Spring summer 2015 partial

VOL. 19 NO. 1 Spring/Summer 2015

THE ART, SCIENCE AND PHILOSOPHYOF IYENGAR YOGAPLUS:YOGANUSASANAMLIGHTING THE WAYBELLUR TRUST

Spring/Summer 2015 Yoga Samachar 1

YOGA SAMACHAR’S MISSIONYoga Samachar, the magazine of the Iyengar Yoga community in the United States and beyond, is published twice a year by the Communications Committee of the Iyengar Yoga National Association of the United States (IYNAUS). The word samacharmeans “news” in Sanskrit. Along with the website, www.iynaus.org, Yoga Samachar is designed to provide interesting and useful information to IYNAUS members to:

• Promote the dissemination of the art, science, and philosophy of yoga as taught by B.K.S. Iyengar, Geeta Iyengar, and Prashant Iyengar

• Communicate information regarding the standards and training of certified teachers

• Report on studies regarding the practice of Iyengar Yoga

• Provide information on products that IYNAUS imports from India

• Review and present recent articles and books written by the Iyengars

• Report on recent events regarding Iyengar Yoga in Pune and worldwide

• Be a platform for the expression of experiences and thoughts from members, both students and teachers, about how the practice of yoga affects their lives

• Present ideas to stimulate every aspect of the reader’s practice

YOGA SAMACHAR IS PRODUCED BY THE IYNAUS PUBLICATIONS COMMITTEECommittee Chair: Tori Milner Editor: Michelle D. WilliamsCopy Editor: Denise WeeksDesign: Don GuraAdvertising: Rachel Frazee

Members can submit an article or a practice sequence for consideration for inclusion in future issues. Articles should be well-written and submitted electronically. The Yoga Samachar staff reserves the right to edit accepted submissions to conform to the rules of spelling and grammar, as well as to the Yoga Samachar house style guidelines.

Submissions must include the author’s full name and biographical information related to Iyengar Yoga, along with email contact and phone number.

Submission deadline for the Spring/Summer issue is March 1.Submission deadline for the Fall/Winter issue is Aug. 1.Please send queries to [email protected] one month prior to these deadlines.

Cover: Dory Kanter, Misty Mountains, watercolor on paper. © 2015 Dory Kanter, www.dorykanter.com

CONTENTSLetter From the President – Michael Lucey . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2News From the Regions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3Art, Science, and Philosophy in our Practice – Laurie Blakeney . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 The Lyrical Language of B.K.S. Iyengar – Laurel Rayburn. . . . 9 Yogi-Artists Express Themselves. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

Yoga and Science – Siegfried Bleher and Jarvis Chen . . . . 20

Body Sensations – Gin McCollum . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23

Preparing for Prashant – Anne-Marie Schultz . . . . . . . . . . 25

Is Yoga a Religion? – John Schumacher . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28

Geeta’s Intensive: Three Perspectives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30

Atha Yoganusasanam: – Jennie Williford . . . . . . . . . . . . 30

Reflections on Our Belated First Trip – David Carpenter . . . 31

Yoganusasanam -- Melissa Lorraine Hagen . . . . . . . . . . . 33

In Memory of Judi Ann Rice – Alex Cleveland . . . . . . . . . . . 34

Lighting the Way: Gloria Goldberg – Richard Jonas . . . . . . . 35

Lifelong Practice: Ben and Tommijean Thomas – Josephine Lazarus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37

IYNAUS Store News . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39

Report From Bellur – Michael Lucey . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40

Treasurer’s Report – David Carpenter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42

Classifieds/Corrections . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46

2014 Iyengar Yoga Assessments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48

Poem for Our Skeletons – Rosie King . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49

Lynda [email protected]

Cynthia [email protected]

Leslie [email protected]

David [email protected]

Alex Cleveland [email protected]

Gloria Goldberg [email protected]

Michael [email protected]

Tori [email protected]

Anne-Marie [email protected]

Kathy [email protected]

Eric [email protected]

Nancy [email protected]

Denise [email protected]

Stephen [email protected]

Sharon Cowdery (general manager)[email protected]

Contact IYNAUS:P.O. Box 538Seattle WA 98111

206.623.3562www.iynaus.org

Spring/Summer 2015

IYNAUS Board MemberContact List

AdvertisingYoga Samachar is now accepting paid advertising. Full-page, half-page and quarter-page ads are available for placement throughout the magazine, and a classified advertising section is available for smaller ads. All advertising is subject to IYNAUS board approval. Find the ad rates at www.iynaus.org/yoga-samachar. For more information, including artwork specifications and deadlines, please contact Rachel Frazee at [email protected] or 608.269.1441.

