VOL. 2 NO. 1
Transformation Tribute to Guruji – Nikki Costello Abhyasa and Vairagya – Pauline Schloesser Fostering Transformation – Siegfried Bleher Arm Balances – Susan Goulet Class with Geetaji – Randy Just Pranayama – John Schumacher Bhagavad Gita – Prakash Parameswaran Therapeutic Experiences – David Carpenter Transformative Communication – Lisa Jo Landsberg
Fall 2021 | Winter 2022
Furthering your Practice with Props With deepest gratitude to the people who have supported Pine Tree Yoga Props for the past twenty-six 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
TABLE OF CONTENTS
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:
Letter from the President . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
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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.
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Communicate information regarding the standards and training of certified teachers.
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Report on studies regarding the practice of Iyengar Yoga.
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Provide information on products and services related to Iyengar Yoga.
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Review and present articles and books written by the Iyengars.
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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.
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Present ideas to stimulate every aspect of the reader’s practice.
Letter from the Editor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 Describe Transformation through Yoga, Nikki Costello . . . . 5 Tools of Transformation, Pauline Schloesser . . . . . . . . . . 7 Fostering Transformation, Siegfried Bleher . . . . . . . . . . 15 On Asana: Arm Balances, Susan Goulet . . . . . . . . . . . . 21 On Teaching: Geeta’s Backbend Class, Randy Just . . . . . 29 On Pranayama: John Schumacher . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34 On Philosophy: Bhagavad Gita Chapter Summaries, Prakash Parameswaran . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38 On Healing: Therapeutics and Me, David Carpenter . . . . . 41 Harmony in Communication, Lisa Jo Landsberg . . . . . . . 45
IYNAUS OFFICERS AND COMMITTEE CHAIR CONTACTS Fall 2021 | Winter 2022 PRESIDENT Randy Just president@iynaus.org VICE PRESIDENT Dave Larsen vice.president@iynaus.org SECRETARY Adrienne Klein secretary@iynaus.org
PUBLIC RELATIONS AND MARKETING Skyler Christensen, Chair socialmedia@iynaus.org REGIONAL SUPPORT Gretchen House, Chair regional.support@iynaus.org
TREASURER Christine Miyachi treasurer@iynaus.org
SERVICE MARK & CERTIFICATION MARK Gloria Goldberg, Attorney in Fact for B.K.S. Iyengar, Chair trademarks@iynaus.org
ARCHIVES Kathleen Quinn, Chair archives@iynaus.org
SYSTEMS AND TECHNOLOGY Ashley Fontes, Chair technology@iynaus.org
ASSESSMENT Nina Pileggi, Chair assessment.chair@iynaus.org
VOLUNTEER Janet Lilly, Chair volunteer@iynaus.org
CONTINUING EDUCATION Susan Johnson, Chair continuinged@iynaus.org
YOGA & EQUITY Hector Martinez, Co-Chair Megan Bowles, Co-Chair yogaequity@iynaus.org
ETHICS Susan Goulet, Chair ethics@iynaus.org EVENTS Tay Bulanda, Chair events@iynaus.org
YOGA RESEARCH Anne Chatworthy, Chair research@iynaus.org
IYNAUS Staff
MEMBERSHIP Gretchen House, Chair director.operations@iynaus.org
Mariah Oakley, Director of Operations director.operations@iynaus.org
GOVERNANCE AND ELECTIONS Gretchen House, Co-Chair David Larsen, Co-Chair vice.president@iynaus.org
Julia Fogelson, Store Manager store@iynaus.org
PUBLICATIONS Jerrilyn Crowley, Chair publications@iynaus.org
Nicholas Jouriles, Web Manager webmanager@iynaus.org
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 Dan Shuman, Editing Assistant Susan Goulet, Advisor WRITERS:
Siegfried Bleher David Carpenter Nikki Costello Susan Goulet Randy Just
Lisa Jo Landsberg Prakash Parameswaran Pauline Schloesser John Schumacher
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
Cover photo: Patricia Parinejad Photography
The Light | Fall 2021 – Winter 2022
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IYNAUS COMMITTEES ARCHIVES Kathleen Quinn ASSESSMENT Nina Pileggi CONTINUING EDUCATION Susan Johnson ETHICS Susan Goulet EVENTS Tay Bulanda FINANCE Christine Miyachi GOVERNANCE AND ELECTIONS David Larsen Gretchen House MEMBERSHIP Gretchen House PUBLICATIONS Jerrilyn Crowley PUBLIC RELATIONS AND MARKETING Skyler Christensen REGIONAL SUPPORT Gretchen House SERVICE AND CERTIFICATION MARK Gloria Goldberg SYSTEMS AND TECHNOLOGY Ashley Fontes VOLUNTEER Janet Lilly YOGA AND EQUITY Hector Martinez Megan Bowles YOGA RESEARCH Anne Clatworthy PAST PRESIDENTS: Organizational Board-1991 Mary Dunn
Letter
FROM THE PRESIDENT
Dear IYNAUS Family, IYENGAR YOGA is without a doubt flourishing during this challenging time, thanks to our innovative teachers and dedicated students. Many of you kept your studios open at great personal expense. While others, unfortunately, were forced to close their centers. However, I have a feeling once this pandemic is under control, we will see many studios return. Teachers have worked tirelessly to redefine the presentation of yoga with Zoom, hybrid classes, and outdoor classes. Nothing can beat an in-person class, but how great to walk into our practice room and have a class with any number of fantastic teachers. Ultimately, we have our practice rooted deeply in the yamas and niyamas to sustain us. One of my main goals as President of IYNAUS is to make sure our members are receiving rewarding benefits for being a member. If you haven’t taken the time to look at your Member Benefits page, you are missing a wealth of fun and interesting material. This year, besides the incredible issues of The Light and Yoga Samachar, we had monthly archival videos of Dr. Geeta S. Iyengar teaching in Canada, and soon we will premiere her 2009 Convention from Koln, Germany. Included in this issue of The Light is an audio of Geeta Iyengar teaching a Friday evening backbend class, and it is a classic! I could go on and on, but just go and sign on to the IYNAUS site and go to your Member Benefits page. I want to acknowledge the Assessment Committee and all of the assessors for successfully adapting the IYNAUS Assessment Program to align with the new Certification program from RIMYI. This was not a small task!!! As an assessor myself, I found the new program challenging to learn, but interesting and progressive. I particularly enjoyed the concept of the group practice. I was reminded of those morning practices in Pune where people from all over the world met in the practice hall and spent three hours with Guruji just practicing. The teaching and demonstrated practice portions were actually not that different than the previous system. The Continuing Education and DEIJ committees provide endless interesting and thought-provoking programs. I particularly enjoyed Hong Gwi-Seok and John Schumacher’s program on “Yoga Hierarchies, Power and Equity” and Lisa Jo Landsberg’s program for “Harmony in Communications.” Both were very powerful. All of these programs again are on our new website—so much to discover. Spend a little time diving into all this material.
1992 – 1998 Dean Lerner 1998 – 2000 Karin O’Bannon 2000 – 2002 Jonathan Neuberger 2002 – 2004 Sue Salaniuk
IYNAUS remains committed to promoting and educating the public about the marvelous teachings of B.K.S. Iyengar and his family. Thank you all again for being members.
2004 – 2006 Marla Apt 2006 – 2008 Linda DiCarlo 2008 – 2012 Chris Beach
Randy Just President
2012 – 2014 Janet Lilly 2014 – 2017 Michael Lucey 2017 – 2019 David Carpenter For a full list of committee members and volunteers, visit our website Board and Staff
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The Light | Fall 2021 – Winter 2022
Letter
FROM THE EDITOR
Dear Members, We are excited to release the December 2021 issue of The Light! The writers and our IYNAUS publications team have worked hard to bring exceptional articles and new interactive features to this digital edition. Thank you to Nicholas Jouriles, our IYNAUS webmaster, for his help in coordinating the magazine links to the website. The Light digital magazine as well as the Samachar digital newsletter are valuable IYNAUS member benefits. The theme of this issue is “Transformation.” B.K.S. Iyengar wrote in Light on Life, “Transformation is sustained change and it is achieved through practice.” And, “Change is not something that we should fear. Rather, it is something that we should welcome. For without change nothing in this world would ever grow or blossom, and no one in this world would ever move forward to become the person they’re meant to be.” From guidance in Asana and Pranayama practice from our senior teachers, to thought-provoking yoga philosophy summaries, and personal stories of courage and hope, we gain knowledge and insight towards our own path to transformation. In her article, Pauline Schloesser provides insightful exploration into the twin pillars of yoga practice, Abhyasa and Vairagya with transcriptions of lectures by Prashant Iyengar. Siegfried Bleher writes that we awaken conscience and then we consciously choose the doorway to the path opened by the eight limbs of yoga. Thoughtful intention and discerning power of knowledge are needed to create change. Perhaps some of you have participated in Lisa Jo Landsberg’s online session, “Harmony in Communications.” She explains in her follow up article in The Light, that “Our path of transformation is directly related to how we interact with others in the world.” And she reminds us, “learn to see obstacles as an opportunity for stretching yourself into new patterns that help you grow.”
IYNAUS OFFICERS AND REGIONAL REPRESENTATIVES OFFICERS AND EXECUTIVE COUNCIL PRESIDENT Randy Just VICE PRESIDENT Dave Larsen TREASURER Chris Miyachi SECRETARY Adrienne Klein CHIEF EQUITY AND INCLUSION OFFICER Denise Rowe SENIOR ADVISOR AND ATTORNEY FOR THE IYENGARS Gloria Goldberg ETHICS Susan Goulet EXECUTIVE COUNCIL Lisa Jo Landsberg ASSESSMENT Nina Pileggi REGIONAL REPRESENTATIVES IYAGNY Dan Shuman
IYASW Lisa Henrich
IYALA Varina Whitener
IYAUM Susan Johnson
IYAMW Jennie Williford
IYACSR Sheri Cruise
IYANE Rosie Richardson
IMIYA Vacant
Wishing you good health and happiness,
IYASCUS Gretchen House
IYANW Vacant
Jerrilyn Crowley Editor in Chief, The Light
IYASE Janet Lilly
IYANC Vacant
It is our sincere wish that you enjoy this publication now and for years to come. We welcome your comments, ideas, and creative contributions. Feel free to contact us at publications@iynaus.org.
IYASE Colleen Gallagher
STAFF Mariah Oakley, Director of Operations director.operations@iynaus.org Julia Fogelson, IYNAUS Store Manager store@iynaus.org Nicholas Jouriles, IYNAUS Web manager webmaster@iynaus.org
The Light | Fall 2021 – Winter 2022
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“Yoga does not just change the way we see things, it transforms the person who sees.” 4
—B.K.S. Iyengar
The Light | Fall 2021 – Winter 2022
A Tribute to B.K.S. Iyengar: How do we describe Transformation through Yoga? BY NIKKI COSTELLO I wrote the following tribute to Guruji on August 20, 2014. Since then, both Guruji and Geetaji have passed away, and the global Iyengar Yoga community has undergone considerable change. In these seven years, each one of us has experienced changes in our lives. For example, we age, we begin and end relationships, we move from one place to another, we grieve and suffer loss, we set new goals and flourish in our pursuits. Change is inevitable and the nature of life. However, yoga invites us to consider transformation as something more than changes in our lives, though they are often intricately connected. Transformation in yoga can be understood as an elemental process that gradually reveals our inner attainment, our true nature. In my experience, yogic attainment is irreversible. Once something has been realized through the practice of yoga, it penetrates all levels of our being and can feel as close and real as our skin holding us together. The ‘something,’ I am speaking of are ‘the teachings’—a body of knowledge that has the potential to become experiential wisdom through our efforts in practice and by the grace inherent in them.
A
s you read the words of this tribute, I invite you to choose one of these questions as you consider your own journey as a student of Iyengar Yoga:
• In what ways has Iyengar Yoga changed your life? • Is there an essential yogic teaching you contemplate that serves as an anchor for your study and practice? • Can you describe your own transformation? Do you see your journey in stages of growth? Or have you discovered a feeling of inner knowing, unable to say exactly when it happened?
TRIBUTE TO GURUJI I picked up my first copy of Light on Yoga over 20 years ago. The original sits on my bookshelf as part of my personal archive. The binding has fallen apart, pages are loose and yellowed, and the margins are filled with questions and observations. When I choose to open it, I read it as scripture and journal all in one. This book also marks the beginning of my relationship with B.K.S Iyengar. I first saw his image in the form of asanas, heard his voice in my own head, and practiced his instructions word by word in my own body. I memorized the Sanskrit names of asanas by saying them aloud or writing them many times on paper. I studied the sequences attempting to self-diagnose what my body needed and followed them step by step. There were many things I could not do, concepts I did The Light | Fall 2021 – Winter 2022
not understand and mythical stories that led to more questions. But there was one thing I knew with certainty: the light of yoga was ON. I began my formal training, studying with many of Iyengar’s teachers by attending their classes, workshops and intensives. One year, I was on a pilgrimage in India with some friends, traveling in the state of Maharashtra to visit sacred temples and samadhi shrines. We were on the outskirts of Pune, and I asked the rickshaw driver how long it would take to get to Hare Krishna Mandir Road. He didn’t know the road. I said, “Iyengar.” And he responded, “Yoga.” I nodded, “Yes.” It was that simple— Iyengar Yoga Yes! I stood on the road looking at the sign that read Ramamani Iyengar Memorial Yoga Institute. As I walked through the gate, the atmosphere shimmered. The walls along the side of the building had carvings of Iyengar in various poses. It was quiet and peaceful. I removed my shoes and approached the entrance with reverence; I had arrived at a temple that I had longed to see. I was greeted by Iyengar’s secretary and told that this time of day was a respite. No classes were in session, and I was welcome to look around. I walked up the circular staircase to the top floor and then back down to the room I had seen for so many years in photographs— the great hall where thousands of yoga students come year after year to study and practice. I wanted to be one of those students. I descended the staircase whose walls were lined with photos, plaques, and awards honoring Iyengar’s 5
My journey from seeker to student to teacher is sustained by the thread of generosity that exists between a teacher and a student. dedication, commitment, and service to humanity through his teachings and dissemination of yoga. I walked a few more steps and there he was, standing in the lobby. My heart swelled in fullness and my legs became soft. I knelt and offered my pranams. He kindly stood and listened as I thanked him for his life of selfless service. In those moments with him I glimpsed the magnitude of his gift to the world. That day, I made a promise to myself that I would return to RIMYI as a student. Ten years later I fulfilled my promise and returned as an Iyengar Yoga teacher. My journey from seeker to student to teacher is sustained by the thread of generosity that exists between a teacher and a student. It is a blessing to receive his legacy. B.K.S. Iyengar, and his entire family have offered their lives in service so that we may all come to know and experience Light on Yoga. Thank you Guruji,
As a teacher of Iyengar Yoga, we become accomplished at modifying learning to guide our students step by step in their practice. We observe changes and, more importantly, students may share their progress and enthusiasm for the changes they feel and observe. Can we continue to have a dialogue about transformation that reaches toward the innermost layer of our being and share the wisdom nestled there? I believe this is the legacy that Iyengar Yoga has awakened in us when we utter the words, “light on yoga.” Nikki Costello (CIYT, Level 3) (C-IAYT). For 27 years, her teaching has been inspired by the study of scriptural and philosophical texts, a daily practice of meditation, and annual trips to India including to Ramamani Iyengar Memorial Yoga Institute (RIMYI). In 2013–2014, she was a contributing editor at Yoga Journal, writing the magazine’s “Basics Column.” In 2016, Nikki was named one of the 100 Most Influential Teachers in America. She recently completed a MA in Traditions of Yoga and Meditation from SOAS, University of London.
With folded palms I offer you my love and gratitude. Namaste.
