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IYENGAR YOGA N EWS
The magazine of the Iyengar Yoga Association of the United Kingdom
ISSUE
NUMBER
9
AUTUMN
2006
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IYENGAR YOGA ®
www.iyengaryoga.org.uk
ASSOCIATION (UK)
President: Yogacharya Sri B.K.S. Iyengar
IYENGAR ® YOGA N EWS - I ssue n o.9 - A utumn 2 006 Editorial Board: John Cotgreave, Helen Dye Philippe Harari, Judith Jones, Rachel Lovegrove Layout: Philippe Harari and Rachel Lovegrove Printed by: Blueprint Press, Cambridge, on paper made using wood from sustainable forests and without the use of chlorine ® used with permission of BKS IYENGAR,Trade Mark Owner
Copy deadline for next issue (IYN no. 10): Ist November, 2007 IYN 10 will be published in February 2007 Articles, letters, adverts, photographs and illustrations should be sent to: Philippe Harari 3 Finch Road Cambridge CB4 3RB philippe.harari@runbox.com
Our thanks go to Mr Chandru Melwani for providing the photographs of the RIMYI. Other photos of Pune taken by Rachel Lovegrove.The front cover shows the gates of the RIMYI, taken in August 2006. The back cover shows the statue of Patanjali located in the main practice hall.
E D I T O R I A L Welcome to this special Pune edition of Iyengar Yoga News. The lay out was done by two members of the Editorial Board on laptops in a flat 5 minutes walk away from the Ramamani Iyengar Memorial Yoga Institute in Hari Krishna Mandir Road in Pune. When you come to study at the Institute you attend 6 classes a week with Geeta, Prashant or other teachers, and there is a daily practice session during which you are free to use the main yoga hall in the Institute with its enormous array of equipment. For an extra payment you can observe other classes; including the beginners’ and intermediate classes, the children’s class at 8 am on a Sunday morning, and the remedial classes. All this still leaves quite a lot of free time during which you can visit places in and around the city, go shopping or just recover! In this issue we have tried to give a little flavour of what it is like to spend one or two months staying in Pune but it is really impossible to replicate all the sights, sounds and smells. And of course it is impossible to convey the depth of the yoga teaching that is provided at the Institute - it has to be experienced. We have re-printed a couple of articles from Yoga Rahasya which hopefully give an idea of the kind of teaching that happens here, but we would also welcome first hand reports for future issues of this magazine from readers who have attended classes at RIMYI. There is also a report of the latest news from the village of Bellur giving details of some of the work that has already taken place. We have interviews with Stephanie Quirk and Silvia Prescott, another extract from Corine Biria’s book “Tales and Legends of the Sages in Light on Yoga” and all the usual reports, announcements and features.
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Guruji Sheds Light on Life: the second and final part of Julie Adler’s interview with Mr Iyengar Daõóàsana to Paschimottànàsana : Arti H. Mehta compiles 5 days of Geetaji’s teachings Anatomy of an âsana : an anatomical comparison of three distinct poses Therapeutics and Yoga: Stephanie Quirk interviewed by Helen Graham The Bellur Trust: latest news and photographs from the projects in the village of Bellur A Conversation with Silvia Prescott: Diane Maimaris interviews one of Mr Iyengar’s oldest students Glossary of Yoga Terms: a selection of Sanskrit words taken from Mr Iyengar’s writings Tales of the Sages: Corine Biria tells the story behind bharadvàjàsana SPECIAL FEATURE
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The RIMYI: a history and description of the Institute in Pune, with photos by Chandru Melwani The Changing Face of Pune: Helen Graham and Fiona Dewar with practical tips on staying in Pune Iyengar Yoga Around the World: Janet Hartley interviews students attending classes in August 2006 A Scrapbook of Pictures from Pune: taken by Rachel Lovegrove in August 2006 during the monsoon REPORTS/ANNOUNCEMENTS
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21 on the 21st at the 21st: the South West Iyengar Yoga Institute celebrates its coming of age IYA (UK) Convention 2006: Ally Hill describes unusual uùñràsanas in Uxbridge Sheffield Yoga Centre The IYA (UK) Website Discussion Forum Recent Additions to the IYA (UK) Website IYA (UK) reports from the Officers, the Membership and Office Manager (MOM) and the Iyengar Yoga Development Fund IYA (UK) Announcements MISCELLANEOUS
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Events Listings: your guide to Iyengar Institutes in the UK Assessment Congratulations Professional Development Days Classes at the RIMYI Yoga Rahasya: details and application form IYA (UK) Merchandise Advertisements IYA (UK) Executive Council Invocation to Pata¤jàli
THE IYA (UK) MAIN OFFICE HAS A NEW ADDRESS: LEZA HATCHARD (MEMBERSHIP and OFFICE MANAGER) IYA (UK), PO BOX 54151, LONDON W5 9DH
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GURUJI S HEDS L IGHT O N L IFE We publish the second and final part of Julie Adler’s interview with B. K. S. Iyengar in which he talks about his latest book “Light on Life”. The interview took place in the library of the Ramamani Iyengar Memorial Yoga Institute (RIMYI) on the 11th July 2005. Also present were Stephanie Quirk, Carolyn Christie and Raya and Uma Dhavale among others.This interview first appeared in the Fall 2005 issue of Yoga Vidya, the Journal of the Iyengar Yoga Association of Southern California (IYASC), and in the Event Book for Guruji’s October 2005 visit to Los Angeles.This interview is printed here with kind permission of the editors of Yoga Vidya.
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couple of days ago I asked you about coming to America; you answered, you prefer to stay here (in India). God gave me birth here and my job is to be here… When yoga was unknown, I worked very hard. Now, I put that aside. Now it is for you to do. So many senior students are doing yoga. If they do a good job, then it will still shine. Why should I come? Probably you people do not know how many great people [there are], even in Los Angeles, keeping everything under their control. Here is a man who gave over there everything, so they could do what they like. So the generosity, the people don’t see. How could I keep all my pupils under my thumb? I can only do so much. But why have I given them so much freedom? So that they can judge on their own. If they do wrong, it is they who do so. If they do right, it is they - not me. Yet questions arise - challenges. How best to uphold the teachings. Sometimes there’s unfriendliness. These things will be there.
Pata¤jàli, that is vitarka vicàra ànanda asmità (Såtra I.17). So there are four chambers of the brain and four chambers of the heart: right ventricle, left ventricle, right artery, left artery. But of the heart, Pata¤jàli says one chamber is friendliness, one is compassion, one is gladness, and one chamber is hatred, jealousy, malice. So these four chambers of the heart and these four chambers of the head meeting together - what do they do? If a person has understood, this means that person is a yogi. Anybody can understand the language Pata¤jàli used.
The four chambers of the heart and four chambers of the head have to speak to each other. Animosity and unfriendliness come because one chamber is of malice in the heart. It does not come from here (the brain), it comes from there (the heart), the root. The heart is the root. Then, the intellect thinks. The real I is kept in the background, because these two are fighting with each other. So when harmony comes, then the conscious I dissolves into the intuitive I, and then appears the understanding,“I’m sorry, I thought I was superior. Now I realize that you are quiet, and are just a witness.” And the conscious I surrenders to the intuitive I.
And you just have to accept that? That is what I’ve brought forth in Light on Life. The text says, “Union of the individual with the universal God is Yoga.” But I’ve said it differently. The brain has got four branches, four inner spaces, according to biology. The heart has got four chambers, according to biology. But Pata¤jàli, who converted biology into psychology, said that the brain has four chambers. Not as people currently say, but as he defined them. One part is analytic, one is synthetic, one is a bliss part, one is understanding the source of knowledge part. According to Iyengar Yoga News 9 - Autumn 2006
I think this is what common man understands. Not the technical terminology of jãvàtmà and paramàtmà uniting, but that the seat of the soul is the head; the seat of God is the heart. Conscientiousness is in the seat of the heart.There is malice and hatred in the heart, not in the head. Feelings are expressed in the heart, yet malice is articulated by the analytical and synthetic brain: “Should I say it this way, should I say it that way?” So similarly, there, behind the screen of the malice, is the seat of God. So the unity of the head and heart is the unity of the individual with the universal Spirit, which is in every 2
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heart, in every soul, they say. God exists everywhere. As Pata¤jàli says, hçdaye cittasa§vit (Såtra III.35). Hçdaye means “heart,”“where I’m alive” - ‘hçd’ means ‘I am living,’ so it’s not the heartbeat that determines where I’m alive. If the heartbeat stops, the man is dead. And if the heartbeat continues? The heartbeat which makes the heart beat is that I which is everlasting - and that is God. The asmità (the saguõa seat) of the head has to join with the heart (the nirguõa seat), which is not asmità . That’s why I have to practice àsana - to see that all those things are kept clean, so it’s not physical yoga. Physical yoga is just muscular mass movement, mass growth - annamaya ko÷a. But according to aware science, annamaya is not just mass. To break the mass into atoms: that’s what yoga does. People want to build mass, to develop muscles, is it not? What is that “to increase the mass?” Pata¤jàli says to break the mass into molecules, and molecules into atoms, following paramàõu paramamahattvàntaþ asya va÷ãikàrah (Såtra I.40). (“Mastery of contemplation brings the power to extend from the finest particle to the greatest.”).
The mass of the knee? (Guruji waits.) I feel the mass of something… That’s all. But break it into particles, those areas… The only thing I feel is this tingly sensation. That’s not [it] - again I’m telling you (Guruji laughs). Even [the particle] has to be broken, according to Pata¤jàli, is it not? Then what do we do with the àsana?
Is it physical yoga, according to Pata¤jàli in Såtra I.40? (Guruji points to a page in Light on the Yoga Såtras of Pata¤jàli .) Ah, now what you said, is here.
Y.S. I.15. “Renunciation is the practice of detachment from desires…” Perceptible, visible, heard, listening… Now you said intellectually you felt, but it’s hearing. Right? (Yes.) But did you penetrate it?
…It’s a different level.
See why we do the àsanas ? The effects of the àsanas are here. Do you know the finest part of your body? Can you know the back of your knee?
Did you penetrate that, what you heard? Intellectually you felt. This means you heard intellectually. Factually, you did not say. Well then there’s this time of trying to understand - yes?
Only intellectually…
It takes a long time to understand…
That’s all… Beyond that, you do not know. Factually, do you know that? You know intellectually! Factually, you do not know…
Yes, you hear it and you see the language, and then there’s a moment or time of trying to understand, somewhere else, somehow, what that means. (Guruji laughs.)
But there’s a sense, there’s a feeling?
(To Raya:) Do trikoõàsana. Now he’s going to show you. How many years have you been doing yoga? (Fifteen.) (Raya takes the pose.) Now, he’s doing the pose. Do you know where his attention is not? That is hearing. Something is sending a message, because his eyes can see. He can correct what he can see. What he hears.
No, there’s no feeling at all. What about - you can feel the skin or you feel when you stretch your knees? Find out what you feel! Do you feel the particles? That’s all I’m asking. Do you feel the mass? Iyengar Yoga News 9 - Autumn 2006
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And what about “ feel?” Is that a valid thing…? How can you feel without going into the action? He’s not feeling. (To Raya:) Do you feel your knee? Now shall I tell you? The outer edge of the knee, do you feel it? (No.) Then, where is the feeling? He’s doing the àsana. Now, do you feel here? Can you see? (Points to Raya’s right leg.) So, Yoga Såtra I.15 says you have to see all these things. You have to not only see, but listen, and do. The intellect part is touching here, but not touching here. (He points to Raya still in the pose.)
Raya: It’s touching the outer thigh, but not knee. Can you see now? Then where you are focused, you are totally there. So no other thoughts are coming that’s why it’s called vairàgya . Vairàgya is not renunciation: when there is a total attention, you’re not attracted to any other thing (laughs). So you’re free from attachment. Nobody explains it this way. And these are the things which àsanas are teaching me. Now you see on his foot, it has crumpled. His big toe mound is contracting. Does he know that? Do you know that? Can you see?
Then where is the wholeness? We speak of wholeness. (One ligament is going forward, one is pulling back.) From the hidden I, push the knee! How did the brain relax now? Did I say, “relax the brain”? (No.) Did the brain relax automatically? (Automatically.) (To Raya:) Now stretch your hand over the head. Now see that it is the conscious I. What he is doing, this is the conscious I stretching the body. And now the head is heavy. Now don’t disturb this at all, and from the center of the heart, move the heart towards the head. Now what happened to the head? Passive. So is it meditation or what? What does he use? What is his state? (Passive.) Then what is meditation? Passivity of the brain!
Then the heart becomes…
The conscious I is the object, because it is a projection of the real I. Not only do you have to be patient with this, you have to be observant.
Even in one àsana , you have to sweat intellectually. (To Raya:) Now pàr÷vakoõàsana …see… (Raya takes the pose.) How simple it is. Everyone says, “I can also do.” But what Iyengar does, nobody knows. Iyengar yoga is only known to Iyengar, not others - this is a fact. Now he is bent. (To Raya:) Is your knee totally bent, or only compartmentally? (Only compartmentally. One side is bending, one side is shrinking.) And can you see now? Iyengar Yoga News 9 - Autumn 2006
Active, because otherwise, the heart sleeps. Your head functions, and that’s why you say, “I work very hard.” He’s also working very hard. But he worked from the center of the soul. So he does not feel the action. Usually the periphery life works, and that’s why they feel heavy exhaustion and all. I do the asanas to understand. To enlarge my hidden self so that this covers the entire body, not the conscious I. If you can catch this, catch it. Otherwise, it’s no good, just talking. I do with my intuitive I - the subject I. You all do with the subject I which is conscious I.The conscious I is the object, because it is a projection of the real I. Not only do you have to be patient with this, you have to be observant. I taught him now, what did he say? “Passive”…but in people’s struggle to relax, they almost overdo. The stress and strain is there. That’s bound to come because again, when they overdo, they do only with the conscious I. In the Yoga Såtras , I’ve described kåñstha 4
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citta and pariõàma citta . Kåñstha citta is the real intuitive I. Pariõàma citta is the conscious I, the intellectual I - ‘I can
do.’ If your intellectual I goes beyond the bank of the body, that is aggression - if you can understand.
see…(Raya says, thighs are now passive.) So that is yoga. It is all feeling. One has to learn what is right feeling, what is wrong feeling.
It’s a question of dedication. There’s a lot of aggression now.
Force?
Again, I told you, we don’t observe. We have to be an observer of the action. The brain is the observer. The real I. The one I which is eternal. A non-changeable I from birth to death. And that I is the I with which one has to learn to do.
But you don’t know. (To Raya:) Pàr÷vakoõàsana . Where is the hand, where is the leg? Where is the pride?
In order to reach that, you have to go part by part. Part by part only…
Now he showed a little - but you didn’t catch it. What is aggression?
A little bit here? (I point to his chest.) Pride is in the head only. (To Raya:) Back of the eye and front of the eye parallel. And then stretch. And now what happened? Where is his hand? (Forward.) Where does the hand come now?
But how to unite at the end?
We have to be an observer of the action. The brain is the observer. The real I. The one I which is eternal. A non-changeable I from birth to death.
Forward. His face changed. And then? So where is the aggression now?
It’s much less.
Yourself. That is what they have to learn.
So even though we often practice as a group, we all go alone?
It’s bound to happen later. One I, the intuitive I, is alone. So you have to learn from that alone (Guruji laughs). At the end, the journey is alone, for everybody. One has only guidance. That’s why the teacher says later, ‘You are no longer my pupil. Now, you can go.’
Where is the aggression now?
No aggression? Still you people do not know there is aggression somewhere! Subtle aggression. His conscious I is on the sole, but the intuitive I on the heel is hidden. (To Raya:) Now bent leg - let the intuitive I balance on the heel. And now the bent leg, is there any strain or passive skin? And now Iyengar Yoga News 9 - Autumn 2006
According to the Upaniùads, they used to send their students away. “Now nothing more to teach for you, so you better go by yourself, and find out the rest.” That is the teaching: “You have to endeavor; you have to find out now yourself.” This is also what I say.
And so in your practice now, as you … 5
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I’m practicing, probably, what I have not attended to. Maybe I attend to it now. So the wisdom ultimately comes from the intuitive revealing itself. That is the real unshakeable intelligence.
Do you know what that is? Yes. I practiced with a raw mind. Now I’m practicing with a mature mind. A raw mind became mature. So that practice is different. Practice which the mature mind dictates, is quite different.
What is a mature mind? It’s not difficult to put it into words, but the very Self has to see where I am existing, and where I am not existing. Why I’m here, why I don’t feel here. Peripheral I or original I?
Do you feel satisfied with everything you’ve done? My friend, yoga was a dead subject in the 30s. Nobody was practicing. Today it has grown to such an extent! So is it not a joy that a dead subject has come back to life? And it has to be kept lively by my students… So I presented this yoga, to attract people towards this subject. That’s why I told you that I treated them as God. So I invited gods to come and practice (Guruji laughs).
alignment of the skin. Now I say alignment of the Self, and alignment of the intelligence. That means I’m growing. The others do not. Because though they speak of alignment, even the visible body, they cannot align…Even at my 85th birthday, look how I balanced panchabhutas in the body: which pràõa is working, which prana has to work. Which has to be nullified, which has to be activised. I gave this, because I’ve come to that subtle part… (To Raya:) Now do trikoõàsana . Just see. You say his hands are straight. Is there an element? Where is the palm facing? Where is the elbow facing? Is the elbow facing the palm? (No.) How can you call this trikoõàsana ? See, where is the wrist facing? Ah? (To Raya:) Look up, is your elbow in line with the palms? (No.) Now, how many people do this all the time? Alignment - was it aligned? He also says - align your legs. So intelligence: why is the intelligence crooked on one side? Extroverted on one side, introverted on the other? You don’t know at all. Can you see now? What’s the wrist doing, the middle portion of the wrist and middle elbow? So the intelligence is going like a brook, not like a river. See in this elbow, it is going straight. Why is this straight, when that is crooked? How beautifully people practice àsanas … And all these things I say, and I’m still progressing. The others don’t even think of these things.
The depth of the river is in the middle, center. Not outside. Not on this side, not on the other side, is it not? The depth of knowledge is in the middle of the river.
And they’re still coming, and now it’s thousands, millions… People say, “Mr. Iyengar hits and all.” Even with all that, look how people are attracted to my subject. Because of the precision. I came close to precisions everywhere.
