Savasana or Final Relaxation Pose

At the end of every yoga class we come into Savasana or Final Relaxation Pose.  But, did you know that the real translation of Savasana is Corpse Pose?  The ancient yogis meant for us to contemplate our own death.

I heard this statistic on the radio this morning. Here in the US, as elsewhere in the world, we have 100% mortality rate.

Right?!

We know that, but we try not to think about it. We will all die someday, in the far future. Not today. Not tomorrow either. But who knows when they will die? This particular program was about being financially prepared for death by making a will. We need a will because we cannot take our stuff with us when we die. So what happens to our stuff? And how important is our stuff?

Imagine an angel comes down to tell you “Straighten up your affairs; you will not awake from your sleep tonight. You are coming with me.” How would that change your life? Would you worry about your stuff?  Making a will can give you some peace of mind, at least in terms of taking care of your material possessions. But contemplating your own death can be trickier. Death can be a great teacher. This ties in beautifully with the yogic idea of contemplating death as a way to live your life more fully.

I was talking about death in class last week. Savasana, or what we call Final Relaxation, literally translates to corpse pose. The ancient yogis meant for us to contemplate our deaths, not to fall asleep after our asana class. If you think about it, on a sub-conscious level, maybe that helps explain why a lot of people skip Savasana. It’s too uncomfortable. Just like contemplating death is too uncomfortable. But, we must not be afraid to discuss death. Let’s not get uptight about it. Instead, let this knowledge help you live every moment of your life fully, because every moment matters.

A friend recently recommended a book about mid-life. The book is called: Life Reimagined, The Science, Art and Opportunity of Midlife - by Barbara Bradley Hagerty.  In the book the author describes a conversation she had at lunch with her mother and another woman. She was recounting how her mother taught her integrity and her father taught her delayed gratification. She says, “Sometimes I wonder when it’s time to stop deferring and start gratifying.” Her mother looks at her and says, “It’s now, honey!  This is the time to enjoy your life. Don’t waste another moment!”  Barbara says something clicked inside her, and in that moment she realized how incredibly fortunate she was. She took stock of her life and counted her blessings, saying to herself, “Remember this moment, Barbara, life is very good.”

As a researcher, Barbara Bradley Hagerty found out that if you do this frequently, if you stop and take mental snapshots of meaningful moments in your life, it gives you the sensation that life is slowing down and it takes on more meaning.

From his book The Untethered Soul, author Michael Singer says this, “Learn to live as if you are facing death at all times and you’ll become bolder and more open. If you live fully, you won’t have any last wishes. You will have lived them every moment. Only then will you have fully experienced life and released the part of you that is afraid of living. There is no reason to be afraid of life. And the fear will fade once you understand that the only thing there is to get from life is the growth that comes from experiencing it. Life itself is your career, and your interaction with life is your most meaningful relationship. Everything else you are doing is just focusing on a tiny subset of life in the attempt to give life some meaning. What actually gives life meaning is the willingness to live it.  It isn’t any particular event; it’s the willingness to experience life’s events.”

What would you do differently if you knew you would not wake up tomorrow morning?

Pose of the Month - Dwi Pada Viparita Dandasana

Dwi means two

Pada means foot,

Viparita means reverse or inverted

Danda means staff pose

This pose is called “Both Feet Inverted Staff Pose” – got it!??  Sometimes the English translation is more obvious, not so with this pose, I think.  This pose is a deeper backbend than wheel, or Urdhva Dhanurasana.  In Dwi Pada, as it is often referred to, the forearms are on the ground, and the legs are straight.  Mr. Iyengar must think this is hard because he rates this pose a 24/60 where as Urdhva Dhanurasana, or Wheel, is a 7/60.

All of the work we have been doing for Scorpion in July will be put to good use as we focus on more back bending in August.  We will continue to open the shoulders, quads and abs and continue to strengthen the legs and core.

