Patricia Walden's Asana for Upliftment: Aging & Backbends

Patricia’s iconic backbends

As the only North American with a Senior Advanced certification in the Iyengar Method, Patricia Walden shares her years of experience learning and studying with BKS Iyengar and the Iyengar Family through her classes, workshops, books and instructional videos. Many yoga students know her voice from the Audible version of BKS Iyengar’s Light on Life. I listen to it often, picking up new jewels as I am better able to merge my intelligence with its message. It is this ability that Iyengar Yoga seeks to cultivate and it set the foundation for Patricia’s December backbending workshop hosted by Marla Apt, and Iyengar Therapeutics

Patricia refers to Mr. Iyengar, as Guruji (from the root Guru or bringer of light). Anyone touched by Iyengar Yoga has experienced some of that light. It is a result of the refined instruction BKS Iyengar’s phenomenal life’s work has given certified instructors of the Iyengar Method of teaching the 8-limbed path or Astanga Yoga.

Patricia explained that one of the definitions Guruji gives for yoga is “When the intelligence of the brain merges with spiritual heart.” She recalled that his daughter, Dr. Geeta Iyengar often referenced the Sutra III:35 of Sage Patañjali:

hrdaye cittasamvit

Guruji transcribed this in his book Light On The Sutras of Patañjali  as "By samyama on the region of the heart, the yogi acquires a thorough knowledge of the contents and tendencies of consciousness." Samyama is the intergration of Dhāraṇā (concentration), Dhyāna (meditation) and Samādhi (union).

Patricia began the workshop by bringing our focus onto the sternum, a physical place that serves as the doorway to the spiritual heart, a vast space. Coaching us inward with reverence for the Sage Patañjali and BKS Iyengar, we honored them with an invocation. The deep gratitude and reverence, humbles us to receive the boundless lessons of Iyengar Yoga.

Wisdom is a positive consequence of age, Patricia explained. While we may have challenges with different parts of our body, we have gained wisdom, which is more critical than the backbends. "As our bodies change, our mind changes too; wisdom comes," she continued. She proceeded to take us through a series of standing, seated, and forward bend poses followed by prone backbends concentrating on the areas that get dull as we age while still focusing on the sternum and spiritual heart. Guruji distinguished horizontal actions from vertical actions. The extension vertically is from the intelligence or mind, and the extension horizontally is from the spiritual heart, where wisdom comes.

Patricia began going to Pune, India to attend the Ramamani Iyengar Memorial Yoga Institute, RIMYI, in 1976. For many years, she had the good fortune to watch wisdom at work, witnessing BKS Iyengar evolve his back bending practice as he aged. She recalled him saying about his asana practice, “I used to play, but now I stay.” She noticed how he used more prop support to stay longer in asana like Dwi Pada Viparita Dandasana, two-legged inverted bow, Urdhva Dhanurasana, upward bow, and Natarajasana, an asana named after Siva, Lord of the Dance. Patricia reminisced about practicing with Guruji. She recalled how if she started to practice beside him, she had to commit to stay, she couldn’t stop. She giggled explaining that while he appeared to be still in whatever pose he was in, it was extremely rigorous and challenging.

During the workshop, Patricia took us through a Krama or ordered sequence. She distinguished each sequence as "family of poses" that prepare our bodies and minds for backbends. Now in her 70s, Patricia continues her backbending practice, but prepares her body more than she used to. She addressed the fact that as we age the light we worked so hard to bring into places like the roots of the thighs and groins, our armpits, thoracic spine, and knees dull with age. It doesn't mean it goes out - it means we have to spend a little more time to shift the dimness to make it brighter and sharper. In this way, we assure a safe and healing backbend practice as we age.

As an example with Adho Mukha Svanasana, or downward dog, she gave several detailed instructions such as spreading the skin of the palms and backs of our knees, rotating the triceps inward (alerting the armpits), pressing the roots of the thighs, and tops our knees back while extending our heels down by lifting the lower shin up and back. She brought our attention to all the parts of the spine, the thoracic spine, the lumbar spine, and the lower spine —asking us to lengthen and "intelligize" the entire spine, and proceeded with more detailed instruction.

These instructions are just a taste of what a Senior Advanced Certified Iyengar instructor brings to students. From standing, kneeling, seated, and prone asana, Patricia’s instruction sometimes adds elemental cues like earth, water, fire, and ether. It goes deeper and deeper into back bending actions through every koshas or sheath of the body. Students who have cultivated their ability to hear and follow without resistance are taken to a place that alters their perspective of what they are capable of.

It is but a millisecond glimpse into the probable 31,557,60 seconds BKS Iyengar explored his own body and those of his students every year for seven decades. Through his expedition, he developed the precise words to instruct from gross to subtle actions that enable transformation in mental, physical, and emotional mobility and freedom.