Is it okay with you that some people feel Iyengar yoga is just about alignment and precision? My friend, alignment of what? Again, you people are using wrong words. I started with alignment of the muscles, Iyengar Yoga News 9 - Autumn 2006
So the imprint is there but it is not brought to the surface level. (To Raya:) It is not coming at all. Now see (Guruji instructs Raya.) Now has the elbow come in, or not? So that means there is so much of dust which has to be cleaned, scrubbed, for it to come later. (To Raya:). Now from here to here, extend! Now what happened to the elbow? (It came in.) So I brought the intelligence, I did not bring the body. For you, Mr. Iyengar is just a physical yogi. “Oh, he just aligns.” But he doesn’t align at all! So what did I do? I got him to come down. I pushed the intelligence to the other edge. And then I said, “Lift up.” Can you see now? See, I’m gluing the intelligence. So where is the alignment of intelligence? If you can feel from here to here, but this 6
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region you don’t feel, how can you say, ‘I’m doing the asana’? The intelligence, the range has to be equal. Observation from here to here…from here to there. That is alignment of intelligence. When you learn the alignment, then you have to align the very capital letter I. And that is why Pata¤jàli is a very able man who said that by the practice of àsana , dualities disappear. What are those dualities? Not your quotations from a book; heat, cold, honor, dishonor. When the pose is perfect, where is honor? Where is dishonor? Where is cold. and where is heat?
other ingredients of the Self - not with the Self. And that’s why fear complexes come more. The intuitive I has no age; the conscious I has the age. I come to the same point. I can’t oscillate. Nature has to locate itself there, I told you. Nature wants to see that the person does not go close to spiritual knowledge. That is nature’s quality. That’s why Pata¤jàli uses tãvrasa§vegànàm àsannaþ (Såtra I. 21). One who’s intensely intense - so he’s free from the guõas . He’s close to the subject, so he does not feel the age. Here I’m sitting, and I may feel the age. When I’m practicing, I don’t feel the age.
It’s absorbed by the …
I just want to conclude by asking if you have any special message for our community.
By the Self. So that’s why there are no divisions at all. All the paõcako÷as have to balance to the Soul, in the àsana . And intelligence is close to the Self, intelligence is close to the nature. So how to keep the intelligence exactly in the middle? The depth of the river is in the middle, center. Not outside. Not on this side, not on the other side, is it not? The depth of knowledge is in the middle of the river. So that is why it is called intelligence. This intelligence should be the depth of the river: the river of the Self. From this depth, you have to steady the two banks. And that’s how the àsanas have to be done.
Whatever I have given just now, if they take it and work with honesty and dignity, then …the loss of the devils will disappear. And the gains of the angels will appear in Los Angeles (Guruji laughs).
Then you understand why Pata¤jàli used the words, tataþ dvandvàþ anabhighàtaþ (Såtra II.48) (“From then on, the sàdhaka is undisturbed by dualities.”). The dualities disappear. Dualities are body, mind and soul. Between the physical body, psychological body, mental body, intellectual body, neurological body, biological body - all these differences will disappear. But you are not using the terminologies. Raya says: It doesn’t make any sense to me. I don’t understand what he’s saying, and if I start teaching someone - that doesn’t make any sense - I need to… Experience it! That’s what you’ll find in Light on Life. Experiences. I’ve expressed my experiences. Beyond that, nothing else. Expressions are limited. But experiences are unlimited. So expressions are finite, and experiences are infinite. I’ve tried my best to connect the infinite with the finite worlds. Carolyn asks: Guruji, if sickness or old age are not the dust, or obstacles… Intelligence is between. It plays with the nature; it plays with the Self. So when you grow old, it plays with the Iyengar Yoga News 9 - Autumn 2006
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DANDASANA TO PASCHIMOTTANASANA
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uring the Yog-sadhana celebrations on the occasion of Geetaji’s 60th birthday, she strengthened our foundations by reaffirming the basics in our àsana practices. A building can stand tall only if the foundation is firm. If we were to go back to high school after completing graduation then we will understand and appreciate much better what we were taught in high school. Similarly, after practicing àsanas for a few years, when the basics are reaffirmed, they shed a new light in us. In fact, the basics provide a much deeper meaning than they appear to. This is exactly what Geetaji did during her teachings in Yog-sadhana, with thought-provoking inputs from Guruji. Arti H. Mehta, compiles the teachings of those 5 days with specific reference to daõóàsana and paschimottànàsana ..
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itting: Sit straight. Stretch your legs out straight in front. Place the palms by the sides of the buttocks, roll the shoulders back, move the chest forward and raise your lower back straight up. Feet: Join the feet together. Open the bottom of the feet from the inner edge to the outer edge. Elongate well the outer corners of the feet and they should face your body.
Knees: Widen the top of the middle of the back of the knees and descend them down to the floor.The fibres at the back of the knee (from where you flex) should touch the floor. “The upper portion of the middle back knee is the real brain for action”. Thighs: Keep the front of the thighs sober, quiet, for the back of the knees to go down. Descend the bottom of the back thigh that is close to the back of the knee on the floor. Widen that. Iyengar Yoga News 9 - Autumn 2006
ærdhva hastà dandàsana for paschimottànàsana
Extend the arms up and open the armpit chest. As you extend the arms forward to hold your feet; the top back of the knee starts to press tne back of the knee down, hold your feet and raise the head up. Exhale and take the head down. “Back of the knee is the fulcrum for the head to go down”. It lengthens towards the calves for the head to go down. Dandàsana to paschimottànàsana Stretch your legs out in dandàsana. Release the skin, the
flesh, around the region of the buttocks to the sides and sit on the buttock bone. Soften the back trunk and roll the shoulder and trapezium down. The back of the thighs, the back of the knees should descend down and elongate the head of the calf muscle forward away from the knee. Open out all the ten toes by rolling the skin of the feet from the arch to the outer edge of the feet. 8
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Paschimottànàsana
Keep the neck soft, trapezium rolling downwards, exhale and come forward from the chest. Holding the feet, raise the head upwards, elongate the sides of the trunk, elongate the chest, exhale and take the head down by widening the elbows and elongating the outer armpits forward. Move the outer edges of the trunk to the side. This gives space for the back skin to go into the body.
Why do you use the props in paschimottànàsana? The props make you to understand where you need to get the freedom for doing complete paschimottànàsana. Place a small role of a blanket/ thick handkerchief or a napkin underneath the buttock to support your tailbone. Then adjust the brick in between the knees and the belt for the shinbone. Move both the buttocks away from each other and go down.The release comes from the buttocks and the tailbone extends forward. The whole of the trunk is coming from the back region forward. When you bend like that feel the sobriety, the soothing feeling. Then inhale, raise your head upwards and release. Where have you to place the brick for the knees? The brick should be touching the frontal edge of the bottom knee bone (not the flesh). The bottom knees have to hold the brick for which you need to bring the heels closer. Use a belt for the ankles and bring the ankles close to each other.Tighten the belt so the bottom knee touches the brick and the brick should prick your knee. Then hold the feet with your hand and take the head down. The stretch in the inner leg is superior. The groin indirectly holds the brick. Now the lower trunk becomes longer. Even the shoulder blade must dip down. So use your intelligence like that. “You should have the tolerance to bear the pain”. “You do not know the darkness in your body, you have to throw the light to reach the dark portions of your body”. So in each àsana you have to trace - is my mind in darkness? Inner body is completely dark, so you have to penetrate, you have to sense.
“You do not know the darkness in your body, you have to throw the light to reach the dark portions of your body”.
Using the intelligence and awareness Spread the legs and feet apart in line with the outer thighs. The top shin moves down to the ground and remains stable there while the rest of the body moves forward. Let the entire back leg including the calf muscles embrace the mother earth. The posterior top portion of the buttock should be flat like a chapatti as you extend the trunk. To make the buttocks flat, you have to move the inner biceps forward by slightly bending your arms at the elbows and make the corner of the inner biceps parallel to the floor for the buttocks to move along with the trunk. If the navel is hard, your mind says “I cannot move”. Release the tightness on the navel for you to move. The middle tailbone should be longer, sharper and thinner. As the head moves forward, the skin in the region of the tailbone should move forward along with the head.The tailbone should not go back. The side outer edges of the tailbone should be longer than the centre (middle) area. (If you pull the centre tailbone, you get a backache). The muscles of the buttocks and the skin of the buttocks have to give space for the outer edge of the small tailbone to move forward up to the head. Iyengar Yoga News 9 - Autumn 2006
Increasing your awareness with props Sit with a brick in between your feet and stretch your legs in daõóàsana. Extend the inner heels, inner hinges forward. Open out the back of the knees and the back of the thighs, for the front of the thighs, the outer edges of the thighs to descend down as you exhale to go into paschimottànàsana. The complete knee - the outer corners, the inner corners, the front of the knee, the back of the knee, all should be descending down. Widen the back of the 9
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knees for the kneecap to go inwards. If the muscle fibres at the back of the knee shrinks or the back of the knee contracts then the knee caps start to project upwards. How do you open and descend the back of the knees down ? Extend the head of the calf away from the knee for the legs to elongate further. If the head of the calf muscles do not move away then elongate it with your hands. This will allow the back of the knees to descend down. Move the flesh of the right buttock away with your right hand and the flesh of the left buttock away with your left hand to come on the inner buttock bone. This will allow the back of the knees to open out. How do you open the outer side comers of the knees? The skin in the outer side corner of the knee shrinks. Place a brick between the knees.The inner edge of the knee bone should be holding the brick. Hold the outer edges of the feet and move the inner edge of the knee bone down.This ensures the opening in the outer side corners of the knees Then take your head down. Lift your head up and sit up. Tie a belt around the outer shinbone (the region where it is puffing), the brick remains in between the knees.Tighten the belt so it holds the shins in place and the brick gives resistance for the knees to go out. How to take the head down in paschimottànàsana? Grip the bottom outer edges of the feet firmly to elongate the trunk further by widening the elbows and moving the outer armpits forward. This will allow the head to go down. Spread the waist muscles horizontally for you to get clarity in your buttocks and clarity in your tailbone. Extend the side trunk, extend the side ribs, make the back of the head passive then the head will go further beyond the brick. Descend downwards from the back trunk. Pressurising the back of the legs firmly, raise the back bottom femur bone slightly up to roll forward. Elongate from the bottom of the tailbone towards the top of the tailbone to go forward. Inhale, raise your head upwards and release. Iyengar Yoga News 9 - Autumn 2006
Paschimottanasana should come from the base of the spine” The intelligence Stabilise the back of the knees (the source) in Paschimottanasana and move the side ribs forward towards the armpits.“The side ribs should be facing the armpits and not the middle ribs”. Bring the mind close to the leg (not the head). If the mind sinks the head hits the leg. Make the mind to extend and expand the core of the being for the head to move forward. “The intelligence of the heart not the intelligence of the head should come and touch the physical intelligence of the back knee. Bring the heart close to the leg.” Paschimottànàsana to bramacharyàsana
First the posterior body elongates but it has its own limitations then the anterior body elongates and lastly the base of the spine moves to the top of the spine. Accordingly this àsana is named as paschimottànàsana, ugràsana and bramacharyàsana. It first comes as paschimottànàsana. Paschim is the back (west), paschimottàn is elongation of the back of the trunk.When you elongate the back of the trunk, the spine gets released further and the abdomen gets elongated. It then comes as ugràsana when the action comes from the anterior portion because then you intensively work from the abdomen. Lastly it is called bramacharyàsana. When the action comes from the base of the tailbone region, your organic body goes forward. The blood circulates in that area.You feel the heat getting increased a bit in that region. That is bramacharyàsana. One needs to travel quiet a bit to convert paschimottànàsana to bramacharyàsana. The rishis and the yogis realised the depth in these àsanas as they practised and hence named them accordingly.
This article is reproduced from Yoga Rahasya (Vol.12 (2), 2005) with kind permission of the publishers. To receive your own copy of Yoga Rahasya, the journal of the Ramamani Iyengar Memorial Yoga Institute, see page 53. 10
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ANATOMY OF AN ASANA Anatomy literally means dissection, separation of the body into parts to study the structure and function of the human being. Guruji has also dissected the human body not with sharp knives but with his sharp intelligence. His depth of penetration is so immense that his eyes can see what an x-ray and MRI cannot. This has led to him developing the precise science of therapeutic yoga. This article, reproduced from Yoga Rahasya, describes an anatomical comparison of 3 distinct àsanas with reference to sensations and visual observations as per the guidance and direction given by him and Geetaji in one of the classes held at the RIMYI.
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natomy, the science of studying the structure of a human being forms one of the first subjects that a student of medicine is exposed to. On graduation, this student intends to diagnose and treat diseases that man suffers from; he intends to give a better quality of life to the patient; he hopes to bring back man from the clutches of death. The doctor aims to give life to his patient but ironically, he starts his studies on the human body by studying the dead! Anatomists study the structure of the human being by dissecting the body into parts. Interestingly as students of yoga, we realise that the structure and function of the human being (which includes the body, mind, breath and senses) changes from position to position. So, the question now comes up: is anatomy studied from the dissection of the dead applicable and valid to the living human being? It is a beginning but not the end of the study of anatomy. Guruji says that we, as students of yoga, have to learn the structure of our body by dissecting ourselves the way the anatomists do. The ‘dissection’ is internal and not external; the ‘dissection’ is the ability to discriminate between life, extension, lengthening, freedom, and energy amongst the many other sensations that we are able to observe, scrutinise and discriminate. There are three distinct means of observation: 1. By visual perception what the eyes can see Iyengar Yoga News 9 - Autumn 2006
2. By impressions - by studying the imprints that certain feelings leave behind 3. By objective measurements We can study the anatomy of each àsana by one or more of these means of observation. An anatomical evaluation of each àsana would require tremendous ability and skill. What we generally tend to observe is only the gross and not the subtle. We need to understand the parts to understand the whole. Therefore, to relatively simplify this exercise of anatomical evaluation of an àsana , it is advisable for us to study groups of àsanas ; we need to compare and contrast the similarities and differences between these groups of àsanas . We need to study what is known as comparative anatomy. We take three àsanas which are apparently similar. uttànàsana , pàdànguùñàsana and pàdàhaùñàsana . If we were asked to compare these three and asked to elaborate the differences - the most and possibly only striking difference that would come to mind would be the placement of the palms. The palms placed on the floor in uttànàsana , the index and middle finger gripping the toes in pàdànguùñàsana and the palms placed underneath the feet in pàdàhaùñàsana . If we were asked to study deeper - the other difference that would come to mind would be that uttànàsana is the least intense while pàdàhaùñàsana is the most intense of these three àsanas . 11
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We would possibly be a little lost if asked to elaborate a little more on the differences in these three àsanas . This is because not many of us have penetrated deeper into an àsana beyond the gross level. It was a great revelation and opening out an entire new dimension of study when Guruji and Geetaji transmitted their experiences and learning following the dissection and also micro-dissection of these three àsana in one of the classes.
uttànàsana . Thus, if a person is asked to perform uttànàsana standing on bricks with the toes hanging
and not touching the brick, he will find that the spine lengthens much more. There is a close connection between the mounts of the toes and the spine. If the mounts of the toes are released and extended then the spine lengthens much more. In Padahastasana, we naturally release the mounts of the toes. This learning from Padahastasana has to be utilised in uttànàsana . Comparatively studying the “natural” imprints in Now we come to the arms. There is hardly any life felt in the arms in uttànàsana . In pàdànguùñàsana , the top these three àsanas : or the frontal forearm is felt but in pàdàhaùñàsana - the bottom of Even in our best attempts at samya§a the forearm is felt. So what we uttànàsana , we only “feel” the learn in the forearms from pàdàncalf muscles but the back of guùñàsana has to be retained in the thighs are dull. There is no pàdàhaùñàsana and vice versa. life in the top of the back of And, what we learn from both has the thigh. But we can start to be attained in uttànàsana . feeling the back of the thigh in The forearm is active, charged, pàdànguùñàsana and this full of life in pàdànguùñàsana and feeling becomes stronger in pàdàhaùñàsana but the upper pàdàhaùñàsana . Thus, imprints arm is quite dull. One can learn felt in the back of the thighs in Yoga Såtra III.30 how to bring life in the upper arm pàdàhaùñàsana have to be in these two àsanas by the retained in pàdànguùñàsana imprint created by uttànàsana . and uttànàsana . However, this cannot be learnt in classical uttànàsana In uttànàsana , the length of the posterior spine is but performing the same àsana with the arms bent at longer than the anterior spine. Therefore one can feel the elbows and the palms gripping and extending the a slight strain or “bulginess” in the dorsal region in the elbows down towards the floor. Life is felt in the upper back. In pàdànguùñàsana , the anterior spine also arm and that life has to be retained in uttànàsana , “learns” to lengthen like the posterior spine. This pàdànguùñàsana as well as pàdàhaùñàsana . “learning” is much more in pàdàhaùñàsana . We feel Even the extension felt in the side chest, the lateral the skin and flesh on the back in pàdàhaùñàsana sides of the chest varies in these three àsanas . In merging into the body and this “feeling” has to be uttànàsana with arms bent at the elbows one can feel retained in uttànàsana . a lengthening in the lateral sides of If we were to compare our the chest but that “length” is lost first attempt at uttànàsana in the uttànàsana . The lateral side and repeat attempt after chest lengthens much more in pàdàhaùñàsana , then we will pàdànguùñàsana and it is further observe that we tend to move uttànàsana lengthened in pàdàhaùñàsana . our hands further down in the We need to retain the imprint felt second attempt at uttànàsana . pàdàhaùñàsana in the lateral side chest in Our spine seems to go down pàdàhaùñàsana while performing much more in the attempt at uttànàsana . uttànàsana after The top chest around the region of the collarbone pàdàhaùñàsana than before pàdàhaùñàsana . Why pàdànguùñàsana but narrows expands maximally in does this happen? We need to dissect the functional down in pàdàhaùñàsana . We need to learn the expananatomy a little further. In uttànàsana , we tend to sion of the chest attained in pàdànguùñàsana in constrict the region between the mounts of the toes uttànàsana . and the toes themselves. In fact, you may observe that beginners even tend to clinch the toes while in
By
(restraint) on the navel, the yogi acquires perfect knowledge of the disposition of the human body.
“Our spine seems to go down much more in the attempt at after .....Why does this happen? “
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Visual differences in
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and pàdànguùñàsana and pàdàhaùñàsana .
One can study and compare these three àsanas through the photographs: The hip is better aligned with the back of heels in pàdàhaùñàsana as compared with uttànàsana. Pàdànguùñàsana is an intermediary to both these asanas with reference to the alignment of the hip with the heel.
