Current Letter | John's Letter Archives
Winter 1991
NAMASTE,
The Nov./Dec. issue of the Yoga Journal contains a letter to the editor from Hanne Hegstad, a neighbor to the south of us in Roanoke, VA. It raises a number of interesting issues and reveals several (what I consider to be) misconceptions about the practice of Iyengar yoga. Here’s what she says:
I enjoy reading Yoga Journal, but I must say that all your asana descriptions are a bit biased since they are written by B.K.S. Iyengar yoga students. All Iyengar students believe that Iyengar yoga is the most correct way to go when it comes to asanas! The truth is that we still have a lot to learn about asanas, and Mr. Iyengar is far from the perfect teacher even though we have learned a lot from him.
What I would like to see a lot more of in Yoga Journal are interviews with students of Mr. Iyengar who have been teaching Iyengar-style yoga for 15 to 20 years, have then realized that their bodies couldn’t take it anymore, and through their own experiences, working from the inside out rather than the outside in, have found new and “better” ways to practice asanas.
What I have found with a lot of Iyengar teachers, including Mr. Iyengar himself, is that most of them seem to have a problem with authority and power, rather than being open to new possibilities in exploring the asana and following the inner energy! Iyengar yoga is so much into details of the asana, which isn’t bad, it only tends to forget about directing the energy that flows inside.
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In her first paragraph Hanne is correct, of course, in saying that the asana descriptions in the Yoga Journal are written by B.K.S. Iyengar students. The Yoga Journal was begun by students of Mr. Iyengar, and the Board of Directors is composed primarily of current and former Iyengar students. The bias is understandable. It would be interesting, however, to hear the Yoga Journal’s explanation as to why they present the Iyengar method in the asana descriptions. Perhaps having several different approaches to a particular asana presented in the same issue might be a way to deal with Hanne’s complaint. Then the readers could see what various methods have to offer, where they share common ground and where they are unique.
As for her observation that “all Iyengar students believe that Iyengar yoga is the most correct way to go”, while I certainly can’t speak for or about “all” Iyengar students, after ten years of practicing at least a half a dozen other approaches and ten more years of pursuing the Iyengar method, when it comes to asanas I do feel that Iyengar yoga is the most “correct” (I prefer effective) way for me to go. I suspect that Desikachar’s students feel that their method is best for them and Swami Satchidananda’s students feel that that method is best for them and so on. Why would I do Iyengar yoga if I thought some other method worked better? That doesn’t mean it’s the “best” or “most correct” yoga, period. Only that I’ve decided it’s best for me. And since as a teacher I can only teach what I practice and know, then that is also what I teach.
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I couldn’t agree more with Hanne that we still have a lot to learn about the asanas. In fact, that’s one of the reasons I was first drawn to Iyengar yoga. With the Iyengar method, I have learned and continue to learn lots more about the asanas. Even Mr. Iyengar is quick to say that he has much more to learn about the asanas. This is one of the reasons why in the Iyengar method things are always changing (unlike in many other methods and much to the dismay of some students). It is also one of the reasons that I chose Mr. Iyengar as my teacher. Certainly not because I thought he was the perfect teacher. I’ve seen a lot of teachers, known and unknown, and the “perfect” one has eluded me thus far.
The worms really start to come out of the can in the second paragraph. Who are these students of Mr. Iyengar who have been teaching Iyengar-style yoga for 15 to 20 years and have realized that their bodies couldn’t take it? I know three or four people who have taught long and have moved away from formal Iyengar-style yoga, but not, at least to my knowledge, because their bodies couldn’t take it. They just felt that doing things differently worked “better” for them. I’m sure one could find examples of such people in any approach.
And I know at least a dozen people personally who have taught Iyengar yoga that long, who still teach it, and whose bodies seem to be taking it just fine, Mr. Iyengar at age 71 not least among them.
