The Light: Summer 2021

VOL. 1 NO. 2

Yoga for Healing – Stephanie Quirk Setu Bandha Sarvangasana – Naghmeh Ahi Healing Poses – Lois Steinberg, Marcia Monroe,

Jennie Williford and Chris Saudek

Pranayama – John Schumacher Bhagavad Gita – Prakash Parameswaran Felicity Green Tribute – Pat Musburger, Katie Davidson

Spring | Summer 2021

Healing with Iyengar Yoga

It’s about Community Deepest gratitude to the people who have supported Pine Tree Yoga Props for the past twenty-five years.

From unfinished, raw material to a refined, final product. Supporting all levels of practitioners in the tradition of B.K.S. Iyengar. Propping up the Iyengar yoga community since 1995. www.pinetreeyoga.com

THE LIGHT’S MISSION The Light, the magazine of the Iyengar Yoga community in the U.S., is published twice a year by the Publications Committee of the Iyengar Yoga National Association of the U.S.(IYNAUS).

The Light is designed to provide interesting, educational, and useful information to IYNAUS members to:

TABLE OF CONTENTS Letter from the President . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 Letter from the Editor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 Yoga for Healing, Stephanie Quirk . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

• Promote the dissemination of the art, science, and philosophy of yoga as taught by B.K.S. Iyengar, Dr. Geeta S. Iyengar, and Prashant Iyengar.

On Healing: Post-Stroke and Iyengar Yoga, Jennie Williford, Chris Saudek and Sara Anderson . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

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

Practicalities of Iyengar Yoga Therapy, Lois Steinberg . . . . . . . . . 13

• Report on studies regarding the practice of Iyengar Yoga.

Deconstructing the Form and Constructing the Soul, Marcia Monroe . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20

• Provide information on products and services related to Iyengar Yoga.

On Pranayama: The Essential Elements, John Schumacher . . . . . 24

• Review and present articles and books written by the Iyengars.

On Asana: The Bridge to Pratyahara— Setu Bandha Sarvangasana, Naghmeh Ahi . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27

• Be a platform for the expression of experience and thoughts from members of all diverse backgrounds, both students and teachers, about how the practice of yoga affects their lives.

On Philosophy: Bhagavad Gita Chapter Summaries, Prakash Parameswaran . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35

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

IYNAUS OFFICERS AND COMMITTEE CHAIR CONTACTS Spring | Summer 2021 PRESIDENT Randy Just president@iynaus.org VICE PRESIDENT Dave Larsen vice.president@iynaus.org SECRETARY Adrienne Klein secretary@iynaus.org TREASURER Christine Miyachi treasurer@iynaus.org ARCHIVES Kathleen Quinn, Chair archives@iynaus.org ASSESSMENT Nina Pileggi, Chair assessment.chair@iynaus.org CONTINUING EDUCATION Susanne Bulington, Chair continuinged@iynaus.org ETHICS Susan Goulet, Chair ethics@iynaus.org EVENTS Michelle Pontrelli, Chair events@iynaus.org MEMBERSHIP Gretchen House, Chair director.operations@iynaus.org GOVERNANCE AND ELECTIONS Gretchen House, Co-Chair David Larsen, Co-Chair vice.president@iynaus.org PUBLICATIONS Jerrilyn Crowley, Chair publications@iynaus.org

PUBLIC RELATIONS AND MARKETING Skyler Christensen, Co-Chair socialmedia@iynaus.org Bryan Thompson, Co-Chair REGIONAL SUPPORT Gretchen House, Chair regional.support@iynaus.org SERVICE MARK & CERTIFICATION MARK Gloria Goldberg, Attorney in Fact for B.K.S. Iyengar, Chair trademarks@iynaus.org SYSTEMS AND TECHNOLOGY Jean Stawarz, Chair technology@iynaus.org VOLUNTEER Janet Lilly, Chair volunteer@iynaus.org YOGA & EQUITY Denise Rowe, Chief Equity and Inclusion Officer yogaequity@iynaus.org YOGA RESEARCH Anne Chatworthy, Chair research@iynaus.org

IYNAUS Staff Mariah Oakley, Director of Operations director.operations@iynaus.org Julia Fogelson, Store Manager store@iynaus.org

On Teaching: A Tribute to Felicity Green, Pat Musburger & Katie Davidson . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39 Back Page: Standing Mountain, by John W. Steele . . . . . . . . . . . 43

THE LIGHT IS PRODUCED BY THE IYNAUS PUBLICATIONS COMMITTEE: Jerrilyn Crowley, Chair, Editor, The Light Jennie Williford, Editor, Samachar Don Gura, Art Director David Monteith, Copy Editor Sheryl Abrams, Advertising Mary Talbot, Editing Assistant Susan Goulet, Advisor WRITERS: Naghmeh Ahi Sara Anderson Katie Davidson Marcia Monroe Pat Musburger Prakash Parameswaran Stephanie Quirk

Chris Saudek John Schumacher Lois Steinberg Jennie Williford POETRY: John W. Steele

ADVERTISING Text-only ads start at $50. A premium classified ad can be purchased for up to $125. Full-page, half-page, quarterpage, and classified advertising is available. All Advertising is subject to IYNAUS board approval. Ads are secondary to the magazine’s content and we reserve the right to adjust the placement of ads as needed. For more information and ad rates, please contact Sheryl Abrams at (512) 571-2115 or yogabysheryl.tx@gmail.com

Nicholas Jouriles, Web Manager webmanager@iynaus.org

Cover photo: Natasza Moszkowicz

The Light | Spring – Summer 2021

1

IYNAUS COMMITTEES ARCHIVES Kathleen Quinn ASSESSMENT Nina Pileggi CONTINUING EDUCATION Susanne Bulington ETHICS Susan Goulet EVENTS Michelle Pontrelli FINANCE Christine Miyachi GOVERNANCE AND ELECTIONS David Larsen Gretchen House MEMBERSHIP Gretchen House PUBLICATIONS Jerrilyn Crowley PUBLIC RELATIONS AND MARKETING Skyler Christensen Bryan Thompson Regional Support Gretchen House SERVICE AND CERTIFICATION MARK Gloria Goldberg SYSTEMS AND TECHNOLOGY Jean Stawarz VOLUNTEER Janet Lilly YOGA AND EQUITY Denise Rowe YOGA RESEARCH Anne Clatworthy PAST PRESIDENTS: Organizational Board-1991 Mary Dunn

Letter

FROM THE PRESIDENT

Dear Members, First and foremost, I want to extend my gratitude to all our members for your ongoing dedication to furthering the art, science and philosophy of yoga according to the teachings of B.K.S. Iyengar. The creative programs popping up throughout the Iyengar community are exciting. It is a great time to be practicing Iyengar Yoga.

This current issue of The Light focusing on yoga therapy could not have come at a better time. The scale and complexity of the coronavirus pandemic-related suffering is boundless. As Iyengar practitioners, we utilize our therapeutic practice to address the mental, emotional, and physical helplessness felt by so many. I am tremendously proud of our community, IYNAUS, and the various regional associations, for rising to the occasion to help other parts of the world that continue to struggle and suffer with HUGE outbreaks of the coronavirus, particularly India. IYNAUS, through your donations and matching contributions, raised $33,124 for UNICEF’s Covid-19 efforts in India.

The volunteers on the IYNAUS board and committees continue to amaze us all, with their creative proposals and initiatives. This year alone, IYNAUS launched a new website, implemented the new RIMYI Certification program, hosted the “Yoga & Equity Symposium Series,” and produced events and continuing education programs including “Iyengar Yoga for Kids and Teens” and “Spring Sadhana 2021” with Abhijata Iyengar. The Light (our biannual online magazine), Samachar (our quarterly e-newsletter), and our social media platforms have transformed into substantive, professional, and informative publications. Our Governance Committee proposed changes to the IYNAUS Bylaws to better reflect our continued dedication to the original Pune Constitution, and to provide operational transparency. Transparency encourages open communication and fosters a sense of cohesiveness within our whole community.

WE AREN’T FINISHED!!! Throughout the remainder of 2021, we have more exciting, free, member-benefit events. The Saturday Matinee summer series will run June – August, and during the second annual “Coast to Coast” event this fall, our Level 4 teachers will again provide multiple days of FREE online classes. We have additional offerings still in the planning stages.

1992 – 1998 Dean Lerner 1998 – 2000 Karin O’Bannon 2000 – 2002 Jonathan Neuberger

Thank you all for your continued support and for your long uninterrupted practice.

2002 – 2004 Sue Salaniuk 2004 – 2006 Marla Apt

Yours in Yoga,

2006 – 2008 Linda DiCarlo 2008 – 2012 Chris Beach 2012 – 2014 Janet Lilly

Randy Just President

2014 – 2017 Michael Lucey 2017 – 2019 David Carpenter For a full list of committee members and volunteers, visit our website Board and Staff

2

The Light | Spring – Summer 2021

Letter

FROM THE EDITOR

IYNAUS OFFICERS AND REGIONAL REPRESENTATIVES

Dear Members,

PRESIDENT Randy Just

The Publications team is excited to bring to you the June 2021 edition of The Light. This issue focuses on Iyengar Yoga therapy through teachers’ and students’ personal experiences of growth and healing.

VICE PRESIDENT David Larsen

Helping people become whole again is the foundation of yoga and certainly pertinent to our current world pandemic times. Many people and their loved ones have been directly affected physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually. Yoga offers hope and healing and restores balance in our lives. We hope the articles in this issue inspire your practice to observe and develop stability and inner balance.

TREASURER Christine Miyachi

Through experience we become stronger and resilient—the stories in this issue reflect that. Stephanie Quirk and Lois Steinberg give insight into the therapeutic way Iyengar Yoga works. Chris Saudek, Jennie Williford, and Sara Anderson describe the journey to recovering from a stroke. Marcia Monroe reflects on her experiences with B.K.S. Iyengar in learning to live with scoliosis.

John Schumacher continues his series on Pranayama. He describes the importance of having an experienced teacher to guide the deeper aspects of the practice and the importance of Savasana in stilling the mind while keeping the intellect alert.

SECRETARY Adrienne Klein

CHIEF EQUITY AND INCLUSION OFFICER Denise Rowe EXECUTIVE COUNCIL, ASSESSMENT Nina Pileggi EXECUTIVE COUNCIL, ATTORNEY IN FACT Gloria Goldberg EXECUTIVE COUNCIL, ETHICS Susan Goulet EXECUTIVE COUNCIL Lisa Jo Landsberg IYAGNY Vacant IYANC Chuck Han IYALA Varina Whitener

Naghmeh Ahi delves into the study of Setu Bandha Sarvangasana, “the bridge,” with a sequence to calm the mind and senses and give emotional support.

IYACSR Vacant

Prakash Parameswaran continues to tell the story of The Bhagavad Gita.

Nothing purifies one as much as knowledge of self, which is attained by the constant practice of yoga.

IMIYA Vacant

And finally, a beautiful tribute by Pat Musburger and Katie Davidson to the woman B.K.S. Iyengar called “strong as a lion” and a pioneer of Iyengar Yoga in the United States, Felicity Green. Felicity Green won the IYNAUS Lighting the Way award in 2010 for her lifelong contributions to the Iyengar Yoga community.

IYANW Don Gura

IYASW Lisa Henrich IYASCUS Gretchen House IYAUM Susan Johnson

Hope you enjoy the issue and we welcome comments and ideas from you.

If you would like to offer any articles, art, or poetry for consideration for publication, please write to me at publications@iynaus.org.

IYAMW Vacant

Wishing you good health,

IYASE Janet Lilly

Jerrilyn Crowley

IYASE Colleen Gallagher

Editor in Chief, The Light

The Light | Spring – Summer 2021

IYANE Jean Stawarz

3

4

The Light | Spring – Summer 2021

Yoga for Healing

BY STEPHANIE QUIRK

“ My own suspicion is that the universe is not only queerer than we suppose, but queerer than we can suppose”—Haldane, J.B.S. Scientist, biologist [This article is an edited transcript of a talk given by Stephanie Quirk in November 2020]

T

here are now many accounts of people being healed or restored through the practice of yoga. Many studies have been undertaken to verify the reported outcomes where yoga is benefitting people. Better health, emotional balance and a holistic integration becomes evident in people’s lives.

But how does yoga work to heal? Why is it effective? This is what I will try to explain in this talk.

Why and how yoga heals appears quite mysterious. We have all felt it, but how did that happen?

We need to realize that we are beyond our breath. We are beyond more than our energy. We are more than our body, our mind, our arms and legs. We are more than our intelligence. We are more than the life choices we make.

We are more than the ideals and the beliefs that we hold. There are aspects of us that are beyond our mold, beyond our reality, beyond our emotions. There are many aspects to our existence which are way beyond all of those things.

When everything is well and all of our life is coordinated, all those different levels that I just mentioned are working well together, then everything’s fine. We feel the wellness. But if one small aspect of our life isn’t working, then the whole unit, our whole life becomes discordant, becomes difficult to manage. It becomes unbalanced.

We feel some degree of disconnect. We may be shaken because of the ill-virtuous action or unskillful action that we might, not intentionally, but in the heat of the moment, end up undertaking. We feel disconnected.

We feel discontent, and we feel conflict from that.

That conflict itself can lead us towards situations and unhappiness, and eventually that unhappiness wears on us. So, there are many ways in which we arrive at that state of disconnect.

The Light | Spring – Summer 2021

How does it work for healing? What exactly happens when practicing yoga that creates healing?

Yoga has always been a very heuristic subject. It is a “method of learning or solving problems that allows people to discover things themselves and learn from their own experiences.” (Cambridge Dictionary) To enter the yoga path is to undertake a process that will ultimately lead us to inhabit ourselves as living and experiencing ourselves far beyond what we ever imagined. As Geeta once said, “It is your practice that brings the secrets to you. No teacher can give you the secrets.”

Learning through discoveries made through one's own experience leads to a deepening of qualities needed for deeper integration. This isn’t to say that techniques and methods learnt from respected teachers aren't of value.

They are! They give the exercises, the arena for one's experimentation and discovery. It is via the experience and derived insight and integration that the healing of yoga comes.

So, just by practicing yoga, we can feel the benefit of yoga. That makes yoga more unique than many other physical-physiological-psychological regimen or body healing methodologies.