One can easily visualise “length” and the opening of the hamstring in pàdàhaùñàsana as compared with Uttanasana.
One can see the opening of the armpits and the arm-pit chest in pàdànguùñàsana as compared with uttànàsana.
One can see how much the back body flattens and “sobers” down in pàdàhaùñàsana as compared with the slight “bulge” in the back in uttànàsana .
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THERAPEUTICS A N D YO G A Helen Graham interviews with Stephanie Quirk in Pune
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am a very new member of the events committee. Within days of joining I was given my first assignment, it was to help co-ordinate Stephanie Quirk’s remedial workshops in the UK. The first ones are taking place in Bristol and Manchester in September 2006.There will be 2 more starting next year at venues in Scotland and London. Taking advantage of my visit to Pune, I arranged to have lunch with Stephanie. She agreed to an interview for the IYA magazine, giving some background to the courses and a little about her aims and hopes for them. Not having any shorthand, I can’t quote Stephanie exactly, but hope what follows is an accurate representation of our conversation.
“When there is discord the ripple of effects are seen penetrating all the layers, our lives and relationships.......”
Stephanie gave some thought to this request and after a period devised an approach to learning and structured a course which would need a series of visits. She organised an approach for learning according to the layers of the Self - the ko÷as . For the purposes of analysis the ancient rùis (sages) analysed the Self according to 5 layers or sheaths: The annamaya ko÷a represents our physical form, our structural abode. The pràõamaya ko÷a is our energietic body that vitalizes the body’s functioning. The manomaya ko÷a is the mental body, the communicating vehicle between the inner and outer existences. The vijnà¤amaya ko÷a is the intellectual sheath (the mind leads to thoughts and the intelligence leads to discernment and wisdom. As yoga practitioners and teachers we learn and teach from this body; it has to be functioning well to perceive the students’ difficulties. The ànandamaya ko÷a , is the divine or soul body.
The remedial courses are already running in Germany and the US. They started when a teacher asked Stephanie if she would structure a course of study with therapeutics as the theme. It was after the first German workshop that she was contacted by someone in the UK.
When there is discord the ripple of effects are seen penetrating all the layers, our lives and relationships (both within and without); all can be observed and worked with. For teachers of yoga it is the first three layers and the problems that arise within those that are the areas for study.
In the West, therapeutics is an area of great interest as so many newly qualified teachers have to face the various difficulties and limitations in their students but they are often isolated. An experienced senior teacher with specialised knowledge in the area is very difficult to find, and often a problem student is not keen to travel outside of their home town. Teachers are also expected to answer questions on the subject in their certificate assessments, as well as have some working knowledge of the subject, but often the teacher feels completely unprepared for this area of work.
Working with these three main ko÷as means that the learning is progressive This is important so that the teacher gains skill, knowledge and most importantly confidence in the outer layers first. It also makes the course incremental, each succeeding level being linked with the previous. Stephanie was very keen to stress that the biggest value will be gained only if all levels are taken. Stephanie has designed the courses in the way she has because she wanted to structure the learning process. Also she is concerned about some likely pitfalls i.e. she wanted the material and the subject to avoid the possible
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mistake of teachers believing they have learnt or are being taught a clinical approach, to become somehow therapeutic clinicians, wherein yoga can be presented alongside other clinical therapies. Stephanie considers this to be a wrong approach. She says therapeutics needs to be done through yoga and not as an alternative therapy. Stephanie also felt there was a danger of therapeutics being very technical, props orientated and prescriptive. All things she wishes to avoid. The underlying premise on which the courses are based, is that all yoga teachers have a basic level of training. Stephanie is hoping to prompt from them the knowledge they already have and the learning involves understanding how this knowledge can be applied in special situations i.e. how the classic àsana is applied to specific situations. So the first part of the course involves observation of oneself and others. The course continues with observation being a major part. Each session has a component that deals with common problems in the class room situation. Finally Stephanie will show basic applications of àsana for specific problems not accommodated in general classes.
“The accumulated imprints of past lives, rooted in afflictions, will be experienced in present and future lives” Summing up, Stephanie said her aim IS NOT the handing out of a series of recipes for a theoretical person. Rather to give teachers an understanding of the skills they already possess and more background information. At this point I asked Stephanie about her interest in therapeutics. She was very clear. Her interest is in yoga; she doesn’t have any desire to become a therapy specialist. Her background was as a psychiatric nurse, which she left to go to art school. We perceive Stephanie as having a speciality, because we see her working with people at the back of class and in the medical classes. Stephanie said that the things she has learnt in therapy classes have been a great learning experience for dealing with all people. She quoted here from the Yoga Såtras (II.12): “the accumulated imprints of past lives, rooted in afflictions, will be Iyengar Yoga News 9 - Autumn 2006
experienced in present and future lives” explaining that until we are more highly evolved we will all suffer afflictions. In our general classes everyone still needs correction. Stephanie sees us all whether in general or medical classes as suffering from the same problems, difficulties or distortions, it’s just a sliding scale. She says her approach is one of trying to teach yoga, and this is done usually in a general class, but where the person can’t manage a general class then a different class is needed, but the approach is still one of trying to teach yoga. Despite not seeing herself in the role of a therapeutic yoga specialist, she finished by saying that she does find these workshops a rewarding way of teaching and of getting her ideas across, compared to the usual format of a class where you don’t ask people to stop and think of what they are doing and why that might be useful. It was a good lunch and a great conversation. I hope to have written an accurate account. Many thanks to Stephanie for her time and patience.
A message from Stephanie Quirk with regards to the upcoming 4 Day Remedial Workshops up to and including the year 2010:
In Iyengar Yoga, certified teachers are qualified to teach therapeutics once they attain Junior Intermediate Level II. The purpose of this course (completed over six sessions), is intended to be educative and to provide a base of knowledge and skill to those teachers, in order that they can assist their students who come to them with problems. The course can never provide nor replace real and direct experience. Please note that in Iyengar Yoga there is no separate qualification known as “Yoga Therapist” that one may advertise oneself as. Please note: Only those teachers qualified to Junior Intermediate Level 1 and above at the time of applying - can attend the 4 day remedial workshops to be held with Stephanie Quirk. Level 1 in Bristol & Manchester in 2006 have both sold out; but please note that 2 more Level 1 courses will be available in 2007 in Scotland and in the South East, as well as level 2 courses in 2007. All details will appear on the NEWS section of the IYA (UK) website www.iyengaryoga.org.uk. 15
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THE BELLUR TRUST: A PATH OUT OF POVERTY
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ost, if not all of you, will be aware of the Bellur Trust and no doubt a significant number of you have either made individual donations or raised money for the Trust in combination with local and national fund-raising initiatives. Significant progress has been achieved (summarised below) assisted by these donations, and the Bellur Trust is now looking ahead to determine the resources required to take it from its current status to a point where it will become self funding. Guruji has asked National Associations world wide if they can launch fund raising initiatives to help raise significant amounts of money to further the already successful projects which the Trust has embarked upon. The IYA (UK) has agreed to do its best to help Guruji realise his goal and has established a team to coordinate and assist fundraising within the UK over the next 2 (or more) years, to try and maximise donations to the Trust. This team will be collating an information pack including ideas and ways to go about fund raising on an individual, local, regional and national basis. This pack will be provided to Iyengar yoga teachers and can be requested by others using the contact details below. The team will also be organising events themselves and will be looking for volunteers to help. Finally, the aim will be to extend fund raising beyond the boundaries of those involved with Iyengar Yoga and to tap the resources of the wider community. Below are details of the Bellur Trust’s achievements to date and its future plans. Should you have any questions regarding this article or would like to receive ideas on fund raising please contact Leza Hatchard on 020 8997 6029 or e-mail admin@iyengaryoga.org.uk. Note: if you are working in a school in the UK, we would love to hear from you with regards to a possible school penpal project.
BELLUR T RUST F ACTSHEET
Bellur is just one of the many very poor and backward villages in India, a community of people belonging to the lower strata of society with reference to their social status and economic background. It had probably changed little since Guruji lived there as a young boy until recently.The only amenity was the primary school which had been built by Guruji with help from money raised by English students in 1967. Guruji’s father was schoolmaster at a school nearby as there had been no school in Bellur itself until this time. There was not even a clean, fresh water supply until 2004. Bellur represents the plight of many such village communities in India. Guruji’s vision for Bellur is to establish it as a model village through the provision of educational, medical, social and cultural facilities and opportunities to raise and enhance the general quality of life and improve future prospects for the young in the community. From this firm foundation lasting social and economic reform can be achieved.
The Bellur Krishnamachar and Seshamma Smaraka Niddhi Trust - BKSSNT - or Bellur Trust is a charitable Trust formed by Guruji, his family and students, with the objective of undertaking educational, social, cultural and health related projects for the upliftment of the people of Bellur and other backward villages in India.
Compiled in August 2006 by Judith Jones from various sources, including Yoga Rahasya.
The Aims of the BKSSN Trust are:
Bellur is a village in Karnataka, Southern India, famous now as the birthplace of Bellur Krishnamachar Sundararaja Iyengar - B. K. S Iyengar.
1. The setting up of Primary and Higher-Primary schools, at Bellur Village as well as other backward areas in the country.
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Educational
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2. To upgrade the already existing village schools. 3. To set up technical and education institutions for imparting job orientated courses and vocational training that is applicable and will uplift the rural youth and improve their employment prospects. 4. To support and provide adult education centres in rural areas. 5. To set up libraries and reading rooms in villages.
Social 1. To improve living standards at the village level, especially with education in the problem areas of alcohol and tobacco consumption. 2. To provide clean drinking water facilities and improve the sanitary & drainage conditions at villages, thereby improving the general public health. 3. To educate and create awareness among rural peoples about the latest developments in the fields of agriculture and allied areas and to support their actual implementation.
fences, power supply and road access. 6. All school fees for the students have been waived and a system of free education established for those who come from under privileged homes. 7. Provided free school uniforms for all students. 8. Provided free books and stationery to all students. 9. Established a kitchen for the provision of free midday meals. 10. Agreed to pay the teachers’ wages. 11. Built, equipped and staffed a Day Hospital providing for the health of the villagers. 12. Built a Guest House to provide accommodation for visitors to Bellur who may be making a pilgrimage to the Pata¤jàli temple or assisting the work of the Trust.
Health 1. To create awareness among rural people of the importance of individual as well as public health care. 2. To establish primary health care centres at villages as well as backward areas.
Cottage Industr y building under constr uction
Cultural
Future plans are to:
To promote and further the technical and artistic skills of the rural people in the field of traditional handicrafts and help to establish cottage industries.
1. Build, equip and staff a Technical College providing vocational skills based courses suitable to the community, e.g. stone masonry, animal husbandry. 2. Build, equip and staff a College of Nursing, and further equip and staff the hospital. 3. Provide 100% free education to those who belong to the weaker sections of the society who live below the poverty line. The Trust estimates that this will be 50% of the students. 4. Complete erection of a building to house small cottage industries e.g. a business growing roses.
What has been achieved so far: To date the success of the BKSSNT in carrying out Guruji’s aims and establishing very real and significant changes for the Bellur and Kolar district is beyond question.The BKSSNT has: 1. Erected a further level to the existing primary school building, providing a large space for yoga classes - the RIM Hall (Ramamani Iyengar Memorial Hall) 2. Erected a 50,000 gallon water tank to provide fresh clean drinking water to the villagers, the most simple yet most basic need. 3. Purchased 17 acres of land on the border of the village 4. Built, equipped and staffed a High School (Smt. Ramamani Sundararaja Iyengar High School) which received an overwhelming show of confidence from the villagers who sent 170 of their sons and daughters to enrol at 8th grade as soon as it opened. Education had ended for most, especially the girls, after 7th grade. 5. Established the necessary infrastructure of boundary Iyengar Yoga News 9 - Autumn 2006
Cultivation of the stony land is not very easy or productive, although there are tomato fields and some farms in the area. The plans are very ambitious and will obviously need a very large amount of funding to see their completion and maintenance. The benefit to the villagers of Bellur has already been enormous, but the establishment of the High School, Hospital, Technical College, etc will benefit the other villages of the whole locality as well, so the projects reach beyond Bellur itself. 17
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Latest news from Guruji on progress - June 2006 In June there was a free “eye camp” set up in the village. A mobile van, India’s first mobile refraction unit, came to the Ramamani hospital with satellite link to one of the leading opthalmic hospitals in Chennai. A team of doctors carreid out eye examinations on 818 villagers. Special eye charts were used as most of the vilagers are illiterate. 192 oairs of glasses were made on site in the mobile van equipped with all the technology necessary to make prescription glasses within a few minutes, all free of charge. About 40 villagers were transferred to hospital for cataract eye surgery.
The Ramamani Hospital is already functioning but will be officially opened in November and it is planned to hold 34 days of yoga classes in the village with fees given as a donation to the hospital.
Guruji’s Appeal to all national Iyengar Associations So far the work of the BKSSNT has relied on the generous donations from Guruji’s followers, but mainly the considerable amount of money donated by Guruji and the Iyengar family themselves to fund what has already been achieved. Guruji has now asked whether we can extend our helping hand further.What this means is that all Associations world wide have been asked to aim to raise as much money as possible over the next 2 (or more) years. Work which has already been undertaken and future plans can then be completed in the shortest possible time and also some core capital be saved to maintain and run the projects while the Trust establishes itself properly for the future. Guruji works at a tremendous pace and inspires others to do likewise. The school building was started in January 2005 and students were admitted on 1st June of the same year. Students are now travelling 30 - 40 kilometres to study there as it is already seen as a place of true learning.
Charitable status of the BKSSNT Each year the BKSSNT has to apply to the Indian Government for permission to receive an estimated amount of money for the year from Guruji’s followers (individuals and associations). This year Guruji is making an application for the Trust to be recognised by the Government of India Iyengar Yoga News 9 - Autumn 2006
under a special section of the Charitable Associations. The plans and specifications for the future projects have been prepared and form part of the submission to the Government of India. Acceptance will mean that the Trust can operate with a lot more efficiency and be eligible for concessions in terms of taxes and financial concessions. It will mean that the foreign contributions being received by the Trust’s bank will not incur the “fees” that it now has to pay. It will also mean that people in India will be able to receive tax deductions for their contributions. Guruji would also not be limited to applying for approval to receive foreign contribution only once a year. To be granted this special status Guruji and the Trust need to show that they are successful in carrying out and completing the aims of the Trust to date.They have to show concrete evidence that the Trust’s projects are reaching and helping the people of the villages and district and that the Trust has sufficient funds to realise the future projects that it has stated in its submissions.This is where the foreign contributions from Guruji’s followers are very, very important. It shows that the Trust has a very real and substantial backing from both Indian sources as well as overseas.
Tourist attraction Bellur has not always been a nondescript village. It did have an important place in Indian mythology and 1000 year old temples with ancient carvings still exist as ruins in the village, which indicate its status in the past. However over the centuries Bellur had come to an appalling state of social, economic and cultural ruin. A few years ago any tourist wanting to visit Guruji’s Bellur would have been taken from Bangalore to the other more famous Bellur which has famous temples renowned for their intricate carvings.There would have been no reason to visit this remote village, but now Bellur is getting onto the yoga tourist map. Guruji has financed the building of the first Patanjali temple in India. It is an impressive colourful structure which also houses a beautiful Hanuman relief which is 1000 years old and which was in the village when Guruji lived there. In fact his home looked out on to the site of the idol.There is also a covered community area in the temple complex which can be used socially for events such as weddings and celebration meals. The temple is helping to reinstate Bellur to its old glory and is making it a tourist attraction.The villagers, who previously had few visitors, especially Westerners, are getting used to visiting dignitaries and yoga students curious to see Guruji’s birthplace and the temple. Consequently the villagers are keen to keep the village cleaner! A guest house has been built to provide a comfortable stay for these visitors, who may be making a pilgrimage, or assisting in the work of the Trust. 18
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P i c t u r e s
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Boys and girls queing up for registration
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Guruji has his health check at the new clinic
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queing to register for the Health Clinic 19
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THE R AMAMANI I YENGAR MEMORIAL Y OGA I NSTITUTE T
he RIMYI was formally dedicated and opened on the 19th January, 1975. The Institute is a memorial to the late Smt. Ramamani Iyengar who inspired her husband, Yogacharya B. K. S. Iyengar to propagate yoga throughout the world.
The building is shaped like a semicircular pyramid with a flat triangular surface at the rear. It consists of a ground floor with a foyer and four rooms, the main hall on the first floor and a smaller hall on the second floor for teaching beginners and intermediate classes.There is also a basement housing a yoga library and a shrine for Hanuman, the Lord of Breath, at the very top of the building. The design of the building is thus symbolic, with its three tiers representing Bahiraïga Sàdhanà (the outward quest for the soul, comprising yama, niyama and àsana ), Antaranga Sàdhanà (the inward quest comprising pràõàyàma and pratyàhàra ) and Antaràtmà Sàdhanà (the innermost quest, comprising dharàõà, dhyàna, and samàdhi ).
The height of the building is 71 ft., 7 + 1 = 8 representing the vertical growth of the 8 limbs of yoga. It has 88 steps, representing the 8-fold Aùñàïga Yoga of Pata¤jàli and the eight steps of samàdhi . The building rests on a main column, about 5 ft. in diameter. Eight beams radiate from this central column towards 8 external columns, again representing the 8 limbs of yoga.The main column represents the spinal column and the spaces between the outer columns represent the 7 stages of consciousness in the quest of the seeker; conquest over the body, breath, mind, will, action and knowledge, culminating in surrender of the self. The idol of sage Pata¤jàli, author of the Yoga Såtras , is installed outside, as well as in the entrance to the main hall.The idol of Lord Hanuman is installed at the apex of the bulding., Hanuman is the embodiment of strength and stability, intellect and courage, celibacy and humility. The RIMYI is a unique building and practicing yoga within it’s walls is an unforgetablle experience.
