Day 2 RIMYI Teachers Programme Pune, India

Class with Prashantji Notes

Learning begins in the invocation. 

We must involve the heart. 

The heart is such an organ that can involve all the organs like a queen bee and bees. Not the case of all other organs. Not all organs are “liverized”, but all organs can be “heartisized.”

All organs are involved in the state of love. I love from the bottom of the heart. 

Whole hearted actions. The heart has such a gravity, that is 100% involvement, such as the state of being in love. Guruji gave 100%, and made is give 100%.

All organs getting connected for connected unified conditions. That is yoga.

We can all speak, but we can not speak in such a way that there will be clarity for all who listen because of human doubt. Get clarity. It’s like having worms for vrittis. Let me apply a pesticide to those worms. We all have thought processes.

When we practice, don’t just do the pose like Light on Yoga. That book was written for those to be introduced to the subject, but we have to explore, learn, and study. Don’t just do Trikonasana like the mere action of doing something like sweeping, dusting. Experiment, observe. We should progress, even from LOY if we keep studying. When you read LOY in 1966, and when you read it now, there should be a change. Something is wrong if you read the book now and nothing has changed.

Why am I doing it? What’s the emotion in trikonasana? This is the perfect Trikonasana. Do we do this every day? This is why the yoga education is so important. When Guruji started teaching in the 60’s, or 70’s, there was a change. 

When Guruji taught in the 1960’s in Swaziland, he was putting everyone into Urdhva Dhanurasana, dropping one at a time! He didn’t do that in the 70’s or 80’s. The beginners course changed. He taught beginners in Pune one way, beginners in Mumbai in a different way, taking into consideration conditions, weather, location, and the students themselves. How did he teach a 17 or 19 year old compared to a 65 year old? Open architecture. You can’t have a standard recipe for a beginners class.

Subjective diagnostics:

First and foremost priority is peripheral priority

1-physical conditions

2-mental aspects of diagnostics

Example consider children at a picnic. They have to be taken into consideration for their needs will be different than everyone else’s.

Process of yoga

Surface conditions 

What should I be doing for this priority?

Peripheral negotiations

Internal planes will have different calls.how does this slowly come up layer by layer? So many layers!

This is why our training is so limited. Training has been for assessment. Not for yoga. This is harmful because so many will become teachers.

Local teachers never learned to become teachers.

If students want to learn for teaching, it will spoil them. In China, the perspective has been given that they will teach sooner or later. We must understand that we are dealing with human matter. Guruji was always changing and evolving. His teachings changed. How a senior teacher taught in 1979is very different that how she teaches now. 

We should honor everyone’s perspective on Iyengar Yoga. (Different students were taught different things over the years.) we must have this perspective on individuality. It’s not a “system” as such,

If I’m angry today how will I teach? The human aspect should be there. Our teaching will differ according to our own state. If you’re tired, you May think you don’t want to tire your students. If I’m angry, I’ll make you angry too. We don’t want to create robotic teachers.

The teaching should be individualized. If you are very honest, you become very intolerant of others. In yoga psychology you must be tolerant. Not honest. Human mind is so complex. It’s not my teaching that is so complex. The problem is that we are complicated, and it’s a complicated theme. We are all given a microcosm. No one should be the custodian of others. 

Let the students learn YOG. If we were to poll each individual here, and ask how do you conceive Iyengar Yoga, each one will have their own narrative. Guruji didn’t teach Iyengar Yoga. He had the tradition behind him. He had Patanjali teachings on asana, pranayama. Patanjali talks about yoga. If we form our own perceptions, we will force them onto our clans. I am not imposing my interactions of mind body and breath. I make you find yours. Do I sleep as Prashant or an Indian, or Guruji’s son? Sleep is a levelizer. In yoga we are all levelized. We are not Canadian, Australian. We only have those distinguishing factors when we are awake. In yoga we are supposed to go in. We must get back to the pursuit of the Classical Teachings of Yoga. 

Let there be maturity in the students then make them teachers. Don’t rush. We need to know how to consider the students needs. Help them with their back pain or other ailment, and then shove down their throat the subject of yoga. Otherwise the teacher will be known as the one that solves all the problems for everyone. Don’t misconstrue what yoga is. So many have a commitment to Iyengar Yoga. You have your own narrative. Have your committee not to the subject of yoga. When you teach your students you have to know if the students want that. They may be happy only to reduce their pain.