The real purpose of yoga is not about accomplishing, conquering or acquiring more poses and pranayamas.

But through yogic methods we undergo a fourfold evolutionary process (alinga, lingamatra, avishesha and vishesha). These four are—alinga, unfathomable as there is no mark or sign; lingamatra, apparent but only as subliminal signals; avishesha, discernible but not distinguishable as distinct or separate; and finally, vishesha, specifically discernable, where there is a specified distinction between things. It is at this level that we get a separate discernible sense of “I.” And that

5

separate “I” relates to we, us, them, you, yours, that, this, those, and so on. It relates not just to things but also events—it is pretty much how we see and comprehend the world as we know it.

It is the path of yoga that is specifically designed to work and touch the depths of our being. The yogis who have been devising the system over eons through trial and error, have seen into the deep layers of our existence.

Patanjali has codified the system of harmonizing and rectifying errors from our substantial discernible body, to the subtle and to the causal body. Practitioners saw that the outer universe arranged itself and followed these same principles—alinga, lingamatra, avishesha, and vishesha. The outer universe and our inner universe have the same arrangement. We are in ourselves a whole cosmos.

B.K.S. Iyengar created a visual for us of the evolution and involution of prakrti. [The diagrammatic schema of the organization of nature—the nature or characteristic of everything—can be found in his commentary in Light on the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali.]

So, yoga came about as a method that could evolve us through all of these spheres. Yoga doesn’t just work on the outer physical manifest sphere, but also works to bring a changing effect through the un-manifest, unspecific spheres of ourselves.

unified and this unification affects us through all of the levels of our being simultaneously.

Collectively, the Ashtanga path is a comprehensive practice that affects and permeates the various layers of our being. People change through its practice; it changes their ideals. What they hope and aspire to becomes transformed because they practice yoga.

Their way of relating to themselves, to their closest friends and family, their outlook on the whole of society all undergoes a change. Their ideals start to become more comprehensive. More inclusive of society, of their family, of their relationships. And it is through this seeping down through the various gross to subtle layers of ourselves that we begin to feel and recognize exactly how yoga is beneficial.

So many exclaim, “I feel so much better than when I started.” Though they may have just begun learning yoga, they feel uplifted. But, for true healing to penetrate down through all the subtle levels of ourselves, and for the changes to remain, it takes training. That training requires a thoughtful approach and dedication.

For this project of evolving through all of the spheres and facets of our being, the yogis devised a comprehensive approach. This multidisciplinary, comprehensive enduring system known as Ashtanga yoga was needed to nourish, nurture, and heal everything that may have been discordant, everything that was afflictive.

The practice of yoga itself invites the dedication to the practice of it. It’s not by having a church or a religion or some other moral authority saying, “This must be done, it would be good for you.” It’s by feeling and recognizing the effect that the practice has had on us that we are prompted to go further with it. We begin to wish for that deeper contact with ourselves, that growing vibrancy of life. Touching all those layers begins to affect our own inner intention, and we realize that we are forming a more refined ideology around this new intention. This is what we would describe as anusasanum—consciously stepping onto the auspicious path of yoga.

Changes in behavior occur through the practice of the Yamas and Niyamas, the ethical restraints and the spiritual undertaking of cleansing and calming.

Intense involvement in one’s practices all deepen selfunderstanding. These changes continue on into the further aspects of the Ashtanga.

So through the practice of yoga we learn to adapt. We learn our own inner state. We begin to observe things about ourselves through the practice of yoga. We bear witness to a truth of ourselves. Our deeper awareness leads us to an understanding that is beyond all the selfhelp books, beyond our earlier hopes and wishes.

So, an approach in eight spheres was worked out to be able to bring about an alignment with the true self, or a healing change on all of the grossest, subtle levels of our being. As all the levels are continuous, i.e., not separate, the beneficial integrating effects can be brought deeply into subtle levels through the well-staged positions of asana and pranayama; emotional contentment and stability of the mind is achieved. It is the way that this comprehensive approach brings about simultaneously a healing on all levels. This comprehensive approach is

Asana is often defined as sthira sukham asanam. So the position of an asana has stability. It is not that it is inherent that a pose has stability. It means it builds stability in you, that you also get to experience that stability, and that is something that can’t be doubted.

It is a truth that you have seen and experienced – rtambhara tatra prajna (Yoga Sutra I.48) “When consciousness dwells in wisdom, a truth-bearing state of direct spiritual perception dawns.”

6

The Light | Spring – Summer 2021

You have a certainty that you have experienced yourself in a very stable state. That state is a deeply satisfying quality of experience—sukha. Sukha is actually a far more mental, pleasurable, beneficial, magnificent state of mind. You experience and recognize that that has happened to you. But sthira and sukha—(Yoga Sutra II.46 sthira sukham asanam. “Asana is perfect firmness.”)—becomes your experience, becomes your changed state. You have the experience where there’s nothing more and nothing less required of any effort or energy. That it is complete and balanced prayatna saitilya (Yoga Sutra II.47 prayatna shaithilya ananta samapattibhyam “Perfection in the posture is achieved when the effort to perform it becomes effortless and attention merges with the infinite.”) You know and feel yourself as complete. Here the element of precision comes in, where things are not left over or left out.

It is just a state of completeness tatah dvandva anabhigatah (see Yoga Sutra II.48). It brings you the feeling of poise.

quite dexterous because we have an innate sense of where the middle of our gravity is at all times. We learn to keep balance. We enact. We undertake actions of balance, and we train and we take the imprints from those actions.

So, all of these experiences are true experiences. We witness them. We witness them, and our body and nervous system and our mind takes impressions of them. So, we have this ability to evolve and to develop and to refine, becoming more and more skillful in understanding and finding our way through these deeper layers of our self. All of this is done through practice, through anusthana, the auspicious intention and dedication to practice, through abhyasa, which is to repeatedly undertake those and through sadhana, which brings us the deeper aspects of practice which takes us deeper. We learn and feel the deeper penetration in our lives, and we see the bright awareness, poise, and equanimity that come from it.

We develop creative ways of changing and adapting a pose slightly and derive a slightly different effect. We feel more ourselves when we are being more stable and expanded. We are a more unified being. We have begun to open beyond the border that we had thought held us.

In learning to adjust and maintain a position, we are learning discretion. We are learning discernment. In maintaining a position, we learn a lot about patience. All of these aspects or attributes, when actually discovered through the real experience of practice, will affect us throughout our whole life. We trace and develop our inner imagination, we feel gravity, we are aware of the rise and sinking of energy. Through the practice we are imprinting positive imprints on our body. We are imprinting into the muscles, into our circulatory system.

We bring calm, balance, and harmony to nervous, hormonal, and immune systems.

From the practice we recollect these things, and we collect those impressions that are built within us. We begin to have a storehouse of those changes and impressions. We learn to channel and hold our energy still. We learn to contain and store the energy so it’s not lost.

There are further aspects that we are trying to develop.

We are trained to coordinate. We are trained to hold a steady, still point while moving through some aspect, often asana or pranayama. That training and holding a steady, still point is the beginning of pratyahara, is the beginning of the quieting and the stilling of the senses of perception and the mind.

We trace the center of our gravity. We learn to become The Light | Spring – Summer 2021

The video from the talk, “Yoga for Healing,” given by Stephanie Quirk in November 2020 at Marrickville Yoga Centre, in Sydney, Australia.

For more of Stephanie’s thoughts about yoga therapy, please read her article, “Therapeutics in Iyengar Yoga: Your Job is to Put the Student on the Path to Yoga,” from Yoga Samachar Spring/Summer 2011.

After more than 20 years working with B.K.S. Iyengar and his family in Pune, Stephanie Quirk is one of the most experienced, leading teachers in Iyengar Yoga therapeutics. She helps teachers learn from the base of their own experienced practice and shows them how to adapt that base to draw on its therapeutic value. She has taught extensively throughout Asia, Europe, and America.

In Australia, at the Marrickville Yoga Centre in Sydney, Stephanie consults and mentors younger teachers, helping them develop their own skill, understanding, and insight in the yoga therapy of our system.

7

8

The Light | Spring – Summer 2021

ON

Healing

The Three P’s of Recovery:

Post-Stroke and Iyengar Yoga

BY JENNIE WILLIFORD, CHRIS SAUDEK & SARA ANDERSON This article is the culmination of a conversation between Chris Saudek (CIYT, Level 4) and Sara Anderson facilitated

by Jennie Williford (CIYT, Level 3). Chris and Sara have worked together for seven years. Jennie has observed and participated in working with Sara since moving to LaCrosse in 2019.

I

n 2009, at the age of 27, Sara Marie Anderson suffered a nearly fatal stroke, altering her life completely. Sara describes the tragic event of her stroke, plus her recovery that has included Iyengar Yoga, in her book, STROKE: Overcoming my worst Nightmare. Her main purpose for sharing her story is to help other young women who may have no idea of the dangerous contraindication of using combined estrogen and progesterone birth control when experiencing migraines with aura (also called classic migraines). She hopes to help save lives with the information provided in her book by encouraging young women to switch to a progesterone-ONLY birth control to avoid her fate.

She also hopes to promote her mantra of the three P’s— positivity, patience, and persistence—to anyone who may be presented with such an overwhelming challenge in life.

Sara grew up in Westby, a small town near La Crosse, Wisconsin and attended the University of Wisconsin– Madison where she completed her B.A. in Linguistics and Spanish. She went on to graduate studies at the University of Hawaii where she finished her Master of Arts in Second Language Studies. At the time of her stroke, she was at the beginning of a promising career, working as an English as a Second Language professional at the University of Southern California.

The Light | Spring – Summer 2021

POSITIVITY “It doesn’t matter how you fall, rather, how you pick yourself up.” —Sara Anderson

Initially, Sara’s stroke completely paralyzed both sides of her body. It was only after a month that she was able to even move her little finger on her less affected right side.

After six months of major recovery efforts in California, including physical and occupational therapy, Sara was able to be transferred back to her home in Wisconsin where she continued therapies with the support of her family nearby.

Initially, Sara’s stroke completely paralyzed both sides of her body.

It was only after a month that she was able to even move her little finger on her less affected right side.

In 2014, Sara’s therapy expanded to include Iyengar Yoga after her mother read an article in the La Crosse Tribune about Chris Saudek and Iyengar Yoga taught at The Yoga Place. Those who meet Sara immediately see her inner light, her sense of humor, and her personal motivation to consistently improve. Her positive attitude toward recovery led her to believe she would be able to participate in a regular weekly yoga class with Chris.

Sara is not someone who feels sorry for herself.

9

ON HEALING CONTINUED

When Sara first called Chris and described her stroke and her abilities over the phone, Chris was quite sure that a regular class would not be what she needed. They decided to work together in private sessions instead. For the first several months, Sara walked into The Yoga Place with a lot of help from her mother or father. Chris initially observed Sara’s gait, noting her pattern of walking, her imbalances, strengths, and weaknesses. Chris wanted Sara to gain independence from always needing help from another person and become confident with her walking.

Not long after they began, Chris identified that Sara’s physical deficits were not the most important obstacle to address. Sara’s physical drive was there, but her mental focus was lacking. Balance and stability for her posture and for walking needed sharper mental focus.

Sara came with the impression that yoga was “just stretching,” not something in which you have to involve the mind and concentration. Chris aimed to teach her that yoga is effective as a mind-body-breath discipline and can “penetrate into all of your cells.”

Progress in yoga was not quick and the experimentation needed during her early sessions took a lot of patience from both Sara and Chris. crossed strap put on tightly at the back of her knee when it was bent. This provided enough resistance to teach Sara how to co-contract the quadriceps and hamstrings in straight-leg, standing poses.

Sara regularly thought some of the movements Chris asked of her were impossible due to the effects of her stroke. Despite Sara’s constant questioning and reluctance to try some things, Chris used many different ways to introduce the same actions to help Sara realize she could do things she never imagined she would be able to do. Patience with each other slowly turned into what Sara calls “reluctant trust” between them.

PERSISTENCE

PATIENCE “Yoga changed so much for me—it improved me physically and mentally. I knew I had to be patient.

Nothing is fast—I’ve learned that from my stroke and from yoga.” —Sara Anderson

Sara says yoga has been her most challenging therapy and the one at which she has had to work the hardest.

She admits she could have easily quit without the urging of her parents. Some inner knowledge made her believe her practice would be worth it in the long run and gave her the patience to persist.

Progress in yoga was not quick and the experimentation needed during her early sessions took a lot of patience from both Sara and Chris. Sara had learned to dislike and disregard her less intelligent, more affected left side.

She had no concept of using her quadricep muscles to straighten her knee, a common problem in stroke patients.

It took a number of trials with props to help her avoid hyperextension of her knee joint on her more affected left side. The prop that eventually worked best was a simple

“It is imperative to keep trying to get up no matter how often you find yourself down.” —Sara Anderson

Chris and Sara have both wondered at times why the other wanted to continue with their lessons. Chris knew persistence in practice of asana would bring much more than physical advancement and the physical balance Sara craved would require more than muscular action.

Chris encouraged Sara to regard the side that was more affected by her stroke not with dislike but with needing more education. She encouraged her to regard her other side as just more intelligent and to use it to teach the more affected side with loving attention.

The mutual trust that Chris and Sara built helped bolster Sara's now seven-year yoga practice. While other teachers, being unsure of what Sara could accomplish, approached her with fear and trepidation, Chris brought her confidence and years of training to help Sara experience poses such as Urdhva Dhanurasana and Salamba Sarvangasana, in turn giving Sara her own confidence and coordination.

Sara now says that she trusts Chris more than anyone with her physical ability and possibility. Trusting Chris has developed into self-trust and now Sara often comes to lessons reporting some new ability she has discovered on her own.

The balance Sara has gained has given her the simple pleasures of standing

10

The Light | Spring – Summer 2021

Chris encouraged Sara to regard the side that was more affected by her stroke not with dislike but with needing more education. freely while brushing her teeth or doing dishes at the kitchen sink. Those experiences keep Sara motivated to continue when faced with other pose struggles like Ustrasana and Paripurna Navasana. She will readily say she still particularly dislikes Salamba Sarvangasana, but feels the struggles of standing on her shoulders makes it worth the ease of standing again on her own two feet!