The main practice hall inside the Institute, showing the stage at the front (more pictures on page 33) Iyengar Yoga News 9 - Autumn 2006
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The statue of Guruji outside the front door
The shrine dedicated to Guruji’s late wife, Ramamani
The Iyengars’ house, adjacent to the Institute Iyengar Yoga News 9 - Autumn 2006
The statue of Hanuman at the top of the Institute roof 21
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IYENGAR YOGA AROUND THE WORLD
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t Pune, there are over 800 students passing through the Institute each week from countries all over the world. Janet Hartley took the opportunity to speak to a few of them and find out what their impressions of Pune were and what Iyengar yoga is like in their countries. Marina Goryacheva from Russia. My name is Marina Goryacheva. I come from Yaroslav in Russia which is 210 kms from Moscow. I started yoga several years ago and I am teaching. I had a pain in my back so I asked a friend what to do and she suggested yoga. There is a main centre in Moscow where we have had seminars with visiting teachers such as Faeq Biria, Gloria Goldberg and Lois Steinberg. Yoga is popular in the big towns and in Yaroslav there are 4 teachers but no building. I bring blankets, bricks, bolsters and belts and the students bring their mats. Yoga is becoming more popular over the years and we now have yoga magazines. I understand the classes in Pune about 50%. Geeta and Sunita are the clearest in their pronunciation. The personal practice sessions are beautiful and India is a unique country. The food is very spicy - at first we did not know what to eat, only rice and potatoes! Melanie Tholen from Germany I went to a Buddhist retreat that offered yoga classes in the mornings. At the time, I didn’t know he was a very well recommended Iyengar teacher. I used to do Shivananda yoga before, but after one week of Iyengar yoga I was totally convinced and never stopped. At that time it was not easy to find a class in Germany but I was lucky to have a teacher about 25 km away. There are only about 80 teachers in the whole of Germany. Yoga is popular but in many places Iyengar yoga is not known at all. Some main towns e.g. Cologne, Munich, Berlin have several studios. Other places are Iyengar Yoga deserts! In the last few years the Iyengar Yoga community has grown more rapidly. We have had our own teacher training since 1998. This is my third time in Pune. I come back because it’s always interesting to go back to the source. Iyengar Yoga News 9 - Autumn 2006
Hadas Shoshan from Israel I live near Tel Aviv in the countryside and I go to Tel Aviv everyday by car to teach at the Institute. I have been practising yoga for around 10 years. I have done many kinds of yoga like ashtanga and shivananda. I heard about Iyengar yoga and when I tried it I thought “I am at home”. We have many teachers mainly in the centre of Israel. We have visiting teachers every year such as Birjoo, Jawahar and Rajvi. I enjoy the classes with Geeta and Prashant very much. The self-practice is also very good - the time to be free in the mind. I feel good to see all the people around, taking ideas from them. And of course you see Guruji practising, giving a lot of inspiration. I think it is great. I’ve been in India many times. This is my first time though in Pune. I love being here. For sure I will come again. Peter Scott from Australia I saw an advert in a café when I was in San Franscisco. When I came back to Australia in 1980 I couldn’t find any teachers in Melbourne so I visited Sydney in the school holidays. Martin Jackson, John Leebold and Shandoor were all teaching there. Then I started a teacher training course in Melbourne. It was for multiple types of yoga but Martin, Shandor and Val da Moore were teaching the Iyengar side. In 1983, Guruji came to Australia visiting Melbourne and Sydney. All types of yoga are popular in Australia. There are about 170 Iyengar teachers of all levels. People will travel for classes. We started a yoga centre in the small town of Noosa Heads in SE Queensland in 1996 and have about 200 students passing through each week. Now we have sold it and moved to Melborne. We are joining the centre there and planning to make it an Institute. There is an Institute in Sydney. I come to Pune to focus on the path, to stop going off on tangents. To clarify and consolidate my practice primarily and teaching secondly.
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ver the past few years there have been a number of changes in Pune, most notably the announcement that Pune is set to become a major centre for the telecommunications industry. This has led to road building projects and the construction of the largest conference centre in Asia on Senapati Bapat Road. However, many of the roads in Pune still remain in very poor condition, much to the anger of residents who feel that the municipal authorities are not meeting their responsibilities in maintaining them properly. Public transport in the town is very poor so most people choose to travel by car, motobike or motorised rickshaw, adding to the congestion and the pollution. As a visitor, the best way to travel is by rickshaw. These are reliable and cheap; a 30 minute trip will cost about 50 rupees (60p).The current formula for working out the cost is to multiply the number it says on the meter by 6, and then add 2 to the total. As a result of the recent development, the cost of everything in Pune has risen sharply; property, fuel and the basic neccessities. However, for a visitor from the UK things are still extremely cheap.You can eat out for 50 or 60 rupees and a really good meal in a nice restaurant may cost 150 rupees (£1.80). Buying food, clothes and gifts in shops is equally cheap and there are some lovely things to be found, particularly fabrics, clothes, jewellry, ornaments etc. The cost of petrol has risen so a taxi from the international airport in Mumbai is currently 3500 rupees (£44) and takes about 4 hours. You can share a car or jeep which can take 4/5 passengers with luggage. Other cheaper, but not as comfortable alternatives are available, such as bus or train. The Chetak hotel, a favourite budget hotel which tends to be entirely occupied by Iyengar students, has now been completely refurbished, and costs approx £11 per night for a single room and £13 for a double. It is a 10 minute walk from the Institute. A rented apartment with 3 bedrooms could cost around £400 for a month; however single rooms in some flats can be rented for £130 - £150 pounds, but you will be sharing with 2 others you may not know. This can be a good way to meet people or a disaster if you don’t get on! It is advisable to book accommodation well in advance, (1-2 years is not uncommon - try to book as soon as you Iyengar Yoga News 9 - Autumn 2006
F A C E
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know that you have a place), so you will know what the cost will be. If nothing is available on your arrival you may be paying a lot more and not have a choice. Another helpful piece of advice we have been given is that the monsoon is the best season for people suffering from asthma or any respiratory condition. Pune doesn’t usuall get the constant rain of Mumbai and monsoon can still mean hot dry days though humidity is high. There is less dust in July and August and the pollution is less with the heavy rains. However we would still recommend a good cycle mask when travelling any distance in rickshaws. The traffic has increased dramatically, a sign of India’s fast economic growth so pollution is very bad and air quality poor. The developments in telecommunications means that phoning home is very easy and not too expensive if you phone the UK from pay telephones in Pune. At the time of writing, not many flats or hotels are equipped with broadband, so using internet phone systems such as Skype is not easy, but this may well have changed by next year. There are places that you can e-mail from, however, and the nearest one to the Institute is open until 10.30pm, you hardly ever have to queue and it costs about 15 rupees an hour (less than 20p). You can even take your laptop in and use that. There are occasional power cuts in Pune (quite frustrating if you are in the middle of sending an e-mail) but many hotels have generators and flats tend to have backup batteries that keep the lights and the fans working until the power comes back on, and your laptop will also keep working as long as it is charged up! Pune is a very safe and friendly city with a wealth of history and a rich cultural life. It is noisy and polluted compared to cities in the UK and the inhabitants range from the unimaginably poor to the very well-off. However, Iyengar practitioners do not come to Pune as tourists, but as students, and the teaching at the Ramamani Iyengar Memorial Yoga Institute is incredible.You will learn so much and you will find yourself doing things in poses that you did not think possible. In all respects, it is a never to be forgotten experience.
Compiled by Fiona Dewar, Helen Graham, Philippe Harari and Rachel Lovergrove 23
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The internet parlour nearest to the RIMYI
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The Chetak Hotel
Heavy monsoon rains over the River Mutha
A family of four on a scooter Iyengar Yoga News 9 - Autumn 2006
A chai stall, selling small cups of hot, sweet milky tea 24
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A typically busy street scene
A panoramic view of the city from the temple at the top of Parvati HIll Iyengar Yoga News 9 - Autumn 2006
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A C O N V E R S AT I O N W I T H S I LV I A P R E S C OT T Diane Maimaris interviews one of the UK’s most senior teachers
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met Silvia in a café in Finchley Road, near the house in West Hampstead where she has taught yoga for over thirty years. Over tea, I asked her to reflect on a yoga career which is intertwined with the history of Iyengar yoga in the UK. Silvia is one of a group of teachers who joined Silva Mehta’s first Iyengar yoga teacher training course in London in the 1960s, and who together went on to set their seal on the development of yoga teaching in London and the South East. I started by asking Silvia about her early life. She was born in Glasgow in 1922 and grew up in a small hamlet just outside Edinburgh, now swallowed up in a housing estate on the outskirts of the city. Her Scottish parents were both artists and her upbringing was liberal, non-churchgoing, and slightly Bohemian. She enjoyed nature and riding and walking in the surrounding countryside and was educated conventionally at Edinburgh Ladies College, now Mary Erskine School; the Scottish equivalent of a grammar school. The family had relatives abroad and by the time Silvia was 17 she’d spent several summer holidays travelling on the continent with her parents, going to art galleries, looking at architecture and visiting friends and relatives. Silvia was nearly 17 when war broke out. She had wanted to go to art school to study painting, but her parents steered her away from it because they said this would not earn her a living, and she decided to study architecture. She spent three years at Edinburgh School of Art and was then called up for war service: “I wanted to go into the air force, but I was not allowed to because of my architectural qualifications and skills so they put me in the post-war town and country planning office, which was very interesting. At the end of the war I went back to college to do my final two years, but by then I’d pretty well lost interest in architecture. I got a scholarship to go to Oregon in America for a year in 1947 ostensibly to study architecture. During that year I studied practically everything except architecture. So that by the time I came back I was definitely not interested in architecture any more”. Silvia married and Iyengar Yoga News 9 - Autumn 2006
had a son Giles, and did a lot of historical research in connection with her husband’s work in art history. She had first come across yoga when she was in her teens. “My mother had a book about yoga and so I knew what it was, and I thought that looked interesting”. However, it was not until the 1960s, some thirty years later, that yoga became part of Silvia’s life. “I had a friend who was going to a keep-fit class and she asked me to come with her. I didn’t want to go, but she said please come - the class is going to pack up, because there aren’t enough students. I said OK, I’ll come for a week or two. I really found it very, very good - it was a German system of keep-fit which was really body education and I got very interested in it. I started going twice and three times a week, and after a couple of years the teacher said I should teach. I said ‘Don’t be silly, I’ve never taught anything and anyway I’m no good at all this physical stuff ’. For a while she took me to another class that she was teaching and one day she just walked out and left me and said ‘Now you take the class’. That was how I started to teach and I found I could do it. In about 1969, I thought I really would like to find out about yoga. By that time Richard Hittelman was doing yoga on television and so it was becoming popular. I tried one class, but it was no good at all because the teacher just sat there cross-legged and looked beatific and didn’t teach anything. So I paid for a month and went twice and then said ‘To hell with that!’ and stopped going. Then I got a message from an old friend saying “there’s a class starting to train yoga teachers - Silvia must come.” I said ‘I’ve never done yoga - how can I train to teach?’ and didn’t go. A couple of weeks later I got another message saying it didn’t matter that I hadn’t done yoga. This class was held at the College of Physical Education which was an Inner London Education Authority college, where I’d qualified to teach keep-fit, so I knew the secretary. I asked her about the class, and she said “it’s this afternoon come and meet the teacher.” She was Silva Mehta, one of Mr Iyengar’s oldest students, who said ‘Yes, you can come to the class - we’ll see how it goes’. As soon as I 26
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did the first class I realised this was it - this was what I wanted. I knew it was all right. I carried on keep-fit teaching for a few years - but gradually yoga took over. It was already pretty yoga-like. The German system wasn’t dancing and prancing at all - it was very systematic and very much based on anatomy. It was a good lead-in to yoga. In those days Mr Iyengar used to come here every year for about a month or six weeks in May or June, and we had quite intensive classes with him. That put the seal on it. It was really Silva and that class which were the root of all the yoga in the southern part of England. A lot of the senior teachers in London and South East England were trained in that class. Manchester was the Iyengar centre for the North. There were other schools of yoga but we were very lucky because the Chief Inspector in ILEA for Physical Education was a Mr Macintosh, who decided that Iyengar yoga was the only type of yoga he wanted in the ILEA because it did not involve a lot of talking about philosophy. This was why Silva was given this teacher training class - he wanted all the ILEA yoga teachers to be Iyengar-trained. That went on for quite a few years but eventually other kinds of yoga came in as they said it’s not fair, they should have a go as well, but certainly for the first several years - it was only Iyengar yoga. After a couple of years, in the early 1970s, Mr Iyengar gave Silva a list of people who could start teaching and I was one of them. There was no formal assessment - he’d seen us all working”. I told Silvia that I had attended her classes in various schools in St John’s Wood during the late 1970s and early 1980s, and recalled how at that time we worked without equipment, other than perhaps a folded towel or blanket. She confirmed that although the schools had mats, they were too thick and soft for standing postures but could be used as a support in shoulder stand. I asked Silvia her views about the way yoga mats, blocks, bricks and belts have become standard equipment in yoga classes. “Mr Iyengar is still saying you shouldn’t be using all this equipment. He always says all you need is just a clean, Iyengar Yoga News 9 - Autumn 2006
flat floor and maybe a blanket and that’s true really. Equipment is for people who have physical problems and incapacities - we shouldn’t be using so much equipment. In Pune, visiting teachers see people who have problems being helped and they think this is how we should all do it and they don’t really understand that’s for special cases. And of course one of Mr Iyengar’s great talents is therapeutic work he uses props for people who need them, not for the physically fit. What’s the point of using a crutch if you can walk perfectly well without it?” Silvia gave up teaching in her home last year, but continues to teach at Maida Vale. “The students arrive and get their foam pads, their belts. I say to them ‘If you have to have a mat, sit on that, unless there’s a particular problem. I have a sort of criterion - if you can do this, then you don’t need a pad under your buttocks - if you can’t do it, if you’ve got tight hamstrings, stiff hips or something, all right, you can sit on a folded blanket, if necessary. Many of the people who come to my classes now at Maida Vale are teachers and some of them get quite a shock when I say no foam pads - for sarvàngàsana you can have a blanket under the shoulders. High suppor ts for sarvàngàsana are really for serious neck and shoulder problems”.* Eventually, Silvia dropped the keep-fit classes and only taught yoga, becoming a full-time yoga teacher for the ILEA, and began training teachers in the late 1970s. She went to Pune for the first time the year after the Ramamani Iyengar Ramamani Memorial Iyengar Yoga Institute opened in 1975. “It felt like home - the atmosphere, the people, the yoga. In those days most of the foreigners stayed in the Institute - classes were quite small, about 2030 people. We slept in four rooms downstairs, each of which had a bathroom and kitchen where you could make tea or cook, and the yoga classes were held upstairs. Mr Iyengar taught almost all the classes, with two or three helpers, sometimes his daughter, Geeta, his son, Prashant, and Shah, one of the longest established teachers in Pune”. Silvia says of Geeta and Mr Iyengar “Geeta is like a slow combustion stove burning with a slow, steady radiant heat. 27
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Mr Iyengar is more like a firework show - he sparkles with brilliance, energy and life. There have been four or five moments with Mr Iyengar that I will never forget. He’s got incredible intuition. Just seeing you he instantly knows what you need and how you can be helped”. I asked Silvia why, at least in my experience of Iyengar yoga classes over the years, teachers tend not to say much about the spiritual and philosophical aspects of yoga, but to focus on the physical. “I don’t really think that is entirely true. It’s not explicit - it’s implicit. This is one of the things I felt very strongly the first time I had classes with Mr Iyengar here in the UK. It came across to me very strongly as a spiritual teaching even though it was apparently physical. The spiritual aspect was implicit in everything”. I asked Silvia if she thought this explained why some of us are drawn to Iyengar yoga and stay with it. “I think that has a lot to do with it because as you go on you realise what depths there are in it and it’s not just physical or physiological - it does actually involve the mental and spiritual. Mr Iyengar’s teaching is like that - his son and daughter are like that and so was Silva. You see, my personal feeling is that if you give a “spiritual” teaching, people can delude themselves and almost hypnotise themselves into thinking they’re having a spiritual experience. Whereas if you leave it undefined, they’ll find something real for themselves - they won’t put it in terms somebody else has given to them. The other thing is, that if you go through the eight limbs of yoga - in each there are aspects of the other seven. But if you start with yama and niyama and àsana - those three give you a foundation for pràõàyàma - and then those four give you a foundation for pratyàhàra and those five give you the foundation for dharàõà, dhyàna , and samàdhi . So if you really work very conscientiously on àsana you find it becomes deeper and deeper and through the concentration of working on the àsanas you are coming towards meditation. After all, one of the steps to meditation is concentration. How can you ever think about anything Iyengar Yoga News 9 - Autumn 2006
else when you’re practising àsana conscientiously? You don’t have much chance, do you? Also supposing you’re starting to teach, what do you really understand about the àsanas? How much do you understand about pràõàyàma - so can you teach pràõàyàma, can you teach meditation? You can only teach what you understand. I waited until my eighties to teach pràõàyàma - before that I taught ÷avàsana and a bit of breathing. I felt I
didn’t understand enough to teach it. It’s difficult - you can’t see what’s happening with the students. I myself was practising pràõàyàma more as I was becoming more physically limited. I moved towards it - it became more important to me. I slowly began to understand a little more about it and felt enabled to teach something”. I asked Silvia if she thought one might turn to Pranayama if one was feeling troubled. She responded “Suppose someone’s having a bad time, is depressed, àsana , and the concentration you bring to your practice, help to balance your emotions. Someone once asked Mr Iyengar ‘Why do you meditate?’ He said ‘Why do you think we meditate’. The questioner said ‘In order to quieten the mind’. He said ‘No, you don’t meditate to quieten the mind, you quieten the mind in order to meditate”. You have to practice àsana , pràõàyàma , to balance the emotions and energies so that the mind becomes quiet - so that you can meditate”. I commented that in yoga these stages seem to lie far ahead, and you don’t know if you will ever get there. Silvia responded “ It’s a lifetimes’s journey - many lifetimes”. I asked her what she thought about embarking on meditation either without yoga or in the early stages of practice. “Everybody is different. Some people are born as advanced spiritual beings. Many of the Indian sages were revealed when they were incredibly young. Some people are born geniuses - think of Mozart or Picasso. It’s possible, but unusual, for a person to want or be able to meditate without some preliminary training in other aspects of yoga. For ordinary people - I would say 99.9 percent of people - one has to establish the discipline 28
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of practising, learning to understand how the body works. and in the process you learn quite a lot about how the mind works”.
