Yoga Samachar SS2010

VOL.14 NO. 1

SPRING / SUMMER 2010

LOOKING FORWARD TO

GeeTAJI An Extraordinary Learning Experience

IN THIS

ISSUe

The Power of Intention Handing on Knowledge: Teaching Yoga to the Deaf Yoga and Scoliosis 2009 Certification The Diaphragm in Pranayama and Physical Therapy The First Regional Iyengar Yoga Conference Felicity Green Receives Lighting the Way Award Book Review, and the IYNAUS Store News

IYNAUS OFFICERS AND STANDING COMMITTEES president: Chris beach Vice president: richard Jonas Secretary: pat Musburger Treasurer: Kathleen Quinn Archives Chris beach, Chair Kathleen Quinn by-Laws pat Musburger, Chair Debbie Lancaster, David Larsen, Janet Lilly Certification Committee Kathleen pringle, Coordinator Suzie Muchnick, Board Liaison Marla Apt, Kristin Chirhart, Dean Lerner, Mary Reilly Communications Committee richard Jonas, Chair Constance braden, Editor Yoga Samachar Alexandra Anderson, Leslie Freyberg, Gloria Goldberg, Don Gura, Sally Hess, Gina Russell King, James Murphy, Pat Musburger, Christine Nounou, Sue Salaniuk, Joan White ethics Committee Suzie Muchnick, Chair Judi Rice, Joan White events Committee patrina Dobish, Chair Marla Apt, Linda DiCarlo, Gloria Goldberg, Julie Lawrence, Patricia Walden Finance Committee Kathleen Quinn, Chair Chris Beach, Carolyn Matsuda, Jean Smith, Jackie Schiavo Membership Committee elizabeth hynes, Chair IMIYA–Jeanne Ann Walter; IYAGNY–Elisabeth Pintos; IYAMN–Liz McMann; IYAMW–Jennie Williford; IYANC–Brian Vazquez; IYASC-LA–Ed Horneij; IYASC-SD–Jessica Brinkman; IYASCUS–Marj Rash; IYASE–Alex Cleveland; IYASN–Aileen Epstein-Ignadiou; IYANW–Paul Cheek Nominating Committee patrina Dobish, Chair Linda DiCarlo, Gloria Goldberg, Dean Lerner, Manouso Manos, Chris Saudek regional Support Committee Leslie Freyberg, Chair Joe Adlesic, Chris Beach, Paul Cheek, Elizabeth Cowan, Linda DiCarlo, Colleen Gallagher, Tonya Garreaud, Edwin Horneij, Aileen Epstien Ignadiou, Randy Just, Pat Musburger, Pauline Pierrot, Nancy Turnquist, Bryan Vasquez, Janice Vien, Holly Walck, Jeanne Ann Walter Scholarship Committee Leslie Freyberg, Chair Chris Beach, Linda DiCarlo, Lisa Jo Landsberg, Mary Reilly, John Schumacher Service Mark & royalty Committee Gloria Goldberg, Attorney in Fact for B.K.S. Iyengar Kathleen Quinn, Board Liaison Marla Apt Store Committee Kathleen Quinn, Chair Chris Beach, Richard Jonas Systems and Technology Committee Chris Nounou, Chair Ed Horneij, David Weiner Yoga research Committee pat Musburger, Chair Julie Gudmestad, Jacqueline Kittel, Beth Sternlieb, Lisa Walford, Kimberly Williams IYNAUS Senior Council Manouso Manos, Chris Saudek, John Schumacher, Patricia Walden

CONTENTS Letter from the President – Chris Beach . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 Iyengar Yoga and the Power of Intention – John Schumacher. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 Handing on Knowledge: Teaching Yoga to the Deaf – Norma Colon . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 Yoga and Scoliosis: Possibility within Limitation – Bobbie Fultz . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 2009 Certification . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 The Diaphragm in Iyengar Yoga Pranayama and Physical Therapy – Dalia Zwick . . . . . . 11 Keeping a Yoga Tradition Alive . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 The First Regional Iyengar Yoga Conference – Linda DiCarlo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 Felicity Green Receives Lighting the Way Award . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19 Ode on Giving, War, and the Lighthouse at Alexandria – Barbara Hamby . . . . . . . . . 20 IYNAUS Store . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22 Book Review: Yoga, Karma and Rebirth – reviewed by Peggy Kelly . . . . . . . . . . . . 22 IYNAUS Membership . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24

YOGA SAMACHAR’S MISSION Yoga Samachar, the newsletter of the Iyengar Yoga community in the United States and beyond, is published twice a year by the Communications Committee of the Iyengar Yoga National Association of the United States (IYNAUS). The word samachar means “news” in Sanskrit. Along with the website, iynaus.org, Yoga Samachar is designed to provide interesting and useful information to the IYNAUS membership to: 1. Promote the dissemination of the art and science of yoga as taught by B.K.S. Iyengar, Geeta Iyengar, and Prashant Iyengar.

2. Communicate information regarding the standards and training of certified teachers.

3. Report on studies regarding the practice of Iyengar Yoga.

4. Provide information on products that IYNAUS imports from India.

5. Review and present recent articles and books written by the Iyengars.

6. Report on recent events regarding Iyengar Yoga in Pune and worldwide.

7. Be a platform for the expression of experiences and thoughts from members, both students and teachers, about how the practice of yoga affects their lives.

8. Present ideas to stimulate every aspect of the reader’s practice.

YOGA SAMACHAR IS PRODUCED BY THE IYNAUS COMMUNICATIONS COMMITTEE Editor: Constance Braden Creative Director: Richard Jonas Managing Editor: Pat Musburger Designer: Don Gura Copyeditor: Alexandra Anderson Cover photo of Geetaji: Jake Clennell Members may submit an article or a practice sequence for consideration for inclusion in future issues. Articles should be well written and submitted electronically.

Articles must include author’s full name, certification level, and the year the author began studying Iyengar Yoga, along with contact information: email, mailing address, and phone number.

Ads and articles for the Spring/Summer issue must be submitted by March 1.

Ads and articles for the Fall/Winter issue must be submitted by September 1.

Please send articles to constancebraden@mac.com. Please send ads and announcements to Sharon Cowdery at srvcowdery@hotmail.com.

IYNAUS BOARD MEMBER CONTACT LIST SPRING / SUMMER 2010

LeTTer FrOM The preSIDeNT Dear Fellow IYNAUS Members,

Chris beach 21 Harvey Ct. Irvine CA 92617

Twenty years ago, the first steps were taken toward the creation of a national association for Iyengar Yoga in the United States. The organizers of the Yoga 90 Convention in San Diego circulated a questionnaire to the attendees, asking them to respond to the idea of a national association. The response was strongly in favor of creating an association that would help organize Pune intensives, put together a newsletter to facilitate communication throughout the American Iyengar community, develop a more centralized system for teacher training and certification, and begin work on a B.K.S. Iyengar archive. Perhaps most important, the new association would provide a voice for teachers and students throughout the country, especially in areas where no regional association existed. In July 1991, IYNAUS was formally recognized as a nonprofit corporation, and in 1992, the first elections were held for a national board of directors.

Sharon Cowdery 1300 Clay St. Suite 600 Oakland CA 94612 patrina Dobish 2650 W Belden #313 Chicago, IL 60647 Leslie Freyberg 31 Topstone Road Redding, CT 06896 elizabeth hynes 4228 Huntsfield Road Fayetteville, NC 28314

Since then, IYNAUS has continued to grow and to add more programs, including a national certification process for Iyengar teachers (begun in 1993); an IYNAUS store that sells Iyengar-related books, audiovisual materials, props, and other items; and a website that has become a central source of information on Iyengar Yoga. As we move into our third decade, we have more than 3000 members and nearly 700 certified teachers in 12 regions.

pat Musburger Tree House Iyengar Yoga 18021 15th Ave NE Shoreline, WA 98119 Suzie Muchnick Postures 461 Carica Road Naples, FL 34108-2632 Christine Nounou McKinsey & Company 875 Third Avenue, 534 New York, NY 10022 Kathleen Quinn 246 Richmar Ave San Marcos, CA 92069

richard Jonas 299 W. 12th St Apt. 5-F New York, NY 10014 please contact your board Members at: www.iynaus.org/contact

In my last letter, I focused on what was happening with the IYNAUS store, the website (iynaus.org), and the Yoga Research Committee. In this letter, I offer an update on current Iyengar Yoga conferences and conventions. Since 1984, a national Iyengar Yoga convention has been held every three years, most often with either Guruji or Geetaji attending. This May, a very important IYNAUS convention is being held in Portland, Oregon. Geetaji will be coming to teach certified teachers from the United States and from countries all around the world, and she will be sharing with us some of her profound knowledge of the therapeutic applications of yoga.

REGIONAL ASSOCIATION CONTACTS Inter-Mountain (Colorado): IMIYA Leslie Bradley leslie@bluespruceyoga.com www.csyoga.com/imiya Minnesota: IYAMN Elizabeth Cowan iyamn@iynaus.org • www.iyamn.org

A new addition to the events sponsored by IYNAUS is the regional conferences, which are to be held in the years when an IYNAUS convention is not taking place. While Geetaji asked that this year’s convention be limited to certified teachers, the conferences are open to teachers and students alike and to all levels of practitioner, including those who are not regular students of Iyengar Yoga. This past October, the first Regional Conference of Iyengar Yoga was held in Providence, Rhode Island. The conference was a great success, with 413 participants. At the same time, the New England conference served as a springboard for the creation of a new regional association: the Iyengar Yoga Association of New England (IYANE).

Northern California: IYANC Heather Haxo Phillips – haxo@hotmail.com Smitha Menon – smitha@iyisf.org • www.iyisf.org Southern California, San Diego: IYASC-SD Lynn Patton iyengarsd@sbcglobal.net • www.iyasc.org Southeast: IYASe Diana Martinez iyase@iynaus.org • www.iyase.org

The next conference, to be held in September 2011 in Chicago, will be organized and hosted by the Iyengar Yoga Association of the Midwest and will be titled “From the Heartland.” The mission of the conference will be “to share the clarity, artistry, depth, and discipline of Iyengar Yoga as a lifelong practice for body, mind, and spirit.” The conference will be held at the historic Palmer House in downtown Chicago, which will provide an inspiring venue for participants. We are looking forward to this exciting event, and we will continue to provide updates as the details of the conference emerge.

Northwest: IYANW Paul Cheek iyanw@iynaus.org • www.iyanw.org New england: IYANe Greg Anton gregantonyoga2@verizon.net Greater New York: IYAGNY Elisabeth Pintos iyagny@iynaus.org • www.iyengarnyc.org

I continue to gain satisfaction from serving the vibrant and talented Iyengar community as president.

For those of you attending the Portland convention, there will be a members’ meeting that I encourage you to attend. Also, this spring we will be holding elections to replace several members of the board whose terms are ending this year. I encourage all of you to participate in this election by filling out and returning your ballot.