Pre-requisites for Dwi Pada are Cobra, Up Dog, Locust and Bow.  Forearm Balance is a great precursor to this posture as well.  Not to worry if you aren’t ready for this asana.   There will always be plenty of modifications.  Instead of doing Dwi Pada, you can be working on Urdhva Dhanurasana (wheel) or Setu Bandha Sarvangasana (bridge).  All of these poses fall under the same category of backbends.  Each one is a variation of a supine backbend and as such they all have similar benefits: they all tone the spine by improving its strength and flexibility and they improve and aid digestion by toning and strengthening the abdominal organs.  These backbends are all invigorating poses, often recommended for relieving depression; and, in India, they are often prescribed for the treatment of cardiovascular ailments*.  There are also supported versions of this pose, to make it more accessible.  Don’t be surprised if you also see a lot of headstands in the coming month.  One way into Dwi Pada is from Wheel, the other way into it is from Headstand.  With all the work we’ve been doing on opening the body in Scorpion we should be ready to play with Dwi Pada.   Keep practicing.  Remember, it’s not about the posture, it’s about the practice!

I’ll see you in class!      Karin

*Please see your doctor about this before self-prescribing.

Top 10 Reasons for Doing Yoga

I recently asked my students to write down their three top reasons for doing yoga.  I received 40 responses.  Basically, I had a list of 142 different answers. Some of you could not restrain yourselves to just three reasons!

Without being able to ask for clarification on responses, I tried to put the answers into groups.  For instance, I put friendship and community together under the one category of community.  I put “Improves my posture” together with stretching and flexibility.  Does it really belong there?  Or is posture improvement more related to strength?   My list is more subjective than objective.  But the overall sentiment comes through.  I edited out a couple of outliers and this is what I came up with:

#10.   Peace and serenity.  5/142.  Someone used the word “oasis”.  The overall feeling for this category was a feeling or a period of calm in their day that they could count on.  I got the sense that this calmness sometimes carried over for a longer period of time than just the duration of the yoga class.

#9.  Spiritual practice.  9/142.  Some of you come to class for a connection to something greater than yourself.  Some spiritual seekers are non-denominational.  But, there were some who felt that their yoga practice deepened their particular faith.  I was heartened to know that people can do yoga and it does not interfere with their religious beliefs.

#8.  Community. 11/142.  A lot of you appreciated being in the company of like-minded individuals.

#7.  Energy and breath. 12/142.  Responses that fit into this category included everything from doing pranayama exercises to being able to take deeper and fuller breaths in general to feeling more energized overall.  Stress and anxiety create restrictions in the breath and some of you commented that find relief from that in your yoga practice.

#6.  Strength. 13/142.  Some of you do yoga to get stronger.  No one said this in their answers, but I would guess that, like most yogis, you don’t want to go into the gym and lift weights.  I always say that yoga is a balance of strength and flexibility; although, flexibility ranked much higher in this poll.  Read on!

#5.  Improved health. 15/142.  Creating this category was tricky.  Certainly peace and serenity, energy and breath and strength are all part of improved health.  But what helped me define this category were the responses that said, “yoga helps me with my… arthritis, low back issues, general issues of pain, headaches, …”

#4.  Feel good about self. 16/142.  What differentiated this category from peace and serenity was the self-reflection.  There seemed to be a distinction between being calm and being able to quiet the negative self-talk.

#3.  Stretching and flexibility. 18/142.  This one is self-explanatory.  More of you want stretching, though, rather than strength.

#2.  Mind, body and spirit. 18/142.  This category encompasses some of the others.  (Perhaps I should have made the top 5 reasons for doing yoga!)  But, what caused me to make a separate category was that some people lumped these three reasons were in one answer.  It seemed that you couldn’t separate the physical effects, from the mental, emotional and spiritual effects.  Apparently yoga makes you feel good on all levels.

#1.  Thoughtfulness. 25/142.  Meditation, centering, thoughtfulness, mindfulness, clarity, enlightenment, focus, grounding, being present, improved awareness, inspiration, nourishment, encouragement and feeling alive were all responses that seemed to fit into this category.  Since this was the number one answer, it is not about the poses, is it?