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The Light | Fall 2021 – Winter 2022
Abhyasa and Vairagya: Tools of Transformation An Introduction to Prashant S. Iyengar’s Yogadhara Lectures BY PAULINE SCHLOESSER, PH.D., AJAY JAISWAL, PH.D. CANDIDATE, JAWAHARLAL NEHRU UNIVERSITY, DELHI
INTRODUCTION
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e’ve read it and memorized it—abhyasa and vairagya are the two pillars of yoga. Abhyasa means practice; and vairagya means detachment or dispassion. And then, we think that practice is doing asanas and pranayama. We feel great, we enjoy better physical physiological health, strength, flexibility, and stamina. And we think that vairagya, as detachment, means that we have to give up things we love: stop eating meat, give up sugar or other substances, distance ourselves from the passion we feel for our loved ones, and become an ascetic. Prashant S. Iyengar (Prashantji) wants to disabuse us of our misconceptions and educate us about what classical yoga really advocates. In addition to his aim to educate us on classical yoga, Prashantji is pointing out our misconceptions about abhyasa and vairagya because they lead to problems in ourselves, our community, our society, and our world. One problem is commercialism—doing, performing, buying, and selling “yoga” for our own purposes like health, remediation, exercise, etc., which are all supposed to be only the side-benefits of yoga. They are not themselves leading toward mental steadiness or thirstlessness, and may even increase our passions for more and more stuff, more wealth, more resources. On a grand scale, this kindling of passion and thirst for more and more stuff leads to the destruction of the earth and its atmosphere. Our misconceived notions about vairagya too often lead to mental rigidity and whiplashing. Whiplashing occurs when we try to force ourselves to give up pleasures, and then fall back to our old habits of consumption. Whiplashing the mind and senses is bad for us. Additionally, there may be dishonesty, in that we portray our lives one way in public, to appear dispassionate, and another in private, where we enjoy our pleasures. Or we embrace asceticism when we are depressed and depleted, because that is often when there is a condition of thirstlessness. We think this is vairagya. It is not. This is not what the yoga tradition advocates. In classical yoga, the limbs of yoga and their activities must support the goal of chitta vritti nirodha (Samadhi). And the signature condition of abhyasa, is that it The Light | Fall 2021 – Winter 2022
must also promote vairagya, which is vitrishna, or thirstlessness. Similarly, efforts to dis-passionate the mind must also lead the mind to be content and steady. And even if we are not at the level of practice where samadhi is a probability, Prashantji says, abhyasa and vairagya should transform our beings. Our yoga should melt away our tendencies to become lustful, angry, greedy, arrogant, and delusional, or jealous. So, if our practices make us ambitious, bloat our egos, or increase our level of consumerism, they are not yogic. If our attempts to dispassionate the mind make us rigid, irritable, angry, or depressed, they are not yogic. If you have wondered, as a householder living in the 21st century, what vairagya should mean for you, you’re in for a treat. Vairagya has several levels. These are called: yatamana, vyatireka, ekendriya, and vashikara sangya vairagya. Patanjali only mentions the latter, highest stage of first level vairagya, whereas the others were commonly understood to precede this vashikara sangya vairagya. So, a major problem is that we read the Sutra I.15, on vairagya, which pertains to yogis approaching samadhi, and think it is for us. As householders, most of us are not at that level. It is more likely that we are in the yatamana stage, which is temperance and moderation in a very subjective, relative, and ever-changing mode. Prashantji has produced 19 lectures on the topics of abhyasa and vairagya to correct the misconceptions that we have on these twin means of yoga. The lectures draw from the yoga shastra—literature of the yoga 7
ABHYASA AND VAIRAGYA CONTINUED
tradition. He uses a lot of Sanskrit, as this is necessary to place abhyasa and vairagya in their traditional contexts. What follows is a brief description of lectures 86–97, with their respective YouTube links.
SUMMARY OF THE LECTURES Abhyasa: A Means to Be-steady the Mind, Part 1 As practitioners of yoga, our aim is to make the mind be-steady—chitta vritti nirodha. However, we can’t just go from a very active, worldly mind to a steady mind. It would be like stopping a fast-running car immediately. We need to first slow down. Similarly, we must first understand the cause of an unsteady mind, and then put small and steady endeavors to thwart the cause. This is abhyasa.1
Abhyasa: A Means to Be-steady the Mind, Part 1
Abhyasa: A Means to Be-steady the Mind, Part 2
Abhyasa: A Means to Be-steady the Mind, Part 3 Much of this talk is focused on the definition of “field of activity” as the location or environment in which a particular activity takes place. Like the field for office work is the office itself, the field for housework is the home itself, etc. This is significant because our chances for success in yoga as an end state (samadhi) are dependent on understanding the field of activity. Yoga and adhyatma are unique in the sense that the subject, object, and instrument of activity are all aspects of one field or embodiment. Some aspect of our embodiment is working on another aspect of our embodiment, by means of our embodiment. This lecture also explains Prashant’s triad of body-mind-breath interactions as the field of activity. No other activity has this unification.2
Abhyasa: A Means to Be-steady the Mind, Part 2 What is a steady mind? It is not a stopped mind. It’s a calm mind with a consistent flow like a river flowing over flat terrain. But all this needs a suitable “field of activity” which is our internal microcosm. The external world is not an appropriate field for the endeavor to restrain the mind because therein we will be engaged with duality— pairs of opposites will be triggered, such as likes and dislikes; gains and losses; honor and dishonor, etc.
Abhyasa: A Means to Be-steady the Mind, Part 3
Abhyasa: A Means to Be-steady the Mind, Part 4 If the field of activity for yoga is the embodiment, the activities of yoga take place with what Prashantji has 1
This is the pivotal sutra of yoga darshana. Be it any concept or idea, it has got to have some connection with this sutra. The idea should be either the means of this state or it should be the after-effects (phala or siddhi) of the state.
2 The metaphor of a river having two way streams is given by Vyasa as well in his commentary. 8
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called the “associated body,” “associated mind,” and “associated breath.” There is also a progression from “associated” to “kneaded” to “unified” condition. This is explained with the metaphor of wheat-flour, water, and oil which come together as dough through kneading. The endowments of the associated conditions of embodiment are given as the most important precept in yoga. This produces abhyasa as the effort and technology to be-steady the mind.
quieten the mind when they are in turmoil: taking drugs, playing computer games, shopping, watching sports, etc., but these are not yogic means because they fail to increase the potential of vairagya.4 Thus, the signature condition of abhyasa is that it turns out vairagya potentials.5
Abhyasa: A Means to Be-steady the Mind, Part 5 Conclusion
Abhyasa: A Means to Be-steady the Mind, Part 4 Abhyasa: A Means to Be-steady the Mind, Part 5 Conclusion
The first major thrust of this talk is to clear up a misconception of yama-niyama just as moral-ethical principles. We have to keep in mind the distinction between “yoga as means” and “yoga as an end.” Yama/ niyama, asanas, pranayama, etc., are yoga as means; nirbija samadhi is ‘yoga as the end.’ We have to practice the ‘means of yoga’ to work toward the end of yoga.3 Yama/niyama are not stipulated by Patanjali just as moral-ethical principles; they are means of yoga. Moralethical principles are concerned with social relations, not with the internal process of quietening the mind. For example, activists who espouse non-violence, etc., but have anger boiling within are not practicing ahimsa. The second major point follows from the first: the means of abhyasa must also turn out vairagya potentials. If the means to steady the mind do not also lead to desirelessness, if they churn up the passions, they are not yoga. For example, people may resort to many means to
Vairagya: A Means to Dispassionate the Mind, Part 1 If you’ve ever struggled with the meaning and practice of vairagya because you thought it was renunciation or asceticism, you need to listen to this lecture. The distinctions are made between common conceptions of vairagya (or pseudo-vairagya) and yogic vairagya. Common misconceptions of vairagya include the following: renunciation, mendicancy, asceticism; forcing oneself to give up all passions and pleasures; finding and shrinking from pleasures when in a depleted or depressed state. Real vairagya means vigata-raga— going beyond our tendencies by sublimating them. Then a second distinction is made between the external of the waking state and the internal vairagya of yoga. In the external realm of life, adhyatma advises temperance and moderation in consumption. However, it is not banishing pleasures from one’s life. Further, as to the difficulty in overcoming thirst, Prashantji argues that the “associated condition” of yoga naturally turns out vairagya because one becomes undisturbed by sense objects that one might otherwise crave. This is the best and clearest presentation of classical vairagya I’ve ever found.
3 Take ‘yoga’ as ‘Ashtanga yoga’ here. The abhyasa of all the eight steps of yoga is required here. But, the question arises—are all the eight steps ‘means’ or ‘end’ or a combination of both? The answer is—the first seven stages of Ashtanga yoga are the means for the eighth step (which is samadhi). Clearly, the initial two steps are yama and niyama. The final samadhi cannot be the means (anga). It is the end of yoga. However, if we analyse the concept of samadhi in its two levels, then sabija samadhi is the means for nirbija samadhi. So, we need to understand the entire context when classifying anything as ‘means’ or ‘end.’ 4 The idea is that of ‘samyaka samadhi’—the right means of samadhi. The wrong means are given in your example list. Samyaka Samadhi is a prominent concept in Buddhism as well. 5 In fact, Patanjali, at the very outset, does not use two different words for abhyasa and vairagya. He simply uses—abhyasavairagya in its fifth case dual (as abhyasavairagyabhyam). Later on, in order to make us understand the concepts, he breaks it into two terms. The Light | Fall 2021 – Winter 2022
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ABHYASA AND VAIRAGYA CONTINUED
Vairagya: A Means to Dispassionate the Mind, Part 1
Vairagya: A Means to Dispassionate the Mind, Part 2
Vairagya: A Means to Dispassionate the Mind, Part 2
Vairagya: Its Absence, and PseudoVairagya
In this lecture, Prashantji reinforces the point that yogashastra does not advocate vairagya as renunciation. There is a “complete turnaround” of our understanding of vairagya. Vairagya is a subjective and relative concept; it should be viewed as having ‘open architecture’ i.e., determined by oneself, considering one’s situatedness in various contexts. There is a lot of Sanskrit in the outlining of these various contexts, but basically, your version of vairagya should relate to your specific station and condition in life. For example, if you are of Kshatriya nature, your vairagya will look different than that of someone with Brahman nature. If you are an older person, your vairagya will be different from someone who is younger. If you are a very poor person, your vairagya will not resemble that of someone who is very rich. Thus, vairagya is deeply personal.
In this lecture, Prashantji defines the “real” or “essential” vairagya by contrasting it with two extremes that are commonly found in modern culture: the total and complete lack of vairagya as licentiousness and the imposed restrictive vairagya. The advice given by classical texts for real vairagya is something between the two poles that leads to a neutral state of mind: neither grabbing to satisfy one’s tendencies, i.e., “raping,” nor starving the tendencies and whiplashing the mind and senses.
Then, The Bhagavad Gita is a prominent scripture for understanding vairagya, as it appeals to all different types of human beings: the young, old, sick, healthy, weak, strong, male, female, more intelligent, less intelligent, logical, emotional, spiritual, etc.6 Finally, there is an explanation of the physical plane of vairagya, and how yogic practices turn out vairagya potentials. Asana, pranayama, mudra, and kriya all bring biochemical changes in the body and mind that support inner vairagya.
While all intakes should be regulated, the example of food and eating is used to illustrate our concept. In adhyatma (spiritual and religious culture) eating is considered as a religious ritual called a yagya, and this ritualized form of taking food incorporates the wisdom of vairagya. The senses are given their objects but in a temperate and reverent condition. Real vairagya, as temperance and moderation, affords major mental and physiological benefits. In addition, it also enables one to be more successful in life endeavors and professions. Without vairagya, sensuality and licentiousness cloud the mind and impede the knowledge process. Thus, he argues, it is important to cultivate vairagya for success in worldly as well as yogic endeavors.
6 These divisions encompass the notions of ‘varna,’ ‘ashrama,’ ‘karma,’ ‘svadharma,’ etc. 10
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Vairagya: Its Absence, and PseudoVairagya
Vairagya: Popular and Classical Notions
Vairagya: Popular and Classical Notions
Vairagya’s: Psychodynamics
In this lecture, Prashantji explains how yoga technology works to transform consciousness. He reiterates that classical vairagya in the yoga tradition does not advocate renunciation of the world or worldly experience. Classical vairagya advocates encountering the world with a neutral mind. And yoga is distinguished in going beyond mere sermon for vairagya by offering real means and measures to inculcate vairagya.
Vairagya is a well-known concept, as it comes in many of the traditions of yoga. It comes in gyana yoga, karma yoga, bhakti yoga, and dhyana yoga, the yoga of chitta vrtti nirodhah, etc. Sutra I.12 “abhyasa vairagyabhyam tan nirodhah” points out the inseparability of the two means. Prashantji continues that irritable physiology does not promote a steady mind. The abhyasa of asanas and pranayama work directly on our physiology to set the biochemistry right, and thereby produce vairagya potentials.
Through yoga practices, we can transform the tendencies of the flesh that normally lead us to attachment and aversion, and suffering. Our passions are not just on the surface of the mind. They are rooted in our body, and most notably show up in our sense organs. The sense organs are the gateways for knowledge, as well as experience. Experience always involves likes and dislikes, pleasure and pain. The problem is how to have experience or “consumption” in the world without suffering; and for this yoga offers “gateway management.” These are practices that work on the body to reform the senses. Yogic practices work on the gross body, as well as the subtle body. In terms of gross physiology, yoga works on the endocrine system to balance organ secretions; and on the nervous system to make the mind steady and calm. Yoga technology washes the embodiment from within through asana, pranayama, kriya, mudra, and bandha. These practices also work on the subtle body, which includes the six chakras, the five elements, and the three psychological regions known as “granthi-traya.”
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A second major purport of this lecture is that vairagya should make the mind contented and neutral, so we are in a non-dual (dvanda rahita) state. The mind must be made serene, equanimous, neutral, and quiet. Therefore, the kind of dispassionate state that comes when one is depleted or suffering losses is not vairagya. There must be a chemical state of contented thirstlessness, not a depressed state of desirelessness. Third, the levels of lower vairagya are introduced. Prashantji suggests that giving up illicit habits, which are socially unacceptable, should be tackled first. This is followed by gradually reducing consumption of things that we ourselves judge to be negative; they should not be our “most loved” things. Here the idea of yatamana sangya vairagya is introduced as the process of very gradual temperance and moderation.
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ABHYASA AND VAIRAGYA CONTINUED
Vairagya’s: Psychodynamics
Yatamana Sangya Vairagya, Part 1
Yatamana Sangya Vairagya, Part 1
Yatamana Vairagya, Part 2
Prashantji reiterates what vairagya is not—it is not the renunciation or banishing of objects of consumption; it does not arise out of hatred, sorrow, or from a sudden firm determination; and it is not a momentary resolution.
The definition of yatamana vairagya as temperance and moderation is the focus here. The first point made is that vairagya is subjectivistic and relative. Thus, no outside person or entity can say for us whether we are or are not temperate. Only we ourselves know our thirsts, and what is temperate for us depends upon our maturity on the spiritual path. What is temperate for one person may be intemperance for another. And what is temperate for us at one age is intemperance for another age.
It does not necessarily involve working against deeply ingrained personal tendencies, which are themselves rooted in delusion, ignorance and tamo guna. The foundation of vairagya is in viveka, i.e., correct philosophical knowledge of Reality. With knowledge of the true Self, the delusory nature of sensory objects fades away, and slowly a thirst-less-ness arises. The first stage of vairagya is yatamana, which is a longterm, sustained effort of “moderation and temperance” in consumption. The moderation aims to reduce the gravities towards tamasic objects and maximize sattvic objects in our life. Yatamana is also a complete lifestyle change. It involves the yogic scheme of proper ahara, vihara, acara, and vicara, or sattvic intakes, conduct, movements, and thoughts. On the level of yoga sadhana, it involves purifying and elevating the functioning of chakras and their associated tendencies; the five great elements; working on gross and subtle bodies; and learning how to activate life force, or prana, for this purpose. Yajna, dana, and tapas are among the other essential pillars of this yogic scheme (see Session 39 for his Scheme of Essential Yoga). All this brings forth an organic vairagya with deep and profound changes in our tendencies.
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The second point is that temperance in yoga must be progressive. We can’t be complacent about our level of temperance; today’s temperance is tomorrow’s intemperance. Third, our economic circumstances also affect our temperance; temperance for a wealthy person would not be such for a poor person, and vice-versa. Fourth, temperance and moderation are required for worldly as well as spiritual endeavors. Temperance and moderation will bring forth good health, and are needed for professional, academic, and artistic success. On the other hand, intemperance, or unbridled thirst wreak havoc on our lives on all levels. They turn us into greedy, “terrorist-like” “monsters” who destroy ourselves, other humans, society, and the planet and its atmosphere. However, essential yoga provides the knowledge and technology to counter these devastating tendencies or vasanas. He refers to his tripartite scheme for essential yoga and emphasizes, contrary to New Age spirituality, that it is not a “very rosy path,” and it certainly requires tapas.
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CONCLUSION
Yatamana Vairagya, Part 2 All of the Lectures with Links on the IYNAUS website
Only we ourselves know our thirsts, and what is temperate for us depends upon our maturity on the spiritual path. What is temperate for one person may be intemperance for another.