Sara credits Iyengar Yoga as being the most effective long-term means to rehabilitation of the deficits in the mind-body processes that resulted from her devastating stroke. While Chris is her regular Iyengar teacher, she has also worked with Carol Anne Kemen and Jennie Williford, both certified Iyengar teachers under Chris’s guidance.

Due to the restrictions of COVID, Sara and Chris could not work together for some time. However, this experience gave Sara the opportunity for a stronger home practice. To observe Sara’s practice is inspiring and nothing short of amazing. Her three P’s mantra has obviously kept her going despite this completely life changing event. The journey from complete paralysis to an independent and strong home practice program is a testament to Sara’s inner fire, Chris’s supportive guidance, and the systemic genius of Iyengar Yoga.

Below are some excerpts from Sara’s current home program. She continues to choose a balance of poses she loves and hates as she understands the amazing benefits of each one. She also makes sure to pick poses she likes to refer to as being “more bang for her buck.”

Supported Virabhadrasana III and Vrksasana with intermittent support.

“Balance is something I desperately need, so I continue, despite not being a big fan of this pose.”

Salabhasana

THE PRESENT “Yoga must become a part of you—where what you learn at the studio feeds into a home practice.”

“I practice this because I can feel activation of so much of my back—from my upper back, to triceps, to mid- and lower back, and even to my gluteals and calves.”

—Sara Anderson

The Light | Spring – Summer 2021

11

ON HEALING CONTINUED

Paripurna Navasana “Good strength for my hip flexors.”

Paschimottanasana “This used to be the most difficult stretch for me. I made it my goal for 2019 to improve by practicing it for 90 seconds every night, and it did improve!”

Ustrasana

Baddha Konasana

“I am proud of this pose. I used to despise it as I felt I would surely paralyze myself by doing it. Through persistent practice, I no longer need assistance, and I actually now enjoy it!”

“I really like this pose and Chris even says that I’m more flexible than her in this pose!”

Chaturanga Dandasana “I can feel this pose activating a lot of the front of my body.”

Adho Mukha Svanasana to Urdhva Mukha Svanasana “This is a confidence booster! When I first started working with Chris, I was too scared to go from Adho Mukha to Urdhva Mukha. I needed Chris to hold a gait belt around my waist and stand above me so I wouldn't faceplant into the mat. Now I can do these poses just fine without support.”

Chris Saudek has been a devoted student of the Iyengars since 1980 when she first made a trip to the Ramamani Iyengar Memorial Yoga Institute. She took classes from B.K.S. Iyengar until he stopped teaching and also studied under Geeta S. Iyengar, and Prashant S. Iyengar during numerous trips to study at RIMYI. She founded The Yoga Place in La Crosse, Wisconsin in 1988 and ran the studio until 2016.

She continues to teach there. Chris is also responsible for the renowned laminated therapeutic sequences, the Iyengar Yoga for Pregnancy book done in collaboration with Geetaji, and an illustrated book of Yoga Karunta. She holds an Advanced Junior I certificate, has served on the Certification Committee, edited some of the magazines for conventions, and written articles for Yoga Samachar.

Jennie Williford now lives in La Crosse, Wisconsin. She has had the privilege of working with Sara under Chris’s guidance and of observing Sara and Chris working together on several occasions.

“ I was too scared to go from Adho Mukha to Urdhva Mukha. I needed Chris to hold a gait belt around my waist and stand above me so I wouldn’t faceplant into the mat. Now I can do these poses just fine without support.”

12

The Light | Spring – Summer 2021

Practicalities of Iyengar Yoga Therapy For Serious Conditions

BY LOIS STEINBERG, PH.D.

T

here are a broad range of therapeutic applications of Iyengar Yoga. All CIYTs should know how to use Iyengar Yoga to address so-called “minor” ailments and conditions— routine knee, hip, neck/shoulder, low back problems, and normal menses and pregnancy. CIYTs can include students with these conditions in regular classes and give these students alternative poses whenever appropriate. All CIYTs can also conduct specialized classes devoted to addressing one or more of these “minor” ailments or conditions.

More qualified CIYTs are authorized to use Iyengar Yoga therapeutically to address more serious conditions that prevent the students from taking a regular yoga class.

For these students, it is common to have either a oneto-one private session or a group class with a unique sequence personalized to his/her condition. The latter is essentially a RIMYI-style therapy class.1 In this column, I will discuss the practical issues and challenges that arise when specialized sequences are developed for serious conditions. However, as will be apparent, the development and oversight of specialized sequences is merely a more intense and focused application of the same skills and practices that all CIYTs must develop to meet the needs of their students.

There is no set formula for any therapeutical application of Iyengar Yoga. There is no one sequence for all, and there is no one pose that is done in the same way, even for the same condition. All therapeutic applications of Iyengar Yoga require a deep understanding of the effects of a classical pose (or stage of a classical pose) on the specific conditions unique to a student’s body. All therapeutic applications of Iyengar Yoga are fundamentally experiential and experimental. Serious ailments present greater challenges because of their complexity and because of the greater difficulty of understanding the conditions unique to the student.

…the development and oversight of specialized sequences is merely a more intense and focused application of the same skills and practices that all CIYTs must develop to meet the needs of their students.

OUR EXTRAORDINARY BASE OF KNOWLEDGE A teacher should not consider using any posture therapeutically—either for herself or for others—unless the teacher has understood and experienced the elements and effects of the relevant stage of that asana.

In Light on Yoga, B.K.S. Iyengar (Guruji) thus describes the elements and effects of each asana. For example, he says the following about Tadasana: “People do not pay attention to the correct method of standing. Some stand with the body weight thrown only on one leg, or with one leg turned completely sideways.

Others bear all the weight on the heels, or on the inner or outer edges of the feet. This can be noticed by watching where the soles and heels of the shoes wear out. Owing to our faulty method of standing and not distributing the body weight evenly on the feet, we acquire specific deformities which hamper spinal elasticity. Even if the feet are kept apart, it is better to keep the heel and toe in a line parallel to the median plane and not at an angle.

By this method the hips are contracted, the abdomen is pulled in and the chest is brought forward. One feels light in the body and the mind acquires agility. If we stand with the body weight thrown only on the heels, we feel the gravity changing; the hips become loose, the abdomen protrudes, the body hangs back and the spine feels the strain and consequently we soon feel fatigued and the mind becomes dull. It is therefore essential to master the art of standing correctly.”2

1 Interestingly, RIMYI has now developed a combination of a common ailments class and a personalized group class. In one of RIMYI’s three weekly “therapy” classes, the class begins with every student in the same pose, such as Supta Baddha Konasana or Bharadvajasana I. The class is then divided into three groups, with some students doing personalized sequences on the side and the other students jointly doing sequences to address particular “minor” ailments.

2 Light on Yoga,page 64.

The Light | Spring – Summer 2021

13

PRACTICALITIES OF IYANGER YOGA CONTINUED

Light on Yoga is likewise one of many Iyengar Yoga texts that provides guidance on postures that benefit students with various ailments. See Light on Yoga’s Appendix, Curative Asanas for Various Diseases.

Based on his experience during his first 25 years as a teacher, Guruji gave “groups of asanas for different functional and organic ailments and diseases.” Over the last 55 years, the Iyengars and others have refined and expanded upon these teachings, and Iyengar Yoga teachers today have a toolkit to help ourselves and others with a broad array of ailments, injuries, and other health conditions. This toolkit provides invaluable guidance for the ways in which the actions in asanas can benefit specific health conditions.

UNDERSTANDING THE STUDENT’S CONDITION AND ITS EVOLUTION But the application of these principles requires a deep understanding of the physical and psychological conditions facing each student. There are many techniques CIYTs can use to gain this understanding, and I ultimately rely on questionnaires and in-person interviews.

But in some respects, the experience of the CIYT can aid this understanding. Individual CIYTs can face the full array of health challenges that befall our students, and CIYTs can and do use Iyengar Yoga to help themselves heal. When we do so, we can also learn to understand how to help others. However, we must exercise extreme caution. Our bodies can differ from our students’ bodies, and what works for us is not necessarily going to work for someone else.

Likewise, to help our students, we must develop the ability to imagine health conditions that we have never had and that are otherwise unique to our students. This requires that CIYTs refine the observational skills we routinely use when we teach general classes. In these classes, we learn to put ourselves in our students’ bodies and to experience their pain or their potential to harm themselves from doing a pose incorrectly. Whether or not we have experienced conditions that our students have, we need to develop an intuitive ability to imagine the restrictions and pain they experience and the actions that can improve their conditions.

Yet much more is required than merely employing observational skills, because many effects of ailments will not be immediately apparent to a CIYT. To help our students with what ails them, we thus must deeply

To help our students with what ails them, we thus must deeply understand their physical condition and its associated emotional and psychological qualities. understand their physical condition and its associated emotional and psychological qualities. In my experience, an effective first step for CIYTs is to have each student fill out a Student Information Health and Lifestyle Questionnaire.3 The teacher can then use the results of the questionnaire to conduct an in-person assessment interview. The teacher asks the student open-ended questions regarding their health issues they revealed on the survey. Open-ended questions are questions that cannot be answered with a simple ‘yes’ or ‘no.’ This type of question lets the student give a free-form answer that could reveal a lot. For example, if the student checked on the survey that they have anxiety, you can ask them: Tell me about your anxiety. Then listen and get the student’s perspective in their own words.

You can ask them to tell you more if you feel they may not have revealed everything, are vague or ambiguous. You can probe further by asking, How did the anxiety start? It is not that you never ask a close-ended question. Those types of questions can be used to clarify a response. The drawback to open-ended questions is that they can be time consuming and give you information that is not relevant.

With practice and experience, you can become a skilled interviewer and direct the student to pertinent information. I often schedule an interview for 15 minutes and can complete the interview within this period.

However, if you are new, plan for the interview to take up to 40 minutes. Many students have a long list of problems that I ask about one-by-one. I will ask them to prioritize what is the most important condition for them to address in the yoga practice. I also consider depression, anxiety, and respiratory conditions as having a higher priority over other conditions as these could be life threatening, fatal illnesses.

The interview is also an opportunity for detailed observation of the student’s body. It should include: evaluation of the front, sides, and back of the student’s relaxed standing position; body carriage; observation of walking; and the Adam’s forward bend test (when possible).

3 The Student Information Health and Lifestyle Questionnaire was developed by Gwendolyn Derk, PhD, CIYT, C-IAYT and contains patient reported outcomes that are validated by the National Institute of Health (NIH). Contact the IYNAUS research chair to start collecting data on your students.

14

Yoga Samachar Spring | Summer 2019

Finally, at the end of the interview, I try to prepare the student for the personalized group therapy class (or private) by describing what I expect of them and what they can expect from us or my assistants. The more information a new student has about the class, the more comfortable they will feel. Students who have never come to an Iyengar Yoga therapy class may be overwhelmed by it. At the end of the interview, I show them the props and let them know we will help them to set up, and that ultimately, if they are able, they should set up their supports on their own. I also let them know they should speak up and get our attention when they need it.

Yet the questionnaire and interview merely provide information about the student’s condition before they begin attending my therapy class. I also require each student to fill out a Progress Note Form before and after each class session. The pre-form includes: length of time and number of days of home practice; new significant health/life events between sessions; and the student’s current physical and emotional status on a seven-point scale (0 being extremely good, 3 neutral, 7 extremely bad). I require the student to present the pre-Progress Note Form to me before each class, and I then either authorize the student to continue the regular program or make any necessary changes to it. In the post-class form, the student addresses whether any new health condition was resolved, their physical and emotional status after the practice, and how easy/difficult the sequence was—all on a seven-point scale.4 THE PERSONALIZED SEQUENCES Based on the initial assessment interview, I craft a 1.5-hour unique program of ten or more postures for the student. I also create alternative sequences for students whose conditions fluctuate from day to day.

The sequences are all subject to change based on the progress or backsliding of the student—and the responses to the Progress Note Form. When possible, I encourage the student to practice at home.

The personalized sequence of postures is divided into thirds. Each third will represent either a “resting” or an “active” phase of practice. A new student starts with three resting phases: rest|rest|rest. When there is improvement, the phases are modified to rest|active|rest. Upon further progress, the student’s phases are modified to active|active|rest—similar to a standard yoga practice. Over time, I will also modify the

Based on the initial assessment interview, I craft a 1.5-hour unique program of ten or more postures for the student. therapy class sequence to include all the categories of poses, with detailed instructions of how to adapt each pose for the student’s needs. These students sometimes “graduate” to a regular yoga class. Others may do both the weekly therapy class and a regular yoga class before ultimately doing only regular classes.

Conversely, some students may temporarily regress and return to a previous phase when warranted.

To determine the initial length of the complete rest period, I consider the abilities of the student. If the student has no prior history of Iyengar Yoga, this phase can last two to three months. Students with grave or terminal conditions continue this program for the duration of their lives to ease their pain and discomfort. The periods of complete rest may be shorter if the student has a history of attending yoga class and responds well. Alternatively, I may shorten the duration of the resting poses or include more complex/ challenging adaptations of the resting poses.

On the one hand, depending on his or her health condition, a self-motivated, long-term, proficient practitioner may need to have a lengthy resting phase initially, but may transition to the rest|active|rest phases earlier than a beginner. On the other hand, it may be difficult for this “seasoned” practitioner to rest and the teacher may have to prolong the period of this “yoga rest.” Table 1 lists one example of a general sequence for resting poses.

THE BENEFITS OF THE REST PHASE The rest phase is crucial. Ill-health creates fatigue. It also can trigger the flight-or-fight reflex and other aspects of the sympathetic nervous system. That can also lead to muscular gripping or otherwise create or enhance pain. The rest phase creates an environment in which the student can relax, activate the parasympathetic nervous system, feel whole and calm, and reduce or suspend the mental fatigue of ill-health. This also gives the student confidence in the beneficial effects of yoga and enhances trust in the instructor.

