Moving the Skin You're In

What does it mean to you to "practice yoga"?  

I know...that is a BIG question, so when I was asked today how LONG I had been practicing yoga, I had to think about what those words really meant.  

But before we get into that, let me tell you about our last class today.  

Geeta taught an asana sequence intended to quiet the mind and nervous system before teaching some of the subtle work of pranayama and dhyana.  For those readers newer to the yoga scene, these are three of the 8 limbs (ashtanga) in yoga.  They include:

• Yama - a code of ethics...no lying, violence, stealing, coveting or sexual misconduct

• Niyama - personal practices - cleanliness, contentment, sincere effort, self-study of yoga and texts, and surrender to the Self

• Asana -  the Posture practice

• Pranayama - Breath Control practice

• Pratyahara - Withdrawal of the senses

• Dharana - Concentration

• Dhyana - Meditation

• Samadhi - A profound state of meditation where one "meets the soul face to face" as Iyengar described it.

You'll note that meditation is way down on the list as it is considered a more advanced practice in yoga, BUT even a newer student begins to taste a bit of it in an asana class, where one is essentially practicing meditation on the action or stillness in the poses. 

But just sitting or lying down to meditate? Either my swirling thoughts get in the way, or I drift in and out. 

Today's class was the culmination of a week of Asana and Pranayama for Meditation.  Toward the end of class today, I reached such a profound state of relaxation during the supine pranayama that when she instructed us to "move the skin" in one direction or another, I had so much spaciousness and sensitivity in my physical body that I COULD feel the skin respond.  My nervous system was QUIET, my senses were NOT directed outward (though technically I was listening to Geeta), my thoughts were NOT swirling, my mind was completely present on the very experience she was teaching and my body relaxed and responded.  

It was very, very interesting.

WELL, I probably lost you when I said "SKIN MOVING", didn't I?   

When I first ventured down this road, I recall hearing a teacher giving a skin-related instruction and thought to myself how impossible that seemed!  As I walked home through the usual cacophony of traffic sounds and smells, completely aware but undisturbed by any of it, that memory came back to me and I had to laugh at myself...it IS possible after all! 

Back to the question at hand.  When some one asked today, "How long have you been practicing yoga?" I said, "Well, it really depends on how you define it."

Like many, I came into my first class with curiosity, hoping to feel better, get stronger and more limber.  In 1998 I would have said I was "taking a yoga class", not practicing yoga.  When I enrolled in the teacher training program 10 years later, I'm not sure that I could call what I was doing then "practicing yoga" either as I really only knew about the Asana practice at that time.  

Lynn, an Australian yoga teacher who lives here, noted gently that even though it wasn't in my awareness yet, I was starting down that path back then, and that it takes years to build to an experience and awareness like today's.  

It's a bit like learning to read and write. 

We learn to read and write at say, age 5 or 6, but the type of reading and writing then is not the same as when you are 10 or 20 or 50.  Before you can write a dissertation, or even understand one, you first need to learn your ABC's -- How to recognize the letters, write them, say them. Then learn to recognize words, read and write simple words and sentences and books...then harder words, complex sentences, advanced books and so on.  

Equally, in a yoga practice, you have to learn your ABC's...First there is asana.  You can't learn to stand on your head until you understand how to stand on your feet and legs.  You have to learn learn how stretching and straightening the arms and legs stretches the spine.  You have to learn what Geetaji calls "the gross actions" of the body before you can learn more subtle and detailed ones.    

Little by little, you begin to develop awareness of the outer layer of the physical embodiment, moving gradually through the layers of your being, all the while, cultivating the discipline to meditate.  BKS Iyengar has referred to the asana practice as "meditation in action". 

So many years of exploring this, both in and out of class, on and off the mat, learning to appreciate and live the lessons in the Yoga Sutras of Patañjali, trying and failing and trying again and succeeding, rinse...repeat...this is what "practicing yoga" means to me.  

This final post brings me back to the very first one. The intense experience of learning daily with the Iyengars and the many hours of practice in the hall every day have transformed my awareness, moving it along the continuum.  

As for my next visit, perhaps I'll take some inspiration from the Vibhuti Pada, the third chapter of the Sutras which describes the special powers that come to yoga practitioners....Invisibility has a certain appeal! 

Thanks for coming along on my journey of transformation this month.  

Please - Feel free to add your thoughts in the comments section on what practicing yoga means for you.  

Ganesha -- the connection to Yoga

Walk down any street in Maharastra state and within a few blocks you are likely to come across a small, medium or large enclosure with a familiar elephant-headed god inside.  Meet Ganesha, the Lord of Success and the Destroyer of Obstacles.  He is one of the five major deities in the Hindu culture, the other four being Shiva, Durga, Surya and Vishnu. 

