning his calls. Despite this I had a thought that it would really be wonderful if yoga could help Catt get back into contention for a place in the squad and maybe even return from Australia with a winner’s medal (England were the favourites) - wonderful for him, for yoga and for Guruji. It was a dream indeed at that time but I thought 26

that it might just happen.When I mentioned the possibility to Richard Graham, one of the Bath coaches, he said that it would be “truly miraculous” if Catt got into the World Cup squad. Another of the coaches had said to me that Catt was in decline as he had been unable to train properly due to his injuries and I later learnt that Bath RFC had been planning to cancel his contract at the end of the season just past and that only intensive lobbying by one of the coaching staff had given him a reprieve.

He continued to make progress throughout July. Mike Catt struck me as a very determined man and as someone who was quick to learn and assimilate a new approach if he felt it was a positive direction. He was undoubtedly one of the best pupils in the team. After one class he came to me and said that his hip flexors were causing him pain and could I give him a pose to take away the problem? I tried utthita hasta pàdànguùthàsana and parivçtta utthita hasta pàdànguùthàsana in quick succession but neither touched the spot. Then straight away I taught him parivçtta trikonàsana (which I discovered none of the other players could do at all). This pose worked very well and he pronounced himself satisfied, said his thanks and left the room.

Possibly as part of Catt’s attempts to bring himself to the manager Woodward’s attention, a sympathetic journalist on the Sunday Times of London flagged the news that Catt was making an astonishing recovery. Persistence paid off and Woodward agreed to watch Catt play in one of Bath’s pre-season friendly matches against Pontypridd in Wales. He commented that Catt had “had a fine game” and that he was not out of his plans.Three days before the announcement of the final thirty strong squad to travel to Australia for the World Cup tournament fate intervened when Alex King of the Wasps Rugby team sustained a knee injury and was ruled out. Catt was called up as a replacement, passed a demanding medical test with the England team doctors and within a matter of days was on the plane to Australia. Before he left, Catt admitted privately that he would never have made the England squad had it not been for yoga. He said that he owed the transformation in himself and his fortunes to yoga above all else. If yoga had not been available to him then sporting history might well have turned out very differently.

Catt was not an automatic first team choice in the initial World Cup matches and did not play in the first two pool matches but a very good performance in the thrashing of Uruguay earned him a place on the substitute’s bench for the quarter-final match against Wales. It was in this game that he made a vital contribution to England’s progress to Iyengar Yoga News 6 - Spring 2005

the final. Probably above all the other highlights of his career Catt will be remembered for saving England’s skin in the Wales match. At half time England were trailing to a spirited and talented Wales team and facing elimination from the tournament. The ace in England’s pack was undoubtedly Jonny Wilkinson, the star of the tournament, whose almost unerring kicking abilities allied to his very sound all round game made him crucial to the team’s progress.The Welsh managed to stifle him in the first half and with England pinned back in its half of the field there was no chance for the forwards to build pressure on the Welsh which would enable Wilkinson’s attacking and kicking abilities to flourish. At the start of the second half Catt came on and immediately changed the course of the game with his tactical know-how, organisation of the back row (he directed Wilkinson where to play, further outside of himself along the line) and astute handling and kicking.

He began the turning of the tide for England and confidence spread throughout the team. In the end,Wales was convincingly beaten as a try from Greenwood and kick after penalty kick from Wilkinson racked up the score.

Catt went on to play a very good game in the semi-final against France and although Woodward opted in preference for the sheer muscle power of Catt’s Bath colleague Mike Tindall in the final, Catt came on in the last few minutes of normal time when Tindall was injured and played all of extra time in the final against Australia.

England won 20-17 with Wilkinson’s last gasp winning drop goal although Catt almost scored from a drop goal himself shortly before. But that was just asking too much of fate and in the end it was Wilkinson’s triumph and a new life for him as a sporting celebrity. But to see the huge and everlasting grin on Mike Catt’s perennially serious face was a delight and I know I was not the only one to notice that whenever England players were pictured in the hours, days and weeks afterwards, it always seemed to be Catt, not Wilkinson nor Martin Johnson the captain who seemed to have his hands on the trophy.

There are undoubtedly times when, as practitioners of yoga we become frustrated with our practice and possibly even despondent at times. We may become negative if things go wrong and may doubt the transformative power of yoga. How much difference can yoga make to what happens in us and in the world we ask, how much can it change the world? Well, for a generation of English Rugby followers (although most of them do not realise) and I hope a generation of Iyengar yoga practitioners both in India and around the world, the message I want to pass on is that yoga has changed and has the power to change C the world more than perhaps some of you know.

27

T H E

Y O G A

S H O W

Ally Hill and Sheila Haswell set up and staffed a stand at The Yoga Show at Olympia on the 13th and 14th November 2004.They were overwhelmed with inquiries about Iyengar yoga.

T

he Yoga Show was a great success. Leza Hatchard approached Sheila Haswell at the eleventh hour to ask would we at The Sarva Centre represent the IYA (UK) at the show. We readily agreed, despite a pretty full diary of a yoga weekend event at our centre, Sheila’s son’s 18th Birthday, the whole of October being taken up with the Introductory Assessments and Sheila assessing at Senior level the first weekend of November plus, by popular request, another performance of ‘A Yogic Panto’ by Ally Hill that was originally performed at the Reading convention! Oh yes, and Sheila’s husband turned 50 in the middle of the assessments!

We received the approach the day before the Yoga Show brochure went to press on 24th of September, which did not give us long to get everything ready for the show

itself. We decided that our stand needed to look as professional as possible. After all we were representing the third largest group of yoga teachers in the country.We contacted the company who did our poly-boards to make up a banner board for the back wall of the stand and set about writing a leaflet explaining who IYA (UK) is and what ‘we’ do. We gleaned information from the IYA (UK) website amongst other sources.This then had to be circulated to all relevant personnel on the Management Committee of the Executive Council for approval and then sent to the printers.We managed to get the approval two weeks before the show itself. The printers did us proud by producing very professional leaflets with four days to spare.We also decided we should personally look as professional as possible so had polo shirts embroidered with the service mark logo (Guruji in hanumànàsana see logo on front cover) on the front and IYENGAR YOGA on the back. We then ordered matching sports trousers to complete the outfit (don’t worry we paid for these ourselves!).

The next task was to get copies of the regional map and the adho mukha ÷vànàsana photo, as used on the front of ‘Iyengar Yoga News’ Issue No. 4, to be blown up and mounted on poly-boards to decorate the stand. Dave Browne sent some photos from Crystal Palace when Geeta was teaching, some of which were also used on the stand. We then turned our attention to the space itself.

What did we need to take and how were we going to set it all out? A friend of ours, very experienced at doing these shows, advised us as to how to best use the space and lent us a water feature to help create the right atmosphere on our stand. This proved quite a draw! We took along some pine cabinets in order to display the books kindly brought along by Patsy Sparksman and the postures T-shirts we had decided to sell, both of which also drew people to our stand; and had a small TV/Video unit to run videos of Mr Iyengar throughout each day. This stopped many people in their tracks because, as we all know, the man himself is very impressive! Framed photos of Mr Iyengar in eka pàda viparãta daõóàsana and another of Guruji, Geeta and Prashant all sitting together outside their house at the RIMYI were added for that extra touch.

A few plants to finish off and we were all set.

Iyengar Yoga News 6 - Spring 2005

28

Our stand at the show was tiny! Not much bigger than a broom cupboard, as it measured 1.5 m along the back and was 2m deep. We may have been small but we were beautifully formed. For the most part we had to stand out in the aisle but we kept ourselves approachable and spoke to many, many people. We had enquiries for Iyengar teachers from every region except Scotland and Ireland.

We had enquiries for teachers in Cornwall, Liverpool, Norfolk, Coventry, Croydon,Watford, Kent, Brighton,Yorkshire - you name it, they asked. We had many enquires about teacher training, a good few weren’t eligible yet but we were able to explain the criteria and the rationale behind it, to put them on the right track. Several were teachers from other disciplines who wanted to ‘jump ship’ as one person put it; again we explained the course of action they would need to take to join our ranks. We explained the difference between our methods and others, thus promoting the name of Iyengar yoga, and if we couldn’t find a teacher on the list we directed them to poor Leza for help as she has the database. We would also propose that the teachers listing needs some revision to make it more user-friendly at such events. We would frequently come up with a name, occasionally the only one in the area requested, only to track across and find we couldn’t give out details.

To sum up, this was an event the IYA (UK) needed to attend. The name of Iyengar yoga needs to be as well known as that of Astanga Vinyasa or Bikram. Many types of yoga were represented, as well as companies selling equipment and, after all, as we know they owe the use of equipment to B. K. S. Iyengar.

We have several suggestions for next year - number one being a bigger stand please! Perhaps the IYA (UK) could rent the space and then let out sections of it to Iyengar institutes, Centres and any individual teachers who wish to take part. This would help with the cost of the stand and ensure that Iyengar yoga gets the recognition it deserves. A larger stand would indicate the size of our association, representing over 800 teachers. Whatever is decided, please let IYA (UK) be there next year representing Iyengar yoga. After all we believe in what we do, C don’t we?

PS.The dates for next year are 16th/17th/18th September.

We handed out the leaflets that had been sent through to us. It was a pity that more teachers, Centres and Institutes didn’t send us their literature, as we needed it. To give you an idea of the size of this event: there were 126 exhibitors; 121 workshops, guided meditations and talks; and 14 stage demonstrations.This was the first show of its kind and there are lessons to be learnt.The success of the event seemed to take even the organisers by surprise and the distribution of workshop tickets needs to be better thought out to avoid the ‘stampede’ that almost ensued.

This does not detract from the success of this first UK Yoga Show. It just goes to show how popular yoga is.

The show was packed, people were queuing to get in until 4pm on Saturday; Sunday was well attended too. We were happy to be there to represent all the Iyengar Yoga Teachers in the UK irrespective of where you teach - from Lands End to John o’ Groats. Your team consisted of Sheila Haswell, Ally Hill, Jo Haswell, Siobhan Hill, Sara Braham plus on Saturday Rachel Lovegrove and Patsy Sparksman, and on Sunday Judith Richards. And of course we must mention that Judith Jones, our Chair, came along on the Sunday to support our efforts. It was lovely to see all the teachers and students alike who also came along to say hello.

Iyengar Yoga News 6 - Spring 2005

29

EVENTS LISTINGS: YOUR GUIDE TO Avon Iyengar Yoga Institute

C Julie Brown, 20th March, Bristol. For details contact Paul Reilly on 0117 9663 352

Nathalie Blondel 07812 010924 nblondel@tadasana.fsnet.co.uk

Bradford and District Iyengar Yoga Institute Alan Brown 01535 637359 alan@dianalan.plus.com

C Teachers’ Day, 6th March C Jayne Orton, 16th April C Rajvi Mehta, May (to be confirmed) C Social event and guided walk, 22nd May C Family yoga day, 3rd July C Elizabeth Tonner, September (to be confirmed)

Cambridge Iyengar Yoga Institute

C Julie Brown, 19th February, Cambridge C Judith Jones, April (to be confirmed), Cambridge

Institute of Iyengar Yoga in Sussex

C Ros Wakeford + AGM, 24th April, Steyning Community Centre C Cathy Rogers, 26th June, Brighton Natural Health Centre

www.cambridgeyoga.co.uk Sasha Perryman 01223 515929 sashaperryman@yahoo.co.uk

__ I

Brian Ingram 01444 236714 brianiyoga@aol.com

Liverpool Iyengar Yoga Institute Judi Soffa 0151 7094923 mail@yogastudio.f9.co.uk

Midland Counties Iyengar Yoga Institute

C Joe Burn, 24th April 10.30-4, suitable for beginners C Rajvi Mehta, May (to be confirmed) C Judi Sweeting 12th June, 10-3.30 (2+ years’ experience) C Annie Ciekanski, September (to be confimed) C Richard Ward, 1st October, 10-3.30 (3+ years)

C Brian Jack, 5th March, 10-12, Moseley, Birmingham C Marion Kilburn, 9th April, 10.30-4.30, Shirley

www.mciyi.co.uk Brian Jack 01789 205322 jacksis@aol.com Iyengar Yoga News 6 - Spring 2005

30

IYENGAR I NSTITUTES I N T HE U K Manchester and District Institute of Iyengar Yoga Janice Yates 01613 683614

North East Iyengar Institute of Yoga

C Judi Sweeting, 19th February C Stephanie Quirk, 26th and 27th March C Tricia Booth, 16th April C Rajvi Mehta, early May (to be confirmed) C Sheila Haswell, 21st May

C Please contact organiser for details of classes and events

Gordon Austin 01915 487457 yoga@austinmg.fsnet.co.uk

North East London Iyengar Yoga Institute Ros Bell 020 834 09899 r.j.bell@open.ac.uk

O . R . I . Y. I .