“I teach something in YOU. YOU might not want it, but in YOU, wants it.” Something you needs yoga. It might be needed tomorrow. When I say move your spine, YOU are communicating better with your spine. How to communicate with your body matter. That will improve your communication.

There was so much depth to Guruji’s teachings that some things went unnoticed, like the stars shining, but being overcome by the blazing sun. When demonstrating, don’t just present, but explain what you did. Always tell the acts and processes, ie, move the shoulder blades to open the chest. Reveal this diamond to your students!

Don’t just tell them to relax the face, show what it looks like. In LOY, show Guruji’s many poses, one face! Everything will reflect on the face. There is no standard way of teaching. Spreading Iyengar Yoga is a greater responsibility than just teaching.

Don’t try to reform the world. Your micro mind will become miserable.lets not get intolerant of others. If you feel someone is malpracticing, let RIMYI know (report to the authorities) instead of getting hurt or damaging your consciousness. Let the authorities take the action. Don’t worry about what will happen, and don’t let your psyche get spoiled. The only way to maintain purity is to keep the system confined. But if it’s spreading, there will be dust collected along the way. Some people may take time to develop their consciousness. Don’t try to police the world. Let’s work on our own perfection and not try to be world perfectors. Don’t be bothered by the restlessness of the world. Teach them what has to be done then integrate mind body breath awareness as an interactive culture and not just muscle by muscle.

Notice the evolution of the books,as he evolved, so did Guruji. Prashant saw the changes over the years. Transformations in the changes may have gone unnoticed by others. Although I was not assessing him, I was registering the changes. I had that privilege. In those changes, I started to understand better the wisdom and philosophy of yoga. I learned by watching him. He had the material and it was manifesting through him. The philosophy of the Gita will show you your own karma baggage. You are a great model of the creator. You are one special one. No one will ever be like you. We all have unique fingerprints. What a great designer! 

Assessment of the student must be left to the teacher which sees the student regularly. To be honest you have to be fearless. Teacher and assessor not allowed to assess my own students. Human condition will interfere because it’s like love at first sight. There is also hate at first sight, and for no reason. We can look to astrology for this in relationships. 

However, some things stand out in IyengarYoga.

-Timing

-Sequencing

-intricacies 

We don’t have standard techniques. We have to crystallize these concepts in a different way.

Timing 

Example:

How long do you stay in Supta Baddhakonasana for a stomach ache? Time scale is  important. No time scale for kapotasana. 

For shoulder problems, motions and actions are important

Timing is not just staying.

Chronological time

Young man 30 minute Sirsasana

65 year old Sirsasana 

Valid concept of timing is Related to individuals, asanas. When it comes to remedies, condition matters. 

What is the concept of timing? Stay as much as needed, not as much as you can.

Sequencing

Bent backwards, don’t bend forwards. Sarvangasana after Sirsasana.

In Yogasanas, there is a different consideration.

Guruji took adventures

What is the point of doing any asana after that? The hierarchy of asanas are relaxed if doing for yogasana. 

We should not tell everyone that such a pose is not good for everyone because we have a problem. We should try. Once you are mature, the rules can be bent.

There are many kinds of Sirsasana, and ways of doing Sarvangasana after a particular Sirsasana. There are aspects of the effect. Read LOY and read between the lines! 

How is your Sirsasana before forward bends? Before backbends? After standing poses?

There is a chemistry of the poses. Sarvangasana is a lunar pose, Sirsasana is a solar pose. Our concept of sequencing will become broader when we understand the chemical processes. Don’t do it for photographs sake. Become more aware of these processes. 

** “Don’t just conduct classes. Educate and empower! Don’t just teach, empower!”**

We must find the proper statements, proper manipulations, proper terminologies for the purpose of right teaching. 

Old man/ old woman psychosis:

A student will never mature when they say “ I’ll do as much as I can.”

Don’t get so caught up in the perfection of the poses. Obsession with poses will create problems.

Exploration never ends like outer space. It’s endless.

In the afternoon, Abhijata gave us a booklet and presentation on New Proposed Guidelines for Assessment. It is a very comprehensive draft, which she told us began it’s inception with Geeta’s input and recommendations. We then met in our associations and discussed. As change usually comes with apprehension. There are people who are excited about the new proposed assessment process and some who feel the current system is working. This was the feedback I got from various random friends in various countries. 

There is more to be discussed, and details to be laid out. Stay tuned.