A week of Sankalpa with Abhijata Iyengar

“Sankalpa is an intention formed by the heart and mind—a solemn vow, determination, or will.” ~ IYNAUS Convention, 2023 - Sankalpa: A Yogic Life of Intent

As an online participant at the 2023 IYNAUS Convention held in San Diego, watching the instruction of students by 39-year-old Abhijata Iyengar, it is hard to miss the lessons on Sankalpa emphasizing the heart is at the core of authentic intent. Abhijata is a dedicated Iyengar practitioner who has studied extensively with her grandfather, BKS Iyengar, aunt, Dr. Geeta Iyengar, and uncle, Prashant Iyengar at the Ramamani Iyengar Memorial Yoga Institute in Pune, India, She teaches from the heart, not the organ of the same name but the energetic field close to it that is cultivated with ongoing abhyasa and vairagya (practice and detachment).

Abhjata teaches so the beauty of yoga can unfolds naturally within each of her students. Prashant Iyengar was interviewed for the convention’s magazine and also taught via satellite during the week-long event to impart his wisdom on the concept of sankalpa from his years of practice under the tutelage of his father, BKS Iyengar, extensive self-study or svadyaya, and extensive research into the ancient texts. One lesson that stood out for me was that sankalpa is considered “His intent” in some philosophical texts, which seemed to separate ego desires from the concept of intent and move it closer to a motivation toward universal truth.

Abhijata’s heart-centered teaching provided deep insights with disarming authenticity. She began her classes by recognizing the systematic and synchronized process of yoga. Explaining how BKS Iyengar associated the 8-limbs of Astanga yoga to “petals of a flower.” There is of course the idea of systematic steps or petals, “Character first, Yama, Niyama, then Asana, and Pranayama […],” etc. However, she explained that what some practitioners may not understand is that BKS also meant that “within each petal is the essence of the whole flower”. If we teach and learn from a list of techniques or “to do’s,” we lose resonance with the needs of the whole student in front of us or within us. Instruction of yoga requires more organic stages of instruction, lending more value to human instruction and interaction over a computerized form.

Asana practiced with the intent of vairagya or detachment, not comparison or competition with a neighbor, enables a holistic cultivation of mind, body, and spirit. Negative self-talk only yields resistance. Abhijata used her graceful sense of humor and explained if she constantly told you what you were doing wrong or complained about you, you wouldn’t want to be around her. The body responds the same way to our negative self-talk. “There are only two things in the universe, Prakriti and Purusha. Prakriti means nature, and Purusha means that sentient being which causes life.” We are both matter and life. Our body will never cooperate if we apply anger. We need to bring about “togetherness,” “helpfulness,” and “kindness” so the animation of every energetic petal of life, which is constantly seeking homeostasis, can blossom.

Abhijata explained, “What yoga does is that it is spreading the intelligence…permeating the intelligence through the body, so what we think is just in one area is all over, but we live in one area.” When the intelligence only resides in one area, it can cause stress or fear; however, the practice of asana helps us spread the intelligence all over, so the focus isn’t concentrated in, say, the knee to solve its pain or tension alone. Every cell in the body is alerted, so the load on the area is dispersed, creating a calmer approach where the entire system works together to ease the stress and reach stability within the configuration of the asana. Pranayama also serves to calm by “irrigating and generating that energy from within.”

Yoga teaches us to “sharpen the nervous system” to shorten the “lag time” between action and response. It teaches us to seamlessly and swiftly act and reflect. Imagine the reduction in regret from when we act without reflecting properly on the consequences of our actions.

Throughout the week, linking categories of asana such as twists to forward bends, Abhijata demonstrated their interconnections. We gained a sentient experience of how intelligence brought to one area of the body expands and enhances range of motion in another. Waking complimentary bone, muscle, tendons, and joints to their ability to serve in what Dr. Geeta Iyengar referred to as the “mobility and stability” in a particular asana.

As with all aspects of yoga the lessons apply on the mat and off it. Expanding our intelligence so we can recognize the interconnectedness of all things in life. Science continues to uncover the interrelationships within the solar system such as the Moon impact on tides and the Sun’s solar flares on the functioning of electrical systems on earth. Of course, there’s also connections between our social systems, economic systems, and political systems to how well countries, cities, communities, neighborhoods, organizations like IYNAUS, families, and individuals are able to survive, thrive, and evolve.