This antique representation above, held in a private collection in Pune, is perhaps one of the most elegant and subdued versions I have seen in my two visits.  In smaller roadside enclosures as well as larger temples, the depiction is very colorful...

...and in the larger temples, he is festively adorned, and receives many visitors, offerings and prayers.  

Near most temples or enclosures, one can find a stall or two with a vendor making flower garlands to bring and adorn Ganesha or another god. 

Ganesha's head symbolizes the atman or the soul, which is the ultimate supreme reality of human existence.  As many of you gentle readers are yoga practitioners, you will recall that the practice of the Eight Limbs of Yoga is geared toward stilling the fluctuations of the consciousness so that the true self or soul can be glimpsed or revealed.

Let's take a pictorial tour of Ganesha's other symbolism.  His form is a short, pot-bellied human with the elephant's head, and you'll notice that the trunk doesn't always point in the same direction.  When it points left, he is reaching for a sweet treat called a ladoo, which represents the fruits of our labors.  Ganesha is telling us that we should enjoy those!

When the trunk is turned to the right, it is reaching for a pot of nectar, representing the bliss attained in the 8th limb of yoga, Samadhi, the ultimate liberation.

Ganesha may have as few as two and as many as 18 arms, but most commonly has four in which he holds a noose, a goad, as tusk and a ladoo.

• Noose or rope to pull one nearer their highest goals
• Goad or axe to cut the bonds of attachments
• Broken tusk a reminder to retain the good and discard the bad
• The ladoo the rewards of our hard work

His big belly is to "digest" all the good and bad in life, and the large ears and small mouth to remind us to listen more and talk less!  Love that one!

Ganesha can also be seen, but rarely, in other poses, like this graceful dancing version...

...Or this protective version defeating an enemy.  

The remover of obstacles, the god of beginnings, patron of the arts and sciences, of letters and learning, surely Ganesha has been with me on this journey here and watching over my blog.

Food, Glorious Food!

When it comes to foreign travel, I am no sissy in the food area.  I go all in with the local scene, exploring markets, looking for new ingredients, taking restaurant recommendations from locals.   We students refer to our much vaunted Pune Guide, a compendium of recommendations from previous Institute visitors as well. 

So, let's go shopping...

During the Pune Heritage Walk our first Sunday morning, the market in the Old City pulled us in with its vendor calls and vibrant colors. 

This 8-sided building has been in continuous operation for over a century, built by the British in concentric rings to house the vendors indoors.  Demand is so great for foods and other things, that the market place spills out into the streets, sometimes smack dab in the middle.    This photo courtesy of our tour guide.

Spice gal just spreads her sheet on the ground practically in the middle of the street and sets up shop. I picked up a large handful of cinnamon bark for our chai for 12 cents...I probably paid too much!  Yoga Students:  Note the casual use of Malasana!

Inside the market building, the vendors arrange themselves in concentric circles according to the type of food.  Some are quite artful in their presentation.  

Bindhi is my absolute favorite here...Okra or Lady Fingers

Cilantro for days...

Our local apartment arrangement comes with a cook (par for the course here) who makes a meal for the 6 of us to share at mid-day.  I'm not going to lie...it's pretty nice to have someone else cook for you every day!  Chef makes a dal or yogurt-based soup, a fresh vegetable, and a bean or sprouted bean dish every day.  There is always rice and fresh chapattis as well.  He is very gifted with the spices.

And then there's eating out.  

A Maharastran meal must is thali, which literally means "plate".  At a thali place, you sit in front of a stainless steel tray with little bowls which are then filled up with a variety of soupy dishes.  The servers come through and add to the empty spaces of your plate different types of breads, condiments, vegetable dishes, and of course, rice.  Servers stop by frequently offering to refill your bowls or serve more of the other foods or breads. 

Did I mention that they keep serving you until you say "whoa"?  This photo above is from one favorite establishment where the $5 tab is considered pricey.  Tonight we ate at super local spot, Asha Dining Hall, where the servers are in uniform but barefooted, and the thali price was $2.15!  

Another scrumptious item is the dosa, which is a slightly soft, slightly crunchy pancake made from a fermented batter.  Urad dal (lentil) and rice are soaked, then blended then left overnight to ferment.  

Cooked like crepe, the finished product is crunchy and buttery.  It's served with a delicious potato filling and coconut chutney and tomato sambar.  One takes off a bit of the dosa, scoops up some of the potato and then garnishes with the condiments.  They often come flat or folded in half, but special super large dosas that feed a whole table come looking like this: 

The roomies enjoying a "paper" dosa. 

The Vaishali Special Masala Dosa

Last but not least, beverages.  I've mentioned the post class fresh coconut water for rehydration, and of course there are drinks made with yogurt like sweet or salty or mango lassi, and local fruit and yogurt shakes are nice, but my favorite tradition is a quick cup of chai.  

