Whenever I watch a sunset I know that the same light will rise upon awakening friends somewhere else in the world, and a new day will begin. Over the last few years my community of Iyengar yoga has watched several sunsets. It is a tumultuous time in our world. On the global spectrum we are struggling for the waning resources of water and air. The political narrative of populism and nationalism seem like a resurgence from the dark ages, where feudal wars would decimate any opposition and crusades silenced free speech. My community at YogaWorks has likewise witnessed darkening skies of grief and change. Yes, we are living through the saga of a setting sun.

Where will the sun rise? Who is waking up to change? And to new light?

Abhijata Iyengar is perhaps our Phoenix, rising from the ashes of our grief from losing both her grandfather Sri BKS Iygenar (Guruji) and most recently, her aunt Sri Geeta Iyengar (Geetaji). Abhijata (or as her students affectionately call her, Abhi) is bold, bright, gracious, welcoming, young, a mother, educated, and savvy in the ways of our international community. Abhi brings change. For the Europeans she hopes to bring some cohesion. In America, Australia and England, where assessment has become a goal oriented step ladder that has institutionalized what should be an organic process – that of studentship –  Abhi has asked for a very different structure that emphasizes mentoring, personal experience and subjectivity (I will elaborate in a future post). She is asking that we join her in a dialog to explore how we can make our studies more congenial, sophisticated, layered, and cooperative.

Abhi embodies and is embracing her heritage. Having been mentored for almost twenty years by her grandfather, Guruji, and having traveled internationally to conferences with her aunt, Geetaji, Abhi has seen how a dogmatic approach can create what she calls “cookie-cutter” teachers. Every family has its struggles, and our Iyengar “family” is no exception. Abhi has been listening and watching for a decade. Now she has ideas on how to address our “issues”, and she has invited us to join her in an open dialog.

For context, she explained that, in the mid-twentieth century, yoga was unknown. Guruji initially had to promote yoga and himself through public demonstrations. The original script for Light on Yoga included three times as much material, but the publishers told him that it was too esoteric and too long for the general public. Even so, the interest in integrated body/mind practices and in Indian spirituality along with Guruji’s infectious enthusiasm caught the imagination of people on every continent. His teachings inspired the creation of Associations worldwide. Fast forward to today when everyone studies yoga (Prashant: “every Tom, Dick and Harry” is a euphemism for the everyman). Yoga, in the sense of Yoga as a body/mind/spiritual practice, has been exploited and manipulated to fit many commercial ventures. It has become an industry. Iyengar yoga has been pigeon-holed and is defined in the Oxford dictionary as a yoga that uses furniture.

Our approach to teacher training is similar, she explained. We package teacher trainings. But “can you”, she said, “honestly package spiritual studies, Svadhyaya?” Prashant is very vocal about this. Teacher Trainings (TTCs) have become “money making ventures” he frequently says. Iyengar yoga must redefine itself.

“There are two types of education; formal education, which is a set pattern, predictable, replicate, rigid format, a ‘cookie cutter.’ And the second is an informal education; it is effective, iterative, contextual, and geared to the ‘individual.’ No set rules. There is a third way. It is a non-formal way; through direct experience. It is a life-long process where science, art, and philosophy come together. How do we learn yoga? It is not linear, we grow, and we fall,” Abhi said.

She continued, “In early days we adopted the formal way because it was easier to scale and to replicate. Even though early learners learned the informal way, with refined sensitivity, we understood that the linear way is not effective. We now want to create a world that encourages curiosity.” This third path attribute is that it is “pulsatizes” (beats), it is alive, a vibrating system in resonance with reality.”

We spent seven days exploring, experiencing, and discovering ways to expand the paradigm of Iyengar yoga. Rather than orienting our practice around the familiar actions or points of an asana, both Abhi and Prashant worked with cross-categories of poses, with breath dynamics, Uddyana Kriya and steered us away from identifying Iyengar yoga as asana centric. “The core of Iyengar yoga is Yoga” Abhi said.   “Connect your students and yourselves to the mother ship of Patanjali and yoga. For whatever reason a student comes to yoga, connect them to YOGA.”

How refreshing. How brave. How honest. How forward thinking. There is a sun rising, and light is upon our community.