Midwest: IYAMW Jennie Williford iyamw@iynaus.org Southern California, Los Angeles: IYASC-LA Kat Lee iyascla@iynaus.org • www.iyasc.org

Namaste,

South Central US: IYASCUS Michelle Mock iyascus@iynaus.org • iyascus@iynaus.org

Chris Beach, President Iyengar Yoga National Association of the United States

Southern Nevada: IYASN Eileen Epstein-Ignadiou iyasn@iynaus.org • www.iyclv.com

Spring / Summer 2010

For more information visit: www.iynaus.org/regions

Please visit the IYNAUS website: www.iynaus.org 1952 First Ave. South, Ste. 1B, Seattle, WA 98134 • 888-344-0434 1

Spring / Summer 2010

Yoga Samachar

IYeNGAr YOGA AND The pOWer OF INTeNTION AN eXCerpT FrOM The KeYNOTe ADDreSS TO The NeW eNGLAND reGIONAL CONFereNCe

by John Schumacher I felt very honored when I was asked to give the keynote address to this conference. This is the largest group of senior-level Iyengar Yoga teachers ever gathered for a weekend conference. And it is the first regional conference ever put on by IYNAUS. Because of that, it is a wonderful opportunity for all of us to experience Iyengar Yoga in a deeper and broader way. So in light of that, I’ve thought long and hard about what to say on such an occasion.

it illustrates the importance in yoga of the movement of our consciousness from the gross to the subtle, from the temporal to the timeless, from individual consciousness to cosmic consciousness. On this amazing journey, we travel from the external to the internal . . . AND THEN BACK OUT AGAIN! I want to come back to the “then back out again” later on, but for right now, let’s see how this evolution of involution, or curling inward of consciousness—which is what yoga is really all about—works in relation to intention.

Those of you who have been doing yoga for a while, think back to what your intention was when you first began. Now think about why you’re doing yoga at this point in your practice. I’m pretty sure that very few of you have the same reason for practicing now as you did at the outset. And I would guess that for many, maybe most of you, your reason for practicing, your intention, is more sophisticated, more refined, subtler than it was in the past.

I chose the topic, Iyengar Yoga and The Power of Intention, for several reasons.

The first is that it is relevant to all of us.

Each of us here has an interest in yoga— obviously, or we wouldn’t be here. But each of us has our own particular reason for pursuing the path of yoga. Back in the old days, when my classes were smaller, I used to ask my beginning students why they had come to class. As many students as there were, that’s how many reasons there were for their being there.

As we go on practicing, moving nearer to our goals, we continue to refine and redefine our intention. For me, that’s one of the amazing things about yoga: the practice itself invites the continual refinement of intention. Just by doing what you do in your practice, you are changed, and because of that, your motivations and expectations are changed as well.

Now think about why you’re doing yoga at this point in your practice. I’m pretty sure that very few of you have the same reason for practicing now as you did at the outset.

For some, it may be have been to try to heal a back problem; for others, a chance to get a little more flexible, or stronger.

Some wanted to learn to relax and relieve some of the stress in their lives; others wanted to get high on movement or meditation. Some wanted to explore their spirituality in a system that had been doing so for thousands and thousands of years.

Now with respect to this involution of consciousness, in Iyengar Yoga, we are very explicit about this intention of taking our consciousness inward to the core of our being.

In his superb book Light on Life, our guruji, B.K.S. Iyengar, titles the first chapter “The Inward Journey.” In the second paragraph he says, “The yogic journey guides us from our periphery, the body, to the center of our being, the soul. The aim is to integrate the various layers so that the inner divinity shines out as through clear glass.”

The reason those students were in that beginning class—and the reason you are here—is your sankalpa. That’s the Sanskrit word for “intention.”

No matter what your sankalpa at this stage in your practice, though, I think that one of the beauties of the Iyengar tradition is that the path to fulfilling your intention is within the scope of this method.

You can come at it for purely physical reasons. That’s how I began. Lord knows, with our emphasis on Asana and Pranayama and the use of props and therapeutic techniques, you’ll find what you’re looking for on that level. With the focus on alignment, balance, and breath, you can learn to harmonize yourself with the powerful energies within yourself and discover emotional equilibrium and personal empowerment.

The subtleties and precision of this practice draw you into a deeper and deeper

So everybody starts on the path of yoga with some purpose, some goal in mind, some intention.

Another reason I picked this topic is that Yoga Samachar Spring / Summer 2010

2

If the goal is near for those who are supremely vigorous and intense in practice, the question arises, “How do we become keen, intense in our practice so that we can move more readily toward our goal?”

experience of ekagra—a one-pointed, sharper, clearer state of mind.

In Iyengar Yoga, we work to develop and enhance our powers of discrimination. With respect to that, I think of Iyengar Yoga as the yoga of “What if?” “If I have this sensation in my hip when I press my inner heel, what happens if I press my outer heel?” “What is my state of mind after eight cycles of Viloma I? What if I make the pauses longer? Then what? What does that do to my awareness?” This is the process of developing discriminating wisdom. In this way, we refine our intuitive understanding of our bodies, our world, ourselves. And as we go deeper and deeper inward in our practice, we may begin to taste those moments of joy and freedom that open our hearts and make our lives sing.

Certainly one way to intensify your practice is to become clear in your intention. I think it is interesting to note that the words intense and intention have the same root, from the Latin intendere, “to stretch or intend.” By understanding clearly what you intend to do, the intensity with which you can act is greatly enhanced. By consciously establishing your intention, you can stretch out and reach for your goal much more effectively.

So as we go on practicing, our reasons for practicing change. In light of this, I think it is really important to ask yourself—often, really—“Why in the heck am I doing this?”

Because it is important to understand that unless we are clear in our intention, our chances of fulfilling our purposes are greatly diminished. We need to ask ourselves “Why am I doing this?” because the clarity of our intention gives us much greater power to move toward our goal.

Enlightenment philosopher John Locke has an interesting definition of intention.

He says, “Intention is manifest when the mind, with great earnestness, and of choice, fixes its view on any idea, considers it on every side, and will not be called off by the ordinary solicitation of other ideas.”

If the goal is near for those who are supremely vigorous and intense in practice, the question arises, “How do we become keen, intense in our practice so that we can move more readily toward our goal?”

It is my experience that when we set our intention, when we choose to fix our view on something and consider it on every side, when we’re not called off by all the distractions and impediments that surround us, something mysterious happens. What the sutras imply, and what I think you’ll find, is that many of the obstacles that loom in your way fall aside when confronted with the clarity of your intention and the power of your intensity. Problems become manageable and, interestingly, help—expected and unexpected—seems to arrive from every quarter.

B.K.S. Iyengar is fond of quoting the 22nd sutra of the first Pada of Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras: mrdu madhya adhimatratvat tatah api visesa, which he translates as, “There are those who are mild, medium, or keen in their practice.” Patanjali tells us in the preceding sutra: tivra samveganam asannah, which Guruji translates as, “The goal is near for those who are supremely vigorous and intense in practice.”

Locke’s definition sounds a lot like the definition of dharana and dhyana, of meditation. (Go back and read it again.)

Now when you move nearer the core of your being through meditation, something mysterious happens. Yogis are, after all, mystics. A certain clarity that is beyond thought arises that calls forth powerful forces within us. These forces, this shakti, is not only within us, but is John delivers his keynote address at the first Regional Iyengar Yoga Conference in Providence, Rhode Island

Continued on page 21 3

Spring / Summer 2010

Yoga Samachar

hANDING ON KNOWLeDGe: TeAChING YOGA TO The DeAF

by Norma Colon Jennifer Kagan

B.K.S. Iyengar has said, “The sun shines everywhere, it does not shine only here and there. In the same way, yoga is for everyone.” By everyone, he does not mean only those who hear, speak, and see, who have two arms and two legs, who are strong and vibrantly healthy.

Guruji said everyone. Full stop.

She started two evening classes for the Deaf and hard-of-hearing at a downtown Manhattan studio. The classes were successful. She also taught yoga in ASL at LaGuardia Community College for one semester. That successful class has moved to the New York Institute, where it has crowded the assigned studio.

Vicki recalls how much she enjoyed teaching the class with Jennifer. According to Vicki, there’s not a great difference between teaching the Deaf and the hearing, because “when we teach yoga, we utilize our whole being to express the information. Language is an important tool, but just as the Deaf students never took their eyes off me, I had to

But everyone does not have access to yoga. The Deaf and hard-of-hearing community is one of the most underserved populations. According to the DeafYoga Foundation, there are 28 million deaf and hard-of-hearing people in the United States; only a few yoga classes and 20 instructors serve them.

That inequity is starting to be addressed by DeafYoga and, in the Iyengar Yoga community,

by Jennifer Kagan. heighten my tools of expression—pace, rhythm, facial expressions, clarity and simplicity of demonstration—while being sure they could always see me.” Vicki says, “I loved working with Jen as a team, the give and take, seeing what worked and what didn’t. I was blessed to work with an ASL interpreter who knew our subject [Iyengar Yoga]. I would love to teach a class like this again, but I think the ideal situation is to have someone like Jen—a serious practitioner of yoga, a teacher, fluent in ASL and a member of the Deaf community—teach. I recommend that anyone who takes on a class for the Deaf study some ASL; it’s fun and allows us an experience of another way of being in the world.”

That inequity is starting to be addressed

by DeafYoga (www.deafyoga.org) and, in the Iyengar Yoga community, by Jennifer Kagan, a certified Iyengar Yoga teacher and graduate of the Teacher Training program at the Iyengar Yoga Institute of New York. This spring, Jennifer teaches “Yoga in American Sign Language,” an eight-week course in yoga fundamentals accessible to Deaf students. The series follows the groundbreaking 2007 class for the Deaf and hard-of-hearing taught

by Vicki Vollmer (Intermediate Junior I).

Jennifer, who had presented the idea to Senior Teacher Mary Dunn, interpreted in American Sign Language (ASL) as Vicki taught.

TEACHING IYENGAR YOGA TO THE DEAF Jennifer teaches Iyengar Yoga to her Deaf and hard-of-hearing students in ASL—using her hands, face, and body. A resident of Brooklyn, she was certified at the Introductory level in 2008 and is also a certified ASL interpreter with 15 years of experience. She also teaches classes for hearing students. “Continuing to teach in English is essential to the development of my teaching,” she says, “and to my ability to transfer that knowledge into a second language [ASL].”

“ASL is an incredibly efficient and dimensional language,” says Lynette Taylor, Jennifer’s ASL mentor, “a visual, gestural language with linguistic features such as depicting verbs and classifiers. Some of our verbs mimic the action, and our use of classifiers is a way to indicate movement and who is doing the movement.”

Vicki leapt at the chance to teach a class she found innovative and challenging, saying, “The idea of communicating the power and depth of yoga without the tool of verbal language was fascinating.” She signed up for ASL classes and began to study Deaf culture. The class was well received, but Vicki moved to Italy after the second semester. I offered to teach the class with Jennifer. The class was canceled, but Jennifer was not deterred.

Yoga Samachar Spring / Summer 2010

In preparing to teach Deaf and hard-of-hearing students, Jennifer created a mentorship with Taylor, an advanced, longtime ASL interpreter and instructor. She consults Taylor on language use and communication specific to yoga—largely uncharted territory. They work together in asana practice as well as conversation, defining, clarifying, and refining ways to communicate yoga better through ASL.

4

When asked if Deaf and hard-of-hearing students respond differently than hearing ones, Jennifer says, “I find Deaf students incredibly focused and able to translate what they see [in the teacher’s demonstration] to their bodies. They are more investigative with the actions. They ask thoughtful, analytical questions. They are very focused. I don’t have to teach them how to look and see: that is natural for them. I only have to direct their eyes.

They make me a better teacher.”

teaching Urdhva Mukha Svanasana, I have to explain what is going to happen and then show it. I have to be extremely articulate with my own body, and I have my own limitations. When I saw students struggling at first, I questioned my ASL, I questioned my teaching. And while this self-analysis is still important, the students need the same time to gain understanding as their hearing counterparts.

What follows is an interview with Jennifer in which she explains her experience of teaching Iyengar Yoga to Deaf and hard-of-hearing students.