C Sheila Haswell, February 27th C Judy Smith + AGM, March 20th C Diana Clifton, May 22nd C Alaric Newcombe, 12th June

Oxford and Region Iyengar Yoga Institute

C Stephanie Quirk,19th March, Newbury, 10-12.30 general for those with 1 year’s Iyengar yoga practice; 1.30-4.00 for those with at least 2 years.

Contact Philip Brown; 01635 35465; philip-brown@btconnect.com

Sheffield and District Iyengar Yoga Association

C Please contact organiser for details of classes and events

South West Iyengar Yoga Institute

C Amanda Brown, Jean Kutz & Alison Trewhela, 6th March, evening, Carnon Downs Village Hall, nr.Truro C Frances Homewood, 9th &10th April, nr.Truro C Richard Agar Ward, 30th April, intermediate, nr.Truro C Richard Agar Ward, 30th & 31st July, nr.Truro C Judi Sweeting/Tig Whattler, 1st & 2nd October, nr.Truro

www.oriyi.org.uk Philip Brown 01635 35465 philip-brown@btconnect.com

www.yogasheffield.org Helen Scarlett 01142 257025 scarletthall@ukonline.co.uk

Jean Kutz 01872 572807 manny-k@tiscali.co.uk Iyengar Yoga News 6 - Spring 2005

31

G O I N G

T O

P U N E

Kirsten Agar Ward offers a practical guide for visitors to the Ramamani Iyengar Memorial Yoga Institute in Pune.

BEFORE GOING C Apply! For details of how to apply, see page 39 of this magazine. Don’t go until your place is confirmed.

CPassport & Visa. Make sure you have at least 6 months on your passport. Apply for a visa (it can save a lot of time and hassle to pay an agency to do this - ask your travel agent).

CCheck what immunisations you need.

CTry to learn the Sanskrit names of the yogĂ sanas.

GETTING THERE To Mumbai C We have found it can make life a lot easier to get a direct flight to Mumbai. (for those flying from UK currently only British Airways or Air India fly direct from Heathrow).

C Flights tend to arrive very early in the morning. You may wish to schedule a rest in Mumbai. We prefer to go direct to Pune so all the travelling is done in one go.

C Iyengar yoga practitioners are welcome to visit the Mumbai Institute (Iyengar Yogashraya, 126 Senapapti Bapat Marg. Lower Parel, Mumbai 400 013, phone 2494 8416).

C Hotels in Mumbai are expensive (prices ranging from Rs. 800 to Rs. 8000+).

C Tea at the Taj Mahal hotel adjacent to Gate of India can be fun though expensive.

From Mumbai to Pune: C Coach from the international airport directly to Pune.

Tickets are Rs. 500 and can be bought at the ariport C Bus. Take a bus to Pune (approx. 3 to 4 hours). Catch buses at Dadar which is about 30-40 mins drive from the airport and about 10 mins from the Mumbai Insitute.There are ordinary buses (Rs 125) every 15 mins and an A/C bus (Rs 300) on the hour.These generally leave on time and tickets can be booked once you reach the bus station. However, it may be slightly difficult on festive occasions. There are pre-paid taxi booths at the airport. It is BEST to take these.

C Taxi. Taxis are also available at Dadar opposite the bus station (approx. 3 hours). Obviously a more expensive option. Can be more comfortable only if you hire the entire taxi. You also have the option of sharing it with 4 other people.

Iyengar Yoga News 6 - Spring 2005

C Train. The train station is CST (aka VT) or Dadar.

Tickets are best booked in advance. Your travel agent may be able to do this. Travelling unreserved is tough especially after a long flight C Plane.There are flights from Mumbai to Pune operated

by Indian Airlines and Jet Airways. You will need to go to the domestic airport. Free coaches are available.

Apart from the expense, you may have to wait a long time for the connecting flight.

C Private car & driver. Book from the airport or your hotel /apartment owners may be able to put you in touch with a private hire company or even arrange it for you.

STAYING IN PUNE Ask someone who has already been to recommend a place. These days with the internet it is easy to reserve accommodation from UK. This will make life easier when you get there.

You can stay in a hotel (from approx Rs 250 per room per night, Rs 1200 will get you a very comfortable room).

Note: Indian hotel rates are given for the room not per person. See www.bksiyengar.com for a list of hotels many of which have agreed to a concession of 10% to Iyengar Yoga students. No harm in asking.

Alternatively you can rent an apartment, which will enable you to do your own cooking (eating restaurant food ALL the time is not great).There are several apartments close to the Institute. Ask someone who has been before or ask at RIMYI when you get there.

32

AT RIMYI It is a good idea to call in at the Institute as soon as possible after arriving in Pune to register with Pandurang Rao (known as Pandu), the Secretary, and find out which classes you will be attending.You need to take with you the balance of fees owing and two passport-sized photos.

Pandu’s office is in the foyer and is open Monday,Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday 9-11 am and Monday, Wednesday, Friday, Saturday 4-6 pm.The Institute is closed on Sundays.

The institute is in the area of Pune called Shivajinagar. It is on Hare Krishna Mandir Road. It is helpful to say to rickshaw drivers that it is in Model Colony off FC (Ferguson College) Road or Ganesh Kind Road.

General Dos and Don’ts at RIMYI C First and foremost remember how fortunate you are; out of the millions of Iyengar yoga practitioners worldwide only a very few get the chance to study at RIMYI. It is not appropriate to have a demanding or complaining attitude. Remember this is not primarily a financial transaction; rather, you are here to study at the feet of our Guruji. Be appreciative, polite, ready to study.

C Footwear (including socks) must be removed and left in the area provided at the entrance. It is NOT acceptable to bring footwear into the building, even inside a bag.

C It is impolite to point the soles of your feet at others.

Obviously in a class situation this is unavoidable but in other situations it should be followed.

C Clothing should be modest, especially for women. It is best to wear shorts and a T-shirt for class. The T-shirt should be tucked in. Bare midriffs are not acceptable for women in class, despite what you may have been Iyengar Yoga News 6 - Spring 2005

told or think on the basis of Indian women wearing short blouses under saris - this is different not least because there is a sari on top. Similarly it is most modest not to have bare upper arms/exposed armpits.

Yoga bloomers (cotton shor ts with elasticated bottoms for modesty) can be bought very cheaply in Pune (try MG Road or the Institute).

C Clothing should be clean and tidy.Torn or dirty clothing is disrespectful.

C Wash hands and feet before class (facilities in the changing rooms). Preferably bathe before coming to the Institute.

C Be punctual and regular in attendance. Be ready to start 10 minutes before the class begins.

C If you go to the (squat) toilet in the institute you should, of course wash your hands, (I say this because some people don’t seem to!) and also wash your feet in the adjacent bathroom before going back into class.

C After class you should help put all the equipment neatly away before leaving.

C During class take a mat (and other equipment) from the top of the pile, do not fish around for one you feel is better.

C Don’t wear a lot of jewellery. It gets in the way and if you take it off it is a risk. Don’t bring more money than necessary to class.

C Don’t wear perfume to class.

C It can be useful to have a mat in your room for home practice and you can then donate it to the Institute.

Sticky mats are hard to come by in India.

C Keep fingernails short, otherwise they get in the way, especially for such practices as digital pràõàyàma.Take a handkerchief especially to pràõàyàma classes.

C Personal items should not be placed on the plinths of a murti (idol) as that is very disrespectful (it is something like putting your mobile phone down on the altar in a church!). Neither should the plinth of the Patanjali murti in the practice room be used as a wall for practising àsanas.

C On the last Thursday evening of each month the Institute holds a meeting on spiritual and psychological aspects of yoga and scriptures. Attendance is expected.

Special Times - celebrations at RIMYI C 19th January Annual Day. Anniversary of RIMYI inauguration.

C March/April Hanuman Jayanti.

C July Guru Purnima C October/November Patanjali Jayanti C 14th December Guruji’s birthday 33

Closures C RIMYI is closed for the month of May. Also for the Indian holidays of: Independence Day - 15th August Ganesh Chaturthi - August/September (1 day) Vijaya Dashami - October Dussehra - October/November (1 day) Diwali - October/November (4 days) Republic Day - January 26th Gudi Padava - March Greetings It is polite to greet Guruji, Geetaji and Prashantji when you first see them in the day.The minimum polite greeting is to put your hands in the prayer position and say Namaskar (more polite than the familiar namaste). More reverential is to raise your hands in the prayer position to your forehead before placing them at your chest. More reverential still is to bend down or kneel and touch their feet with both hands, then raise your hands in the prayer position to your forehead then chest whilst saying Namaskar. No one is going to insist on this, but if your heart says do it then do.

There are a number of murtis of Patanjali and others around the institute. You can if you wish, as a mark of respect, touch them with both hands then raise your hands in the prayer position to your forehead and chest.

You should have bare feet to do this.

Classes at RIMYI Classes tend to be full and space limited so you need to be considerate of others. Equipment is kept in a room adjacent to the practice room, so if it is necessary to get some out during a class the most efficient way is to form a line and pass the equipment down it, rather than each individual trying to get in the room and just attend to their own needs.

Show respect by paying attention and doing your best to follow instructions.

applicable, do some recuperative poses if you are tired from travelling or sick but well enough to practise. Guruji, Geetaji and Prashantji also practise then so you have the benefit of seeing what they do too. You should leave promptly at the time the practice session finishes and not linger.

Library RIMYI has a very extensive library on yoga and yogarelated subjects. This is open for students to use during the afternoons (3.00 to 5.30 pm) except Sundays. You may be permitted to borrow certain books during your stay.You can check with the Librarian.

GENERAL TIPS FOR PUNE Weather Cooler: November - February. Dry. Cold early mornings rising to a comfortable warmth. Pollution levels tend to get higher as this season goes on.

Hot: March - June. The Institute is closed for May. The temperature can go as high as 37oC or more!

Wet: July- October. Pollution levels lower.Take special care with tummy bugs and mosquitoes.Take an umbrella!

Getting Around Pune C Auto-rickshaw: can be hailed on the road or you can approach a parked one.The meters show the kilometres not the price so need to be read in conjunction with a meter card. Each driver is expected to have a meter card and you can ask him for one. At the moment, the rates are 1:7, eg if the meter reading is Rs.1 - you have to pay Rs. 7. This is the minimum charge. It is very helpful when saying where you want to go to have a landmark rather than just the address, eg ‘opposite Jehangir Clinic’ C Crossing the road.: this is scary at first - the roads are extremely busy and seem chaotic. The best thing is to step out confidently and hope for the best once you have detected a negotiable gap in the traffic. Traffic moves on the left. But be alert for cycles and two wheelers, they can appear from nowhere!!

When you are menstruating you should still attend class and tell the teacher at the beginning. You will be given a programme to do with the others.

Practice at RIMYI There are daily (except Sundays) two and a half hour ownpractice sessions for those taking classes at RIMYI. It is a good idea to use this time to practise what has been taught in the previous class to help consolidate the learning, or if Iyengar Yoga News 6 - Spring 2005

34

Communication In Pune most people speak some English and some speak it very well. It can take a little while to tune into the local accent and for them to tune into yours.Actually if you note the way English is used (phraseology, intonation) locally and try to copy, it will help you to be understood. It is friendly to learn a little Hindi or the local language Marathi (eg hello, goodbye, thank you etc). Don’t be impatient, argumentative or demanding.This is counterproductive.