Through these resting poses, the student also can

4 Go to www.loissteinberg.com to download the Progress Note Form.

The Light | Spring – Summer 2021

15

PRACTICALITIES OF IYANGER YOGA CONTINUED

I am not suggesting that the instructor should routinely lecture students during their practice. In fact, it is better to let them be quiet in the poses to get immersed. experience their body on more subtle levels and can develop greater understanding, awareness, and knowledge of anatomy, physiology, psychology, and respiratory and other bodily systems. This awareness can help them overcome or minimize structural musculoskeletal imbalances and pelvic and shoulder girdle stiffness. It can cause their postural alignment and body carriage to improve and lead to improved circulation, especially to stagnant areas. I will include adaptations of inverted poses when possible, as these poses bring circulation and balance to all the systems of the body.5 I find it can be helpful to educate the student on how the yoga poses act on the organic body and why particular poses are important for them to practice because they stretch the muscle tissue in the heart, digestive organs, and blood vessels or target abdominal cavity organs (e.g., kidneys, adrenals, gallbladder, pancreas, lungs, spleen, stomach, and the primary lymphatic organ of the thymus gland). The secondary lymphatic system organs, the lymph nodes, located throughout the body in the neck, armpits, groins, and gut can also be affected beneficially by the poses. When students have disorders and conditions characterized by chronic inflammation (e.g., diabetes, inflammatory bowel diseases, asthma, arthritis, cancer, obesity, and long Covid), I sometimes will likewise explain how the postures address these conditions by improving the functioning of the immune system.

However, I am not suggesting that the instructor should routinely lecture students during their practice. In fact, it is better to let them be quiet in the poses to get immersed. But a brief explanation from time-to-time can be helpful for students to understand why they are doing certain practices.

The resting poses produce other benefits. Many of these poses stretch and extend the abdominal cavity. The abdomen and intestines have myriad neural connections to the brain: e.g., the vagus nerve interfaces with the parasympathetic control of the heart, lungs, and digestive tract and the brain. These poses thus help balance the

nervous system. The extension of the abdominal cavity also helps move the spinal column from the back to the front, from posterior towards the anterior body. By extending the spinal column and moving it inwards, these poses balance and improve the functioning of important components of the brain-cerebellum, hypothalamus, thalamus, pituitary and pineal glands, amygdala, and hippocampus. This aids in controlling and stabilizing all the vital functions of the body.

In all these poses, precise positioning of the head and extension of the neck are critical. It not only contributes to balancing the brain, but also benefits the thyroid gland, sinuses, and the ears.

The resting poses cause students to go inward—to move from the periphery of the body to its core. By containing the student’s body, these poses conserve the student’s energy, which is limited when bodies are injured or diseased. When space and containment is created, internal alignment is facilitated, and the mind can quiet and be present, instead of projecting into the future, ruminating about the past, or otherwise engaging in destructive worries/thinking. When the body is calm and quiet, the breathing naturally relaxes. This is the gateway to the breathing practices of pranayama, which begins with focusing on letting the breath be relaxed and normal.

In this regard, an important function of the instructor is to observe where the student holds tension in the body. During the resting phase, the instructor guides the student and helps the student focus on releasing body tensions, particularly the abdomen and diaphragm during normal exhalations. The response of the parasympathetic nervous system is enhanced and the mind will be further quieted by the correct positioning of the student’s head and neck, the centering and quieting of the student’s eyes, and the relaxation of the student's facial muscles and mouth cavity.

IYENGAR YOGA THERAPY IS EXPERIENTIAL AND EXPERIMENTAL Devising a personalized sequence of yoga postures is an ongoing, complex, and dynamic process for the instructor. The sequence of postures is experimental.

The effects have to be continually evaluated, and changes must be made whenever necessary or appropriate, with adaptations made to some postures, with the elimination of other postures, and/or the addition of new postures.

5 It is always good to read and re-read the Sirsasana and Sarvangasana sections that describe the effects of these poses in Light on Yoga.

16

The Light | Spring – Summer 2021

In yoga therapy, the poses are adapted with an array of accessories to support the pose.

The instructor must also consider new health conditions that were not part of the original ailment(s) but that arise or become apparent after the program was established. For example, when a student arrives for class with a headache that was not a symptom of their primary complaint, I will often change their sequence to focus on resolving the active headache. This requires that I first do “detective” work to determine what caused the headache and what part of the head is affected. If the student does not know why he/she has the headache, the teacher must inquire further. Are they dehydrated, constipated, or have they been overly stressed, and for women, are they premenstrual or menopausal?

Indeed, the range of responses to a headache illustrates the breadth of the Iyengar Yoga toolkit. If the likely cause is dehydration, the student would obviously drink water until they feel adequately hydrated. If the student is constipated, supine poses could be used. If the headache is from stress, the student might be asked to do Viparita Karani Sarvangasana as a first pose (it typically is an ending pose), and if the headache is resolved by this pose, the student can commence his or her regular program. If there is neck and shoulder tension, the student could be told to do adaptations of Bharadvajasana and Utthita Marichyasana 3 using a wall (with the forehead supported on the wall or turned opposite to the torso with the ears parallel to the wall).

Following the twists, supine poses are included that specifically target and relax/align the musculoskeletal area of the upper body to release tension. If the

Figure 1

The Light | Spring – Summer 2021

headache is related to hormonal changes, the student could do modified forward bends.

If the cause of the headache remains a mystery, the student could begin the practice with forward bends; if that reduces the headache, then the student would continue this category of poses. If the headache does not go away or returns upon movement, then supine poses could be performed/selected. If all are ineffective, then the Samaashrayi and Upaashrayi (L-shape) poses can be implemented. Additionally, the student can wrap his/her head, a supported variation of Shan Mukhi Mudra, with the head wrap adjusted based on the location of the headache. Of course, the head wrap would be unraveled if it becomes irritating.

During their time in my therapy classes, students become more adept. They often understand what poses they need and will suggest poses that they should practice. Ideally, my role steadily diminishes, and the student learns to be more and more independent and, hopefully, be consistent with a home practice. When possible, all the categories of poses will be included in the student’s practice, especially when he/she progresses to the active|active|rest phase.

USE OF PROPS TO ENHANCE THE EFFECTS OF THE POSE In yoga therapy, the poses are adapted with an array of accessories to support the pose. The support is not necessarily to make the pose accessible or easier, but to target areas that need enhancement. Ultimately, it may be possible to lessen the use of support.

For example, Figures 1-5, shows how Cross Bolsters (a combination of Dwi Pada Viparita Dandasana and Setu Bandha Sarvangasana) can be adapted to meet

Figure 2

17

PRACTICALITIES OF IYANGER YOGA CONTINUED

enhance the return of the blood back to the heart. Figure 4 shows a Chumbal (a rolled washcloth can work) to support and lift the back chest (in the region of the base of the esophagus) for hyperacidity. The weight of the body is more in the direction of the legs and the chest is supported higher to reduce heartburn, throat irritation, and abdominal distention (Figure 5). In all these cases the body type, ability, and comfort of the student is considered so that the supports are not going to irritate in any way.

Figure 3

the needs of students with various conditions. (The model6 does not have these conditions.) Figure 1 depicts a support for a man who has recovered from surgery to remove a testicle due to cancer. The hips are higher to bring circulation to the pelvis and prevent or break up adhesions from the surgery. The upper thighs are belted with a block between them to contain the area traumatized by the surgery. Later, the legs can gradually open wider to Upavistha Konasana in Cross Bolsters (Figure 2) to further improve circulation and reduce any scar tissue. Unless there is a contraindication (e.g., neck issues, high blood pressure, thyroid problem), the head is extended back to lift the student’s spirits.

Figure 3 shows support for a person with high blood pressure that is being treated with medications that are not working effectively. In this case, the pose is done more like Setu Bandha Sarvangasana with the back of the head and neck extended to increase the circulation to the head, to reduce the feeling of lightheadedness and to induce relaxation. The feet are also elevated to

Figure 4

Assistants can help students place the props correctly to permit the desired actions in the pose. If the students are able, they are taught to set up the props themselves, and how to correctly get into and out of the poses, so as to become independent. They are taught to observe which parts of the body work excessively and which parts need to be accessed. The teacher and or assistants improve the student’s poses by observing the various reactions of the students. Some important things to observe are changes in pallor, tautness of the skin, breathing, tension in the face/head/neck, even corners of the student’s eye. The poses are done with accuracy and precision. Yet, the teacher should not be obsessed with the evenness of the body, as we tend to do. What is ultimately important is whether the quality of the student’s pose shows an alignment inside the body that shines forth and manifests a change in the student’s well-being. It can take a long time for us to reach this level of observation. Certainly, we will never reach the genius that was Guruji’s as he astounded us with awesome observations of the students that we would never have seen on our own.

Figure 5

6 Thanks to Jerry Chiprin (CIYT, Level 2) for modeling the poses.

18

The Light | Spring – Summer 2021

THE ART OF SEQUENCING AND DETERMINING TIMINGS Sequencing the poses and determining the length of time that each pose is held presents another set of issues that require great knowledge and expertise. Each sequence is crafted so that poses of a similar nature are organized together, often to reduce the time spent transitioning from the floor-level poses to upright poses.

But this is not a hard and fast rule, and the particular health condition could require a different result. For example, when a student has renal calculi (kidney stones), the forward, backward, inverted, and twisting poses are alternated to encourage the movement of the passage of the stones. Similarly, some mental health conditions require movement, such as extending only the toes and fingers to bring the consciousness to the periphery (to help the student to become embodied) while moving through Prasarita Padottanasana between sides in Parsvottanasana, without attention to details.

The poses are maintained from one to five minutes; shorter time in the pose is indicated when a student is restless. According to the capacity of the student, the longer the time held in the poses results in more time for the circulation to increase to targeted areas.

I hope this article will help teachers to put into perspective how to think, process, and use the tools of assessing, evaluating, and creating practices for students who need to use Iyengar Yoga therapeutically to live with, and perhaps recover from, their health issues.

Often, I tell my student teachers to be confident about what they have learned in their studies and to see what works, and what does not, as they help others to heal and ultimately practice yoga for the love of yoga.

Gratitude to David Carpenter, CIYT, C-IAYT for editing this article. © Lois Steinberg, Ph.D., CIYT, C-IAYT Lois Steinberg (Ph.D., CIYT, Level 4, C-IAYT) has four decades of extensive studentship with the Iyengars at the Ramamani Iyengar Memorial Yoga Institute in Pune.

Lois is the director of Iyengar Yoga Champaign-Urbana in Illinois. She is the author of numerous books and articles.

She served on the IYNAUS board and the Assessment Committee (formerly Certification Committee) and continues to serve as an assessor.

The Light | Spring – Summer 2021

Table 1. Salamba Asanas – With Support Poses (Resting Sequence) 1. *Setu Bandha Sarvangasana/Dwi Pada Viparita Dandasana – Bridge Pose/Two Footed Reverse Staff Pose combination (aka Crossbolsters) 2. *Salamba Purvottanasana – Supported Intense Stretch of the Front Body Pose 3. *Dwi Pada Viparita Dandasana – Two Footed Reverse Staff Pose 4. Samaashrayi Upavistha Konasana/Baddha Konasana/Dandasana – Upright Seated Angle/ Bound Angle/Staff Pose 5. *Upaashrayi Upavistha Konasana/Baddha Konasana/Dandasana – Reclined Seated Angle/Bound Angle/Staff Pose 6. Rope Adho Mukha Svanasana – Downward Facing Dog Pose 7. Rope Salamba Sirsasana – Supported Head Pose 8. Chair Salamba Sarvangasana – Supported All Limb Pose 9. Chair Salamba Halasana – Supported Plough Pose 10. Bench or Bolster Setu Bandha Sarvangasana – Bridge All Limb Pose 11. Viparita Karani Sarvangasana – Going to Reverse All Limb Pose * Supta Swastikasana, Supta Baddha Konasana, Supta Virasana may be substituted for those who need a very gentle approach. Additionally, these poses may be added in when the student has become proficient and has more time for additional poses. For those with back pain when extending backwards, these poses are contraindicated until the back pain has resolved.

Various Adho Mukha and Salamba Savasana, Downward Facing and Supine supported Corpse poses, may be substituted.

19

Iyengar Yoga—Deconstructing the Form and Constructing the Soul YOGA’S PROFOUND IMPACT ON MY HISTORY WITH SCOLIOSIS

BY MARCIA MONROE “Yoga teaches us to cure what need not be endured and endure what cannot be cured.”

—B.K.S. Iyengar, Light on Life

U

nlike trying to fix a spine with mechanical exercises, yoga addresses the mind, body, and consciousness. These are not treated as detached entities but as a network for selfstudy in the pursuit of self-realization and freedom.

Inner expansion is possible through practice.

Patanjali’s Ashtanga yoga lays the foundation for understanding the mind, the obstacles that prevent self-evolution, and a methodology for dealing with these obstacles. The evolutionary master and beloved teacher B.K.S. Iyengar emphasized the important role asanas play as the main channel for experiencing the physical plane and higher levels of evolution. He further developed a living language and a map with specific directions used worldwide as an intelligent reference for casual and experienced practitioners. Guruji delineated the existence of the front, back, middle, and sides of the body and made refined differentiations of the spine, limbs, ribs, pelvis, shoulders, and the senses. Guruji further differentiated the inner spine from the outer spine, the inner edges of the upper and lower limbs and ribs from the outer edges, and inner layer and outer layers of the senses and organs of perception (tanmatra).

Guruji emphasized that scoliosis is a muscular-skeletal disease—a disease of the annamaya kosha, the physical body. When addressing structural scoliosis, Guruji used to call the convexities the mountains and the concavities the valleys. He called the mountain side the aggressive, and the concave side the timid. Both sides need opposing actions and teach each other. A yoga practice is imperative for the practitioner’s self-study to permeate the subtle layers of the body.

Guruji stated that in scoliosis the bones must be pliable, soft and act like muscles. The skin has to have its proper currenting to guide the flesh, and the flesh has to be differentiated from the bones. He used to say the flesh hugs the bones but in a state of action. In the thoracic convex side, the skin moves toward the flesh and the 20

When addressing structural scoliosis, Guruji used to call the convexities the mountains and the concavities the valleys. flesh hugs the outer layers of the ribs. On the convex side, the skin of the side and back of the armpit, chest, and outer ribs has to move toward the inner layers of the bones. On the concave side, the inner layers of the ribs have to spread to touch the flesh, and the flesh has to expand toward the skin. In thoracic scoliosis and asymmetry, he distinguished thick ribs on the convex side and thin ribs on the concave side.