Q. What special difficulties and challenges do you meet teaching Deaf students?

Since the students gain most of their information visually, I demonstrate and do all the poses with them. This can become very tiring, so I’m looking into other visual aids, including the use of technology, to support their understanding. I have taught with an assistant who signs, and that is helpful as well. I can split the room and she shadows my instructions. But an Iyengar assistant would be great. Typical studios do not have mirrors, but in fact, mirrors are very helpful when teaching Deaf students because I can move around and still be able to communicate.

A. I see Deaf students not as disabled, but as a cultural group with a unique visual language. This requires adaptation so that my teaching is completely visual. This can be a challenge, but in that challenge, there is so much to learn. The disability is in my limitations in being able to meet their needs.

When students can’t see me, there is no communication. So, I have to break down my teaching into discrete actions that build on one another. This is no different than how we are taught to teach [Iyengar Yoga] to the hearing.

If I have to make eye contact during a pose, I alter my position so they can see me. In poses where they can’t see me, such as Adho Mukha Svanasana, I get down to their eye level; in Ardha Uttanasana at the wall, I get underneath them.

Because the “scaffolding” of poses is so important, I like to teach in a course format with the same students for a set amount of classes. I have to “scaffold” and link much more consciously.

Q. How do you work with inversions?

A. Before teaching Sarvangasana, I teach poses that build confidence and opening.

Then I teach Chatush Padasana before sending them upside down. I teach shoulder stand and Chatush Padasana with the feet on the wall so I can stand over them and they can see me. In the beginning, I have two students work at a time and let the others watch.

Deaf students have to use visual memory more than the hearing students. They see a demonstration, especially for a pose in which they won’t be able to see me, and they have to remember the actions. I have to be clear and succinct with my instructions. But they don’t have the luxury of being led through the instruction as hearing students do.

So their attention to the demonstration has to develop smriti (memory) and they have to apply the actions independently once in the pose.

Q. Are certain actions or poses especially hard to communicate without the use of spoken language?

A. I think many poses create a challenge because I’m used to teaching in spoken language. I have to rethink what I do and be much more conscious in how I build up to the pose. If I’ve taught the actions well, then I can refer to previous poses and actions for understanding. Vicki is the one who taught me to be innovative about placement of students. She thought quickly on her feet and made intelligent and sensitive decisions about room setup for visual accessibility. I sometimes get stuck in class and think, “What did Vicki do?”

Jen Kagan's logo, with the hand shape for “Y”, is on T-shirts she sells to fund scholarships for students who can't afford yoga classes.

I can’t add elaborate or add in new points while they are in a pose in which they can’t see me. Often that means we do fewer poses. But because Deaf students are eager to learn and understand, repetition and a slower pace are not so much an issue. If I’ve given clear instruction and a clear demonstration, I can observe whether it is working.

Some Deaf people have issues with balance, so I use the wall from the beginning to build confidence.

One of the difficulties I have are poses where I can’t use my hands. For instance, if I’m 5

Spring / Summer 2010

Yoga Samachar

As my students mature in their practice, I look forward to culling natural language from their experience. Remember, this is all new; there is no precedent in the ASL language for yoga language such as “pull up the knee caps” or “lift the chest.” I look for the students’ expression of their experience and incorporate it into my teaching. I teach from my understanding, so I am translating that experience from English to ASL, but as the Deaf students mature and develop, naturally derived language begins to blossom.

In general—show, show, show. Use “do” and “undo” in your demonstration and make it clear which is the correct action and which is incorrect. Use another student and point—literally point—at where you want the students to look. That’s very important.

Point where you want their eyes to go, otherwise they won’t see what you are doing.

Slow down. Check in with the Deaf student to make sure they are following. They must be able to see you. If they don’t, there is no communication.

Q. It’s been said that hearing is the most important sense in Pranayama.

Have you worked with Pranayama, and how does it go with your Deaf students?

Vicki approached teaching Deaf students with an attitude of, “How can I adjust my teaching to their needs?” It became a fun challenge. If we think of Deaf students as disabled, it only leads to frustration.

Alert the student when the pose is finished or the class moves to another pose. Let them know how you will alert them, saying for example, “I will touch your back when you are finished.” Or flash the lights or bang on the floor. Show how you are going to adjust them before you do it; tell them why you are doing it. Be conscious about the “tone” of your touch. Observe their bodies for understanding: that is something we do for all our students.

In general—show, show, show. Use “do” and “undo” in your demonstration and make it clear which is the correct action and which is incorrect.

A. I don’t teach Pranayama beyond breath awareness. I use [the ASL sign for] the lights dimming up and down; the sign for that mirrors the sign for “inhale and exhale.” This provides a visual and mental support. And it’s something the students created.

My hope is that Deaf students will be ignited by yoga and attend other classes.

Hopefully someone will choose the path to become a teacher and the association will accommodate them to make certification possible. A Deaf teacher teaching Deaf students would be a dream come true!

I believe that the importance of hearing in Pranayama is for hearing people and that there is a way for Deaf folks to experience it. They have a different relationship to their breath other than hearing. Since I am not deaf, that path to Pranayama will be one that the students will uncover. It is something that will develop in time with their input and the mentorship of a senior teacher who is open to finding a path that isn’t dependent upon a hearing paradigm. I know this is not a limitation, but a challenge for us to rethink the approach.

Norma Colon, a Latina from The Bronx, New York, is an Introductory certified Iyengar Yoga instructor with 30 years of experience. Immensely grateful for the blessing that Iyengar Yoga is in her life, Norma is a strong supporter of the Iyengar Yoga Association of Greater New York and writes about yoga every chance she gets.

Q. Do you have advice for teachers who may not be working with an entire group of Deaf students, but rather with one Deaf student among a population of hearing students?

A. Communicate with your student and see what they need. Every deaf person is different in terms of residual hearing, comfort in a hearing environment, preferred mode of communication, and identity as a Deaf person. Do not assume they can lip-read. Do not assume they can understand you.

Yoga Samachar Spring / Summer 2010

Jen Kagan teaching yoga in American Sign Language at the Iyengar Yoga Institute of New York.

6

AMerICAN SIGN LANGUAGe AND ITS reLATIONShIp TO YOGA Lynette Taylor American Sign Language (ASL) is a visual

“foreign” to talk about moving into warrior

In some ways, teaching yoga parallels

gestural language with linguistic features

pose and to open your pelvis like a book.

teaching sign language. When you teach

such as depicting verbs and classifiers.

I won’t even touch that on a metaphoric

sign language, students see a gesture but

Some of our verbs mimic the action, and

level. In a regular yoga class, the idea of

they don’t see its discrete units or parts.

our use of classifiers is a way to indicate

your muscles or bones rotating, turning out,

Any number of things can change the

movement and who is making the

these things may be pointed out later, but

meaning of a sign—your palm orientation,

movement. Then, we layer that with

because ASL is a visual language and the

the direction and speed of a movement, the

modifiers to indicate repetition and

subject, asana, is visual, the specificity

repetition of the movement, the origination

longevity of the action or movement. It is

needs to be articulated at the onset. But

of the sign, the placement of the sign. The

an incredibly efficient and dimensional

just because it is said does not mean it is

same is true in yoga. Students who are new

language. I think of ASL like the New York

understood, even in ASL. The learning is the

to yoga also see the asana in a gross form.

skyline: with little real space at hand, we

same for all students: each will move to a

They don’t see all the discrete and subtle

build in the sky. Our language uses space

deeper place once they understand the

elements that make up the asana, so even

and movement simultaneously to depict the

foundations and have the experience.

when you model a sign or an asana,

concepts. So if both forms are visual, the

Jennifer and I talk about how you

students need to be guided, shown what to

asana and the language depicting it, you

“scaffold” the instruction and interpretation

see. That is what Jennifer began doing in

want to make sure they are not in conflict

so that the language becomes deeper as

her ASL yoga class. She taught students

with each other.

the students progress. Each language has

how to “see” the asanas, then how to

its own requirements for translating

experience them.

Also, the language used in yoga is not a language of daily parlance. Many of the classifiers Jennifer and I use are not what you see in everyday conversation. It is a bit

equivalent concepts, the use of pronouns, the use of repetition for emphasis, the use of verbs, the grammatical order, all of these will differ, and this is also true in ASL.

The pUNe CONSTITUTION GUIDANCE FROM INDIA ON OUR ASSOCIATIONS The Pune Constitution is a standard guide for organizing and structuring Iyengar Yoga associations. Revised August 2009 by B.K.S. Iyengar, this document is intended as the working framework for association governance. While it is understood that there will be some differences from country to country and among associations in various life cycles, Guruji has asked that associations endeavor to come into alignment with these guidelines.

Guruji has asked that all national associations, including IYNAUS, make this important document available to their members. The IYNAUS Board continues to explore avenues by which we can reflect the guidelines of the Constitution.

MESSAGE FROM GURUJI: As members are turning towards this method of yoga, I thought of framing a common constitution that can be followed by all Iyengar Yoga associations and institutes the world over. It is not easy to work out a constitution that would satisfy all, yet a start has to be made and it is now ready. As months and years pass on, new ideas may strike which can be incorporated after consultation with sister associations.

To read the Pune Constitution, go to http://www.iynaus.org/iynaus/pune_ constitution.php now.

May this act as a key point for the growth of happiness and unity amongst us all and may yogic discipline grow under your capable and skillful cultivation of friendliness, compassion and gladness. May I wish you all to experience the best of yoga and may Lord Patanjali guide you all.

B.K.S. Iyengar —Pune, India 7

Spring / Summer 2010

Yoga Samachar

YOGA AND SCOLIOSIS: pOSSIbILITY WIThIN LIMITATION by bobbie Fultz A consistent, regular practice of yoga can offer relief from scoliosis and its side effects, including back pain, sciatica, intervertebral disc prolapse, sacroiliac issues, and tingling in the hands. The amount and intensity of practice required varies according to the degree of misalignment, overall muscle tone, and age. Scoliosis is a very individual condition; no two cases are exactly the same.

It wasn’t scoliosis that brought me to yoga; I was already watching Richard Hittleman’s “Yoga for Health” on TV in the early 1960s. Yoga continued to interest me through college: many were trying out simple asanas as part of the search for expanded consciousness. I wandered through the variations of Integral Yoga, Sivananda Vedanta Yoga, Himalayan Yoga, and Kripalu Yoga, never thinking about my scoliosis. I didn’t notice that my body was any different. I could do the stuff about as well as everyone else.

Iyengar Yoga is known for therapeutic remedies, but it is the way the method allows us to penetrate more deeply that makes worthwhile the aggravation and agony of pounding out the lumps and bumps of the physical body.

I suffered spasms and back pain as my scoliosis deteriorated, but I got on as best I could. Only when I met a pair of yoga teachers with more ambition for their students did I understand that asanas were supposed to change the body. In 1987, Sharon Gannon and David Life, the founders of Jivamukti Yoga, took me to a question-andanswer session with B.K.S. Iyengar at St. John the Divine Cathedral in New York. Mr. Iyengar talked about the way yoga can change a spine with scoliosis and offered to work with me if I would come to India. I opted to take local classes first, which became a way to find a different relationship inside my body. My home practice began when I bought a piece of webbing on Canal Street, tied it to the window bars of my East Village apartment, and learned to do supported dog pose.

Two years later I went to Pune, where I had two-hour classes with B.K.S. Iyengar and was adjusted under his direction by senior teachers. It was totally overwhelming. This was my first exposure to working with ropes and the various wooden props. Somehow, I returned to the Asana Hall day after day for the entire two months. My view of asana practice was never the same. I have returned to Pune six times.

