Pam's Blog

Yesterday there was a knock at our apartment door and a guy was selling yoga bloomers and t-shirts. He had a backpack of samples and said he had more at his house. Since the sizes he had white him were too small, we made an appointment to view more the next day.

Right on time he showed up at our flat, hailed an auto rickshaw that whisked the three of us away while he followed on his bike! At a corner near his house the rickshaw waited for him to catch up so he could lead the rickshaw to our final destination.

We walked up a flight of stairs and into his apartment where we met his wife. The two of them showed us many handmade products; purses, bags, shorts, skirts, t-shirts, wooden blocks, quarter rounds, straps, blankets. Just when we thought we had seen it all he would produce something else. Handmade paper, stationary, bed sheet, perhaps?

We all bought something and it was totally fun. When we left it was raining and our host hailed a rickshaw for us that took us back to our flat. I admire his business sense, fun light hearted spirit and customer service.

Practice hours are set along with our class times. There are two floors and my classes and practices are held on the first floor and upstairs other classes take place before, during, and after our classes/practice.

At the start of every class we chant the invocation to Patanjali. While practicing one of my first days here, I heard the class upstairs begin the chant. Shortly into the chant, a phone in the practice hall started ringing with a mechanical “Jingle Bells” as the ring tone. Some things in India just can’t be explained.

Today’s class was in the evening, a 6 pm pranayama class. After chanting the invocation we were instructed to come up to the stage to watch a demonstration of savasana. The demo took between five and ten minutes and was done, purposefully, by another teacher, with just a blanket under the head. Once back on the mat Navaz (I am sure I am spelling that incorrectly), our teacher for the evening, talked us through it. Bend one knee into the chest, wait, put the foot on the floor, wait. We repeated each leg three times in a methodical, orderly fashion adding the thumb pushing in the crease of the thigh the last two times. Then both legs. After lengthening the back of the skull manually we bent our arms, elbows on the floor, palms facing headward and lifted the sternum, opening the chest. Hands down, legs long, in savasana. We were probably there for 20-25 minutes. All the while she talked about the breath guiding our awareness while the cars, motorcycles and other vehicles honked and sped through the street below.

Coming out, again methodically and gently, we rolled to the right, then left, then right, then left, then right and sat up to transition to seated pranayama. We did a little viloma, following her instructions and then five cycles on our own. The ending savasana was with the bolster on the root of the thighs. Coming out she had us roll from side to side again and when we sat up she said “That’s enough”. It was 7:15.

My ear is tuning in more and more to Prashant’s accent, which fit one of his themes today. He kept asking “how far have you come?” Encouraging us to not focus on the future or how far we have to go but to be here and use our senses and perception like the instrument panel of a car to tell us how far we have come. So, I have come at least far enough to get one of his points.

He talked about the definition of the word settle/settlement/settle in. Rufuges in a settlement have a different sense of how you might feel settled in at you own home. Likewise, feeling settled in a pose is more about total absorption, all the senses and perception, body, mind and especially breath.

He continues on the theme of longer and longer exhalations, “exhale from the back of the head, from the shoulder blades, from the sacrum”. I just try and understand the words as I hold the pose.

He talked about sequencing and the Iyengar yoga rules of sequencing and stressed that the “how” and especially the “why” should be considered when sequencing. Today he was sequencing partly for “a different launching point for Trikonasana.” He has us do trikonasana as one of the very first poses, sense how it felt and then we did a bunch of other poses and repeated trikonasana (and repeated trikonasana).

Again, the sequence is not that important and, as has to be done in a class of 80 people, different groups are doing different poses. It went something like this.

Adho Mukha Svanasana

Trikonasana

Sirsasana (for a long time) then parsva Sirsasana, then eka pada while another group of people did rope Sirsasana.

Rope Sirsasana

Upa vista konasana, twisting

Maybe bharadvajasana-I was hanging and wasn’t paying attention to what the group on the mat was doing.

Trikonasana hanging on to the rope with the top arm or on the mat. Switch groups.

Block setubandha

Bharadvajasana

Supta padangustasana I with the belt.

Both legs up, feet in the belt

Savasana

The first person in line for the women’s class this morning was a man. There were a half a dozen or so men in the class, most in the very back center row.

Sunita, one of Mr. Iyengar’s daughters, taught the class. She is a large woman with a commanding voice and sharp eye (and tongue).

The theme of the class was “extend and rortate” which we did for almost all of the two hour class. The emphasis was to extend the trunk then rotate, and do it again and again. When coming out of the poses we often would return to the center, then come up. I am getting first hand experience in the reputation of Iyengar Yoga’s for long holds.

