The Belle of Bellur: Four Days of Gratitude with Abhijata Iyengar - Day 4

Celebrating BKS Iyengar’s birthday From the soil of his birth and in Bellur, India, and supporting his dream through the Bellur Trust  is a gesture. His granddaughter, Abhijata Sridha Iyengar expressed the emotions of love, respect, and reverence, all of those who have been touched by his work felt. We wanted to honor his birthday whether we ever got a chance to meet him in person or not. His energy is still very present. His life’s work continues to make it possible for people from all walks of life to experience the transformation of yoga.

Many refer to him as Guruji. It is from the word guru or bringer of light. It is very fitting for someone who put yoga into a language the modern world could understand —regardless of country, class, race, gender, age, or physical abilities or limitation. “Access” is a term we hear a lot relevant these days, and Guruji sought to find ways to offering any willing students access to the transformation of yoga.

Since its origins somewhere between the fifth and third centuries BCE, yoga has evolved and been packaged in innumerable ways. Diving into its depths is a daunting task, which is why BKS Iyengar’s work is such a gift. Anyone who has had the opportunity to observe or assist in the Ramamani Iyengar Memorial Yoga Institute (RIMYI) therapy classes located in Pune, Maharashtra, has witnessed the healing powers of his work. It is why he has students from all over the globe. It’s not that he thought himself god-like as so many with his kind of influence tend to think of themselves. He worked, played, lived, and breathed yoga with the highest integrity any man can have. He gave us a learning method that aligns and connects us, mind, and body, because he knew once that happens, the yoga can do the yoga.

Tamas - inert, dull

Rajas - fire, dynamic

Sattvic - luminosity

There are three qualities of nature or Gunas: Tamas, solidity, Rajas, dynamism, Sattva, luminosity. They are ever-present and changing throughout nature and life. Abhijata brought awareness of the Gunas and the transformative power of yoga in her final class. She began and ended with a Savasana or corpse pose. She pointed out the vast difference of experience between the two asana. For some of us, it was very early morning; for some, after lunch, others, it was evening. Time, place, weather, level of study all affect the experience. Abhijata highlighted the Sutra of Sage Patanjali, which BKS Iyengar transcribes as “Perfection in an asana is achieved when the effort to perform it becomes effortless and the infinite being within is reached.”

II.47 prayatna shaithilya ananta samapattibhyam

Beginners may experience a generalized dullness, which is why Iyengar Yoga emphasizes standing poses in early training. They wake up the body. In Utthita Hasta Padasana, extended hands and legs pose, Abhijata taught with instructions such as lift the kneecaps and thighs and extend the arms from the sternum: the right sternum out to the fingertips and left sternum to the fingertips. Clear actions required the body and mind to engage progressively from the outer skin inwards to our muscles, bones, and nerves. The tamasic dullness moved into a more rajasic active state. Asana in an Iyengar class require intense focus and effort. Repetition allows that focus and effort to evolve. When we can better align and connect the mind and body, we move into another stage, a more rhythmic flow of effort, and a less effortful luminous state. These qualities of dullness, activity, and luminosity cycle within and around us day-to-day, moment-by-moment, class to class, asana to asana. With continuous practice, we can mindfully utilize these qualities of nature. When we need rajas, we can call upon it. When we are angry or agitated and we need to pause, we can call upon tamas. The harmony or balance of the two is sattva, so it is the more luminous state. We can learn to calibrate ourselves to adjust to inward changes or help us deal with outward changes in our environment.

In class, Abhijata generated rajas after the first few asana. She paused less between the asana, the rigor and intensity forced focused effort and then we experienced asana from the beginning of class again, now the effort was less effortful, the rigor and repetition transformed the body and mind, so by the time we got to Savasana, corpse pose for the second time, we were now acutely present with our legs, feet, ankles, thighs, hips, abdomen, chest, arms, neck, head, ears, eyes, mouth, nose and breath. We could actively surrender to earth from which we came and with it perhaps more conscious gratitude towards the man who helped us get there.

Iyengar Yoga is an experience not to be missed.

Thank you, Abhijata, for your willingness, your time, effort, and insight; Kishore for all of your patience and support; all of the panelists for demonstrating the poses and the many prop alternatives in the Iyengar repertory to address specific issues. I am grateful to you all. None of this could be possible without the birth of BKS Iyengar. Our continued experience, learning, and sharing of Iyengar Yoga can give him many happy returns.

Namaste.

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.