Various sequences and a multitude of adaptations of the classic asanas have been given for scoliosis, but what is more significant is the change in the way I live in this body.

The sensation of scoliosis is deeper than the musculoskeletal body, and what yoga has to offer is bigger than back pain management. Some who see me on the teacher’s mat are let down at the amount of distortion still in my spine. Even surgeons admit that all their instrumentation and scientific know-how cannot completely straighten or untwist the Yoga Samachar Spring / Summer 2010

8

spine. Their goal is to stabilize deterioration and level the shoulder girdle and the pelvis.

Yoga offers more: a living experience that is deeper and more profound.

Since a twisted spine influences sensory perception, sometimes even the thought process, the internal change of releasing the grip of scoliosis can be very profound.

A heavy twist in the spinal column can contribute to a depression, a sensation of being in a downward spiral. The central nervous system inside the spinal column is being twisted in a downward drag with the force of gravity. This is a physical fact and not a separate mental issue. Changing the impact of scoliosis offers much more than pain management for backache.

Iyengar Yoga is known for therapeutic remedies, but it is the way the method allows us to penetrate more deeply that makes worthwhile the aggravation and agony of pounding out the lumps and bumps of the physical body. To open 30 years of scoliosis is not a task without sensation. And it is a continuous struggle against the desire of the scoliosis to control the body. Mr. Iyengar is a great psychologist. He can challenge you beyond anything you thought yourself capable of. This is an inherent part of his method. As the practitioner returns to the mat, day after day and year after year, he or she comes to see the Self more clearly. The mat work may be focused on the physical, but the inward experience is without limitation.

Sequences and specific shapes of the preliminary poses are productive for relieving scoliosis. But it is up to the individual to apply the process and to be willing to struggle for change. There are no secrets that are for scoliosis only. The nature of the asana practice is to challenge the body to find its own balance. The body needs to stay in the shapes long enough to adapt the interior sense of balance with gravity. The work is not easy. Resting on a bolster does not make lasting change; effort is the only thing that brings results.

The use of props and opened forms of the asanas are significant in practice for the misaligned spine. This gives the body the sense of direction, away from the momentum of the degenerative condition and the drag of gravity. It takes time spent in those opened forms to change the gripping pattern of muscles and to reorient the sense of balance in the righting mechanism of the inner ear and brain. Rope traction is very helpful, but strength work is necessary to maintain what is achieved during traction.

Everyone enjoys the relief of rope traction; but if the grunt work is skipped, hanging on ropes can actually destabilize the spine and can contribute to faster deterioration. Refinement of action and attention to spatial alignment are critical keys to change. This is the repose that comes from the inside out during the practice. And the work on the two sides is very different. Scoliosis is a lateral deviation of the spine. The left and the right sides differ; so, too, do the front and the back of the two sides. Symmetrical adjustment will not change an asymmetrical situation.

A weekly class is not enough yoga…A daily home practice is required, long and intense enough to impact a structural scoliosis.

The two major categories of scoliosis are functional and structural. Functional scoliosis is more about the connective tissues, which are softer and react quickly to yoga practice.

Structural scoliosis is embedded in the shape of the joints, sometimes in the form of the bones themselves, and requires much more intense work to create lasting change in alignment. A structural scoliosis will have a functional overlay that responds quickly to the initial introduction to yoga. A functional scoliosis can harden as the body ages if nothing is done to stabilize the situation.

A weekly class is not enough yoga for either category. A daily home practice is required, long and intense enough to impact a structural scoliosis. Because the tendency for degeneration involves the nervous system, a lifelong yoga practice is needed to stabilize and support alignment in the spine. The tendency for deterioration corresponds to the stages of life: puberty, childbirth and menopause for women, old age for both genders.

This can all be confusing, even disorienting to the student inside this situation. It takes great determination and fortitude to use yoga to bring about change. The sensations are not always pleasant. The process may not be as straight-ahead and progressive as one would like. There can be stages when the scoliosis fights to maintain its grip on the body, resulting in muscle spasms, vertigo, or nausea. Adjustments and props that worked yesterday suddenly are of no help

Twelve million people are affected with scoliosis worldwide, with seven million in the United States alone. The good news is that the side effects of lifelong yoga practice can be Self-realization and increased consciousness in the experience of embodiment. Every student who comes to yoga practice makes discoveries and struggles with physical issues. The point of the physical practice is to offer the body–mind–sensory perception technique and tools to come into a balance of health and well being.

Progress for the student with scoliosis is measured in refinement of actions, not in heavier and more physically demanding forms. It is not a contest as to whether the practitioner can “do the pose.” The point is whether the asana and adaptation offer something to progress toward balance in health of the body–mind.

Continued on page 21 9

Spring / Summer 2010

Yoga Samachar

2009 CerTIFICATION INTERMEDIATE SENIOR I Marla Apt Rebecca Lerner Carrie Owerko INTERMEDIATE JUNIOR II Karen Allgire Jarvis Chen Sara Ararius Eichmiller Anara Lomme John Michael Lucey Victoria Milner Nadine Pileggi INTERMEDIATE JUNIOR I Ezzealdin Alhilou Karin Bohr Alexandra Carilli Paul Cheek Leslie Constable Vicky Elwell Brian Fitusi Isabela Fortes Brian Hogencamp Eve Holbrook Gary Jaeger Jill Johnson Tamar Kelly Trishka Lemos Marcia Monroe Sheryl Nigro Yves Obelin Heather Phillips Evelia Pineda-Torres Tracey Radloff Lauron Ray Kishor Stein Tamir Tamir Russ Taylor Joni Yecalsik

INTRODUCTORY Carin Allen Anne Barbaret Tara Bernstein Chris Birney Lynn Brandli Philip Burbank Kerry Cavanagh Barry Chapman Christina De La Fuente Mary Devore Zack Dixon Cherie Earl Randall Evans Carol Faulkner Royal Fraser Marybeth Gallant Anne Geil Tamera Gingerella Peggy Goetsch Nina Gold Deborah Green Christopher Greene Karen Haden Dana Hale Signe Hartmann Steve Hornbacher Edwin Horneij Susan Johnson Natasha Julius Leah Katz Carol Anne Kemen Kelly Kennedy Ja Soon Kim Nina Knight Kathy Koenigsberg Deborah Lapkin Laura Lundy Amanda Mahoney Catherine Salines Mann Susan Marcus Angela McKinlay Bishnupriya Misra

UpGrADeS bY GUrUJI

Michael Moore Vladimir Nekrasov Ketan Patel Michele Lynn Pearson Debbie Pederson Nancy Preston Joanne Redoble Nadja Refaie Jean Sanders Meenakshi Sanghvi Edith Savadove Harshad Shah Julia Shaida Suzanne Simon Adrian Skaj Bradley Smith Anastasia Sofos Tamarie Spielman Stephanie Streff Suneel Sundar Chet Thomas Karyl Tych Graham Williams ChereeWinston TEACHER IN TRAINING Cynthia Bates Jessica Becker Cynthia Berliner Beth Birenbaum Jannette Boyer Doerthe Braun Tracy Brennan Karyn Bristol Karin Brown Amy Brown Colleen Clark Carmen Coyle Douglas Dee Kathleen Digby Colleen Duggan Amy Duncan Donna Furmanek

ADVANCED JUNIOR II Lois Steinberg

INTERMEDIATE SENIOR II Anna Delury

INTERMEDIATE SENIOR III Carolyn Belko

INTERMEDIATE JUNIOR II Laurel Thomas

Yoga Samachar Spring / Summer 2010

10

Robert Gadon Lisa Giroux Rose Goldblatt Eleanor Goldfarb Jill Hagar Elizabeth Hargrove Henry Heikkinen Holly Hughins Nancy Ito Leeane Keating Jessica Moore Kelsch Kimberly Mackesy Kate Marshall-Chase Paul Massie Lucus Murgida Rupa Narayanan Carol Nichols Leah Bray Nichols Caitlin O'Connor Terence Ollivierra Barbara Ottinger Carole Petrilllo Mege Posner Martha Pyron Alice Rasmussen Noah Richstone Michelle Ringgold Amy Rumbel Diana Shannon Carolyn Sikes Peter Smith Jean Stawarz Kathleen Swanson Shannon Fische Titas Johnathan Troen Manju Vachher Frank Bryan Vazquez Marsha Walters Coretta Washburn Susan Weiner Viorica Farkas Winterman

The DIAphrAGM IN IYeNGAr YOGA PRANAYAMA AND phYSICAL TherApY

by Dalia Zwick

Recent studies show a positive outcome in the application of yoga-derived breathing as a therapeutic method for patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).2,3 To benefit people with breathing challenges, healthcare providers and yoga teachers and practitioners must exchange knowledge.

Chandru Melwani

Breathing exercises are popular tools with the public and healthcare providers. They are used increasingly in complementary and alternative medicine to promote health and wellness; after vitamins and supplements, they are the most commonly used therapy.1

This article reviews the physiology of the breath (an arena in which healthcare providers are trained) and experiential knowledge (where Iyengar Yoga teachers excel). Both areas are essential in the teaching of breathing techniques and Pranayama.

Elongating and expanding this central tendon is essential to encouraging and controlling the breath; yoga Pranayama, as well as yoga asanas, have a vital role.

This has profound implications for people with breathing difficulties and should be an integral part of treatment to improve their condition.

THE DIAPHRAGM: A MUSCLE AND ITS TENDON Two main points about the diaphragm need to be considered: its role in not only inhalation, but also exhalation, and its unique structure.

The active role of the diaphragm in inhalation is universally acknowledged; its role in controlling the exhalation—a central concept of Pranayama—is less well recognized in medical literature. And because this action of the diaphragm is experiential, it can be difficult to understand for those without a yoga background.

PRANAYAMA AND ASANA In yoga, deep breathing is part of the practice of Pranayama. In Sanskrit, the ancient language of India, prana is the vital energy or life force; it also refers to respiration. Ayama means length, expansion, and extension, and conveys the idea of restraint, control, and stopping. According to B.K.S. Iyengar, Pranayama also means communication, expansion, or dimension.4 When practicing Pranayama, one slows down the rate of breathing and expands chest and lung capacity. Pranayama is an integral step in the eight-limbed path of yoga, Astanga Yoga, which strives to bring consciousness to mind and body, and finally, freedom.5

Because this action of the diaphragm is experiential, it can be difficult to understand for those without a yoga background.

The muscular portion of the diaphragm that makes this control of the exhalation possible may be compared with the eccentric action of the bicep. When you lift an object and draw it toward you, the elbow bends and the bicep shortens; as you put the object back down, the bicep is still contracting, allowing you to lower the object without dropping it. The muscular portion of the diaphragm contracts as you inhale, helping to draw air into the lungs. With slow, controlled exhalation, as in Pranayama, it continues to contract, enabling you to exhale without letting the air rush out and without the chest collapsing.

In addition to this muscular action of the diaphragm, there is a vital but overlooked role played by the central tendon of the diaphragm. Most tendons attach directly to bones.

However, the central tendon of the diaphragm attaches to the muscular rim of the diaphragm and anchors it to the spine at vertebrae L1 and L3. This tendon makes up 40% of the central area of the diaphragm.

All breathing is influenced by changes in body position, emotional state, and activity level.6 These factors long have been considered in yogic breathing 11

Spring / Summer 2010

Yoga Samachar

practice. Pranayama teaching focuses on prolonging and refining the inhalation and exhalation, which allows the practitioner to control the breath voluntarily.

below current concepts of anatomy and function of the respiratory muscles.