I asked Silvia if she had any thoughts about how her approach to yoga had changed over the years. “The more I do the more I find in the basic postures. I was nearly 50 when I started doing yoga. I’ve tried to do what I could in the advanced postures - arm balances - but I’ve never been very good at those postures, but I did what I could. As I get older, I find everything is in those basic poses - there’s very little outside the introductory syllabus that I teach or practice. The exciting, flashy postures are fine for athletic, energetic young people who need a challenge of that kind - the advanced postures are wonderful for young, strong people. I’m not denigrating them in any way but I do feel everything I understand about yoga I understand from the introductory poses. That may be a reflection of my inadequacy. Every time I’ve been to Pune we’ve hardly ever done anything apart from basic poses, and of course Mr Iyengar is also getting older. Mr Iyengar says yoga is like any other form of education you’ve got nursery, primary, secondary, degree level, postgraduate study. Nursery children are playing, at primary level there’s still a strong element of play, in your teens and 20s it’s full steam ahead, and you go on, you deepen your understanding. Mr Iyengar’s achievement is amazing - what he did in writing ‘Light on Yoga’ was outstanding. Even practitioners of other systems of yoga use it - a lot of teachers from other schools of yoga come to our classes. Iyengar yoga gives us clarity, discipline. Like a developing plant on a trellis - the framework is essential - the framework is the self-discipline of practising and doing it accurately and being able to observe oneself accurately. In my teaching, I try to put people in a situation where they have to observe, to develop clarity of observation. I want them to learn to take more responsibility for themselves”. Iyengar Yoga News 9 - Autumn 2006
Silvia told me that when she was doing teacher training, Silva Mehta always wanted her students to write essays, one of the titles was ‘What does yoga mean in your life?’ “I said I didn’t want to write an essay. I can’t separate yoga from my life - it’s all one. Good, bad, indifferent - it’s all integrated. I felt that from the beginning - from the first or second year of doing yoga. I’m not an intellectual. All my life, with intellectual parents and husband, I was trying to be an intellectual. Eventually I thought no, I just can’t do it. I have to admit that I’m not an intellectual. But then one day Mr Iyengar stopped in front of me and tapped me on the side of my head ‘You western intellectuals - you’re all the same’. His eyes were sparkling - so full of love and affection. Eventually I realised that being intellectual was part of it. You do have to use your analytical faculties - every pore in your skin - to observe. Every cell has its intelligence, which we must recognise and learn to work with”. I asked Silvia if she planned to write a memoir or a book about yoga. “I don’t want to write a book because then it’s all fixed. I am still learning”. *Editor’s Note: At the RIMYI they do sometimes teach shoulder stand with little or no support. However this method is reserved for advanced practitioners only under the guidance of Guruji, Geeta or Prashant and after appropriate preparation. Using a lift - in Pune usually 4 thick mats and a blanket - helps to lift the pose more vertically and prevent collapse. 29
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EVENTS LISTINGS: YOUR GUIDE TO Avon Iyengar Yoga Institute
Please contact the events organiser for details of events and classes, or see the ‘events’ page on the IYA (UK) website: www.iyengaryoga.org.uk
Bradford and District Iyengar Yoga Institute
Julie Brown, 29th Sept. Ros Bell, November - tbc.
Alan Brown 01535 637359; alan@dianalan.plus.com
Cambridge Iyengar Yoga Institute
www.cambridgeyoga.co.uk Sasha Perryman 01223 515929; sperryman@yahoo.co.uk
Dorset and Hampshire Iyengar Yoga Institute
www.dhiyi.co.uk Elaine Rees 01202 483951; elainerees@europe.com
First Aid for teachers and trainee teachers, 2nd Dec. Yoga Day with Karen Wilde, 16th Dec. Yoga Day with Alan Brown, 15th Jan. Contact Kim Trowell. kim@trowell.freeserve.co.uk; 01202 558049
East of Scotland Iyengar Yoga Institute
Please contact the events organiser for details of events and classes, or see the ‘events’ page on the IYA (UK) website: www.iyengaryoga.org.uk
Glasgow and West of Scotland Iyengar Yoga Institute
Please contact the events organiser for details of events and classes, or see the ‘events’ page on the IYA (UK) website: www.iyengaryoga.org.uk
Institute of Iyengar Yoga in Sussex
Please contact the events organiser for details of events and classes, or see the ‘events’ page on the IYA (UK) website: www.iyengaryoga.org.uk
Liverpool Iyengar Yoga Institute
Please contact the events organiser for details of events and classes, or see the ‘events’ page on the IYA (UK) website: www.iyengaryoga.org.uk
Rachel Woodward 0131 441 6405 rachel_leo@hotmail.co.uk
www.gwsiyi.org Fiona Dewar 01413572175; deepchandi@hotmail.com
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Please contact the events organiser for details of events and classes, or see the ‘events’ page on the IYA (UK) website: www.iyengaryoga.org.uk
www.iiys.org.uk Brian Ingram 01444 236714; brianiyoga@aol.com
Judi Soffa 0151 7094923 mail@yogastudio.f9.co.uk Iyengar Yoga News 9 - Autumn 2006
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IYENGAR I NSTITUTES I N T HE U K Midland Counties Iyengar Yoga Institute
www.mciyi.co.uk Brian Jack 01789 205322; jacksis@aol.com
Manchester and District Institute of Iyengar Yoga
Please contact the events organiser for details of events and classes, or see the ‘events’ page on the IYA (UK) website: www.iyengaryoga.org.uk
North East Institute of Iyengar Yoga
Please contact the events organiser for details of events and classes, or see the ‘events’ page on the IYA (UK) website: www.iyengaryoga.org.uk
www.iyengar-yoga-mcr.org.uk Janice Yates 01613 683614; mdiiyoga@amserve.net
Gordon Austin 01915 487457 yoga@austinmg.fsnet.co.uk
North East London Iyengar Yoga Institute
www.neliyi.org.uk Ros Bell 020 834 09899; r.j.bell@open.ac.uk
O . R . I . Y. I .
Yoga Day with Marion Kilburn and MCIYI AGM, 21st Oct. Yoga Workshop with Pilar Vagus, 18th Nov. Contact Brian Jack, or www.MCIYI.co.uk
Half day with Tessa Bull, 15th Oct. 6 months’ Half day with Wendy Sykes, 15th Nov. 6 months’ Contact Nacy Clarke: 020 8442 0617; nancyclarke@btinternet.com
Oxford and Region Iyengar Yoga Institute
Charity Yoga Day in memory of Lilian Biggs with her daughter Sheila Haswell, 24th Sept. All proceeds will go the Bellur appeal to support Guruji’s charitable works in his home village in S. India. Contact Jenny Furby 01264 324 104; jenny.furby@btinternet.com
Sheffield and District Iyengar Yoga Association
Please contact the events organiser for details of events and classes, or see the ‘events’ page on the IYA (UK) website: www.iyengaryoga.org.uk
South West Iyengar Yoga Institute
Richard and Kirsten Agar Ward, 28th October Gerry Chambers, 5th November 2006 Richard Agar Ward, 25th November 2006 Pen Reed, 27th/28th January 2007 Marion Kilburn, 21st/22nd April 2007
www.oriyi.org.uk Sam Smith; 01608 730932 sam.smith@oriyi.org.uk
www.yogasheffield.org Jo Holliday; 0114 2684210 j.c.holliday@sheffield.ac.uk
www.swiyengaryoga.ukf.net Jean Kutz 01872 572807; jean.kutz@tesco.net
Affiliated Iyengar Institutes are non profit-making membership organisations committed to promoting the practice and philosophy of Iyengar yoga in their areas.They offer a wide range of classes and workshops led by qualified teachers with years of experience. For details of classes and local teachers please contact the people listed above. The membership fee brings you membership of both IYA (UK) and the Institute. As a member of both organisations you are entitled to: local newsletters, free copies of Iyengar Yoga News twice a year, local events and classes at reduced prices, discounts on national IYA(UK) conventions, the opportunity to network with other Iyengar yoga practitioners. Iyengar Yoga News 9 - Autumn 2006
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GLOSSARY OF YOGA TERMS A ‘cut out and keep’ selection of Sanskrit terms taken from B. K. S. Iyengar’s books: Light on Yoga, Light on the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, Light on Pranayama and Light on Life. abhyàsa - practice, repetition ananta - infinte,eternal boundless, inexhaustable antaranga - internal, interior par t antaràtmà - Universal Self anu÷àsanam - instructions, directions, code of conduct,
advice, order, command, intriduction or guidelines given in procedural form àtma, àtman - the individual, individual spirit artha - means of livelihood, purpose, means, the second of the four aims in life avasthà - a condition, state avidyà - ignorance, lack of spiritual knowledge, the root cause of all afflictions bahiraïga - external part, external limb bala - moral and physical strength bhàvanà - feeling, understanding, reflection bhåta - living beings bhåtendriyeùu - the elements, body and sense organs buddhi - intelligence citi - the self, seer dharàõà - concentration, attention, focusing dharma - science of duty, religious duty, virtue, first of the four aims of life dhàtu - constitutent element of the body dhyàna - meditation, reflection, observation, contemplation, seventh of the eight aspects of Aùñàïga Yoga duþka - sorrow, grief duþka bhàva - the end of pain dvandvàþ - duality ekàgratà - one-pointed attention on the indivisible self grahaõa - act of seizing, catching, accepting, grasping, instrument of cognition gçhãtç - one disposed to seize or take, the perceiver indriya - senses of perception, organs of action, mind I÷vara praõidhana - surrender of oneself to God japa - a repetitive prayer jãvàtmà - the living or indiviual soul enshrined in the human body, the vital principle, that principle fo life that renders the body capable of motion and sensation jnàna - knowledge kumbhaka - retention of breath kàla - time, period of time karma÷àstra - the law of karma lkriyà - action, an expiatiry rite, a cleaning process lakùaõa - character, quality, distinctive mark Iyengar Yoga News 9 - Autumn 2006
lakùaõa pariõàma - transformation towards qualitative
change laya - dissolution, rest, repose, coming out of the pose maitri - friendliness coupled with a feeling of oneness mano - mind màrga - path nàda - inner mystical sound nirodha citta - restraining consciousness niyama - self-purification by discipline pariõàmas - transformations prajõa - awareness pràõà - life force, vital energy, breath pràõàyàma - expansion of the vital energy or life froce through restraint of the breath, fourth of the eight aspects of Aùñàïga Yoga pra÷ànta citta - tranquil consciousness prayatna - perservering effort, great exertion påraka - inhalation rechaka - exhalation, emptying of the lungs sàdhaka - aspirant, a practitioner sàdhanà - practice ÷akti - power, capacitry, faculty, representing the power of cosnciousness to act samàdhi - eighth anf final aspect of Aùñàïga Yoga ÷ànta - appeased, calmed, pacified, quietened ÷arãra - body shamana kriya - finding quietness and tranquility in your practices sthira - firm sthita - stability, staying in the pose styàna - langour, sluggishness sukha - happiness, delight svàdhàya - study of the self, study of the spiritual scriptures tàpa - pain, sorrow, heat tapas - austerity, penance, spiritual practice, devoted discipline, religious fervour udita - ascended, manifested, generation, rising vairàgya - renunciation, detachment, dispassion viveka-khyàti - discriminative intelligence, crown of wisdom vçtti - waves, movements, changes, functions, operations, conditions of action for conduct in consciousness vyutthàna - emergence of thought, rising thoughts, outgoing mind 32
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Wooden props
The equipment store
Back-stretchers
The main yoga hall Iyengar Yoga News 9 - Autumn 2006
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TALES a nd L EGENDS o f t he SAGES i n L IGHT o n Y OGA B
orn out of wedlock, Bharadvaja was abandoned by his mother Mamata and her husband Brihaspati, and was then adopted by great King Bharata. Bharadvaja’s name alludes to his illicit birth, and was given when Brihaspati bitterly urged Mamata to “Cherish the son of the two fathers.” The sage Bharadvaja was a disciple of Valmiki, the author of the Ramayana, and during his thousands of years of life was indefatigable in his study of the Vedas. Legend recounts that Indra, the god of Paradise, blessed Bharadvaja thereby extending his life on earth to thousands of years, so that he could devote himself to unstinting scrutiny of the Vedas. When he later found that time was running short for the completion of this enormous task, Bharadvaja went to beseech Indra to delay his demise. Indra came in person and led him to three mountains, where he gave him three handfuls of sand, saying: “Your studies of the Vedas are such as this sand. The task remaining is as immense as these mountains.” Yet these words failed to discourage the unshakeable Bharadvaja. The breadth of his wisdom can be measured in more ways than one. Considered as one of the seven great rishis, Bharadvaja blessed the god Rama and his brother Lakshmana when they left for a long exile. Many a time he played an important part in the war of the Mahabharata. Bharadvaja’s fame was not due to his wisdom alone: he was also the father of three children, one of whom was the celebrated Drona, the preceptor of the Kauravas and the Pandavas, the two clans of the same family who fought each other in the Mahabharata. The story of conception of Drona relates that Bharadvaja went for his ritual bathe in the river. There he encountered an apsara, a celestial nymph called Ghritachi, who was bathing completely naked. Seeing this incomparable beauty, his seed flowed unbidden, and Bharadvaja collected it in a pail (or drona, whence the name). Subsequently born of this semen, Drona later became an invincible hero during the battles of the great war. Iyengar Yoga News 9 - Autumn 2006
Tales and Legends of the Sages in Light on Yoga, by Corine Biria, is published by the Association Francaise de Yoga Iyengar (AFYI) and can be ordered directly from them. Contact details: 141, Avenue Malakoff 75016 Paris email : afyi@wanadoo.fr www.yoga-iiyengar.asso.fr 34
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2 1 a t t h e 2 1 st o n t h e 2 1 st Alison Trewhela describes the anniversary celebrations at SWIYI
1 teachers posed in a diagonal line of utthita trikoõàsana with teacups held in the top hand
newspapers took photos for the local press. We have often thought of having an Institute building, but have realised that the “virtual” Institute of website, network created by newsletters and our workshops works best for our area. Our 21st birthday celebration consisted of a yoga class for teachers/trainees/intermediate students in the morning followed by a wonderful afternoon General Class taught by Pen Reed. A few words were said about the purpose and achievements of SWIYI and Pen blew out a candle on a table decorated with flowers and the photo of Guruji at St. Ives. Then came our “healthy” Cornish Cream Tea - a student had made cheese and chive scones and wholemeal scones which we ate with French-style sugar-free fruit jams, fromage frais and some Cornish clotted cream donated by a student who runs a strawberry farm.
(helping us to extend from inner elbow to inner wrist!) for a photograph to publicize the fact that the South West Iyengar Yoga Institute (SWIYI) was celebrating their 21st birthday on 21st of January 2006.
Here’s to another 21+ years and, if you’re visiting our area, please do join us in classes or workshops - check out our website on www.swiyengaryoga.ukf.net.
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SWIYI was born 21 years ago by a group of Iyengar Yoga enthusiasts in the Penzance area with an official launch when Sri B.K.S. Iyengar visited Cornwall and there is an inspiring photo taken of him in Hanumanasana at St. Ives harbourside. There were a couple of years when the Institute lay fallow and then the phoenix rose from the ashes and has gone from strength to strength, with almost 100 members throughout Cornwall and Devon, including over 20 teachers (who teach 1000 students!). Over the past 21 years, many teachers have been kind enough to travel down to teach us and for that we are extremely grateful, as it is not so possible for students to travel the long distances to attend events further up the country. In 2001 we were delighted to run and host a national convention and also hosted Birjoo and Rajvi Mehta on part of their UK tour. On the morning chosen as our celebratory day, I was interviewed for Radio Cornwall and the Iyengar Yoga News 9 - Autumn 2006
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BRUNEL C ONVENTION 2 006 Ally Hill describes “Unusual Ustrasanas” at the IYA (UK) Convention in Uxbridge, June 2006 with Jawahar Bangera
O
ur National Convention was held at Brunel University in Uxbridge again this year. The venue suits our purposes to a tee; large airy sports hall, plenty of on-site accommodation and helpful catering staff. The latter was definitely required as Jawahar rightly insisted that there was a sufficient gap between eating and class, so the published programme was changed to 8am -11am àsana class, lunch, 4pm - 6 or 6:30pm àsana and pràõàyàma . At lunch, Jawahar advised us to satisfy our hunger not our appetites. After all, as he said, if we are to gain the most out of the Convention we should adopt a yogic approach in all aspects even if only for the five days. Jawahar Bangera is, as the publicity for the Convention told us, one of Mr Iyengar’s most experienced teachers. He has been a pupil since his teens and now has shared responsibility for the two Institutes in Mumbai. His insight and compassion are, in my opinion, second only to the Iyengars themselves and his teaching is not to be missed. I had the privilege of also being able to attend the four days he taught in Dublin, a few weeks before the convention and have relished every moment of both events. The weekend was for all students of Iyengar Yoga. The following three days for teachers and trainee teachers. It was wonderful to see so many familiar faces and catch up with people’s news from around the country. The teaching consisted of mainly Introductory level poses with an emphasis on stability and chest opening, both necessary for pràõàyàma . If the body is unstable in any asana the quietness in the mind does not come and that quietness is essential for pràõàyàma . Several students were selected to illustrate various actions required to improve our poses. Jawahar was most
Iyengar Yoga News 9 - Autumn 2006
insistent that no one should feel humiliated or punished if he asked them to demonstrate.They were there to show us our faults and how we could work to improve. During the teachers’ event, students with specific problems were called forward so all of us could understand how to help their condition, be it a previously broken collar bone or just general stiffness of the joints. However, Jawahar also has a wonderful sense of humour and is not above passing the odd quip. I think my favourite was about someone’s uùñràsana :“That’s a rather underfed camel!”, closely followed by “What breed of dog is that?” about an obviously ambiguous adho mukha ÷vànàsana . But I stress, all said with humour and compassion, never in contempt. Jawahar is, as one would expect, very well versed in the yoga sutras of Pata¤jàli and the wider philosophical aspects of our favourite subject and so he illustrated his teaching with quotes and clarification throughout. He was able to talk about the kle÷as and the ko÷as with ease and improved our understanding of how these relate to our being. I’m sure many of us have been inspired to go away and do further reading to try to complement our possibly sketchy knowledge of this vast subject. He often made wonderful analogies; our bodies in the standing poses could be likened to a building - the foundations (our legs) must be strong so that the superstructure (the trunk) is fit for all our plumbing, heating and electrics. He also encouraged us to work on our alignment. He admonished us that the sages were not fools, they had studied long and hard to discover the optimum alignment which in turn gives the maximum benefit.Was it therefore not our duty to follow the blue-print laid down all those
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years ago? How can we improve if we do not know how the pose should be performed? Yoga he told us is an exact science and to derive the most benefit from the system, we must be precise. Jawahar also reminded us that yoga is not merely exercise, but a profound system which enhances the inner body and mind as well as the outer body.We were encouraged to defend our system as superior to all other forms of exercise because of these extra benefits.Why walk for 45 minutes when you can do vãrabhadràsana I for two minutes and derive the same effect? Jawahar told us “Everyone is heart-centric; is this the only organ in the body? The heart requires the support of the other organs. Alignment of the pose works for all the vital organs. If the vital organs are healthy, the mind is at rest. If the mind is at rest then spiritual pursuit is possible. Asanas give you spirituality whether you want it or not!” We did a lot of work on adho mukha vçkùàsana, a particular ‘bette noir’ for me.We all found it amusing after one particular moment when Jawahar was demonstrating how to help a student when he said “Now you know why Indian Gods have so many arms!” He went on to explain that the arms are symbolic of all the aspects of the deity’s abilities.