Public physical displays of affection such as hugging and kissing are not normally made in India. Also avoid holding hands with members of the opposite sex in public.

Doctors/ Dentists If you need one ask at the Institute.

Changing Money C American express (Amex) - off FC road.

C Bank of India (Deccan).

C Mr. Pandu has made arrangements for an organisation which does the exchange at the Institute. You can ask him about the details.

CLOTHES General: C Although it may be fashionable at times to wear scruffy, torn clothing in the West, it is unlikely to be seen as a fashion statement in India. The more likely response is to wonder why someone who obviously has the money to travel to India wishes to dress like a beggar. It could be interpreted as having a lack of selfrespect and is not going to help you get along there. It is definitely to be avoided in RIMYI and since you are representing yoga wherever you go (as people are likely ask you why you are in Pune) it is best to avoid this look completely.

C You will often sit on the floor so wear clothes which easily allow this. Cotton /natural materials are the most comfortable.

C If you can afford it it is good to buy, or have made, an Indian outfit which you can wear if you are invited to a special event at the institute or elsewhere. It shows respect to wear local dress on such occasions. For women this can be a sari or a shalwar kameez (loose trousers and tunic/dress). For men pyjamas (loose fitting trousers) and kurta (shirt-often calf length).

C Try clothes on if possible - sizing is different in India.You usually have to go at least one size larger - eg if you normally wear medium try large etc. There may be a tendency for shopkeepers to hike the prices on seeing Iyengar Yoga News 6 - Spring 2005

a Westerner so do not hesitate to bargain! Don’t bargain in fixed price shops though.

Women: C The most practical clothing in Pune is shalwar kameez.

There are many variations on this theme - short or medium length top, sleeves, no sleeves, tighter trousers gathered at the bottom (churridar). See ‘Shopping’ for where to buy. The locals also wear saris but these are much harder to carry off (and put on!). It is now more acceptable in Pune to wear t-shirts/shirts/blouses and jeans on the streets but not shorts. Mid-calf length or long dress/skirt is all right.

C You cannot assume the way you dress will be ‘read’ in the same way in India as it is at home; this is not the time or place to make a political point about dress. If you want to avoid hassle dress modestly. Generally it is a good idea to avoid bare arms especially if you are travelling alone.Avoid tight or low cut dresses.Western clothes are more commonly worn in Mumbai. It is also a good idea to keep long hair tied up.

Men: C For walking around town, trousers are the thing not shorts (in India shorts are associated with manual labour rather than casual wear). It is okay to walk through the streets in shorts when you are coming for class especially in the mornings and if you are not staying too far away. It is good to wear some Indian clothes at least some of the time and this will be appreciated.

Food There are many places to eat in Pune. It is very easy to get vegetarian food. In India the term ‘pure vegetarian’ includes no eggs, but it does include dairy. Jain food is that which has no garlic, onions, mushrooms and other nonsattvic ingredients.

In Indian eateries it is usual to eat with your hands or a spoon. Of course you should wash hands first! (Most 35

restaurants have a basin specifically for hand washing before and after meals!) It is polite to eat with your right hand. If you are not yet used to it, with a little practice it is not difficult to learn to scoop up food with chappatis or other breads or with rice. You may not get forks that easily at smaller restaurants.

Most restaurants have huge menus catering to most tastes.

As well as Indian food, Chinese dishes also often appear on menus.There are also Italian restaurants and pizza places.

Punjabi dishes are similar to the Indian food generally available in UK Indian restaurants. Thali plates are good value (several small dishes of vegetable, dal, dahi (yoghurt), bread or rice), often ‘unlimited’ so your plate is topped up until you have had sufficient. Asha Dining Hall on Apte Road is very popular as it gives a wholesome meal of chapatti, rice, dal, 2 vegetables, yoghurt and salads - all unlimited - for only Rs. 37. Also Panchawati and Hotel Sreyas do good, but more expensive, thalis. Also try the more local South Indian specialities such as dosas, uttapa, idli (try Vaishali, Roopali).

visit someone’s home. It is not essential but if you wish you can take a small gift. If you are not aware of the tastes/interests of your guest then it is best to take some sweets. Most people appreciate western chocolates! (however they don’t keep well in the heat so only take if you are able to give them soon after arrival) You will always be offered some refreshments. It is of course polite to accept. You may be watched as you eat without the hosts eating (especially the woman who has cooked the food), this can seem a little odd to a Westerner but see it as a gesture of politeness and hospitality from the hosts they want to make sure you are replete before they have any.You may eat sitting on the floor. If you are invited to a party the food is usually served at the end and the guests are expected to disperse soon after eating.

In India feet are considered very dirty. Footwear is not usually worn indoors, so remove your shoes at the door.

Also don’t point the soles of your feet at anyone. If you accidentally touch anyone with your foot do make sure you apologise.

Always eat hot food. In restaurants avoid salad or food which could have been washed in tap water unless you can be certain they have been washed in clean water.

Avoid food which has been left to stand (eg Western style dishes such as lasagne can be prone to this) or made from yesterday’s leftovers (often ‘mix vegetable’).You will, notice certain foods are eaten at certain times of day (eg Pav Bhaji is an early evening food, idli is a morning food), stick to these times so the food is more likely to be fresh. Drink only bottled or filtered water. I have usually found it okay to brush teeth in tap water. If you buy fresh milk, buy in the morning and boil it before use. UHT milk is more widely available for obvious reasons.

If you do succumb to a bug (most do at some point especially on a first trip) make sure you take in plenty of fluids (rehydration solution is best) and if you can attend classes and tell the teacher, and they will give you a programme to help the problem. You can buy oral rehydration salts from the local shops/chemists, mix it with the exact amount of clean water specified and drink. Also try to stick to plainer food until the problem works its way through, eg curd (yoghurt) and rice, bananas. In fact I am told eating a banana a day is a good preventative for stomach bugs. It seemed to work for us!

Visiting someone’s home Indians are very hospitable and you may well be asked to Iyengar Yoga News 6 - Spring 2005

Places to Visit If you visit a temple be especially careful to dress respectfully and modestly. Shoes are removed at the entrance.

36

There may be certain areas that non-Hindus may not enter.Take some money to give as an offering (they usually have collection boxes near each shrine) C Rajkelkar museum is reputedly excellent.

C Parvati Temple - involves a long walk up many steps so set out in the early morning.

C Fort.

C Cave temple in Jangli Maharaj.

C Ask the locals for other ideas and about visiting sights further afield.

Communicating with Home C Cheapest and quickest is to set up a temporary e-mail account in one of the many internet cafes.They charge about Rs. 15 to 20 an hour!

C Telephoning home - go to a telephone call shop and pay at the end of the call (the cost as you make the call is displayed on a meter). There are these ‘STD/ISD’ (International Subscriber Dialling) booths available in every nook and cranny of the city! It costs about Rs. 7 to 10 per minute to UK (landline to landline).

C Calling India from UK is very expensive. It is much cheaper in the other direction.

C Write! The post in both directions is pretty quick these days (usually around 6 days).

Beggars Generally Indians advise not to give money to beggars.

Personally, we tend to give to someone in obvious need, eg people with leprosy. If you intend to do so carry loose change and have it easily accessible. Alternatively if you are near a food place you could give some nice food. It is probably best to give to a charity which helps street people.

Shopping C At RIMYI:Yogwear - eg T-shirts, photographs and filled photo albums. Iyengar yoga books & DVDs CD-ROMs etc C Clothes: you can buy Indian outfits cheaply in Pune; try Deccan, MG Road, area near the old Holiday Inn, Sassoon Road (opposite Jehangir Clinic).

C Indian leather flip flops can be found all over. You can buy good ones from Gandhi Khadi in Mumbai which are made only from cows which have died a natural death rather than been slaughtered.

C Joss-sticks: try Phadke Haud.

C Books: Crosswords, Popular Book store, International Book Store (Deccan), excellent book shop in the Taj Mahal in Mumbai.

C Toiletries: all easily available. Try some ayurvedic stuff Iyengar Yoga News 6 - Spring 2005

we recommend neem toothpaste! (available at all chemist shops).

C Spectacles - Indian opticians will make up your prescription much more cheaply than over here.

C Don’t haggle in shops with fixed prices. Don’t bother haggling over trivial amounts. But don’t pay grossly over the odds as this distorts the local economy.

Things to Take/Buy Shortly After Arrival C Travel light - there are lots of lovely clothes and other stuff you can buy very cheaply in India.

C Photos of family (nice for you and Indians tend to be interested).

C Small gifts - for those who you get to know/ show you kindness.

C Mosquito repellant (can also be bought there) - try the plug-in units for overnight in which you put tablets or (better) liquid.

C Umbrella or waterproof coat if going in rainy season.

C Footwear for wet weather. (Leather flip-flops don’t like water!).

C A notebook to take notes after class and collect contact details for all your new friends.

C A good pumice/foot file - your feet can get very hard and ingrained with dirt if you don’t use one often!

C Any clothes or shoes which need mending or alteration (Richard’s idea!) - Indian tailors are skilled, fast and much, much cheaper than any here.

This is a work in progress. If you have anything of interest to add, please get in touch with Kirsten on kirsten@bathiyengar-yyoga.com, so this information can be updated for the official website: www.bksiyengar.com.

Many thanks to Rajvi Mehta and Richard Agar Ward for C their invaluable help in compiling this guide.

37

CLASSES

AT

RIMYI

Applications have to be made through each country’s national association. A minimum of 8 years practice of Iyengar Yoga is required. The fee for classes at the Ramamani Iyengar Memorial Yoga Institute, Pune, is US$ 300 for one month.

Information for Teachers / Students For admission, the Institute requests that the student’s practice of 8 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).

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 and be familiar with the terms and principles covered in that chapter.

The following should be noted: 1. RIMYI offers one or two months admission.The deposit of $US 150 is for one month.

2. Please do not ask to change the date you are given unless you have a serious need to do so on compassionate grounds.

3. Advance deposit is part of the fees and hence not transferable to any other person or course. It is non-refundable.

4. 6 classes are given per week, each for 2hrs duration. A schedule will be given on arrival.

5. The last week of each month will be pràõàyàma classes.

6. No extensions will be given beyond two months under any circumstances.

7. A confirmation letter will be given from the RIMYI and should be presented on arrival.

8. The classes will be conducted by BKS Iyengar or his daughter or son or by staff members.

10. Please make your own arrangements for board and lodging 11. Certificates will not be issued at the end of the course.

12. When applying please include relevant bio-data with any health conditions.

Please send Application Forms (see opposite) and your 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.

Applications are for individuals only - no groups. · Please send a self addressed stamped envelope with your application so that a receipt for your deposit can be sent to you. · Please be patient. The secretary of the RIYMI, Mr Pandurang Rao, receives many applications from all over the world.You may have to wait from 3 months to a year to receive your confirmation letter. · When you receive your confirmation letter and if it comes direct from India please let Penny know. You will know the letter has come direct from India by the stamp and post mark. 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) Iyengar Yoga News 6 - Spring 2005

38

REQUEST FOR ENROLMENT IN GENERAL CLASSES AT THE RAMAMANI IYENGAR MEMORIAL YOGA INSTITUTE (RIMYI) This section to be filled out by the applicant: Last name: ...................................................................................... First name: .................................................................................................

Middle/other name: ................................................................................................................ Age: .......................... Gender: M / F Address: ....................................................................................................................................................................................................................... .........................................................................................................................................................................Postcode: ............................................

Telephone: .............................................................................................. fax: .......................................................................................................... e-mail: ............................................................................................................................................................................................................................ l No. of years practising Iyengar Yoga: ..................... Name of main teacher: ...............................................................................

What frequency of study with them (daily, weekly, monthly): .....................................................................................................

Date of last class taken with the teacher: ...............................................................................................................................................

