Faculty Yoga Study in Pune, India

I live in a neighborhood called Model Colony, walking distance from the Institute where I study 6 days a week. Schedules here vary, but a typical day for me begins early at home with pranayama, then asana practice in the yoga hall from 9 to noon. This is followed by time for lunch and rest. The library is open in the afternoons for reading/studying any aspect of yoga from philosophy to history to asana itself. Late afternoons, I often observe the medical classes, where students with serious conditions are given therapeutic sequences and guided through them by the Iyengars and their assistants. Finally, I take class from 6-8 pm, usually with Geeta Iyengar (Mr. Iyengar's daughter).

Geeta's teaching has been incredible, due in part to her amazing asana sequences and directions. But more importantly, she is constantly pushing us and leading us to greater awareness within. We are being taught not simply to do the poses at the physical level - we are taught to be conscious there, to move inward. In a recent backbends class, Geeta described that we all face obstacles to remaining conscious. These obstacles prevent us from going further in the poses and deeper in ourselves. In class or practice, she said, one must be as alert to these obstacles as one would be to a speck in the eye. A tiny speck makes us stop, pay attention. We willingly, even eagerly, remove the speck before going on. So it should be with any obstacle to conscious practice. We must be sharply aware of the obstacles and willing to work with them, to ultimately move beyond them. This is a level of yoga that often gets lost or omitted in the West and that is transformational. And this is the practice that I'm absorbed in here and excited about.

In my library readings, I've been studying some of Mr. Iyengar's writings in Astadala Yogamala, volumes 1 and 2. Here are a couple of excerpts pointing us inward:

"By nature the mind is split. Mind on the one side is caught up with the pleasures of the world and on the other seeks freedom from them. If we get totally engrossed in the practice of asana, the mind develops steadiness, and then the penetration begins from that steadiness. We can thus measure how deeply the asana reaches into the unfathomable self inside. This is the practice of self-study. Practice with faith, practice with courage, practice with zest, practice with understanding, and practice uninterruptedly and reverentially."

May you each be learning and growing in yoga and in your life.
Warmly,
Tamarie