Yogarosa Blog

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 introduc...

If you know what Supta Baddhakonasana is, and the effect, recall how you feel in class when the teacher announces it in class. In my 20+ years of teaching, it is the second Sanskrit name of a pose my students recall (first one is Savasana!) So imagine how I felt this morning, when I arrived for Prashant’s class, and the thick black cushioned mats were out instead of our regular sticky mats. That could only mean one thing. Restorative and pranayama class. YES!! It’s just what the doctor recommended. After I settled into my space with my pranayama pillows and blankets, I embarked on a Prashant expedition.  We started with rope Sirsasana or supine poses. Our choice of supine poses. (When I have a choice, I find myself asking , body, which one do you need?) Since I had extra blankets and pranayama pillows, I gave some away to share with some of the latecomers, as sometimes the props are not enough for all. It is expected for those who need less props to practice aparigrahah (non ...

Observing and participating in Prashant’s classes are two totally different things. Feeling weak after five days of a very bad cold, today I decided to watch it. The benefits were that I could write his ideas as he spoke. The bad part was that I was writing, and not really doing and feeling what he was instructing. It was also difficult to sit on the stairs and be mindful of students coming and going into the second floor space for classes. It was, however a wonderful experience to watch a room full of students from all walks of life, from all corners of the world, the young, the older, and all body shapes and constitutions. It was educative to watch many variations being modified according to people’s conditions. Everyone was really doing their own practice, but like an expert chef, being guided to have a delectable outcome.  I watched as some faces went inwards, and others were distracted by their neighbors. I watched the students that knew exactly how to set up for the req...

Geetaji’s Ladies Class  July 11, 9:30-11:45am When Geetaji arrives, she finds her seat and sits straight despite her age and ailments. She is sharp, witty, direct, and seems omniscient in the way she can detect students problems and foresee future problems. She is catching us in our mistakes, and our lack of understanding in the poses. She rightly gets frustrated that some basic points have not been understood, so she clearly points out how to improve. She sees the missing links. And not only reinforces them, drives them into us sometimes with a loud voice, sometimes by explaining the damaging effects of improper actions. She cares so much for our wellbeing, that she hammers into our heads what we are supposed to be doing, and doesn’t let us off the hook until we do it. At least she says “ok some of them are doing.” And for a moment she seems satisfied.  Today she spotted a young woman (in the back of the room) and asked her to come to the front. She asked her what...

August 16, 2014 Pune, India I have spent now almost 19 years studying, practicing and teaching Iyengar Yoga. And I have come to the conclusion that I have not learned anything. Everything I've learned has been mostly from my own imagination and perspective. And I suspect, that Except for those with the actual name of Iyengar, most Iyengar Yoga teachers are deluded. Let me explain. There is only one man, BKS Iyengar, who began to share yoga in an innovative way, that he himself does not call Iyengar Yoga. We (the students and fans) call it that. He says he just teaches yoga. But wow, how he teaches yoga! I had the great fortune to be in his presence as a student on a few occasions. The first one was memorable because it was his 80th Birthday Celebration. I was very much a beginner, but the experience propelled me into a whole new world. One memorable moment was, while he was teaching Virabhadrasana 2, and he told us we needed to let our soul spread all the way into the fingert...