Can you speak English?:

YES / NO

Any previous classes at the RIMYI?:

YES / NO

If applicable, the most recent date of attendance at the RIMYI: from (month/year) ......../........ to ......../........

Applying for admission for (please put in year and number in order of preference): June/July

August/September

October/November

December/January

The deposit of $US 150 made out to RIMYI in the form of a bank draft or international money order (do not send cash).

The amount sent: $ ........................................ Signature: ................................................................................ Date:......./......./..............

This section to be filled out by the referring certificated teacher: Dear Mr Pandurang Rao, I, .................................................................................................. herewith recommend .................................................................................. who has studied Yoga with me for ...................years. She/he has also attended .................................................................. course with senior teachers.

Iyengar Yoga News 6 - Spring 2005

39

THE L AUGHING P OLICEMAN Lorraine McConnon describes teaching Iyengar Yoga to the Metropolitan Police

I

started teaching Iyengar Yoga to the Territorial Support Group (TSG) of the Metropolitan Police force in February 2004. I was invited there as a tentative experiment by Inspector Mark Bird, and although the lessons were regarded initially with some scepticism, they have been very well received and we are planning a second season of classes.

The work of the TSG is extremely varied; they are deployed over the whole of London, engaged in dealing with large-scale public disorder, rapid entries into premises, crime operations, anti-terrorist activities and surveillance type work. They work long, irregular hours in sometimes stressful, perilous conditions. It was hoped that yoga would help reduce stress levels and increase adaptability.

These police officers have to maintain peak fitness for their particular area of work; they are rated at level one whereas a regular policeman on the street is only required to achieve level three of fitness. I had been tipped off beforehand by their in-house fitness instructor Ryan Williams (also a student) that they would work to their limit and I found this to be the case.Whereas usually one has to enthuse beginners to get them motivated, this group presented another type of teaching challenge. After teaching the first class I had to re-think my whole approach, as this group was unlike any I had previously taught. I almost had to rein in the energy of the group as it had so much power and vitality. The introductory asanas worked their bodies in a way that was different from how most of them had worked before. There is a delicate balance to be found here; one wants to work the pose to get the maximum benefit, and yet not go beyond that point and cause tension in the body. These are poses that sheer force alone cannot achieve; we were looking at working “economically”, identifying the muscles necessary to do the work, relaxing the areas that were not necessary for that pose but wanted to join in anyway, and encouraging other areas to participate that were hitherto unwilling.

Iyengar Yoga News 6 - Spring 2005

My objective is to channel their strength and power and wake up the natural intelligence of their bodies. The warrior poses are ideal for this; they require strength but cannot be achieved with strength alone. On several occasions, when the class were practising the warrior poses (vãrabhadràsana 1, 2, and 3), working with full focus as they did, I was struck by the spectacle before me and felt that in many ways these students are essentially contemporary warriors, putting themselves at risk for the general good of the community. Strength, in combination with a balanced state of mind, is essential for a wise use of power, making the warrior poses highly appropriate for this group.

These officers spend most of their working day establishing and maintaining control; suddenly to be, say, upside down in sarvàngàsana (for the first time since they were children for most of them) was mildly disorientating and in many respects a humbling experience. They carried it off with great humour and much aplomb. An occasion that illustrates well the dynamics of the group was when I was about to teach baddha koõàsana for the first time and I asked them to sit on the floor with their backs to the wall.

Although in a large room, they sat almost shoulder to shoulder; there was no room for the knees to bend out to the sides! The sense of esprit de corps is palpable.

There is a wide range of flexibility between students and Iyengar yoga is excellent in addressing this diversity, as àsanas can be adapted to suit the varying needs of each student so that every one benefits fully from each àsana.

For example, some students can achieve full pàr÷vakoõàsana whilst others need to work with the lower elbow on the thigh as the hips were tight. These students work out in a gym regularly and also have martial arts instruction. Whereas other exercise systems may ensure a fine physique, yoga has evolved over centuries to exercise every muscle, nerve and gland in the body. One develops agility, balance, endurance and great vitality.

40

One of the principles of yoga is not to seek the fruits of one’s actions. The practice is done for it’s own sake, and although one is striving to do one’s best, one is indifferent to the result.The physical benefits of yoga are a side effect, yet it is these side effects that often draw people to yoga.

The nature of the work these police officers undertake often puts them in extremely challenging and dangerous situations. As well as describing the benefits of each àsana I also explained how each àsana has a whole set of characteristics which can be adopted in very simple practical terms to help them: the standing poses bring vitality and correct postural alignment, the sitting poses are calming, supine poses are restful, prone poses energise, twists offer cleansing, inverted poses rejuvenate and bring mental strength, balancing poses brings a feeling of lightness and co-ordination, backbends are exhilarating and jumping poses bring agility. People can come to yoga often for one thing and leave with many others.They may want to cure insomnia but get a glimpse of something deeper and stay long after the insomnia has passed. Before the end of my first yoga class, I felt that I was going to be doing yoga for the rest of my life. It is not always so simple. It is only when the àsanas have had a chance to permeate the body that the deeper value of yoga is experienced. The real importance of the àsanas is the way they train and discipline the mind.

class have new or old injuries and every one of them has reported an improvement since starting yoga. This was something they had not anticipated and was much welcomed. Again, in such circumstances the àsanas are adapted to take the injuries into account. There were many men with inner groin injuries and they all found that supta baddha koõàsana, with the outer thighs supported, is particularly effective in dealing with this. Along with supta vãràsana, vãparta karaõi, and adho mukha vãràsana, this pose proved ideal to calm the system after a stressful day.

At the very least, the àsanas re-align the posture, spreading the work around the body and taking the strain off the over-loaded areas. In some cases the police officers’ muscles were thick-set with limited flexibility. If the muscle cannot stretch sufficiently under pressure then it becomes injured. Their job often demands that they pursue and restrain suspects; the advantages to being flexible are many, but largely here it reduces the chances of injury significantly as it introduces a wider range of movement. By simply improving the posture the body works more effectively; weak muscles are strengthened and tight muscles are lengthened thereby reducing their vulnerability to injury. As the tight tissue becomes more flexible any build up of waste products is discharged into the blood stream ready for release. A high proportion of the

This restoration of balance to the entire system is the aspect of the teaching which I find most rewarding. I believe that the physical body is like a frozen history of one’s life events, both joyous and challenging. If one is regularly subjected to stressful, dangerous situations one needs to be pro-active in taking steps to remove the build up of negative, harmful substances which remain in the system and this in turn will restore equilibrium. Yoga is the perfect antidote to such a lifestyle; the àsanas restore balance and well-being in a way that goes far beyond just physical good health. After a hard day witnessing sometimes the worst of what humanity has to offer, it can make you feel human again. As the body’s natural intelligence awakens one becomes more conscious, one’s perspective broadens and C one faces life’s up and downs with an equal mind.

Iyengar Yoga News 6 - Spring 2005

With regular yoga practice the negative legacy of the difficult aspect of the police officers’ work is removed and does not accumulate. They are releasing the stress of the working day, experiencing much needed restorative calm and re-establishing a sense of well-being. On one particular occasion, after some hip opening poses, one of the men had an uncontrollable fit of laughter. This is simply stress release and not unusual, but when it did not stop for five minutes his sergeant muttered some dark words to him and he left the room. I continued with the sound of his laughter still audible from the end of the corridor and he returned some five minutes later full of unnecessary apologies. At the next class the “Laughing Policeman” came to me and said that on the night of the last class he had slept better than he had for the last five years.

41

M O D E R N

Y O G A

Mark Singleton reviews A History of Modern Yoga: Pata¤jali and Western Esotericism

by Elizabeth De Michelis (London and New York: Continuum Press, 2004)

M

ore and more, yoga students and teachers worldwide are asking difficult questions about the practices they do and the theories that underlie them. Where do these practices come from? Why is there such a variety among yoga schools, and how do these schools relate to each other? And how, if at all, do their teachings differ from “classical” Indian forms of practice, such as those outlined in Pata¤jali’s seminal Yoga Såtras? A History of Modern Yoga is a timely and intelligent attempt to answer these questions.

In De Michelis’ sense, “Modern Yoga” refers to a specific body of thought and practice that grew out of the ideological and philosophical exchange between Westerners interested in India, and English-speaking (and significantly westernised) Indians.The story begins with an early nineteenth century Bengal caught in a crisis of colonial identity. With the passing of the India Act in 1813, and the opening up of the subcontinent to commerce, a largely respectful and tolerant British attitude to religious practices and education in India began to give way to heavyhanded missionary activity. Dialogue and tolerance suffered even further with the advent of Thomas Macaulay’s aggressive programme of reforms some years later. The educated, urban classes of cities like Calcutta found themselves caught between two ideological worlds - the Hinduism of their ancestors, and the rationalistic, scientific and Christian beliefs of their colonisers - and forced to chart a course between these two extremes.

Drawing on Western philosophy and esotericism, as well as indigenous religion, a series of charismatic leaders began formulating what De Michelis calls neo-Vedantic Hinduism, a distinctive matrix of religious convictions based on assumptions such as the universality of all religions and the primacy of intuition and experience in the spiritual life. Unitarianism, Theosophy, and Esoteric Liberalism, very present and influential in certain cultivated Bengali circles, all lent a flavour to the new religious movements. The most significant of these was known as the Brahmo Samaj, and it was from this ideological lineage that emerged the first exponent of what was, according to De Michelis, a properly modern yoga: Narendranath Datta, better known as Swami Vivekananda (1863-1902).

Iyengar Yoga News 6 - Spring 2005

A large part of De Michelis’s study is given over to a detailed analysis of the Western esoteric and occult elements that found their way into Vivekananda’s thinking, and that have endured in contemporary yoga in modern India and in the West. Given the nigh mythical status accorded to the Calcutta Swami in both Hindu nationalism and yoga lore, the very human face presented here is sometimes revelatory. Vivekananda shot to fame after addressing the World Parliament of Religions in Chicago in 1893. He spent the next three years in the company of the intellectual and esoteric avant-garde of East coast America, travelling, lecturing and developing his own particular brand of neo-Vedanta and yoga in response to these encounters. The discourses he delivered would later be used as the base material for his book Ràja Yoga (1896), which De Michelis considers to be the first textual expression of Modern Yoga. In part translation and commentary on Pata¤jali, in part practical yoga manual, Ràja Yoga, she argues, became a kind of blueprint for the future transmission of yoga. In a very distinct sense, the way we talk and think about yoga today may be due to Vivekananda’s innovative synthesis, rather than to more ancient sources. This is a surprising, and at times challenging, proposition.

In the second part of the book, De Michelis turns her attention to twentieth century developments of Modern Yoga, and offers a convincing typology of the various and variegated modern movements which today all call themselves “yoga”.The first half of the century does not receive any in-depth attention. Instead, De Michelis takes as her case study the life and work of B.K.S. Iyengar, tracing his major developmental phases through an analysis of the key publications Light on Yoga (1966), Light on Prànàyàma (1981) and Light on the Yoga Såtras of Pata¤jali (1993).

She situates these phases within the context of the Modern Yoga theory developed in the first part of the book. Iyengar Yoga, she argues, owes much to the legacy of figures like Vivekananda, as well as to the on-going cultural and esoteric exchange between India and the modern West. She also takes into consideration Iyengar’s own native religious tradition, and demonstrates how these Vaiùnava roots have, over the years, shaped his thinking.

The case study is a respectful and insightful investigation into the deeper influences within the Iyengar method.