2 Yoga Samachar Spring/Summer 2015

Dear Fellow IYNAUS Members,Tatah krtarthanam parinamakrama samaptih gunanam (Sutra IV.32)

Before the first class she taught at the Yoganusasanam intensive in December, Geetaji

reminded us of a word from the Yoga Sutras that Guruji was fond of: krtarthan. Guruji

uses this word in his commentary on Sutra II.39 dealing with aparigraha, which, he

tells us, “means not only nonpossession and nonacceptance of gifts but also freedom

from rigidity of thought.” As Guruji notes in his discussion of that sutra: “When the

sadhaka is free of worldly aspirations, he is a krtarthan (a happy and satisfied person).”

Sutra IV.32 combines that word—krtarthan—with parinama (transformation) and krama

(sequence). Commenting on IV.32, Guruji wrote: “Having transformed the yogi’s

consciousness by the radiation of the rays of the soul, the orderly mutations and

rhythmic sequences of the qualities of nature, sattva, rajas, and tamas come to an

end… The essence of intelligence and the essence of consciousness both now retire to

rest in the abode of the soul. The master, the seer or the soul, is independent.” This

contentment, this satisfaction, this independence was Guruji’s at the end of his life,

Geetaji reminded us; it was brought about by the successive sequential changes that

were the fruit of years of devoted practice, a practice free from rigidity of thought and

possessiveness. A krtarthan is a fulfilled soul, Geetaji told us, and this possibility of

fulfillment is part of what Guruji offers to us through what he taught as well as

through the example of his practice.

Geetaji’s inspired teaching last December provided many of those present with a

chance to mourn for Guruji but also to celebrate the gift of his life, his practice, and

his teaching. Guruji himself insisted that younger practitioners be invited to this

intensive. He insisted, Geetaji told us, that there is “a new generation whom we have to

care about.” As I reflect on my time in Pune this past December and on what we can

be doing as a community to care for a new generation, I find myself meditating on the

relationships that might exist between these various concepts from the Yoga Sutras.

Aparigraha is a letting go, a nongrasping attitude, an openness of mind, a welcoming of

what comes next, of who or what comes after. Parinama is the transformation that

devoted, rigorous, and efficacious practice can bring. Krama is the idea of sequence

and sequencing so important to Guruji’s method, an idea that encompasses

continuing, progressive learning from action to action, from pose to pose, from

syllabus to syllabus, from year to year, and from generation to generation. Finally,

krtarthan is a fulfillment, satisfaction, or contentment that can be ours if we allow

aparigraha, krama, and parinama to be actualized in and through our practice.

This, then, is surely our mission—as individuals and as an organization—in the years

ahead: Out of a welcoming spirit of generosity, kindness, friendliness, and compassion

and out of a spirit of devotion to the rich and rigorous practice that B.K.S. Iyengar

taught us, we must find ways to find fulfillment as we cultivate and pass on the

knowledge and the practice that have been passed to us.

I look forward to continuing to work with you in pursuit of that mission, and I thank

all of you who have contributed so generously in so many ways over the years and

right up to today—be it as a teacher, an assessor, a community member, or a volunteer,

be it with a contribution to the Bellur fund (see the Bellur Report on page 40), to our

archives, or to IYNAUS generally (see David Carpenter’s Treasurer’s Report on page 42).

Michael Lucey, PresidentIYNAUS Board of Directors

FROM THE PRESIDENTLetterPresident: Michael Lucey Vice President: Lynda AlfredSecretary: Denise WeeksTreasurer: David Carpenter

ArchivesEric Small, ChairKim Kolibri, Director of ArchivesLindsey Clennell, Elaine Hall, Linda Nishio,Deborah Wallach

Certification CommitteeLeslie Bradley, ChairDean Lerner, James Murphy,Nancy Stechert, Lois Steinberg

Elections Committee Michael Lucey, ChairLynda Alfred, Alex Cleveland, Anne-Marie Schultz

Ethics CommitteeMichael Lucey, ChairChris Beach, Randy Just, Lisa Jo Landsberg, Manju Vachher, Jito Yumibe

Events CommitteeNancy Watson, ChairCarole Fridolph, Gloria Goldberg, Colleen Gallagher, Suzie Muchnick, Phyllis Rollins

Finance CommitteeDavid Carpenter, ChairLynda Alfred, Gloria Goldberg, Stephen Weiss