Vairagya itself is of two levels—para and apara, viz., low and higher vairagya. Further, there are four stages of “lower vairagya”: yatamana, vyatireka, ekendriya, and vashikara; these are given by The Bhagavad Gita and other yogic texts. Of these, we have dealt only with yatamana, the practice of which will extend throughout the horizon of our lives. Patanjali discusses only the 4th stage of “lower vairagya,” i.e., vashikara sangya vairagya. How vashikara contains within it the other forms of vairagya would be covered in the subsequent sessions from Prashantji. Pauline Schloesser, Ph.D., (CIYT, Level 2) C-IAYT, lives in Houston, Texas, and teaches in her studio, Alcove Yoga. She is currently working on a collaborative project to transcribe Prashant S. Iyengar’s Series of lectures on YouTube. Ajay Jaiswal is a Ph.D. candidate in Philosophy at Jawaharlal Nehru University in Delhi, India.
Iyengar Yoga with Brian Tradition • Learning Practice • Study • Teaching www.iybrian.com
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When Does Yoga Foster Transformation? SIEGFRIED BLEHER, PH.D.
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wrote a two-part article many years ago (2005) “The Transformative Nature of Yoga” that was printed in Yoga Rahasya and Yoga Samachar. In that article, I wrote about my understanding of the stages of transformation Patanjali describes in the Yoga Sutra. Each stage relates to a particular change in the functions of consciousness, and Guruji’s method of practice and teaching of asana tends to trigger each of these transformations. The driving questions for this article are—What other changes accompany such changes in consciousness? And when does the practice of asana foster such changes? A straightforward answer comes from Patanjali in Sutra III.13, according to which the three parinamas (transformations) in citta are accompanied by transformations in form, time-variation, and condition in the elements and the sense-organs. In the context of asana practice, we can take this to mean our body and senses change in response to asana in ways that reflect changes in how we think. It is perhaps not surprising that a sadhana with a physical component should trigger physical changes. But there are two aspects of parinama that may not be obvious: one is the scope and depth to which our attitudes and perceptions must change to accommodate persistent practice of asana; the other is that, although changes in mind and body tend to mirror each other, such changes do not come automatically from the practice of asana. Beyond changes in how we think, we should expect to encounter changes in, or at least the pressure to change, our worldview, our sense of self, and how we relate to others. Community, whether it is the yoga community, work colleagues, political affiliation, local residential community, etc., has a powerful effect on our physical and mental health. We might expect to encounter evolution in such communities and how we relate to them as well. The main theme of this article is that transformation is not an automatic result of practicing asana, nor of practicing pranayama, nor of both together. It is also not an automatic outcome of practicing all the eight limbs together. Transformation takes place only when a) conscience is awakened, and b) we choose the doorway to the path of conscience that is opened by the practice of the eight limbs. 'Conscience' in this article being defined as the quality or capacity that leads to the choices we make towards liberation rather than delusion. The moments of transcendence we may The Light | Fall 2021 – Winter 2022
experience that appear to be the result of practice are not the result of practice—they are moments of grace that can open the doorway to conscience. If we take the opening of the door to be something we accomplished, then the opening may lead to deeper entrenchment of self-delusion rather than liberation. We may believe we are the doer who is responsible for our progress. We do hold responsibility, but it is rather in stepping through the doorway than in opening the door. And in that case, our responsibility rests in accepting an invitation to grow, rather than in creating change. I refer mostly to Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras, as this is the text I study the most, the one I use as a lens through which to view my path in this world. It is certainly possible to draw on any number of other traditional scriptures, such The Bhagavad Gita, or the Upanishads, to support the arguments in this essay. Transformation to What? “You have to create love and affection for your body, for what it can do for you. Love must be incarnated in the smallest pore of the skin, in the smallest cell of the body, to make them intelligent so they can collaborate with all the other ones, in the big republic of the body… This love must radiate from you to others. Practitioners of the asanas alone often forget that yoga is for cultivating the head and heart. Patanjali talked about friendliness, compassion, gladness and joy…Without these, we have not achieved the true yoga of Patanjali.” (B.K.S Iyengar, 2005) “The Sattwa exalted state of Pranayama and Pratyahara almost serves as an anesthesia to the mind which antagonizes the Japa. Therefore, the internal conflict, strife, disharmony, difference, dissention and division is not there and thus, the Japa is unobstructed, uninflected and undisturbed...With those techniques 15
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the beast is made the saint. The beast in us becomes the saint and that is called as Chitta-prasadhana.” (Prashant S. Iyengar, 2014) These quotes from Guruji and Prashantji add depth to what may otherwise seem like abstract or esoteric notions Patanjali gives in Vibhuti Pada, the third chapter of the Yoga Sutras. Patanjali completes the enumeration and elaboration of the eight limbs of yoga in Sutras III.1–8 after which, in Sutras III.9–16, he
describes the three transformations that result from assiduous practice of the eight limbs. These are nirodha parinama, samadhi parinama, and ekagrata parinama, which mean “restriction transformation,” “absorption transformation,” and “one-pointedness transformation,” respectively. Table I from the 2005 article is reproduced here, with the addition of the column labeled “Mind” that describes in practical terms how each transformation affects the mind:
Table 1. Three Transformations of Consciousness Patanjali
Nirodha Parinama
Ability to restrict (distractions) arises
Samadhi Parinama
Ekagrata Parinama
B.K.S. Iyengar
One-pointedness
Mind
Performance of one action without being distracted
Ability to quiet the mind arises
One-pointedness Many-pointedness arises (a single intent replaces a multitude of intentions)
Performance of many actions as though they are a single action, with a singular intent
Ability to see the unity in multiple perspectives arises
The same ‘point’ or intention arises from moment to moment
Performance of many actions without a doer; the intent is absorbed in the doing
Ability to surrender the doer to a larger Self arises
No-pointedness
In this table, I draw parallels between the progressive stages in the practice of asana in the Iyengar method and each parinama. This has several implications relevant to the present essay. Patanjali confirms in Sutra III.13 that the elements (bhuta) and sense organs transform along with citta. I take ‘elements’ to mean the qualities like groundedness, fluidity, and lightness one can feel in the body during asana practice. Sutra III.13 etena bhuta-indriyesu dharma-laksanaavastha-parinama vyakhyatah: by this are also explained the transformations of form, time-variation and condition [with regard to] the elements [and] senseorgans (Feuerstein, 1989). As we practice asana for many years, we notice changes in mobility, stability, and connectedness in the physical body, and changes in the clarity and resolution and perhaps range of response in sense organs. For example, when we press the heel of the back foot in an extended triangle pose, we experience firmness in the thigh of the back leg. If, at the same time we 16
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press the heel of the back foot, we lift our chest, we experience the connection or linking between these two widely separated regions in our body. To perform both actions together, our mind must not only conceive of this possibility, but we must actualize the performance of both actions as though they are a single combined action. Since these two parts of the body are far apart, our mind has to find a way of silencing distractions that make it hard to connect distant actions. The capacity to silence such distractions is nirodha parinama. The capacity to link multiple actions together as though they were a single action is samadhi parinama. I interpret ekagrata parinama to be the capacity to perform actions without dwelling in the belief we are the doer of those actions. Linking the lift of the chest to the pressure of the back foot in extended triangle pose inevitably leads to more flexibility in the tissues and joints that lie between the heel and the chest. But the linking also leads over time to the experience of connection in the body. This is a physical change that Patanjali refers to in Sutra III.13 The Light | Fall 2021 – Winter 2022
Once the physical changes are stable, then changes in citta may become stable as well, since the physical body can act as an anchor for the mind’s fluctuations. that reflects the changes in the mind he describes in Sutras III.9–12. In turn, the experience of physical connection within the body may lead to moments when we recognize connections with others we were previously unaware of, or we may come to desire healthier connections. Some of these changes are stable, some are temporary. Of course, the longer we practice, the more likely the changes are to become stable. But, even when we practice with dedication, we may find some changes are transient. Changes in citta may also appear as flashes of insight, or temporary calmness of consciousness (Sutra III.10 tasya prasanta-vahita samskarat). Once the physical changes are stable, then changes in citta may become stable as well, since the physical body can act as an anchor for the mind’s fluctuations. There is a special characteristic of citta, however, that can hinder progress or that may lead to backsliding or instability (that is, that may be the source of one or more of the nine obstacles listed in Sutra III.30). In fact, one of the transformations, samadhi parinama, strengthens the very aspect of citta mentioned in the previous paragraph that can limit progress along the yogic path. That aspect is specifically a characteristic of ahamkara, the “I-maker”—the acquisitive nature of the self—the aspect of ‘me’ that is capable of acquiring what I see as ‘mine.’ What should ideally be a softening of the hard identification with the physical or emotional self when we recognize deeper connection with others may instead trigger a strengthening of a narrow sense of self that claims ownership of the expanded visions and feelings that embrace ‘other.’ What could be glimpses of self-transcendence may instead solidify the egoic self. Stability of Transformation Patanjali defines yoga as the restriction of the fluctuations of the mind (Sutra I.2 yogas citta vrtti nirodha); the purpose of attaining such stillness is to see the soul—the Self (Sutra I.3); upon seeing the soul we may (eventually) gain freedom from the wheel of suffering (which process is described in Kaivalya Pada). The Light | Fall 2021 – Winter 2022
The paradoxical nature of such a search is that the one who is searching is simultaneously what is being sought, and not at all what is being sought. Moreover, the act of seeking is at once a deep part of who we are and a hindrance to discovery. We may come to believe the purpose of sadhana is to weaken ‘ego,’ whereas true progress is not possible without a strong sense of agency. A strong will and intensity are gauges for success in attaining the deep state of consciousness in samadhi (Sutras I.21 and I.22), but these are also prescriptions for injury and bolstering of ego. If we look to Patanjali’s conception of layers of nature (parvani, Sutras II.16–18), we may appreciate the dual or multilayered role agency and adaptation play in sadhana (i.e abhyasa and vairagya, Sutras I.12–16). We may also understand that the changes we experience are stable transformations when they constitute changes in what ‘we’ identify with. The ‘I’ that appears to be continuous from the moment we become self-aware embodies both stability and fluidity—it can change, but it is not likely to. The layer of being the self (ahamkara) identifies with and determines how we view the world, what is important to us, what is meaningful, how we feel about ourselves and those around us. Layers of the Self “You are the music while the music lasts.” (Eliot, 1943) Patanjali lists four layers of prakriti in Sutra II.19: visesa-avisesa-linga-matra-alingani guna-parvani “The levels of the primary-constituents (gunas) are the particularized, the unparticularized, the differentiate and the undifferentiated.” (Feuerstein, 1989) Citta, or consciousness, composed of mind (manas), intelligence (buddhi) and ego (ahamkara) is regarded as part of prakriti (apart from the source of its light purusa) and is, therefore, also layered: “The sixteen principles of the visesa stage are the five elements, the five senses of perception, and five organs of action, and the mind. They are definable and distinguishable. At the avisesa stage, all five tanmatras—smell, taste, sight or shape, touch, and sound—and ahamkara, ego, are undistinguishable and indefinable, yet nevertheless entities in themselves.” (B.K.S. Iyengar, 2005) Thus, citta overlaps with the different layers of parvani. One of the key functions of ahamkara is 17
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acquisitiveness—not only does the ‘I-maker’ make the “I,” it does so by discovering and acquiring things, qualities, aspirations, skills, abilities, viewpoints, attitudes, etc., that it subsequently identifies as aspects of the self. Neuroscientist Antonio Damasio also believes the sense of self is layered. (Damasio, 1999). He describes the emergence of the sense of self as the result of a process of discerning between the object of consciousness and the resulting changes to an early stage of self he calls ‘core self’ that are caused by the presence of the object. According to Damasio, the emergence of a sense of self is to be conceptualized as a three-fold process: the formation of a ‘proto-self’ that is a representation in the person’s brain of their internal state, including their viscera, vestibular system and musculoskeletal system; the emergence of the core self, described above as the emergence of the distinction between the proto-self’s representations of the self and object, and the changes in the internal milieu caused by the presence of the object. The third is the ‘autobiographical self’ which is the result of the interactions between, and entangling of the moment-by-moment representations of, the core self with the memories of previous such moments and the anticipated future. Damasio regards the core self as relatively unchanging across a lifetime, whereas the autobiographical self, while stable and invariant in principle, is responsive to experience, based on a concept and is, therefore, more open to refashioning than the core self. A view of this narrative from the perspective of Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras might regard the proto-self as the avisesa stage of citta, core self and autobiographical self as gradations within the visesa stage of citta. Involution in the practice of yoga, and the resulting transformations entail progressive refashioning of the autobiographical self, and a gradual identifying more with the moment-by-moment arising of the core self rather than with the multitude of stories that are the constructions of the autobiographical self. This requires not only that we have non attachment to the stories that constitute the autobiographical self, but that we recognize the temporal nature of intention that is at the heart of the core self. Although the core self is not a conceptual construction, it is, nevertheless, a temporal phenomenon: the arising of the core self as discernment between the proto-self’s representations of the self and object happens in time, 18
moment-by-moment. In other words, the core self is both temporal and local—even though it is more subtle and harder to perceive than the autobiographical self. If the core self arises in each moment, then it also wanes in each moment—like the rise and fall of the breath, although over much shorter time scales. Can awareness remain present during the interstices, after the current instance of core consciousness has become quiescent, but before the next arises? Self-Organizing Systems “A self–organizing system acts autonomously, as if the interconnecting components had a single mind. And as these components spontaneously march to the beat of their own drummer, they organize, adapt, and evolve toward a greater complexity than one would ever expect by just looking at the parts by themselves.” (Samuels, 2013) The source of the difficulty in stabilizing the ‘refashioned self’—the reason that deep insights or what feels like transformative experiences do not always result in changes of perspective or behavior is that the neurobiological functions upon which the core self and autobiographical self are founded self-organize. That is, there is an absence of the need for an external agent to trigger the onset or emergence of the state of organization (as noted by Samuels above): “Old habits die hard.” I-am-ness also self-organizes, but it does so around and through processes that have served as its substrate repeatedly in the past—in other words, its current identifications. Until we change what we identify with, as the self, we have not transformed, even if citta and bhutas—mind and body have undergone parinamas. The change in what we identify with only happens when we recognize that intention itself, part of the core self, resides within the field of avidya (Sutra II.4); when we see core self is not the doer, even though it is more subtle and deeper than the autobiographical self. Implications of Transformation There are many directions the topic of implications can go, too many to attempt to list them all, let alone treat each thoroughly. I choose to include only two. 1) How does a community of yoga practitioners facilitate transformation in the individual? And 2) How does parinama, as described in Vibhuti Pada relate to the culmination of yoga sadhana-kaivalya?
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The role of intention in sadhana is to guide the choice of actions, the process of reflection, and changes of direction pursuant to reflection. Yoga Community The importance of the first question cannot be overstated, as it is related to questions about the relationship between student and teacher, guru and sisya, students of different styles of yoga, teachers holding different levels of certification, and so on. Each of these kinds of relationship deserves to be considered separately but, at the risk of oversimplifying, I will offer a general comment. The originator of the modern use of the expression ‘selforganizing system,’ W. Ross Ashby, points out that: “‘Organizing’ may have the first meaning, just discussed, of ‘changing from unorganized to organized.’ But it may also mean ‘changing from a bad organization to a good one.’” (Ashby, 1991) The role of intention in sadhana is to guide the choice of actions, the process of reflection, and changes of direction pursuant to reflection. As mentioned above, difficulties (as well as facilitation) arise from the self-organizing nature of the neurobiopsychological complex. For example, when we don’t ‘feel like’ practicing, should we regard this condition as an ‘obstacle’ to be overcome—an antaraya? Or might we intuit an emotional need has to be met before our complex system is able to effectively organize around the practice. To push forward with practice without regard to an emotional need may build up will, but it simultaneously accumulates a kind of deficit. The emotional need that we set aside or suppress, whether it be grief, or joy, or connection is an inseparable part of our makeup. If honored, it becomes part of the support upon which realization is founded. The contemporary term for suppressing what is calling for acknowledgment is ‘spiritual bypassing.’ How do we know if we are building a solid foundation or accumulating a deficit? We may not know at first— there is an element of trial and error to sadhana. More importantly, sadhana is iterative and based on various channels of communication among all our interconnected parts. The Iyengar method’s emphasis on action, reflection, and adjustment implements twoThe Light | Fall 2021 – Winter 2022
way communication among all our layers, including intention—we learn to listen to our body to avoid injury, to maximize our potential, to refine our path over time. A yoga community is also a self-organizing system, consisting of its teaching and non-teaching members, its leadership, and to some degree the larger community with which there is interaction (for example, other yoga communities, transient members, etc.). What self-organizing means in this context is that certain dynamics and structures form without necessarily requiring intentionality. And intentionality encounters resistance due to the inertia of existing structures. For such a community to facilitate or foster parinama in the individual, the community must itself be adaptable. In the same way that clarity of our own intention is limited by aspects of ourselves we are not yet aware of, the ability of a teacher to guide a student is limited. But in this case, the limit is twofold: there are places in the teacher he or she cannot see that distort how they view the student, and there are experiences the student has had (physical as well as emotional) that impact their sadhana, but that the teacher either does not know about or cannot relate to. In this situation, the teacher helps the student by offering two-way communication and humility—if I admit to the student I do not know, then I am creating the space for them to become reflective in their own sadhana. In other words, I may be confident that actions I teach are beneficial at least to me. But if, at the same time I clearly acknowledge individual variation and individual needs, the student is empowered to develop their own agency. Their look of confusion or inaction may not be a request for a more assertive or rajasic delivery from me, it may instead be a sign of conflict between my instruction and their body’s intuition. Parinama and Kaivalya Parinama is both a result of sadhana, and the pathway toward kaivalya, it is not an end-in-itself. After carefully describing the nature of the Self in the sutras following III.35, Patanjali reiterates in Sutra IV.25 the point that the projection of the false self-sense ceases for one who sees the distinction between sattvacitta and purusa. In Sutras IV.26–IV.32, Patanjali makes it clear that the purpose of vrttis, of parinamas, and of all other changes in the gunas has been to foster the discernment of what is atemporal from what is ephemeral. Once this purpose is achieved, the changeability of the gunas no longer 19
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During moments of stillness before the arising of intention is when we have a chance to see something deeper than intention.