42

With its wealth of historical detail and its occasional analytical complexity, A History of Modern Yoga does not always make for easy reading. Though lucid and methodical throughout, it is a dense and intellectually sophisticated piece of scholarship. Herself a long-time practitioner and teacher of Iyengar yoga, De Michelis has combined in this book the student’s curiosity and respect for her subject with the professional researcher’s insistence on detailed, evidence-based argument. It is a book which asks searching, vital questions about the nature of yoga in the modern world, and offers compelling, and at time unsettling, possible answers. For anyone wishing to look more deeply into today’s yoga practices, and the history of ideas beneath them, this is essential reading, which more than repays the initial effort. On occasions, one perhaps

Iyengar Yoga News 6 - Spring 2005

wonders if a fleshing out of what is meant by “classical” thought and practice would have brought the specifically modern elements of Modern Yoga into even sharper relief - but on the whole this does not diminish the relevance and impact of the argument. The first study of its kind, A History of Modern Yoga has taken the ongoing discussion of what it means to practise yoga in today’s world to a new and fascinating level, and one can only hope that De Michelis (who researches Modern Yoga at Cambridge University) will continue to produce such thoughtC provoking work.

If you would like to purchase this book at a discounted price (£30 + p&p), please contact the author at: e.demichelis@divinity.cam.ac.uk

43

Y O G A

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: ............................................................ e-mail: ............................................................................................................................................................

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 .......................................................................

Iyengar Yoga News 6 - Spring 2005

44

IYA(UK) MERCHAND ISE BOOKS Light On Yoga (new edition) Yoga Rahasya (2 vols.)

A Matter of Health (by Dr Krishna Raman) Light on the Yoga Sutras Basic Guidelines for Teachers of Yoga* New title: Tuesdays with Prashant

£12.00 £10.00 £25.00 £12.00 £10.00 £12.00

Astadala Yogamala vols.1-4 Preliminary Course Yoga: A Gem for Women Light on Pranayama Yoga for Children

£12.00 each £8.00 £10.00 £10.00 £14.00

* available to teachers only Iyengar Yoga Jubilee videos (now at half-p price): Teachers’ Event + Question & Answer session (4 tapes) General Event + Question & Answer session (4 tapes) Full set (7 tapes)

£20 £20 £36

CD-R ROMs from the RIMYI (prices include postage and packing) Yoga for You (£14),Yoga for Stress (£12),Yoga for Asthma (£12) and Yoga for Blood Pressure (£14) All prices include p & p in the UK. Please ask about postage to other countries.

Make cheques payable to “IYA (UK)” and send to: Patsy Sparksman, 33 Ashbourne Avenue, London NW11 0DT; 020 8455 6366; patsyyoga@aol.com

PLEASE PRINT name, address, phone number and e-m mail address clearly with your order.

The Jubilee videos and the following books are also available from Jane Cornah: please make cheques payable to “IYA (UK)” and send to Jane Cornah, 12 Kirby Park, Wirral CH48 2HA, or e-mail details to cornah@wkirby.u-net.com.

The Art of Yoga £10.50 Light On Yoga £12.00 Tree of Yoga £10.25 Yoga Pushpanjali £10.50 Yoga Rahasya (2 vols.) £10.00 Yogadhara £12.00

ORGANIC COTTON LEGGINGS Made from 90% organic cotton with 10% elastane, Small (8-10 leg 73.5) black or charcoal Medium (10-12 leg 74) charcoal ONLY Large (14-16 leg 74.5) black or charcoal Cheques payable to “IYA (UK)” (£23 each inc. p & p.) and send to: Patsy Sparksman, 33 Ashbourne Avenue, London NW11 0DT PLEASE PRINT name, address, phone number and e-mail address clearly with your order.

Iyengar Yoga News 6 - Spring 2005

45

A N N O U N C E M E N T S FINANCIAL REPORT It’s been over a year, now, that IYA (UK) has had a professional administrator, and what a difference that has made! We are becoming more efficient and streamlined in our procedures and maintaining good contact with our members. All this has come at a price, though, and administrative costs are high.

One of the things that has cost us a lot more than we expected is dealing with mistakes made by members! When a lot of people send in cheques for the wrong amount, the phone calls, paperwork and postage, not to mention Leza’s time, add up to considerable sums. Similar ly, when there isn’t enough postage, the Post Office charge £1 to deliver a package, on top of our administrative costs. So PLEASE, PLEASE get your sums right when you send stuff in to Leza. If you are one who goes into a blue mist at the sight of a number, check with a friend!

By the time you read this, you will have received your membership renewal documents for 2005-6.

We increased the fees by approximately 3%, but the Cer tification Mark fee is less, due to the favourable exchange rate with US dollar, so the amount teachers pay remains roughly the same. The current rates are: Individual membership £10.50 Institute membership £5.25 Overseas supplement £10.50 Teachers’ payment £31.00 (concessions £18.50) Insurance £17.00 CM £27.50 (concessions £16.50) TEACHERS! MAKE SURE YOU RENEW BEFORE MARCH 31st; THIS WILL BE MUCH MORE STRAIGHTFORWARD THAN LAST YEAR. IF YOU MISS THIS DEADLINE, YOU WILL HAVE TO REAPPLY FOR YOUR CERTIFICATION MARK AND FILL OUT ALL THOSE FORMS AGAIN! We told you last year that we would introduce direct debit facilities. On investigation, we found that the costs and administrative time outweighed the benefits, so we have abandoned that idea. Feedback from members indicates that the ability to take credit/debit card payments would be more useful, so we are investigating that route.

Judith Richards (Hon. Treasurer) Iyengar Yoga News 6 - Spring 2005

FINAL LOYA (UK) ACCOUNTS When LOYA (UK) was formally dissolved on 14th June 2003, it had the sum of £4347.64 left in its account. As LOYA was a registered charity, this money could not be directly transferred into the IYA (UK) acount as the IYA is not registered as a charity.The IYA (UK) Executive Council agreed to send £4000 to the Bellur Trust in India, and donate the rest to three UK charities: £111 was sent to the Alzheimer’s Society, the Andrew and Catherine Carter Trust and the Macmillan Nurses. The remaining £14.64 was spent on administration costs.

ARCHIVES The Archive/Research Committee would like for their library a complete set of the back issues of Dipika magazine (this is the magazine produced by the Iyengar Yoga Institute in Maida Vale). If anyone is able to donate or lend us the full set, we would be most grateful. We have facilities to copy the magazines and could send them back to you - all postage costs will be refunded. If you can help, please contact Sue Vassar on 01643 704260.

PUBLIC RELATIONS One of the things that Iyengar organisations in the UK have never been particularly good at is PR. We all feel frustrated when we read articles about yoga in the press that either misrepresent or ignore the Iyengar method.

The IYA (UK) is trying to fill this gap and has set up a PR Committee.The current members of that Committee are experienced in disseminating information and at dealing with the media, but they need good quality material to work with. Our aim, is to set up a team of people able to provide us with material - we have in mind 2 or 3 people, who have been involved in Iyengar yoga for some time so that they are steeped in its tradition and who are able to write short pieces on demand. Suitable people who are currently on the EC spend a great deal of time on adminstrative work so we had in mind people who are not particularly involved with the Association at the moment.

If you think this might be you and you are willing to contribute in this way, please contact the Secretary (Christina Neiwola - details on page 52).

WEBSITE The IYA (UK) website can be found at: www.iyengaryoga.org.uk It has always had class listings on it, but this depended on individual teachers sending in their details. We have now posted contact details for all teachers in the UK who have given us permission to do so. This will be an invaluable help in directing new students to local classes.

46

TEACHERS’ SEMINAR The Assessment & Teacher Training Committee of the IYA (UK) is proposing to organise a seminar to discuss creating a more structured approach to the training of teachers in remedial work. There is currently ver y little formal training for remedial work within the syllabuses and teachers pick up much of the knowledge they have in a piecemeal fashion. ‘Remedial work’ may be taken to include help for temporar y conditions such as pregnancy, or specific minor injuries, as well as chronic problems or conditions. The idea of this seminar is for Iyengar yoga teachers with greater experience and knowledge to come together to discuss the whole question of training teachers in remedial work.

Creation of a central knowledge base and an appropriate framework for training will be the central themes. The seminar will be open to all experienced teachers with an interest in remedial work or knowledge in some aspect of this subject.

This will generally mean those with Intermediate Junior 2 or above although other long-standing teachers who have something useful to contribute will not be excluded. We would like to hear from all teachers with any ideas or material to contribute. If you would like to attend or contribute please contact: Alan Brown (Secretary ATTC) 23 Middleton, Cowling, West Yorks BD22 0DQ alan@dianalan.plus.com 01535 637359 IYENGAR YOGA DEVELOPMENT FUND All Iyengar teachers have to pay an annual fee of $50 in order to be able to use the international Certification Mark. After deduction of essential administration costs and legal fees, 60% of this money is sent to Guruji and 40% (about £7000 per year in the UK) is to be dedicated to a range of central promotional activities under the auspices of the IYA (UK).This money is placed into a separate account (the Iyengar Yoga Development Fund) administered by a committee consisting of 2 elected EC members (currently Nathalie Blondel and Philippe Harari) and 4 co-opted senior teachers (currently Jeanne Maslen, Penny Chaplin, Lilian Biggs and Silvia Prescott).The original purpose of this fund (approved by Guruji) included the following specific promotional and development activities all of which members could apply for: 1. to disseminate educational material on Iyengar yoga 2. to encourage and coordinate research and training on the benefits of Iyengar yoga 3. to facilitate the professional development of Iyengar yoga teachers 4. to provide interest-free loans for non-profitmaking Iyengar Yoga News 6 - Spring 2005

Iyengar yoga centres 5. to promote & support classes in socially deprived areas 6. to provide bursaries for teachers to attend conventions, yoga events or other courses which contribute to their professional development.

At the time of writing, the Iyengar Yoga Development Fund Committee has yet to meet and decide exactly how much money to spend on what, and how to invite requests from members; our aim is to set up procedures and policies for the fund over the next few months, and present a full report in the Autumn 2005 issue of Iyengar Yoga News. In the meantime, the Executive Council of IYA (UK) agreed at its meeting in November 2004 to spend £1000 of this fund on bursaries for the 2005 conventions (at Brunel and in Bath). These bursaries are to enable members in financial difficulties attend national IYA (UK) conventions.

2005 IYA (UK) CONVENTIONS At the time of writing there are still places left for both conventions: the Spring one at Brunel University and the Autumn one at the University of Bath. Application forms were sent to all members in November, but can also be found on our website: w w w . i y e n g a r y o g a . o r g . u k

ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING of the Iyengar Yoga Association (UK) to be held on Saturday, 18th June 2005 2.00 - 300pm at Brunel University, Uxbridge, Middlesex.

AGENDA 1. Welcome from the Chair 2. Apologies for absence 3. The Chair’s Report - Judith Jones will make her report to the meeting. The meeting will be asked to approve the Chair’s report.

4. The Secretary’s Report - Christina Niewola will make her report to the meeting. The meeting will be asked to approve the Secretary’s report.

5. The Treasurer’s Report - Judith Richards will present the accounts for the previous financial year.

The meeting will be asked to adopt the accounts.

6. The Membership Secretary’s Report - Ros Bell will give a report on the current membership situation.

The meeting will be asked to note her report.

7. Standing Committees’ Reports - written reports will be available at the meeting.

8. Institute Reports - written reports will be available at the meeting.

9. Motion - amendments to the Constitution 10. Any Other Business 47

A

WIDER

PERSPECTIVE

Joe Burn reports on a couple of recent initiatives The R egister o f E xercise P rofessionals ( REPs) REPs has been set up by Sport Active, an organisation which is keen to see that members of the public are taught exercise/movement safely and well. As such it is open to a massive range of exercise types - aerobics etc - as well as yoga. REPs is keen that organisations such as health clubs and local education authorities use the register as a means of ensuring that ‘exercise’ teachers are properly insured and trained thus delivering a safe class. As a teacher of Iyengar yoga you may have been asked to join REPs. Unfortunately REPs has wavered over the decision as to whether to allow Iyengar yoga teachers onto the register, so you may have been receiving conflicting messages as to your eligibility to join. I can now report that IYA (UK) teachers are allowed to sign up.This will cost you £25 and you must be up to date with your 25 hours of teacher contact and have a CPR (First Aid) certificate. However, the relationship of the UK yoga community at large, mediated chiefly by the British Wheel of Yoga (BWY) - the Governing Body for Yoga in the UK with about 3000 teachers - with REPs is still a little rocky as REPs has allowed some teachers onto the register that the BWY know nothing about, therefore it is not entirely unlikely that a separate ‘registered yoga teacher’ list may be set up. If you have any questions please do contact either Cliff Collins at REPs 0208 686 6464 or myself, Joe Burn, 0113 250 4336.