I often hear comments from students, teachers, and professionals about yoga not being conducive for scoliosis. Some of their preconceived ideas come from articles and old photos of asanas extracted from websites. Most of these criticisms come from professionals who are not acquainted with Iyengar Yoga or with Guruji’s specialized use of props, such as ropes, bricks, belts, walls, tables, chairs, and whatever else will enhance the alignment in specific poses for the student with scoliosis.

EXTENSION IN YOGA What is often called ‘forward flexion’ by others is, in Guruji’s system, a forward extension. It places an emphasis on length, elongation, and subjective inner expansion and space.

In forward extension, we do not compress the

Adjustment in Parsva Uttanasana for scoliosis

The Light | Spring – Summer 2021

heart, diaphragm, or organs. People with a conventional understanding or who have not experienced Iyengar Yoga sometimes believe yoga is just a contortion practice. They are not aware that implementing the yamas and niyamas to asana, pranayama, and pratyahara makes the yoga practice a subjective and personal experience of self-growth. We feel from inside out the potential seeds of vitality, health, inner length, space, and expansion.

It is a consensus that asanas are to be modified according to one’s personal history of scoliosis and age. We omit mainly the group of asanas that trigger the mechanics of flat back and rotations that induce progression. Instead, the practice needs to support and maintain the integrity of the spinal curves without compressions.

My learning from Guruji is that there is no fixed or held position that will prevent the sense of direction, stability, and energy of the asana and create compression in the spine and organs. The subjective potential freedom offered by a modified practice cannot be accessed in x-rays or theories.

THE SPINAL MUSCLES The muscles of the spine attach to the spinous and lateral processes of the vertebrae. Their function is to extend and rotate the spine. When we bend forward, they prevent the spine from collapsing under the pull of gravity. The erector spinae muscles are the superficial layer and fan outward from the pelvis to the ribs, and up to the neck and skull. In thoracic asymmetry and scoliosis, these muscles will be affected and activated asymmetrically. They will resemble a folding hand fan that is only half-opened. The fan will be overstretched and overworked on the convex side, closed and underworked on the concave side. The side that spreads the muscles is not activated to stabilize the ribs. The sense of direction for the convex side is that the skin moves toward the flesh and the flesh to the bone in a concentric contraction toward the center line. The side that retracts and closes the inner ribs has to expand toward the outer ribs, flesh, and skin. The muscle activation will require an eccentric contraction, an activation toward elongation, the opposing action. In the lumbar the same direction happens with the skin, flesh and underlying tissues.

For the stability of the spine and trunk, it is important to strengthen the pelvic floor muscles, the inner layers of the abdominal muscles, and the short rotator muscles The Light | Spring – Summer 2021

The muscles of the spine attach to the spinous and lateral processes of the vertebrae. Their function is to extend and rotate the spine. of the spine. These deeper layers of muscles are responsible for long-term alignment. In the case of trunk asymmetry, these muscles will be short on one side and lock the spine in a rotational pattern. In upper thoracic asymmetry and scoliosis, the main things to address are the muscles in the neck and shoulders, and the alignment of the head and senses.

STANDING ASANAS I experienced the relevant role of the standing asanas when I first learned Tadasana. It acts like a light switch for the sensory nerves and proprioception. Tadasana teaches the correct foot loading to improve position of pelvis to help realign scoliosis.

Tadasana teaches us all how to stand on both feet and how to correct foot loading to address pelvic and lumbar asymmetry. The standing asanas are a very useful resource for discerning the differences between the sides and for engaging the legs and arms, the organs of action. Combined with other groups of asanas, standing asanas offer a great sense of empowerment and inner strength, and vitality.

Guruji taught the use of props, such as the wall, trestles, stools, chairs, or bricks, as choices for modifying and supporting the practitioner as they experience the asana in self-study. All the modifications in the program are individualized according to age, experience, and scoliosis history. Once you know how the sides have to move in a simple pose, you can make adjustments in all poses.

Utthita Trikonasana with a chair for spinal extension

21

SCOLIOSIS CONTINUED

Kurmasana

The following are a couple of examples of sequences of Seated Forward Extensions given to me by Guruji:

The alignment and stabilization of the limbs and joints are imperative for back extension with the additional individual support. From the feet, to the pelvis and the hands to shoulder blades, alignment for thoracic curves. The feet and hands with additional lifts to remove the weakness and collapse and to connect the limbs to the spine. The areas that drop lift and the areas that are compressed have to broaden and expand from the breath from the cycles of inhalations and exhalations. The shoulder blade straps offered stability to the ribs, and sensitivity for the chest and breath. The benches, chairs, windows, bricks, ropes, stools, and the proper asymmetric lift for the limbs are examples of modifications with support for back extension asanas.

Urdhva Mukha Svanasana as taught to me by Guruji

Janu Sirsasana, Eka Pada Paschimottanasana, Paschimottanasana, Kurmasana I, Marichyasana I The main principle I learned from Guruji in all the forward extension seated asanas was to have support for the concavities to prevent the collapses. Initiation is from the hip and sides of the diaphragm to extend the sides of the trunk, front and back body. The back skin currents down and the armpits, chest, and collar bones broaden. The neck elongates and the back of the skull and crown of the head release. Guruji said the breast had to touch the opposite leg (tri-dimensional) to remove the convex rib cage while both sides of the trunk extend forward. The back convex ribs are to be absorbed in and de-rotated from the front and diagonally away from the convexity. The concave ribs broaden and rotate back.

Geetaji emphasized an even pelvis when bearing weight while sitting and increasing the lift to support the lumbar spine. The fulcrum being both sitting bones and the compacting of the outer hips. For additional support, Halasana benches, blocks, and the windows were often used to maintain a neutral spine in the concave phase of the asana. Support helped align the head with the spine and elongate the trunk. She would also say to pack in the ribs on the convexities. And offer shoulder blades and ribs a strap jacket to firm the loose shoulder blade in and to provide the proper action for the outer ribs.

PRINCIPLES FOR BACK EXTENSION ASANAS All the asanas are modified depending on the curves, and age with the support of walls, bolsters, pads, wooden planks, ropes, chairs, stools, windows, bricks, proper asymmetric lift for the limbs.

Place a lift (Guruji used a small donut) under the right hand and the prolapsed shoulder of the convex side. Use a pad under the top of the right foot and the metatarsals. Press the ball of the feet down. Lift the arms and sides of the trunk up.

PRINCIPLES FOR INVERSIONS In most of the students with scoliosis the inversions are supported. And even in strong practitioners with structural scoliosis, it was suggested to not hold an independent Salamba Sirsasana position for long.

Rope Sirsasana is useful to create space in the trunk, but the shoulders have to be stabilized. It is not a dead weight.

In rope Sirsasana the shoulders need to be stabilized and move away from the gravitational pull.

Salamba Sarvangasana with the chair, trestle, Simhasana boxes for the neck, and supported Ardha Halasana with additional asymmetric supports may be used.

Rope Sirsasana with a Halasana Box

22

The Light | Spring – Summer 2021

Setu Bandha Sarvangasana can be done on horizontal bolsters, or a small wooden trestle to balance the pelvic asymmetry with additional support for the shoulders, like a Viparita Dandasana bench.

PRINCIPLES FOR PRANAYAMA The nerves will be receptive from the asana practice. In supported Savasana, the belly has to be soft like a feather.

Sarvangasana on Setu Bandha bench with ropes

In the asymmetric rib cage, the breath flows where there is space and less resistance. This means that in the upper thoracic and thoraco-lumbar curve, the breath spreads on the convex ribs, and is shallow on the concave ribs. Therefore, for pranayama, the unconventional breathing is utilized for the expansion of the retracted and locked areas as it spreads on the convex ribs, and is shallow on the concave ribs.

In supported Savasana, and supine postures the belly has to be soft like a feather (a metaphor used by Guruji), as the diaphragm releases. For seated pranayama, the chair and a wall are used to increase the pelvic and trunk stability, elongation of spine, and expansion of the chest.

Both sides of the neck should be aligned. The brain, nerves, and diaphragm are passive. The shoulder blade

and thoracic straps can be used to inform the volume and flow of the breath on both sides.

PRINCIPLES FROM PRASHANTIJI Prashantiji’s classes have been, and still are, a healing space to explore and embody the tridimensional aspects of scoliosis from the breath excavations. Like a river, the breath becomes Swastikasana with belts a channel to further develop the inner awareness of elongation, expansion, volume, and space within the compressed areas as well as to decrease the pressure from the overdeveloped or convex side. The postures and breath can be used as a medicine to improve pulmonary function as well as create the tri-dimensional awareness and correction.

Like a river, the breath becomes a channel to further develop the inner awareness of elongation, expansion, volume, and space within.

I have been practicing for many years, learning at the Ramamani Iyengar Memorial Yoga Institute in Pune, and presenting at medical conferences. The benefits of yoga and Iyengar Yoga programs for bringing union to both sides of the body and the mind would not be possible without the underlying embodied philosophy.

Guruji’s methodology is a door of insights and hope for many students with asymmetry and its layers.

Marcia Monroe (CIYT, Level 3) lives and teaches in New York. Over the years she has studied many times at the Ramamani Iyengar Memorial Yoga Institute. Her direct experience with B.K.S. Iyengar has guided her journey with her own scoliosis. Marcia’s book, Yoga and Scoliosis: A journey to Health and Healing includes a foreword written

by Guruji. She has led workshops on scoliosis in the United States and internationally.

Savasana with a sandbag on the ribs

The Light | Spring – Summer 2021

23

ON

Pranayama

The Essential Elements

BY JOHN SCHUMACHER

I

n the first issue of The Light, I wrote about “Laying the Foundation,” which postulated several conditions important for the practice of pranayama: a regular asana practice, a conducive lifestyle, and an inspiring teacher. I promised to speak about the importance of the teacher in this next article and to lay the groundwork for beginning to practice.

A knowledgeable teacher can save us a lot of time and struggle by guiding us away from the numerous pitfalls that pepper our path and toward the light of yoga. We Iyengar students are all Guruji’s pupils, either directly or indirectly, so we know the value of the teacher.

We can, of course, study and practice asanas without a teacher. I practiced from the courses in the back of Light On Yoga (LOY) for five years before my first Iyengar Yoga class. I learned a lot on my own. I could drop back, drop over, put my feet behind my head, and stand on my hands. How little I actually knew, however, became evident in my first class with an Iyengar teacher. That class rocked me with a realization of the vastness of my ignorance and prompted me to study with Iyengar teachers whenever and wherever I could.

Pranayama is different.

Both asana and pranayama are exquisitely deep and profoundly subtle, and both involve the totality of our being—physical, emotional, mental, intellectual, and spiritual. The difference lies in the degree of depth and subtlety of pranayama as compared to asana.

In pranayama, the clues to right action are trickier to catch, the effects more gradual and ethereal, the nuances more elusive.

I liken it to playing the flute. In playing the flute, you must learn how to hold the instrument and what fingers create what notes. You must learn where and how to place your lips to make a sound. All these details are important; without them you can’t play the instrument. Much refinement in these skills is possible and necessary. This is like asana. Without knowing how to position the body and how to adjust the various parts, you can’t do the asana.

24

Once you can make a sound with the flute, the quality of your breath, your understanding of and feel for the music, and the depth of your emotions and consciousness determine the power and sweetness of the music. This is like pranayama.

To bring the poetry of the practice to life, even the avid student of pranayama requires a teacher. It is the poetry of the practice that takes it from the mechanical to the sublime.

You can certainly read Light On Pranayama (LOP) or some other book on the subject and begin to practice pranayama. Unlike my experience of learning asanas from LOY, however, by the time I read LOP, I had taken numerous pranayama classes with the Iyengars and senior teachers. The book contains remarkably extensive and subtle information, but in retrospect, without previous instruction, I would not have been able to understand much of it. I would have understood the words, but the experience they were meant to convey would have been a mystery. Knowing what sensations to look for and what to avoid, knowing what adjustments to make, that level of discrimination would have been missing. It’s a little like searching for a sequence for diabetes in Appendix II in the back of LOY. Try giving your diabetic student Akarna Dhanurasana or Mayurasana. However, the list of poses in the various therapeutic sequences contains clues as to ways to approach a particular issue. The experienced teacher will know how to use these clues and adjust them to the needs and capability of the student. LOP gives important clues about practicing pranayama, but an experienced teacher is necessary to translate those clues into meaningful and effective action. Just as the instructions in LOY about the asanas are basic, so the instructions in LOP are relatively bare bones.

They describe the mechanics of pranayama. To bring the poetry of the practice to life, even the avid student of pranayama requires a teacher. It is the poetry of the practice that takes it from the mechanical to the sublime. The inspiring pranayama teacher must be, in

The Light | Spring – Summer 2021

fact, a bit of a poet to convey the diaphanous beauty of the breath, to uncover the states of consciousness and levels of being at the heart of the practice. Guruji says, “As light radiates from the disc of the sun, so air is spread through the lungs.” Is this not poetry? And as the poet is inspired by the object of their poetry, so the pranayama teacher must be inspired by their own transformative experience of the dance of breath and consciousness. They can’t guide you to places they themselves have not experienced. To inspire, they must be inspired. It is interesting that the word inspiration derives from the Latin word inspirare, which means the act of taking in, specifically taking air into the lungs. It also means something or someone that moves our intellect or emotions.

The gradual pace of change and the subtlety of sensation in pranayama can leave the practitioner confused and unsure. It is sometimes hard to know whether you are on the right track or going astray. A teacher can answer the difficult questions and assuage the doubts that are sure to arise.

Alas, inspired/inspiring pranayama teachers are harder to find than inspired/inspiring asana teachers. Why? Because relative to asana practitioners, there are far fewer devoted pranayama practitioners. In pranayama workshops I have taught, I have asked teachers and serious students how many of them have a regular practice, which I leniently describe as at least five days a week. (Should be six or seven). Usually about 10–15% of them respond affirmatively. The interest, the commitment simply isn’t there. I wrote in the last article about what being ready for pranayama means. It takes time and devotion. Guruji said about pranayama, “You are a beginner for ten years.” I thought he was being hyperbolic to make a point, but after forty years of practice in this method, I don’t think so anymore. I became aware of a shift in my own practice after about ten years. Not that many people are willing to stay with the practice a sufficient amount of time to become comfortable with and attuned to the nuances that inform you as to the adjustments and refinements you need to make to move deeper into pranayama.