Iyengar Yoga offers somatic and visceral experiences to deepen our understanding of how the sankalpa of one part of an interconnected system can impact the essence of the whole system. Much heartfelt gratitude goes out to Prashant and Abhijata Iyengar for their invaluable contributions to this event and to their tireless work to spread of the art, science, and philosophy of yoga. Many thanks also go out to Gloria Goldberg, President of IYNAUS, Kathleen Quinn, the Convention Chair, and the many volunteers who gave up their participation in classes to make sure other participants online and in-person got their needs addressed on a moment-by-moment basis to facilitate real learning for more students regardless of their level of practice or infirmity. That’s the beauty of Iyengar Yoga. Namaste.

Arranging The Structure: Raya Uma Datta - Bahiranga Sadhana Workshop - Day 3

BKS Iyengar examined all parts of asana to understand the structure

Raya ended the first of his three consecutive workshops on the tenth of January. If this workshop is any indication of the next two, I highly recommend them. The first workshop proved to be a beautiful tribute to the extraordinary work of B.K.S. Iyengar.

Mr. Iyengar made it his life’s work to give us the best possible directions for our external quest, Bahiranga Sadhana. He and his daughter, Dr. Geeta Iyengar worked tirelessly to provide a beginner’s guide, an intermediate guide, a woman’s guide, a teacher’s guide, along with ongoing hands-on workshops around the world—and for those with over eight years of continuous study, month-long lessons at the Ramamani Iyengar Memorial Yoga Institute (RIMYI) to inform our body, mind, and spirit to better understand the principles outlined in his book Light on Yoga. In turn, this can inform our ability to practice the next level of the eight-limbed path of Astanga Yoga outlined by the Sage Patañjali and then the next level after that.

Prashant Iyengar mentioned in his Fall workshop how understanding the vast magnificence of what this path has to teach can take lifetimes. Synthesizing the incredible lessons BKS Iyengar taught us requires dedication, practice, and repetition. It takes analyzing sequences and constantly asking your mind, body, and spirit questions. What is overworking? What is underworking? Then, connecting our brain to the area in our body that is weak. “This is your problem child,” is an often-quoted statement of Mr. Iyengar. Raya emphasized how Guruji gave us lessons that take us far beyond what general asana practice can teach us. The use of props and supports help us identify what is working and what is not. Raya explained the “The brain is the map of the body,” but we must make those connections happen. BKS Iyengar’s critical analysis of each part of our body from the gross to the subtle helps students of Iyengar Yoga move from the raw shape of a pose to the sculpted grace of wholeness asana is meant to offer. To get even the tiniest glimpse of this experience is what keeps Iyengar Yoga students coming back to learn more.

Equilibrium is a word that Raya wanted us to understand as "a balance of forces." We focused on the upper thigh, which has many parts: anatomy withholding, inner and outer, and back to front, along with the many sections in between to be analyzed. As a whole, the upper thigh is not as awake as other parts of the leg such as the knee or calf. Raya increased our proprioception into the upper thigh with a series of asana that inform us about our work in this area. Asana such as Adho Mukha Svanasana, Urdhva Mukha Prasarita Eka Padasana, Virabhadrasana III, Parvritta Ardha Chandrasana, returning to Urdhva Mukha Prasarita Eka Padasana with the leg up the wall. Raya used the idea of "six degrees of separation" to explain how to get to a more complex asana, we must look at what came before it to inform us of the body/mind connections that must be made before we can begin to practice it. We used a weighted sandbag on the calf, Urdhva Mukha Prasarita Eka Padasana, to redirect our efforts into the upper thigh because we tend to lift from the calf, not the thigh, but it is the intelligence of the upper thigh that is the gateway to more complex asana such as an inverted elbow or head balances. By the time Raya took us to these places, attempting to split our legs and sustain our balance in the inverted elbow and head balances, we knew, in no uncertain terms, the value of the work of the upper thigh. The day gave us a glimpse into the unfathomable depths of detail that BKS Iyengar explored to facilitate our Bahiranga Sadhana and open pathways to experience the necessity of Yama and Niyama.

Raya did a spectacular job sharing the experience of how every arm position, every minute instruction BKS Iyengar has offered us creates more "intimacy" in the conversation between all the parts of the body until they all know their particular role and the "force" they must wield in that role to create a structure that will last. Equilibrium brings balance, and balance is something we can sustain indefinitely. Raya explained the stress we feel in the world is a result of imbalance. Iyengar Yoga teaches us how to arrange our structure to achieve balance. With that knowledge and wisdom, we can better structure our world to make it more balanced and sustainable.What a gift.

