Yesterday I was feeling antsy and home sick. I could not stay still. The only things out of my mouth were, "I cannot wait to do this when I get home, I cannot wait to see Robert and the dogs." They were all followed by "I pray I stay in the moment the rest of our trip here. To learn, to see, to experience all the culture of this country and absorb as much of Gurujis teachings that I can."
I got my wish.
Dana and I decided to get to the institute a little early this morning because they opened the women's class up yesterday to the men who were in the advanced classes. We show up and grab our props and decide to set-up near where Guruji sets up since it looked as though he would not be there. While getting settled, Gulnaz instructed us to move all the props out of the way because Guruji was coming. I thought to myself, AHHHHH!!!! I cannot possibly be in his sight. I will most likely be the cause of the yelling, the disappointment. He gets set-up in his backbend and we lay out our mats again. It seems I have made it almost to the front row over by the rope wall. How did this happen? Why am I sitting this close? Have I gone mad?
Gulnaz leads the chant. I love the way she chants to Lord Patanjali. The little inflections in her voice are so beautiful. She chants with love and devotion. We start off with Adho Mukha Virasana and listen to the murmurings behind us of Guruji and Raya. Guruji often will do this, tell another teacher what he wants him to teach. Apparantly it was to teach our minds to be ahead of our bodies. He begins with leading us through jumpings and speaking about staying ahead in the future with our minds so we can be in the present with our bodies. Wow! Have they read my mind today? We go through many of these, leading with the mind first. We do some jumping back and forth for standing poses and he says "lift your chest! When you are angry, what happens to your chest?" We all say,"It lifts!" Very proud we are that we got one right. He then says, "Ok then, make your chest like you are angry, but don't get angry!" When we come to Tadasana for a rest, he says, "Contain yourself!" This was the beginning of container class. The container you might ask? Yes, the container of your upper body region, the ribs, the collar bones, the thoracic. If you can maintain the contents of your container while doing jumpings, poses like Prasarita Padottanasana, Parsvottanasana, Parvritta Trickonasana, Parivrtta Parsvakonasana, and Sirsasana (two times, for a long time) then you have mastered your containter. We did not master this. I heard Guruji say, "They are not learning anything!" When I really though about it, he was very right. We are so stuck in the psyicality of the poses we completely ignore the mind. We did everything a lot today. It got hot in the room, my shirt was soaked, but I did not even notice until we were done. We did things 4, 5, 6 times, we swung our bodies into Prasarita Padottanasana in a way today that I thought this cannot be ok. Of course it was ok. This man is a master, a master who we are so fortunate to hear in action at this time.
We had 3 teachers today Raya, Abi, and Guruji. The three of them are in my opinion, something special. I never got to experience an asana class like some people have described in the lastest Yoga Samachar, but I feel as though I am getting a taste of what Guruji must have been like in the early days of the institute. Full of life, vigor, and humor. After Sirsasana, we do Marichyasana III. She tells us afterwards we are too slow in learning this so we must move on to Sarvangasana. We set-up the mats which 3 people share. Once we get up, with a few instructions about the back ribs, have we forgotten completely about our container? We are in the pose for a bit and we hear Guruji saying something to Abi about the ghosts in the buttocks. Ghosts? This is a new one. She then goes on to describe how we need to lift the buttocks, this is the only way we will get our back thigh skin to move to our feet and our front shin skin to go down. Abi asks us,"Has anyone ever seen the Exorcist movies? Have an exorcism to get the ghosts out of your buttocks!" I heard Dana laugh, if you know her you know her laugh and it is not quiet. I hear everyone else laughing and I think to myself, "Oh lord, did there is no way they have read my blog....I hope I don't get kicked out." She refers to the ghosts and the exorcisms a few more times and it is funny everytime:-)
I am not sure if I got the ghosts out of my buttocks. I am hoping they are at least a little more intelligent. These teachings from Guruji are so transformational. I never knew my mind could be more present and did not know that my body could do what it did today. This trip has been transformational, not just the teachings, the yoga, the philosophy. I am inspired, beginning to see the world in a whole new light.
If by some chance any of the Iyengar Family reads this blog or anything else I have put out there about Iyengar Yoga, I hope they can get through the comedy and actually see what love and gratitude I have for them. The way they have dedicated their lives for the teaching of Yoga is truly inspirational. They have touched people all across the globe and I am one of them.