When I process deep emotions I either shut down or go manic. When I shut down it is because I am not ready to voyage into the abyss of my story. But when I go manic, I usually produce something. In the days prior to Maty Ezraty’s Celebration of Life, I burned the midnight oil in compiling a selection of photos, news articles and personal statements as a testimony to this amazing woman, titled “Maty Ezraty, A Life of Integrity.”

The Celebration, on November 9, 2019 was artful, heartful, healing and wondrous. People went to the flower market in downtown Los Angeles and crafted beautiful floral arrangements. A sound stage was assembled for Dave Stringer, Saul David Ray and Marla Meenashki Joy and Ron. The west room in the Montana YogaWorks, Maty’s Ashtanga room, the original YogaWorks, displayed a meditation alter that showcased a larger than life picture of those azul eyes glowing with joie de vie. Maty was a jewel of a lady, different, fiery, temperamental. And we loved her.

At the Celebration, I spoke of how Maty and I would practice together. Comparing how her bow legs and my knock knees effected different poses made for lively yoga discussions! Should the back leg turn out, or in, in Parvritta Parsvkonasana? Draw the outer shins in, and she would tie her legs up. “Will they ever be straight?” she asked pensively. Maty disliked her feet, she found them big and basic, and yet she taught how to build “shapely” ankles by lifting the inner arch and drawing the outer ankle in. Whatever she approached was important. She was an “in your face” kind of person, honest to a fault, yet tough as nails.

As I sat with the memories and the inexplicable reality that she was gone, gone at 55, young, in her prime… I realized that, for me, she embodied true discipleship. One who sought out the best teachers for her own studies and who drew out the most impassioned practice from her students.

The Yoga Sutras mention eight ways to build a contemplative practice and maintain equanimity. Nischala Joy Devi interprets them as follows:

1.27. Repeating the sacred sound OM manifests Divine Consciousness.
1.33. To preserve openness of heart and calmness of mind, nurture these attitudes: Kindness to those who are happy; Compassion for those who are less fortunate; Honor for those who embody noble qualities; Equanimity to those who actions oppose your values.
1.34. Slow, easeful exhalations can be used to restore and preserve balance.
1.35. Or engage the focus on an inspiring object.
1.36. Or cultivate devotion to the supreme, ever-blissful Light within.
1.37. Or receive grace from a great soul, who exudes Divine qualities.
1.38. Or reflect on a peaceful feeling from an experience, a dream or deep sleep.
1.39. Or dedicate yourself to anything that elevates and embraces your heart.

I found myself saying that Maty was an enlightened being, one whom I would hold dear in my heart. 1.37; To receive grace from a great soul, who exudes Divine qualities. What I meant is that her devotion to her subject, her students, the practice, and her quest for an honest and loving life is her legacy. Those qualities are worthy of reflection, and she lived those qualities. She was not perfect, but neither is life. Her quest was sincere… Her picture now rests on my own alter alongside Guruji Iyengar and Geetaji.

And what a funny girl; different, curious, fiery, temperamental. Maty Ezraty fell into her destiny at a young age. In her early twenties, she took a Yoga class at the Center for Yoga in Los Angeles. Not only did that class change the future of yoga, but it ignited a passion in Maty that led her to surround herself with all facets of the yoga culture. The asana practice, the business of yoga, yoga attire, teacher training, kirtan, mentoring, writing, contemplative practices and finally, international leadership.

My time with Maty started in the 1980s. We were all babies in yoga. If I told someone that I taught yoga, they would ask; “Do you mean that you burn incense and chant?” Well, no, not exactly, I would respond. Now, thirty years later, when I tell someone that I teach yoga, they either ask; “Will I get a good sweat?” or, “I couldn’t possibly do yoga, I am too stiff”. And I respond: “Anyone can do yoga. Yoga can be adapted to whatever your needs are.” Then I refine my response by telling them that they will probably not sweat bullets in my class, rather, that I will request from them a quality of focus that is not possible when they jump around a lot. We practice a “work-in” rather than a “work-out”.