Thank you, Raya, for your special and specific insights, Iyengar Yoga of Greater New York for hosting, my mentor, Kquvien DeWeese, and The Iyengar Family, whose guidance has made it all possible.

For those with over three years of continuous Iyengar study, Raya will be offering two more workshops Antaranga Sadhana, Engaging in the Intra-Structure in February and Antaratma Sadhana, Surrendering into the Meta-Structure in March.

Namaste

Arranging The Structure: Raya Uma Datta - Bahiranga Sadhana Workshop - Day 2

How do we begin? What is the balance of force?

Day 2 of Raya's workshop, Arranging The Structure, began by confirming our understanding of the previous day. As my glimpses here in no way attempt to articulate Raya's lessons entirely, his emphasis demonstrates the importance of clarification. I will do my best to do that. Iyengar Yoga uses asana as the point of entry into the Astanga or 8-limbed path of yoga outlined by the Sage Patañjali in 196 sutra's or threads. The sutra after 11:30 outlining the five Yama or universal precepts:

Sutra 11.31 jāti-deśa-kāla-samaya-anavacchinnāḥ sārvabhaumā-mahāvratam

BKS Iyengar transcribed in Light on the Sutras of Patanjali as “Yamas are the great, mighty, universal vows, unconditioned by place, time, and class.” He explains his reasoning for stressing their universality regardless of region, culture, or origin by saying: “They form the framework of rules on which society is based,” (LOYSP, p136). The five Yama or self-restraints are Ahimsa (non-violence), Satya (truthfulness), Asteya (non-stealing), Brahmacarya (continence), and Aparigraha (non-greed). It is my understanding that Iyengar Yoga begins with asana because there is a universality to the human body for most part so it is a place we can all unite to begin to learn the art, science, and philosophy of yoga. Through asana we can better understand why the precepts are so meaningful. While the five Yama aid in the proper functioning of society, coupled with the five personal precepts or Niyama: Sauca (cleanliness) Santosa (contentment) Tapah (burning desire) svadhyaya (self study) Isvara prandnidhanani (surrender to God) they can also help arrange the structure of our body, mind, and breath in any given asana.

Raya asked where do we begin arrangingVirasana, heroes pose? The most obvious is the hips: hip to knees and hips to trunk. What is the condition of our starting asana? Is it to prepare for Paryankasana, couch or Bhekasana, frog as is the order in Light on Yoga? This virasana is to prepare for the Invocation. Therefore, while the arrangement of the structure stayed the same, the “force” and concentration were very different. Raya suggested support to keep the lower back engaged, which intelligized the spine and had a domino effect on the frontal body, chest, groins, hips. It also softened any mental and physical force to aid our moving inward to a place of calm and receptivity. He asked us to draw the eyes inward —recognizing the increased screen time and eye fatigue that results. He spent time here to relax and release then asked us to release any grips, such as in the big toe. He conditioned our inner awareness and alertness of the body. Are we being aggressive, assertive or affirmative. What is needed?

It is with this kind of acute awareness and attention, Iyengar Yoga asks us to bring to our asana practice. The Yama and Niyama can help us balance the opposite forces of doing and not doing to suit the condition of the asana. Keeping in mind the condition can be situational, mental, physical, or emotional.

Raya pointed out how Guruji identified when the front leg and the back leg are doing different things such as Parsvottanasana, intense side stretch, the starting points change for each leg. Raya asked us to connect the length from the right ankle to the right shoulder and then the left. Imagining arrows drawn to each set, he wanted us to notice how the starting point of each arrow and the length of the arrows are different.

Raya brought up the idea of the domino effect and how when the balance of force is not appropriate to the given condition of the structure how it affects everything else. He emphasized why learning all of the ways to arrange the structure of any given asana is all the more integral to our evolution as practitioners. Uncovering the wisdom that Uttanasana, intense forward bend can provide to Pashimottanasana, intense stretch of the western side of the body and Ubaya Padangustasana, seated holding both big toes, as well as Urdhva Mukha Paschimottanasana, upward facing intense stretch of western body —and how each of these poses can inform each other is what it is to be an Iyengar practitioner. He brought our attention to why BKS Iyengar provided different arm positions in Paschimottanasana and encouraged us to experience how it improves our understanding of the pose — noticing how they inform specific parts of the body with information we can apply to other asana.