The Y oga F ellowship ( YF(UK)) Nigel Wissett Warner (former Vice Chairman of the British Wheel of Yoga) observed that there was little communication among the Yoga groups in the UK and he

Iyengar Yoga News 6 - Spring 2005

thought that it made good sense to find a way of opening up formal channels of communication with a view to improving the levels of understanding and friendship between yoga practitioners of different groups. Nigel invited a number of groups to come and join the Yoga Fellowship committee; as a result nine UK Yoga groups have agreed to send a representative to this new but important committee. These groups make up the Yoga Fellowship and we have met four times in 2004.Together the YF(UK) constitutes about 5,500 teachers.

The groups that make up the YF(UK) are: The British Wheel of Yoga Yoga for Health Foundation The Iyengar Yoga Association (UK) Friends of Yoga The Scottish Yoga Teachers’ Association Mandala Yoga Ashram Satyananda Yoga Heart Yoga The Association for Yoga Studies.

Discussions around the YF(UK) committee table have mainly been about REPs (see above) and the role that the BWY has played as the Governing Body of Yoga in the UK and ways in which this role can be improved. As a result the BWY has set up a committee, chaired by John Parry the Vice Chairman of the BWY, to review its relationship with the UK Yoga community. Finally we have discussed how we can get more yoga groups involved and set up a list of criteria for membership.

On the next page we have printed a statement prepared by the Yoga Fellowship steering group.

48

The Yoga Fellowship (UK) In search of a wider perspective Over the course of the last year, representatives from 4 of the major British Yoga organisations have been meeting together under the aegis of the Yoga Fellowship (UK). The delegates from the British Wheel of Yoga, the Iyengar Yoga Association of UK, the Yoga for Health Foundation and the Friends of Yoga Society International have been examining issues of wider common concern for Yoga teachers, shared values and the likely challenges posed by future regulation of Yoga.

The idea of a fellowship of independent, self-determining Yoga organisations has been around for a long time and was recently suggested to Nigel Wissett-Warner (Chair, YF(UK)) by British Wheel of Yoga patron Satish Kumar during a private discussion reflecting on the difficulties of bringing the wider Yoga community closer together.

Satish Kumar is the grandson of Krishnamacharya, Guru to B.K.S.Iyengar, Desikachar and Pattabhi Jois. Satish emphasised that providing a forum where people could just come together was more important than seeking a consensus on seemingly irreconcilable differences.

And so the Yoga Fellowship (UK) was born establishing a regular meeting-point where trust and co-operation could begin to be built up publicly, or at least witnessed first-hand by the member-groups present at the meetings. It was inevitable there would be issues of joint interest and these have ensured a spirit of constructive dialogue to date.

The very concept of a fellowship of Yoga groups has been widely accepted as beneficial. The notion that there be a means of propagating safe teaching throughout the land was also unanimously endorsed. How standards are best applied and maintained has been the subject of ongoing debate. Even so, it is anticipated there can be a resolution to these questions, whereby the Yoga Fellowship (UK) can move on and welcome other Yoga training schools and organisations that wish to become members and participate in the venture.

In the longer term, the Yoga Fellowship (UK) seeks to encourage the involvement of delegates from many other Yoga organisations across the spectrum of teaching in the United Kingdom. By virtue of this involvement, the Yoga Fellowship (UK) would achieve its intended aim of promoting unity amongst Yoga teachers with the purpose required of it by its own member-groups, each dedicated and committed to the cause of Yoga in their own way.

Nigel Wissett-Warner (Chairman) The Yoga Fellowship (UK) is currently represented by: Keith Atherley & Bill Feeney (Yoga for Health Foundation), Ernest Coates & Kathleen Pepper (Friends of Yoga), Judith Richards & Joe Burn (Iyengar Yoga Association of the United Kingdom), John Parry, Penny Roberts & Wendy Haring (British Wheel of Yoga) Please contact the Chairman or any of the other individuals named above if you wish to support the work of the Yoga Fellowship (UK) and/or offer comments or suggestions.

YF (UK) c/o The Grange, 1 Waverley Lane, FARNHAM, Surrey GU9 8BB Tel: 01252 735806; email: wissett@dsc-strand.co.uk

Iyengar Yoga News 6 - Spring 2005

49

PROFESSIONAL D EVELOPMENT D AYS 2 005 Judi Sweeting, the IYA (UK) Professional Development Day Coordinator, explains to teachers what will be happening at PD Days in 2005

T

hroughout 2004, 14 Professional Development Days were held all over the UK. The focus of the workshops was the new syllabi levels, which we received from RIMYI, checked by Guruji. Moderators who have all maintained close contact with the mother Institute in Pune led the days. The feedback from our members has been positive and they have very much enjoyed the experience of sharing and updating their knowledge.

It was disappointing that the whole teacher membership did not take advantage of this rare opportunity and missed out on valuable teaching. I sincerely hope those who did not attend PD Days in 2004 will ensure they come along to the days arranged for 2005.

Prior to 2004, the “Exchange of Learning/Revalidation Days”, were based on the Introductory Syllabus. In 2005 the format for the days will be based on the Introductory level 2 syllabus and levels 1,2 and 3 of the Intermediate Junior syllabus. The exception will be the Intermediate Senior syllabus; this will be a continuation workshop, carrying on from last September 2004 in Manchester.The list of dates is shown opposite. Please contact the organiser of the date you wish to attend, as soon as possible.

Once you have booked your place, you will receive a copy of the programme for the day.

I would like to repeat what I said in my article in the IYN No. 4 (Winter 2003). “PD Days will encourage teachers to go forward in their practice and teaching. It is a fact that when we are studying for an assessment, we work hard to ensure we pass the exam but as time passes it is only too easy to “ease-off ” and all the hard earned efforts are lost. As Guruji has said “today’s maximum is tomorrow’s minimum”. As we grow older we can loose confidence and courage and PD Days will help to build us up and support us. It is an opportunity to meet up with old friends and to make new ones.” These days are not “assessments”; they make it possible for us to see the links between the àsanas through the levels. We are constantly learning as we practice and teach Iyengar yoga and this process will never stop! PD days are stimulating and motivating.

Book soon to avoid disappointment! The organisers expect you to contact them; they are all busy teachers and do not have the time to chase you up, please make their job easier and get in touch in good time. The moderators also give up their spare time willingly to pass Iyengar Yoga News 6 - Spring 2005

on all they have been fortunate enough to learn from Guruji, Geetaji and Prashantji. A database is being maintained, to keep records of all who attend PD Days; the hours will contribute to your Certification Mark total hours.

IYA (UK) Professional Development Days 2005 AREA South West SWIYI Chagford West & South Wales AIYI Greater London & SE NELIYI Greater London & SE IIYS Greater London & SE (IYIMV) North West MDIIY/LDIYI East Central & North SADIYI/BDIYI North East & Cumbria & Tyne & Wear NEIYI West Central MCIYI East CIYI South Central ORIYI Scotland

ORGANISER Anita Butcher 0136 465 3012

DATE 24.9.05

Edgar Stringer 01249 716 235 (office hours) yoglyded@yahoo.com Catherine Coulson 0208 347 8115 cakcoulson@blueyonder.co.uk Brian Ingram 01444 236714

16.4.05

Korinna Pilafidis-Williams 0207 6243080 korinnapw@internet.com Betty Croston 0161 962 7988 Jeanne Maslen (Senior Int.) Alan Brown 0153 563 7359

10.4.05 14.5.05 20.11.5 14.5.05 5.11.05 *

Diane Coats 0191 415 4132

19.11.5

Jayne Orton 0121 608 2229 Sasha Perryman 0122 352 3265 Sheila Haswell 0149 452 1107 Ann Ansari 0239 247 4197 Stuart Anderson 0187 583 0508

24.4.05 16.4.05 24.9.05 26.11.5 11.9.05

* Date not available at the time of publication, please contact the organiser.

Moderators have not yet been allocated, details later.

50

LETTERS FROM READERS IYA (UK) welcomes contributions and letters from readers.

The deadline for next issue is 1st July 2005.

Please send items to: IYA (UK) c/o Leza Hatchard 23 Queens Walk, Ealing, London W5 1TP telephone: 020 8997 6029 admin@iyengaryoga.org.uk Clara Buck

1912 - 2004

Clara Buck was an extraordinary and outspoken woman.

While I do not know dates for the events in her life she told me many wonderful, funny and inspiring stories.

Clara came from a loving and close family. She had affectionate memories from her childhood in Hungary, and remained close to her two sisters until she died. She had three marriages and outlived all of her husbands. One story she told me with relish was about the husband who did not like her to drink alcohol: Clara would give him a laxative chocolate when her sister Lily visited from Paris so they would have enough time to enjoy a few whiskies together! Clara could be mischievous and liked to live it up.

She cooked so many delicious meals in her kitchen (but always burnt the toast, I think she liked it like that). Most meals were accompanied by a glass of good red wine and completed with her home made ice cream. Many were fed and nourished in Clara’s cheery kitchen.

body was “as stiff as an ironing board” and the doctors could only prescribe painkillers which she wasn’t interested in anyway. Initially Clara heard yoga could help and began with a weekly class. At that time she lived on an apple farm in Hastings and took a train into London for the class. Yoga began to transform her life. After her third husband died and she worked the farm out of debt she moved to London. She cultivated her zeal for yoga as her mobility and energy increased. She also met a new community of friends. Clara enjoyed long lasting connections with yoga practitioners such as Martine LeChenic, Angela Farmer,Victor Van Kooten, Silvia Prescott, Elizabeth Wengersky, John and Ros Claxton, John Evans, David Sye and no doubt many others.

BKS Iyengar was Clara’s Guru and she credited him with her healing and vitality. She used to recall warmly how he would stay in her flat in Goldhurst Terrace during some of his early visits to London. Apparently he slept on the floor in her lavish living room and pushed her shopping trolley around Waitrose!

Love was a tremendous theme in her life. She inspired loyalty and devotion in her friends, family and students.

Even Clara’s housekeeper Brenda became a committed friend and was at her side when she died. Clara expounded on the importance of love yet still dispensed unconventional advice and could be deliciously irreverent.

(Her advice to me was never to marry but keep a lover instead.) I did not always take Clara literally, her emphasis on the importance of love was an inspiring reminder of how giving and nurturing others makes our individual lives better.

Clara deeply valued the freedom and vigour yoga practice bought to her life and she also loved the network of friends made during her annual travels to Pune. Iyengar encouraged her to teach and this provided a forum to express her passion for yoga as well as her joie de vivre.

She gave bountifully to others through teaching, meals and conversations.

By the time Clara was in her early sixties she said her

Sandi Sharkey

Iyengar Yoga News 6 - Spring 2005

My daughter Alysha summed it up well when she described how Clara always made her “feel better because she gave love by being herself ”.

