Introducing Yoga Students to the Profundity of Prashant Iyengar

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.

3 Iyengar, P. S. (2011). Chittavijnana of Yogasanas (Second). Yog & Ramamani Iyengar Memorial Yoga Institute

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)

A Workshop On Transitions with Bobby Clennell - Part 2

“Yoga is a gift for old age. One who takes to Yoga when old gains not only health and happiness but also freshness of mind, since Yoga gives one a bright outlook on life and one can look forward to a happier future rather than looking back into a past which has already entered into darkness.”

~ Geeta Iyengar, Yoga, A Gem For Women

Bobby Clennell’s Workshop on Menopause continued last weekend with a focus on Uttistha Paschima Pratana Sthiti, or standing forward bends and Viparita Sthiti or inversions. In Uttistha Paschima Pratana Sthiti, standing forward bends, and Paschima Pratana Sthiti, or seated forward bends, the heart is positioned to soothe the nerves to bring quiet and calm to the body. When supported correctly for a woman’s level of practice and her cycle in life, it becomes a quieting position and serves to help her recover from fatigue. Bobby half-jokingly said when women come to class at the end of the day, you can pretty much bet they are tired.

To prepare for forward bends, we did supported extensions like arching over a high cross bolster set up where the pelvis is at the apex, legs in Baddha Konasana, crown of the head on the floor, and a rolled blanket for the neck —- it offered such a release from stem to stern that this practitioner could have stayed in it the rest of class.

As with all Iyengar poses, there are many variations to accommodate issues like lower back (lift the legs and feet) or depression (make the chest the apex). The pose mentioned earlier, along with Supta Virasana, extends the abdomen, helps the adrenals, and prepares the body for forward bends. Another action these poses facilitate is sliding the tailbone forward, which positions the pelvis and its contents into an important alignment for women.

While we experienced the poses, Bobby educated us on the Ayurvedic view on menopause. In supporting women during this time, Ayurveda seeks to balance the three Doshas, which are the energetic constitutions of a body and can also be applied to the cycles of a woman’s life. The basic Doshas are Kapha, Pitta, and Vata. Kapha is considered the beginning of life; Pitta is more about the time of pushing, striving, moving, and attaining — “being a householder”. The end part of your life is Vata, which is attributed to the element of wind and said to be a time of wandering in the forest.

When a woman is 45 or over, healthy menopause begins with skipping periods; then once she has stopped her period for a full year, she is in menopause. Bobby recommends giving it more than a year to be certain. She explained that in the Ayurvedic view, menopause is the transition for women from the Pitta to Vata time of life. During the Vata period, insomnia, dryness, indecisiveness, and mental decline. However, it’s also a time of great wisdom as we have experienced with some of our teachers like Bobby.

The Ayurvedic system describes various Dosha imbalances that can occur during the transition time for women. Women may experience a Vata imbalance, which can bring on emotional upset. Pitta imbalances bring hot flashes and night sweats (both of which can be very disruptive). It can bring an estrogen dominance pattern of more or heavier periods. There can also be personality changes in Pitta imbalances that can bring about a fighting spirit enough to destroy relationships. A Kapha imbalance brings about a significant amount of weight gain, lower metabolism, and fluid retention. Yoga and Ayurveda offer ways to bring these imbalances back into balance.

“Older women walk a tight rope between working hard and accepting limitations.” ~ Geeta Iyengar

In Yoga, it is essential to learn to practice simple poses without being goal oriented during this transition. Bobby offered the quote to let us know what many of us (Bobby included) are struggling with, and yet it is this struggle that brings us to a more focused place in our practice. In several of the standing forward bends it is beneficial that the toes turn slightly inward to turn the thighs in, relax the groins, and create a natural concavity in the lower abdomen.

The ever-present, Adho Mukha Svansana, downward dog takes on a starring role during menopause. It has benefits in controlling migraines when done between episodes — especially if they are hormone-related. The pose also helps to balance hormones, ease brain fatigue, and open the chest to strengthen the area that is now more susceptible to colds.

“You are still a cyclic creature.”

A very memorable message, if my memory serves, is Bobby reminding women in post menopause, “you are still a cyclic creature.” She went on to explain that day and night, the seasons, and planetary movements are examples of cycles that we share with men. However, we have cycles unique to women because of our hormones. While Iyengar women practitioners are accustomed to doing mentrual and restorative practive to honor the menstruating cycle, Bobby encouraged post menopausal women to continue to honor these cycles by doing a restorative sequence, or the menstral sequence (no inversions) once a month — perhaps using the cycles of the moon as a guide.