When air enters through the nose, it passes through the trachea, a tube-like portion of the respiratory tract that connects the larynx (the voice box) with the bronchi and bronchioles, air passageways shaped like small tree branches. Finally, the air enters the alveoli. These small sacs within the lungs resemble tiny folded balloons and have very thin walls full of blood vessels. Here is where the actual gas exchange occurs, as oxygen passes through the walls to enter the bloodstream before traveling to cells throughout the body.

The ability to breathe deeper and longer requires the physical preparation of the pulmonary and musculoskeletal systems, in addition to developing greater focus on the breath. This preparation of the body and mind for Pranayama can be accomplished through the practice of asanas (yoga postures). To better perform these asanas, the support of a yoga prop often is needed to extend and elongate the muscles and soft tissue used in breathing.

The thoracic region’s mechanical ability to expand and recoil depends on the elasticity of the lungs and the muscles involved. Gross muscle weakness may lead to muscle shortness and tightness, which limits the thoracic ability to expand and recoil.6 PRIMARY MUSCLE ACTIVITY During inhalation, the inspiratory muscles contract in a coordinated fashion, creating an intrathoracic pressure gradient that causes air to flow into the lungs. These muscles then relax and air is exhaled because of changes in pressure and the elastic recoil of the lungs.8 Deeper breathing in controlled circumstances such as Pranayama, or under stressful conditions such as running, may demand the further recruitment of primary and accessory inspiratory muscles.9 The primary muscles of inspiration, those required during quiet and deep breathing, are the diaphragm and the intercostal muscles, located between the ribs.10

This elongation is essential preparation for Pranayama. This is the basis for the Iyengar method’s intricate instructions designed to expand and “shape” the breathing, directing the breath with awareness to various regions of the lungs incrementally.

During quiet inspiration, the intercostals assist in elevating the ribs with their oblique attachment from the distal border of one rib to the proximal border of the rib below.

The contraction of the external intercostal muscles causes an increase in the lateral and anteroposterior diameters of the thorax.8 Debate persists as to the exact role of the intercostal and abdominal muscles in breathing. Some have suggested that during controlled exhalation, these muscles and the diaphragm help in the “braking” action that slows the static recoil of the lungs and the chest wall.6 This is how the diaphragm is recruited for slow, controlled exhalation, as during Pranayama.

This can be understood better when we review the biomechanics and physiology of breathing.

THE MECHANICS OF BREATHING Breathing is a complex system of communication between receptors within the body (including chemoreceptors in the blood and stretch receptors in soft tissue), controllers in the central nervous system, and the effectors, that is, the muscles of the respiratory system. The desire or need to breathe and the regulation of the rate of breathing is controlled by the central nervous system, based on its analysis of data received from the receptors. A message is sent to the effectors; these tiny respiratory muscles then maintain adequate ventilation for the body’s current state.7

The diaphragm muscle is composed of three anatomically distinct regions joined and inserted in the middle to a thin central tendon. This central tendon is an often neglected aspect of breath and breath control that we consider below.

The costal portion of the diaphragm arises from the upper margins of the lower six ribs and is closely associated with the sternal region. The second region originates from the posterior aspect of the xiphoid process. The third portion, tendinous in structure, is the

The goal of breathing is to keep arterial blood gases within acceptable levels to maintain the body’s healthy functioning.

Air must be moved rhythmically in and out of the lungs. Air exchange is accomplished through the expansion and deflation of the chest wall, which requires the action of a number of skeletal muscles. To understand how this lungpumping mechanism works, we review The change in the position of the diaphragm and the expansion of the chest during inhalation (left) and exhalation (right).

Yoga Samachar Spring / Summer 2010

12

PRANAYAMA AS A THERAPEUTIC METHOD In Pranayama, the focus is on slowing and controlling the rate and duration of the breath, particularly exhalation.

“During exhalation, the breath should not be expelled but released,” Mr. Iyengar often instructs.13 Healthcare practitioners long have recognized the importance of slowing down the breath and focusing on exhalation, especially for people with asthma and emphysema who often have difficulty breathing because of the large amount of air that becomes trapped in their lungs.

crural section, which arises from the same region of the anterior ligaments that covers and supports vertebrae L1 through L3. Fibers from all three regions of the diaphragm radiate inward, inserting into the central tendon.

The diaphragm, similar to other voluntary muscles, is characterized by the instantaneous relationship between force, length, and velocity of shortening. Muscles operate with the greatest active force when close to an ideal length (often their resting length). When stretched or shortened beyond this (whether because of the action of the muscle itself or an outside force), the maximum active force generated decreases. The power output of a muscle is the product of force developed and the velocity of shortening.9 The diaphragm’s ability to perform, therefore, is compromised when its muscle and tendinous portion is short. Diaphragm weakness, resulting from both aging and disease, has been ascribed to the shortening of muscles and the central tendon, which influences the diaphragm’s strength and ability to descend and slowly ascend.11 The central tendon of the diaphragm, its dome, is a thin, strong aponeurosis comprising broad layers of fascia-like tissue with the consistency of thick leather. It is flexible, yet noncontractile, so it is pulled passively by the muscular portion of the diaphragm, to which it is attached. This is important, because different body positions affect the ability of this tendon to move and greatly affect the breath.

If healthcare practitioners were to add elements of Pranayama and relaxation using the Iyengar method, it would benefit people with pulmonary distress.

The current cardiopulmonary rehabilitation approach to COPD focuses mainly on improving general cardiovascular endurance, strength training, and the use of respiratory devices. There is minimal training in breathing practice itself.14

When the diaphragm is viewed from the top, a large portion of this central tendon is located ventrally (to the front). Its anterior muscle fibers are shorter than the posterior ones. This is important because different body positions affect the ability of the tendon and the diaphragm to contract. An image may clarify. Imagine this tendon as a circular piece of leather attached on all sides to ropes (that is, to muscle fibers). A group of

The central tendon of the diaphragm, its dome, is a thin, strong aponeurosis comprising broad layers of fascia-like tissue with the consistency of thick leather.

With acutely ill patients, therapists use airway clearance techniques such as postural drainage and coughing. Again, active breathing techniques are used rarely or are given only secondary importance.

There is a need to expand and improve the methods of teaching active breathing for people with acute and chronic respiratory challenges. The application of yoga asanas and Pranayama techniques to breath training will help these patients by expanding the thoracic region’s limited mobility, easing the tightness of muscles and tendons (particularly the diaphragm’s central tendon), and improving pulmonary function.

people is pulling these ropes in all directions; however, because of the ventral placement of the tendon, it is as if the ropes in the back are longer than those in the front. The ligaments that attach the diaphragm to vertebrae L1 and L3—the crurae—also draw this tendon toward the back.

This piece of leather must be pulled down as we inhale. Then the ropes must be released slowly to allow for a controlled exhalation.

THE ROLES OF PROPS Several restorative asanas, especially Supta Baddhakonasana, elongate the central tendon and enhance its mobility. Placing the body over a prop such as a bolster creates an arch of the lumbar spine from vertebrae L1 through L3. Returning to our image, it is as if the people holding the ropes in the back became stronger and were given longer ropes.

Dalia Zwick is a physical therapist and longtime Iyengar Yoga student; she worked with Senior Teacher Mary Dunn in integrating yoga and rehabilitation for people with weakness, poor posture, breathing difficulty, and paralysis resulting from multiple sclerosis, cerebral palsy, spinal cord injury, or developmental delays. Brooke Myers, Intermediate Junior III, New York, advised on the article; Richard Jonas edited.

The diaphragm and its central tendon also contribute to the postural control of the human trunk.12 In Swastikasana for seated Pranayama, as well as in Baddhakonasana, the diaphragm acts as a postural support for the seated position. It is as if the people in the back are still pulling on their ropes. More advanced practitioners can experience a similar action in backbending poses such as Dhanurasana.

Continued on next page 13

Spring / Summer 2010

Yoga Samachar

References 1. Barnes PM, Bloom B. Complementary and alternative medicine use among adults and children: United States, 2007. Hyattsville, MD: National Center for Health Statistics, Division of Health Interview Statistics. National Health Statistics Reports, Number 12, December 10, 2008. Available at: http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/ data/nhsr/nhsr012.pdf.

KeepING A YOGA TrADITION ALIVe

2.

Pomidori L, Campigotto F, Amatya TM, Bernardi L, Cogo A. Efficacy and tolerability of yoga breathing in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease: a pilot study. J Cardiopulm Rehabil Prev 2009;29:133–7.

3.

Donesky-Cuenco D, Nguyen HQ, Paul S, Carrieri-Kohlman V. Yoga therapy decreases dyspnea-related distress and improves functional performance in people with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease: a pilot study. J Altern Complement Med 2009;15:225–34.

“For more than 20 years, in the same small studio on the third floor of the Greenwich Senior/Arts Center, students of the Iyengar style of yoga have come most Wednesdays to practice,” the front-page article relates. “They set out their mats, and gather the blankets, blocks and, sometimes, chairs that the method is known for, the props used to help in performing the positions correctly.

4.

Iyengar B.K.S. Prana and pranayama. Yoga Rahasya 2009:232.

5.

Iyengar BKS. Light on Pranayama. New York: Crossroad Publishing Co., 2000.

6.

Kendall FP, McCreary EK, Provance PG. Muscle Testing and Function. 4th ed. Philadelphia: Lippincott, Williams & Wilkins, 1993.

7.

Starr JA. Pulmonary system. In: Myers RS, ed.

Saunders Manual of Physical Therapy Practice.

Philadelphia: Saunders, 1995:253–312.

8.

Alvarez SE, Peterson M, Lunsford BR. Respiratory treatment of the adult patient with spinal cord injury. Phys Ther 1981;61:1737–45.

9.

Reid WD, Dechman D. Considerations when testing and training the respiratory muscles.

Phys The 1995;75:971–82.

Continuing with yoga after a beloved senior teacher is gone—that’s the subject of a recent profile in the Greenwich Time about former students of Mary Dunn who are now teaching her classes, a Wednesday institution in Greenwich, Connecticut, for decades.

“Up until a little more than a year ago, there was always another constant of the Iyengar method: Mary Dunn, the teacher who brought the classes to Greenwich.”

Now six teachers, all taught by Mary Dunn, rotate in teaching the classes: Cathy Eising, Judith Friedman, Jill Ganassi, Nancy Kardon, Leslie Manes, and Cynthia Worby Nero.

Now six teachers, all taught by Mary, rotate in teaching the classes: Cathy Eising, Intermediate Junior I of Waccabuc, Judith Friedman, Introductory of Bedford, Jill Ganassi, Introductory of Tuckahoe, Nancy Kardon, Introductory of Scarsdale, Leslie Manes, Intermediate Junior I of North Salem, and Cynthia Worby Nero, Intermediate Junior I, of Bedford, all in New York.

The article quotes Greenwich resident Abby Gross, 86, who started taking Mary's class in 1988, “Mary was a big inspiration to all of us… She just was so well-trained and enthusiastic herself that she encouraged others. It’s wonderful that they kept this tradition going.”

10. Cluzel P, Similowski T, Chartrand-Lefebvre C, et al. Diaphragm and chest wall: assessment of the inspiratory pump with MR imaging— preliminary observations. Radiology 2000;215:574–83.

Mary, a founding director of IYNAUS and a founder of three Iyengar Yoga Institutes in the United States—in San Francisco, San Diego, and New York—died in September 2008. In June, the Iyengar Yoga Association of Greater New York will celebrate her memory with the second annual Mary Dunn Weekend of events to benefit the Mary Dunn Fund. Tax-deductible contributions, to continue Mary’s lifelong work for the spread of Iyengar Yoga and excellence in teaching, may be made to IYAGNY, 150 West 22nd Street, 11th Floor, New York, NY 10011; please indicate “Mary Dunn Fund” on checks.