In her classes, Maty managed to do both; sweat and demand complete focus. In her later years, she traveled extensively teaching workshops. She attended several silent meditation retreats. She used the basic sequences in the Ashtanga Vinyasa of Pattabhi Jois, and honed them to such a fine degree that a simple sun salutation became a moving meditation of a fully embodied eco-system. All parts are necessary and connect to the whole, and every part plays it tune. The lift of the chest connected to the length of the back informing the abdominal wall to enable the arms to rise while anchoring down into the legs, feet, arches, ankles, and all of it, including the breath. Artistry at its finest. Being in one of her classes was like being in an orchestra, each of us playing our own instrument as she modulated the pace and intensity.

I first met Maty when she opened YogaWorks in 1987. I was already a certified Iyengar teacher, and teaching full time. I had dissolved my two dance companies, the Sacred Dancers and the Stardust Dancers, in 1983, and completed three years of programming funded by the California Arts Council. With fifteen years of daily devoted dance studies and a Bachelors degree in choreography, I loved the synchronization of movement into asana that had been a hallmark in the early years of Iyengar yoga. By the time I traveled to Pune to study with the Iyengar family, the emphasis was on building intelligence through detail and precision in each asana. I loved that as well, but I sought a sangha, a study group..

I found a community of fellow yoga practitioners in the Ashtanga classes that Chuck Miller taught. Arising before daybreak, I would warm up at home before showing up for the ritual 5 Surya Namaskar A and B’s that were the signature of the system at the time. Practice began around 7 AM. Maty and I were both supple, spunky, and short. We loved cajoling and encouraging one another through the series. Maty said that I was the only one she could look down on, by a half inch! She was four foot eleven with a voice and presence that commanded attention and respect. Everyone loved seeing one another in those early morning sessions, as Chuck kept a mature and even emotional temper on the fiery practice.

Maty frequently invited teachers to her house for potluck dinners. Those were the macrobiotic days, and she generally served rice dishes, greens, and vegetables, introducing many of us to the benefits of healthy and delicious eating. She cooked with pressure cookers, lots of olive oil, and ate with chop sticks. She loved having people around. And the community grew.

The history of the first decade at YogaWorks remains in the hearts and lives of many of yoga’s most influential teachers today. Maty would invite teachers from many traditions, Viniyoga with Gary Kraftstow; Iyengar yoga with Gabriella Giubilaro, Patricia Walden, Eddie Modestini among others; Yin Yoga with Sarah Powers and Paul Grilley; Richard Freeman, Tias Little and John Friend all frequented the workshop schedule. Erich Shiffman, Rod Striker, and later Shiva Rey and Sean Korn were on daily class schedules. It was a fertile era, and many of these yogis showed up for Maty’s Celebration of Life.

Jack Kornfield gave a moving eulogy and meditation. At one point he asked us all to imagine that Maty was speaking to each of us, and what would she say. I found Maty saying to me: “You have arrived.” I continue my practices, studies, teaching, reflecting, praying.

I am forever grateful for the early years, creative years, seminal years, my holy years.

The page has turned once more and, as I enter the fall season, my thoughts center around my summer sabbatical. I took three months away from teaching, away from my yoga community, and entered a quiet life alongside an estuary in a small town on the coast of Oregon. It is beautiful here, with herons, pelicans, sandpipers, hawks and bald eagles circling through the air space. The rhythm of the tides leave fresh discoveries every morning along the half mile beach front where we walk. Sita, our very fluffy American Eskimo, scampers after the birds and digs for clams. She is free, I feel free, and my husband comes to life in his floppy white hat, shorts, and sandals. It is cooler here then in Santa Monica, and I generally don my scarf and down jacket.

What is practice? How would I invest my time here? What would I discover? What was I willing to let go of? Who am I without the trappings of “teacher”? Or is “teacher” an integral part of my own process of exploration?

My husband’s father moved here thirty years ago. Over a decade he and Ross, my husband purchased a few properties. When my father-in-law passed away, we found ourselves managing rentals from a thousand miles away. Ross is well known to many locals so we already had a footprint and a reputation for driving a car with California plates that say “Yoga007”. We were both insiders, from Ross’ years of political engagement supporting the local mayor, and outsiders as “those Californians” part-time locals. Yet this year we were invited to block parties and played trivia weekly at the local brew bar. Small town living big time. It was fun!

