Yoganusasanam BY MELISSA LORRAINE HAGEN
Geeta seated at the 2014 Yoganusasanam intensive Photo: Nancy Baldon
After more than two days of half-sleeping in airports and on
Abhijata impressed us all
planes, the taxi ride from Mumbai to Pune was like a dream:
with wonderful metaphors
the speed at which we drove, racing tiny rickshaws, familiar
and storytelling. Her first
plants that I recognized from home—esperanza,
lecture was on the
bougainvillea—but massive because they never have to face a
speciality of the Iyengar
freeze. Everything looked slightly different: the tall brown and
system. She explained that
grey stained buildings, laundry strung out on lines, the English
yoga is the individual consciousness merging with the universal
advertisements for cleaner living in fancy condominiums, the
consciousness. She told many stories of Guruji, including one
lack of sidewalks. I had never imagined I would have the
where he had slipped and fell in the library during monsoon
opportunity to come to Pune so soon!
season and hurt his knee. He didn’t say that it hurt, but she could see it in his Virasana and in his eyes when he practiced.
In January 2014, I had decided to go up for my first assessment.
She told him to take a day off from medical classes and to rest,
It was scheduled for September, but last summer, Geeta
but he insisted on going. He said, “Yes, my knee has a pain, but I
announced her Yoganusasanam intensive. When I casually
am fine!” This story came into my mind many times during the
expressed that I wished I could go, my mentor, Peggy Kelley,
following week as I was doing my best to take care of a
lifted her chin slightly and said that I should. It seemed
recovering injury in my thoracic spine that mostly didn’t hurt
impossible to me at first; my part-time job barely covered the
but always felt tight and induced anxiety when I thought about
cost of my teacher training and the extra classes I was taking.
having to do Sirsasana without ropes or chairs. On Day 5, we did
But Peggy said we could do some fundraising, so I submitted a
a lot of Eka Pada Sirsasana work, and from the very first one,
hopeful request to IYASCUS for a scholarship. (Thank you,
there was a lingering dull pain beneath my right shoulder
South Central association!)
blade. After these, I did take full Sirsasana without much problem, but it was already too late. I was fearful that I had
For me, the theme of this entire trip was community. I couldn’t
reinjured my back. I felt lucky to be able to ask a few senior
have gone without the support of my teachers and students,
teachers for advice: Should I avoid deep backbends? Is Sirsasana
and once I arrived, I was immersed. Each morning, the
harmful?
gymnasium slowly filled with people, laying down mats, taking photos, and making friends. I was thrilled to be among my
Laurie Blakeney told me that when someone experienced pain,
tribe! Austin has a relatively small Iyengar Yoga community,
Guruji would say to give it a few hours to settle and not to
and it was lovely to share ideas and stories and talk endlessly
worry too much right away. She also reminded me that when
about my passion with people who feel the same way, have
we have had an injury for a long time, it can be more helpful to
read the books, and have put in the practice. Some who even
work the areas around the injury instead of the injured place
met the man himself. To many, he was real. He was flesh and
itself. The biggest lesson, though, was to not be so attached to
bone, fire and fury, on and off the mat. Many had made the
the pain I was experiencing. I came to realize that my injury is
journey to Pune before I was born and were now sharing
a strength—a teacher—and not simply a weakness that
treasured memories of his grace and gratitude.
prevents me from standing on my head for five minutes at a time. I have to be sensitive and aware enough to protect myself,
The asana classes were, of course, brilliant. We worked
while not beginning every practice with only the memories of
primarily from the Introductory syllabus, and each day after
yesterday’s asanas. I was able to adjust my spine in Parivrtta
lunch, we assembled for presentations. What an honor to see
Janu Sirsasana and a long Paschimottanasana the next day, and I
Geeta in action, explaining with clarity what is required in even
didn’t have too much trouble for the rest of the intensive. Upon
the simplest of asanas: skin of the back moves toward the front,
returning home, I began doing Sirsasana again, this time
skin of the front lifts, eardrums soften and recede, shoulders
counting to 60 in my head, and coming down gently without pain.
down away from the ears—then drawing our awareness inside in preparation for the invocation. Her eagle eye could spot a
My first trip to India was more amazing than I can possibly find
misalignment from across the room, and we held poses while
words for. I returned home full of gratitude for my path and for
she directed the nearest volunteer in how to help, sometimes
my community, and excited to take on Introductory II this fall!
calling the person on stage so we could all learn from them. I asked one of the tight hipped French men what it was like to be
Melissa Lorraine Hagen has studied Iyengar Yoga in Austin, Texas, for
up there. He said it was terrifying, and her voice was stern, but
over four years and will take her Introductory II assessment in the fall.
he could see a little twinkle in her smiling eyes. Spring/Summer 2015 Yoga Samachar
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