can be between vision and body feeling, or other senses, or among the various body-feeling receptors.
Attention to one’s own body senses has to be an individual practice; it is not a treatment that someone else can perform on you.
This sensory cooperation forms an active system that you mold with your movements, including your yoga practice, as you learn
foam rubber and learned to distinguish different hardnesses of
to feel. Learning to see involves eye movements and the brain.
foam rubber with their feet. This exercise brought their
Learning to feel involves spinal pathways, the brain, learning
attention to body feeling. The researchers found that the elders
new movements, and change of muscle and connective tissue as
who became more aware of the feeling in their feet improved
we practice.
their balance abilities.
Maintaining Sensory Teamwork
Attention to one’s own body senses has to be an individual
With age, some people lose the teamwork among their senses
practice; it is not a treatment that someone else can perform on
(an aspect of sensorimotor integration, which is important for
you. I would like to see more knowledge and methods become
people of all ages). By using awareness, we build up the
available to those inclined to take personal responsibility for
teamwork among our senses. By ignoring one sense or
their own resilience in balance, mobility, and general health. In
overemphasizing another, a person can lose that teamwork.
Iyengar Yoga, there is a helpful emphasis on precision in asanas
Most commonly, elders overemphasize vision. Vision is easily
and on svadhyaya, which includes the awareness of body feeling.
available to awareness and seems precise. That’s why we use it in learning asanas such as Utthita Trikonasana. However,
Body feeling is an essential part of our balance and mobility
depending on vision alone limits balance resilience. As in
system that, when ignored, tends to fade over time. However,
finance, diversification is a good idea for sensing where your
awareness and practice can keep it strong and vivid.
body is in space and for avoiding a fall. Gin McCollum is a theoretical neurobiologist (www.works.bepress.com/ In an experiment by a Japanese team published in the June 2009
gin_mccollum) who has been practicing yoga, mostly the Iyengar
issue of Clinical Rehabilitation, elderly people stood on blocks of
method, for about 24 years.
PREPARING FOR PRASHANT BY ANNE-MARIE SCHULTZ
I
first went to Pune in July 2007. During that trip, my sister and I took the majority of our classes with Geeta Iyengar. Our first practice session coincided with Prashant’s birthday, so Pandu escorted us to a space right in front of Prashant. What an auspicious start.
Anne-Marie Schultz in front of the institute—Pune, India
Prashant gave a short talk on the importance of learning the
exposure to Prashant, I realize that my perplexity resulted from
subject of yoga. He is a teacher of yoga, not a guru. He teaches
a lack of familiarity with him. Unfortunately, I didn’t take his
that learning the subject of yoga prepares us to be worthy of a
classes often enough for his teachings to make as much of an
guru-sisha relationship. His humility was remarkable. I
impression on me as our five classes a week with Geeta did.
embraced the opportunity to learn the subject of yoga more deeply while we were there. However, our main contact with
Nonetheless, his ideas worked their way into me. “Prepare
Prashant was the “Tuesday Evenings with Prashant” class. We
yourself” and “The outfit of the mind” and “Create a culture for
listened to a highly nuanced philosophy lecture while hanging
yog” became permanent parts of my internal discourse about
in Rope Sirsasana or coiling over a chair in Dwi Pada Viparita
how I prepare myself for yoga practice and for what I hope to
Dandasana or studying ourselves in Utthita Trikonasana.
achieve both on and off the mat. Prepare yourself, prepare yourself, prepare yourself. Any time I’m in chair Dwi Pada for
As a professional philosophy teacher, I didn’t mind the
any length of time, this one comes to my mind and a smile
philosophy, but I found the format pedagogically perplexing.
comes to my face. Prashant didn’t say much about exactly what
Was I supposed to concentrate on the pose or the philosophical
we are preparing ourselves for. At first, I took it like the Boy
point? Should I pay attention to the sequence of postures or the
Scout motto, “Be prepared.” After a couple classes, I sensed that
unfolding of the philosophical ideas? As I reflect on that initial
philosophy for Prashant is, much like philosophy was for
Spring/Summer 2015 Yoga Samachar
25