The instruction Patricia provided early in the workshop applied to the asana that followed. She sequentially and systematically woke our spine, and the spots that dull with age. She increased our ability to extend vertically and horizontally from the outer skin to the inner body. All of which created the space we needed to come into a full back bend from the floor: Urdhva Dhanurasana, upward bow. Whether with various setups of prop support or flat from the floor, her entire class enable us to experience the back bend with more receptivity, space, and freedom. With all of the necessary actions of the body intelligized, our mind could merge completely with the heart. We could experience the true upliftment an Iyengar Yoga back bend provides regardless of age.

Thank you, Patricia; what an excellent way to end a very challenging year!

Namaste

Iyengar National Association of the United States Iyengar Tribute

Celebrating the life of BKS Iyengar and his daughter, Dr. Geeta Iyengar

The Iyengar National Association of the United States or IYNAUS held a five-hour tribute to celebrate the 102nd Birthday of BKS Iyengar and his daughter, Dr. Geeta Iyengar. IYNAUS President Randy Just began with a montage of Dr. Geeta Iyengar under her father's tutelage, BKS Iyengar. He followed with footage of Dr. Geeta Iyengar teaching a rigorous children's class. Anyone who has observed the children's classes at Ramamani Iyengar Memorial Yoga Institute, RIMYI in Pune, India, would not be surprised by the rigor. Exploring advanced poses demonstrates how creating the shapes of poses set a solid foundation for preparing the body and mind for more profound work.

The tribute continued with footage of BKS Iyengar’s classes with the adults in the early years. Classes were smaller, and we witnessed the exquisite refinements he addressed in the alignment of the feet, ankles, calves, knees, and thighs up to the palms of the hand, shoulder blades, neck, and head. The detail of instruction would be lost on students with limited training. In the early years, many of the students attending only three-week intensives admitted not fully grasping everything. It is one reason why an 8-year Iyengar training requirement is attached to the prerequisite for RIMYI training. Even then, it is difficult to fully digest and hold the wealth of knowledge imparted by Mr. Iyengar and his legacy.

Later in the event, Amita Bhagat, IYNAUS public relations and social media chair, shared interviews she conducted with many Senior teachers and others who had the opportunity to spend significant time with BKS and Dr. Geeta Iyengar. The stories serve as a rich and fulfilling resource for new students and old. They brought the character and personality of these great teachers to life. BKS Iyengar understood the power of experience and sharing that experience. The stories can serve to touch students at specific points in their life that might mirror those of more senior teachers and learn from them.

Some of the students Amita interviewed went to the Iyengar’s for healing. Anyone who has had the opportunity to observe or participate in the Iyengar Yoga Therapeutics knows what a great act of service and healing this class is for so many who felt their cases were hopeless. David Ufur, a student of some of the original students of BKS Iyengar (such as Mary Palmer, Priscilla Neel, and Susie Vidrih) began his practice in 1974. The help he received on his leg injury kept him on the learning path to this day, which he shares with his Ann Arbor students. Joan White is another long time student. She experienced a severe back injury after a horseback riding incident. The tragedy had the positive effect of pulling BKS Iyengar back to the states after a long hiatus and giving us a glimpse at his dedication to healing and service through yoga. It is what put Joan White on the path of yoga and a commitment to teaching Iyengar Yoga. John Abbott, the former publisher of Yoga Journal, had a knee injury and avoided major surgery due to his work with Mr. Iyengar. He later convinced Mr. Iyengar to be the featured teacher at the Estes Park Yoga Journal Conference. Patricia Walden suffered from depression. Her healing experience kept her returning to Pune so often, she is now the most advanced Iyengar instructor in the United States, with a wealth of learning to share with her students. Laurel Thomas has scoliosis. She is another student whose healing put her on the path to teaching. She sold everything, packed up, and move to Pune to study how to help others with scoliosis experience the healing effects of Iyengar Yoga. Bobby Clennell committed to the path and specialized in supporting women’s issues through Iyengar Yoga, publishing several books adding her illustration skills. After earning her Ph.D., Lois Steinberg left academia to focus on helping people all over the world through Iyengar Yoga Therapeutics.

From their stories and the many others interviewed, we learned how playfulness danced seamlessly with sometimes harsh wisdom and knowledge delivery. However, in every case, the manner of delivery had the distinct purpose of penetrating deeply through the frequently tamasic layers of our being to leave an indelible impression that stays imprinted on the heart of those lucky enough to receive it. Chris Saudek and Anna Delury spoke to how meaningful his strictness and discipline was for their practice, as well as his uncanny knowledge of where students were physically, mentally, and psychologically at any given time. After Mr. Iyengar's passing, it dawned on Anna the importance of her early training and the responsibility she felt to study more to share her experiences with those who never had the opportunity to work with Mr. Iyengar in person.

