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.