And what couldn’t these bodies that Hanne is referring to take? Refined alignment? Restorative poses? Balancing flexibility with strength? Passive poses during menstruation? Adapted gentle poses for pregnancy? Building endurance? Therapeutic adjustments for specific medical conditions? Reclining pranayama? These are all characteristic of and specific to Iyengar yoga. What exactly is Hanne talking about?
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I’m also not sure what she means when she says that most Iyengar teachers and Mr. Iyengar himself have a problem with authority and power. I don’t know what Hanne’s experience with a lot of Iyengar teachers has been or whether she has actually studied with Mr. Iyengar himself. Personally I think that most people in general have problems with authority and power. The story on Swami Rama in the same issue as well as numerous stories of sexual and/or financial corruption in the yoga community in particular and the world at large would seem to bear that out.
If she means, as she implies in the rest of the sentence, that Iyengar teachers and Mr. Iyengar are not open to new possibilities in exploring asana, I couldn’t disagree with her more. To me one of the most significant aspects of the practice of Iyengar yoga is the willingness to experiment with new ways of working in the poses. The what-happens-if approach to moving in the asanas is essential to the method and is at the core of Mr. Iyengar’s teaching, at least as I understand it. It promotes continually new ways of practicing asana, keeps the practice fresh and acts to keep the mind focused. Willingness to explore the use of breath, props, images, attention, and to break the rules are all integral to the practice of Iyengar yoga. It was one of the reasons why Mr. Iyengar was treated as an outsider by much of the yoga community for so many years before his relatively recent rise to prominence. As far as I can see, “new and ‘better’” ways are what Iyengar yoga has always been about.
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With regard to Hanne’s statements about inner energy as it relates to Iyengar yoga, she and I see things quite differently. There is no question that Iyengar yoga employs the use of the detailed examination of the poses. It is also true that in the beginning, the work starts on the outside and moves inward.
One has to begin somewhere. In learning to play a musical instrument, for example, one learns how to touch or hold the instrument, learns which movements produce which sounds, practices scales and exercises, analyzes and dissects the music, all in order to express ultimately whatever inner beauty, whatever energy exists within. This is not the only way to begin, but it is the classical way, time-honored and proven. It is also the approach that Patanjali employs in the Yoga Sutras. First he presents the yamas, which deal primarily with one’s relationship with the external world, and then he presents the niyamas, which deal with one’s relationship with oneself, next. The more external practices of yama, niyama and asana lead to the transitional practices of pranayama and pratyahara which in turn lead to the internal states of dharana, dhyana, and samadhi.
But to begin by working from the outside in and to be detailed and precise, as is the case in Iyengar yoga, does not mean that one forgets about the energy that flows inside. In fact on one level the whole approach is designed to remove blockages in the body and the mind that inhibit the flow of energy. If one is following the inner energy, as Hanne suggests, and its movement is restricted by tension, poor alignment, and/or inattention, then there isn’t much to follow.
If, however, one is practicing and paying attention to what’s happening in an asana, that is to the details of the asana, not as a bunch of rules to be followed and not as a litany of anatomical minutiae, but rather as a feedback system indicating where energy is flowing and where it isn’t, then one is actually capable of directing the energy that flows inside clearly, effectively, and powerfully. When one is able to do this, the distinction between inside and outside, between following and directing becomes meaningless. This, anyway, is my experience of Mr. Iyengar’s teaching.
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What any method or teacher does, after all, is guide our attention in some manner, and attention is energy. I had been hearing about inner energy in books and classes for years, but not until I began practicing Iyengar yoga did I feel something that felt like what all those descriptions sounded like. I have no problem with Hanne wanting to work from the inside out or to direct/follow the inner energy. But I don’t see why she wants to fault Iyengar yoga for working in a way that’s different from hers. As far as I can see, whatever teacher, whatever method turns you on to that unifying, vibrant, joyful ocean of energy we’re all part of, that’s the program to get with.
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