Again, it’s not necessarily the sequence that matters, but the emphasis or theme. Here’s what I remember of the sequence:

Adho Mukha Virasana

Adho Mukha Svanasana

Adho Mukha Svanasana to Parsvottanasana

Parsvottanasana – extend, extend, extend and rotate in preparation for

Parsvottanasana to parivrtta trikonasana

Prasarita paddotanasana to parsva

Uttanasana (feet wide) to parsva uttanasana

Dandasana to parsva dandasana to paschimottanasana

Virasana to Adho Mukha Virasana (legs together) to parsva

Sukasana – forward bend, then to the sides

Supta baddhakonasana (no bolster)

Supta padangustasana I, II

Jatara parivartanasana with a strap holding the feet together

Bharadvajasana I, II

Marichyasana III

Ardha Matsyandrasana

Pasasana

Malasana

Sirsasana and parsva

Salamba sarvangasana

“That’s enough”

There were more people in class today. I took a mat closer to the center but after chanting the invocation, I was never on it again.

Immediately Prashant broke us into groups, all the men on a mat in downward facing dog, a group of women at the rope wall hanging on with arms behind, and another group in rope downward facing dog. It took a while to cycle through all the groups, given the number of people and the limited wall space.

Once the women cycled through (about 30 minutes) Prashant had us sit and gave a 15 minute lecture. Truth be told, his entire two hour class is a lecture and you just happen to be doing yoga poses most of the time. (He would likely take exception to this description because you don’t just do a yoga pose). There were two other times when he talked with us just sitting for maybe five minutes at a time. He was more short tempered today, admonishing us for being too slow to move and get into the poses.

Today he talked more about the breath focusing more on the exhalation than the inhalation. He spoke briefly about graphic breathing (which I love) and about being happy no matter our circumstances.

Here’s what I remember of the sequence:

Rope Adho Mukha Svanasana to uttanasana

With arms behind, hang from the rope wall

Adho Mukha Svanasana on the mat

Trikonasana on the mat (while the men cycled through the three poses above)

Parsvakonasana to Trikonasana on the mat

Parsvakonasana to Trikonasana with rope support for the upper hand

Virabhadrasana II to Trikonasana on the mat

Rope sirsasana

Supta padangustasana I, II

Choice of either vipariti karani, block setbandha, or sarvangasana

Janusirsasana

Savasana

Savasana was non-existent yesterday and was almost an after thought today. He said something like “Take savasana. Find a place and take savasana.” And then, shortly after that, he quietly said “Roll to your right side. Sit up. Clean the hall.”

My two roommates and I walked across the street to RIMYI, otherwise known as the Institute, for our first class of the month. Although I have seen many photos, this is my first time at the Institute.

My initial impression was that it is smaller than I imagined. I had that same feeling I have when I go back to someplace I remember from my childhood. It felt so big as a kid but as an adult it just doesn’t have the same size as in my mind. The stage is a half circle-ish shape (five flat sides making a half circle) with rows of yoga mats in a semi-circle around it. To the right of the stage is the rope wall, which has six or eight sets of ropes – not as many as you would think. The back of the room has wooden props and mats and there is a closet with bolsters, blocks, and blankets. BKS Iyengar’s photo is everywhere. The windows have bars on them and are used to do rope work when the classes are large.

Today there were 70 or 80 people in class, mostly westerners, some Indians and a couple of Asians. It didn’t feel crazy crowded or cut throat, as so many of the stories go. It is certainly a community feel; “your” mat and props are just mats and props. People grab what they need for whatever they are doing.

Prahsant, Mr. Iyengar’s son, taught the class. Even though he had a microphone headset thing it was hard to hear and hard to understand. I must not have been the only one because about 45 minutes in someone adjusted the volume and once it was louder, it was a bit better. Even so, I probably only got about 30% of what he said.

Here’s what I remember about the sequence.

Full arm balance against the wall for half the class, downward facing dog for the other half of the class. Switch spots.

Rope downward facing dog for half the class. Trikonasana on the mat for the other half. Switch spots.

Trikonasana at the rope wall hanging onto the rope with the top hand, trikonasana on the mat for the other half. Switch spots.

Trikonasana at the rope wall hanging onto the rope with the top hand, virabhadrasana II into trikonasana on the mat for the other half. Switch spots.

Parivrtta Trikonasana at the rope wall hanging onto the rope with the top hand, Parsvakonasana into trikonasana on the mat for the other half. Switch spots.

Bharadvajasana.

Choice of either janusirsana or sarvangasana.

Paschimottanasana

All the poses were held a long time, at least two minutes on each side. There’s no instruction on who is in what group – it is all self selection. There were no physical instructions on how to do the poses but commentary on the breath and doing the poses for the organs; lungs, kidneys, bladder, and (at least I think he said) the organ of imagination. Like I said, it was hard to understand him with the accent. He also encouraged us to know through practice, not to just do because the book tells you to.

After class we went downstairs to the office where Pandu, the secretary was taking registration forms and payment for the month. We got a form and our balances and the daily schedule of classes and practice times.

Mon/Tues/Thurs – class at 7 am and practice hours from 9-noon

Wed/Sat – class at 9:30 and practice hours from 4-5:45

Fri – pranayama at 6 pm and practice hours from 4-5:45