“But we still need both a yogic technique and an independent arbiter. I shall deal with the second first. The function of independent arbiter, the witness of the witness, as it were, is fulfilled by conscience (antahkarana). This is the face of the lens of consciousness that faces the soul.” (B.K.S. Iyengar, 2005)
impels transformation (within citta). The absence of the pressure to transform is liberation, which coincides with the steady vision of purusa—aloneness of the power of awareness (Sutra IV.34).
References
The mechanism for lifting the final veil that covers purusa is described in Sutras III.13–15, and IV.33. These sutras are meant for the sadhaka to see that the finest layer of the false self-sense, intention, is a kind of fiction. Intention serves a purpose, but it is a fiction in the sense that it has no independent existence—it too, is the result of a complex interaction of gunas in flux; there is no doer. We can understand Sutra IV.33 to mean that the kind of ‘careful observation’ that reveals the true (ephemeral) nature of intention is that which is refined enough to see the ending of one instance of intention and the start of the next. During moments of stillness before the arising of intention is when we have a chance to see something deeper than intention.
Eliot, T. S. (1943). Four quartets: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.
In the gaps between one intention and the next emerges conscience.
Damasio, A. R. (1999). The feeling of what happens: Body and emotion in the making of consciousness: Harvest Books.
Feuerstein, G. (1989). The Yoga Sutra of Patanjali: A New Translation and Commentary: Inner Traditions. Iyengar, B. K. S. (2005). Light on life: The yoga journey to wholeness, inner peace, and ultimate freedom: Rodale. Iyengar, B. K. S. (2005). Light on the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali: APH Publishing Corp. Iyengar, P. (2014). Ashtanga Yoga of Patanjali (Philosophy, religion, culture, ethos and practices). Pune: Ramamani Iyengar Memorial Yoga Institute. Samuels, L. (2013). In Defense of Chaos: The Chaology of Politics, Economics and Human Action: BookBaby.
Siegfried Bleher, Ph.D. (CIYT, Level 3) is a physics professor at Fairmont State University. He has been teaching yoga since 1996. He and his wife Kimberly Williams run Inner Life Yoga Studio in Morgantown, WV. He has an ongoing interest in yoga philosophy (especially the Samkhya Karika of Isvra Krsna, and Pantanjali’s Yoga Sutras) and has published a number of articles on the subject. His current research interests are on the overlap of ontological interpretations of quantum theory with the science of consciousness and Samkhya-yoga philosophy, and in the field of quantum biology, especially as it relates to questions of the relationship of brain to mind. When he is not teaching physics or yoga, he is probably out in nature mountain biking or mountain climbing, or inside ballroom or swing dancing.
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Asana
Arm Balances: How to practice and teach arm balances, even when you or they can’t do them BY SUSAN GOULET Definition of TALISMAN 1: an object held to act as a charm to avert evil and bring good fortune 2: something producing apparently magical or miraculous effects The transformative power of arm balances—Where do I begin? I started yoga as a last resort. 40 years old, so sick with Crohn’s disease and stiff with arthritis and inflammation, that I could barely bend over and touch my knees. And, of course, fear. Not the lowercase fear. We’re talking all caps FEAR, death-at-the-door FEAR. My fear started long before my diagnosis of Crohn’s, which was the disease that killed my father. I was two years old when my father died. The first time I went to visit his grave, I was five. Up until then, I had understood death as when a person disappeared. They simply were gone. After visiting the graveyard, I knew death was everywhere, all the time, just below the surface, waiting to swallow us whole. For days afterward, I sat in the grass of our small front yard, looking down the hill at the other yards and porches. The air vibrated with the loud hum of summer locusts. Hyper vigilant, I was on the lookout for the earth to open up and swallow another. That fall, I started school. First grade. Watching bigger kids clamber up the tall ladder of the slide and go swishing down. Showoff boys, yelling and waving their arms, climbing over each other, bunched up at the top, until one flew airborne, over the side. Crunch, then thud. His neck oddly bent, blood running out of his head. After they carried him off, I crouched down where he had fallen, studying the bright red blood against the sparkling granite chunks of gravel, trying to understand how we can be here one moment and gone the next. The Light | Fall 2021 – Winter 2022
It took me YEARS to learn to do a handstand.
When I finally made it to second grade, I thought maybe I had escaped. New school, new state, new dad, but then one afternoon in PE class, large cushy orange mats covered the gym floor. The PE teacher shouted above the din, “Everyone line up for somersaults!” Rows of kids, rolling, spilling, ka-plopping! How many would break their necks and lay like wrung chickens sprawled across the orange mats? So intent on watching for the first casualty, I didn’t see the PE teacher next to me. His voice gentle, “Come on, you don’t have to move. Just kneel down. Put your hands here.” I was a catatonic gumby doll. He gently tipped my head, “Tuck your chin like this.” Very gently, very slowly, I was in motion. Around and around and AROUND! He kept rolling me until finally, I spilled out. We were at the far side of the gym, kids yelling, “Can we go again?” Other kids looking at me sideways, wondering, who is this moron?! The PE teacher shouted, “Line up. Somersaults back to the other side.” I froze. “Not you,” he said half smiling. With a hand on my shoulder, he walked me down the side of the gym while he watched the group’s second attempt. I had been spared. Even so, there was little hope. My new dad was a priest and an historian. Our family didn’t watch sports. We went to museums and read books. I spent time in the kitchen, making things while my mother sat at the table, grading papers. All of which is why, if there was ever a vote taken, I would have been voted least likely yoga student to EVER do an arm balance.
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work on arm balances no matter what the proportions of the body? How to work when there were hip problems, knee problems, shoulder problems, wrist problems, FEAR? I certainly knew the terrain. I had all those problems and then some.
1. Appropriate props can make arm balances accessible to everyone.
Flash forward, 40 years old, sick, weak, and stiff: it took me YEARS to learn to do a handstand. It was like second grade all over again. Lifting a leg, a little hop, my back cushioned into the welcome bolster at the wall. Years! Finally, even though my handstands were still iffy and my headstand a wobbly mess at the wall, I went to a workshop with a new friend who liked reading The New Yorker. I protested that I didn't know the teacher. She replied, “Sure you do. You’ve read his articles in Yoga Journal.” At some point during the weekend, John Schumacher demonstrated Astavakrasana. I had glanced at those photos in THE book, but I had never seen anyone lift up into the pose. Astavakrasana. Miraculous. It became a sort of talisman for me, a beacon on the distant horizon, drawing me ever forward in my practice. Mercy, what a practice. Yoga Sutra I.14 applied to me: Long, uninterrupted, alert practice is the firm foundation for restraining the fluctuations. However, in my case, LONG meant SLOW. It was going to take me a very LONG time because I was very SLOW, but coming from such stiffness, pain, and FEAR meant anything I did was close to miraculous. In the beginning, I was not afraid to “work” on arm balances, simply because there was so little possibility of me doing them. Just the idea of working on them gave me hope. Which is perhaps how and why, after 20-plus years of practice and teaching, I was determined to try and teach arm balances to students who normally would have been shut out of that branch of poses. I was teaching eight classes a week (30–35 students per class) at the university, plus another 6–8 public classes per week at my studio. A wealth of humanity: different bodies, ages, sizes, strengths, and weaknesses. How to 22
2. Eka Hasta Bhujansana. Pressing both feet into the floor to help lift hips up
For years, I taught Eka Hasta Bhujasana as the first arm balance. Even if a student’s leg slid down off their arm, they could still push that foot into the floor and bend the straight leg and push the heel of that foot into the floor to help lift their hips up. A victory of sorts, but Dwi Hasta Bhujasana was always out of reach, not to mention the rest of the arm balances.
BEFORE LIFT OFF: USING A CHAIR TO FIND THE SHAPE AND ACTIONS OF THE POSE For the preliminary work on Dwi Hasta Bhujasana, I found that a chair worked best. Everyone could access the pose with the chair set-up. (NOTE: the student does NOT lift up off the chair.) Students use two sets of blocks—foam blocks, if 3. Chair set up for preliminary work on Dwi Hasta Bhujasana available, for the hands and wooden blocks for the feet. Foam blocks are easier on some people’s hands or wrists. If the arms are short, the blocks can be turned on their side. A folded sticky mat is placed on the seat of the chair, and everything is placed on a mat with the chair against the wall, so no slippage!
The Light | Fall 2021 – Winter 2022
4. Dwi Hasta Bhujasana. Folding deeply and arm placement
The chair lets a student sit up higher and provides solid support and stability, so that a student can work on finding the shape and actions of the pose. Keeping hips on the chair, the student learns how to fold deeper at the hips and get arms under legs, so the legs are higher up the arm.
6. Dwi Hasta Bhujasana. Drawing the abdomen back to lift feet up
7. Keeping hips on a chair isolates the abdominal action needed to pull feet up. Maintaining thighs turning in, students try to bring inner feet together.
5. Dwi Hasta Bhujansana. Turning the legs in so the legs grip the arms and feet can be brought together
The next action of the Dwi Hasta Bhujansana is understanding how the legs must turn inward so the knees can grip the arms and the feet can come together. After progress has been made, then the students can focus on contracting the abdomen back toward the spine to pull their feet up. In photo 6, the student in the black T-shirt is starting to find the abdominal action. Note the shape of his back. As the abdomen pulls back towards the spine, the back rounds and spreads. The other student in the blue T-shirt cannot yet lift his feet off the blocks. His back is a very different shape because he’s not contracting and drawing his abdomen back toward his spine.
One of the advantages of working on the chair is that students have time to find the actions. The Light | Fall 2021 – Winter 2022
One of the advantages of working on the chair is that students have time to find the actions. Also, keeping the hips on the chair helps to isolate the abdominal action. The student needs to maintain the thighs turning in so the knees can grip the arms while they do the abdominal action. Some students can manage to bring the inner heels together and lift the feet up off the blocks, but for most, bringing the inner edges of the feet together AND lifting the feet up is a real challenge. These two actions together start to bring compactness in the pose.
8. Working to get the leg higher up the arm
9. Dwi Hasta Bhujasana on chair
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12. Dwi Hasta Bhujasana on the chair. Note different placement of arms compared to pose in photo 13. 13. Bakasana on the chair provides student access to getting his knees much higher up the arms than when he does the pose on bricks (photo 14.) 14. Bakasana from bricks. Student is doing a good job maintaining his balance after he draws his abdomen in to pull his feet up.
Progressing from Dwi Hasta Bhujasana to Bakasana 10. Dwi Hasta Bhujasana, thighs turning in and legs pressing into arms. Abdomen pulls back to lift feet up.
11. Dwi Hasta Bhujasana to Tittibhasana by intensifying and maintaining all the actions and then extending the legs
In Photo 8, a student works on getting an even deeper fold. He keeps his feet on bricks even though his legs are long enough for his feet to reach the floor. Having the knees higher than the hips helps to release the groins. He presses his hand into the achilles, while turning his chest and ducking his shoulder lower, to get the leg even higher up on his arm. Then he has folded deeper and can turn the thighs in and bring his feet together while drawing the abdomen back and lifting his feet up off the bricks. All the while, his hips stay on the chair.
Tittibhasana Once the students can keep the previous actions, then they can work on intensifying those actions while they extend their legs for Tittibhasana. The fun and challenge of Tittibhasana was available even for the student who is wearing a brace on her problematic elbow. She couldn’t take weight on her arm, but she could still work with the actions and shape of the pose. Once again, note: the students are NOT trying to lift up off the chair. 24
Bakasana is a more challenging pose than Dwi Hasta Bhujasana. In Dwi Hasta Bhujasana, (photo 12) the hands are behind the feet and the arms are inside the legs. The legs have to turn in and wrap around the arms. In contrast, in Bakasana (photos 13 and 14), the hands are in front of the feet and the arms have to form a shelf for the shins to press into.
15. 16. 17. Variations of Marichyasana I to prepare for Bakasana
To help lengthen the groins and get the body ready for Bakasana, the student starts on the floor with two folded blankets folded in quarters and does a variation of Marichyasana I. The heel of the bent leg can come up onto the first blanket. The foot turns in and the big toe ball mound and inner heel press down to keep the thigh turning in and the knee in contact with the armpit. His right hand on the floor presses down and back to provide leverage and help the student fold further. Keeping the previous actions, the student brings both hands to the foot. From there, the student keeps the right hand on the foot and presses the upper left arm into the left shin. This brings more compactness to the body. Also, the student learns how the placement of the left hand and bent arm form the shelf needed for Bakasana and how the arm presses into the shin and the shin presses into the arm. In photo 18, the student is not creating a shelf with her arms. In photo 19, her elbows are aligned over her wrists, so her forearms are vertical and she is creating a shelf to support the pose. Her knees are higher up the arm and closer to her armpits and her shins are able to press into The Light | Fall 2021 – Winter 2022
her upper arms. Even when on the chair, she can feel the shape and actions of the pose.
18. Student is working on Bakasana, but her arms are not making a shelf. Her shins are below her elbows. 19. With the hands on the floor, now the student can get her knees into her armpits and her shins on top of her upper arms.
TWISTING ARM BALANCES One of the challenges of twisting arm balances is understanding the correct alignment of the horizontal and vertical axis. To explore this, students place belts on their mats in a “T” formation and start with Jathara Parivartanasana. With their arms outstretched on the horizontal line of the belt, students have to maintain the crown of the head, naval, and tailbone on the vertical line as they turn the abdomen to the left, while they move the legs to the right. Just like in Dwi Hasta Bhujasana, the legs have to turn in and press toward each other.
Preparation For Twisting Arm Balances Students start with Pasasana prep. (photo 21) For this preparation to twisting arm balances, the chair faces forwards and feet are on bricks, even if a student is tall. Keeping the crown of the head in line with the tailbone, the student presses her arm into the outside of the thigh and pushes her hand into the chair to provide leverage for the twist. Note, the student is keeping the shoulders stacked and in line with her tailbone.
Parsva Bakasana on a Chair Bakasana and Parsva Bakasana set the stage for the rest of the arm balances. Now the student needs to bring all of the previous actions worked on in Bakasana to Parsva Bakasana while maintaining the horizontal and midline alignment of the twist. In photo 22, the students are keeping in mind their work in Jathara Parivartanasana with bent legs. While they turn, they maintain their nose, crown of the head, and tailbone on the midline. Just like in Bakasana, they draw the abdomen back toward the spine to lift their feet up, and they press the knees together, keeping the thighs turning in to further compact the body and bring lightness to the legs.
