Iyengar Yoga’s International Scope and the China-India Summit
Wednesday, September 7th, 2011
In July I traveled to Italy to teach with my old friend and colleague, Gabriella Giubilaro. Each summer she invites a senior Iyengar teacher to co-teach a weeklong Iyengar Yoga intensive with her just outside Rapolano, a lovely little town tucked into in the tawny undulating hills of Tuscany.
The classes are taught in English, which is the lingua franca of Iyengar Yoga. The Iyengars teach in English at the Institute in Pune and at various conferences around the world. And, although many of the seventy participants at the intensive in Rapolano spoke English, a student from the class translated my teaching into Italian. Gabriella translated herself. And because there were over a dozen students from Russia, there was a Russian translator for both of us as well.
In fact, in addition to the Russian and Italian students, participants at the intensive came from all over the world: France, Germany, England, Spain, Switzerland, Serbia, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Israel, Palestine, Saudi Arabia, and, of course, the US.
The truly international scope of Iyengar Yoga is one of its most remarkable aspects. A student from Unity Woods can go to over 70 countries around the world, from Anguilla to Zimbabwe, and find an Iyengar teacher. And because there is a clear, consistent method, that student will feel at home in a class. The same postures will be practiced, and since we use Sanskrit for the names of the poses (much to the dismay of some), even if you can’t understand the individual instructions, you will know what pose to do.
This is not to say that the teaching is cookie cutter teaching. In Iyengar Yoga, there are no scripts, no language formulae other than brevity and directness, no prescribed sequences. The teachers’ own experience, training, and skill give each of them a distinctive quality and plenty of room for individual expression. But it is clear to even the beginning Iyengar student that the shared tradition of Iyengar Yoga provides a familiar framework for the teaching.
This commonality creates a community that transcends borders, cultures, politics, and religions. In the true spirit of yoga, while celebrating our uniqueness, Iyengar Yoga minimizes our differences and emphasizes our shared humanity and spirituality. After all, when you’re trying to find the evenness of your spine in Uttitha Trikonasana, it doesn’t matter where you’re from or what your family tree is, you will encounter similar physical, mental, and spiritual challenges to those we all encounter. Those challenges and the realizations that come as we use our practice to meet them provide us with a common ground of experience that can allow us to look past the things that separate us and embrace our underlying unity.
Of course, the thread that links all us Iyengar yogis, directly or indirectly, is B.K.S. Iyengar and his teachings. His first book, Light On Yoga, has been translated into at least 17 different languages. His decades of practice and teaching have provided him with the knowledge and passion that inspire his students and his students’ students’ and his students’ students’ students and instill the desire to explore in ever deeper ways our true nature and our place in the Universe.
A recent development expanded the Iyengar Yoga universe significantly. That was the China-India Summit, Mr. Iyengar’s first visit to China to give some 1400 of the yoga enthusiasts of that vast country a taste of the Iyengar method.
My apprentice, Amy Van Mui, who is herself Chinese, attended the summit. I asked her if she would be willing to write something for this newsletter. She graciously agreed and following are some of her experiences and impressions:
I first saw Mr. Iyengar in Hong Kong where he was welcomed by The Hong Kong Iyengar Institute with an asana demonstration, a traditional Chinese style lion dance, and a dazzling erhu duet (a two-stringed Chinese fiddle). It was wonderful to see all the excitement surrounding my teacher’s teacher, but I’d have to wait several days, take a 200 kilometers train ride, and navigate a confounding registration process before seeing Mr. Iyengar again.
The official summit started on June 16, 2011 with a pre-class ceremony. Mr. Iyengar entered the auditorium to cheers from 1,400 aspiring yogis, mostly Chinese, and a dramatic musical accompaniment. Many of the world’s senior Iyengar yoga teachers found their seats in the front row followed by a retinue of Indian and Chinese government officials, cultural scholars, and Tai Ji and Bagua Kungfu Masters who joined Mr. Iyengar on stage. This was a historical cultural exchange between China and India, two ancient civilizations. The Chinese likened Mr. Iyengar to the Bodhidharma (who brought Buddhism from India to China). Mr. Iyengar passionately spoke about the 8 limbs of yoga, trying to impart the depth of yoga and not just the cosmetic gains.
For three days, Mr. Iyengar taught in the morning while the afternoon Q & A and asana session were led by Indian teacher, Birjoo Mehta. I learned more from these sessions then I can possibly describe here. Instead of trying to detail everything, I will offer a few of the highlights.
On the first day Mr. Iyengar used a leaf to teach us about the importance of how we use our feet. Being the foundation of the standing poses, the alignment and balance of the feet are an essential first step. We all learn this as beginners at Unity Woods, by standing evenly on our feet. From a simple device, such as the leaf, Mr. Iyengar took us into Tadasana, Trikonasana, Parsvakonasana, Prasarita Padottanasana, and Parsvottanasana. He emphasized these as the most important standing poses.
The next day, Mr. Iyengar came in a bit fiery. His senior teachers had informed him, based on the previous afternoon’s session, that students throughout the gymnasium were practicing with poor alignment. When it became clear that he was looking for a volunteer who knew both English and Chinese, I took the opportunity to learn from Mr. Iyengar’s acute observation and adjustments directly.
Mr. Iyengar put me in Tadasana and Trikonasana and dissected the action of my legs. After following his verbal and tactile instruction to improve the poses, there was support and lightness not only in my legs, but flowing through my spine and brain. “The brain becomes light when we have good alignment,” shared Mr. Iyengar. And then suddenly I was back on the floor of the gymnasium with the other 1,399 students learning about spinal twists. In Bharadvajasana, Virasana, Parsva Virasana, Marichyasana III and Pascimottanasana, Mr. Iyengar taught us how to turn from the spine, not just the head, and suggested that the skin on the back body should be soft.
On the last day it seemed Mr. Iyengar could sense the trepidation when he revealed his teaching sequence as Sirsasana, Sarvangasana and Urdhva Dhanurasana. He asked for a show of hands depicting how many students had done these inversions before. Not enough hands were raised, so Mr. Iyengar relied on his granddaughter, Abhijata Sridhar, to demonstrate multiple ways to steadily progress an inversion practice. Awestruck beginning students eagerly wrote in their notebooks and drank in his every word so they could start practicing the inversions, a critical part of a balanced practice.
It was intriguing to me that the bulk of the students in attendance were beginners. These Asian students were very lucky that they had Mr. Iyengar to guide them early on. During the Summit I had a chance to thank the organizer, Si Chen. Chen spoke about the importance of cultivating our internal being and not just satiating our external one. Mr. Iyengar agreed, “When you have inner light you have inner beauty, cosmic beauty. Go from cosmetic state to cosmic state.” The world has witnessed China’s outward growth. Who better to guide China towards an inward growth then their neighbor from India, B.K.S. Iyengar?
So, as a member of the worldwide Iyengar yoga community, wherever your travels take you, look up the local Iyengar teacher and drop in for a class.
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