I got my wish.
Dana and I decided to get to the institute a little early this morning because they opened the women's class up yesterday to the men who were in the advanced classes. We show up and grab our props and decide to set-up near where Guruji sets up since it looked as though he would not be there. While getting settled, Gulnaz instructed us to move all the props out of the way because Guruji was coming. I thought to myself, AHHHHH!!!! I cannot possibly be in his sight. I will most likely be the cause of the yelling, the disappointment. He gets set-up in his backbend and we lay out our mats again. It seems I have made it almost to the front row over by the rope wall. How did this happen? Why am I sitting this close? Have I gone mad?
Gulnaz leads the chant. I love the way she chants to Lord Patanjali. The little inflections in her voice are so beautiful. She chants with love and devotion. We start off with Adho Mukha Virasana and listen to the murmurings behind us of Guruji and Raya. Guruji often will do this, tell another teacher what he wants him to teach. Apparantly it was to teach our minds to be ahead of our bodies. He begins with leading us through jumpings and speaking about staying ahead in the future with our minds so we can be in the present with our bodies. Wow! Have they read my mind today? We go through many of these, leading with the mind first. We do some jumping back and forth for standing poses and he says "lift your chest! When you are angry, what happens to your chest?" We all say,"It lifts!" Very proud we are that we got one right. He then says, "Ok then, make your chest like you are angry, but don't get angry!" When we come to Tadasana for a rest, he says, "Contain yourself!" This was the beginning of container class. The container you might ask? Yes, the container of your upper body region, the ribs, the collar bones, the thoracic. If you can maintain the contents of your container while doing jumpings, poses like Prasarita Padottanasana, Parsvottanasana, Parvritta Trickonasana, Parivrtta Parsvakonasana, and Sirsasana (two times, for a long time) then you have mastered your containter. We did not master this. I heard Guruji say, "They are not learning anything!" When I really though about it, he was very right. We are so stuck in the psyicality of the poses we completely ignore the mind. We did everything a lot today. It got hot in the room, my shirt was soaked, but I did not even notice until we were done. We did things 4, 5, 6 times, we swung our bodies into Prasarita Padottanasana in a way today that I thought this cannot be ok. Of course it was ok. This man is a master, a master who we are so fortunate to hear in action at this time.
We had 3 teachers today Raya, Abi, and Guruji. The three of them are in my opinion, something special. I never got to experience an asana class like some people have described in the lastest Yoga Samachar, but I feel as though I am getting a taste of what Guruji must have been like in the early days of the institute. Full of life, vigor, and humor. After Sirsasana, we do Marichyasana III. She tells us afterwards we are too slow in learning this so we must move on to Sarvangasana. We set-up the mats which 3 people share. Once we get up, with a few instructions about the back ribs, have we forgotten completely about our container? We are in the pose for a bit and we hear Guruji saying something to Abi about the ghosts in the buttocks. Ghosts? This is a new one. She then goes on to describe how we need to lift the buttocks, this is the only way we will get our back thigh skin to move to our feet and our front shin skin to go down. Abi asks us,"Has anyone ever seen the Exorcist movies? Have an exorcism to get the ghosts out of your buttocks!" I heard Dana laugh, if you know her you know her laugh and it is not quiet. I hear everyone else laughing and I think to myself, "Oh lord, did there is no way they have read my blog....I hope I don't get kicked out." She refers to the ghosts and the exorcisms a few more times and it is funny everytime:-)
I am not sure if I got the ghosts out of my buttocks. I am hoping they are at least a little more intelligent. These teachings from Guruji are so transformational. I never knew my mind could be more present and did not know that my body could do what it did today. This trip has been transformational, not just the teachings, the yoga, the philosophy. I am inspired, beginning to see the world in a whole new light.
If by some chance any of the Iyengar Family reads this blog or anything else I have put out there about Iyengar Yoga, I hope they can get through the comedy and actually see what love and gratitude I have for them. The way they have dedicated their lives for the teaching of Yoga is truly inspirational. They have touched people all across the globe and I am one of them.
Wonderful! So lucky to be in Guruji's presence.
ReplyDeleteThe fact that you interject a little "comedy" into your practice is what I find so endearing about you. As your student, I hope you never give that up. The gratitude you feel towards your practice comes through loud and clear.
ReplyDelete