Feeling discouraged? That’s not my intention. And most students haven’t heard that, so that’s not what holds them back. It’s the stuff I talked about in the last piece, time being a major factor—and the fact that progress is so incremental. We are a plop-plop-fizz-fizz culture.

We want what we want and we want it right away. Our The Light | Spring – Summer 2021

After you have made the commitment to practice, in some ways, the first step to actually getting started is one of the most difficult. attention spans have shriveled to being measured in seconds, not even minutes, let alone hours. Pranayama is a long-haul endeavor. Patience and persistence are essential. Thus, not very many stay with it long enough and consistently enough to penetrate the possibilities and acquire the skill to experience what Guruji calls the fragrance of pranayama.

So, yes, start however you can start—books or recordings—but seek out an experienced teacher with a steady practice, an inspiring teacher, as soon and as often as you can. And I urge those of you who have devoted yourself to the practice, to share your experience and your inspiration with whoever will come.

There may be few and you won’t get rich, but you can plant the seeds of pranayama and help spread this amazing and powerful gift to an ever broader audience.

We will all benefit.

After you have made the commitment to practice, in some ways, the first step to actually getting started is one of the most difficult. The first step is to relax, become quiet, and tune into your normal breath.

You can start your asana practice by walking into your practice space, then bend over, put your hands on the floor, and jump back into Adho Mukha Svanasana. That can be an appropriate and effective start. Boom! You’re on your way.

To practice pranayama, it’s not a good idea to get out of your car or leave your desk, come into your practice space, sit down, and right away begin Ujjayi or Viloma pranayamas. A state of relaxation, quietness, and receptivity is essential. Without those qualities, the practice will be irritating to the nervous system and disturbing to the mind.

A distinctive, and I think brilliant, aspect of Iyengar Yoga is to begin with reclining pranayamas. I practiced pranayama in several other traditions before taking up the Iyengar method. They launched into Bhastrika, Antara Kumbhaka, Visamavrtti and digital pranayamas right away. Apparently, this works for them; there is certainly 25

ON PRANAYAMA CONTINUED

more than one way. (By the way, this is not to say that once you are an established experienced practitioner you cannot begin by sitting.) Perhaps because he struggled with it so much in the beginning, Guruji devised a much gentler and more gradual approach.

Once I started practicing reclining pranayama, I began to understand the importance of Savasana, especially as it relates to pranayama. As Guruji says, “It is not simply lying on one’s back with a vacant mind… It is the most difficult of asanas to perfect…as it involves stilling the body, the senses, and the mind while keeping the intellect alert.” Of course, one learns Savasana as a part of one’s asana practice. (Another example of the importance of learning asana before beginning pranayama. At Unity Woods, we required at least a year of practice of Iyengar asana to take the progressive Pranayama course.) As a result, the student new to pranayama can be comfortable in Savasana for more than a few minutes. Beginners in asana often become fidgety and restless after a couple of minutes of Savasana. It takes them a while to learn how to relax.

Once the body relaxes, the breath softens, and the brain quietens, the practitioner can turn their attention to the passive movement of the breath.

Resting in Savasana gives you the opportunity to be aware of your breath on a different level altogether.

Your breath is unique. Letting the breath come and go passively, observe the qualities, characteristics, sensations, movements, and rhythm of your breath.

Get to know it, which takes time, just as getting to know another person takes time and attention.

This is a challenging way to begin. We want to DO things.

But it is important to begin to understand the subtleties of the breath and to develop the sensitivity required to practice pranayama safely and effectively. Tuning in to your body and breath in this way lays the groundwork for the practice.

I have spoken about the importance of an inspiring teacher and laid the groundwork for beginning a pranayama practice. Because this issue of The Light centers on therapeutics, I was asked to touch on the therapeutic role of pranayama in a very general and peripheral way.

I mentioned in the last article that Guruji describes prana as “…the prime mover of all activity...” Thus pranayama, the direction and control of this energy, has powerful therapeutic potential. We speak of healing energy; that energy is prana.

26

Resting in Savasana gives you the opportunity to be aware of your breath on a different level altogether.

Your breath is unique.

Guruji suggests various pranayamas for systemic (blood pressure, diabetes, etc.), respiratory, digestive, cardiovascular, and cognitive issues. He prescribes inhalation-focused pranayamas to stimulate the system (e.g., low blood pressure) and exhalation-focused pranayamas to soothe and relax the system (e.g., high blood pressure). Inhalations, Antara Kumbhaka (internal retention), dominant right nostril pranayamas are heating and stimulating; exhalations, Bahya Kumbhaka (external retention), and left nostril dominant pranayamas are cooling and relaxing.

These are sweeping generalizations and, as always, experience, skill, discernment, and discrimination are required to know when and how to utilize these qualities therapeutically. And, as with asana, the teacher cannot apply therapeutic pranayama interventions without having practiced and acquired extensive knowledge and understanding of the pranayamas and their effects.

In the next article, I will delve into some of the qualities of the breath and the mechanics and guideposts of reclining pranayama.

John Schumacher(CIYT, Level 4) has practiced yoga for 50 years. He is the founder and Director of Unity Woods Yoga Center, serving the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area since 1979. For 33 years, he studied in India regularly with B.K.S. Iyengar, who personally certified him as an Advanced Junior I Iyengar Yoga Teacher.

John’s clear, precise style and his engaging sense of humor have made him one of America’s leading yoga teachers. In 2015, Yoga Journal awarded him its prestigious Good Karma Award for spending “40-plus years sharing[his] practice to help authenticate yoga in America today.”

John has written for a variety of publications. He has also appeared in numerous local and national media outlets across the U.S., speaking about the practice and benefits of yoga. He conducts classes and workshops for students and teachers all over the world.

The Light | Spring – Summer 2021

Asana The Bridge to Pratyahara— Setu Bandha Sarvangasana ON

REACH FROM THE SOLE TO THE SOUL

BY NAGHMEH AHI

O

ne of the first inversions we learn in Iyengar yoga is Salamba Sarvangasana. In Yoga: A Gem for Women, esteemed Dr. Geeta S. Iyengar, calls Salamba Sarvangasana “the Queen of all the asanas.” She further elaborates, “Sarvangasana develops the feminine qualities of patience and emotional stability. It is considered to be the mother of asanas. As a mother struggles throughout her life for the happiness of her children, the mother of asanas strives for peace and health of the body.”

Not only is this supported, all-limbs pose considered the “mother” pose, but it gives birth to Setu Bandha Sarvangasana. setu – bridge bandha – lock sarva – all

anga – limbs asana – seat

A bridge connects one place to another. It links from a part to another, and what is in between is upheld, stable and steady. A bridge creates a thoroughfare where there was none. It creates harmony as it shows how two far away points can cooperate in their reach to uphold the structure.

A bridge is built.

Setu Bandha Sarvangasana is formed at the end of practice, through a well-rounded labour of love—tapas— and is accessible in its many generous variations, in all levels of practice from beginner onwards. Every age and body type can benefit from the pose from daily practice to convalescence.

Setu Bandha Sarvangasana is an introduction to how the practice of asana is a bridge to the practice of involution—pratyahara. The practitioner learns to uphold the Self (atman) that resides within, through the instrument of the whole body (sarvanga) with the support (salamba) of the Self.

The Light | Spring – Summer 2021

uddhared atmana tmanam one should uplift oneself by the Self —The Bhagavad Gita 6.5, Sargeant Setu Bandha Sarvangasana introduces the body to the senses, showing the way to quietude and a settledness requisite for observation of the self—svadhyaya.

“In Salamba Sarvangasana when the chest is brought to touch the chin, it is called chinlock or Jalandhara Bandha. Bandhas are used to consciously prevent the mind and the consciousness from going beyond certain points.” (Astadala Yogamala Vol. 1, p. 258).

Setu Bandha Sarvangasana is an introduction to forming an arc with the body, and bringing sensitivity to the back body, a lesser-felt part of the self. Here it can be formed as the hands and the feet reach towards each other to link up and form the foundation to uphold the body with the back. Though not a purva-pratana-sthiti (back arch)—this is a bridge that holds within its many gifts the way to the back arches. Mr. Iyengar mentions that in this asana, “you seal the entire back portion of the body” which upholds the full extension of the anterior spine. (Astadala Yogamala Vol. 2, p. 188).

Setu Bandha Sarvangasana is done at the end of a practice session when the body has gone through various positions, movements, and directions through the asanas; it completes the Salamba Sarvangasana cycle. It is at this juncture that the work of the body gives birth to the spread of the consciousness, as it spreads its reach within.

Support: This alamba—support—can come from without and from within.

“Patanjali speaks of the fluctuations of the mind, ego, intelligence and consciousness. All these change second to second. Hence, he wants us to follow a discipline with support, as the quietening of fluctuations depends on support. (see Yoga Sutra I.35)” (Astadala Yogamala Vol. 3, p. 235.)

27

ON ASANA CONTINUED

The versions of Setu Bandha Sarvangasana supported by props, allow the practitioner to extend the timing in the pose. The benefits of the asana can be more readily absorbed with the help of props and an extended stay wherein effort is minimized, and thus receptivity is maximized to the space within–from letting go of muscular tension, to relaxing the senses, to observing the breath.

The generosity and compassion of Yogacharya B.K.S. Iyengar has given us props as support so that under all conditions—infirmity, old age—one can be in Setu Bandha Sarvangasana and allow for a peaceful state to surface (manolaya).

“This state of quietude is manolaya. This manolaya state can be experienced while practicing inverted asanas—Sirsasana, Setu Bandha Sarvangasana, Viparita Karani, Halasana or Uttanasana—when done in a modified way so as to rest and bring stillness and silence in all the organs of action and perception. One is able to feel that sense of alert passivity and experience a state of witnessing. Here, the observer and the observed lose their identities.” (Astadala Yogamala Vol. 1, p. 221).

yatroparamate cittam niruddham yogasevaya yatra caivatmanatmanam pasyann atmani tusyati —The Gita 6.20, Sargeant When the mind comes to rest, Restrained by the practice of yoga, And when beholding the Self, by the self, He is content in the Self.

Herewith is a sequence for practicing the pose independently. Observe the actions you carry through from pose to pose and feel how they prepare the body, the breath, and the senses for Setu Bandha Sarvangasana. Alternatives are provided to accommodate various levels of practice.

In each asana, the connection from the feet through the legs to the chest region is the single point of focus.

Some actions in a few poses are highlighted to alert you to the actions needed in Setu Bandha Sarvangasana.

Tadasana

Setu Bandha Sarvangasana bears the gift of emotional support. The supported version of Setu Bandha Sarvangasana is a penultimate asana for settling fluctuations; often the pose is taken to address mental duress and bring about emotional stability. You will find the pose included in Light on Life as a part of the sequence for emotional stability. “ By learning to relax the brain one can remove stress.

How to keep the brain cells in a receptive state is the art which yoga teaches.....If you are dejected mentally, do Setu Bandha Sarvangasana for ten minutes; your depression disappears, though you do not know how.”

(Astadala Yogamala, Vol. 5, p. 75) The lifted chest that is a hallmark of the pose is the storehouse of courage and neutrality. The positioning of the head in relationship to the chest—chest above and brain below, can give rise to being guided by the heart, with the brain in surrender. This particular position of the head to the chest lends itself to a quietude of the senses.

28

Utthita Trikonasana Parivrtta Trikonasana Parsvottanasana classic pose Allow the hands to become pliable and strong! For the palms to join fully, the upper arm bones have to roll back, off the front of the armpit chest fully. For the palms to keep that mudra (seal) of the back, the shoulder blades have to do their part and move into the direction of the front chest; use the outer edge of the hands to coax the thoracic spine into the body and roll the breast bone up! Against the extension of the legs, lift the chest, and move it up and away from the hips and legs— lengthen the waist and move forward and down along the leg.

Prasarita Padottanasana II or hands on the floor

The Light | Spring – Summer 2021

Adho Mukha Svanasana x 2 (second round, hands on tilted blocks at wall )

Dhanurasana As you wrap your hands around your ankles, roll the upper arms up and move the shoulder blades in.

Keeping the inner thighs parallel, move the sacrum tailbone in. On your next exhalation, press the shin bones back to lift the chest up. To further extend the reach of the inner legs, with the grip of the ankles, lift the legs higher up and move the sacrum tailbone in.

Adho Mukha Svanasana with hands on blocks

Adho Mukha Vrksasana or repeat Adho Mukha Svanasana

Stay for a few breaths and feel the whole body. Breathe.

Let go of any tension on the exhalations. Create harmony within your actions by taking deeper breaths, as you pause and then observe the cycle of breath that guides you to the next action.

Sirsasana and Parivrtta Eka Pada Sirsasana or Adho Mukha Svanasana followed by Bharadvajasana Upavistha Konasana Baddha Konasana Virasana with Gomukhasana (arms) Urdhva Mukha Svanasana Enter the pose with the movement of the chest forward and up—imagine your shoulder blades as a pair of hands on your back moving them in towards the chest; take that support and roll the chest forward and up. Lengthen through the inner legs to the inner arches and move the sacrum tailbone in.

Dhanurasana

Ustrasana Stand on your shins and extend the whole rib cage up.

Move the sacrum tailbone in.

Roll the thoracic spine from top to bottom and the breast bone, roll it forward and up. Roll the back of the armpit to the front of the armpit and as you hug in with the outer shoulder blades—spread the chest from behind the breast bone out to the armpits—and roll the whole chest up. Now lengthen the ribs up and away from the pelvis and move the sacrum tailbone deep in.

Arch back to release the hands to your feet. Press down on your feet and move the shoulder blades up towards the chest.

Urdhva Mukha Svanasana

Ustrasana

The Light | Spring – Summer 2021

29

ON ASANA CONTINUED

Chatush Padasana Use the grip of the ankles to extend the arms and move further the head of the outer upper arm under and in the direction of the feet to move the back ribs in. Press the feet down and raise the buttocks up high. If it is difficult to hold the ankles, hold the side edges of the mat, or interlace the hands underneath. A belt can also help to reach the ankles. Loop a belt around the front ankle bone, extend the arms with the interlace, use a belt around the wrists and turn the palms up. Press out and down into the belt and raise the back ribs up and away from the hips.