Now, re-entry. I turn sixty-five in three months. This is a good time for reflection. Practice, reflection. How was my asana practice this year?

I practiced daily. I began with Savasana, a real active savasana. First stage is to let go the pull of gravity and let my body relax. Next, I find that my mind goes on a commercial break and drifts around various inconsequential events. Coming back, I invite my attention to return the touch point of my body on the earth, to the softness of my back body, the skin, flesh, and rhythm of the breath. I would then feel my mind shift into a wider, quieter state. Slightly deeper breaths, and from these breaths I would begin to awaken the animal body. When I watch my puppy stretch, downward doggie, every fiber enjoys the elongation from her tongue to her tail! I let myself enjoy and slow down.

Over the months I explored all variations of incorporating the breath into my practice. Sometimes it was through staying in a pose and feeling how my back lungs might widen at end of the inhalation and how the flesh beneath the skin could move freely at the end of exhalation. Or how the breath could initiate movement and guide the transitions between poses. How the natural shape of the inhalation and exhalation effects my body and each pose. Forward bends, props, long timings, back arches, slow and fast, with and without support. How luxurious to explore!

In Santa Monica, where I teach, I find that I coordinate most of my practice around what I might teach. It is a process of discovery to figure out an effective way to introduce an concept, or to help student approach a complex pose, or to address individual needs in class. Practice coerces me beyond my own natural proclivities and into service for others. I love this. And, I love my sabbatical.

Feeling my muscles, drive, and ego slowly dissolve into the floor was a welcome way to invite a deep receptivity that opened up a beginner’s mind. No expectations, no plans. As my nervous system relaxed, my breath moved into the foreground. Watching the end of exhalation, the quiet suspended moment before the next beginning, the next cycle. Funny how I lose time when I practice, I really forget when I start my practice so I don’t know how long I am on the mat.

I would often vary my practice. One day, with breath centered movements through asanas and salutations. I have sequences or vinyasas for all categories of poses. Other days, I would stay in each pose, eyes closed, feeling how the breath could shape the pose, skin moving away from flesh, where the shape was hollow, round, long. Standing poses are always home base. If I was fatigued or sore somewhere then that first Utthita Trikoṇāsana was like a corporal sigh; the legs, back and shoulders all radiating relief. As I get older, I value the backbending practice for how it strengthens my will and animates everything. But I also find that when I begin with supports – blocks, ropes, stools – to release the grip in the back, groin and shoulder muscles and cultivate a quiet relationship with the exquisite sense of expansion, the back arches themselves come more easily.

Now, how will the re-entry be? Teaching, practicing, community, friends. On sabbatical, my practice, husband, dog and cooking are priorities. The rest of the year, the classes I teach, my practice, husband, dog and friends are priorities. But perhaps this order will change as I approach this threshold which includes Social Security. Perhaps practice, husband, dog and friends will surface, while teaching becomes less central. I rest in the not-knowing and let all things evolve.

Convention Highlights: Exploring the Path of Practice

Saturday, April 27, 2019
11:30 AM – 1:30 PM
Register online

Join me at IYILA in Los Angeles for a taste of the remarkable feast of inspiration and knowledge that came through Abhijta Iyengar, Guruji’s granddaughter.

Abhijata Iyengar is the future of Iyengar yoga. For six days she captivated, challenged, inspired and made us laugh throughout the practice as she wove threads of the yoga shastras (precepts) into her teaching.

“The mind rationalizes, the heart knows when it knows. When the fluctuations come to rest, the heart knows.” -Abhijata Iyengar

The Dharma-kshetra is in the heart, she explained, while the kurukshetra is in the head. For those of you familiar with the Bhagavad Gita, you will remember the Gita takes place on a battlefield. Arjuna is despondent, paralyzed with the fear of having to face a battle. The story, for many, is a metaphor for the battles we all face inside our heads. The mind, she continued, is full of anguish with its infatuation and threads of identity. These threads, based on our conditioning, preferences, prejudices, insecurities and fears remove us from experiencing any one situation from a pristine and pure state. The heart, however, is honest and humble. When we can silence the mind, even for just a moment before reacting, we have a chance to be completely in the present.