Black tea brewed in milk with spices like fresh cardamom, ginger, lemongrass, cinnamon or clove in any combination and with a little sugar.  Do it yourself is good, but I love the little cups served by our favorite chaiwala on the side of the road for 10 rupees...15 cents.

Until next post, cheers!

One-on-One with Geeta

You may have experienced it in a yoga class or workshop.

It's that delightful moment, as in a magic show, when something is revealed IN you or is transformed in another right before your eyes.  

Watching another student have his or her pose transformed under Geeta Iyengar's direction has that quality.  As a student and/or a teacher, you know when you see that new awareness come, and while the change that it brings it ISN"T magic, it is magical.  

Yesterday, though, I wasn't the watcher.

Warning:  The following paragraphs involve sanskrit yoga speak, with some photos from Light On Yoga (where else!) to help illustrate. 

We began with a gentle vinyasa holding the poses: 

Adho Mukha Virasana

Adho Mukha Svanasana

Uttanasana

Adho Mukha Svanasana

Urdhva Mukha Svanasana

Then straight away into headstand and variations:

Sirsasana

Parsva Sirsasana

Parsvaikapada Sirsasana

There was a break while we learned how to teach those new to the pose at the wall and how to teach those doing in the middle of the room before repeating the poses ourselves. 

We stood up to do Tadasana and then arch back as if to do a back bend, when she suddenly stopped and called me to her, and had me do the pose while holding the middle of my back and then brought me up and asked,

"Why is your head crooked in Sirsasana?" (This isn't the first time some one has told me this...At home I practice this pose in front of a mirror.)

"I have crooked neck", I said with a smile.  

She smiled back, and said, "Guruji would say "Crooked neck, Crooked mind!!".  Big laugh from everyone.  

She then had me turn around and face everyone so they could see my crooked neck (it tilts to the right), and then asked me if I could tell which eye was dominant (it's the right one).  Then she asked me to look out of the upper corner of my non-dominant eye. Judging by the class reaction, my neck straightened!

Where they eyes go, the body goes.  You may have experienced that when driving if you take your eyes off the road you drift in the direction you are looking.

Satisfied, Geeta returned to the back arch, had me do the pose several more times to teach what she was really interested in showing...how to go back without hardening the back muscles.  

• Taking the feet as wide as necessary so the tail bone goes in and the back muscles soften and spread to the side rather than hardening.  
• Maintaining the leg/back actions, lifting the spine to go back, hands on the back of the thighs to push them forward.

• Coming up, keeping the spinal muscles broadening rather than jamming in.  

She asked me what I had felt, and since my back was to her, I twisted to the right to answer her question, and she busted me again, "SEE!  Always to the right!"  

So I QUICKLY swiveled the other way to the left to look at her, and we all laughed.   Habits are so deeply ingrained. Developing new ones means creating awareness, then practicing to build the new neural pathways. 

We all practiced the actions in back arch and then continued from there with a similar theme -- 

keep the legs the width of the mat, outer heel pressing and thigh ACTION (not movement) pressing outward to keep the lower back from taking the heat, and keeping the collar bones spreading so that the chest (as in Upward Dog) could come through.  

Here's what we did...each of these was repeated a minimum of 4 times. 

Urdhva Danurasana

• Urdhva Danurasana

• Urdhva Danurasana bringing the head down behind the hands and moving the chest forward.

• Urdhva Danurasana bringing the hands into Sirsasana position, beginning to approach Viparita Dandasana.  

• Viparita Dandasana  

• Setubhandasana - elbows to the wall, rolling on to the forehead, walking the feet out.   We did not take our hands off the floor! 

Setubandhasana

All in all, it was a great class, and when we returned later that afternoon, one of my flat mates and I practiced the head stand variations again to see if my head would stay straight....it's a bit like a rubber band that keeps going back to it's original shape!  I'll have keep working on it. 

Next post will definitely be on food...all this asana practice makes a girl hungry!

Geeta Iyengar and Transformation

The theme for this go round of the blog emerged as I pondered how the changes in me and my life over the last four years would effect my experiences here since my first visit.  The other thing I wondered was how the experience would be different without Guruji's physical presence.   While it goes without saying that one is transformed with the death of one's parent and guru, I was curious how Geeta, Prashant, and the rest of the local Iyengar teacher community here have transformed with the departure of Guruji's corporeal form just 14 months ago. 

I mentioned earlier how there is a twinkle in Prashant's eyes, a smile as he talks about Guruji, his teaching and his life.  There is more story telling interspersed with his classes, even though the lessons which Prashant gives are still tough and profound. 