22.–23. Students work on Parsva Bakasana on the chair with the “T” straps to inform alignment
20. Jathara Parivartanasana on floor with “T” belts to help inform the alignment 21. Pasasana prep on chair
In photo 20, in order to maintain the center line, the outer right leg has to pull strongly back into the pelvis while the legs are moving to the right in order to keep the hips in line with the shoulders. If a student is having trouble, a rolled sticky mat can be wedged like a doorstop against the outer right thigh, to help inform the student how the legs have to pull back into the hips. If the legs only extend outward, then the hips go with the legs and are no longer on the centerline. The Light | Fall 2021 – Winter 2022
Being up on the chair is a way for stiffer students to access the pose and helps those students who have shoulder, elbow or wrist problems, because a lot of the weight is carried on the chair. The student in photo 23 has shoulder issues and is tight in the hips, yet she is working on all the actions of the pose. She is doing a great job also keeping the feet “sharp.” (Compare the feet of both students in photo 23.) The action of pressing through the big toe ball mound and inner heels helps activate the inner thigh or adductor muscles which are the muscles needed to bring and keep the legs together. This is the same action introduced in the Marichyasana I variation. (photos 15, 16, 17)
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In those photos, the student is pressing through the big toe ball mound and the inner heel of the bent leg foot, which keeps the thigh turning in and the knee pressing into his side. THE “PONTOON” After working on the chair, students can progress to the PONTOON. (photo 24) The pontoon is a stack of blankets folded to just above the height of the student’s elbow. (When the student puts their hips or weight on the blankets, the stack should be the same height as their elbow or slightly higher.)
find the actions in the pose and still take flight. Note how the student in photo 26 has the flexibility to do Parsva Bakasana on the chair. However, in photo 27, her pontoon is not quite high enough for her long arms, so she is not able to get her knees up above her elbow and she can’t turn enough to get her shoulders parallel to the floor. She needs one more blanket on her stack.
Dwi Pada Koundinyasana Work on Dwi Pada Koundinyasana begins back on the floor with the “T” belts and Jathara Parivartanasana. This time the legs extended to the capacity of the student. (photo 28) A student’s thighs still need to angle toward their outstretched hand, roughly at a 45-degree angle. If a student’s hamstrings are tight, then they will do the pose with their legs bent.
24. Pontoon should be higher than elbows before putting weight on it 25. Parsva Bakasana on the pontoon
28. Rolled sticky mat wedged against thigh to help maintain alignment 29. Parivritta Paschimottanasana prep on chair
Next, a more challenging preparation, Parivtta Paschimottanasana. (photo 29) Students try to maintain the same alignment of shoulders and crown of the head to tailbone and press the hands against the chairs to deepen the twist. 26. In the above photo, the student is doing a good job keeping her alignment and bringing her knee up onto the shelf of her left arm. Her shoulders are parallel to the floor, her forearm is vertical. 27. Here is the same student, but now on the pontoon. Her pontoon is not tall enough to allow her to get her elbow under her knee. She needs one more blanket on the stack.
Because the stack of blankets is lower than the chair seat, there will be a shorter “window” for the student to enter the shape of the pose. Also, the blanket stack is not as large as a chair seat, so the student needs to be more skillful in their actions to stay balanced. Using the t-shaped belts to keep the horizontal and vertical lines in mind, the student aligns their hands just with the horizontal line and keeps their nose on the midline. They have to draw the abdomen back and keep the leg actions just like they did previously when doing Parsva Bakasana on the chair. (photo 27)
Dwi Pada Koundinyasana is a challenging pose, even more so for those with shorter limbs. In photo 30, the student has bricks under her feet because the legs are shorter. When she sits down, the knees need to be the height of her elbow. The bricks for her hands are turned on their side so she can reach. Trying to keep the horizontal and vertical lines in mind, she twists and reaches for the blocks. The hips and thighs STAY on the chair. Just like in Bakasana, she now needs to pull the abdomen in and back to lift the feet. Legs stay turning in and press together. Ideally, the legs are up on the shelf of the arm. The student is also mindful of the work done in Jathara Parivartanasana, so she pulls the lower thigh into her pelvis as she extends the legs, all the while trying to stay compact and keep the lower leg in contact with the arm.
For many students, it’s not possible yet to keep the legs up on the arms, but using the pontoon allows them to 26
The Light | Fall 2021 – Winter 2022
Eka Pada Koundinyasana I and II Once the students get their bearings on the pontoon, they can start the more difficult arm balances where the legs are moving in different directions such as Eka Pada Koundinyasana I and II.
30. Parsva Bakasana prep on chair. Maintaining crown of head and tailbone on center line. 31. Draw abdomen back to lift feet. Compact body by pressing legs together and knee against arm. 32. Staying compact, extend legs while pulling outer left thigh back into pelvis.
38. Prep for Eka Pada Koundinyasana II on the T straps.
33. Parsva Bakasana on chair. Draw abdomen back to lift feet. 34. Compact body. Press legs together and knee against arm. 35. Staying compact, extend legs while pulling outer left thigh back.
Note where the hips are on the chair when she starts. It’s important that the student sits far enough back on the chair so when they roll onto the side of the thigh, the thigh stays fully on the chair!
The students begin to find the position and shape of Koundinyasana II by first, once again, working on the floor with their “T” belts. (photo 38) Keeping their shoulders and collarbones on the horizontal line, they extend the legs. The back leg needs to be near the center line and the leg to the side ideally reaches the horizontal line without disturbing the other parts of the body.
36. Staying compact, Parsva Bakasana on the pontoon. 37. Trying to keep legs up on the arm, extend legs to Dwi Pada Koundinyasana.
Then students progress to the pontoon. (photos 36 and 37) Even if a student can get their knees up on their arm in Parsva Bakasana (photo 36), many students will find it very challenging to maintain their legs up on their arm when extending their legs for Dwi Pada Koundinyasana. Instead, their first challenge is to keep their legs in contact with their bent arm shelf. (photo 37) So much of an arm balance is balancing opposing forces. The legs have to extend out AND draw back into the hips. The abdomen has to strongly turn to the left in order to balance the legs moving to the right. It’s a lesson in no dualities. It’s not either this or that, it’s both. Also, in this strong abdominal pose, the student starts to understand the rhythm of the pose and the use of the breath: exhale turn, exhale turn. The Light | Fall 2021 – Winter 2022
39. Eka Pada Koundinyasana II on T belts and pontoons.
Then students work with the same actions in the pose on their pontoons. (photo 39) This pose takes abdominal strength to lift the back leg, even when the student is supported on the pontoon. Note: some students are able to lift the back leg and others need to press the toes of the back foot on the floor to stay balanced and help extend the leg. Work on Eka Pada Koundinyasana I begins the same way, starting on the floor with the T belts. (photo 40) In this strong abdominal twist, the lower leg is similar to the lower legs in both Dwi Pada Koundinyasana and Jathara Parivartanasana. This pose requires a 27
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tremendous twist, openness in hips and groins, and length in the hamstrings. Ideally the foot of the leg that is crossing underneath, should reach the horizontal line of the T belts. Another challenge of this pose is to maintain the midline alignment: nose, navel, pelvis, and back leg all on the midline.
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40. Eka Pada Koundinyasana I on T belts. 41. Eka Pada Koundinyasana I on T belts and pontoon.
Even though the student in photo 40, can’t reach the horizontal line with her foot, she is still able to work on all the actions in the pose and take flight when she is on the pontoon.
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Now, with the help of the T belts, chair set-ups, and the pontoon, everyone can work on arm balances with intelligence and gusto! Arm balances are challenging! As John Schumacher says, they are the great equalizers. They require strength and flexibility. Any pose can be an object of meditation, but arm balances require us to combine and balance so many actions and elements: play and concentration, compactness and extension.
42. Eka Pada Koundinyasana I for everyone!
For me they stretched my idea of what was possible. They also taught me on a cellular level, there are no dualities. It’s not life OR death. It’s life AND death, all the time. Susan Goulet (CIYT, Level 3) is the Founder and Director of the Milwaukee Yoga Center. 28
The Light | Fall 2021 – Winter 2022
ON
Teaching
Geeta’s Backbend Class: Citta is Vastness—a back bending experience recounted BY RANDY JUST
O
ver the years I collected the audio CD’s of Geeta Iyengar’s classes. Geeta often referred to these audio CD’s as cassettes. In the middle of teaching, she would scold us, “I have taught this! You can buy the cassette!” I would organize these audio classes by the date and type of class, but I also added a commentary regarding the class. For instance, “EXCELLENT CLASS,” or “I was there,” or “Working on someone’s shoulders,” or my favorite, “Lois gets yelled at!” I developed a fondness for certain years, months, and days of the week. I always loved July and November classes, but Friday night classes were always my absolute favorite. When Geeta was teaching, she was kind, loud, strong, gentle, fiery, but first and foremost, she would lock into a mesmerizing collective consciousness based on the situation of the day (the weather, morning or evening, etc.) and the students in the room (all women or mixed class). This doesn’t come across in the audios the way it did when you were actually there. I felt locked into a space clearly created by this master teacher. This particular class is rich with philosophy and is pure Geeta. We didn’t rush through the asanas. Instead, between each Urdhva Dhanurasana, she would say, “Sit down!” She spoke on the vastness of citta, abhinivesa, developing tenacity, fortitude, tapas, pranayama, and pratyahara. I transcribed some of the classes verbatim, some of it reworded slightly, but these are definitely MY NOTES with my mistakes and my comments. [To preserve the integrity of Geeta’s teaching, this transcription has only been minimally edited. Those who experienced Geeta’s teaching directly may find it easier to follow the rhythm of the words and phrasing. If the transcribed comments are difficult to follow, consider watching a video of Geeta teaching to acquaint yourself with her speech patterns.] Geeta’s Class: July 17, 2009 – backbends excellent!!!
INTRO: All of you sit straight. Keep your back erect. Maintain the lift. Ascend your sternum chest. Adjust everything: the sitting posture, the raising of the spine, the opening of the chest, straightness of the trunk, straightness of the head. Balancing on the spine, the straightness of the head. Don’t neglect any part. The Light | Fall 2021 – Winter 2022
There is the habit that you form to see that everywhere you are feeling your own existence. The corrections, you just take for the granted and that should not happen. Then you will not proceed further and you won’t have any sensitivity. What comes if you do it sensitively? If it won’t come, what is not happening? And what should happen means sensitivity has come, so understand that part. So, adjust yourself—roll the shoulders back, raise the sternum upward, bottom nipple region, bottom chest region, find out what freedom you can have. Head straight, neck straight. See that your eyes focus on a straight line in front instead of looking here and there. Lower spine upward. Bottom of the abdomen, bottom of the chest, bottom of the throat ascend in such a manner that it gives further lift, further freedom and space. Though it is an effort in the beginning, get the sternum to lift and the bottom sternum to lift. Bring your folded palms to the bottom of the sternum region. Bring the chest forward, upper eyelids downwards. Slow soft inhalation and slow soft exhalation. The inner lift has to come from the posterior body, the front portion of the spine. The spine has to support the lift like a backbone that has to support the whole anterior body. So nowhere it drops. Nowhere it collapses. Have a good cervical lift. It keeps the brain cells free from the inner tension. If the cervical spine doesn’t go up, the brain gets tightened, so adjust yourself. Bring from the back to the front, the dorsal. Organic body gets nourished from that lift. Let eyebrows go away 29
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from each other. Let there be a space from the roof of the nose and bottom of the forehead. Your mind has to act quickly to check if you made these adjustments. What kind of lift? What kind of opening?
the mind reaches there—it reaches to the toes, to the arms, to the legs, to the trunk—then you know there is awareness everywhere. This makes you conscious about your consciousness (citta) and that is how the asana has to be done. It is not a tiny citta, but a vast citta. If the consciousness opens, you know how you are getting united within yourself.
Be quiet and silent. Think of your mind. The frame of the body remains as it is. Feel—Is every area alive and in its place, so the mind can find further freedom and space? 0:06 ommmmmm 0:09 Adho Mukha Virasana – Adho Mukha Svanasana – Uttanasana
0:21 Sirsasana Parsva Virasana Parivrttaikapada – back leg hamstring to the buttocks; no turn just separate the legs Upavistha Konasana
0:13 Sirsasana 0:27 Adho Mukha Virasana
Everything has to be noticed. —Geetaji
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Extend the sides of the trunk and get that height of the body. Structurally adjust the body. See that the tallness comes. Middle of the buttock into the body. Your buttock should not be projected backward. From the pelvic to the root of the thigh, that ascendance has to be felt. Have a total lift. The front of the body extends—sides of the navel elongates towards the legs. The dorsal has to come into the body. Watch the central dorsal. It has to support the front chest. And with that support, the body has to lift up higher and further, without the legs coming forward. When the legs come forward, you shorten yourself. The anterior and posterior body has to run parallel. And that is why awareness is required. Don’t drop forward or backward. Extend the toes and the metatarsals up. But don’t shorten the back of the leg. Search when you exhale. What drops? Something settles, but dropping is different. So, your exhalation has to be done carefully. Everything has to be noticed. So how do you increase that expansion of the mind that everything is noticed by it. When that happens, you know where the consciousness is. Mind doesn’t notice everything, but mind is the gate for the citta and unless you enter into the gate of the mind, you can’t find the citta—citta is vastness. From the mind you have to go to the vastness, then that single mindedness comes. If you just focus on the technique, the mind becomes small. It is a body action, but if your mind expands and
0:28 Adho Mukha Vrksasana – one leg, then the other leg, both legs 0:34 Ustrasana – Press the metatarsal and ankles. Outer hip and outer knee in line. Outer knee to ankle. Shoulders roll back. Raise the top sternum Take the hands on the back of the thighs. Head back. Move buttock into the body. Come forward instead of going backward. Lift the bottom ribs. Bottom sternum to the top sternum. Press the center of the shin and ankle came up firmly rooted. Shoulders, trapezium back. Move the mid-buttock forward. Look at the ceiling. Don’t narrow yourself.
Beautifully trace the opening of the chest with the eyes. Move the middle of the buttock forward and open the chest. Look at the ceiling so you are small there on the floor, but the ceiling will be vastly open for you because it is the sky. You can see the ceiling as you have the curvature. Then look at the wall in front of you. Go to that vastness with the eyes. Then look up at the ceiling and coil back and reach your feet. Outer element, such as sky, will be more broad when you see the ceiling or window.
When you are curving back, see the space on the outside. Every part of your body opens to the vastness; the mind goes toward that vastness.
Instead you just contract yourself—when I say back bending, your mind goes to the back and you just think of the back, when we say it is a Purvottanasana it is a vastness. Purvo means The Light | Fall 2021 – Winter 2022
front; Paschima is back. Purvotana action the front of the body has to open to the front. Every joint and every pore of the skin opens and is facing the outside. 0:42 Urdhva Dhanurasana – like a wheel. When you lie down it is a very small space but when you go up every pore, every joint has to open. Use your hands to open the chest—that area below the bottom nipple. Come to that tallness and open the front body. As you come up, the eyes look toward the floor. Some part of the mat will be seen. Eyes look toward the feet. Back of the leg into the socket, elongation into the buttocks. Front of the leg to the knee and has to ascend a lot. The legs have to lift. 0:48 Urdhva Dhanurasana – Start with Chatush.
Get the back of the body lifted. First opening comes to the front of the body. Front of the thigh has to ascend a lot. The middle buttock has to go up. Eyes going toward the leg side.
0:50 The restlessness of the mind has to tell you where it is caught, where it is not done. You have to pay attention, too. Lie down with bent legs and take the arms over the head like Urdhva Hastasana in Tadasana—take the top of the arm down, upper arm down!!! In Urdhva Hastasana the arms go behind the ears—as if someone is pressing the upper arm and the shoulder blade goes into the body into the back ribs. 0:53 Now come up. Move the hamstring to the
To open each area of the body is the struggle. You have to figure out where you are trying. —Geetaji buttocks and the top shoulder blade to the bottom shoulder blade. The front body has to become taller. Armpit chest has to open—you contract there. Move the armpits like Urdhva Hastasana.
spine contacts the legs and you will be lifting. The first lift comes from the buttock. Be on the leg side to get the middle buttocks to lift. The middle buttock has to come up. If you come away from the legs, the middle buttock will not come up. Arms are slanting, so raise the heels upward and walk in with the back of legs lifted. Raise the heels. Have to give action to back of the leg and middle buttocks up. Back of the knee open. It has to be very forceful to lift. 0:59 The fire is increased in the legs and it awakens the apana. When I say heels up, the fire element has to lift all the way to the buttocks up. The liftedness in the legs has to be up. 1:00 Urdhva Dhanurasana – Now in the lifting process—middle shin to the calf—front knee to the back knee—front thigh to the back thigh— come up with the arch of the foot—the arch of the trunk—lift the heels upward—see when the heels go up—raise the knee up, raise the shin bone, raise that thigh, lift the leg to walk in. You have to decide how the leg has to walk in. Raise the pelvic, raise the thigh, lift from the heel to thigh to lift up. 1:08 You know when you come to the point in the asana of taking a trial (risk)—where you have to really try something—some things come easily and it has come under your control, but at the last moment when something doesn’t come under your control—you give up the asana. That is not the way of learning. If my father was here, he would have gotten really irritated. He would not have allowed anyone to come down when you are coming to that last stage in Urdhva Dhanurasana where you have to correct yourself. You take things lightly. You want all the explanations, but you don’t want to do it—even if you have to struggle at the peak of the asana. When you really have to do something, instead you drop out of the asana. You are not truthful to that which has to happen and be felt by you. You don’t want that experience—you just want to do—but you should have been knowing where you failed. 1:10
Urdhva Dhanurasana – Lifting the hands on the bricks or boxes—know what needs and then get the prop—when you are not getting the lifting, you have to use the prop,
1:15
You know that you went breathless—so what is
To open each area of the body is the struggle. You have to figure out where you are trying.