As I reflect on these ideas, I realize that our vocabulary lacks a word for the state I believe yoga refers to, this heightened state that we might call intuition, virtue, when the heart knows. How interesting, to even refer to this state of deep knowing is difficult, for as soon as we “name” it, we already have a preconception of it.

I look forward to following this remarkable teacher and to sharing her insights with our community.

Click here to register online, or for more information, visit here, or call IYILA at 310-558-8212.

IYENGAR YOGA INSTITUTE OF LOS ANGELES (map)

Pancha-Kośa: The Five Sheaths in Theory & Practice

Sat. Mar. 9 & 16
11:30 AM – 2:45 PM
All levels – Register online

Why do you practice Yoga?

Really! Ask yourself. I know, it is like asking yourself, why do

I eat? Because I have to, or because I feel better about myself when I practice. All the pains seem to subside. Is that why?

When I first started, almost forty years ago, I was interested in “Samadhi”, in this implied transcendent state, in feeling peaceful inside, and in “finding” my authentic self. That was the pitch at that time, when I was in my 20s and 30s. Through practice, I realized how wild my mind was and how filled I was with desire to get “better” at whatever I was doing. I wanted to perfect each pose; then, once I realized that there was no such thing as a “perfect” pose, I sought to refine my ability to enter into each pose, to become more sensitive to the feedback from the muscles, connective tissue, breath, and, through this process, I learned how to become deeply absorbed into each moment. Is this what the “Samadhi” moment is?

I live my life in growing orbits,
Which move out over the things of the world.
Perhaps I can never achieve the last,
But that will be my attempt.  -Rainer Maria Rilke, 1899

This last weekend I went to the desert. I forget how much energy it takes to filter out the noise of excess stimulation from the city. The to-do list, the traffic, the choices, classes, people. I knew that I had this workshop to prepare for, on the Upanishads. The Taittiriyopanishad in particular. I love the Upanishads for they address the heart of the practice: May I come to know that from which all else is known. –Mundaka Upanishad.  The desert seems stripped of “stuff” and lies bare; not barren, but like a blank canvas. I sat on the cool earth, felt the wind, the sun, heard the distance, and waited.

The elements rose up within me; my body became the sensory tool to monitor experience

The earth below me, seemingly firm,
the earth within me, my bones seemingly firm,
the earth all around me, seemingly established in its cyclical
nature of coming and going.

The sky above me, seemingly vast,
the sky within me, when the mind’s itch and the heart’s desire is silent,
seemingly vast,
the sky all around me, seemingly timeless in its immensity.

Cast between the rhythm of becoming and the presence of being.

I love the Upanishads and the Vedas because they speak in metaphor and point the way toward something that cannot and perhaps should not be analyzed, the very personal process of becoming more aware. Yet here, in the Taittiriyopanishad, the student and teacher share a process. I read more, and sat with the desert.

Why do I practice yoga? In Light on Yoga, BKS Iyengar (Guruji) says: “The sadhaka’s aim is to bring the consciousness to a state of purity and translucence.” He goes on refer to the elements and the Kośas. In order to help man understand himself, the sages analyzed humans as being composed of five sheaths, or kośas. In Light on Life, Guruji further refines and applies these five sheaths with a path inward.

“The first three sheaths are within the elements of nature. The intellectual sheath is said to be the layer of the individual soul and the blissful sheath is said to be the layer of the universal soul”. -LOY

Clearly, I am in good company as Guruji studied and applied these same teachings. “In effect, all five sheaths have to be penetrated to reach emancipation”. While Guruji’s process was one of moving from the elemental toward the spiritual, or, as he might say, from the gross to the subtle, perhaps attuning first to what is most immediate, the earth. As Rilke said, “I live my life in growing orbits”. Then, what lies beneath begins to reveal itself as a new foundation, and what lies beneath that, again, until the most fundamental foundation emerges.

May I come to know that from which all else is known. -Manduka Upanishad

The Taittiriyopanishad is the source material for the Kośas. It is the first time that the word Yoga is used in the wisdom literature. These teachings are ripe with inquiry and with meditative material. Join us for this workshop to study and apply these teachings.