All the àsana work was detailed and clear. Finding out how intricate adjustments benefited our postures was encouraged and the insights we gained from the observation and assistance of others were immeasurably useful. The pràõàyàma sessions were equally beneficial. We were lead through ujjàyi, viloma and måla-bandha with ujjàyi breathing. Jawahar took pains to encourage correct posture either seated or supine. At no point was any of this to be seen as a competition, we were to do as much as we could without strain. There was so much wonderful detail I could wax lyrical for pages, but suffice it to say the Convention was excellent. The friendly workshop atmosphere facilitated the learning, which is after all why we attend these events.The facilities at the University were ideal and the food was plentiful and tasty. I’m sure the odd person had one or two niggles, but in all I think most of us would vote it a resounding success. Many thanks to all involved and especially Jawahar for his patience and insight.
Photographs by Rachel Lovegrove and Leza Hatchard
“Alignment = Precision; Precision = Freedom; Freedom = Spirituality”
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SHEFFIELD YOGA CENTRE - PART 3 OF A TRILOGY O
n 11th March this year, the Right Hon. Richard Caborn, the Minister for Sport, came to an event marking the opening of Sheffield Yoga Centre.This event, for which the minister had delayed his departure to the Commonwealth games in Melbourne, celebrated that Sheffield has, after some years of struggle, got a permanent base for Iyengar Yoga. This centre, formerly a chapel (not the one we had originally aimed to secure), is privately owned, having been bought by Frances Homewood. This needs some explanation. Over recent years, Sheffield and District Iyengar Yoga Association (SADIYA) had raised funds and subsequently become a charity with the intention of buying a building. Two attempts to run a centre, while worthwhile and showing the benefits of having a dedicated space, had come to a premature end. We realised we simply did not have the financial resources to buy a building, and prepared for a period of reflection and hope, tinged with despair. When she became aware that a chapel in an ideal location was coming up for auction, Frances moved quickly and after seeing the building and recognising that it was ‘right’ in both space and feel, outbid a bible study group and re-mortgaged her own home to secure it. The issue that this raised for SADIYA was to what extent we could, as a charity, allocate funds to a private venture. The sums by now were not large; we had about £7000 remaining, having in 2004 returned money to those who had offered it in the form of interest-free loans as opposed to outright donations. Of the £7000, just over
£2000 represented the surplus from the LOYA 2002 convention which the LOYA committee had previously agreed we could keep, and we had also been given just short of £400 in collection buckets at the Crystal Palace Silver Jubilee event. We consulted with a solicitor who works for Voluntary Action Sheffield and who specialises in charity law (she had advised us when we became a charity). Her advice was that we should consult with our membership and with donors, and that provided the aims and objectives of SADIYA and the Yoga Centre could be shown to be compatible, there should not be a problem so long as consultation supported use of funds in this way. The SADIYA committee also recommended that the donations should be used for specific purposes (i.e. not for running costs or capital funding); we wanted to fund equipment, especially for use in therapeutic classes, and also to adapt the building to make it fully accessible for disabled people. All donors we could identify were written to (this did not include those who had given at Crystal Palace, as these were anonymous cash donations) with the offer of returning or redirecting the money, or using it as outlined above. As so often has happened within the Iyengar Yoga community, the response was supportive. We also kept the IYA (UK) Management Committee informed, partly because of the IYA (UK) being in part the successor to LOYA and needing to be consulted about the LOYA 2002 surplus, but also because of the need to be acting transparently and ethically. The final step as regards funding was to draw up a licence agreement (again with legal input from Voluntary Action Sheffield), the aim of which was to establish that SADIYA, in exchange for funding, was receiving specified services. This is because SADIYA continues to function as an independent body, separate from, but supportive of Sheffield Yoga Centre. For three years we will be able to put on SADIYA events in addition to the regular classes; we also have a base for committee meetings and for storage of equipment for sale, and are in the process of setting up a resource library. It should be mentioned that Frances resigned as a trustee of the charity and chair of SADIYA
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in order to avoid a conflict of interest, and was replaced by Dominic Batten. This summary is given partly to inform those who have supported us of the outcome of their support; and also because we hope that other areas will be seeking to establish centres of their own and may be encouraged by our experiences. Furthermore, it is important that the IYA (UK) membership should be informed of how money raised through an appeal by a member institute is being used, as we would not want the name of Iyengar Yoga to be tainted by any suspicion of financial irregularity. The event on 11 March was the second opening ceremony for the building. Classes have been taking place since last September, and a ceremony was held last year for friends and students at which the Patanjali who had previously been blessing the Birmingham centre was installed, having been generously donated by Jayne Orton. With the candles and incense cleared away, the March event was aimed at those in high places - not just the Minister for Sport, but also local NHS representatives were invited as we seek to spread awareness of the health benefits of yoga.
announcement of government funding for yoga in schools was sadly not forthcoming. The front row of visitors was then treated to a 20 minute demonstration choreographed by Marios Argiros and performed by a group of local teachers, showing a range of both classical and adapted poses. Those at the back were treated to occasional glimpses of beautifully extended arms or legs. This was followed by chai and snacks in the back hall. These included jalebis; eating two of these certainly puts into perspective the enormity of Guruji’s achievement of eating 76 in a competition (as described in Light on Life). The building, although inconspicuous from the outside, has calm and beautiful proportions inside, and has two halls, each with room for 20-30 students. It feels like a good home for Iyengar yoga in Sheffield, and it is good to see the walls becoming adorned with pictures of Guruji. We hope that the space will resonate with the gift of our practice and will also be blessed by many visitors.
Around 60 people turned up and listened to a welljudged speech by Mr Caborn, whose mother is a longstanding yoga practitioner. This speech highlighted that today’s generation of schoolchildren are going to die young and fat because they don’t take enough exercise. The government is taking this seriously, and although the minister participated in an impromptu trikoõàsana , an
IYA (UK) DISCUSSION FORUM One of the new features of our website is a discussion forum, open to all members. You will need to login with your username and password and then you have to register - you only need to do this the first time you use the forum. Teachers already have a username, and non-tteacher members have been e-m mailed with their log-iin details. The forum provides an opportunity to ask questions, raise issues and express opinions relating to Iyengar yoga and the Association. You can start off new discussions or respond to comments already posted by other people. It is really easy to use, even for people who have never done this kind of thing before. Why not give it a try? Visit www.iyengaryoga.org.uk.
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www.iyengaryoga.org.uk
T
he new IYA (UK)website is REALLY EASY TO USE! It now has several new features which will be incredibly useful to you and will enable you to get access to items directly without having to wait for the main office to send it to you. Recently added to the site are: Discussion Forum Photo Gallery Going to Pune Press Articles Policy Documents Discussion Forum - This is where all members can discuss Iyengar yoga; teachers can share practical information with students, trainees can query any problems they are having, and all members can share information on techniques, events, workshops and so on. This is a great way of spreading knowledge in the Iyengar yoga community. Go to www.iyengaryoga.org.uk and click on “Discussion Forum” on the left hand side menu bar. Follow the onscreen instructions. If you get stuck please email the website forum moderator: andy.roughton@yahoo.co.uk Photo Gallery contains a selection of photographs of Mr Iyengar and other teachers, as well as events etc. If you have any photographs that might be suitable to show on the website please contact admin@iyengaryoga.org.uk . Going to Pune is a fantastic resource page for all teachers visiting Pune.This should be your first stop if you have any questions about your planned visit. As well as information about the institute in Pune, it lists details of local accommodation, details of restaurants, directions and so on. Press Articles is where all the Iyengar Yoga press is uploaded - everyone can view this and if anyone has any relevant press articles which could appear on this page please contact admin@iyengaryoga.org.uk Policy Documents - there are currently 3 main areas to this section. Public Access: contains documents open for everyone to read; including the constitution. All Members: (Non-Teachers, Teachers and Trainees): you need to log in with your user name and password to read reports of meetings etc. Items will be updated to this section regularly as they become available. Follow the onscreen instructions to log in. Teachers only Access: Teacher Handbook, Certification Iyengar Yoga News 9 - Autumn 2006
Mark,Teacher Training application and registration documents; all of which you can click on and open to print copies for yourselves. You need to log in with your user name and password. Follow the onscreen instructions to log in. There is also an area specifically for members of IYA (UK) committees and sub-committees. News - this should be your first stop to find out updated information from the IYA (UK) main office i.e. the Stephanie Quirk Remedial workshops programme for September 2006; and so on. Before you contact the office, have a look here first to see if your questions can be answered. News is posted here BEFORE it is e-mailed to the membership so it is the first place to find IYA related information. Events Diary - if you are not already sending details of your workshops, events, holidays etc to Leza in the main office - please send to admin@iyengaryoga.org.uk and they will be added to the website to be viewed by everyone looking on the IYA website. They will also be emailed to the membership each month. When e-mailing this information to me, follow the layout of the ones already sent out to you by e-mail; i.e. month first, followed by date, title and so on. Please do not send information to me all in upper case (capital letters). Finding a Teacher & YOUR Classes - you can use Finding a Teacher to search for teachers in your area, remedial teachers, teacher trainers, or search for teachers details by surname if you want to contact any of the teachers yourself. If you are a teacher and have not already logged in and updated your own personal teacher record, then what are you waiting for? Our website gets a lot of visitors looking for classes. If they search your area and find your name but no contact details they cannot ask how to attend your classes. If your classes are not listed they cannot see where you teach. You can update your own classes - log in with your firstname.surname (i.e. John.Smith) then the password; e-mail the main office if you don’t know it: - admin@iyengaryoga.org.uk Please note: if you want to update your contact telephone number, e-mail address, postcode; you must e-mail the main office so that the main database can be updated at the same time.You cannot change this information yourself on your personal teacher record. 40
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I Y A ( U K ) R E P O R T S Judith Jones IYA (UK) Chairperson
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t is 3 years since the Light on Yoga association (LOYA) and the BKS Iyengar Yoga Teachers’ association (BKSIYTA) joined to form the IYA(UK).Together we have built one single association for everyone serving the purpose for which it exists - to carry out the aims and objectives of the mother Institute in Pune, and to provide services for and look after all its members. The membership grows larger each year and the association now has to move into the next stage of its development where consolidation and streamlining are necessary. It must operate in a more business-like way so that jobs and responsibilities which individuals take on do not become confused and onerous and the organisation inefficient. This next phase seems to be evolving quite naturally. The Planning Committee are responsible for this strategic planning and have already started the process of development - a Secretariat, a Membership “Office” and a Finance “Office” have been established as these areas need to be separate from the Standing Committees (SC), but must consult and communicate with all of them. Every SC for example has to liaise with the Finance Office about its budget. Another change has been to change the membership categories for centres and Institutes which makes the Association more inclusive. Private centres can now become part of the IYA. All Executive Council (EC) Representatives (Reps.) belong to a SC which deals with a specific area of activity or have a particular job or special responsibility. The SCs also use co-opted members who have skill or knowledge in a certain area. Recently new people have been elected to the EC while others are standing down from posts they have held for the last three years to take on new jobs or retire completely. Tricia Booth retired at Christmas as Chair of the Assessment and Teacher Training Committee (ATTC) due to health reasons. Sincere thanks must go to Tricia “for her calm and efficient leadership, hard work and wise counsel”(ATTC report).Tricia is still teaching and acting as a moderator and all good wishes must go to her for a speedy recovery. Iyengar Yoga News 9 - Autumn 2006
Another familiar face leaving the EC this year was Gordon Austin, who represented the North East for 18 years and in his time was also Chair of BKSIYTA. The sudden and very sad loss of Lilian Biggs earlier this year was a shock to everyone. She was one of the oldest of Guruji’s students here in the UK, loved by so many for her very individual sense of humour and respected for her uncompromising teaching of Guruji’s methods. Her energy and personality were awesome. She worked tirelessly - she was Treasurer of the BKSIYTA for at least 12 years, a Moderator and was still teacher training and teaching classes to the last. We published a tribute to Lilian in the last issue of Iyengar Yoga News (IYN 8 Spring 2006) and a fuller version is available on our website. Appreciation must of course go to everyone who gives freely of their time doing something to help the running and organisation of the Association. There is a large group of Assessors for example and others who take on a oneoff job - however small it may seem, it is important and valued. This generosity of spirit is what is really needed for the Association to flourish. Its activities are very diverse and we need many people with varied talents to help spread the load - not just teachers - students too can get involved. Watch Iyengar Yoga News to find out how. One project which the Association is taking on can be supported by everyone. Guruji has asked all associations world wide to raise money to see the completion and maintenance of his ambitious vision for Bellur. If you haven’t heard about what has already been achieved in this extremely poor and underprivileged village in S. India where Guruji was born read p. 16 of this magazine where you will find information about Guruji’s appeal for the Bellur project which we hope many of you will feel you can give your support to. There is also a charitable venture about to begin here at home. 40% of the revenue collected from payments for the Certification Mark (CM) is given back to the Association by Guruji to be used for the furtherance of Iyengar yoga in this country.This forms the Iyengar Yoga Development Fund (IYDF). It is Guruji’s wish that a proportion of this money is used to assist the setting up of yoga classes for disadvantaged people - drug users, battered women, abused children, people with mental health problems or 41
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disabilities etc. - to reach out to people who would otherwise not find yoga and the help that we all know its practice can bring. If you can identify any such group in your area which needs a teacher or could get going with a bit of financial help, please contact us via the Main Office.
The ECC has also been researching the legal requirements for teaching children under 18 and the Association is now able to offer a Disclosure service which gives the necessary legal clearance and insurance protection to do this (see page 47 for more details).
The office, run by Leza Hatchard, the Membership and Office Manager (MOM) continues to be a huge asset, handling vast numbers of e-mails and calls daily, not only general enquiries from members of the public, but from our own teachers forgetting whether they have filled in their renewal documents or asking for information about something they could have found out by reading their magazine more thoroughly! - whatever did we do before we had an office and someone to contact? But the MOM’s job involves much more than this of course and its remit is evolving with the Association, becoming interwoven with the activities of all of the SCs. Apart from membership renewals, bookings for conventions, processing data for assessments, making payments for expenses, looking after the database, and more, one new role Leza has taken on this year is working with the Communications Committee on Public Relations(PR).
The remit of the Communications Committee includes this magazine, public realtions (PR) and the website. We now have a really excellent user friendly and informative website (see page 40 for more details). Log on if you haven’t already - www.iyengaryoga.org.uk. The latest phase of the development of the website includes a discussion facility if you want to seek other people’s views about a yoga related topic. Unfortunately many teachers still haven’t put their details onto the class listing pages. It’s very easy and help is at hand if there is a problem - so get it done (see page 40).
Iyengar Yoga and IYA (UK) have featured more in the press and magazines this year than ever before. The publicity has been really fantastic, the most recent being 15 pages in Yoga Magazine and the front cover. Iyengar Yoga has had an impressive presence at the Yoga Shows in London and Manchester. But the best part about the publicity has been to feature the CM and that it stands for quality yoga teaching by a genuine Iyengar Yoga teacher. The Ethics and Certification Committee (E CC) launched a CM publicity campaign and with Leza’s help this has been promoted in health clubs, the press, the British Wheel of Yoga magazine, and as a result there have been far fewer cases this year of people using the name Iyengar falsely to advertise their brand of Iyengar “style” or Iyengar “influenced” yoga. It is intended that the CM will become widely recognised. As well as being responsible for certification matters, the ECC organise the Professional Development Days (PDDs) which are in-service training days. Attendance at these days is required now at least once every 2 years as part of the 25 hours training needed to qualify for CM renewal. We hope that the in-service training provided by the Association will be expanded to give more opportunities for teachers to continue their learning. Iyengar Yoga News 9 - Autumn 2006
The Archives Committee has so far had quite a low profile in the Association because there has been nowhere to establish a collection of resource material. However the Manchester and District Institute of Iyengar Yoga (MDIIY) has recently offered to rent its cellar to the Association to house an Archive and possibly the Merchandising Committee’s store of books. This means that the Association can now develop something which will hopefully become a resource for everyone (see page 44 for more details). The Events Committee are responsible for organising the Association Conventions and also other special events as necessary. After the Amalgamation of BKSIYTA and LOYA, it was decided to continue with the traditions of the 2 Associations by running 2 conventions each year, one to be aimed at all students and the other more Intermediate level. This year however it was decided to have only one convention.This was because now there are so many special guest teachers coming at the invitation of the private centres to run courses all over the UK and Republic of Ireland, it was feared that it would not be viable for the IYA (UK) to stage 2 major events. Many prefer to go to the classes arranged with these teachers locally rather than finance the cost of travel, accommodation etc. to attend the national convention. It will be a great loss if this event becomes extinct. However plans for next year’s convention are already underway. Lastly presiding over the affairs of the association and dealing with its day-to-day running is the Management Committee made up of the Chair, Secretary,Treasurer,Vice Chair, and the Chairs of the ATTC and ECC. 42
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At this point Judith announced that she was standing down as Chair at the end of her 3 year term. Thanks had been given throughout the report to everyone serving on the various committees by name, but here Judith gave her personal thanks to the people who had been her “team” who had given her such great support: The Treasurer - Judith Richards - who also stood down at the AGM after 4 years. Since taking over as Treasurer for the BKSIYTA the Treasurer’s role has changed dramatically. The Secretary - first Christina Niewola, who stood down in 2005, and then Joe Burn - who had so far efficiently dealt with everything as the new Secretary. The Vice Chair - Margaret Carter - whose consultation had been valued. Chair of ECC - Elaine Pidgeon - the expert on the CM and trade mark law. Chair of ATTC - Tricia Booth followed by Alan Brown calmly finding his feet Also thanks were given to Leza Hatchard for giving her job that bit of extra enthusiasm and effort with a great sense of humour. Then Judith thanked Philippe Harari who shared the job of Chair for the first 8 months after the unification, now to re-emerge to put on the Chair’s hat for the next 3 years. Last but by no means least Judith thanked Guruji for the all the guidance he had given her from time to time. She said “He has always been approachable and takes a great interest in what is going on here, as he does in all his associations world wide. He reads our magazine from cover to cover and always replies to letters and appreciates direct communication with the Association. It has been an honour for me to meet and talk with him.” Judith handed over to Philippe hoping that she hadn’t forgotten to thank anyone - “there are just so many who do a great job!”