0:56 From the arms, there is a shift to the leg side. The The Light | Fall 2021 – Winter 2022
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the solution? Normally the solution is do less than what you have done, because for you it was overdoing. But to reach the correct position, you have to do more. When you do the efforts, you will become tired, and breathlessness will be there. Normally what is taught all should do in a manner that breathlessness is less. That is not the way to do less. You have to activate the area that is dull, and in that effort you have to settle your body and consciousness in that area. The mind and the body has to settle in Urdhva Dhanurasana and then there is a withdrawing process—the energy will be distributed evenly and that is pranayama, and then there is the withdrawing process that you have to bear that is called tapas. Let me be in that pose, but let me distribute my body in a proper way. The energy has to be distributed everywhere
That is pranayama. Pranic energy has to be stabilized—stabilizing action is prana. Prana has to be distributed equally and why you have to have patience so after asana there is pranayama. The prana has to be distributed everywhere, so you need patience properly but you have to be calm to allow that energy to spread.
1:22
Urdhva Dhanurasana
Lie down. Adjust yourself and understand what I am saying—the dullness of the spine – the less opening of the spine – oh, that has to be noted. But the last part of it, what you have to get is pratyahara—that has to happen.
Walk in with the feet, palms near the shoulders, shoulder blade in, back ribs—middle buttocks in, now exhale as you come up. Lift up yourself. Settle yourself. Heels up and walk in and open the arm pit chest where walking in is not making you to get dropped. Move your feet slowly closer to each other if they have been widened. Roll the outer knee in. Karmendriyas have to be brought under control. And now, raising up yourself higher—every area of the body and then finally when you take the head back, you open the armpit chest forward and head back, buttocks in, buttocks up, shoulder blade higher—face that breath there—so pranayama occurs. Open the chest there—then exhale and slowly bring the head down and release the legs.
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You come to the state where you can do no more. You feel like you will die, abhinivesa. You come to the state where the maximum is happening— there the prana is giving way. You want to come down, but you have to stay there and let the prana come. That is where the patience is required. Everywhere the prana has to reach. You have to come to that maximum point to see how the prana is distributed.
1:29 Urdhva Dhanurasana – Walk in the feet—arms over head. 1:31
Did you understand what I said? Because why I have to repeat that sentence is because at the last moment you give way. That is the shouting at that time because otherwise how will you know— it is a contact from the base, that communication from the base, when the contact is lost—you miss the point! Because there is no communication, you don’t know where you are! If you want to know where you are, all this has to come with you—your intelligence, your awareness, your consciousness. There is a body communication, but there is an awareness communication. Where is the mind communication? Where is the intelligence communication? You don’t get to that point and you come down. That is why repetition, why I repeated the asana, because I did not communicate with my armpit or the outer body. From the outer armpit area, there are some energy points which have to open. Prana is everywhere. Atma is everywhere. Prana is everywhere. It can pervade the whole body. If you don’t allow it to pervade, it won’t. That is why there is no self-realization, because you are not allowing it to pervade. The seer can have its nature. Citta can have its vastness. Prana and citta—they go together.
Geeta refers to the article “Prana and Citta” – Astadala Yogamala, Vol. 2, p. 108.
1:36 Urdhva Dhanurasana – Brain calm and senses calm. 1:38 Did you understand what I said? This is when Yama Niyama comes. Honesty. Ahimsa can be dishonest. Not speaking truth can also be dishonesty. Similarly, that fear complex, the kleshas that come to the surface, sukha dukkha. “Oh, it is so much pain, let me not do it.” Or, it is a The Light | Fall 2021 – Winter 2022
comfortable feeling happening, but how to cross that border? That is why there should be no kind of avidya. That is why the points are taught—to throw that knowledge on that area. Do this way, that is correct. That is not correct, there is ignorance in your knees, there is ignorance in your legs, there is ignorance in the heels. There should be understanding, and honesty is required, and that should be the approach, and that should be the understanding. As understanding comes, the approach comes little by little—only thing you know is pain. If the pain comes, what should I do, it is painful—bring the life in that region. Come pain where the fear complex goes.
2:03 I think that all this will be lost really if people do not understand those who were in direct contact with Guruji. Those that could learn and those that could not learn—lightness only comes from udana. 2:05 Savasana
1:48 Sarvangasana – arrange the mats To listen to Geeta’s class click here
1:52
Halasana – Sarvangasana – Supta Konasana – Right leg back and left forward to get the hands deeper in the back.
Baddha Konasana – Halasana with bent knees.
Randy Just (CIYT, Level 3) is the Founder and Director of the B.K.S. Iyengar Yoga Studio of Dallas and is currently the IYNAUS President.
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Pranayama
The Transformative Touch of the Breath BY JOHN SCHUMACHER
I
n my last article on pranayama for The Light, I said, “...[A]s 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.”
Yoga sadhana is a transformative process. The lump of coal that is our unrefined, gross, earthly self is pressurized, processed, purified, and transformed through Ashtanga yoga sadhana until it reveals the radiant, sparkling diamond of our true cosmic Self. The Self, purusha, is immutable, thus no transformation of purusha can occur. What is transformed are the layers of the individual self that obscure the light of the purusha. Every aspect of Ashtanga yoga plays a role in this process of transformation, including, of course, the fourth limb, Pranayama. Pranayama is a vital tool in the process of transforming our selves. I say “our selves,” because we have/are lots of “selves.” One way to look at this is through the lens of the koshas, the layers or sheaths of which we are constructed. The first, most external self is the annamaya kosha, the food sheath. This layer constitutes our corporeal self, our material being, our you-are-what-you-eat sheath. The second sheath as we journey inward is the pranamaya kosha, the energy sheath. This layer deals with the physiological self and the pranic energy that activates it. One of the primary ways we access this vital energy is through the breath in the practice of pranayama. The third sheath is the manomaya kosha, the mental/ psychological sheath. This layer pertains to our emotional and mental states. The fourth sheath, the vijnanamaya kosha, is the intellectual sheath involving our reasoning and discriminative functions. The annamaya, pranamaya, manomaya, and vijnanamaya koshas are interpenetrating and interdependent. Pranayama transforms them all. 34
As prana is responsible for all movement and action, our bodily functions, health, and well-being are dependent on the flow of prana. Physiological functions (pranamaya kosha) take place in the gross material body (annamaya kosha), which in turn could not exist or act without those functions. As prana is responsible for all movement and action, our bodily functions, health, and well-being are dependent on the flow of prana. Guruji says that pranayama creates subtle chemical transformations in the body and regulates the flow of prana throughout the body. As we know, the mind and body are mingled in the same way milk and ice cream are mixed in a milkshake. You can’t tell where one leaves off and the other begins. The refining of the body through pranayama thus has a powerful effect on our thoughts and emotions (manomaya kosha). That breath affects the mind is well known. For example, when someone gets upset or overly excited, we tell them to take a deep breath. In this sense, pranayama regulates not only the movement of our breath, but our thoughts, desires, and actions as well. It calms the mind, sharpens the intellect, gives us poise, and strengthens our will power (vijnanamaya kosha). Ultimately, pranayama, through its transformative power, prepares us to experience the last and most subtle kosha, anandamaya, the sheath of joy and bliss. Now we are ready to explore further the practice of pranayama. In the previous article, I spoke of the importance of getting acquainted with your breath as a starting point for the practice of pranayama. Pranayama is a journey into the unknown. One needs directions to proceed on the journey safely and effectively. Nowadays if you’re taking a trip somewhere, you use GPS. To get directions, you must know from where you are starting (Point A) and The Light | Fall 2021 – Winter 2022
to where you want to go (Point B). Taking time to observe and understand your breath is Point A. Your journey will go much more smoothly if you start in this manner. I mentioned the importance of Savasana in the last article. In the Iyengar approach to pranayama, we start in Savasana for several reasons. One needs to achieve a calm, relaxed state physically, emotionally, and mentally to practice effectively. Relaxation, quietness, and receptivity are essential in practicing pranayama. To attempt to do pranayama in an agitated or restless state can interfere with the breath and irritate the nervous system. Another reason for beginning in Savasana is that the challenge and effort involved in learning to sit properly makes quietness and relaxation practically unattainable at the outset. For beginners, correct alignment is much more accessible in Savasana than when sitting. Correct alignment of the body helps relax the muscles, skin, and nerves to bring about outer and inner quietness. In pranayama we work with very subtle movements of energy in the body. The flow of prana is affected by the shape of the body, so proper alignment is very important in facilitating and directing that flow. For pranayama, we elevate the chest in Savasana to create space and lightness in the thoracic region and relaxation of the abdomen. The lift of the chest frees the movements of the diaphragm and intercostal muscles, the basic engines of breathing. Myriad methods of lifting the chest exist—bricks, blankets, bolsters, all in a variety of configurations. The method chosen depends on the sadhaka, their needs, and their intentions. The duration of Savasana before beginning pranayama also depends on a variety of factors: the sadhaka’s initial physical and mental state, the quality and depth of the sadhaka’s asana practice, i.e., their ability to penetrate inward and quiet down, and their environment. One time before a pranayama class, Guruji asked us to move some props from the studio down to the reception area. When we came back upstairs, he told us that after even such relatively minimal physical activity we should lie in Savasana for at least ten minutes. (Sigh. Really?) Truthfully, for many years, I didn’t bother with Savasana before starting practice. I practiced immediately after waking up and attending to necessary bathroom activities, so I hadn’t been active, and therefore didn’t see the need for Savasana. The Light | Fall 2021 – Winter 2022
The relaxation and receptivity of Savasana enable you to watch the breath silently with awakened inner awareness. Several factors, elevated blood pressure among them, prodded me to change my habits and start my pranayama practice in Savasana and take the time required to become truly relaxed and quiet. This meant not only relaxing my body, but also learning to pay much deeper attention to the state of my sense organs and brain. I began to discover deeper and deeper levels of Savasana. Each level has prepared the way for still deeper levels. I find myself increasingly fascinated with Savasana and its possibilities and now approach it with enthusiasm and curiosity. Having quietened your mind and body in Savasana, you are prepared to get to know your breath. The relaxation and receptivity of Savasana enable you to watch the breath silently with awakened inner awareness. This is Point A on your pranayama GPS, your starting point. Observing your normal breath provides a baseline in your study of and experimentation with the breath. With consistent, conscientious practice over time, you become aware of minute changes in your normal breath. What causes these changes? Your detective work will reveal how factors in your life—diet, job, family, stress, exercise, recreation—alter your breathing in subtle ways. These observations are not only informative, they give you an opportunity to make changes in your life that allow you to breathe more freely, smoothly, gently, and sweetly. Observing your normal breath also gives you information, just as your GPS does, as to what direction to proceed in your practice. Is the inhalation dull, meager, rough? Is it difficult for the mind to stay focused on the breath? Is your breathing more rapid than usual? Clues such as these tell you whether to practice pranayamas that deepen your inhalation, sharpen your mind, or slow you down. Ultimately, your observation of the breath becomes global awareness of body, breath, and mind, but in the beginning, it is helpful to look at specific aspects of your breath and breathing. In the first of these articles, I mentioned the first of the five sutras in the Yoga Sutras of Patanajali that 35
ON PRANAYAMA CONTINUED
directly address pranayama, II.49. My intention was to emphasize the importance of asana as it relates to pranayama. The second sutra, II.50, describes three of the qualities of breath/breathing. It says, “bahya abhyantara stambha vrttir desa kala samkhyabhih paridrstah, dirgha suksmah.” Guruji translates this as “Pranayama has three movements: prolonged and fine inhalation, exhalation, and retention; all regulated with precision according to duration and place.” Place (desa) refers to where in the torso the breath moves. Duration (kala, also translated as “time”) refers to the length of the breath. Precision (samkhyabhih, also translated as “number”) refers to refinement and subtlety. It can also mean the number of cycles of a particular pranayama being practiced. Many more characteristics of the breath can be considered—volume, velocity, density, freedom, direction—but in your initial meet-and-greets with your breath, it is best to focus on two of the most basic components of the breath: time and place. Starting this way prevents you from being overwhelmed with too much information and helps build up your powers of concentration and observation. These components, as Patanajali says, are the means by which you regulate the breath, i.e., how you practice pranayama. Before you begin to regulate them, before you begin the formal practice, you should spend time on becoming familiar with them. Here is how: Before lying in Savasana, there are a few things that should be taken into account. When to practice will depend on your schedule. Classically, according to the Hatha Yoga Pradipika, pranayama should be practiced for two hours four times a day—before dawn, midday, at dusk, and midnight. I’ve never quite gotten it together to do that. I find early morning after waking to be best. You are somewhat quiet already. Your stomach is empty. Empty your bladder and if possible, evacuate your bowels. After your bathroom activities, you are ready to begin. If morning doesn’t work for you, whenever you are able to make the time will do. If possible, practicing consistently at the same time yields the best results. If that is not possible, do what you can. It is very important to have an empty stomach. Your diaphragm is next to your stomach and anything in your 36
The moment you direct your attention toward the breath, that very act alters the breath. stomach will affect its movements. If you are digesting food, then blood and prana go to the digestive area and are not as available for pranayama. If you must have something to avoid dizziness or weakness, have a cup of coffee, tea, or milk. Lie in Savasana, taking time to adjust and align the body precisely. Relax your body, letting go everywhere. Relax the gross physical body, the limbs, torso, and head. Relax your sense organs, the eyes, ears, tongue, and skin. Relaxing the sense organs enables the brain to come to a passive, receptive state, which is crucial in observing the breath. Relax your breath. Passivity and stillness in the body, sense organs, breath, and brain allow the mind to quieten, to slow down, to be able to focus. After lying in Savasana long enough to reach a state of passivity and stillness (or as close as you’re going to get on that day), the only movements will be the movements of the breath and the mind. The mind, though quiet, should be alert. This is one of the challenges of Savasana and why Guruji says it is the most difficult asana to perfect. We are a hyperactive society, driven and stressed. As such, most of us are exhausted. For many, slowing down and relaxing leads to dullness in the brain and sleepiness. Staying alert can be difficult. I said earlier that this process will tune you in to aspects of your life with which you may not be truly in touch and give you the opportunity to make changes. If you can, get enough sleep, so you can relax and remain alert. Having relaxed the breath, be interested in your breath as it is. Let it come and go without intention or interference. This is easier said than done. The moment you direct your attention toward the breath, that very act alters the breath. In physics, this is known as the Heisenberg Principle of Uncertainty, which states that the act of observing an object changes that object. It applies here as well. There is no getting around it, but it is possible to minimize it. One way is to sort of look out of the corner of your mind’s eye, as if mentally observing your breath peripherally. Learning to do this will reduce the effect your observation has on your normal breath and provide a somewhat clearer and more accurate experience of what your normal breath is actually like. The Light | Fall 2021 – Winter 2022
After tuning in to your breath, notice where (desa) in the torso you feel movement related to the breath. It may be in your abdomen, chest, or both. What part of the abdomen and/or chest is moving? On the inhalation? On the exhalation? Each movement is different; each breath is different. Stay present with each breath. Observe what changes take place from breath to breath. After you have a sense of the location of your breath on that day, observe the relationship between your inhalations and exhalations. Which is longer; which is shorter (kala)? Which feels free? Which feels restricted? How does that relationship change from breath to breath as you observe over time?
Over time, with consistent, conscientious practice, your breath is transformed. It becomes, as Patanjali says, dirgha suksmah, prolonged and subtle. And given the interpenetration of breath and mind, your mind is also transformed. Clarity, equanimity, serenity—these qualities begin to color your consciousness. Your vehicle is ready, your list is checked, you have your directions, and you’re ready for the next stage of your journey. In the next issue, I plan to introduce basic reclining pranayamas, Ujjayi and Viloma, to our exploration.