SahaNaVavatu chant is the peace chant that introduces the Bhrahmananda Valli. In translation: Om! May It protect us both (teacher and pupil). May It cause us both to enjoy the bliss of Mukti (liberation). May we both exert to find out the true meaning of the scriptures. May our studies be fruitful. May we never quarrel with each other. Om Peace, Peace, Peace.

I live my life in growing orbits,
Which move out over the things of the world.
Perhaps I can never achieve the last,
But that will be my attempt.
I am circling around God, around the ancient tower,
And I have been circling for a thousand years.
And I still don’t know if I am a falcon,
Or a storm, or a great song. –Rilke

Register online

2 Saturdays
March 9 & 16
11:30 AM – 2:45 PM

All levels

Register online

Sat, March 9  $75 – $85 after Mar  1
Sat, March 16  $75 – $85 after Mar  1
Both sessions  $140 – $170 after Mar  1

Join us to read, discuss, and practice the wisdom of the Bliss of Brahman chapter of the Taittiriya Upanishad. In his spiritual masterpiece, Light on Life, Sri Iyengar chose to organize his thoughts along the lines of this brilliant paradigm. As he wrote in Astadala Yogamala, “This Upanishad is the first scripture which reveals the five sheaths or envelopes that cover the light of the Self.”

For the serious yoga practitioner, the pancha (five) – kośa model is as relevant today as it was twenty-five centuries ago, skillfully weaving the inner connections linking body, breath, mind, consciousness, and spirit. The Taittiriya is the earliest classical text which introduces the term “yoga” in a spiritual context. In this mini-seminar, John will distribute and introduce the root text and Lisa will translate this into an asana practice.

We will all then together transcend the physical and conceptual realms and attune to the spiritual essence of life revealed in silent meditation.

John Thomas Casey has been a Yoga scholar-practitioner since 1971, and holds a doctorate in Asian and Comparative Philosophy from the University of Hawai’i. John has taught courses on World Religions, Sanskrit language, Buddhism, and Yoga Studies at local colleges, while also helping to establish the MA program in Yoga Studies at Loyola Marymount University.

Lisa Walford teaches internationally and has taught in the Los Angeles area for over thirty years. She is certified Intermediate Senior II.

This amazing embodiment! This chariot that carries us through life! The body, the breath, the brain. How intimately connected, one cannot effect any part without impacting the whole.

Pranayama Course at IYILA, 3 weeks beginning in November. Tuesdays and Thursdays 7:15 – 8:30. Nov 6, 8, 13, 15, 27, 29

When I lie down in Savasana, I first feel my body release, a sense of heaviness as the weight of the body succumbs to gravity. Next, I begin to feel a rise and fall of the breath, and a gradual change in the rhythm of the breath. I might now become aware of the ricocheting triggers in my brain, thoughts like ping pong balls jumping back and forth. This part of the triad pesters my tranquility. When I ask my brain to quiet down,I realize that I have little control, at first. Return to the sensations in the body, yielding of muscular effort, the felt sense of the breath and the rhythm of the breath.

We now know that anything that we observe changes through the mere act of observation. When we lie down in Savasana, this transformation begins. We wait, watch, and witness the gradual change from an external orientation with the self to a deeply intimate connection with Self, sans the “identity” that we use in our daily interactions. It takes time for the mercurial brain to shift, to let go, to allow itself to be harnessed to the breath, and thus, to consciousness.

If you look at the breath in the form of the respiratory system, it is physical. But when the action of the breath on the mind is studied and understood, it becomes spiritual. Pranayama is the bridge between the physical and the spiritual. Hence, pranayama is the hub of yoga. -Tree of Yoga, B.K.S. Iyengar

The true fruit of yoga is not a material achievement or performance. Yogis never measure the intake of oxygen. That is not what they are interested in. The yogi’s interest is to keep the head and the heart clean through the harmony of breath, and this is achieved through the practice of pranayama. ibid.

There is an ongoing discussion in the yoga community on whether yoga in the west has become a commodity. Whatever form of yoga one practices, if it brings some kind of peace, then it has been true to its roots. The health and healing aspects of yoga are well documented and accepted. However, the deeper transformative aspects of a consistent practice of yoga can only be gauged through personal experience over a long period of consistent practice.

