Introducing Yoga Students to the Profundity of Prashant Iyengar
Yoga Connections
Any attempt to express the enumerable gifts Prashant Iyengar's instruction can offer students seems futile. Still, it is one I will venture to begin because his teachings speak to the depths of my being, even if my mind and body feel far behind. His instruction works on a plane of existence that most people don't feel they have access to in the mundane sense. Those more grounded in his teaching are encouraged to add or correct information in the comments to bring more clarity. Any expression of perceived knowledge here comes from where I am in my practice and classes with Prashant. My only hope is that my simple attempts to introduce his work can touch those who are in a place to receive it and want to learn more about it.
"Everything that lives is in flux. Everything that lives emits sound. But we only perceive a part of it. We do not hear the circulation of the blood, the growth and decay of our bodily tissue, the sound of our chemical processes. But our delicate organic cells, the fibres of brain and nerves and skin are impregnated with these inaudible sounds. They vibrate in response to their environment. This is the foundation of the power of music.” ~Franz Kafka
From Gustav Janouch, “The Music in Silence”)
We could say that Prashant Iyengar began his yoga career as a violinist. If we consider every activity in life as a yoga posture, he might say having his arms draped around a violin is as much a posture as you standing to brush your teeth. We can't get away from postures. The son of the world-renowned yoga instructor, BKS Iyengar, Prashant’s experience with yoga is so vast and coupled with his attunement to music enables profound insights that the nascent observer might resist. Still, I encourage you to try to open to them and explore his online instructions (7, 8…) and books. (3,4,5,6…).
His father, BKS Iyengar discovered from his robust and tenacious practice that to move from the mundane of a posture requires a systematic approach. He developed a global curriculum and a rigorous teacher training. He provided the world with a method of teaching yoga in a sequence of asana that could begin to bring awareness to what Prashant might express as the will of the mind, body, and breath. In the early stages of yoga education with a Certified Iyengar Yoga Instructor (CIYI), students cultivate and connect the mind, body, and sense organs (e.g., ears and eyes) through mirroring, correction, reflection, repetition, and further instruction on a progressive sequence of asana.
The assumption is that yoga mastery requires will, power, and strength. While the three must be present, there are later stages of yoga, which Prashant instructs, the foundations for yog or yogasana. I will attempt to loosely defined it as a practice involving an evolutionary stage of the mind, body, and senses through profound awareness of the breath system's ability to integrate with the other systems and create a "collective will.”
One of my favorite sayings (if recollection serves) that BKS Iyengar quotes in his book, Tree of Life, says something like, "Let the yoga do the yoga." As I continue my journey, my understanding of this saying deepens as the schema of tapas (disciplined practice), svadhyaya (self-study), Isvara pranidhana (unyielding faith) begins to naturally foster Yog.
The flesh is the surface of the unknown. ~ Victor Hugo
Prashant highlights how Yog (a divine union or collective will) organically or naturally, emerges within and without us. However, our "personal gravities" tend to block this from happening. Gravities include things like our human biological tendencies (procure/consume food, sleep, sex, fear), and our ego, and "cultural strata" such as tamasic (heavy, slow) or rajasic (fiery, fast), to name a few (8). Prashant helps us tap into our "[…]100 trillion cells of 100 trillion different types”. (1). He brings awareness to their participation as a "collective" in yogasana using interdependent kriyas or actions (chakra kriya, prana kriya, etc.).
He uses the imagery of "confinements" such as the brain, chest, and pelvis; along with geometric shapes to encourage cyclic, rotary, and triangulated use of the breath. He also invokes a series of silent vocalizations that offer different vibratory sensations. The most widely known example is “Om.” Together, his instruction can turn the standing posture tadasana, or mountain pose, into a profoundly different evolutionary experience with every change of confinement, shape, or sound. Aligning and attuning our body, mind, and breath to the infinite wisdom within us.
Years of preparation are required. Studying with an Iyengar yoga instructor is synchronized to wake the body, mind, and spirit from the gravities of its tendencies. With consistent Iyengar yoga practice we begin to develop regulation naturally: such as Ahimsa (non-violence to the self and others), Satya (truthfulness), Asteya (non-stealing/covetousness), Bramhacharya (control over sex drive), Aparigraha (non-hoarding, non-coveting). Patience increases. The breath becomes more regulated. Cultivation is a word often used by Prashant to express the readiness to begin to explore the deeper levels of yogasana that can be experienced.
Yogasana creates an internal awakening to the unexplored and unknown whelms inside us and its interconnectedness to the external. So as above so, below is a quote credited to the ancient Hermetics which describes this connection. In an interview with Lee Sverkerson and Kristin Chirhart, Prashant talked about how the planet Jupiter may have prevented the comet Schumacher from crashing into Earth in the 90s (5).
The discussion seemed to emphasize our interdependence and interconnectedness to the solar system. He expressed how much we may assume and yet how little we know —about any "other’s" purpose. It brings to mind how quick we are to assume people are good or bad, how we dismiss things we don't understand (planets over 400 million miles away can’t possibly impact us at all) or cut them out altogether (who needs a gallbladder?).
However, yogasana brings an innate understanding of the need for egoic regulation and patience in assessing purpose, internally and externally. Prashant’s students learn to stay in an asana and wait for the nature of things to reveal itself to us without our ego’s constant need to judge, act, and control situations that block the reception process.
Listening to Prashant's instruction and practicing his techniques has increased my awareness of the intelligence of my cells and the endless depths available to explore within myself. He has shown me a heart-centered path to wake to a wonderland of experiences inside and outside the vessel of the body. It’s brought about a sense of honor and trust in our interconnectedness and the ability to wait for nature to reveal its purpose internally and externally with more grace and gratitude.
Thank you, Prashant.
Namaste.
1Iyengar, B. K. S., & Iyengar, G. S. (2003). Basic Guidelines for Teacher of Yoga (2nd ed.). Yog.
2Iyengar, B. K. S. (2002). The Tree of Life (1st ed.). Shambala Classics.
4 Iyengar, P. S. (2011). Discourses on Yog. Ramamani Iyengar Memorial Yoga Institute.
5 Iyengar, P.S. (n.d.) Parampara, The Importance of Family and Tradition to a Yoga Practitioner, and Why the Lyricised Sutras from an interview by Lee Sverkerson and Kristin Chirhart
6 Iyengar, P. S. (2012). Yogasana - The 18 Maha Kriyas. Yog.
7 Sri Prashant Iyengar, Lesson 1: Online Education in yoga
8 Sri Prashant Iyengar, Lesson 26: Online Education in yoga (09:17-Tendencies)