Now observe the pace of your breathing (samkhyabhih). Is your breath slow? Rapid? Steady? Irregular? After observing these components of your breath, be aware of your state of mind. Is your mind calm? Agitated? Dull? Sharp? Scattered? Focused? Periodically throughout the process of observing, check to see that the body and sense organs are relaxed and passive. Activity in the mind often disturbs them. When you have a sense of what’s happening with your breath and you have completed your observations, let go of any further analysis, comparison, evaluation. Check to see that your body and sense organs are at rest, and let your mind relax, settle inward, and come to rest. Bathe in the sea of quiet presence. After some time in Savasana, turn to your right side. Take your time. Be gentle and gradual in reengaging with the external world. Practice this process of observation and evaluation at the beginning and end of every practice. Your observations are important because to regulate the breath in pranayama, you must be familiar with these components experientially. Some generalizations may be made about the effects of various pranayamas, e.g., Viloma I is stimulating; Viloma II is quieting, but each of us is unique. The effect of a particular pranayama on me may be different from its effect on you. By observing your body, breath, and mind at the beginning and again at the end, you become sensitive to the effects of pranayama. This sensitivity will guide you as to what pranayamas to choose in any given practice, how long to practice, and what adjustments to make in your practice.
To listen to John’s article click here
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.
Photo: RIMYI Archives
The Light | Fall 2021 – Winter 2022
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Philosophy
Bhagavad Gita Chapter Summaries Chapter 5: 29 verses – The yoga of renunciation of desire-based action and joy of union with Brahman
BY PRAKASH PARAMESWARAN 5.1 – 5.7: Chapter 5 starts with Arjuna expressing confusion about renunciation of action versus the yoga of action (karma yoga) and wants to know which is the better of the two. Krishna replies that both paths lead to liberation but of the two, the yoga of action (karma yoga) is the superior path. A true renunciate is one that neither hates nor desires (YSP II.7 and II.8) and has risen beyond all dualities (YSP II.48) like honor/dishonor, praise/criticism, etc. In this state, one can be engaged in action while being in a state of perpetual renunciation. Only the childish declare that jnana (knowledge) and karma yoga are different. The wise who are established in either one of these paths realize the same fruit, i.e., liberation. Sravana (hearing sruti/vedanta texts), Manana (reflection on what is heard) and Nididhyasana (constant meditation) is the path of jnana (Sankhya) yoga. Letting go of attachment and acting with indifference to the fruits of the actions is the path of karma yoga. One that sees that both these paths are the same (lead to the same end) is one that truly perceives. One disciplined in the path of karma yoga will not be tainted by one’s actions. This devotion to karma yoga results in knowledge of self and union with Brahman1. 5.8 – 5.12: In the ‘yoked with Brahman’ state, the knower of truth remains as a witness of the organs of action (karmendriyas) and the senses of perception (jnanendriyas) that are occupied with sense objects. Krishna explains that by performing action in this manner without any attachment and by surrendering actions and their fruits to Brahman, one’s actions are burnt in the fire of wisdom. One avoids getting tainted by action and one escapes the wheel of samsara2 and rebirth in the material world. Karma yogis who abandon attachment and work with the body, mind, senses, and the intellect towards this type of purification attain
peace. Those acting based on desire for fruits of actions are bound to the wheel of samsara. 5.13 – 5.17: When mentally all actions (based on desire) are renounced, the atman3 sits happily neither acting nor causing the body and senses to act. The atman does not create (a) doership of action (since it is independent of ahamkara4), (b) the actions themselves, or (c) the union of action with fruit. All of this is in the domain of prakrti. The atman neither accepts evil nor meritorious action. Enveloped in ajnana5 (ignorance), beings are deluded if they think that meritorious actions are deserving of rewards. When ignorance of self is destroyed by knowledge, the supreme reality (Brahman) shines forth like the sun. Those whose intellect is absorbed and established in that supreme Brahman, who hold that as the highest object don’t return to samsara (rebirth and death), their wrongs are burnt by knowledge of Brahman.
When ignorance of self is destroyed by knowledge, the supreme reality (Brahman) shines forth like the sun.
5.18 – 5.26: Those situated like this in vidya see the selves in all living beings as one. By attaining equanimity of mind, they conquer death and become established in the oneness that is Brahman. With the buddhi firmly established in Brahman, neither rejoicing when encountering what is pleasant, nor being troubled by encountering the unpleasant, being unattached to external contacts, and practicing the yoga of union with
1. Supreme or universal self, cosmic oneness, ultimate reality, single binding unity behind all diversity 2. The unending cycle of death and rebirth to which life in the material world is bound. 3. Purusha/drastr/seer, different from body, mind, senses, and notion of “I” 4. Notion of an “I” doing things in the world. All action in the world is ‘prakrtik’ driven by the gunas that are always in a state of flux. Ahmakar literally means “Aham + kar = The “me that does”. Purusha/atman is separate from it. Purusha is actionless, the ultimate expression of nirbija/nirvikalpa samadhi is just silence. 5. Ignorance of self as separate from senses, body, mind and intellect. 38
The Light | Fall 2021 – Winter 2022
Brahman, one attains endless happiness. The wise are not content with pleasures born of contact since they realize that they have a beginning and an end. Those who can withstand the impulses born of desire and anger before liberation from the body (i.e., while still alive) go beyond dualities, are steadfast in yoga and are happy. Those yogis who encounter and rejoice in this happiness within attain liberation, becoming one with Brahman. These rishis6 with evils from past actions destroyed by knowledge of Brahman, who are beyond dualities, who rejoice in the welfare of all beings attain liberation born of union with Brahman. Situated beyond desire and anger, these ascetics who are self-controlled, have control over their thoughts and are self-realized. For them, Brahma-Nirvana7 exists everywhere. 5.27 – 5.29: These last few verses set the stage for the dhyana yoga that will be covered in Chapter 6. Fixing the gaze between the two eyebrows and shutting out external contacts, and equalizing the breath moving within the nostrils with the aim of release from bondage, with the senses mind and intellect controlled in meditation, free from desire, fear, and anger, that person is forever liberated. Having experienced the bliss of Brahman, one attains peace. Chapter 6: 47 verses – The Yoga of Meditation on the self (Dhyana Yoga)
6.1 – 6.4: Krishna starts by reiterating the yoga of action (karma yoga) defined earlier in chapter 2 (2.47–2.51). When one lets go of attachment to the fruits of one’s action while acting in the world, that person is a renunciate and a yogi and not someone who walks away from performing necessary action and states they have renounced this world or taken sannyasa8. Without renouncing selfish purpose, no one becomes a yogi. One must let go of purpose driven action since every action performed with an intent to secure something represents a bond to the material world. To reach the goal of yoga one must perform karma yoga. If one has already reached the goal of yoga (evenness, tranquility, purusha extricated from prakrti) one must maintain the tranquility or evenness of mind. When one is attached neither to the objects of one’s senses nor to actions, and has renounced all purpose, then one attains a state of yoga.
6.
Sages/saints with direct experiential perception of Brahman
7.
Brahmic bliss, absolute freedom, liberation, moksha
In one that is moderate in recreation and disciplined with actions, moderate in sleep and wakefulness, yoga destroys all sorrow. 6.5 – 6.9: Krishna states that one must lift oneself by the buddhi (as self) by letting go of attachment, while the mind (as self) can be an enemy if one lets the mind give in to the call of the senses allowing sense gratification to win. In this way, the self can be one’s friend as well as enemy. The highest self (param-atman9), when arrived at after conquering tamas and ahamkara driven rajas and by using sattva as a stepping stone (See YSP I.16), is beyond dualities of physical and mental states. A person like that has mastered the senses and for that person, clod, stone, and gold are the same. Such a person maintains evenness of buddhi among friends, companions, and enemies and is neutral among them as well as among the righteous and the sinful. Such a person who is situated in sattvic discernment, is said to be a yogi with evenness of intellect and is distinguished among people. 6.10 – 6.15: Krishna describes the yoga of meditation. Remaining in solitude without hopes and desire for possessions, seated in a firm and steady manner, he urges the yogi to concentrate on the atman. With sense control and the mind one-pointed, the yogi should practice the yoga of meditation for self-purification. This includes becoming a witness to all the senses and thoughts that emerge and draw one outward into the material world, remaining in that quiet witness state and working towards knowledge of self10. This meditation culminates in union with Brahman. When all traces of prakrti are removed, what is left is the atman which is Brahman. And this is the state of nirvana or moksha, liberation from sorrow, since there is no “I” (asmita) to experience sorrow. 6.16 – 6.17: Krishna states that for the yoga of meditation (dhyana yoga) to be possible, one can neither eat too much nor too little, neither sleep too much nor sleep very little. In one that is moderate in recreation and disciplined with actions, moderate in
8. Asceticism including all claims to social and family standing, complete withdrawal from worldly life. 9.
The supreme self/Brahman
10. Refer to YSP chapter I, sutras (I.44–I.51), samyama on subtler and subtler prakrtic objects leading one to purusha/atman. Also refer to the metaphor of Samudra Mantan (Churning of the oceans) that leads one to the nectar of immortality, i.e., realization of the self. The Light | Fall 2021 – Winter 2022
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ON PHILOSOPHY CONTINUED
sleep and wakefulness, yoga destroys all sorrow. 6.18 – 6.26: With the mind under control, like a lamp which does not flicker, free from longings and all desires, being one-pointed in absorption in the self, one is yoked/joined. This is the goal of yoga11. Restraining the mind (YSP I.2) with the practice of yoga, one can behold one’s true self and remain content in it (YSP I.3). When this unending happiness is grasped by the buddhi by transcending the senses and ahamkara, one is established in it and does not move from that reality. This is the highest thing one can gain and even profound sorrow will not affect one established in that state. This dissolution of union12 from pain and suffering is yoga and must be practiced with determination and an undismayed mind. This practice involves abandoning, without exception, all desires born from imagination as well as the complete restraint of all the senses by the mind (YSP II.54). Then, little by little, with the buddhi ensuring that the mind is fixed on the self (YSP III.35), all thought should cease. 6.27 – 6.32: With passions quieted and the mind peaceful, the yogi practicing this yoga of meditation becomes free from evil and attains the never-ending bliss of contact with Brahman. Krishna reiterates here again (as he did in Chapter 5) the joy/bliss of union with Brahman. Becoming one with Brahman, your real self yoked to the universal self, you don’t see anything as different from you. At all times, you see the self in you as the self in all beings and the oneness underlying everything. Such a person established in this oneness, seeing all pleasure and pain experienced by all selves in the image of his own self, is considered the highest among all the yogis. 6.33 – 6.36: Arjuna states that he is not able to see, or hold on to, evenness of mind as a steady continuous state because the mind is restless, strong, unyielding, and hard to control like the wind. Krishna replies that, while the mind is indeed unsteady and difficult to control, it can be done with practice and detachment (See abhyasa and vairagya from YSP I.12). And, while difficult to attain, can be done through effort (See Yatna from YSP I.13). 6.37 – 6.47: Arjuna has a question about people that have faith in yoga but are uncontrolled with mind and senses, are confused, and are not able to stay on the
path of yoga. He wants to know what happens to them since they won’t attain perfection in yoga (as in selfrealization, union with Brahman). Having fallen from both paths of karma yoga and/or dhyana yoga, won’t such a person perish without support, he asks. Krishna states that those who perform good actions don’t ever end in misfortune. Those who have performed good actions and have attained the worlds of the meritorious, when they fall from the path of yoga (yoga bhrasta), they are born again in a family that is pure and wealthy. Or they will be born in a family of wise yogis (a birth which is more difficult). With that new birth and with the knowledge from the previous life, the pursuit of yogic perfection (union with Brahman) continues, almost even against one’s will due to samskaras 13 from a previous birth (See YSP IV.9). Even one who merely wishes to know about the path of yoga has gone beyond the Brahmic word as in going beyond mere vedic texts, rituals, and ceremonies. However, the yogi who strives with assiduity is surely carried over the course of several births to the eventual goal of union with Brahman due to the effort put into acquiring direct knowledge of the self through meditation. Krishna asks Arjuna to be this perfected self-realized yogi that is (a) superior to the ascetics who merely perform tapas, (b) superior to the learned, and (c) superior to those who merely perform action. When that yogi has merged his atman in Brahman and worships Krishna (as Brahman), he is the most devout.
Gabriella Burnell sings select verses from Chapter 6
Prakash Parameswaran (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, Sankhya, The Bhagavad Gita, and the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali. Prakash resides in Plano, TX.
11. Yoga is described as the union of body, mind, and soul, but it is about moving away from body, mind, notion of “I” and yoking your true self to the universal self. 12. Here Yoga is offered as viyoga (as in opposite of union) 13. Imprints 40
The Light | Fall 2021 – Winter 2022
ON
Healing
Iyengar Yoga Therapeutics and Me: Healing and Transformation BY DAVID CARPENTER
I
n my 22 years as a practitioner, I have used Iyengar Yoga therapeutics to address 11 different maladies: from the common cold, to musculoskeletal issues, to three life-threatening ailments. In each, I healed. But I did not experience only healing. Eve Ensler has written that a serious ailment can place you “in the middle of a transformation” that “deepens your soul” and “opens your heart.” I found that to be true.
I have been transformed from a Type A personality, addicted to external achievements, to a man who regularly lives in the moment and often experiences a deep layer of stillness beneath his mind’s cravings, aversions, and fears. This is the story of my therapeutic experiences. Experience 1, 2001: A Common Cold First, I learned that Iyengar Yoga can do what western medicine cannot: cure the common cold. It was my first summer intensive with Lois Steinberg. I had a horrific cold, with no fever. I told Lois I should skip class and rest. Lois told me to stay and do what she said. The students were doing backbends. Lois had me do chest openers and supported inversions. At the end of class, my cold was completely gone! Since then, I have done this practice whenever I have a cold. None have lasted more than two days. Experience 2, 2002–2007: Neck and Shoulder issues At Lois’s next summer intensive, we practiced asana alternatives for neck and shoulder problems one afternoon. At the time, I had a rounded upper back and significant forward head carriage. Lois told me that they’d get worse if I didn’t address them. Among other things, she told me to practice Ardha Parsva Hastasana and Viparita Ardha Hastasana “every day.” Lois unknowingly had laid down the gauntlet to a Type A personality. I began a quest for another achievement: fixing my neck and shoulders.
The Light | Fall 2021 – Winter 2022
For the next five years, I began every day with three repetitions of the two “every day” poses. Then, when I got to my office, I ran a belt through my armpits from back to front and over my shoulders and attached a 10-pound weight to traction my shoulders for 2–3 hours every day. Over the next five years, my traps released down my back and my forward head carriage largely disappeared. In 2007, Lois told me to stop doing a Salamba Sarvangasana setup for neck and shoulder issues. But I hadn’t followed her entire program. I hadn’t rested in shoulder Savasana to begin and end each practice. My hyperactive mind disliked Savasana. It took a lifethreatening ailment for me to change. Experience 3, 2008–2010: Dural Arteriovenous Malformation (AVM) This ailment appeared in 2008—an artery had merged with a vein between my skull and brain, producing an arteriovenous malformation (AVM). It posed two existential dangers. First, If the AVM had grown much more, it would have pierced the blood-brain barrier, pumped deoxygenated blood into my brain, and caused a major and possibly fatal stroke. I needed to slow the AVM’s growth until surgery could occlude the artery. Lois told me to do supported chest openers to soften my abdomen and relax my head. She talked to Guruji who told me also to do Viparita Karani Sarvangasana for a “long time” with a wedge and eye wrap under my skull so blood could “seep” away from my brain. 41
ON HEALING CONTINUED
...softening my abdomen brought softness and calm to my brain and head. This practice stabilized me until I had surgery ten days later. Second, after the surgery occluded the artery, I faced a new existential risk—that my body would not find new ways to pump blood to these areas of my head. Lois helped me understand, for the first time in my life, that I was holding enormous tension in my abdomen and that this constricted my brain and head. She created prop setups customized to my body to allow my abdomen to release in many different poses. (See chapter 6 of Lois’s Iyengar Yoga Cancer Book.) I did this practice for 2–3 hours every morning for the next 20 months. It was transformative. I slowly learned to go inward, to observe my abdomen, to experience tension in it, to learn to let it go, to observe my mind, and eventually to understand how softening my abdomen brought softness and calm to my brain and head. By the summer of 2010, I could release my abdomen and had frequent glimpses of genuine quiet and stillness in my head. I had also healed. Experience 4, Summer 2011: Reactive Rheumatoid Arthritis The next summer, I contracted salmonella poisoning, which freakishly caused a rheumatological condition called “reactive arthritis.” My legs swelled to three times their normal size. I couldn’t bend my knees at all. I received meds from a rheumatologist, who said they’d work in 5–6 weeks. Lois gave me an asana sequence. It included six poses that promote organic health: Salamba Sirsasana, Dwi Pada Viparita Dandasana, Halasana, Salamba Sarvangasana, Setubandha Sarvangasana, and Viparita Karani Sarvangasana. It also included the Upaashrayi version of L shapes, with my legs in different positions. (see Lois’s Woman’s Yoga Practice, p. 91–92) I did this practice for 2–3 hours a day, practicing Samyama on both legs. My mind grew quieter. My legs returned to their normal size after four weeks.