Pranayama is the bridge between the external and internal experiences, just as we inhale and exhale. We are so accustomed to taking in, to imbibing sights, sounds, tastes,  that we become addicted and “hungry” for more. This is the animal nature of desire. But the other side is to let go, to let the stimulation drop away. Emptiness is an enigma for most of us as  we equate it with a lack of some “thing”. The experience of letting go of the hungry instinctual animal mind to avail oneself of the possibility of a deep tranquility that predisposes one to a new, less known of being may seem scary, even petrifying. It is the unknown. Yet this is the path of a true seeker.

Join us for a course in letting go and tuning in to witness how you are and how you might be. These six sessions are appropriate for those who are new to the pranayama practice as well as for those of you who practice regularly. I will be recording the sessions and will make them available to participants to help reinforce a personal practice.

For more information, please visit the IYILA website.

Visit my podcasts page to listen to the sessions so you can practice on your own.

Yoga is a deeply personal experience. Guruji went to the depths of his practice to extract the essence of what it is to be human. He used his body to discover the step ladder that can take us from suffering to inner peace, and paved the path for the rest of us follow. Geeta and Prashant Iyengar, Guruji’s daughter and son, have both dedicated their lives to continuing this discovery. Geeta systematized how we practice, designed programs for women and supervised therapeutic classes. Prashant weaves esoteric elements of yoga into his teaching and bases much of his work on the breath. Each brings us a gift to unwrap through our studies.

I have studied with all three of these inspired teachers. Each brings his/her own discipline, insights and devotion to the daily practice. I have seen their interpretation evolve over time, and how each has chosen to adapt to the changes brought on through the aging process according to his/her needs. I could not ask for better role models.

The second chapter of the Yoga Sutras speaks on Sadhana, or Practice. Guruji translates the first sutra: TapahsvadhyayaIsvarapranidhanani  as “Burning zeal in practice, self-study and surrender to God area the acts of yoga. ” While these three pillars of practice exist in each of us, I might say that Geetaji embodies the more pragmatic approach of practice. She is able to show a clear and concise system to our method. Prashantji elaborates on the interconnections between the breath, body and mind as means of culturing personal transformation. Guruji’s entire life was built from his devotion to God. His practice was intense, his self-study unsurpassed, but his faith in Yoga carried him through times of scarcity and solitude.

In the introduction to Light on Yoga Iyengar suggests “When the restlessness of the mind, intellect and self is stilled through the practice of Yoga, the yogi by the grace of the Spirit within himself finds fulfillment.  Then he knows the joy of the eternal which is beyond the pale of the senses which his reason cannot grasp… The real meaning of Yoga – a deliverance from contact with pain and sorrow.”

In this asana practice, I will introduce language used by each of these masters. Saturday’s practice will include standing and seated postures with some restorative work; Sunday will focus on inversions, pranayama and Prashant’s breath focus.

For more information, or to register, please email institute@iyila.org, call +1-310-558-8212. or visit http://iyila.org/facets-of-practice-the-trinity-of-iyengar-yoga-with-lisa-walford/ or https://www.facebook.com/events/533819957015276/.

Dates: Sat. June 23, 2018, 11:30 – 1:30 & Sun. June 24, 2018, 2:15 – 4:15
Levels: 1 & 2
Location:
B.K.S. Iyengar Yoga Institute of Los Angeles (IYILA)
1835 South La Cienega Blvd, Suite 240 (Google Map)
Los Angeles, CA, 90035 USA

Saturday, May 26, 11:30 – 1:30 at IYILA

Practice together a dynamic and challenging sequence. Published when B.K.S. Iyengar was in his 40s, the sequences in the back of Light on Yoga show how he practiced earlier in life. The sequence for this session, week 26-30, includes inversions, Padmasana preparations and variations, seated poses, twists and backward extensions. The sequences In the Back of the Book are stimulating and balanced and show how diverse Iyengar Yoga really is.

This is designed as a practice session, so we will not break down the poses. We will have fun and ignite the passion that led our teacher to explore and practice yoga well into his 90s.