Patricia shared how the krama or order of teaching asana progressed with the timing of his integration of the Sutras of Patañjali . It highlights the idea of change in general and our resistance to it, which is a lesson in itself. BKS Iyengar, Dr. Geeta Iyengar, Prashant, or Abhijata never seem to resist change. None of the changes I know of that they've endured were easy, but they understood something most of us find very hard to digest. Nothing stays the same.

BKS Iyengar honored the universality of change and developed the krama sequence to educate us on being attuned to it within ourselves. His proprioception was second to none. It penetrated through all of the koshas or sheaths of his body. His total emersion into the minute details of specific parts of his body is what gave him the words to share with us about our tendencies. BKS Iyengar brought light to our oneness, the universal tendencies inherent in human beings. Working and studying by his side, Dr. Geeta Iyengar was able to bring to light the specific tendencies in women that only as a woman could she penetrate and experience. With his musical heart, Prashant continues to explore the universal rhythms of breath and the effects of its subtle shifts and masterful compositions. Their work doesn't change the gifts of BKS Iyengar's work, they enhance it, and Abhijata is bringing her insights, having had all of her relatives as her teachers. She can also offer perspective as a parent and can speak to younger generations of students inundated with diversions, data, and information.

BKS Iyengar went on a human expedition into his own body with the kind of tenacity and vigor that is unfathomable to most of us. It seems appropriate to question, not just to be told what to do, but to embody why BKS Iyengar experienced it and explained it the way he did. To ask ourselves why Dr. Geeta Iyengar developed a practice specific to the cycles of a woman's life and why Prashant has written volumes to encourage a deeper understanding of the power of our breath. To question our understanding of their lessons is our way of exploring the path that BKS Iyengar continues to shine a bright light on for us.

Embodying and respecting the changes within and around us with grace and gratitude is a big yoga lesson. It's not an easy one by any means, but we have so many great examples of how to do it with the Iyengar's and the many great instructors who share Iyengar Yoga to all parts of the world with dedication and service.

Scott Hobbs, Mary Obendorfer & Eddy Marks shared some great insights and stories about the process of learning to teach Iyengar Yoga. Scott spoke about the early years of Mr. Iyengar assessing and formulating the RIMYI, and arguably the most rigorous teaching curriculum for yoga instructors. Eddie encouraged students to exhaust the numerous resources now available. He said Guruji (what his students call him nowadays, from the root Guru or giver of light) became more transparent and natural in his experience of him. "The process of spirituality is not a process of addition, it is a process of subtraction," Eddie explained. Mary added that it is about removing layers and getting to the essence of who we are. She recalled something Guruji said that "yoga is an emotional subject." While Iyengar Yoga is very precise and the details can seem unending, coupled with how accessible he's made yoga with all the therapeutics, etc., what it all comes down to is, "the practice of yoga opens you to yourself." She summed it up by saying, "At heart, it's about the heart."

Namaste.

Thank you, IYNAUS, for sharing your tribute with us all, and Amita and all of the interviewees, thank you for sharing your beautiful stories. Special thanks to BKS Iyengar and the entire Iyengar Family —and extended family. 

STAY WELL

Wellness is a word associated with so many things it is confounded with a to-do list a mile long. Eat right, bathe, brush your teeth, watch your blood pressure, get your heart rate up higher. While it is important to meet the new demands to keep your distance and wash your hands, it’s also worth noticing that sometimes the best thing we can do to stay well is find equanimity, Upeksanam.

Consider the dualities that are coming up for you during this time. The need to do something versus the need to be still. The need to be seen versus the need to be safe. The need to have versus your ability to give. How can you find upeksanam or equilibrium within these dualities?

The pulls on our energy have been a constant - do this, pick up that, meet him or her for breakfast, lunch, or dinner, and stay informed. Take this time to notice how easily you get taken away from yourself. Diverted to a news story or Facebook post. The barrage of diversions pull us outside of the vessel of our body. Awareness of what pulls and pushes our energy is the beginning of learning to contain ourself within our body

The practice of Iyengar Yoga is a sequential method of clearing away the unnecessary diversions, bringing optimal conditioning to our skin, muscles, organs, bones, and nerves to enable us to be still and contained no matter what is going on around us.

If you can, please support your local Iyengar Yoga community. Click here to support your local studio in The Southeast. Let #Iyengaryoga help you stay well and contained during this time of change.

Health and wellbeing to you all.

Namaste.