Chatush Padasana catching the ankles

Chatush Padasana with a belt on wrists

Salamba Sarvangasana and variations

1. Feet on blocks and the arms bend with the forearms at 90º

2. Lift the buttocks

3. Interlace the fingers with the arms extended

4. Lift the heels, bring the hands to the back

Take as many of the variations as you are familiar with of the Salamba Sarvangasana cycle before Setu Bandha Sarvangasana. At minimum, include Eka Pada Sarvangasana and Parsvaikapada Sarvangasana.

Setu Bandha Sarvangasana at the wall Set up near the wall, bent legs, feet close to the hips on blocks. Press the feet down and raise the buttocks up. Cut the upper arm bones down and lift the back ribs high up. Interlace your fingers and press the arms down and move the thoracic spine in. Now lift your heels and raise the buttocks and take your hands against the back ribs close to the shoulder blades. With the hands, hold the back ribs and move them towards the chest. You can be in this version of the pose for the practice of the day or move on further.

30

The Light | Spring – Summer 2021

If your hands or wrists ache or they don't make it underneath your upper back, take the feet above the bricks on the wall, with knees bent, to a height where you can place the hands against the upper back and move the chest up.

Set up further away from the wall than in section one. Come into Salamba Sarvangasana from Halasana. Once up in the pose, take the hands down the back and move the back ribs further in and up. As you hold the chest with the hands, start to coil the thoracic spine in and take one leg into Eka Pada Sarvangasana and bend the other at the knee as you move the back ribs in the direction of the chest. Absorb the tailbone and take the bent leg foot to the wall, touch, and come back up to Sarvangasana. Repeat with your second leg.

5. Salamba Sarvangasana

8. Walk down the wall

6. Eka Pada Sarvangasana with one forward and one leg reaching back, toes to the wall

9. Reach one foot down to the bolster

7. Both feet to the wall

10. Reach both feet down, toes to the bolster

Next round, once you touch, stay, and take the second leg to the wall, and walk down to the support. Remain on the ball mounds and pump the buttocks and back ribs in and up! Return to Sarvangasana from the wall.

Here, with the wall's proximity, you can touch the wall and hop back up several rounds. Stay on the chest side, with the tailbone in, and keep the touch of the foot to the wall light! Attempt with two feet! Once you have both feet on the wall, press and pump with the ball mounds, move the tailbone and buttocks in and jump back up!

The Light | Spring – Summer 2021

31

ON ASANA CONTINUED

Setu Bandha Sarvangasana to the floor and the wall Go up into Salamba Sarvangasana from Halasana. Use the hands to move the back ribs in and up. Roll the inner thighs to face each other and bring the sacrum tailbone in. Extend up through the inner legs as you move your hands further down the back and point the finger tips up towards the buttocks, little fingers running parallel to the spine.

Keep the jaw relaxed, the throat soft, eyes passive.

Bring one leg into Eka Pada Sarvangasana, dig in with the hands and move the chest up and forward towards the head side. As you lengthen the waist and take the tailbone in, bend the other leg; now, as your hands continue to support the back, roll your chest away to the head side, lift high the tailbone, and reach back and down with the foot, and up to the ceiling with the other, and touch down and come right up.

To keep the pose light, as you arch to touch down the foot, do just that—only touch—and come right back up! Keep your mind on the back ribs and be with your attention on the shoulder blades pressing forward towards the chest region. Repeat with your other leg.

In the next round, as you touch down, do so lightly, ball of the foot only, then bring the second leg down. Exhale fully and stay on the soles! Let this position of the feet draw the energy of the arches up into the pelvis, tailbone in and up! And roll from the height of the pelvis to the height of the chest a few times. Now come up with one leg, then the other leg.

11. Salamba Sarvangasana

12. One foot down to the floor, one leg up

14. Toes to the floor with the heels lifted

32

13. Both feet down to the floor to drop back

15. Legs out straight, heels to the wall with heels supported

The Light | Spring – Summer 2021

Now, coil the back ribs in, move the hands further down the back, and be on the shoulders, keeping them pinned down and move the tailbone in and bend both legs. As you arch deeply, roll from your bottom ribs to your top ribs, and lengthen from the front thighs to the metatarsals—feel your hamstrings, feel your back ribs—touch down the ball mounds and then the heels. Go from the heel to the sole a few times to pump the buttocks in and back ribs in and come up! With practice and repetition, you can go down with both legs and back up too!

To go to the full pose, once you have touched down, keep the shoulder blades pressed towards the chest, and extend one leg. Connect from your foot to your tailbone and pump it in and up and then take the second leg.

As you roll the chest higher up with the hands, roll from the heels to the soles. Pressing the sole of the foot, extend from the arches through the legs to increase the height of the pelvis and reach from the soles to the soul! Now stay with the breath and receive the embrace of Setu Bandha Sarvangasana!

You can continue with Eka Pada Setu Bandha Sarvangasana, keeping one leg extended, bend the other and raise the leg up perpendicular. Repeat with the second leg. Walk the feet back in, get up high on the ball mounds and pump the tailbone in and the chest higher up, and jump back up to Sarvangasana. Exit through Halasana.

16. Eka Pada Setu Bandha Sarvangasana

17. Setu Bandha Sarvangasana, completed pose

Marichyasana III Paschimottanasana Savasana In subsequent practice sessions, explore the myriad of supported versions of the pose to be in the pose longer and experience the pose fully.

Sarvangasana on the chair wth the hands on the back

The Light | Spring – Summer 2021

Sarvangasana on the chair with the arms reaching back under the chair

Setu Bandha Sarvangasana on the the chair, feet to the wall with heels supported

33

Cross Bolsters

Special Situations

If you have any issues with the neck and shoulders or the lower back, for example, practice the supported versions of the pose. A few examples are shared in this article. However, it is best to consult your teacher for the appropriate version best suited for your condition at that time.

Have a fulfilling practice.

May All Beings be Free and at Peace!

OM Shanti, Shanti, Shanti!

34

Setu Bandha Sarvangasna on bolsters with a belt on hips, heels on blocks

Models: Sarah Perron (CIYT, Level 2), Hector Martinez (CIYT, Level 1) Photos: Hector Martinez and Naghmeh Ahi Naghmeh has been a student of Iyengar Yoga since 1999.

She has been guided continuously by her mentor James Murphy, and the Light and Love of the teachings of Dr. Geeta Iyengar. She is on the faculty of the Iyengar Yoga Institute of Greater New York and is a CIYT, Level 3. She has a B.A. in English Literature, and her love of the written word continues through her studies of the sacred texts. Learning to practice all limbs of yoga provides her with clarifications and questions that inform living life on a daily basis with integrity and neutrality, with love and compassion towards the self and towards all beings.

The Light | Spring – Summer 2021

ON

Philosophy

Bhagavad Gita Chapter Summaries Chapter 3: 43 verses – The Yoga of Desireless Action (Karma Yoga)

BY PRAKASH PARAMESWARAN

K

rishna has already described karma yoga (yoga of action) in Chapter 2 in verses 2.41 – 2.51 and jnana (knowledge of self) in verses 2.10 – 2.30. The dialogue between him and Arjuna continues in Chapter 3.

3.1 – 3.2: Arjuna expresses confusion about why Krishna asks him to fight since he comes away from the dialogue in Chapter 2 with the idea that knowledge (jnana) is superior to the path of action (karma yoga) and wants to know which of the two paths will lead him to the highest good.

3.3 – 3.8: Krishna reiterates the existence of the twofold path (of jnana and karma) and then proceeds to resolve Arjuna’s confusion. One cannot reach the actionless state (knowledge of self), i.e., the state where there is no desire for action (as a means to an end), by either renunciation (taking sannyasa1) or by non-performance of action. The gunas2 of prakriti will force everyone to perform action. One who restrains his organs of actions but is occupied mentally with sense objects is a hypocrite, while one who controls the senses with the mind and performs karma yoga without attachment is superior. Performing action to fulfill one’s duties is superior to inaction.

3-9 – 3.16: Krishna declares the origin of mankind and of sacrificial action to be Brahman3 and urges Arjuna to perform sacrificial action without attachment. Action not performed as a sacrifice will bind one to the results of those actions. Action performed in the form of a sacrifice produces rain, which in turn produces food, which in turn helps beings exist. One that does not set this wheel of sacrificial action in motion, lives uselessly, maliciously, and trapped in sensual delights. Humans create their own gods through their sacrifices, and the gods will provide sought after nourishment/pleasures.

This nourishment must be used to work to attain the

highest (self). If one simply enjoys these pleasures without giving back, one is a thief.

3.17 – 3.26: Krishna starts by saying that for those situated in the self, there is really nothing to do. Those that perform action without attachment attain this state of self-realization. King Janaka is given as an example of one who reached this state through action and then continued to act to set an example for other people and to set a standard that the world can follow. Krishna says he himself (as Brahman) has nothing left to attain yet he performs action. If he does nothing, the world will become tamasic and perish. Krishna ends by saying that, just as the ignorant act from attachment to action, the wise should act without attachment with the intent to maintain the welfare of the world. The wise should even persuade those ignorant about the self to perform their duties even with the intention of enjoying the fruits of their actions. Eventually in time, they also will be able to reach the state of performing duties without attachment (i.e., aspire to buddhi/karma yoga or yoga of desireless action).

3.27 – 3.29: Krishna points out that all actions are brought about by the gunas of prakriti and if one thinks that one is ‘the doer’ situated in ahamkar, then that is a delusional state. But one that is situated in the self instead, realizes that it is all an interplay of the gunas (see YSP I.16)—the gunas as senses, moving among the gunas as sense objects and, therefore, one is not attached to action.

3.30 – 3.32: Krishna then asks Arjuna to fight and surrender his actions to him (Brahman) with mind centered in the self and freed from desire and the notion of “mine.” He states that those who practice this teaching with faith and without petty objections will also be released from the bondage of their actions. Those

1 Asceticism including all claims to social and family standing, complete withdrawal from worldly life.

2 Sattva, rajas, and tamas.

3 Supreme or universal self, cosmic oneness, ultimate reality, single binding unity behind all diversity Photo: RIMYI Archives

The Light | Spring – Summer 2021

35

ON PHILOSOPHY CONTINUED

who do not practice this teaching are senseless and doomed to destruction.

3.33 – 3.35: Krishna points out that all, including the wise, act according to their material nature (prakriti).

Attachment and aversion (see YSP II.7,II.8) are seated in the senses in the context of sense objects. So, one must be restrained to get beyond material nature which includes all of one's samskaras4 and vasanas5. It is better to perform one’s duty in an imperfect manner than perform another’s duty in a perfect manner.

3.36 – 3.43: Arjuna asks what causes man to commit evil, even unwillingly sometimes, as if constrained to do so by some internal force. Krishna says it is desire and anger born of rajas, which is all consuming and the enemy. This unappeasable “never to be satisfied” desire born of rajas obscures the intellect and is the eternal enemy of the wise. It is seated in the senses, the mind, and the intellect, and it deludes the embodied one by obscuring wisdom. Krishna urges Arjuna to kill this desire born of rajas, which is the destroyer of knowledge and discrimination. Knowing that the mind (manas) is superior to the senses (indriyas) and that the intellect (buddhi) is superior to the mind, and with the knowledge that the self (atman, purusha) is superior to the intellect, Krishna asks Arjuna to use the composure attained by being situated in the self to destroy the enemy (rajas) which shows up as desire.

Chapter 4: 42 verses – The yoga of sacrificial action with knowledge of self (jnana)

4.1 – 4.12: Having concluded the presentation of jnana (knowledge) and karma yoga (path of desireless action) in chapters 2 and 3, Krishna declares that he had taught this to ancestors of the warrior/ruler class. They had handed this down to their progeny, and thus these kings who were also sages were able to maintain dharma (righteousness, that which upholds) in the world. This knowledge [of yoga] was lost because it fell into the hands of people who could not control their senses and could not work towards liberation (moksha). And Krishna declares that he is now teaching this to Arjuna to reestablish this knowledge that was lost to the world.

Krishna further declares that he is situated beyond the gunas in an eternal state. He is born in every

Anyone that understands Krishna (their true self) is also not bound by their actions since they are also performing action without attachment to the fruit of their actions. age (in human form), whenever there is a decline in righteousness, for the protection of the good and the destruction of the wicked so that dharma may be upheld. He who understands Krishna’s birth and action for establishing and upholding righteousness attains knowledge of self, becomes one with Krishna, becomes liberated while living, and is never born again. Krishna says that by becoming free from attachment, fear, anger, being absorbed in the self (Krishna, Brahman), taking refuge in the self and by purification through tapas6 of knowledge (brahma-jnana), many have become one with him.

In whatever way he (Krishna, Brahman) is approached, rewards accrue accordingly, those who seek selfish rewards from their actions, he binds them to their selfish ends, and they end up in bondage to the material things in the world (in karmic cycles/samsara7), those who have renounced attachment and seek liberation (moksha) he gives them that. Worldly success can be attained easily, but it is very difficult to attain the knowledge of self.

4.13 – 4.15: People end up in four different stations in life based on their gunas and karma (actions). Krishna as Brahman is beyond the ahamkara (sense of “I”, doership based on desired fruit for actions), so actions do not taint him. Anyone that understands Krishna (their true self) is also not bound by their actions since they are also performing action without attachment to the fruit of their actions. Krishna then states that knowing this, seekers of liberation in the past also performed action and he asks Arjuna to perform such action.

4.16 – 4.23: Krishna states that even the wise are confused about what action is and what inaction is and states that he will explain so that one may be liberated. One must know the nature of correct action, wrong action and inaction. The path of action is hard to understand. He who sees inaction in action and action

4 Mental impressions 5 Behavioral tendency 6 The heat of knowledge of self burns all samskaras and vasanas and purifies the person.

7 The cycle of death and rebirth to which life in the material world is bound.

36

The Light | Spring – Summer 2021

in inaction is wise, a yogi, and a performer of all action.

Inaction in action means that one does not act in the world to establish bondage with the results of the action.