This series is for students who want to challenge their practice. Regular and consistent practice at Level 2, and above, is required, including Sirsasana with variations, and Sarvangasana with variations. Those with injuries, should have an understanding of how to take care of themselves

For more information, or to register, please email institute@iyila.org, call 310-558-8212. or visit http://iyila.org/the-back-of-the-book-sequences-from-light-on-yoga-with-lisa-walford/ or https://www.facebook.com/events/533819957015276/.

Date: Saturday May 26, 2018, 11:30 – 1:30
Location:
B.K.S. Iyengar Yoga Institute of Los Angeles (IYILA)
1835 South La Cienega Blvd, Suite 240 (Google Map)
Los Angeles, CA, 90035 USA

Fours Sessions of Inspiration on Life and Using the Process of Yoga to Live Fully: Apr. 7 – May 5 at IYILA.

In this riveting and insightful book Shree B.K.S. Iyengar explains fundamental principals of Yoga in an accessible way and shows us how to apply these ideas for the modern  age.

For more info, or to register, visit here.

The seven chapters follow the “kosha” model of Self discovery and transformation through Yoga. Chapter titles include Stability, Vitality, Clarity, Wisdom, Bliss and Freedom.  I will introduce the structure of the Kosha model along with the salient ideas in this book and will encourage discussion to help understand how to apply these in your life. A 30 minute yoga practice will conclude each session. I love this book and quote from it frequently.

Chapter 1 – Stability: The yogi knows that the physical body is not only the temple for our soul but the means by which we embark on the inward journey to the core… The physical body corresponds to one of the elements of nature, namely, the earth..You are also developing the qualities of earth within yourself: solidity, shape, firmness, and strength.

In this chapter he reviews the true nature of health, awareness and attention, dynamic extension and he introduces the gunas (qualities of nature in yoga).

We are seeking the balance of polarity, not the antagonism of duality.

Chapter 2 – Vitality: Here he defines Prana and waxes poetic with different experiences in pranayama. Pranayama and the experience of prana is such a subjective topic that perhaps poetic language is the most useful here. One can only point at the moon, the experience will be a private affair. He dives into six emotional disturbances and offers six spokes of the wheel of peace. These are in the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali as well as throughout the sacred texts of yoga.

Prana is special because it carries awareness. It is the vehicle for consciousness…In breathing you have to listen to the sound of mind’s vibration and adjust its harmony.

Chapter 3 – Clarity: Here we are introduced to the nature of the mind. This layer of the Self  has two faces. As the mind relates to the outer layers, the body and physiology, the mind plays a villain. It distracts us and pulls us in all kinds of wants, fears, preferences and prejudices. But when it faces inward, it become a hero. This chapter introduces the nature of memory and how to reduce suffering.

By transferring its allegiance from the pleasure-seeking mind to the discerning intelligence, memory no longer digs pits of old habit for us to fall into but becomes our true guru by guiding us toward perfect knowledge and behavior. By purifying memory, we purify the whole mind. For an average person, memory is a past state of mind. For the yogi, it is a present state of mind.

The final chapters cover Wisdom, Bliss, and Freedom, the inner sheaths in the kosa model of the reality of the Self. I found the following to be quite interesting as Iyengar understands that each student will have to use her/his own cultural and familial background as the foundation for this exploration of the Self.

The free man is innovative and open, even revolutionary, but he will also be steeped in tradition, through culture and hereditary.

While the reading is important and inspiring, I intend to make this course more conversational so that we learn to apply the skills and techniques of Yoga in our daily lives.  The ideas in this material are in the Yoga Sutras. Those of you interested in further studies in the Yoga Sutras will find this book exceptional. I taught a course on Light on Life at Loyola Marymont University ten years ago. Here we go again!

Hope to see you there!

Saturdays
April 7, 14, 28 and May 5
11:30 AM – 2:00 PM
Iyengar Yoga Institute of Los Angeles
1835 S La Cienega Blvd, Ste 240, Los Angeles, CA 90035

For more information, or to register, please visit
http://iyila.org/light-on-life-with-lisa-walford/, email institute@iyila.org, or call IYILA at  310.558.8212.