Lisa Walford

Why…
Alignment and precision in asana guide the student to connect from the foundation of each pose to the core strength in the body. Postures are not shapes to be put onto a body; rather they are energetic fluid structures latent within each body’s visceral intelligence.

Alignment teaches architectural principles important to the feet, knees, hips, spine, shoulders, and neck that will encourage stability. These principles are the active phase of practice. The reflective phase encourages precision, poise and peace by watching,
adjusting, and fine tuning the body with the breath, the breath with the brain, and the brain with the spirit.

Alignment and precision are like physical mantras, they train the mind to focus and remain in the body as each posture unfolds. This attentiveness encourages a deep exploration and understanding of how each body works. Alignment and precision then insure a safe, strong, and satisfying practice.

What…
Sequencing of postures insures a safe practice for both the structural body and the nervous system. Sequencing may emphasize:

• targeting and building awareness in a particular part of the body
• creating an energetic experience, through cooling and heating sequences
• remedial purposes

Sequencing of instructions leads the student from mechanical movement into focused action, thereby deepening the yoga practice. The sequence of instructions in a posture is important to build:

• the intent of the pose
• the foundation of the pose
• the stability, the anchor, and the direction of movement within the pose
• an awareness of pointing out and avoiding risk factors

Who…
The teacher-student relationship is an integral part of every learning experience. Your presentation as a teacher and the guidelines you establish with your students will help to establish a learning environment.
These include:

• adjustments, vocal and physical
• props, to help your students effectively and safely approach posture that otherwise would be difficult
• imagery

When…
Dates: February 6th, 7th, 8th, 2015 (20 hours)
Times: Friday: 12:00–5:00 PM & 6:30–8:30 PM
Saturday: 12:00–4:30 pm & 6:00–8:30 pm
Sunday: 12:00–6:00 pm

Where…
Santa Barbara Yoga Center – 32 East Micheltorena St – Santa Barbara, CA 93101 (map)  – (805) 965-6045

How…
For more information, or to register, please visit http://goo.gl/Bq7A4i, email teachertraining@santabarbarayogacenter.com or call (805) 965-6045

LISA WALFORD holds a B.A. in dance and an intermediate senior Iyengar teaching certificate and has been teaching yoga in Los Angeles since 1982. She was on the faculty of several National Iyengar Yoga Conventions and has been instrumental in developing the Teacher Training Program at Yoga Works. She currently teaches Teacher Training Programs nationally and continues her studies annually with the Iyengars in India. In her rigorous and technically informative classes, she creates an ambiance of internal focus inspiring to beginning and advanced students. Through yoga she continues to explore the introspective process of balancing the physical with the energetic body while deepening her appreciation for the creative spirit. In her words: “Yoga brings us from the finite to the infinite, from pain to purpose and passion, and from disease to discriminative awareness. Our body gives us the most immediate and intimate tool to develop this awareness. This process of refining attention through the practice of postures is at the core of every yoga class.”

When we think of the belly, we generally think of physical, or
“core” strength. A deeper look at the Yoga Sutras and at how
contemporary medicine views the abdominal area will reveal a
profound nexus of body/mind connections.

By samyama on the navel, the yogi acquires perfect knowledge
of the disposition of the human body. -Sutra III.30. Guruji further
states, in his commentary on this sutra: The navel is considered
to be the pivot of the sympathetic, and the brain of the
parasympathetic nervous system. Medicine calls the “gut brain”
a second brain; a complex independent nervous system that
lines the gastrointestinal tract that can impact health and wellbeing.

In this workshop we will practice asanas and breathing and see
how both can sooth and strengthen the physical core and learn
the interplay between the brain, the gut, and the nervous system.

Six months Iyengar style yoga experience required.

Saturday, November 22, 2014
1:00 – 3:30 pm
Ventura Yoga Studio
110 N. Olive Street, Suite P
Ventura, CA 90031
(805) 643-5979

I dedicate this workshop to my teacher and Guru, the great Śri BKS Iyengar.

Applying the language, insights and techniques from the wisdom literature of yoga into Asana practice will bring this philosophy to light in a practical way. The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali are an uncanny depiction of the human condition and potential for transformation. Standing poses, inversions and basic backbends in this workshop will uplift the heart while anchoring the body and mind.

How am I able, and how have I come to embrace this life?

Guruji introduced me to the wisdom teachings, the Yoga Sutras, the Bhagavad Gita, and the Hatha Yoga Pradipika. The Upanishads, with their poetry and mystery, have further inspired how I approach weaving the practice of Yoga into every corner of my life. Yes, the “corners” can be sharp, with the twists and turns in our lives, and yet it is through these that the we polish facets of understanding into clarity, gratitude, empathy, and serenity. What Guruji called the Virtues, or healthy Vŗittis described in sutra 1.33 of the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, have shaped my attitudes toward things and helped to radically change my outlook on life. Perhaps this is part of maturation, or getting older and “wiser”, but without guideposts it is easy to wander astray among the many distractions of modern day living. Śri BKS Iyengar gave everything to his studies, students, practice, and family. His life, with his own mortal struggles, became an example of one who could turn the tide of mental and physical challenges into a benevolent and wholesome life.

Guruji’s virtues (and my adaptation): “Maitri” friendliness (kindness), “Karuna” compassion (empathy), “Mudita” joy in other’s growth (respect and honor in one another’s growth), “Upeksha” indifference or neutrality to those full of vice (equanimity).