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Experience 5, 2013–17: Active Surveillance of Prostate Cancer In 2013, I was diagnosed with prostate cancer, which had killed my father. I had a slow growing cancer that wasn’t immediately life threatening. I decided to try to control it with what I learned from my AVM, with the prostate sequence in Chapter 8 of Lois’s Iyengar Yoga Cancer Book, and with Chinese herbs, while monitoring my cancer with periodic biopsies. This seemed to work for four years. Experience 6, 2016–17: Torn Medial Menisci During active surveillance of the cancer, I tore the medial meniscus of my left knee. I soon realized that my right knee was even worse. Lois told me to use knee rods and do sequences from her knee book. I did this three times a week for 18 months. Both knees improved. Lois’s sequences also caused me to experience the relationships between my knees and both my feet, and shins below my knees, and my hips and sacrum above them. I did Samyama on the interactions among these body parts, which had profound quieting effects on my consciousness. Experience 7, 2017: Low Back After I stopped the knee sequences and while I was still addressing prostate cancer, I hurt my low back. I did asana alternatives that lengthened my lumbar by moving the top rim of my buttocks off the waist and simultaneously moving my shoulder blades away from my waist. I meditated on my lumbar, sacrum, buttocks, and hips—and their interactions with one another and with my shoulder blades. I healed. My mind quieted further still. Experience 8, 2018: Radical Prostatectomy, Preparation, and Recovery In 2018, a biopsy showed that the cancer had become aggressive. I scheduled surgery to remove my prostate in June 2018. To prepare for surgery, I went deeper inward. I studied my pelvis and the organs that would be affected by the surgery. I performed Samyama on each of these organs during asanas. The Light | Fall 2021 – Winter 2022
I also used Viloma Pranayama to go even deeper. Prashant sometimes teaches Viloma in which the breath goes up and down discrete body parts, e.g., the sternum. I did Viloma from my pelvic floor to my navel and back down, with pauses at 11 different latitudes.
did a version of rope Sirsasana with a Simhasana box into the wall, a vertical bolster for my back, and horizontal bolsters for my shoulders. I had a normal night’s sleep after my first day of this practice, and thereafter. The pain lessened.
I did these practices to prepare my body for the surgery. But these deep meditations brought greater calm and equanimity to my consciousness. I was sometimes so absorbed that my self-consciousness temporarily disappeared. I went to Pune two months after the surgery. Geeta put me in the medical class. I practiced Geeta’s sequences not just in medical class, but also in the daily 2–3 hour unsupervised practice sessions. I went deeper inward than ever before. I often experienced near total absorption in my pelvic organs. Experience 9, 2019: Whiplash In March 2019, I was in a minor car accident. The next day, I appeared at Lois’s advanced class. She took one look at me and said I had whiplash. She put me in several different poses that moved my back chest to my front chest, including “Platform” Ardha Uttanasana with my torso supported on a bench on top of her platform and weights on different parts of my back. I did this practice for about a week. I meditated on my cervical spine. I healed.
David in Viparita Dandasana with torso hanging from pancreas
Experience 10, 2019–20: Hormonal Therapy and Radiation of My Prostate Bed By fall 2019, it was apparent I had the prostatectomy too late. My cancer had metastasized to the walls of my rectum and bladder, and perhaps to lymph nodes elsewhere. This led to eight months of hormonal therapy and 38 radiation treatments in March and April of 2020. Lois gave me asana alternatives that increased circulation in my pelvis. They created an environment that could help the medical treatments kill the prostate cancer. I began to feel my consciousness descend to my heart center. I visualized sending healing energy to weaken the cancer and help modern medicine work. I apparently healed. For the last 18 months, my blood tests have shown no prostate specific antigens. Experience 11, 2021–?: Pancreatic Cancer This past May, I developed pain in my lower abdomen and pelvis that also produced extraordinary insomnia. Lois had me do the same practice from my AVM. I also The Light | Fall 2021 – Winter 2022
David in Rope Sirsasana variation
In June, pain developed in my upper abdomen. My appetite virtually disappeared. I was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer on July 4. I found it early enough for there to be a good prospect of a “cure.” I am now having chemotherapy with surgery to follow. I have been surprised by the equanimity and calm I feel. I am generally living in the moment. I deeply meditate on my mind, breath, and body as I go through the various medical tests, scans, procedures, and treatments. 43
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The last 22 years prepared me for the present moments. In addition to the transformations during my prior ailments, I deepened my yoga practices over the 18 months since the radiation of my prostate bed ended. The pandemic moved yoga online. It let me 1) take Lois’s new weekly pranayama class, 2) extensively study mantra sadhana with Gitte Bechsgaard and Gloria Goldberg, and 3) study Samyama, Pratyahara, and other practices weekly with Patricia Walden. I now have a daily mantra chanting practice in which I exist in my heart center, my third eye, and the crown of my head. I deeply meditate on my pancreas and direct healing energies to it. I then do Pranayama, often including Viloma from the latitude of my navel to my floating ribs, with pauses on eight different latitudes, including three in my pancreas.
Lois has helped me counteract the ill effects of the chemotherapy. To inhibit neuropathies, I do asana alternatives that stretch the front and back of my ankles and wrists. To reduce nausea, I do a customized Maha Mudra. To help the chemotherapy kill my cancer, Lois has me continuing the practice she gave me last May, with one significant addition—I now stretch my pancreas in supported backbends by making it the apex of the pose and having my torso “hang” from my pancreas. A recent CT scan showed that my tumor has shrunk. My appetite is back. I’ve regained all the weight I lost. I am pain free. My energy and stamina have improved. I have experienced significant healing. But there is still a long, challenging road ahead. Wherever my pancreatic cancer journey leads, I have been blessed by my ailments and by Iyengar Yoga therapeutics. David W. Carpenter October 2021 David Carpenter (CIYT, Level 2) served as IYNAUS president 2017–2019 and as IYNAUS treasurer 2011–2016.
David in Maha Mudra variation
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.
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The Light | Fall 2021 – Winter 2022
Harmony in Communications BY LISA JO LANDSBERG “One’s spiritual realization lies in none other than how one walks among and interacts with one’s fellow beings.” –B.K.S. Iyengar Every human can be someone who “elevates the dignity of another person.” Quoted from my friend, Christie Ward, a coach and facilitator who identifies this quality as that of a mature leader.
H
armony in Communications is a program I developed to support the IYNAUS Board and our extended community of teachers and students. Two online sessions were presented, and the recording can be found on our website in the Continuing Education videos section of Member Benefits if you are an IYNAUS member. Some of that content is offered here. The tools referenced are meant to support reasonable conflict among people willing to be accountable for their words and actions.
inoffensive, and beneficial. Our lineage requires us to step up in our use of language—spoken or written.
This program was born from facing some tough challenges within our community. The stress of those challenges birthed conflicts among the IYNAUS Board that, in short, collapsed our ability to elevate each other’s dignity.
So how can we transform the habits of negative, learned behaviors to repair, restore, reconnect, and transform relationships with each other when conflict has occurred? How can we touch the discomfort of conflict that, when resolved with positive intent, can bridge divided hearts and minds, and build greater capacity for managing challenges that arise?
Observing this as an opportunity, we decided our community could benefit from tapping diverse communication strategies used across professional (profit and not for profit) environments to resolve conflicts and encourage working collaboratively and professionally. The tools described are publicly sourced material, from the wisdom of the crowd (ideas from participants in the program), and from my direct experience working as a coach and facilitator for many years. They are meant to help us be kinder, more respectful, and bridge divided hearts and minds. As we continuously transform in our yoga practices, we become aware of a deepening responsibility to emulate qualities and characteristics that elevate the dignity of our fellow beings. We can demonstrate a ripened consciousness in our words and actions that inspire others to awaken to their potential. Patanjali gave us grammar for clarity and purity of speech. The Bhagavad Gita Chapter 17 verse 15 reminds us to use words that do not cause distress, are truthful, The Light | Fall 2021 – Winter 2022
As we continuously transform in our yoga practices, we become aware of a deepening responsibility to emulate qualities and characteristics that elevate the dignity of our fellow beings.
First, one must practice svadhyaya—a cornerstone of our practices. Through self-study, we recognize our knee-jerk reactions to conflict—primarily a result of early learnings. In conflict there are three typical reactions: fight, flight, or freeze. Reactions may change depending on the context, so watch for how your responses shift in response to different situations or people. When we feel an emotional threat, the amygdala hijacks the brain resulting in emotional instability and can undercut our ability to effectively manage the situation. From Wikipedia—the amygdala (plural amygdalae), is one of two almond-shaped clusters of nuclei located deep and medially within the temporal lobes of the brain’s cerebrum. It is shown to perform a primary role in the processing of memory, decision-making, and emotional responses including fear, anxiety, and aggression. The amygdalae are considered part of the limbic system. 45
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Once you identify and understand your knee-jerk reactions when your brain has been hijacked, and if you are motivated to do better, you must commit to practicing new behaviors that support your ability to respond and not react. Additionally, to understand how you respond to conflict, consider messages given to you by different people over time. If you have repeatedly been told the same thing there may be truth in it. Be humble enough to take that to heart and use it to grow. Practice over time with devotion is the foundation for transformation both within and without. Unless these tools are practiced, nothing will change, and you will be caught in a negative condition that can cause harm to yourself and others. There is a relationship between the brain’s fight, flight, or freeze reactiveness, and the gunas. In Light on the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, Guruji interprets Sutra II.18 as, “The visible objective world consists of elements of nature and senses of perception comprising three qualities or attributes (gunas), which are sattva (illumination), rajas (motion or action) and tamas (inertia or dormancy). All these exist externally to serve the seer (the subject) for the purpose of experiencing the pleasures and infatuations (objects) of the world, or for emancipation.” All of nature (prakrti) exists for attachment or liberation. Though we exist within the world of prakrti, we can transcend the negative aspects and use the constituents of nature for emancipation. How can we put this into practice? There are positive and negative aspects of each guna. If pushed to the negative, rajas becomes fight, tamas becomes flight or freeze, and sattva is the quality that can harmonize these negative aspects. If one is in avoidance (flight or freeze), this tamasic quality can be positively influenced by bringing some rajas into the situation. In other words, stimulate action. Similarly, when one is overly rajasic, tamas is needed to tame the “willful stubbornness,” which is how Guruji describes too much rajas. It is important to feel and sense these qualities in your reactions, in your embodiment, to understand how to move from negative to positive and learn to balance these qualities. Recognizing this and becoming aware of how you react when in conflict or under stress is the first step to changing that reaction and creates the ability for 46
Just as we use alambanas or supports in our asana practice, communication strategies are much needed “props” that help us advance our spoken and written communications. a positive communication response. Just as we use alambanas or supports in our asana practice, communication strategies are much needed “props” that help us advance our spoken and written communications. Obstacles like conflict are an opportunity for growth. Without them, there would be no rub against the grain to awaken our higher nature. Here are some best practices in how to resolve conflict: 1. Reactive Recognition: Right now, identify a mnemonic device that helps you interrupt your brain’s reactiveness to an emotional threat. Mnemonic devices are techniques a person can use to help them improve their ability to remember something. For example, create a
mantra that will help you remember to breathe when conflict arises. Something quick such as, “Now is the time.” Once you are awake to the condition, you might remind yourself to breathe, slow down, count to 10—whatever it is that will interrupt this reactive state. Once you have interrupted the amygdala’s hijack, you have the chance to change your behavior. This is not easy, but it can be done and gets better with practice. 2. Active Listening: Turn up your superpowers of listening. Two ears, one mouth. Listen twice as much as you speak. Be fully present and engaged with what the other person is saying. 3. Restate to Gain Agreement: Ask questions such as, “If I understand correctly…,” “I heard this, did I catch that or is there something else?” Allow the other person to correct you and get the full picture. Ask, do not accuse. 4. Assume Positive Intent: Make the positive assumption that those in the conflict are simply trying to protect themselves and be heard. Consider their stress, see them as human.
The Light | Fall 2021 – Winter 2022
5. Reflect Before Responding: Either in speaking or writing, take time to step away and gain perspective. Your view will change dramatically when you step away from the heat and take the temperature down.
12. Apology Tour: Be the first to apologize when things have gone sideways—even if you think you did nothing wrong! Conflict is always a two-way street. Express your desire to repair and restore your relationship.
6. Peer or External Advice: Go outside of your circle or to peers you trust and admire for guidance and diverse viewpoints.
13. Practice Non-Attachment: You may do your best and if you do not get the desired outcome, know that all is happening for the good and learn to let go completely in your mind, body, and heart.
7. Define Your Escalation Scale: On a scale of 1–10, with 10 being the most intense conflict, identify your personal number when the conflict is too intense, and nothing can be resolved. At that number (whether it is a 5 or 9) know that you must walk away, regain composure, and return when your higher mind will prevail.*
* It is important to remember that not all conflict can be resolved. One must accept that fact completely. Learning to let go when required is critical to your maturation process. You must decide for yourself when that is the case. One rule of thumb—if your head and heart give you the message to walk away and leave it, do it. Listen to and trust your inner wisdom and instincts. If you decide to walk away, think about ways to do this that do not cause harm.
8. Look for the Third Viewpoint: There is your view, their view, and one outside the two. Try to break through the duality and see the conflict from a completely different point of view. 9. Writing Wisely : In written communications, imagine the person is with you and use the tools described especially #4. Do not hide behind a screen which can cause one to shoot off emails/ texts in rapid fire that are emotionally charged. If you feel emotional intensity in your words as you are writing, for instance, if you are writing in ALL CAPS (which is like screaming), you should not be writing. When things get to a point that cannot be solved in writing… 10. Pick up the Phone: Be brave enough to pick up the phone. It can be very uncomfortable, which is why we avoid this. But one phone call can resolve issues quickly. Be a leader. Get quiet and centered before the call. Take responsibility for your words and actions. Be humble, accountable, and motivated to resolve for the greater good. And before picking up the phone… 11. Practice Your Points: Role play with a trusted peer for phone conversations that you feel may be a challenge. Consider the “third viewpoint.” Having said that, remember to practice active listening as your #1 priority.
The Light | Fall 2021 – Winter 2022
Some conflicts may take a long time to resolve—weeks, or even years—more than you ‘want’ for some desired outcome. Notice this attachment. Sometimes you can return to a situation after some time. But again, you must decide this within your own self.
Many of us avoid conflict because we feel so uncomfortable when it is happening. If you are someone who avoids or always accommodates others, this is inherently tamasic. Repeating this behavior over a long period of time will take a piece of your heart and can cause deep stress. If you are competing and always must be right, you are stepping on the hearts of others, and you may be operating from a place of fear in that aggressive stance. Do you want to be right, or do you want to restore, repair, transform, return to love or at least a common agreement and mutual respect? Know these things. Come to learn how your knee-jerk reaction reflects learned behaviors that were created for needed reasons in early life. Be kind to yourself as you recognize these patterns. Now with greater awareness and new alambanas, you can transform old habits and conditions that no longer serve. Learn to see obstacles as an opportunity for stretching yourself into new patterns that help you grow. Challenge yourself. Step into discomfort. Practice these tools with friends in a safe environment. As uncomfortable as it is to step into conflict and practice new behaviors, this is the path of transformation.
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We all need to repair, restore, reconnect, and transform through practicing communication strategies that will help us adapt and build new behaviors. In time, you will find yourself seated and integrated by balancing the intellect of your head with the intelligence of your heart and employing some of these tools (and more as you discover your own). A doorway will open within your heart, and you will experience yourself in a new light, as a mature leader who can emulate qualities that inspire, encourage and uplift. You will be able to elevate the dignity of yourself and others. And remember, knowing the good way does not mean you will never revert to a negative reaction. Be kind to yourself in those moments, find self-love and compassion, step forward, and keep practicing!
Conflicts that involve bullying, intimidation, threats or other forms of control and aggression are to be reported to and managed by the IYNAUS Ethics Committee— contact ethics@iynaus.org
Lisa Jo Landsberg (CIYT, Level 3) serves on the IYNAUS Board and Executive Council. Simultaneous with her yoga life, Lisa Jo has worked for more than 30 years within global organizational cultures as a “future-of-work” activist to support Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging (DEIB) initiatives and to enable the democratization of work. As a facilitator and certified coach, Lisa Jo has extensive expertise in supporting conversations in a variety of settings to ensure everyone has a voice that is heard and respected.
Iyengar family Photo: Archives
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Abhijata Iyengar, B.K.S. Iyengar, Dr. Geeta S. Iyengar Photo: Aditya Kapoor, RIMYI
B.K.S. Iyengar Yoga National Association of the United States P.O. Box 398 Stone Mountain, GA 30087 www.iynaus.org