Letter from the Ramamani Iyengar Memorial Yoga Institute

Monday, February 12, 2001   Hotel Chetak   Pune, India

 

     Fifteen days ago I fled the ice and snow of wintry Maryland for the sunny, warm and dry days of Pune.  It feels more like fifteen weeks!  By Indian standards Pune is modern, friendly and clean.  I will vouch for the friendly part.  Traffic is chaotic, yet I have seen only one accident.

 

     My first ten days at the yoga institute have been everything except easy.  Classes are a crowded mixture of Indian and foreign, beginning and advanced students.  There was neither an orientation program nor any information, beyond a handwritten schedule of classes, to help me get my bearings.  Classes last two hours and are arduous.  Twice I have missed classes due to sickness and/or exhaustion.  Otherwise it has been a fantastic experience so far!

 

     Mr. B.K.S Iyengar, whom many address in the traditional manner as Guruji, retired from teaching several years ago.  Classes are taught primarily by his daughter, Geeta, and son, Prashant Iyengar.  Guruji can be seen receiving visitors and students on his doorstep, just a few paces from the entrance to the Institute.  Last Friday morning he practiced along with us during our open practice session.  Although physically limited, Mr. Iyengar still takes an active role in the day-to-day administration.

 

     This morning’s 7:00 a.m. class was typical.  After chanting Om three times, followed by the Patanjali invocation, Prashant started off the new week with backbends.  There were lots of grimaces and groans and a few resistant balks as he walked behind those of us leaning out from the wall ropes to brusquely press into the sacrum with his foot.  Afterwards, I joined the others in a passive backbend over a chair with elbows clasped firmly while Prashant held my hips and pressed his foot downwards on my forearms.  Why, oh why, didn’t I stay in bed this morning!  A few other postures culminated with Urdhva Dhanurasana, Upward Facing Wheel Pose.  I am glad Bob helped me with this one; other than the discomfort from the wrist I sprained falling on the ice before I left, this one was relatively easy.

 

     Not only are Prashant’s classes physically challenging, they are also conceptually  challenging as well.  Next we shifted to Marichyasana blindfolded, to learn to monitor the many aspects of this or any posture: skeletal, muscular, breath circuits, pranic, observation, reflection, conceptual, imaginative.  “What are you doing and what are you not doing?  Holding the breath out, make all adjustments. Now hold the posture and observe.  Learn to be in the posture.  Economize effort.  Work smarter, not harder.” Easy for you to say!  Prashant describes the yogi, when all faculties—physical, emotional, mental, spiritual—are engaged in the asana, as being like “the sugar which, when dissolved in your cup of tea, is no longer sugar.”

 

     In spite of the difficulties of getting here, of living here and of the classes themselves, I am happy and blessed to be here.  “After all,” remarked another American student, “this IS the source (of what many of us know as yoga practice).”  There is much, much more to share with you: I spent my birthday yesterday at the Osho International Ashram.  But that’s another story altogether!  I hope to see you at the slide presentation and discussion on Sunday, April 8 at 6:30 at the Yoga Center of Columbia.