Governance CommitteeNancy Watson, ChairDavid Carpenter, David Larsen

Membership CommitteeLynda Alfred & Alex Cleveland, Co-ChairsIYACSR – vacant IMIYA – Lynda Alfred IYAGNY – Ed McKeaneyIYAMN – Elizabeth CowanIYAMW – Becky MelineIYANC – Risa BlumlienIYANE – Kathleen SwansonIYANW – Margrit von BraunIYASC-LA – Wendy AlterIYASCUS – Jerrie CrowleyIYASE – Diana MartinezIYASW – Carrie Abts

Publications Committee Tori Milner, ChairDon Gura, Rachel Frazee, Denise Weeks, Michelle D. Williams

Public Relations and Marketing Committee Cynthia Bates, ChairAni Boursalian, Rachel Formaro, Shaaron Honeycutt, Louisa Spier, Holly Walck, Nagisa Wanabe

Regional Support CommitteeAlex Cleveland & Anne-Marie Schultz, Co-ChairsIMIYA – Lynda AlfredIYAGNY – Ed McKeaneyIYAMN – Katy OlsonIYAMW – Jennie WillifordIYANC – Heather Haxo PhillipsIYANE – Jarvis ChenIYANW – Janet LangleyIYASC-LA – Jennifer DienerIYASCUS – Pauline SchloesserIYASE – Alex ClevelandIYASW – Lisa Henrich

Scholarship and Awards CommitteeDenise Weeks, ChairLeslie Freyberg, Richard Jonas, Lisa Jo Landsberg, Pat Musburger, Nina Pileggi, John Schumacher

Service Mark & Certification Mark CommitteeGloria Goldberg, Attorney in Fact for Geeta S. Iyengar and Prashant S. Iyengar

Systems & Technology CommitteeStephen Weiss, ChairEd Horneij, William McKee, David Weiner

Yoga Research CommitteeKathy Simon, ChairJerry Chiprin, Renee Royal, Kimberly Williams

IYNAUS Senior CouncilKristin Chirhart, Manouso Manos, Patricia Walden, Joan White

IYNAUS Offi cers and Standing Committees


IYAGNYCommunity Outreach ClassesThe Iyengar Yoga Institutes of New York and Brooklyn hold

nearly 100 classes every week, ranging from Level I to Level IV

and including Pranayama, Restorative, Women’s, Prenatal,

Gentle, and Specific Needs classes. Introductory classes and

series for students new to the method are offered as well as

teacher training, including ongoing programs for certified

teachers. There is also a full slate of weekend workshops taught

by faculty on special themes such as “Asana for Anxiety,” “Yoga

for Depression,” “Working With Bunions,” “Anatomy of the

Breathing Mechanism,” and “Finding Your Balance.” In addition,

special workshops bring visiting teachers to the region.

Still another kind of class mirrors the community outreach

efforts of the Iyengar Yoga Association of Greater New York

(IYAGNY) and the universal reach of Guruji’s method: an HIV

Class, a Breast Health Class, and a Veterans’ Class.

These free classes remind us that Iyengar Yoga is a vital, life-

affirming way to work with chronic conditions and to nurture

hope and fortitude in the face of difficulties. They show how a

yoga institute is more than a yoga studio in the way it reaches

out to people in its community. Most of all, these classes

demonstrate that, along with the striving for absolute

alignment and constant focus, the nature of the Iyengars’

teaching is profound compassion for students of all levels and

conditions. This compassion comes from and demonstrates

their sure knowledge of how profoundly curative and

transformative yoga, correctly performed, can be.

The HIV ClassThe Iyengar Yoga Institute’s HIV Class began in the days before

anti-retroviral medications were available. As the nature of the

AIDS epidemic changed, so did the class. People grew healthier

and stronger, and along with sequences devised by Guruji and

the Iyengars to control HIV infection, students began to do the

kind of “regular” yoga that makes everyone stronger, more

flexible, and balanced.

There’s always been a special feeling in the HIV Class—

friendly and supportive—and a sense of belonging. Longtime

students welcome and encourage newcomers. Along with

firmness of body and steadiness of intelligence, which B.K.S.

Iyengar tells us are two of the defining qualities of asana,

one feels here the benevolence of spirit he names as the

third quality.

Over the years, we have lost students and mourned as a

community. Newcomers have arrived. Senior teachers from

around the world including Father Joe Pereira and Stephanie

Quirk have taught the class.