11. Finucane KE, Panizza JA, Singh B. Efficiency of the normal human diaphragm with hyperinflation. J Appl Physiol 2005;99:1402–11.

12. Hodges PW, Butler JE, McKenzie DK, Gandevia SC. Contraction of the human diaphragm during rapid postural adjustments. J Physiol 1997;505(pt 2):539–48.

13. Iyengar, Yogacarya B.K.S. Astadala Yogamala 8:38.

—Richard Jonas

14. Moffat M, Frownfelter D, eds. Cardiovascular/ Pulmonary Essentials: Applying the Preferred Physical Therapist Practice Patterns. Thorofare, NJ: SLACK, Inc., 2007.

Yoga Samachar Spring / Summer 2010

14

ShINING LIGhT ON NeW eNGLAND: The FIrST reGIONAL IYeNGAr YOGA CONFereNCe

by Linda DiCarlo The first Regional Iyengar Yoga Conference was held in Providence, Rhode Island, from October 16 through 18, 2009.

The faculty is introduced to attendees at the Friday evening reception.

From conception to manifestation, the journey was action packed. Gloria Goldberg and Marla Apt, two past presidents of IYNAUS, conjured the With a wealth of expertise in our national idea and first mentioned the concept at the IYNAUS board meeting of March 2008. Our community, we had many choices so long intention was to use the conference to promote Iyengar Yoga to all yoga practitioners, to as teachers’ calendars were not booked introduce the community to local teachers as well as teachers from other regions, and to given the short notice. In the end, we generate income to support IYNAUS. chose a total of 22 teachers, with New England being strongly represented.

At the time this work began, we had only 33 certified teachers in all of New England.

Included were those who are pillars of The organizers had minimal experience with this sort of project. Our time line was very our regional community, with esteemed short: less than a year and a half until the opening date. teachers from other parts of the country to round out the teaching staff.

HOW DID THIS HAPPEN? Fortunately, these people fully supported Boston, with its eager community of volunteers, was selected as the conference site this project. Some even shuffled their (there were no other cities vying for this distinction). In addition to Patricia Walden’s calendars to make it possible to Boston community, a contingent of students and teachers from every state in New participate.

England joined in to bring the dream to fruition. The first committees to take shape were the Steering Committee (Patricia Walden, Peentz Dubble, Jill Johnson, Greg As word of what was in the works began Anton, Linda DiCarlo) and the Curriculum Committee (Patricia Walden, Janice Vein, to spread, inquiries began to flood in Linda DiCarlo, Gloria Goldberg). These committees met via conference call and email so from across the country. It was clear that that travel demands of a multistate group were minimized. The Steering Committee was registration, accommodations, and at the helm of the project and collectively made decisions that shaped the entire event. general logistics were going to be Peentz and Jill took charge of the venue and were responsible for the logistics of the substantive tasks. Early on in this actual event; Greg communicated with all committee heads and orchestrated production process, we were blessed by an offer from and the budgets of 12 committees; and Patricia and Linda cochaired the Curriculum New Hampshire’s Diana Shannon to head Committee, designed the basic structure of the conference, and selected the teachers to up the Web Site and Registration be invited. With these key individuals in place, we were ready to launch the project.

Committees. We were awed by Diana’s priceless skill set and heroic attitude toward sticking to our time line. With her valiant effort, the web site took shape.

More committees were needed, so the Steering Committee came up with a list of people for these leadership positions who were invited to join our gathering Our original idea was to hold the conference in Boston during peak fall colors. We force of conference organizers. In late discovered all but a very few hotels were booked with parents’ weekend for Boston September 2008, 12 volunteers took universities or annual boat races on the Charles River. With only one option in the suburbs, charge of these new areas of responsibility our consultant suggested we consider Providence. Although it was Brown University’s (Audio/Visual, Finance, Food, Venue, Parents’ Weekend, we were able to secure adequate space in downtown Providence at the Sponsors, Events, Advertising, Vendors, Rhode Island Convention Center and Westin Hotel, which were conveniently joined by a Volunteers, Website, Registration, and glass-enclosed walkway.

Curriculum) and were required to devise an action plan and to propose a budget.

As soon as the dates and location were identified, Patricia and Linda collaborated to These committee chairs all needed select the teaching staff. Consideration was given to creating a well-rounded group. volunteers. To recruit them, we relied not

Our original idea was to hold the conference in Boston during peak fall colors.

15

Spring / Summer 2010

Yoga Samachar

only on the region’s teachers, who called on their students, but we also provided an opportunity for participants to register as volunteers when they registered for the conference. In total, there were about 170 individuals on our list of willing helpers.

With Mary Wixted, a Massachusetts teacher, as chair of the committee of volunteers, they proved critical to the success of the conference. We now had a critical mass of energy. Although most of us knew each other from the perspective of a yoga class, creating a conference gave our relationships a broader dimension that would carry over into the birth of a new regional association.

broader and included students who were not Iyengar students. Each day, morning asana classes and afternoon restorative and pranayama classes were offered for three levels of students. In the Special Topic classes, a unique feature of our program, teachers offered classes on their areas of expertise. With over 30 classes to choose from, the range of topics was vast: The History of Yoga, Emotional Healing, Alignment and the Asymmetrical Body, How to Start a Personal Practice, Arm Balancing—the list goes on.

The 90th Birthday Exhibit honoring B.K.S. Iyengar was on display for participants and teachers to visit during their free time.

A welcoming reception was held on Friday evening, where all the teachers were recognized, honored, and introduced to the attendees. On Saturday afternoon, John Schumacher delivered the keynote address, “Iyengar Yoga and the Power of Intention” (available at: http://www.unitywoods.com/MARKETING/JS_RI2009.pdf). Midday on Sunday, there was a panel discussion of senior teachers entitled “An Intimate View of Iyengar Yoga.” With Joan White as moderator, Patricia Walden, Manouso Manos, Dean Lerner, and Mary Reilly shared their personal views, experiences, and insights as longstanding members of the Iyengar community. After the panel discussion, Lighting the Way awards were given to Joan White and Mary Dunn (received in her honor by her friend Elizabeth Whalley) to recognize them for the exceptional work performed for the Iyengar Yoga community.

As the event drew near, Vendor Co-Chairs Liz Owen and Annie Hoffman continued to recruit vendors to join the IYNAUS Store to fill ten slots in our market place.

The vendors offered a variety of yoga props, yoga teaching aids, clothing, and jewelry and an assortment of goods from the IYNAUS Store. The Steering Committee refined our plans for the welcoming reception, and we began the search for chairs. Our intention was to rent 400 metal chairs for use as props in asana classes. The Rhode Island community, under Deb Newton’s leadership, was in charge of this search. It turns out that the wonderful metal chairs we use no longer are easily available.

Companies and organizations have replaced them with a much cheaper plastic version. After dozens of phone calls to local schools, churches, and organizations, we were finally able to locate just enough chairs for our needs.

But hauling them to and from the convention center required hours of volunteer time. If you become inspired to rally support for a regional conference in your area, let me recommend that you skip the idea of providing chairs for each person. The chairs remained a topic of discussion in the Rhode Island community for some time even after the convention. Fortunately, we have developed a sense of humor about them.

The New England community agreed to take on the task of organizing the conference in May, and seven months later, by December 2008, the structure for the entire project was planned and implemented.

WHO ATTENDED? The New England community agreed to take on the task of organizing the conference in May, and seven months later, by December 2008, the structure for the entire project was planned and implemented. We continued to recruit volunteers for special projects right up until the week of the conference.

The website launched in mid January 2009. We opened registration as planned and gave our regional students a two-week window of opportunity before we opened registration to students nationwide. We were thrilled to see 176 New England students jump at the chance to register. The composition of the group attendees is interesting to note. Although 243 of the 413 attendees were from New England, we attracted students from 18 other states, the District of Columbia, and two other countries. Beginners made up 10% of the group, 43% were teachers, and 13% were studio owners. We did not monitor how many attendees were new to the Iyengar method. This would be interesting to know for future events.

In general, the feedback from students and teachers alike has been exceptionally positive. Committee members, too, felt very good about the success of this event. The survey completed by some of the attendees gave us tremendous praise and gratitude as well as constructive suggestions for subsequent events. Although we did work diligently to create this conference, it was well worth the energy and time. This was an amazing experience on many levels. The following comments from attendees and one of the faculty members convey this concept quite nicely.

WHAT WAS THE STRUCTURE OF THE EVENT? The structure of the conference was clearly different from that of previous conventions. Our target audience was Yoga Samachar Spring / Summer 2010

16

Steering Committee members Greg Anton, Provincetown on the Cape; Jill Johnson, Lebanon, New Hampshire; Peentz Dubble, Newton, Massachusetts; and Linda Di Carlo, Cranston, Rhode Island (not shown, Patricia Walden, Cambridge Massachusetts).

The IYNAUS Book Store, one of 10 vendors in the conference marketplace.

IYNAUS General Manager Sharon Cowdery (center) with helpers.

The New England community and guest teachers at the well-attended reception, a time for old friends to reconnect, for the many voices os conference calls to meet face to face, and for networking with new acquaintances.

Peentz Dubble updating attendees on logistics for the upcoming event.

Discussion panel Mary Reilly, Manuso Manos, Dean Lerner, Patricia Walden (front) with moderator Joan White (far right).

Photos by Sean P. Rogan of Cranston, Rhode Island.

At the last class of the conference, a most welcome Savasana.

17

Spring / Summer 2010

Yoga Samachar

GRACE FROM RHODE ISLAND I took classes ranging from standing poses to inversions to emotional regulation through yoga. Each teacher’s unique personality was evident in each class, but I was struck by the amazing consistency in the teaching points among all the teachers. I left the conference with a deep respect for the certification process that Iyengar teachers complete. Throughout the conference it was clear that Iyengar teachers offer guidance truly steeped in tradition.

hello. This first Regional Yoga Conference was, I believe, the very first time where it felt as though we, as teachers, could fully express our own knowledge and understanding of Iyengar Yoga by coming from the deepest and most unique part of ourselves. Nothing felt hierarchical, everything felt very even, as though we were all on the same level playing field. And I truly believe it was the way in which the organizers themselves went about reaching out to all of us from the beginning by focusing on drawing on our greatest strengths, in addition to their kind and open spirit they brought forth in putting this program together, that this most generous and buoyant atmosphere could take place.

In addition, it was the most wonderful feeling for me to be able to go into the large round rotunda and see 60 to 70 students all highly disciplined and for the most part very well trained—at their own level—so enthusiastic and eager to learn what I had to teach about alignment and asymmetry. I think this is also what was so remarkable about this convention: this beautiful balance between a certain high-quality level of participant and a certain high-quality level of experience of teacher causing an amazing pedagogical exchange to occur. Not only was the mix and matching of the classes and workshops well thought out amongst the organizers, but it also demonstrated another kind of balance: the collective maturation over the years of both the teachers and the students. The creation of this regional program, where each teacher was allowed to freely pass on what they have learned over the years, and where each student was allowed to freely reveal his or her capacity for grasping greater and greater refinement in the yoga asanas, made it possible for us to share in a marvelous experiential process of having grown up together. I found this to be not only very exhilarating, but extremely empowering.

When the conference was over, I gained new insights and renewed commitment to my yoga practice, but I also left with something much more. By attending the full conference, I had allowed myself to be immersed in yoga. This immersion allowed me the opportunity to have a deeper experience with what I had previously only briefly touched through yoga: an experience of the quiet, revitalizing power that resides within.