I nstitutes, Affiliations and F riends
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ince IYA (UK) was founded in 2003, we have been trying to work out an appropriate way for private institutes, centres and organisations to become ‘Friends of IYA’. ‘Not for profit’ institutes had already been incorporated into IYA as Affiliated Institutes; all their members are automatically members of IYA. Since the members of the ‘not-for-profit’ institutes are all members, we came up with the idea of calling those institutes ‘Member Institutes’ which left us free to consider how private institutes and centres could affiliate. So, private centres and institutes can become Affiliated Centres if:
1. They have been given permission to use the name ‘IYENGAR’ in the name of their centre or institute 2. Nothing is taught there which conflicts with the principles of Iyengar Yoga and 3. A minimum payment of £100 is made to IYA. Affiliated Centres will receive an agreed number of copies of IYN, listing on the IYA website and links on the IYA website. Centres, organisations or institutions where Iyengar Yoga is taught, but who do not otherwise fulfil the criteria (1) and (2) above, may join as ‘Friends of IYA (UK)’ for a minimum fee of £25. In return, they receive an agreed number of copies of IYN, and permission to use the phrase ‘Friends of IYA (UK)’ in their promotional material. If you would like to become an Affiliated Centre or a Friend of IYA (UK), please contact Leza Hatchard on 0208 997 6029 or admin@iyengaryoga.org.uk for an application form.
Philippe Harari - the newly appointed Chair of IYA (UK) Iyengar Yoga News 9 - Autumn 2006
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Leza Hatchard Membership and Office Manager
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y the time you read this, summer will be coming to a close and we’ll be heading in to another autumn with all the changes it brings. IYA (UK) has also gone through a lot of changes in the last few years. The introduction of a central office, the new website, the regular upcoming events and information e-mails about events, workshops, holidays etc., the low cost advertising opportunities for teachers and so on. I hope that all of these changes have resulted in the IYA office providing you with an valuable service which you feel that you can rely on. Of course there are a great number of volunteers working tirelessly behind the scenes and who all support me, but as the day to day running of the office is still just me, please do bear with me during the busiest times if it does take just a little longer to get back to you. Membership renewals this year have been a much smoother process. Some teachers still think there is too much to read with their renewals, so if the process can be simplified even further, it may be even easier next year. Many teachers did not tick the boxes on their renewals for consent to their details begin given to the public. If someone calls and asks for details of classes in their area this means that I cannot give them your information. If you would like your phone and/or e-mail to be available on the website and to callers looking for classes please do let me know. I will continue to look for low cost advertising opportunities for teachers to help them to promote their classes and these will always be notified to you by e-mail. Due to financial constraints it is not possible to post the upcoming events information out regularly to all of our membership, so if any of our members would like to receive information regularly, please do drop me a line at: admin@iyengaryoga.org.uk and advise me of your current e-mail address if you haven’t done so already. I hope that 2006 has been a successful year for you all so far and thank you for all of your support and kind e-mails. Iyengar Yoga News 9 - Autumn 2006
Debbie Bartholomew Archive Materials
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t has been decided that the IYA (UK) will house their archive of all things relating to Iyengar Yoga at the Manchester and District Institute of Iyengar Yoga. Debbie Bartholomew has volunteered to arrange and store these materials at the MDIIY. BEFORE you send any documents, videos, cassettes etc to Debbie, please will you download a copy of the listing sheet from the website (you can find it on the ‘Policy Documents’ page at www.iyengaryoga.org.uk) and/or send a full LIST of the items you have in your possession to:
debrabartholomew@btinternet.com or post your list to:
Debra Bartholomew 52, Buckstones Road Shaw Oldham OL2 8DN PLEASE DO NOT SEND ANY MATERIALS YET as we need to set up the filing cabinets and racking. We will not know how much storage to buy until we have an idea of how much archive material there is, so please be patient. We would like a first class archive which is as comprehensive as possible, even if they are photocopies of materials you have e.g. class sequencing (with dates). If you have old cine films we can arrange to have them copied. Any old photos which you are reluctant to part with, could you find someone to scan them into the computer and e-mail them or burn them to a CD which we could keep? Cassette tapes can be transferred onto CD. Please list them on the listing sheet along with your address and /or email address.
Is there anyone from the membership who could provide a computer system so that we can house this on a computer? Debbie is happy to log all this material manually, but if anyone wants to look something up or cross reference anything, it would be so much easier on a computerised system. If anyone has archive experience and can point out any pitfalls to Debbie, she would be grateful for your advice.
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Judith Richards - Treasurer
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s you remember from the last issue of IYN, financial statements are now ratified at the AGM of the following year, to allow time for the reports to be seen by the membership. So at the AGM on 17th June the financial statements for 2004-5 were passed, and a preliminary picture of the 2005-6 accounts was shown in the form of a pie chart. The accounts for 2005-6 are very much “work in progress”. However, I am pleased to report that we have made an overall surplus of £856 which, on a turnover of £160,000 is nothing short of a budgeting miracle! Hoping to pull it off again, the Finance Team of me, Prabhakara and Sharon Dawn Taylor met in January to set the budgets for this year and next year. We proposed the following fees for 2007-8 which were agreed at AGM: 2007-88 Membership Fees Institute Member Individual Member Overseas Supplement Teachers’ Supplement Teachers’ Supplement Concessionary Rate Affiliated Centre Friend of IYA 2007-88 Assessment Fees Introductory Level 1 Introductory Level 2 Junior Intermediate Senior Intermediate Teacher Trainee Registration fee
6.00 13.50 13.50 35.00 21.00 100.00 25.00 55.00 88.00 88.00 88.00 32.00
We now have new membership categories of ‘Affiliated Centres’ and ‘Friends’. The erstwhile Affiliated Institutes are now Member Institutes - their members are automatically members of IYA(UK) - and now privately run institutes and centres can affiliate to IYA (UK). Places where Iyengar Yoga is taught, but do not otherwise fulfil the criteria for affiliation can join as ‘Friends’. Our reserves currently stand at about £60,000. This amount wouldn’t go very far when considering, for example, buying a building, but does enable us to employ expert or administrative help when necessary. We would welcome any suggestions as to how we should use these funds, bearing in mind that it is sensible for an organisation such as ours to keep a certain amount in reserve. Iyengar Yoga News 9 - Autumn 2006
This was my last AGM as treasurer. I am delighted to welcome Diane Clow from Edinburgh as the new Treasurer. Diane comes to the job with a much greater knowledge of accounting and finance than I had! She has been doing a great job as treasurer in the new East Scotland Iyengar Yoga Institute and I’m sure she will be a great asset to IYA. Louise Cartledge - Membership Secretary
Membership figures for membership year 2006-7 7 Members 2006-77 Non-teachers Teachers TOTAL
Institutes Individuals Totals 1380 285 1665 470 395 865 1850 685 2535
Some members who were previously unaffiliated will now have joined one of the three new Institutes. 46 of our teachers are from Republic of Ireland. By year end, member numbers are therefore likely to be similar to last year, with a slight increase anticipated.
Renewal process Some improvements were made to the process this year, which helped streamline renewals for our members and for Leza, the Membership and Office Administrator. For example: The renewal forms were redesigned and pre-printed with each teacher’s address and contact details. One cheque instead of two covered both the certification mark and IYA(UK) renewals for teachers, with the CM monies being transferred in batches to the IYDF as agreed. Improvements planned We will again be investigating ways to use electronic payment methods. The database has been restructured to enable us to search and use our data more effectively.
Data Protection Act We are currently reviewing our responsibilities under the Act, especially in the light of requests to send information to India for inclusion on the RIMYI database, and to USA. No data will be sent abroad until we are satisfied that we can meet our obligations and our members’ interests.
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Iyengar Yoga Development Fund
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very certificated Iyengar Yoga teacher around the world pays an annual sum to their national association for the use of the Certification Mark (CM). This allows them to use the Iyengar name and to display the CM logo on adverts and leaflets, thereby identifying them as a properly trained Iyengar teacher. The money collected from UK teachers is placed in a separate bank account and after costs are deducted 60% is sent to Mr Iyengar in Pune, and the other 40% makes up the Iyengar Yoga Development Fund (IYDF) in the UK. The activities of the IYDF Committee during 2005/06 have focused on two areas: 1. a charity project aimed at providing yoga classes for disadvantaged people, and 2. the establishment of an ‘education and training’ centre.
Charity project: We advertised in the last issue of IYN and also wrote to teachers asking for volunteers either to run classes, or to manage the project. We received several responses to both requests and have recently appointed Sam RobbKing as project manager. This project is a new avenue for IYA (UK) and the committee is open to new and innovative ideas, so long as they respect the objectives of the project. If you would like to be involved but do not know of an appropriate organisation to work with, why not ask your yoga students; they may have ideas or contacts which may offer inspiration. The guidelines for the project are: the classes would be arranged through existing organisations that work with people who suffer deprivation and hardship these organisations will be responsible for identifying students and publicising classes if possible the organisation will provide a venue, however the IYDF may be able to pay for a venue if this is not possible the classes will be for beginners and will use minimal equipment the IYDF will pay teachers a nominal fee of £20 per class
information then please contact Sam on sam@robb-kking.eclipse.co.uk or phone 0114 255 6824 for more details.
Education and Training Centre: This is a major project and will cost a lot of money. We would need to look into fund-raising and establishing ourselves as a charity. In the meantime, we have decided to rent somewhere in order to explore how useful it will be to have a centre for archives and records. The Manchester and District Iyengar Yoga Institute have a warm, dry cellar and we have agreed with them that we will have full use of this cellar for a rent of £600 a year. Debbie Bartholomew is based in Manchester and has agreed to manage this archive.This will involve: Collecting archive materials from people who currently hold it. Collecting assessment papers. Buying appropriate furniture (shelves, filing cabinets etc). Filing and cataloguing all of the material. Responding to queries from people who wish to access material. We also intend to transfer the merchandising operation to the same location.
There are many members for whom we do not have an e-m mail address on our database, particularly non-tteacher members. If we have your e-m mail address, we can send you useful information now and then (don’t worry, you won’t be inundated with spam!). Also, we need to know your e-m mail address before you can register on our on-lline discussion forum. You can tell if we do not have your e-m mail address because you will not have received an e-m mail from us last month telling you all about the forum. If you wish to tell us your e-m mail address, please send it to:
admin@iyengaryoga.org.uk
If you have an idea for a project, or would just like more Iyengar Yoga News 9 - Autumn 2006
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A N N O U N C E M E N T S COMMITTEE R EPORTS O N T HE W EBSITE All the actual work done by the committee members of the IYA (UK) is actually carried out within the various sub-committees. These Committees report back to the Executive Council (EC) and any major decision made by sub-committees is subject to ratification by the EC. Each year, at the AGM, every sub-committee presents a report on the work it carried out during the previous year. Reports are also received from each of the Member Institutes. You can read all of these reports on our website, as well as the Officer reports from the Chair, the Treasurer and the Membership Secretary that are also printed in this magazine. Go to www.iyengaryoga.org.uk and click on the ‘Policy documents’ menu item
TEACHERS A SKED T O S IGN C LASS ATTENDANCE F ORMS The IYA(UK) requests its Teacher members not to sign attendance forms presented to them by trainee yoga teachers from other organisations. Whilst we are always happy for teachers or students of others methods to benefit by attending Iyengar Yoga classes, we do not condone the practice of attending Iyengar Yoga classes as a requirement of other teacher training courses. We are concerned this may give trainees of other schools the idea that they have sufficient understanding of the Iyengar method to incorporate it into their own teaching, a view which we do not share. We consider that yoga teachers should follow the methodologies of the organisation they choose to train with and not mix those methods with Iyengar Yoga. There is a further concern that signing these forms may give the impression that Iyengar Yoga is under the umbrella of another organisation.
Announcement for anyone Teaching Children or Vulnerable Adults This announcement is particularly for any teacher who runs private classes for children (including teenagers up to 18 years) but is also for anyone who teaches classes for adults with special needs on a private basis. If you teach such a class for a school, college or training centre they will be responsible for seeing that a disclosure is obtained for you. All people in regular contact with children and vulnerable adults must be vetted by the Criminal Records Bureau to see that they have no criminal convictions that would debar them from contact with children or vulner able adults. Private individuals are not allowed to apply for a disclosure so the IYA(UK) has organised a disclosure procedure for our members who teach privately. This has been done in conjunction with Lloyd Education. You will need the enhanced disclosure which is for people who are in sole charge of children and vulnerable adults. The procedure is as follows:1. if a teacher needs a criminal disclosure document then he/she must write to Lloyd Education and ask for one (they will get a pack telling them what to do and can phone Lloyd Education if they have any questions). 2. Lloyd Education carry out the procedure(which takes about three weeks) and then send one copy of the disclosure documents to the applicant and one copy to Leza who will file it away in a lockable and immoveable cabinet to which no unauthorised person will have access.The documents will be stored until such time as they are no longer needed when they will be destroyed. The cost for this service is £48.00 per applicant of which £34.00 goes to the CRB and £14.00 to Lloyd Education. The IYA(UK) makes no charge. Lloyd Education, 2 Mallard Business Centre, The Old Station, Little Bealings, Woodbridge, Suffolk IP13 6LT Tel. 01473 333880 www.lloydeducation.com Iyengar Yoga News 9 - Autumn 2006
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Are y ou a w riter or j ournalist? If you are a writer or have any journalism experience and would be interested in contributing your talents to the association’s PR team; please e-m mail the main office. We would love to hear from you Remember that your first point of contact for most enquiries should be to the main office where Leza will be able to help you with your enquiry. Or pass your enquiry to the relevant EC member(s). Do any teachers teach a class at their place of work for other staff members? Please contact us
NEW IYA ( UK) ADDRESS PLEASE NOTE THAT FROM NOW ON ALL CORRESPONDENCE FOR LEZA HATCHARD (MEMBERSHIP AND OFFICE MANAGER) SHOULD BE SENT TO: IYA (UK) PO BOX 54151 London W5 9DH telephone: 0208 997 6029
Senior Intermediate applications for 2007 must be in by 1st May 2007.
e-m mail: admin@iyengaryoga.org.uk
Dr Rajlaxmi (left) and Devki Desai standing next to the statue of Patanjali at the RIMYI in Pune. Rajlaxmi and Devki will be teaching at the IYA (UK) national convention at Brunel University in June 2007. Full details of this convention and an application form are enclosed with this magazine. Please book early to ensure a place. Iyengar Yoga News 9 - Autumn 2006
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Teacher T raining S urvey 2 005/6 T
he Assessment and Teacher Training Committee (ATTC) of the IYA (UK) carried out a survey of Iyengar Yoga teacher trainers this year to get a better idea of how training is carried out. Some of the results of this survey are given below for the interest of IYN readers, and to give students who may be thinking of training to teach Iyengar Yoga a better idea of what to expect. The survey form was sent out to 36 trainers of whom 35 responded. We asked how much each centre or trainer would charge for the 2 year course required for Introductory Iyengar Yoga training. The cost varied considerably with the upper limit for a course in the UK at around £1100.The variations in cost we put down to regional differences and the higher running costs some centres have in maintaining premises etc. We concluded that all the courses surveyed represent very good value for money especially in comparison with courses offered by other yoga organizations, some of which can cost several thousand pounds. Most trainers charge by the term, about half as many by the session with a few making other arrangements for payment such as annually. Half the trainees could expect to attend monthly with the rest divided equally between weekly and fortnightly with just one course held every two months for a full weekend. Weekly attendees could expect their sessions to last for 2 - 2 1/2 hours while a monthly session would last for 5 - 6 hours. This might give the impression that weekly attendees spend more hours
training but this is not necessarily the case, as they may not attend every week. All courses covered the minimum 120 hour trainer contact time required. Student to trainer ratios showed considerable variation. Typically a trainee would expect to be in a group of 9 although the numbers given varied between 4 and 15. The larger groups are most often training in centres with more than one trainer, so the amount of individual attention they receive could be similar to or even better than in a smaller group. The Assessment and Teacher Training Committee recommends that all trainees should have the opportunity during their training to practice teaching at least half of the àsanas on the syllabus as a minimum requirement - it seems that on these figures all training course would be able to easily fulfill that target. Indeed most courses would have time for the trainees to teach most or all of the àsanas on the syllabus. Most trainers train First Year (Level 1) and Second Year (Level 2) trainees together although around a quarter of trainers stated that they preferred to train separately when possible. If any students who fulfil the necessary requirements (see IYA website) are interested in signing up for the Teacher Training Course then either: Ask your Iyengar yoga teacher for information of local training courses or find a trainer on the website; Contact the IYA office for details of a course near you.