For more information, or to sign up, please visit http://goo.gl/5goU47

how do we say good bye
to a piece of our heart?
we can’t
It breaths with us
It weeps with us
It loves with us
Dear heart,
Grant me the serenity to accept
the things that I cannot change
what we can do
is remember
Remember, we have wept
Remember that we love
Remember, Guruji said
“my end is your beginning”
Remember, Guruji said
“I have shown you all of these things
now realize them for yourself”

I am finding great solace in this, one of Guruji’s favorite poems, and will read it every day, for the next 12 days.

I am neither ego nor reason,
I am neither mind nor thought,
I cannot be heard nor cast into words,
nor by smell nor sight ever caught:
In light and wind I am not found,
nor yet in earth and sky –
Consciousness and joy incarnate,
Bliss of the Blissful am I.

I have no name, I have no life, I breathe no vital air,
No elements have molded me, no bodily sheath is my lair:
I have no speech, no hands and feet, nor means of evolution –
Consciousness and joy am I, and Bliss in dissolution.

I cast aside hatred and passion, I conquered delusion and greed;
No touch of pride caressed me, so envy never did breed:
Beyond all faiths, past reach of wealth, past freedom, past desire
Consciousness and joy am I, and Bliss is my attire.

Virtue and vice, or pleasure and pain are not my heritage,
Nor sacred texts, nor offerings, nor prayer, nor pilgrimage:
I am neither food nor eating, nor yet the eater am I –
Consciousness and joy incarnate, Bliss of the Blissful am I.

I have no misgivings of death, no chasms of race divide me,
No parent ever called me child, no bond of birth ever tied me:
I am neither disciple nor master, I have no kin, no friend –
Consciousness and joy am I, and merging in Bliss is my end.

Neither knowable, knowledge, nor knower am I, formless is my form,
I dwell within the senses but they are not my home:
Ever serenely balanced, I am neither free nor bound –
Consciousness and joy am I, and Bliss is where I am found.

-from the Introduction in Light on Yoga

The sky is great, vast
The sea is deep, and mighty
Guruji, your Sadhana was life itself
The thorns and roses
The fragile knees and sibilant exhalations
The cry of painful release and sighs of relief
Students leaving medical class
Playful and joyous with your great granddaughter
Amidst peals of laughter, gently taking her upside down
Sitting at your desk in the library, coffee in the afternoon
Dictating your advice and instructions to teachers worldwide
Politely receiving guests, graciously greeting friends
Accepting salutations and flowers in the lobby
So many coming from France, Israel, China … everywhere
And the moments of complete rapture
Listening to you explain the finer points of Tadasana
Your white dhoti, golden trim sweeping the asana floor
Preparing for practice, timer in place, Sirsasana
Wherever I positioned my mat, whether I could see you or not
You knew. The days to be kind, the days to be firm
Fearless in the face of my illness
You steered me through the fading of my health
To a practice that became my resurrection
Pranams Guruji. Once I found myself flat on my stomach
Outstretched with my hands touching your feet
Not sure how I got there, but it was tender
Your eyes (and eyebrows)!
Your feet!

“To live spiritually is to live in the present moment.”  –Tree of Yoga

May my Sadhana be a tribute and a celebration to you, Guruji
May I live fully in the present moment

For
While the sky is great, and vast
So is my heart
And while the sea is deep and mighty
So are you, Guruji
Love overflowing…

I’ll be teaching at Tri Yoga Soho, in London, for the first time, this weekend. I look forward to sharing the mystical and wisdom teachings of yoga and asana with those who’ll be joining us. I hope you can join us too!

Sri BKS Iyengar at his 95th birthday celebration, in Pune, India

In India, Guru Purnima is held on the full moon in July/August. This Sunday, July 15th, from 2pm to 4pm, at the Iyengar Yoga Institute, in Los Angeles, we will celebrate with a teacher team taught class dedicated to our teachers Sri BKS Iyengar, Geetaji and Prashantji. For details, please visit
http://www.iyila.org/news/guru-purnima

In Sanskrit, the root “Gu” refers to darkness or ignorance, while “Ru” means the remover of darkness. Our teachers do help us to, through our practice, find ways that we avoid or are addicted to sensations, and ideas of the way that we think things should be. Habits are hard to identify, as they have become so familiar. These habits form our experience. The Upanishads say:

Watch your thoughts; they become words. Watch your words; they become actions. Watch your actions; they become habits. Watch your habits; they become your character. Watch your character; for it becomes your destiny.

Through a daily yoga practice we encounter many habits; some of them create a pleasurable experience and others are helpful as they point out fears and ways that we undermine growth. Guruji Iyengar encourages us to cultivate a reflective attitude throughout practice, what he calls reflection in action. This has been a life long practice for me, and one that has helped to remove darkness to see the play of insight, endeavor, patience and persistence pay off. I am eternally grateful to my teachers!

Prana percolates throughout all of life, it is the vital energy that animates, supports, and transforms matter.
In a Pranayama practice, we tune in to the qualities of this field through the breath.
In this course we will introduce and build upon basic positions and techniques of pranayama, including:
• Seated and supported supine positions
• Breath awareness and the revelation of the dimensions of breathing
• Specific pranayama techniques
As the course is progressive, enrollment in the series is strongly suggested.

IYILA
Drop ins welcome
Auspicious Plan may participate at no extra charge
3 Sessions
Saturdays, July 5, 12 & 19, 2014
12:15pm – 1:30pm
Regular class prices apply
or
All 3 sessions:
$35 members
$40 non-members