51

IYA (UK) EXECUTIVE COUNCIL Gordon Austin yoga@austinmg.fsnet.co.uk Tel: 0191 5487457 8 Stavely Road, Seaburn Dene, Sunderland,Tyne & Wear SR6 8JS Debra Bartholomew orchestrasurreal@talk21.com Tel: 01706 841942 52 Buckstones Road, Shaw, Oldham Ros Bell r.j.bell@open.ac.uk Tel: 020 8340 9899 19 Briston Grove London N8 9EX Nathalie Blondel nblondel@tadasana.fsnet.co.uk Tel: 078 120 10924 47 Northumberland Road, Redland, Bristol BS6 7BA Brenda Booth brendaboothkent@aol.com Tel: 01892 740876 Fairfield, Clayton's Lane, Ashurst,Tunbridge Wells, Kent TN3 9TD Patricia Booth patricia@leewood.freeserve.co.uk Tel: 01663 732927 ‘Leewood’ Reservoir, Whaley Bridge, High Peak Alan Brown alan@dianalan.plus.com Tel: 01535 637359 23 Middleton, Cowling, West Yorks BD22 0DQ Carol Brown harry.nimmo@btopenworld.com Tel: 0131 557 5739 5 Royal Terrace, Edinburgh EH7 5AB Joe Burn joe.burn@virgin.net Tel: 0113 250 4336 3 Gladstone Road, Rawdon, Leeds LS19 6HZ Margaret Carter mgtcarter@aol.com Tel: 01925 758382 14 Foxley Close, Lymm, Cheshire WA13 0BS Heide Connell heideconnell@yahoo.com Tel: 0161 969 1724 44 Cranleigh Drive, Brooklands, Sale, Cheshire Philippe Harari philippe.harari@runbox.com Tel: 01223 523410 3 Finch Road, Cambridge CB4 3RB Brian Ingram brianiyoga@aol.com Tel: 01444 236714 51 Meadow Lane, Burgess Hill, RH15 9HZ Judith Jones judith@jonesyoga.fsnet.co.uk Tel: 01488 71 838 17 Baydon Road, Lambourn, Hungerford RG17 8NT Jean Kutz many-k@tiscali.co.uk Tel: 01872 572807 New Hope, Wheal Hope, Goonhavern,Truro TR4 9QJ Judy Lynn judithlynn@onetel.net.uk 180 Randolph Avenue, London W9 1PE Christina Niewola chris.niewola@tiscali.co.uk Tel: 01260 279565 15 Hampshire Close, Congleton, Cheshire, CW12 1SF Lindsey Patterson lindseypatterson@hotmail.com Tel: 07789 190913 42 Church Road, Leckhampton, Cheltenhmam, GL53 0PR Prabhakara prabhakara@freeuk.com Tel: 0121 449 7496 28 Salisbury Road, Moseley, Birmingham, B13 8JT Elaine Pidgeon. elaine.pidgeon@virgin.net Tel: 0131 552 9871 52a Inverleith Row, Edinburgh EH3 5PX Judith Richards judithrich@btinternet.com Tel: 0208 398 1741 25 Effingham Road, Long Ditton, Surrey KT6 5JZ Helen Scarlett h.scarlett@sheffield.ac.uk Tel: 0114 225 7025 11 Burnside Avenue, Sheffield S8 9FR Andrea Smith andrea@iyengaryoga.me.uk Tel: 02392 466750 17A Seagrove Avenue, Hayling Island, Hampshire PO11 9EU Judi Soffa mail@yogastudio.f9.co.uk Tel: 0151 7094923 4 Blackburn Terrace, Liverpool L8 7PJ Patsy Sparksman patsyyoga@aol.com Tel: 0208 4556366 33 Ashbourne Avenue, London NW11 0DT

Iyengar Yoga News 6 - Spring 2005

52

Affiliated Institute Representatives: AIYI Nathalie Blondel MDIIY Debra Bartholomew, Heide Connell BDIYI Alan Brown NEIYI Gordon Austin CIYI Philippe Harari NELIYI Ros Bell IIYS Brian Ingram ORIYI Lindsey Patterson LDIYI Judi Soffa SADIYI Helen Scarlett MCIYI Prabhakara SWIYI Jean Kutz Individual Representatives: East: Rachel Lovegrove South East: Brenda Booth Scotland: Carol Brown & Elaine Pidgeon South Central: Joe Burn & Andrea Smith Greater London: Patsy Sparksman & Judy Lynn (Other Regions either did not have reps. nominated or do not have enough individual members to qualify) STANDING COMMITTEES Management Committee: Tricia Booth (Chair of A & TT), Margaret Carter (Vice Chair of IYA (UK)), Judith Jones (Chair of IYA (UK)), Christina Niewola (Secretary), Elaine Pidgeon (Chair of E & C), Judith Richards (Treasurer) Ethics and Certification Committee: Penny Chaplin*, Judith Jones, Elaine Pidgeon, Pen Reed, Judi Soffa, Judi Sweeting* Assessment and Teacher Training Committee: Margaret Austin*, Tricia Booth, Alan Brown, Julie Brown*, Sheila Haswell*, Brian Ingram, Meg Laing*, Jayne Orton*, Sasha Perryman* Finance/Membership Committee: Ros Bell (Membership Secretary), Carol Brown, Philippe Harari, Leza Hatchard* , Prabhakara, Judith Richards Planning Committee: Ros Bell, Joe Burn, Margaret Carter, Judith Jones, Christina Niewola, Judith Richards Communications Committee: Kirsten Agar Ward*, Debbie Bartholomew, Heide Connell, Philippe Harari, Rachel Lovegrove*, Helen Scarlett Public Relations Committee: Heidi Connell, Leza Hatchard*,, Janette Browne, Judy Lynn Archives/Research Committee: Nathalie Blondel, Susan Vassar* Conventions/Events Committee: Carol Brown, Margaret Carter, Christina Niewola, Patsy Sparksman Merchandising Committee: Patsy Sparksman,Tig Whattler* opted members of Committees.The chair of each Committee is written in bold. * indicates co-o Moderators: Margaret Austin Tricia Booth Julie Brown Penny Chaplin Sasha Perryman Elaine Pidgeon Jayne Orton Pen Reed Professional Development Days Organiser: Judi Sweeting Assessment Co-o ordinator: Meg Laing Senior Intermediate Assessment Organiser: Jayne Orton Junior Intermediate Assessment Organiser: Sasha Perryman Introductory Assessment Organiser: Sheila Haswell

Sheila Haswell Judi Sweeting

Meg Laing

THE PRONUNCIATION OF DIACRITICAL MARKS a å k ¤ ÷ ç

about boo kiln puncher push rip

à e g n ñ d

Iyengar Yoga News 6 - Spring 2005

father made good natter try dot

i ai c õ t ó

fit bite chill niggle toot dog but with

ã fee u put o rope au found j jug ï anger s sit ù sheet p pat b band the tongue curled backwards 53

The following 84 candidates were successful in Level 2 of the Introductory Assessments taken in October 2004. Congratulations to all of them and we welcome them to IYA(UK) as new teachers.

Anna Ashby Anna Bowman Allison Bullock Jahna Clark Helen Corcoran Lesley Dick Lucy Flannery Susan Harris Victoria Howell Lucy Iredale Dawn Linford Diane Maimaris Helen Marsden Susie Murray Liz Perrior Carolyn Ryan Anna Smykowska Oliver Strachan Helen Triviais Michelle Wallace Jane Williams

Ruth Antoli Gil Penny Boylan Richard Caink Nancy Clarke Colin Culley Andy Eardley Alison Griffin Sarah Hiley Alexia Hudson Kari-Ann Jagger Martell Linsdell Colin Mandry Julia Marshall Rosanne Nieboer Marta Prada Paula Savery Elaine Spraggett Susan Tennant Ruth Townsley Caroline Walters Lucy Willis

Angela Barrett Simon Brooks Julia Chandler Danuto Cockton Romola Davenport Julie Fanciullacci Erica Hanna Alison J. M. Hill Christine Hunter Elena Kidane Jacky McGeogh Kyra Mann Brian Mitchell Lynne Offord Kishe Redwood Mark Singleton Helen Staples Vivien Thicket Clare Trodden Kim West Colin Yeates

Yves Bouvy Elizabeth Ann Brown Dinah Chesney Ellen Cooper Dhiyampati Jane Farnes Mandie Harbottle Charlott Hill Sue Ilsley Tracey Knight Mary McInerny Elzbieta Majocha Christine Moore Jennifer O’Shea Jenni Roche Tracy Smith Fiona Stewart Damian Treanor Ruth Walker Rachel West Gaenor Ziegelasch

The following 9 people were successful in Level 3 of the Senior Intermediate Assessments taken in November 2004. Congratulations to all.

Richard Agar Ward Patricia James Sallie Sullivan

Brenda Booth Judith Jones

Dave Browne Susan Long

Mary Heath Andrea Smith

The following 9 people were successful in Level 2 of the Introductory Assessments taken in November 2004 in the Republic of Ireland. Congratulations to all of them and we welcome them to IYA(UK) as new teachers.

Vivien Dick Lana Kravinskis Justine Waloch

Martina Durnin Jackie Malcom

John Hanrahan Michael Redmond

Marina Katikkis Eileen Rowe

Best wishes for next time to those that were unsuccessful in this round of assessments. Many thanks to all those who helped with organisation, moderating, assessing and catering.

Iyengar Yoga News 6 - Spring 2005

54

TEACHER TRAINERS AND COURSES AUTUMN 2004 People whose names in italics are not currently running teacher training classes of their own.

AGAR WARD, Richard AUSTIN, Margaret BELL, Ros BOOTH,Tricia BOOTH, Brenda BROWN, Alan BROWN, Julie BROWNE, Dave BUTLER, Pam CHAMBERS, Gerry CHAPLIN, Penny CLARIDGE, Paquita CLARK, Dianne COATS, Diane FARQUHAR, Lyn GLEN, George GREEN, Sheila HARRISON, Cecilia HASWELL, Sheila HODGES, Julie HODGSON, Dawn HOMEWOOD, Frances JONES, Judith KILBURN, Marion KNIGHT, Jean LAING, Meg LONG, Susan NEWCOMBE, Alaric ORTON, Jayne PERRYMAN, Sasha PIDGEON, Elaine PRESCOTT, Sylvia PURVIS, Lynda REED, Pen SCHOONRAAD, Ursula SOFFA, Judi SULLIVAN Sallie SWEETING, Judi TONNER, Elizabeth VAN DOP, Judith VASSAR, Susan WAKEFORD, Ros WELHAM, Bob WELHAM, Kathy Iyengar Yoga News 6 - Spring 2005

Bath North East North Thames, London Manchester and District Iyengar Institute of Yoga South Thames, London Yorkshire Manchester and District Iyengar Institute of Yoga North East South London Bristol North West and Central London East Essex - not training at the moment Iyengar Yoga Institute (Maida Vale) - training with Sallie Sullivan North East Scotland Scotland Herefordshire Nottingham Buckinghamshire London - training with Sallie Sullivan North East - training with Margaret Austin Sheffield - training with Marion Kilburn Berkshire Manchester Edinburgh Edinburgh Essex Iyengar Yoga Institute (Maida Vale) Birmingham Cambridge Edinburgh North West & Central London Bristol Manchester and District Iyengar Institute of Yoga South Thames, London Liverpool Reading, London Cirencester Huddersfield Cornwall Somerset - training with Jayne Orton Hampshire Bristol Bristol 55

ADVERTISEMENTS

ADVERTISING in IYENGAR YOGA NEWS If you wish to advertise in the next issue of Iyengar Yoga News, please send all text, photographs or artwork to: IYA (UK) c/o Leza Hatchard, 23 Queens Walk, London W5 1TP; admin@iyengaryoga.org.uk The deadline for the next issue of Iyengar Yoga News (due out September 2005) is: 1 s t J u l y 2 0 0 5

Advertising r ates Iyengar Yoga News is read by at least 2800 individual Iyengar practitioners. Rates for advertising are: Quarter page: £30 Small ads.: 35p 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)

East M idlands I yengar Y oga G roup (Bedford/Milton Keynes area) CJayne Orton, 23rd April CJulie Brown, 13th Nov. Contact Rachel Lovegrove: 01604 638873, rachel@orangetreeyoga.com

IYENGAR YOGA INSTITUTE OF BIRMINGHAM FORTHCOMING CLASSES, WORKSHOPS AND EVENTS 20th February 2005 - General level yoga day with Sheila Haswell 6th March 2005 - Intermediate workshop for teachers with Jayne Orton 28th - 31st March - Intermediate level intensive (for teachers and non-teachers) with Jeanne Maslen 15th May - Light on Yogathon 7th - 21st August - Holiday in Quinta Mimosa, Algarve

www.iyengaryoga.uk.com Tel: 0121 6082229 Iyengar Yoga News 6 - Spring 2005

YogaSupplies Inexpensive INDIAN YOGA BELTS, BANDAGES, BOLSTER SETS, PRANAYAMA SETS, ROPES for sale.