This experience was an unexpected bonus from the weekend, an experience that had reverberations in the rest of my life off the yoga mat. Of course, as the weeks and months have passed, the post-conference glow has dimmed somewhat, but the lingering memory of sipping from a nourishing well within my Self remains.

The best convention I have attended, because we, as teachers and as a community, have come of age.

CATHY FROM MASSACHUSETTS The most special part of the conference was the community it built between my teachers, yoga classmates, my own students, and me. It was wonderful to have an opportunity to be with fellow students and spend time getting to know them better over meals and free time.

There are fellow yogis that I have been in class with for over ten years and never had the opportunity to spend time with them. It was a great opportunity to introduce my students to the senior teachers helping to create additional enthusiasm in them for Iyengar Yoga.

Sharing a common love of yoga with like-minded people established a true feeling of camaraderie and friendship that I cherish.

KARIN FROM MASSACHUSETTS For me The Shining Light Convention which took place in Providence, Rhode Island, in October of 2009 was by far the best Iyengar Yoga convention I have ever attended. I believe it is because we, as teachers and as a community as a whole, have at last come of age. In spite of the cold, rainy and windy weather outdoors, indoors was a wonderfully warm atmosphere not just between the organizers and the teachers, the teachers and the students, but also between the teachers and teachers. The minute I walked upstairs in the main reception area, people behind the reception desk called out my name, “Hi Karin,” and with a wonderfully friendly hug, immediately handed me my t-shirt and bag of goods. At the reception every single teacher, many of whom I hadn't seen for quite some time, came up to me and hugged me and said

CATHERINE FROM MAINE For me personally, going to the conference was a wonderful treat, as well as a real turning point for my personal yoga practice. I have been practicing for three years now, and often my weekly class was the only yoga I could fit into my busy schedule. So not only was it truly wonderful to dedicate three days entirely to practice, but since then I have also brought my practice more richly into my day-to-day life.

The principles that Iyengar Yoga are built upon fit my own personal, emotional and mental rhythms very well, and I am very grateful that it is part of my life.

ARE YOU CONSIDERING THIS IDEA FOR YOUR COMMUNITY? The IYNAUS plan is to have a regional conference each year in the off-years of the national convention. The next regional conference will be sponsored by the Midwest Continued on page 21

Yoga Samachar Spring / Summer 2010

18

FeLICITY GreeN reCeIVeS LIGhTING The WAY AWArD

Felicity first met Mr. Iyengar when he came to San Francisco in 1974, although she had been studying his method since the early 1970s. From 1976 until 2000, she traveled often to Pune to study, until long distance flights became detrimental to her health. In recalling her first visit with 14 others from the United States and Canada, one of her most vivid memories is the first class. Mr. Iyengar began it with Sirsasana and asked them to drop back into Viparita Dandasana—repeatedly. No one in the group had ever done this before, but it immediately diminished any fears.

Steven Horn, stevehorn.net

For the last 40 years, Felicity Green has been practicing, teaching, and promoting the yoga of B.K.S. Iyengar. This year, at age 77, she receives the Lighting the Way award for distinguished volunteer service to the Iyengar Yoga community.

Felicity was a founding member of the Iyengar Institute in San Francisco and a member of their faculty from 1976 to 1983.

From there, she spent three years living in Canada at the ashram of Swami Radha, which had a profound effect on her understanding of philosophy. When she returned to the United States, she settled in Seattle and created the Community Yoga Circle. In the early 1990s, she organized and helped lead the first Northwest Regional association. She later helped revitalize interest and started the current IYANW in 2003.

the aging population of the island, she devised a class to keep her students strong and mobile enough to stay in their homes and live independently and safely for as long as possible. In addition, she continues to teach one-on-one and works with teachers preparing for certification.

Initially, Mr. Iyengar selected a small group of teachers to certify other teachers. This group, of which Felicity was a member, was instrumental in creating the current assessment process. In the beginning, there were teachers on each coast separately deciding who they believed deserved certification. Felicity remembers that the need for consistency between the two groups is one of the major reasons that the national organization and a more standardized assessment process came into being. In the minutes of an early IYNAUS board meeting, Felicity is given credit for the idea of standardizing the process. She was a member of the first elected IYNAUS Board and served as an assessor until 2005.

Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras tell us that long, uninterrupted practice is the foundation of yoga. Felicity Green’s contribution to the Iyengar Yoga community has been just that. The IYNAUS Board is honored to present her with the third annual Lighting the Way award.

Her teaching in the United States, Canada, New Zealand, Australia, Switzerland, and her native South Africa has inspired thousands and has promoted Iyengar Yoga throughout the world. Trained as an occupational therapist, Felicity was attracted to the healing powers of yoga, on both the physical and psychological level. Because her husband studied with Ida Rolf, she was familiar with that system of structural integration that values the integrity of the body. She believed that Iyengar Yoga aligned perfectly with that knowledge. She says that Guruji’s teaching and method appealed to both her rational mind and her spirit. She recognized early on Mr. Iyengar’s concept of the integration of Asana and philosophy and brought it into her own teaching.

She joins previous recipients Joan White and Mary Dunn. Our organization has grown from a core of pioneers who began in the 1970s to promote the teachings of B.K.S. Iyengar. It is important to honor our past as we look to our future. It is hoped that this award will bring to the rest of the community the potential and need for volunteer contributions.

In 1997, Felicity moved to Lopez Island, off the coast near Seattle. The island is 15 miles long and 8 miles wide, with 2200 year-round residents. Every one of them thinks they live in paradise and are sure that Felicity Green was sent there to make it better. Of all the things she has accomplished in promoting the benefits of yoga, perhaps her most treasured is the Creaky Yoga class that she created for her island residents. Inspired by

—Pat Musburger

19

Spring / Summer 2010

Yoga Samachar

ODe ON GIVING, WAr, AND The LIGhThOUSe AT ALeXANDrIA “Why Lie, I Need a Cold Beer” says the sign of the guy on the corner of Lafayette and Magnolia, so I give him a five because it’s ninety-four degrees, 100 percent humidity, and when he sees the bill he puts a sunburned hand on his heart. “Wanna get married?” I say no, but while driving through the sauna of that North Florida afternoon I realize it’s the only actual marriage proposal I’ve ever gotten, which means more to me than the hard cash in the pocket of my jeans, the ones and fives I stash to give the panhandlers who are lined up at the exit of the supermarket parking lot, a short gauntlet of men and women, who’ve seen harder times than I’ve glimpsed, outside a novel by Dickens or Zola, and since they’re always polite, thanking me, I thank them right back for the opportunity to give, because this dark world is filled with billboards advertising strip joints, gyms, funeral parlors, huckster televangelists with hymn books and Bibles, and though the Greeks called it agape as opposed to eros, the closest English word may be charity, what Buddhists call dana, one of six perfections, a kind of antidote to our slick world of want, or so it seems tonight in London where I’m walking home from the theater, the drone of war in the air, and I’m tipsy from a stop at the pub, Twelfth Night swirling in my head like a Renaissance mob storming Newgate or Tyburn, and a young man says, “God bless you, madam” when I hand him a pound coin. Oh, God, I think, I’m not sure what God is, but I know I can feel a current running through the world, amid the din, the grimy streets, headlines of war, under stars shining like the flame atop the Lighthouse at Pharos, leading ships from the dark and bottomless sea to the harbor at Alexandria with its library before burned by invaders, flames eating rolls of papyrus— Sophocles’ plays, the ripe, bitter poems of Catullus, all those kisses, Lesbia’s little bird—as they became again the thoughts they were when only a raging dream.

—Barbara Hamby Barbara Hamby teaches in the creative writing program at Florida State University in Tallahassee and studies with Julia DeHoff at the Namaste Yoga Center. Her latest book, All-Night Lingo Tango, was published in February 2009 by the University of Pittsburgh Press. During the spring 2009 semester, she was a visiting professor at the University of Houston and studied with Constance Braden at the Houston Iyengar Yoga Studio.

20

Yoga Samachar Spring / Summer 2010

Scoliosis, continued from page 9

Schumacher, continued from page 3

at all, and it’s back to square one for problem solving. When you have your house remodeled, you can stay somewhere else until the plaster dust settles and the paint fumes dissipate. While undergoing a major rehabilitation of the body, the person needs to remain in residence and cope with the rubble.

all around. We swim (or sink) in an ocean of energy. The essence of our practice is, as I see it, the process of aligning ourselves with the currents of energy our vessel moves in.

When the mind is open to dispassionate observation of the experience, there is no reason to stop with simple pain management for backache or prying open this place or that place in the physical structure.

Alignment is not just getting your bones all pointed in the right direction and balancing the forces in your joints. It is becoming sensitive to the currents in which you move and learning to align yourself with that flow so that you are carried toward your destination, your goal, so that those powerful currents are not in your face, not against you, but are, instead, behind you, with you, urging you on with greater intensity than you could muster on your own. When your intention is clear and strong and you move forward with great intensity and integrity, the Universe is on your side.

The end benefit, however, is profound. The individual is in the driver’s seat, struggling against the degeneration of the condition, instead of being a victim of the disorder. The benefits of the practice can be greater than the expectations. When the mind is open to dispassionate observation of the experience, there is no reason to stop with simple pain management for backache or prying open this place or that place in the physical structure. One can access all the profound benefits of yoga. Limitation in yoga is not a restriction imposed by physical conditions, but rather a lack of perception. When the struggle is intense, the revelation is more profound.

So our journey inward is guided by our intention and is energized by our intention.

When I said earlier that our practice and its encouraging effect on our intention lead us ever more deeply into ourselves, I also said AND THEN BACK OUT AGAIN!

Bobbie Fultz, Intermediate Junior II, lives in Denver, Colorado, and teaches workshops nationally and internationally.

Regional Convention, continued from page 15

It seems to me that whatever awakening, whatever opening up to the mystery and grandeur of it all we might touch in our practice, we have an obligation to manifest that awakening, to share it with our fellow beings. I mean, that’s the real reason for teaching, isn’t it? Because what arises from this awakening is a deep realization that we’re all in the pool together and that what I do affects you and what you do affects me.

community and will be held in Chicago in September 2011. Our committee members have been talking with the Midwest organizers and have made a wealth of information and experience available to them. The planning of the 2011 conference is providing an unforeseen opportunity to weave the web of connections within the larger Iyengar Yoga community. We wish them all the best in their endeavors. The third conference will be promoted in 2012. We hope that this account will help to inspire fellow yoga enthusiasts to seize the opportunity to raise the profile of Iyengar Yoga in their region.

The New England Regional Conference proved a boon for our community. It built enthusiasm for our method and a stronger sense of camaraderie among New England’s practitioners, and we have established the Iyengar Yoga Association of New England.

The entire keynote address is available at http:// www.unitywoods.com/MARKETING/JS_RI2009.pdf.

The next regional conference will be sponsored by the Midwest community and will be held in Chicago in September 2011.

John Schumacher is the founder and director of Unity Woods Yoga Center, the largest Iyengar Yoga center in the United States. He has taught in the Washington, DC, metropolitan area since 1973.

John received Advanced Junior I certification from B.K.S. Iyengar.

Contact Patrina Dobish, IYNAUS Events Committee Chair, to discuss your community’s interest in sponsoring the 2012 Conference.

Linda DiCarlo resides in Pawtucket, Rhode Island. She is the Director of Iyengar Yoga Source, a yoga studio in an historic New England village. She is a past president of IYNAUS, an assessor, and an Intermediate Junior 3 teacher.