The inversions during the workshop followed a post menopausal sequence for the most part, and began with preparations like supported Prasarita Padottanasana, or wide spread leg pose. The head is down on a blanket, raised to the level needed, elbows pressed outward into the inner knees to align any misalignments that could have happened over the years (estrogen makes the ligaments soften, which can cause things like over stretching or a knock knee type of situation). After other inversions, we double bound a block in our upper thigh and went up into Sirsasana, or head stand. This binding is seen in Iyengar Therapeutics in their remedial classes in Pune. It has therapeutic effects for various injuries. For women, the bind helps strengthen the pelvic floor and bring hope for incontinence and any prolapse issues. Niralamba series, or unsupported shoulder stand, from a chair at the wall offer great support for women in and after transition. Bobby listed the many benefits of inversions as outlined by the Iyengar’s: “Inversion balance the hormones, which is connected to bone density, the mineral loss from bones is checked- tone and balance the uterus, they balance the endocrine, lymphatic, circulatory, digestive, respiratory, lymphatic, urinary, excretory, and central nervous system. They eleviate constipation and hemorrhoids, as well as keep the body warm. “They are the pillars of our practice,” she added.

The weekend closed another segment of Bobby’s six part series leaving us with even more shiny wisdoms and poses to put into our practice and share with our female students, who like us are growing more aware of just how much The Iyengar Family has done to make sure Iyengar Yoga supports us no matter where we are in the cycle of life.

Thank you Bobby Clennell, and all of her hosts at Iyengar Yoga Therapeutics, and The Iyengar Family for continuing to share your wisdom with us.

Please note any information shared here is based on my recollection and interpretation of the workshop. I encourage women to get with their Certified Iyengar instructors, Bobby Clennell, or The Iyengar Yoga National Association of the United States, IYNAUS to learn more.

Waking Up The World Is Hard. Make It Simple.

“Consciousness means our capacity to be aware, both externally as well as internally, which we call self-awareness.” B.K.S. Iyengar explains in Light on Life: The Yoga Journey to Wholeness, Inner Peace, and Ultimate Freedom (p. 109).

Mr Iyengar differentiates consciousness from the mind. Mind is citta in Sanskrit. Iyengar likens it to an outer sheath of consciousness like our bones and muscles are to our vital organs. It flits and flutters. It isn’t capable of productive evolution. It’s fickle, desirous, and whim oriented. He learned that from his teacher and his own experiences.

We wouldn’t know we had organs without teachers. Herophilus considered the Father of Anatomy from 275 BCE taught us about our organs and is among what I’ll call, “physical explorers.” I consider BKS Iyengar one too. However, he didn’t slice things open to look at them. He used the art, science and philosophy of yoga. His son Prashant might prefer more precision in my language, so I will honor him here and call it Yog.

Mr. Iyengar delved into Patañjali Yoga Sutras as his guide and made his own mind, body, and spirit his laboratory. He was able to share the transformative discoveries promised by Patanaji by creating an accessible method of teaching them. It’s called Iyengar Yoga.

Explorers are always discoverying more. In 2018, scientists discovered a “new organ” known as the interstitium, which like the skin wraps around every organ. This goes to show, what we think we know is never the whole truth. Which is why, gaining clarity through practices such as Yog not only bring a clearer understanding of our mind, body, and spirit, it also purifies our ability to be open to learn and discover more.

This way, we don’t get stuck in the grooves of habitual thinking. Those old enough may remember playing a record (you know that round vinyl thing that enable us to listen to our favorite music whenever we wanted to), you might also remember when it got stuck and replayed and replayed the same sound ad nauseum. That’s what getting stuck in habitual thinking patterns is like. It’s why we can be in the year 2020 and still think like we are in the mid-1800s.

We are complex beings and capable of great metamorphosis and transformation, but we can also get stuck for eons. Man’s inhumanity to man throughout history has been a study of our destructive capabilities, and how habitual thinking patterns can delude us from the truth of our interdependence and interconnectedness.

Truth has escaped us since the beginning of time because the story is always retold from our perspective. It is a re-fabrication of an interpretation shaped by our outer sheath desires and shaded by our lack of consciousness. Waking up is hard to do on our own. Thanks to great teachers like BKS Iyengar, we can learn to wake up with a simple commitment to practice.

“Yoga points out how we generally react to the outside world by forming entrenched patterns of behavior that doom us to relive the same events endlessly, though in a superficial variety of forms and combinations. Anyone who looks at history or listens to the litany of woe and war on the daily news will bear this out. Does mankind never learn anything, we ask in exasperation.” B.K.S. in Light on Life (p. 111).

BKS explains that in order to get to this evolution we say we want, we have to cultivate the fire or tapas to break free from the old patterns. I feel it’s important to consider Newton’s First Law, “a body at rest stays at rest.” You may be familiar with it. When you commit to a practice, you can also rely on the second part of that law, “a body in motion stays in motion,” to keep your momentum going.

Let the revelations of greed, inequity, and barbarism that is happening right now in 2020 and has been for centuries, create a fire for change. Yes, we want to do all we can to shift things within the existing paradigm. However, if we want a new paradigm, it’s important to consider creating personal transformation, because when each of us transform personally, we help to shift the whole of us towards real evolutionary change.

~ Rhonda