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Spring 1992

NAMASTE,

Last November I traveled over twenty thousand miles for nearly four weeks and spent thousands of dollars to go to Pune, India to study yoga with my teacher, B.K.S. Iyengar. (Lest you think that the thousands of dollars are going to Mr. Iyengar, I should tell you that the three week intensive with one of the most prominent yoga teachers in the world cost me $350, far less than many one week workshops back here in the U.S.).

The trip was, as always, grueling – days of flying, riding in cars, trains and rickshaws, and waiting in airports and stations. Inevitably plans are altered, schedules changed, and disinterested and incompetent officials have to be dealt with. My suitcase was lost, for example, and for four days I was without anything other than what generous friends loaned me. Word of my bag’s arrival necessitated a ten hour round trip car ride from Pune to Bombay to clear customs. Not only that, I had to make a scene at the airport, finally waving my arms around and shouting, to actually get my bag at all. What should have taken twenty minutes took an hour and twenty minutes.

I can’t in all honesty say that I looked forward to being in Pune, either. It’s a very large and noisy city with terrible air pollution, and as is the case when traveling in many foreign countries, you have to be careful what you eat and drink to avoid some very unpleasant or even potentially serious consequences.

So knowing all this was in store for me, why did I go? Why put up with the expense, the discomfort, the disruption at work, and the time away from home, especially since Susan couldn’t go with me this time?

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Well, it really isn’t all suffering and misery, although by now it may be beginning to sound that way. The climate at that time of the year is very pleasant. Exotic and fascinating sights, sounds and smells abound. And since I knew many of the people at the intensive, it was a chance to visit with infrequently seen pals and also make some new friends.

Of course, the real and most important reason for going, though, is to do yoga under the guidance and in the presence of B.K.S. Iyengar.

You notice that I italicized “in the presence of” but not “under the guidance”. Certainly the instructions, the direct supervision, the incredible amount and quality of information that Mr. Iyengar gives is a large part of my reason for being there; it improves my practice and makes me a better teacher. When I first began going to India, to receive that instruction was my primary reason for going.

But this having been my fifth trip, I know that something else happens in these intensives besides the filling of notebooks and memory banks, something more important to me. That “something” is that when I study with Mr. Iyengar, I find that somehow my whole being changes – physically, emotionally, mentally – in ways I find hard to describe or define. And it isn’t just a result of the guidance I receive in the classes, but rather something that B.K.S. Iyengar exudes. Call it “presence”, “shakti”, “energy”, “vibrations”, whatever, it’s definitely there, tangible, palpable. Even if he were never to say a word, just doing yoga in the same room with him would have (has had) a profound effect on me. For want of a better word, I become more full. Or to use old-fashioned terminology, my consciousness is expanded. Being with B.K.S. Iyengar is, for me, a consciousness-expanding experience, such that by the end of my stay my body feels more balanced and vibrant, my heart more open, and my brain clearer, more perceptive. I say “by the end” because along the way I often experience physical pain, emotional instability and distress, and great confusion and doubt. Not surprisingly, at those times I’d rather be somewhere else, doing something else. But because of my trust in my teacher’s intention and ability, because I know he cares and knows, I persist through those times, and in the end I’m always glad I do.

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That trust is at the heart of my relationship with Mr. Iyengar. It must, I feel, be at the heart of any teacher/student (he prefers the term “pupil”) relationship for that relationship to bear fruit.

By trust I don’t mean blind, unquestioning obedience or surrendering responsibility for my own actions. Nor do I mean closing my eyes to things I don’t like, actions I can’t condone, ideas I disagree with. I don’t think that’s what being a good student or being a yogi entails.

It does mean being open and receptive to Mr. Iyengar personally, allowing myself to love him. And it also means being willing to put aside, for awhile at least, doubt and my own opinions so that I can experience what he is offering. I know that when I leave the intensive and go back home, all of my own ideas and opinions will be there waiting for me, ready to slip back into like my old Birkenstocks if I so choose. As I see it, those are some of my responsibilities in upholding my end of the student/teacher relationship.

The whole issue of the student/teacher relationship is a very complex and interesting one and certainly requires more space than I have left at the moment. In fact, it would probably require more space that I will ever have. Nonetheless it is an important issue and one about which I have some knowledge, being both a student and teacher, and some opinions. So in the next newsletter we’ll take a look at some of the more significant aspects of that relationship, a relationship which resides at the core of what we do here at Unity Woods.

Have a vivacious spring.

       

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