Alaan Brown (Chair of ATTC)
J a n i n e H o n e - Y o g a T e a c h e r ( 1 9 2 7 -22 0 0 6 ) Janine was born in Paris in 1927 and came to England in the early 50’s to work as a midwife. She met and married Englishman Stan Hone, and had one daughter, Françoise. As the debilitating effects of an accident when she was 17 became worse, she tried Yoga in an effort to combat the damage to her shortened leg and became deeply involved in the new yoga movement that was blossoming in the early 70s. She became an Iyengar teacher and after the sudden death of her husband Stan, she started teaching on virtually a full-time basis in South-East London. Janine was a loyal student of Mr Iyengar and a frequent visitor to his Institute in Pune in the 1970s. From the beginning, when the idea of a Yoga Institute in London was first suggested, Janine tirelessly arranged fund raising events throughout the South-East and collected many thousands of pounds to enable the purchase of the Maida Vale Institute. In 1983, with advancing arthritis in her damaged leg, and following the advice of Mr Iyengar that she would be better in a hotter climate, she returned to her beloved France. She lived happily here, although with slowly deteriorating health. It is hard to state the exact influence of Janine’s teaching. Certainly many hundreds of students benefited from her innovative and lively teaching style and many went on to become teachers themselves. I was fortunate to know her both as a mentor and a loyal friend. My own life has been enriched by her presence and saddened by her passing. Janine’s daughter Francoise will be coming to England later this year to scatter her ashes. If anyone would like to join us for this short ceremony, please contact me on 07739 214 190 or email: Maggie.taylor@lewisham.gov.uk. Maggie Taylor Iyengar Yoga News 9 - Autumn 2006
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ASSESSMENT R ESULTS The following people were successful in Level 2 of the Introductory Assessments (Ireland): Stephanie Cavallin Susan Ennis Teresa Lewis Patricia McLoughlin Siobhan Moran Brid O’Farrell Erika Repassy The following people were successful in Level 1 of the Junior Intermediate Assessments: Dominique Baikoff Dominic Batten Diane Bliss Victoria Bridges Lucy Brown Anita Butcher Sharon Cameron S’orcha Carroll Sue Chapman John Cotgreave Deborah Curran Mairead Dunne Jill Fuller Felicity Goodson Jo Harris Jon Hunt Bonar Hutchison Jenny Jones Isabelle Khellafi Janice Longstaff Rachel Lovegrove Tessa Martin Jackie McCaul Jayesh Mistry Joan Oldfield Julia Owen Charlotte Palmer Lindsey Patterson Alan Pelly Myka Ransom, Janet Roberts Cristina Rueda Marian Sharp Fiona Stafford Wendy Sykes Sue Treagust Amanda Whitehead Gaynor Wilson Kathryn Woodcock The following people were successful in Level II Sandy Bell Frances Brown Alan Gould Megan Inglesent, Pavara Alison Pegg Cressida Senkus Andre Shrivell Berni Thompson Greg Walsh
of the Junior Intermediate Assessments: Diane Clow, Simon Edwardson Jean Kutz Stephen Lamont Iris Pimm Amanda Ridgewell Shuddhasara Lesley Stevas
The following people were successful in Level III of the Junior Intermediate Assessments: Marios Agiros Sharon Aslett Jill Ayles Celia Baker Anne Bake Nathalie Blondell Carol Brown Joe Burn Eileen Cameron Sue Clark Rosemary da Silva Karen De Villiers Susan Doxat Susan Hill Brenda Hobdell Maitreyavira Barbara Norvell Prabhakara Paul Reilly Lois Shilton April Stead Dorothy Tyler The following people were successful in Level 1 of the Senior Intermediate Assessments: Helen Graham Sheila Green Alaric Newcombe Lynda Purvis Margaret Rawlinson Judi Van Dop 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.
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IYA (UK) PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT DAYS 2006 AREA
ORGANISER
DATE
Moderator/Senior
South West SWIYI Chagford
Anita Butcher 0136 465 3012
16 September 06
Judi Sweeting 01285 653742
West & South Wales AIYI Edgar Stringer 01249 716235 (office hours)
16 September 06
Julie Brown 01625 879090
Greater London NELIYI
Catherine Coulson 020 8347 8115 cakcoulson@blueyonder.co.uk
7 May 06
Sasha Perryman 01223 525929
IYIMV
Korinna Pilafidis-Williams 0207 6243080 (korinnapw@internet.com)
26 November 06
Penny Chaplin 020 7624 4287
South East IIYS
Brian Ingram 01444 236714 brianiyoga@tesco.net
27 May 06
Judith Jones 01488 71838
North West MDIIY & LDIYI
Margaret Hall 01457 871296
29 April 06
Jeanne Maslen 01663 732927
East Central & North SADIYI & BDIYI
Alan Brown 0153 563 7359
4 November 06
Pen Reed 0161 4271763
North East & Cumbria and Tyne & Wear NEIYI
Dorothea Irvin 0191 3888593
30 September 06
Margaret Austin 0191 5487457
West Central MCIYI
Jayne Orton 0121 608 2229
12 November 06
Jayne Orton 0121 608 2229
South Central ORIYI
Sheila Haswell 0149 452 1107
3 September 06
SheiLA Haswell 0149 452 1107
Scotland
Carol Brown 0187 583 0508
17 September 06
Elaine Pidgeon and Meg Laing 0131 6677790
Please note that Professional Development Days are not suitable for trainee teachers.They are specifically for persons who hold a valid teaching certificate and who are looking to develop their teaching skills. The current round of Professional Development Days are covering
pràõàyàma from the Intriductory Syllabus and also the àsanas which help prepare the body and mind for pràõàyàma.
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CLASSES
AT
RIMYI
If you wish to attend classes at the Ramamani Iyengar Memorial Yoga Institute, Pune, you must apply through the IYA (UK) - individual applications sent directly to the RIMYI will not be accepted (people from some other countries with less well established national Associations do apply directly to the Institute using a form that they download from the RIMYI website, but this option is not open to people from the UK, and definitely does not result in getting onto classes earlier).The application process is as follows: www.iyengaryoga.org.uk) or contact our Office 1. Download an application form from the IYA (UK) website (w Manager, Leza Hatchard, on 020 8997 6029 or at admin@iyengaryoga.org.uk 2. Fill out the form and send with a Bankers Draft for US$150 made out to RIMYI to: Penny Chaplin, Flat 1, St. Johns Court, Finchley Road, London NW3 6LL Please do not include photos or personal mail. Please note: For admission, the RIMYI requests that the student’s practice of 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), and the regular practise of pràõàyàma, 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; RIMYI offers one or two months admission. No extensions beyond 2 months under any circumstances; The total cost is $US400 a month and a $US150 must be paid in advance, with the balance payable on arrival at the RIMYI.The advance deposit is part of the fees and hence not transferable to any other person or course. It is non-refundable. In additon to the balance of $US250 payable on arrival at the RIMYI, you will need to present your letter of confirmation and two photocpies of your passport and visa; 6 classes are given per week, each for 2hrs duration. A schedule will be given on arrival; The last week of each month will be pranayama classes; The classes will be conducted by BKS Iyengar or his daughter or son or by staff members; When applying please include relevant bio-data with any health conditions; Certificates will not be issued at the end of the course; You will need to make your own arrangements for board and lodging; Applications are for individuals only - no groups. However, if you would like to go at the same time as a friend, you should both indicate this clearly on your application form. 3. If you would like a confirmation that your application form and bankers draft has been sent to the RIMYI, please enclose a sae. All application forms are automatically forwarded to Pune and there is absolutely no selection process at this stage. 4. When the administrator at RIMYI, Mr Pandurang Rao, receives your application form he will automatically place you on the next available course and send you a confirmation letter. Please note: The RIMYI receives many applications from all over the world; the waiting list for classes is around 2 years; You may have to wait from 3 months to a year to receive your confirmation letter; If your confirmation letter comes direct from India please let Penny know. You will know the letter has come direct from India by the stamp and postmark. If you receive a photocopied letter posted from London then your confirmation letter has gone through Penny and you don’t need to inform her. (Pandu sometimes sends a group of confirmation letters to Penny for her to forward to applicants); Do not ask to change the date you are given unless you have a serious need to do so on compassionate grounds.
Check the IYA (UK) website for more information, travel details, contact numbers for accommodation etc.
www.iyeengaaryogaa.org.uk Iyengar Yoga News 9 - Autumn 2006
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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 9 - Autumn 2006
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IYA(UK) MERCHAND ISE 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 All enquiries to Patsy Sparksman and NOT to the main office please: 020 8455 6366; patsyyoga@aol.com PLEASE PRINT name, address, phone number and e-m mail address clearly with your order. BOOKS Light on Life by B.K.S. Iyengar: Mr Iyengar invites both those new to yoga and those who are experienced practitioners on an Inward Journey designed to increase their physical stability, emotional vitality, mental clarity, intellectual wisdom and spiritual bliss. Special Price £12
Light on Yoga by B.K.S. Iyengar: for practitioners of Iyengar yoga, Mr Iyengar’s classic book is the seminal text, and the photographs of the author demonstrating the àsanas are truly inspiring. New edition available for £15
Light on Pràõàyàma by B.K.S. Iyengar: A variety of pràõàyàmas are described and each is broken down into easy components so that the practitioner can build him/herself up without strain.There is also a long section on relaxation.The practice sequences in the back are really excellent. £12
Light on the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali by B.K.S. Iyengar: Mr Iyengar offers his own interpretation and translation of this notoriously difficult work. He demonstrates how Patanjali’s philosophy runs through his own practice and teaching of yoga. Cost: £15
Astadala Yogamala by B.K.S. Iyengar: a collection of Mr Iyengar’s writings, projected to run to 13 volumes. Volumes 1 to 5 now available. Cost: £12 per volume
Yoga: a Gem for Women by Geeta S. Iyengar: Geeta integrates yogic theory, practice and personal experience into an accomplished and inclusive guide to the discipline of yoga with meticulous details and corresponding photographs for more than 80 àsanas , appealing to both the beginner and the advanced practitioner. Cost: £12
Yoga in Action: a Preliminary Course by Geeta S. Iyengar: a preliminary course of àsanas and pràõàyàma based on the syllabus taught at the Ramanani Iyengar Memorial Yoga Institute. An excellent reference for beginners and also for teachers. Cost: £10 Iyengar Yoga News 9 - Autumn 2006
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Tuesdays with Prashant by Prashant S. Iyengar: transcripts of the Tuesday evening classes taught by Prashant Iyengar in 2002-2003 including sequences and instructions and also his analogies from day to day life and his quotations. Ring-bound for convenience during practice. Cost: £12 Alpha and Omega of Trikoõàsana by Prashant S. Iyengar: trikoõàsana is used as an example to explain how àsana practice is a journey from external beginnings to the knowledge of the ‘soulosphere’. Cost: £12 A Matter of Health by Dr Krishna Raman: an in-depth look at the relationships between health, modern medicine and yoga from a medical point of view by one of Mr Iyengar’s students. Extensive information on anatomy and physiology and how it is affected by yoga practice with extensive help and advice on remedial work. Illustrated hardback book. Cost: £27
Yoga for Children by Rajiv and Swati Chanchani: yoga presented for the benefit of children by senior students of B.K.S. Iyengar. Fully illustrated. Cost: £14
Basic Guidelines for Teachers of Yoga by B.K.S. Iyengar and Geeta S. Iyengar: based on the preliminary Teachers’ Training taught at the RIMYI in Pune. Note: this title is only available to certificated Iyengar teachers.Trainee teachers can obtain a copy from their trainer. Cost: £12
CD-ROMS and Videos Yoga for You - CD-ROM by B.K.S. Iyengar
Yoga for Stress - CD-ROM by B.K.S. Iyengar
Cost: £14
Cost: £14
Yoga for Asthma - CD-ROM by B.K.S. Iyengar
Yoga for Blood Pressure - CDROM by B.K.S. Iyengar
Cost: £14
Cost: £14
LEGGINGS F OR S ALE - These cotton footless tights are made with a super-soft cotton lycra and 198g weight fabric giving you a pair of leggings that are great to wear and durable. Colour: black Cost: £20
All prices on these pages include postage and packing in the UK and Republic of Ireland.Please enquire about postage to other countries. Iyengar Yoga News 9 - Autumn 2006
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ADVERTISEMENTS
ADVERTISING in IYENGAR YOGA N EWS If you wish to advertise in the next issue of Iyengar Yoga News, please send all text, photographs or artwork to:
Philippe Harari 3 Finch Road, Cambridge CB4 3RB philippe.harari@runbox.com The deadline for the next issue of Iyengar Yoga News (due out February 2007) is: 1st November, 2006 Advertising rates Quarter page: £35; Small ads.: 40p 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)
S M A L L
A D S .
www.iyi.org.uk OVER 50 CLASSES A WEEK including: >Intermediate classes with senior teachers >Children’s, Pregnancy & Remedial classes >Introductory, Junior and Senior Intermediate Teacher Training Wide selection of equipment, books and BKS Iyengar DVDs available
FORTHCOMING WORKSHOPS Penny Chaplin - 14th October Silvia Prescott - 4th November Christian Pisano (France) - 17th~19th November
Iyengar Yoga Institute Maida Vale 223a Randolph Avenue, London W9 1NL tel: 020 7624 3080, office@iyi.org.uk
YogaSupplies Inexpensive INDIAN YOGA BELTS, BANDAGES, BOLSTER SETS, PRANAYAMA SETS, ROPES. Call 01225336144 or e-mail kirsten@bath-iiyengar-yyoga.com for price list Flat to Rent in Pune Quiet location. Comfortable, spacious and clean. Short pleasant walk from the Institute. Cleaned daily and cook available if required. For details contact: deepchandi@hotmail.com or 0141 357 2175 YogaWeekend in North Devon Gorgeous setting in 15th Century Manor House with private walk to the sea and coastal path. Full board and yoga from £280. Contact Rachel Lovegrove on 0772 512 0043 or visit www.orangetreeyoga.com Affordable wooden Iyengar yoga props direct from French manufacturer. Wide range of blocks, wedges, stools, benches, backstretchers, trestlers etc. For more information or to place an order, please visit our Internet shop at: www.stores.ebay.co.uk/harconwoodproducts Iyengar Yoga News 9 - Autumn 2006
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ADVERTISEMENTS
Iyengar Yoga News 9 - Autumn 2006
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ADVERTISEMENTS
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ADVERTISEMENTS
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IYA (UK) EXECUTIVE COUNCIL Position Chairperson Treasurer Secretary Membership Secretary Vice Chairperson AIYI Rep. BDIYI Rep. CIYI Rep. DHIYI Rep. ESIYI Rep. GWISIYI Rep. IIYS Rep. LIYI Rep. MDIIY Rep. MDIIY Rep. NEIIY Rep. NELIYI Rep. ORIYI Rep. SADIYA Rep. SWIYI Rep. Individual Rep. Individual Rep Individual Rep Individual Rep Individual Rep R. of Ireland Rep. R.of Ireland Rep.
Name Philippe Harari Diane Clow Joe Burn Louise Cartledge Margaret Carter Cat Savage Alan Brown vacancy Andrea Smith vacancy Helen Graham Andy Roughton John Cotgreave Debbie Bartholomew Justine Kilburn Brenda Noble-N Nesbitt Diane Maimaris Judith Jones Mary Carol Jean Kutz Ros Bell Judith Richards Brenda Booth Elaine Pidgeon Patsy Sparksman Aisling Guirke Eileen Cameron
e-m mail philippe.harari@runbox.com dclow@hotmail.co.uk joe.burn@virgin.net louise.cartledge@btinternet.com mgtcarter@aol.com treens.savage@btinternet.com alan@dianalan.plus.com
Telephone 01223 523 410 0131 334 7544 01224 632 932 01428 645 825 01925 758 382 01761 435 468 01535 637 359
andrea@iyengaryoga.me.uk
0239 246 6750
heleng.yoga@ntlworld.com amroughton@yahoo.co.uk jcotgreave@orange.net debrabartholomew@btinternet.com flychi77@hotmail.com b.noblenesbitt@gmail.com diane.goldrei@googlemail.com jjyoga@btinternet.com aloxley@waitrose.com jean.kutz@tesco.net r.j.bell@open.ac.uk judithrich@btinternet.com brendaboothkent@aol.com elaine.pidgeon@virgin.net patsyyoga@aol.com aisling_guirke@hotmail.com eileencameron@eircom.net
0141 642 0476 01273 326 205 07985 332 820 01706 841 942 07989 819 688 0191 388 4118 020 8883 2074 0148 871 838 0114 251 7359 0187 257 2807 020 8340 9899 020 8398 1741 01892 740 876 0131 552 9871 020 8455 6366 00353 872891664 00353 12841799
Committee members Note: Committee chairs are in bold. Co-opted (ie. non- Executive Council) members are in italics. Management Committee: Alan Brown, Joe Burn, Margaret Carter, Di Clow, Philippe Harari, Judith Jones Planning: Ros Bell, Joe Burn, Alan Brown, Margaret Carter, Louise Cartledge, Di Clow, Philippe Harari, Judith Jones, Prabhakara, Andrea Smith Ethics and Certification: Ros Bell, Penny Chaplin, Judith Jones, Elaine Pidgeon,Pen Reed, Judi Soffa, Judi Sweeting, Tig Whattler Assessment and Teacher Training: Margaret Austin, Debbie Bartholomew, Alan Brown, Julie Brown, Brenda Booth Sheila Haswell, Meg Laing, Jayne Orton, Sasha Perryman Communications & Public Relations: Jon Cotgreave (IYN), Helen Dye (IYN), Philippe Harari, Judith Jones (IYN), Judith Richards (PR), Andy Roughton (website), R.achel Lovegrove (IYN) Archives/Research: Debbie Bartholomew, Rachel Lovegrove (Photographs) Conventions/Events:: Carol Brown, Helen Graham, Patsy Sparksman Merchandising Committee: Patsy Sparksman, Tig Whattler (Yoga Rahasya) Moderators: Richard Agar Ward, Margaret Austin, Brenda Booth, Tricia Booth, Julie Brown, Dave Browne, Penny Chaplin, Diane Coats, Sheila Haswell, Judith Jones, Meg Laing, Sasha Perryman, Elaine Pidgeon, Jayne Orton, Pen Reed, Judi Sweeting Professional Development Days Coordinator: 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 Republic of Ireland Assessment Coordinator: Margaret Austin Iyengar Yoga News 9 - Autumn 2006
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INVOCATION TO PATANJALI The invocation to Pata¤jàli is chanted before every class at the RIMYI. We printed it, with a translation, on this page in the last issue but it had a couple of typos in the Sanskrit version. We print it here again in the original Sanskrit text, as a transliterated version, and translated into English. To listen to Guruji chanting the invocation to Pata¤jàli, go to the RIMYI website: http://www.bksiyengar.com/modules/IYoga/sage.htm
yogena cittasya padena vàcàm malam ÷arãrasya ca vaidyakena yo pàkarot tam pravaram munãnam pata¤jalim prà¤jalir ànato smi àbàhupuruùàkàram ÷aïkhacakràsidhàriõam sahasra÷irasam ÷vetam praõamàmi pata¤jalim Let us bow down before the noblest of sages, Pata¤jàli, who gave yoga for serenity and sanctity of mind, grammar for clarity and purity of speech, and medicine for perfection of health. Let us prostrate before Pata¤jàli , an incarnation of Adi÷esa , whose upper body has a human form, whose arms hold a conch and a disk, and who is crowned by a thousand-headed cobra.
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