What has never changed is the spirit in the class—similar to

that among survivors of breast cancer in the Breast Health

Class and in the Veterans’ Class. The HIV Class began in 1994 in

the old New York Institute on 24th Street and was taught by

James Murphy, IYAGNY director, and Brooke Myers. The class

still meets at noon on Fridays. In the early days, some students

were incapacitated; some did no more than lie on the floor with

their heels elevated on blocks to quiet the abdomen and relieve

diarrhea. Changes in the HIV Class mirror changes in the

epidemic. Conditions of the eye like retinitis, which meant

students could not do inversions, are much more rare; so are

fever and diarrhea. A second HIV Class, at the Brooklyn Institute,

meets at 3 p.m. on Mondays and is taught by Richard Jonas.

One current student says, “I would not classify it as yoga and

HIV, but yoga and life. Yoga has an effect on our posture, our life

choices, and our ways of thinking. Yoga has become an

instrument for a healthier body and a cleaner mind.” Another

adds, “The benefits I have achieved in a very short period of

time are amazing. The first thing I noticed was a real change in

my posture. I feel my body has enlarged. For the first time, I

have found out how to have a relationship with all of my body,

inside and outside. Another benefit is the level of relaxation;

yoga makes it so much easier to reach that state of mind where

everything is peaceful.”

— Richard Jonas

The Breast Health ClassFor the women who attend it, the Breast Health Class is a

lifeline. It is both a place for like-minded women to meet and

network and a place where they can begin to take charge of

their lives and learn yoga in a supportive atmosphere.

Taught by Bobby Clennell, author of Yoga for Breast Care: What

Every Woman Needs to Know, the class is targeted to the

particular needs of these women; only breast cancer survivors

may attend. And since most of the women are over 60, they

know they can be in a class without fear of not being able to

keep up.

Breast cancer surgery brings a particular set of limitations and

a particular set of aspirations not found among any other group

of students. Now in its fourth year, the class draws a mixed

group. Many of the women, especially the dedicated group of

regulars who make up the bulk of the class, are long-term

survivors. These women have made tremendous strides in their

FROM THE REGIONSNews


practices. Improvement in mobility around the affected site, in

particular the arm and shoulder, is one of the first benefits they

gain from the class.

A less obvious, but extremely valuable benefit is regaining

confidence in a body that a woman may feel has let her down.

It takes a while, but with regular attendance in the class (and

for some with home practice), trust in the body’s ability to heal

itself through yoga builds, week after week, month after month,

year after year.

This is a close-knit group. Navigating the health system and

attempting to pull together the components that make up a

medical support system are among the subjects the students

exchange information about.

As teachers, one of our greatest rewards is watching the progress

of our students. In many respects, this group is no different from

students in a regular class. As their immune systems become

stronger, we see their health and strength improving. And if they

stick around, something else happens—something wonderful:

They become fascinated by yoga and interested in practicing

beyond the initial confines of breast cancer.

A breast cancer survivor does not want to think about breast

cancer all the time. She wants to move on. Yes, this class takes

into consideration the specific needs and concerns of the group,

including the aftereffects of chemotherapy (long-term and

lingering fatigue), the initial immobility caused by scar tissue

(most of these women have undergone some sort of surgery, a

mastectomy, lumpectomy or reconstruction surgery), and, in

some cases, lymphedema. But this class also recognizes the

need to address the entire person—the body, the breath, the

mind, and the innermost self.

— Bobby Clennell

The Veterans’ ClassThe Veterans’ Class takes place at noon on Saturday afternoons

at the New York Institute and is taught by Adam Vitolo. The

class gives IYAGNY the opportunity to give back to the men and

women who have risked their lives for our country. The class is

offered to all veterans from any branch of service—regardless

of injury or past yoga experience.

The biggest concern plaguing veterans today is Post Traumatic

Stress Disorder (PTSD)—and Iyengar Yoga really shines in this

arena. Our approach to yoga is a clear breath of fresh air to all

who enter the class. The discipline of our practice appeals to a

veteran’s already-honed skills of attentiveness and focus, and

the pranayama taught in Iyengar Yoga helps students take this

honed skill and turn it inward so the mind can become quiet

and peaceful.

The feeling in the room during class is one of community and

openness. “Once you figure out what it’s all about, it becomes

so meaningful. It’s like family,” says Anu Bhagwati, a longtime

yoga practitioner and teacher in New York.

IYAGNY is proud to offer the Veterans’ Class to honor and pay

tribute to a group that has given so much.

— Adam Vitolo

Richard Jonas, Bobby Clennell, and Adam Vitolo are faculty members at the Iyengar Yoga Institute of New York.