21

Spring / Summer 2010

Yoga Samachar

IYNAUS STOre NeWS

bOOK reVIeW

We’re looking forward to seeing many of our certified Iyengar teachers at the upcoming “Reflection” convention in Portland, Oregon. We’ll be showcasing products from India including books, DVDs, and props identical to those used at RIMYI, the Institute in Pune.

YOGA, KArMA AND rebIrTh: A brIeF hISTOrY AND phILOSOphY Written by Stephen Phillips. New York: Columbia University Press, 2009. ISBN 978-0-231-14485-8. 368 pages. $22.95.

Our entire line of products, including many books from senior Iyengar teachers, can be viewed on our website: http://www.iynaus.org/store/. We offer wholesale pricing for teachers and qualified yoga centers. Please inquire by e-mail to storemanager@iynaus.org or by phone to (206) 623-3562 for further information regarding wholesale pricing.

reviewed by peggy Kelley Although not a large book, Stephen Phillips’ Yoga, Karma and Rebirth bears the stamp of a broad mind, a generous heart, and long years of studying yoga philosophy in the original Sanskrit.

His intention in writing it was dual: “to help yoga teachers and practitioners appreciate the breadth and depth of yoga… [and] to chart common and uncommon suppositions of the central manuals of the more prominent types.” In the process of actualizing these purposes, Dr. Phillips literally has brought himself into the stream of yoga philosophers, offering his own very learned and high-minded interpretation of seminal texts. In fact, he explains that the book grew out of his teaching of an upper-level course in the Department of Philosophy at the University of Texas at Austin, where he has been a professor for many years, entitled “Yoga as Philosophy and Practice.” In addition, the book is informed by his own yoga practice.

A few of the many new items we are stocking include Iyengar Yoga for Motherhood by Geeta Iyengar, the DVD Addiction, Recovery and Yoga produced

by Senior Teacher Lindsey Clennell, and The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali: A New Edition, Translation and Commentary by scholar and longtime Iyengar practitioner Edwin Bryant. Please visit the store webpage for full details on these and other new products.

Five chapters form the heart of the book: “Theory and Practice,” “Yoga and Metaphysics,” “Karma,” “Rebirth,” and “Powers.” Five appendices offer Dr. Phillips’ readable and yoga-practice–informed translations of passages from a handful of Upanishads (the Taittiriya, the Katha, the Mundaka, and the Shvetashvatara), the Bhagavad Gita, Kashmiri Shaivite texts, the Hatha Yoga Pradipika, and a complete translation of the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali.

Because of the teachers’ convention, the store will not be shipping orders during the week of May 10–14. Orders will be accepted online; however, they will not ship until May 17.

The first chapter, “Theory and Practice,” gives very useful historical background outlining the course of what we call “yoga philosophy.” Indeed, the question of exactly what yoga philosophy might comprise is also a central one of the book, because India historically has been looked to as the home of consciousness studies. Although he does not dwell on far-flung correspondences, Phillips does note that some scholars have analyzed links between the yoga tradition of India and Sufism, and even between the yoga tradition and Christianity. Recognizing that yoga practice in the West has led to the phenomenon of group yoga classes, most of which focus on asana practice, Dr. Phillips gives an outline of a typical class. Then he proceeds to offer his historical outline of the literature from the earliest Vedas to the early modern exponents of yoga, including Vivekenanda, Krishnamacharya, and Aurobindo. His discussion and scholarly historical review will be a boon to any contemporary yoga teacher wishing to deepen her understanding and to communicate that deeper understanding of the tradition to her students.

If there is an item you cannot locate or would like to suggest for our store inventory, please do let us know.

The second chapter, “Yoga and Metaphysics,” gives a refreshing critical view of Patanjali’s rendering of yoga philosophy. Phillips gives full credit to the Yoga Sutras for their lasting contribution to the yogic understanding of the workings of the mind in contemplation and meditation, yet he has his differences with Patanjali as a philosopher.

I will save details of the critique for the reader to discover on her own. Suffice it to say that Phillips emphasizes that he is not alone in seeing a type of what he calls “selfYoga Samachar Spring / Summer 2010

22

IYeNGAr YOGA eVeNTS

stultification” in Patanjali’s philosophy, culminating in its final chapter on aloneness.

Kaivalya, the Sanskrit word for aloneness, can be seen as a kind of self-absorption that refuses to be involved in the world.

Each “per workshop date” listing, for Certified Teachers and IYNAUS member sponsors only, costs $25.00 and includes listing on the IYNAUS website.

(For example, Teacher Trainings that meet more than one time must pay $25.00 per date listed.) Please submit your listings with payment (check made to IYNAUS) to Newsletter c/o Sharon Cowdery, 1300 Clay Street, Suite 600, Oakland, CA 94612.

Deadline for Fall / Winter 2010 issue is September 1, 2010.

The “tantric turn” is Phillips’ phrase describing the spin that (among others) Kashmiri Shaivite philosophers put on the possibility of “marrying yoga with the world,” rather than using yoga to suppress and reject nature. This turn, although prefigured in the Bhagavad Gita (which predates the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali), had its flowering in the tenth and eleventh centuries, well after the date of the Yoga Sutras. The philosophers of this period in Kashmir, in particular Abhinava Gupta, offer a remarkable commentary on the possibility of involving yoga practices in the appreciation of art and beauty and the life of the senses.

Phillips raises these questions, yet rather than giving answers, wisely offers instead this overview of the strengthening expanse of a wide range of yoga philosophy.

Manouso Manos June 11-13 Iyengar Yoga Institute of Los Angeles 310.558.8212 iyila.org Karin O’Bannon June 25 – 27 Iyengar Yoga Institute of Los Angeles 310.558.8212 iyila.org

In his chapter “Karma,” Phillips outlines his philosophic loyalty to the notion that an emotional and mental self can survive physical death (after all, no yoga philosopher or practitioner versed in the philosophy could possibly be a materialist, as Phillips points out) and that this survival indeed depends on one’s actions during this life. Finally, the chapter “Powers” invokes John Rawls, a professor at Harvard Law School (Phillips’ own alma mater) and his famous work on the theory of justice. What more could the yoga practitioner want than a culture in which she would be allowed to develop natural talents freely? Why would it be important to be born into wealth if the temptations of wealth might lead one away from a yogic ability to appreciate the ephemeral beauties of art and life while remaining conscious of death? How can classical yoga philosophy, with its emphasis on purity and nonviolence, serve us in developing holistic health and seeing our way through our environmental crisis?

Manouso Manos July 16-18 Iyengar Yoga Institute of Los Angeles 310.558.8212 iyila.org Praveena Arun H.S. July 30 – August 1 Iyengar Yoga Institute of Los Angeles 310.558.8212 iyila.org

Phillips raises these questions, yet rather than giving answers, wisely offers instead this overview of the strengthening expanse of a wide range of yoga philosophy. The confidence he exhibits in the beauty and ethical soundness of the tradition considered as a whole will fortify the resolve of any yoga practitioner or teacher. What a noble calling we have found! And what a gift this book is to broaden our understanding of our tradition.

Carrie Owerko September 10 – 12 Iyengar Yoga Institute of Los Angeles 310.558.8212 iyila.org

Peggy Kelley has been a certified Iyengar Yoga teacher for over 25 years and an assessor for six. She directs the Austin Yoga Institute in Texas, where Iyengar teachers receive training, and is writing a book on the interface between Iyengar Yoga and Ayurveda.

Intermediate Jr. Teacher Training Joan White and Gloria Goldberg September 2 – 5 B.K.S. Iyengar Yoga Center of La Mesa 8285 La Mesa Blvd., Ste C La Mesa CA 91941 yogagold2@gmail.com 619.871.8380 iyclm.com

IYENGAR YOGA PRODUCTS WANTED! Yogamatters is Europe’s leading distributor of Iyengar Yoga resources.

Do you have any Iyengar products that you would like distributed in Europe?

Please contact paul@yogamatters.com

23

Spring / Summer 2010

Yoga Samachar

IYNAUS MeMberShIp Membership is open to all persons who study the art, science, and philosophy of yoga according to the teachings of B.K.S. Iyengar.

Membership, renewable each calendar year, is a condition for holding a United States Iyengar Yoga Teaching Credential.

To become a member, complete this form and mail it to the address below, or visit www.iynaus.org/join.php to join online.

Mail-in Member Application Form personal profile Information – Print Clearly Complete and submit this form with the appropriate dues. Keep a copy of this completed form for your records. Your privacy is important to us. No personal information entered below is sold or displayed to the public.

First Name ____________________________________________ Last Name ______________________________________________ Birthdate: Month _______ Day ____ Year _________ Mailing Address_______________________________________________________________________________________________ City ___________________________________________________ State __________ Zip/Postal code ________________________ Email _______________________________________________________________________________________________________ Home Phone _________________________________________ Cell Phone ______________________________________________ Work Phone__________________________________________ Fax ___________________________________________________ Website _____________________________________________________________________________________________________ Contact Preference: Home ____ Cell____ Work ____ Email ____ I have passed an assessment or I am a Teacher in a foreign country. yes ____ no____ I am a former member of a US Iyengar Yoga Association. yes ____ no____ I am a Certified Teacher applying for member reinstatement. yes ____ no____ If you answered ’yes’ to any question above, contact the IYNAUS Membership Chair.

New members may select membership directly with IYNAUS or through your local region to insure that you receive information pertinent to your area. $30 is retained by IYNAUS with the balance sent to your selected region. Either membership entitles you to IYNAUS Newsletters and to participate in elections, order certification materials, apply for certification assessment, attend special events in Pune, and other benefits. If you would like to be a member of more than one Regional Iyengar Yoga Association, contact the IYNAUS Membership Chair.

Check mark your regional Iyengar Yoga Association membership selection:

_______ Greater NY . . . . . . . dues $65

_______ No. CA, SF . . . . . . . dues $60

_______ So. Nevada . . . . . . . dues $55

_______ Northwest. . . . . . . . dues $60

_______ Southeast U.S. . . . . dues $60

_______ Minnesota. . . . . . . . dues $55

_______ South Central U.S. . dues $60

_______ So. CA, San Diego. . dues $60

_______ Midwest . . . . . . . . . dues $60

_______ InterMountain . . . . dues $55

_______ So. CA, LA . . . . . . . dues $60

_______ IYNAUS-National . . dues $60

Enter the amount of your selected Association dues:

$ ________

Add $25 for a one-year subscription to Yoga Rahasya:

$ ________

TOTAL AMOUNT eNCLOSeD:

$ ________

Mail this completed application with a check made payable to IYNAUS to: IYNAUS: c/o Membership, 1952 First Ave. South, Ste. 1b, Seattle, WA 98134 phone/Fax 888-344-0434

Questions? www.iynaus.org/contact

www.iynaus.org

The ceramic bas-relief medallions of Guruji in various asanas that adorn the Ramamani Iyengar Memorial Yoga Institute in Pune, surrounding the near-lifesized statue of Guruji in Natarajasana (center), which dominates the courtyard. Top center: a bedecked bust of Ramamani Iyengar, Guruji’s late wife, to whom the Institute is dedicated. Bottom center: one of the Institute’s images of Patanjali. Photos by Don Gura.

ce Pla icia Ind ere H IYNAUS 1952 First Ave South, Ste. 1B Seattle WA 98134

Return Service Requested www.iynaus.org

Dr. Geeta S. Iyengar returns to America for “Reflection,� our Certified Teachers Convention, May 11 - 16, in Portland, Oregon. This first-ever convention focusing on Iyengar Yoga therapeutics with our beloved teacher is an unprecedented opportunity for study, learning, and deepening our understanding. IYNAUS welcomes Geetaji back to America!