Raya recognized that teachers must instruct in a specific krama or order, but teachers are also students. He said one of his favorite quotes from Mr. Iyengar:

Discipline comes from within ~ BKS Iyengar

As students, we must rigorously explore all Iyengar Yoga offers us. It is up to us to discover, uncover, and most of all practice, so we can embody why BKS Iyengar arranged the structure Light on Yoga the way he did.

Thank you once again, Raya for sharing your insights, Iyengar Yoga of Greater New York for hosting, my mentor, Kquvien DeWeese, and The Iyengar Family for making it all possible. I look forward to tomorrow.

Namaste

Arranging The Structure: Raya Uma Datta - Bahiranga Sadhana Workshop - Day 1

Look at your body like you are looking at a map. Where are you going?

Raya Uma Datta offers a unique perspective with his incredible perception into Iyengar Yoga, having begun his training at the Ramamani Iyengar Memorial Yoga Institute (RIMYI) at the young age of 10 years old. What a gift to be able to learn the vast subject of Iyengar Yoga from the source at such a formative age.

Raya continued his Iyengar Yoga quest and by age 20 began teaching at RIMYI. After demonstrating for BKS Iyengar’s 80th Birthday, he formally became BKS Iyengar’s student. He traveled to Russia and China with Guruji (a name given to BKS Iyengar, meaning one who brings light). He later accompanied Guruji’s daughter, Dr. Geeta Iyengar, for an Australian and South African Convention. Since 2002, he has taught general classes at RIMYI.

Having had the opportunity to study with Raya at RIMYI, I know him to be a well-respected and dynamic teacher. He instructs from the heart and is dedicated to understanding and sharing the wealth of knowledge BKS Iyengar and the Iyengar Family have offered us. Below is a glimpse into the workshop’s first day from my level of understanding.

The workshop, hosted by Iyengar Yoga of Greater New York is titled, Bahiranga Sadhana which Guruji describes in Light on Yoga (p.21) as an external quest. Raya explained the external quest includes the ten moral/personal disciplines of Yama and Niyama and the physical disciplines of Asana and Pranayama. Raya added that it’s important to understand that asana is the quintessential medium that Iyengar Yoga works with and from to explore the 8-limbed path of the Astanga Yoga of Patañjali.  Iyengar Yoga explores asana using the ten precepts which are prescribed in Sutras 11.30-11.34 (conversely, you could say, the precepts can be explored through asana). The precepts are further described in subsequent Sutras that all have the definitive Sanskrit word Pratisthayam associated with it. While the word is transcribed to mean “firmly established”, Raya alluded to subtle meanings that enrich its place in these descriptions. The precepts have a “do” and “not do” rhythm to them, which we learn to apply to our efforts in asana until we are more grounded in them and they become part of our practice.

On the grosser level, there is structure and arrangement to asana. There is also a particular way to describe asana. The Sutras of Patañjali offer a definitive description that BKS Iyengar transcribes in his book, Light on the Sutras of Patanjali: “Asana is perfect firmness of body, steadiness of intelligence and benevolence of spirit.”

11:46 Sthira sukham asana

Raya sited other Sutras to demonstrate the many descriptions, prescriptions, and characteristics that describe asana. He used a map as metaphor with its True North and then explained the broad lattitudes of what is still considered north to the east and west of that until it shifts into something else like northeast or northwest.

“When one moves from the grossest to the subtlest neither the beginning is seen nor the end.” ~ BKS Iyengar

Raya quoted Guruji and guided us to explore the concept of structure by devising a map of our body through a masterful arrangement of asana. Where do we begin an asana? Words communicate and guide us, he continued, but it is imperative to know what actions those words initiate. Rotating the foot versus rotating from the hip create different experiences. He used the idiom "crack the code" to encourage our quest to understand our asana's arrangement and structure. He challenged us to be ever-present to study and explore limb by limb, inch by inch, word by word, sinew by sinew, breath by breath, standing, seated, inverted and prone, beginning to end, end to beginning from the grossest to subtlest, and the infinite degrees between them both.

Thank you, Raya for sharing your insights, Iyengar Yoga of Greater New York for hosting, my mentor, Kquvien DeWeese, and The Iyengar Family for making it all possible. I look forward to tomorrow.

Namaste