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Yoga Connections, LLC is your link to begin learning a safe and enduring yoga practice that will increase flexibility, strength, and clarity of mind. Whether you're looking for a private lesson, group event, or a corporate wellness program, you've come to the right place. We specialize in introducing students to an alignment-based yoga practice and connecting people to an Iyengar Yoga Studio to further their personal practice. 

 

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SEEKING THE STILL LIFE OF A YOGI

Filtering by Tag: Yoga

A week of Sankalpa with Abhijata Iyengar

Yoga Connections

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.

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

Yoga Connections

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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

Tamas - inert, dull

Rajas - fire, dynamic

Rajas - fire, dynamic

Sattvic - luminosity

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 Connections

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“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.”

“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.

Wisdom is a Simple Shift from External to Eternal

Yoga Connections

The first expression of viveka विवेक, or "wisdom" is ‘I am suffering’. ~Edwin Bryant Professor of Religions of India at Rutgers University on The Wisdom Samskara.

In one of Edwin Bryant’s many talks, he tells us that the definition of asana is seat. In the West, asana is predominately our idea of yoga. The postural practice helps to train our being to sit steadily (sthira) and comfortably (sukham) and begin to learn to still our busy mind.

Bryant has studied ancient texts of India extensively and imparts to me the vast breadth and depth of this life path. These texts are far more than our “Greco-Roman” neurology can ever hope to comprehend completely or any “modern consumer society” for that matter. 

However, personally, what I am most grateful for is my experience that I do not have to understand it all. I have realized I simply have to choose to practice. Benefits reveal themselves.

My understanding of BKS Iyengar’s method of teaching yoga are that the benefits of an asana practice alone bring the inner most part of ourself and its uncanny knowing to the surface. It nudges us to continue and go deeper. As we practice more, the path of Patañjali’s yoga, which is 8-limbed, clears the lens of our being. The inner most part of us can then look outwards with more clarity and see how we have been existing.

It shows us that our existence has been veiled in an addictive cycle. As Bryant explains in this talk, we get trapped in “If” and “when” statements: If I get my degree. If I get that job. When I make more money. When I get that house and that car. When I get promoted. When I connect with that perfect orgasmic other. Then I will be fulfilled and no longer suffer. 

But fulfillment never comes.  

The external is random, ever-changing, and precarious. We see we are suffering and we’ve been chasing the unattainable. We can’t unsee that. BKS Iyengar’s commentary on sutras relative to viveka in Light On The Yoga Sutras Of Patanjali tell us, “Wisdom does not function in duality. It perceives only oneness.” Once viveka takes hold our internal radar directs us further away from the shackles of impermanence naturally —towards the eternal part in all of us. Perhaps that is why Mr. Iyengar is so often quoted as saying, “Yoga does not just change the way we see things, it transforms the person who sees.” Bryant explains we may take detours, think we can go back to the external carrot chase for lifetimes, but once viveka or wisdom imprints on our brain creating a Samskara (impression) it can not be erased.

by Rhonda Geraci

New Years Resolution: UN-do Your Idea of a Disciplined Yoga Practice

Yoga Connections

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Most of my readers come from cultures where discipline is revered yet feared. If you look up the word in the dictionary, it’s no surprise why:

dis·ci·pline/ˈdisəplən/ Training people to obey. Punishing those who disobey.

People with discipline are looked at in awe, ‘What willpower you have.’ However, those with discipline have an intimate relationship with the dangers of it. You read right. Look at the Olympic gymnasts and swimmers like Michael Phelps.

I can’t compare myself to them. I can say I have trained in techniques that celebrate discipline with almost dictatorial vigor at a very young age. I became a master at taking what felt like blows and daggers of correction and criticism from myself and o†hers without ever noticing the scars, until they surfaced and threatened to destroy me.

I read in one of BKS Iyengar’s books (I want to say it was the Tree of Life, bu† I’ve yet to locate it again) that his guru Krishnamacharya used a phrase like: ‘Let the yoga do the yoga’. That phrase coupled with ‘faith’ so eloquently explained in Patricia Walden’s infamous Taking the Next Step: Faith and the Yoga Vitamins blog are what I’d like to see shape the yoga of 2019.

Over the course of a hiatus from studio life, I worked to UN-do my idea of discipline. My mentor, Kquvien DeWeese, supported my efforts by being there for me and meeting me where I was without judgment. She helped me learn to stop judging myself. She told me there are all kinds of yoga. It doesn’t have to be a class.

Do yoga. Whatever way works for you. Start with a single pose - a pose that gives you joy. Become the pose. Let the pose become you, and you will be doing more yoga than you imagine. Have faith that whatever small part of yoga you bring into your life will take hold and light the way forward.

~Namaste