Also eco-friendly WEDGES, BRICKS. Call 01225336144 or e-mail kirsten@bath-iiyengar-yyoga.com for price list Art and Yoga Holiday South of France - July 23rd-30th, 2005 BEAUTIFUL BIG HOUSE, BIG POOL. ART STUDIO. YOGA STUDIO: £450-£490 01223 415654; kestamper@yahoo.com www.artholiday.com Y o g a w e e k e n d in Ullapool, Ross-shire, with Richard Agar Ward: 27-29 May 2005.

Contact Martin Hall for details.

01571 855 360; martinhall@gorrell.co.uk Geeta Convention ‘03 Australia Teachers Convention - Perth & Sydney - May 2003 Plus - Geetaji’s discourses DVDs - £65 (inc. p and p). For further information contact Carole Hart: yogvaani@telpacific.com.au South West Region Class with Jayne Orton, May 21st 2005,Taunton Contact Susan Vassar on 01643 704260

YOGA AND TREKKING Indian Himalayas 21 May - 4 June 2005 Seven day yoga intensive Five day guided trek Our base for this two week event is a private hotel in the village of Naggar in the Kullu Valley in Himachal Pradesh. The first week is a yoga intensive taught by Gerry Chambers. During the second week we will trek for five days to a height of almost 4000 metres in the magnificent surroundings of the high Himalayas.The trek is fully portered and guided. A minimum of two years Iyengar yoga experience is required. The cost for the two weeks is £600. This includes yoga tuition, nine nights hotel accommodation, the 5 day trek, all meals for the two weeks.Your travel costs to India are not included.

Please request further details and a booking form.

YOGAWEST Denmark Place, Bristol BS7 8NW 0117 924 3330; office@yogawest.co.uk 56

ADVERTISEMENTS

Practice and Enjoy with Julie Brown An Iyengar Yoga Instructional Video VHS = £12.99 each + postage also available on DVD (discounts available for bulk orders)

Bath Iyengar Yoga Centre

Yoga classes and Yoga equipment sales Easter Intensive with Richard Agar Ward Friday 25th - Monday 28th March Yoga Weekend with Jeanne Maslen Saturday 23rd - Sunday 24th April

If you are a beginner or a student of many years, this video is designed as a tool to help you “Practice and Enjoy” your yoga at home, as well as in your class.

There are 5 sessions of 15-20 min each that you can use, including a relaxation session, plus limbering-in poses to do at the beginning of each session.

Summer Intensive with Richard Agar Ward Friday 26th - Monday 29th August

Julie Brown has taught for over 20 years and is a qualified senior teacher.

Introductory Teacher Training 2005-006 with Richard Agar Ward: Closing date for applications13th May 2005

To order or for further information: 01625 879090 julie.brownie@virgin.net

YOGA

Yoga workshops with Rajvi Mehta Monday 9th & Tuesday 10th May (evenings)

Junior Intermediate Teacher Training starts May 2005 Applications now being invited 12 Station Road, Lower Weston, Bath BA2 3DY Tel/Fax 01225 336144 office@bath-iyengar-yoga.com

HOLIDAYS

at Penpont, Brecon, South Wales with Sasha Perryman

Yoga days at The Sarva Centre High Wycombe, Bucks

2005 Easter: 19th - 25th March Summer: 20th - 26th August £395 full board For further information please send SAE to: Sasha Perryman Cambridge Iyengar Yoga Centre 59 Norfolk Terrace, Cambridge CB1 2NG 01223 515929; sashaperryman@yahoo.co.uk www.cambridgeyoga.co.uk Iyengar Yoga News 6 - Spring 2005

16th & 17th April

Lilian Biggs

25th June

Jayne Orton

18th - 22nd July

Summer School with Sheila Haswell

25th - 29th July

Intensive - Lilian & Sheila

5th & 6th Nov

Lilian Biggs

20th Nov

Judith Jones Call 01494 521107 for details 57

ADVERTISEMENTS

YOGA I N W EST C RETE 24th - 31st May 2005 23rd - 30th August 2005 ÂŁ390 (ex.flight) 2 Iyengar classes daily guided walks - truly beautiful scenery charming hill village venue modern facilities - swimming pool transport to nearby beaches Margaret Rawlinson 01628 770796 rawlinson@waitrose.com bookings/flights FreeSpirit - 01273 564230 info@FreeSpiritUK.com

IYENGAR YOGA IN THE ALGARVE with

Rachel and Hannah Lovegrove May and September 2005 Idyllic surroundings - 2 swimming pools Qualified Iyengar Teachers - 2 classes daily Suitable for beginners and general level students For information and bookings contact us at: Tel: +44 (0) 8454 569826 info@orangetreeyoga.com www.orangetreeyoga.com Also - Yoga and Walking Weekends in West Dorset

WEEKEND WORKSHOP with

JAKI NETT www.iynv.com

Back by popular demand

8th to 10th April 2005 at North Surrey Centre For Iyengar Yoga www.yogadham.co.uk contact Judith Richards 25 Effingham Road Surbiton, Surrey KT6 5JZ 020 8398 1741 judith@yogadham.co.uk Iyengar Yoga News 6 - Spring 2005

58

ADVERTISEMENTS

YOGAWEST - BRISTOL IYENGAR YOGA CENTRE EVENTS 2005 Sunday 13th February 5.00pm - 8.00pm Charity music concert in aid of the Bellur Trust Music for Baroque lute and guitar followed by Indian snacks With renowned recording artistes Christopher Wilson and Shirley Rumsey - Tickets £10 Thursday 24th February - Thursday 17th March 8.00-9.30pm Patanjali’s Yoga Sutra - A four week introductory course with Gerry Chambers - Cost £25 Friday 25th -SSunday 27th March Easter Workshop 10.00am-1.00pm Three intermediate level workshops Gerry Chambers and Lynda Purvis - £40 all 3 or £15 each Friday 6th - Sunday 8th May (Friday 10.00-2.00 teachers only) Current teachings from Pune with Stephanie Quirk Costs TBC - please enquire Sunday 22nd May - Saturday 4th June Yoga and Trekking in the Himalayas with Gerry Chambers Limited numbers; please request info and booking form Friday 10th - Sunday 12th June Three day intensive (Fri 10.00-4.00 teachers only) Rajiv Chanchani Cost Fri only £35 - Sat/Sun £70 - all three days £95 Introductory teacher training commences in October 2005 please enquire.

YOGAWEST, DENMARK PLACE, BRISTOL BS7 8NW 0117 924 3330; office@yogawest.co.uk www.yogawest.co.uk

All inclusive Yoga Holiday Casa el Morisco, Southern Spain with Janette Browne & Judith Richards 13 th to 20 th March 2005 JUDITH RICHARDS 020 8398 1741 judith@yogadham.co.uk www.yogadham.co.uk JANETTE BROWNE 020 8874 0175 janette@yogaloka.freeserve.co.uk www.yogaloka.com Iyengar Yoga News 6 - Spring 2005

I y e n g a r

Y o g a

i n

I t a l y

www.yoga-ccamerino.it Weekends: 24-28 Mar 05; 26-30 May 05; 25-29 Aug 05; 29 Sep- 03 Oct 05; 29 Dec 05 - 02 Jan 06 Intensive yoga week: 1-7 Aug 05 These retreats are suitable for both beginners and the more experienced yoga student; everyone will work within their own capability with attentive instruction and correction. We will be practising standing, sitting and inverted as well as restful and restorative postures.You will be able to build up a strong foundation for your own practise. 2½ hours of Asana classes will be held both in the morning and evening.

Situated in the foothills of the Apennines, the ancient hilltop university town of Camerino is close to many day-trip destinations, including such historic cities as Perugia, Assisi, Loreto and Urbino, as well as the Sibillini Mountain national park and the Adriatic coast. For those wishing to accompany their partners but not participate in the Yoga retreat, there are numerous opportunities for such activities as hill-walking, climbing, winetasting and sampling the local marchigiano cuisine.

For further information contact Karin email: k.montali@libero.it; phone 0039 0737 633 500

Iyengar Yoga Institute Maida Vale

OVER 50 CLASSES A WEEK including: >Intermediate classes with senior teachers >Children’s, Pregnancy and Postnatal classes >Introductory, Junior and Senior Intermediate Teacher Training.

FORTHCOMING WORKSHOPS with visiting teachers:

Margaret Carter (UK) - 26th February Sallie Sullivan (UK) - 2nd April Stephanie Quirk (Pune) - 30th April~1st May Rajvi Mehta (India) - 14th~15th May Christian Pisano (France) - 27th~29th May

223a Randolph Avenue London W9 1NL tel: 020 7624 3080 www.iyi.org.uk 59

ADVERTISEMENTS

Week Intensive in Hebden Bridge with Lilian Biggs & Sheila Haswell 8th - 12th August 2005 A full week’s yoga with two of the UK’s most experienced teachers in the wonderful setting of Hebden Bridge,Yorkshire £330 full board for this intensive week Non-residential - £200 for the week (includes lunch and drinks)

All food is provided by the renowned Laughing Gravy vegetarian restaurant To book call 01494 521107

east clare yoga centre situated in the west of ireland, the east clare yoga centre is a family-run rural retreat centre offering Iyengar yoga classes, workshops and residential yoga holidays feb 25-227: weekend with judith richards (uk) €290/Stg £200 mar 24-228: easter yoga holiday with kevin gardiner (us) €590/Stg £410 apr 10: one day workshop with david rabinowicz (ire) €60/Stg £40 apr 29-m may 1: weekend with julie brown (uk) €290/Stg £200 jun 3-66: intermediate bank holiday workshop with jayne orton (uk) €430/Stg £29 jun 24-226: weekend with susanne sturton (ire) €250/Stg £175

Sterling prices may fluctuate with exchange rate. Price includes tuition, accommodation (except one day workshops), all meals, daily snacks & transfer to/from Shannon International Airport. Workshops limited to 12 people. for further information visit www.eastclareyoga.com, tel. +353 (0)61 640923 or email info@eastclareyoga.com brochure available on request Iyengar Yoga News 6 - Spring 2005

CHRISTIAN P ISANO & J UNE W HITTAKER P ISANO will conduct their annual IYENGAR YOGA SUMMER RETREAT in Les Alpes de Haute Provence, France.

25th JULY - 6th AUGUST 2006 Christian and June have each practised Iyengar Yoga for approximately 25 years. Christian originally lived in Pune for 4 years to learn the art of yoga directly with his guru,Yogacharya Sri B.K.S. Iyengar. He holds an Advanced Teacher’s Certificate and June holds a Senior Intermediate 1 teacher’s certificate.

They co-direct the Institut de Yoga Iyengar de Nice in the south of France.‘Le Tardoun’ retreat centre is set at an altitude of 1,000m, lost in the heart of the valleys of Haute Provence.

It is built in the intimate spirit of nature and practice. Set amidst a river, a forest and vast expanses of natural breathtaking beauty, the nearest village is 4 km away.The yoga studio is 100 sq. m., made purely of larch wood and is built at tree top level. Food is organic and vegetarian.

Week 1: 25th - 30th (lunchtime) July.All levels (min. 1 y. regular practice). Price 700 euros. (Travel day 24th July.)

Week 2: 1st - 6th (lunchtime) August. More experienced practitioners & teachers. Price 800 euros. (Travel day 31st July) Both weeks: 1,400 euros. Prices include full board & accomodation, yogasana & pranayama tuition.To book, contact: INSTITUT DE YOGA IYENGAR 79 Boulevard Delfino, 06300 Nice, France. tel: +33 (0)4 93 89 53 91. email: shivashakti@9online.fr website: www.anuttara.com 60

Justin Langer, one of the world’s best cricketers and opening batsman for Australia visited RIMYI on 21st October 2004. Guruji gave him a personal yoga lesson in front of those attending the morning practice session, showing him not only how to combat his injuries, but also how to improve his mental and physical preparation for his game.