IYAMNIn October 2014, the Iyengar Yoga Association of Minnesota

(IYAMN) hosted senior teachers Mary Obendorfer and Eddy

Marks to conduct a three-day workshop in Saint Paul at the

Saint Paul Yoga Center. In their asana classes, Mary and Eddy

conveyed key philosophical concepts of yoga and demonstrated

the seamlessness of practice and philosophy. They also taught

two pranayama classes during the well-attended and much-

appreciated workshop.

We continued our tradition of holding a winter yoga day to

honor and celebrate Guruji’s life and work. This was also held

at the Saint Paul Yoga Center and was attended by about 35

people. Local teacher Jeanne Barkey taught an asana class,

using it to introduce some of the basic philosophical ideas of

the yoga tradition. Members of our association were

encouraged to bring guests new to yoga to introduce them to

the tradition of Iyengar Yoga, and Jeanne taught a class that

was amenable to that group. This proved to be a great success,

and we intend to do this once a year as a way to build

community and increase membership in our association. The

evening concluded with refreshments, including a cake to

honor Guruji’s birth. IYAMN also sponsored a workshop with

John Schumacher in early June in Saint Paul.

We welcomed new board member Luanne Laurents to the

board to succeed outgoing member Michael Moore. We are

thankful to Michael for his service to the board. Our board

continues with its mission of building the Iyengar Yoga

community in this region, especially reaching out beyond the

Supta Baddha Konasana: Begin on a lower support (i.e., a narrow-fold blanket) immediately following surgery for breast cancer.


“Iyengar Yoga helps me connect with myself in order to express

the soul, to be courageous enough to put my art out to the

public. Yoga makes my body and mind a clearer passage for

the spirit to create through the body. By learning to recognize

the states of mind in yoga practice, I recognize those same

states of mind when painting, so the painting as well as the

asana become a tool for reading the processes on the field of

consciousness.

“The processes in the consciousness that I notice when painting

are more easily recognizable when practicing asanas. For

example, I notice using too much rational thinking when I’m

painting, rather than being present in the moment—and I also

notice this in asana practice. The five kleshas (afflictions), for

example, are easily recognizable when painting. When I’m in

deeper concentration, all of this disappears. Through painting,

I understand what is meant by the act of painting, the painter,

and that which is being painted, and in rare moments, it

happens that it all comes together, and there is nothing but the

state of being. Also, strangely, when painting asana, the area in

the body that I have not understood in practice comes out

distorted and out of balance, and this points me toward the

direction of focus in my practice.”

—Jana Chadimova, painter, Czech Republic

YOGI-ARTISTS EXPRESS THEMSELVESHOW DOES YOUR YOGA PRACTICE INFLUENCE YOUR CREATIVE LIFE? AND VICE VERSA?

Jana Chadimova working on Urdhva Dhanurasana in her studio. Photo: Daniel Papousek

Urdhva Mukha Svanasana, work in progress by Jana Chadimova Photo: Daniel Papousek


“Iyengar Yoga has improved my painting process on a physical,

mental, and spiritual level. I now have no back pain. I carefully do

twists and turns when I place the brush on canvas, palette, water,

cloth, etc. I am always conscious when coming in and out of a

position. I’m also more relaxed, in the NOW, rather than focused

on a deadline. I have a sense of meaning in what I do.

“Art helps me to be disciplined and practice yoga regularly, and

it gives me the patience required to work in other nonartistic

fields and the strength to confront some of life’s obstacles. The

process of creation has also given me a spiritual sense of

meaning, and I enjoy it immensely.”

—Mario Dubovoy, painter, Miami Beach, Florida

“I consider yoga an art and art to be yoga-like, so the process of creating all becomes one. Whether I’m painting, curating, practicing

asana, or tying my shoe, they all feed each other in some mysterious way. At least that’s how I think about it!”

—Sharon Hawley, painter and art curator, San Francisco

Mario Dubovoy at work

Sharon Hawley paints or sketches portraits of the mentally ill people she works with. She then photographs the portraits and transfers the images to other paper via chemical processes that erode the images, thereby depicting what she believes to be a more accurate image of the complexity of the human condition. “These downtrodden were ‘hung out to dry,’ so to speak, on a clothesline.”

Mario Dubovoy painting

B.K.S. Iyengar Yoga National Association of the United States P.O. Box 538 Seattle, WA 98111

www.iynaus.org

Painted portrait of B.K.S. Iyengar at the Ramamani Iyengar Memorial Yoga Institute in Pune, India

A student in Bellur provides a yoga demonstration for visitors. Photo: Michael Lucey

Documents

Spring summer 2015 partial