Lifelong Practice: David Goldblatt – Rose Goldblatt

LifelongPractice

DAVID GOLDBLATT: HAVE FAITH IN THE PROCESS

BY ROSE GOLDBLATT

My father began his practice of Iyengar Yoga in 1972 and started teaching in 1976. Since childhood I have watched him maintain a consistent practice. In fact, he became my first yoga teacher and his devotion has inspired my own practice and ultimately my teaching as well. I was honored when Yoga Samachar asked me to interview him for the Lifelong Practice column. with limitations, there is always something to do.

Rose Goldblatt: How long have you been practicing yoga?

David Goldblatt: I started my yoga practice in the fall of 1972 disciplined person, practicing yoga as well as your trumpet for Maybe because I had to work so hard, and without that hard other aspects of life, not only discipline, that comes with yoga

and have maintained a regular and consistent practice since then.

RG: When and how did you discover Iyengar Yoga?

DG: I had just begun a training in psychotherapy in London, and many of the people in my group were studying yoga with Dona Holleman, who had trained with B.K.S. Iyengar. My supervisor encouraged me to start yoga, and I began with one of Dona’s students because Dona had recently left England for Italy. My first class was an Iyengar Yoga class. There were some other teachers while I lived in England, and they were all Iyengar Yoga teachers. When I came back to the states, all the workshops and classes I attended were taught by teachers who had trained with the Iyengars.

RG: Were you drawn to yoga for physical or spiritual reasons?

DG: I had no idea what yoga was before my first class. I was always a spiritual person seeking a path that worked for me and probably thought for those reasons that yoga was something I should try. What drew me back was the physical side because I saw the potential to develop strength and flexibility, and I loved the feeling of embodiment, the way yoga can allow you to feel at one with your body. It was much later memorable encounters with Mr. Iyengar when he helped me supportive and encouraging, and I cherish those memories.

that yoga became a spiritual practice for me.

RG: Did asana come easily for you, and were you flexible when you started?

DG: Asana did not come easily for me at all. I was the most inflexible person I’ve ever met. I had some strength but lacked the ability to extend or flex much in any direction. Since I was committed and practiced, eventually this changed and continues to change. Though I have made enormous strides, some things are still very difficult. Of course, we all know that having the picture-perfect asana is not what yoga is about. Now at 76, an aging body presents new challenges with strength and flexibility. The beauty of Iyengar Yoga is how how to work safely and make progress where possible. Even

RG: As long as I can remember, you have been a very hours every single day. Have you always been so disciplined?

DG: I have always been somewhat of a disciplined person because I know that without practice, progress cannot be made; anyone who plays a musical instrument knows this. Really, this all stems from love of what one is doing. Not only love of music but gardening as well, for example—because as you know, I grow our yearly supply of vegetables, and without discipline, the results will not come. Somehow with yoga, it was different because yoga gave me the gift of a greater discipline, which spilled over to other aspects of my life. In other words, with yoga, I developed a level of discipline I never had before. work, there could not be progress. There is an overflow into practice. We start to transform as a result of our practice, which seeps into all aspects of our body, emotions, mind, and spirit.

RG: Do you have a favorite memory from the early days of the Iyengars or of being in India?

DG: At the 1987 convention in Cambridge, I had two with Virabhadrasana I and another time when he watched me adjust someone in Parivrtta Trikonasana. Both times, he was correct alignment and use of props, for example, teaches one

I was only ever able to go to India once, and in 2013, I visited Pune and Bellur. I was deeply touched by what was happening in Bellur with the school and hospital and became aware of the tremendous and extensive charity work accomplished and ongoing by the Iyengar Trust.

RG: You have studied with many teachers. Are there particular teachers who have especially influenced your practice?

Rose and David Goldblatt in partner Navasana

DG: Living in rural northern New Hampshire, there were no Iyengar Yoga teachers—or in fact any other yoga teachers— to be found in the 1970s or 1980s, so I regularly attended workshops in other areas. These workshops taught by Dona Holleman, Judith Lasater, Donald Moyer, Arthur Kilmurray, Manouso Manos, Kevin Gardiner, Lois Steinberg, and others certainly influenced my asana practice, refinement, and understanding, and seeing the dedication and practice of these teachers inspired me. I also did a two-year teacher training with Janice Vien, and her wonderful teaching and magnanimous compassion will always be part of me.

It is really Patricia Walden, however, who has been the greatest influence on me for my own practice and dedication. It was Patricia’s inspiration as well that opened the door to yoga philosophy study. Patricia inspired me to study The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, The Bhagavad Gita, The Upanishads, and other important texts. Patricia will always be in my heart as a guidepost for the true spirit of yoga. I must also honor Dr. Edwin Bryant because, through his seminars, I was able to find ways to go deeper into understanding yoga philosophy. Although my personal contact with B.K.S. Iyengar was minimal, his unbelievable dedication and superb writings have been a mainstay since the beginning of my practice.

RG: How has your practice changed since your 30s and forward to your 70s? DG: In the early years, practice was mainly about asana and struggle with an inflexible body. Pranayama, the sutras, and yoga philosophy study came later. Pranayama has led me toward a more meditative practice in recent decades. I still have a daily asana practice though it has taken on strong meditative aspects, and I often stay long periods in poses. As we practice decade after decade, sophistication and a deep awareness develops with each asana and how it integrates with body, mind, and spirit. Utthita Trikonasana in my 70s is a very different pose than it was in my 30s, both within and without. This evolution is one of the very important aspects of developing a home practice.

RG: Have you any advice for students who are new to yoga?

DG: There is so much to yoga at many levels of body, mind, and spirit—so much to learn that is beyond merely physical and intellectual. Change happens as a result of the eight limbs—things you cannot make happen but that come with practice and eventually, too, with detachment. I encourage new students and continuing students to have faith in the process. At worst, you can maintain a healthy body and mind within the particulars of your life situation, and at best, you can come to the realization of bliss.

David Goldblatt has been a long-time student of Patricia Walden and teaches classes at his studio in Littleton, NH. He also grows all the vegetables for his family’s yearly needs in his 6,000 sq. ft garden.

At the age of 15, Rose Goldblatt (CIYT Intermediate Junior I) went to a class taught by Patricia Walden and realized then that yoga would become her life’s work. Rose became the youngest person at the time to receive an Iyengar Yoga teacher certification in the United States. She is currently the director of a beautiful Iyengar Yoga center in the White Mountains of Vermont.