But now, let me turn to Geetaji.  She seems, in a word, buoyant .  Whether giving a talk or teaching a class, she vibrates with a sense of youthfulness that belies her troubled gait. There is a palpable lightness in her rapport with us.  She teaches with the usual laser vision, but she is positively playful!  

In our first class, within three rounds of jumping back and forth from Uttanasana to Adho Mukha Svanasana, she had determined that we all needed to learn how to jump all over again.  We pumped back and forth, we kicked our "buttocks" like bucking broncos to bring an energy and lightness to the movement.  I imagine we looked pretty funny!  Once that came along, then we JUMPED from Adho Mukha Svanasana into Uttitha Trikonasana and back again - MANY times!  And on and on  - we jumped into the poses like the children in the Sunday morning classes!  

In another class, it was she who did the kicking--kicking some bad back bending habits out us with so much clarity that I was able to straighten my cranky left arm/shoulder for the first time...ever.  We watched as she showed a real time transformation of two colleagues' poses, which we then tried to bring to our bodies.   It was a good day.

Other than being in her asana classes, I had never heard Geetaji speak. so the two lectures she gave the first weekend were very special.  The first was on the 16th Chapter of the Bhagavad Gita...the one about the range of human qualities from divine to devilish.  Final conclusion -- we are all struggling along that spectrum and our practice will help us find the way to the divine side.  

The second, on the occasion of Patañjali Jayanthi, the anniversary of his birth, was special for another reason -- it was the first time the Institute had had an event since Guruji's passing.  All the family was there dressed very festively, and Patañjali was outfitted in an impressive array of fresh flower garlands. 

Sunita, another of Guruji's daughters and wonderful teacher in her own right, chanted the 108 names of Patañjali for us to repeat.  Guruji's great granddaughter played at Geeta's feet while she lectured on Sadhana - practice - and her message ultimately was that our transformation would come not through repeating the same old practice of the asana and pranayama, but by moving on from those each day to new understanding; by including thoughtful consideration of the Yoga Sutras given by Patañjali to guide our practice -- on AND off the mat.

As did Prashant, she referred to the asana photos of Guruji all over the hall.  Light on Yoga, she said, was originally meant to be a guide for those who did not have a teacher, and that when the book was published, he was already moving on from what he tried to show in those photographs.   He was no longer doing the standing poses for the quoted strength and stamina benefits alone...he had already been practicing for 32 years when the book came out, so the strength and stamina were already there!  Those poses in his practice became about something deeper.

For me, this notion of not becoming rigid, not getting stuck in one way of thinking or doing anything in my life, particularly in this practice, is key to cultivating the transformational process.  

Happy Diwali!

Diwali is the festival honoring Laxmi, the goddess of prosperity and wealth.  

Homes and businesses are decorated with colored lights and lighted paper lanterns.  



Entryways or courtyards are decorated with rangoli, colorful sand or rice drawings, and sometimes even flowers, to welcome guests and encourage Laxmi’s blessings.  

At night little clay lamps filled with oil are lit and placed on or near the rangoli.   

At the risk of oversimplifying what my local friends explained over a delicious traditional breakfast of upma, each day involves different traditions, from pujas to offerings of flowers and sweets to the gods at the local temples; from ceremonial bathing and squashing of evil characters to gift giving traditions between husbands and wives, and brothers and sisters.  Myriad treats for a sweet new year are prepared and given to friends and neighbors and guests.  And everyone gets very dressed up, even to climb the many flights of stairs to one of the higher temples in Pune.  

One of the days was once considered end of the fiscal year for businesses, so many close and hold a puja to bring blessings for a prosperous new year.   With the standardization of the fiscal year, this is now just ceremonial. 

Money atop seeds for a prosperous new beginning 

In addition to being a school and family holiday akin to the winter break in the U.S., many folks leave town as local Diwali celebrators set off fireworks all week long -- both the eye-popping Fourth of July variety and the ear-blasting noisemakers of our New Year.  

On the plus side:  less traffic means less pollution. 

On the minus side:  earplugs may be necessary at bedtime.  It's nearly midnight as I finish this post, and the fireworks are still going on out there.

With the Institute closed for the holidays, a few of us made like locals and took a little trip outside of Pune.  Our destination was a favorite mountain retreat of visiting yogis offering a spectacular view, Aryuvedic treatments and food and an Iyengar yoga practice hall...the air was delicious too!

Driving out of town into less populated areas can put one into a new category of traffic jam.  

But, last night, back in Pune, we enjoyed the fireworks...from a super cool rooftop bar at the JW Marriott, far from the madding crowds.  All over the city one could see amateur and professional style fireworks appearing against the silhouette backdrop the mountains that surround the city. 

Happy Diwali everyone 

and a prosperous New Year!