One identifies instead with the actionless self, and acts from a state of vidya8 no matter what action is being done. Action in inaction may happen when a person may not be doing any action but is in a state of avidya9, as in the mind is active with the notion of ahamkara “I am a doer,” and engaged mentally with planning and obtaining fruits for actions performed. It is the body/ mind/senses/ ahamkara that performs action based on desired fruits not the self. He who acts without desire and selfish purpose and whose past actions have been burnt by the fire of knowledge (brahma- jnana) is called a sage. Even though such a person is content to be situated in the actionless self, not doing anything (based on attachment to rewards for actions), without coveting anything, he is still engaged in activity to set an example to the others. He is content with what comes to him without effort that seeks fruits, he is free from the pairs of opposites, free from envy, is even-minded in success or failure, he is not bound. He who acts devoid of attachment, is liberated, whose thought is established in knowledge (of self), whose work is a sacrifice, his actions are reduced to nothing (creates no bondage), so it becomes the inaction that is desired. This is Brahman in action and one that acts like this will attain to Brahman.

4.24 – 4.33: These verses present the different types of sacrificial actions performed for purification of the mind on the path of spirituality. When sacrificial action is performed with the realization of self and that nothing exists apart from Brahman, the performer of the action, the action itself and the results, this is jnana-yagna or ‘wisdom sacrifice.’ This is the sacrifice performed by the knowers of Brahman. They, having realized that the self and Brahman are one, renounce all action and remain situated in that actionless state of the self yet performing action in the world as sacrifice. Some perform sacrificial rites to the gods or perform sacrifice by restraining the senses or by directing the senses to specific objects that are not forbidden. Others perform sacrifice by performing samyama10 on the self thereby dissolving all the actions of the senses and the prana (life force that wants to act for selfish interests). Some perform sacrifice by using their wealth for charity, and others perform intense tapas as sacrifice. Some

practice yoga (the eight-limbed raja yoga) and others perform study of the Vedas as sacrifice. Some practice inhalation, exhalation, and retention of breath. Some perform sacrifice by restricting their food intake.

All these are knowers of sacrifice whose evils will be destroyed by sacrifice. Those that do not perform any form of sacrifice are not fit to live in this world. Those that do are on the path of union with Brahman. This section ends with Krishna stating that wisdom sacrifice (from 4.24 and 4.25) is superior to the sacrifice of material objects, and that all actions are comprehended in wisdom (jnana, knowledge of self).

4.34 – 4.42: This section establishes that nothing purifies one as much as knowledge (of self) which is attained by the constant practice of yoga (karma yoga and dhyana yoga (yoga of meditation/samadhi)). One must approach those that have had direct experience (darshan11) of this knowledge (of self), prostrate to them, provide service to them, and question them, and they will teach this knowledge. With that knowledge all delusion will be lost, and one will see that the self is the same in all beings, which is Krishna (Brahman).

This is the essence of the Upanishads as stated in the mahavakyas12. Even the biggest sinners can get past all their sins with this boat of knowledge and this knowledge will burn to ashes all past actions. One that has faith, is devoted to this knowledge, and has restrained the senses, quickly attains this knowledge, and goes quickly to the state of supreme peace. There is no happiness for those that are ignorant, doubting, and faithless. The chapter ends with Krishna stating that, for those that have renounced selfish actions through karma yoga, whose doubts are removed by knowledge (of self) and who are situated in the self, actions they perform do not bind them to samsara (karmic cycles of birth and death). So, with the sword of knowledge (jnana), he asks Arjuna to cut away this ignorance (ajnana, avidya), resort to yoga, and stand up.

Prakash Parameswaran is a CIYT, Level 2. As a yoga sadhaka, he has been fortunate to study with senior teachers on the path of yoga. He has a keen interest in the philosophy behind yoga as presented in the Upanishads, Samkhya, The Bhagavad Gita, and the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali. Prakash resides in Plano, Texas.

8 Knowledge of self.

9 Ignorance of self.

10 Iterative performance of concentration, meditation, and absorption with an object of meditation.

11 Viewing or beholding 12 The great sayings from the Upanishads.

The Light | Spring – Summer 2021

37

ON

Teaching

A Tribute to Felicity Green 1933–2021

BY PAT MUSBURGER AND KATIE DAVIDSON “Whatever you do, for heaven’s sake do it whole-heartedly.

That is what makes life interesting.”—Felicity Green, from an interview in 1982

Felicity Green, a pioneer of Iyengar Yoga in the United States, died peacefully in the company of her son and daughter-inlaw on April 23. An influential teacher whom Mr. Iyengar called “as strong as a lion,” was both compassionate and stern in her teaching. Felicity followed her own advice and lived her Photo: Steve Horn life wholeheartedly, never being afraid to make bold changes when the spirit called on her to do so. At the 2010 IYNAUS Convention in Portland she was only the third person to be honored with the Lighting the Way Award for her numerous contributions to the Iyengar Yoga community.

Her journey with Iyengar Yoga began in 1962 when she moved from South Africa to Palo Alto, CA with her husband David Hall and two young sons. Despite her medical background as a trained occupational therapist and her experience as the daughter of a doctor, Felicity sought alternative solutions for her chronically dislocating shoulder. As a result, she discovered French Iyengar teacher Jean Bernard Rishi in 1970 and thus began a journey that was to become her life’s work.

Felicity studied with Rishi for four years, travelling to France for teacher training before meeting B.K.S. Iyengar in the states in 1974. In 1976 she travelled to Pune for the first time, returning every few years until 2000. Felicity considered Guruji to be her spiritual father.

38

Her journey with Iyengar Yoga began in 1962 when she moved from South Africa to Palo Alto, CA with her husband David Hall and two young sons.

Felicity was a founding member of the Institute for Yoga Teacher Education in San Francisco and instrumental in the first teacher training program in the U.S. When West Coast and East Coast organizations merged in 1976, she became a member of the first Board of IYNAUS. In the minutes of an early IYNAUS board meeting, she is given credit for the idea of standardizing the assessment process. She served on the faculty at IYISF from 1976 to 1983. In 1980 Felicity and David formed a partnership with Lolly Font and Elise Miller to create the California Yoga Center in Palo Alto. According to Elise, as one of the first teachers in the area, Felicity “was a guiding light to many students and teachers, and her legacy will live on with all who had the privilege to study with her.”

In 1981, Felicity moved to British Columbia to live at the Yasodhara Ashram and study with Swami Sivananda Radha, whom she later came to regard as her spiritual mother. This experience deepened her understanding and relationship with yoga philosophy and catalyzed a change within. When asked in a 1982 interview what her purpose in life was she responded, “To try to be clear enough so I do what I’m meant to do.” By this time, Felicity had four sons who were mostly grown. With her householder duties complete she sought a divorce and devoted her life to teaching—what she was meant to do.

Largely due to her time with Swami Radha, and unlike many Iyengar teachers at the time, Felicity began to regularly incorporate philosophy instruction into her asana classes. From the early ‘80s until the mid 2000s, Felicity was in high demand for her teacher training

The Light | Spring – Summer 2021

During her later years Felicity’s focus changed but did not waiver. As she aged she wanted to help others going through the same process.

Silent Dance Center (HI) echoed those sentiments with,“Felicity was one of my first and most inspiring teachers.” And Ingela Abbott, who hosted Felicity yearly for week long teacher trainings in Washington, said, “One of the main gifts Felicity gave to us was her rich and in-depth understanding of the yoga philosophy that we continue to share with our students today.” In addition, Felicity was an IYNAUS assessor and a founding board member of the IYANW region.

In 1984, along with 4 other teachers, she established a yoga cooperative in Seattle called Community Yoga Circle. Reflecting on this part of her life, Felicity would tell the story of a dream she had about a place called Lopez. She turned her dream into reality when she purchased a property on Lopez Island. She named it “Lavanya” meaning naturally beautiful. Lavanya was special in part because of a 300-year-old Douglas fir tree—which Felicity called the Shiva Tree. She hosted summer yoga retreats at Lavanya until 1997 when she moved to Lopez full time and relocated to Midnight’s Farm. On the farm, she hosted karma yoga retreats and, with the help of students and friends, she built a small studio and landscaped the surrounding grounds.

Felicity was an avid gardener and lover of nature. She could identify any plant and recognize the song of every bird on the island. Felicity especially loved the wild turkeys that would wander through her front yard. workshops both around the region and around the world.

She taught in South Africa, New Zealand, Australia, Canada, and Switzerland. June Cooper, a teacher from South Africa, remembers that Felicity “was one of the first teachers from overseas to visit South Africa when we were all deprived of any guidance or firsthand teachings from the source.” Leslie Hogya, from British Columbia, called Felicity “hugely influential in developing our community.” Phyllis Rollins from North Carolina wrote: “Her teaching and guidance was instrumental in me becoming a teacher and I will always be grateful for her inspiration and support.” Sandi Jordan of the

The Light | Spring – Summer 2021

In 2005, at the age of 72, she taught a teacher training workshop in New Zealand for six hours a day for six days.

After this trip she developed heart trouble and contended that it was pushing herself through the course of teaching and travelling that brought it on. Even though she longed to return to India, Felicity knew it was not wise and Guruji reinforced this, so she never went again.

During her later years, Felicity’s focus changed but did not waiver. As she aged, she wanted to help others going through the same process. Many workshops were devoted to navigating menopause or adapting practice

39

ON TEACHING CONTINUED

to an aging body. She recorded a video on menopause and published a short book called “Creaky Yoga.” Her focus on Pranayama and philosophy were other areas of concentration as her Asana practice and teaching became more limited with age and health issues. She recorded a series of audiotapes to guide students in a pranayama practice and wrote a short introductory book to yoga philosophy.

In April 2008, Ascent magazine hosted an intensive with Geeta Iyengar in Victoria, B.C. Following the intensive, Felicity, Margot Kitchen, Leslie Hogya, Shirley Daventry French, and Joan White, all senior Iyengar teachers, gathered for a conversation about changes in their practice and teaching as they aged. The group concluded that they still had much to contribute to the community and learning how to balance life, work, and aging was a hard lesson learned.

Felicity’s final book, published in 2017, is an exploration of her life and discoveries as well as a roadmap for others. “Who Are You? For Thoughtful People Who are Curious About Creating a Life of Awareness” is a fitting legacy. One of her favorite quotes is from Voltaire,

“A life unexamined is a life not worth living.” Felicity gave thousands of Iyengar Yoga teachers and students and many more friends and family the courage and tools to examine their lives as she did hers. Her influence and legacy will live on through us.

“How happy I am that I had the courage to take that leap of faith and follow my inner knowing rather than my rational intelligence.” —Felicity Green from “Who Are You?” To learn more about Felicity Green, please read these articles from Yoga Samachar: “Felicity Green Receives Lighting the Way Award” by Pat Musburger, found here and “Lifelong Practice: Felicity Green” by Paul Cheek, found here Pat Musburger is an Emeritus CIYT, Level 2 living in Seattle, Washington. She has served as Secretary of the IYNAUS Board and President of the IYANW Board.

Katie Davidson is a CIYT, Level 3 living in Bellingham, Washington. She is a member of the IYANW Board.

IYENGAR YOGA INSTITUTE OF SAN FRANCISCO

SPECIAL OFFER! DROP IN FOR ANY OF OUR

specialty WEEKLY CL ASSES!

$

10

off

ONL INE L IV ESTREA M

Ageless Yoga Chair Yoga Back-Care Yoga Yoga for Bone Health Gentle-Pace/Restorative

SIGN UP AT IYISF.ORG CODE 40

IYNAUS10 • ONE TIME USE ONLY • EXPIRES JULY 31 The Light | Spring – Summer 2021

Iyengar Yoga with Brian Tradition • Learning Practice • Study • Teaching www.iybrian.com

The Light | Spring – Summer 2021

41

Save the Date for the 2nd Annual IYNAUS Coast to Coast event Nov. 11–14, 2021 Last year’s inaugural event was remarkable with almost 2,000 IYNAUS members participating in the wonderful array of classes taught by our senior teachers. Your support and positive feedback inspired us to plan a return engagement—our second, FREE, Coast to Coast member-benefit gathering.

This membership benefit provides an opportunity for our community to unite together via live, online classes. The goal is to give back to IYNAUS members for their dedication and support and to further promote the teachings of the Iyengar legacy. As always, we sincerely appreciate our senior teachers for their collective efforts in making this event a reality

once again by generously donating their time and sharing their teachings with our community.

IYNAUS membership is required to participate in the 2nd Annual Coast to Coast yoga community gathering. Look for registration information and a complete schedule of teachers and class times coming soon to your inbox!

We hope you will Save the Date to join us this November from Coast to Coast as we immerse ourselves in the wisdom, immense generosity, and benevolent teachings of the Iyengar legacy.

For questions, please email store@iynaus.org or director.operations@iynaus.org

JOIN IYNAUS To join IYNAUS or renew your current membership, please visit our website and apply online: click here Membership fees begin at $70, with $40 of each membership going to support teacher certification, continuing education, and member services.

YOUR AD HERE Text-only ads start at $50. A premium classified ad can be purchased for up to $125. Full-page, half-page, quarter-page, and classified advertising is available. All advertising is subject to IYNAUS board approval. Ads are secondary to the magazine’s content, and we reserve the right to adjust the placement as needed. For more information and ad rates, please contact Sheryl Abrams at (512) 571-2115 or yogabysheryl.tx@gmail.com

Lisa Waas (CIYT, Level 2) adjusting Sara Peters, student. Photo: Boston Photography

42

The Light | Spring – Summer 2021

Standing Mountain

BY JOHN W. STEELE

What would it take to be a standing mountain, soft body centered over sentient feet, inhale your arches, pelvic floor and heart up through your crown, exhale your sacrum down?

What would it take to be a conscious mountain, feet together, balanced, toes spread wide, breath and spine aligned, as if along a golden thread suspended from your crown?

What would it take to be a sparkling mountain, glaciers trickling into ice green lakes, cascades, ravines, rainbow glinted creeks— an effervescent presence, grand, pristine?

A human mountain, one hundred billion nerve cells all lit up, doing what it takes.

B.K.S. Iyengar in Tadasana—Light on Yoga

John W. Steele (CIYT, Level 1) is a psychologist, assistant editor of “Think: A Journal of Poetry, Fiction and Essays,” and graduate of the MFA Poetry Program at Western Colorado University. John lives in Boulder, Colorado and enjoys hiking in the mountains.

Scoliosis student in Parsva Dandasana in Pune, India Photo Marcia Monroe

B.K.S. Iyengar Yoga National Association of the United States P.O. Box 398 Stone Mountain, GA 30087 www.iynaus.org