Thanks to all of you who participated in my informal survey.  I look forward to seeing you in class!

Karin

Finding Balance

We’ve all heard that balance is something we lose as we get older. Losing your balance puts you at risk for falling and getting injured. Working to improve or maintain your balance is important.

Four sensory systems that help us balance:

1. Proprioceptors: These are sensors in the muscles, joints and skin that sense the position and rates of motion of various body parts with respect to one another. As far as we know, proprioceptive skills are learned by practice.

2. Sight: The eyes play a key role in determining if the head or body is being held in an upright position. Since more than one third of the neurons in the brain are involved in some way in the visual process, it is no surprise that the eyes are strongly involved in balancing.

3. The inner ear: The vestibular organs in the inner ears sense both static head positions and movement of the head. Factors that affect the inner ear and can negatively impact balance are: dehydration, excess salt, simple sugars, caffeine, alcohol, nicotine or aspirin.

4. Pressure sensors: There are large numbers of pressure sensors located in the skin in various locations around the body: soles of the feet, big toe, fingers, thumbs, belly, thigh, calf. These sensors indicate any shift in weight. Unfortunately they become less sensitive as we age.

Another thing that is a factor in balance is strength. And it is something we can lose as we age. But, like proprioception, it is a skill we can work on. Assuming that your sensory systems are all in working order, let’s look at some simple things you can do to improve your balance.

Do more yoga. Any yoga posture more elevated than Savasana (Final Relaxation) works on balance. Not just the obvious, one-legged postures such as: Tree, Eagle, Warrior III, Half Moon and Dancer’s Pose. There are three components to balancing in yoga postures: getting into the posture, holding the posture and coming out of the posture. So, make sure you pay attention to getting into and coming out of the pose as much as you do holding the pose.

Hike. Get out and walk on uneven surfaces. We spend so much time walking on engineered and flat surfaces that our feet and legs get lazy. Walking on uneven surfaces develops the muscles in our feet, calves, legs, hips and even some of our upper body as well. This develops strength and proprioception.

Exercise. Naturally, I like to recommend yoga, but any form of exercise will help build strength, coordination and sharpen your proprioceptive sense. Play golf, tennis, ride a bike, lift weights. Do anything that requires you to move your body, makes you sweat and gets you tired out (in a good way).

Stand while getting dressed. (What?!) In my friend Anna’s class one day, she remarked about how one of her senior students has amazing balance. She even has good balance with her eyes closed! When asked what she attributed her great sense of balance to, the student remarked that she never sits down while getting dressed or undressed!

You might say you don’t have time to do exercise, but everybody has to get dressed and undressed. What do you think? Can you do it? I challenge you to give it a try. For one week, at least, stand every time you get dressed and undressed and see if you notice your balance getting better. And then, let me know how it’s going.

Working on any of these postures will help you improve your balance by increasing your strength and proprioceptive sense.
As one of my yoga teachers says, “Balancing is a significant part of every yoga pose more elevated than Savasana.”

5 Tips for Doing Yoga on the Beach

Do you love going to the beach in the summer? I do. And I love doing yoga on the beach. Some resort towns offer yoga classes on the beach and that can be great, but it is often fun to just do your own practice. I love to go for a long walk, stretch out and do a practice and then go for a swim.

If the idea of practicing yoga on the beach appeals to you, I thought I’d share some of my personal do's and don'ts before you head out:

1. Do your practice on the beach before 10:00 am or after 4:00 pm when the sun is not as strong. I especially prefer the earlier time because I am a morning person. But the real reason I prefer these times is that I do not like to practice yoga on the beach while wearing sunscreen. Sand sticks to the sunscreen and makes me uncomfortable.  Of course you can wear athletic clothing that has an SPF factor if you are concerned about sun exposure, but I like to get a little of direct sun in the off hours for the production of Vitamin D. Also, unless you like attracting a lot of attention, the off hours give you a little more space.

2. Don't take your sticky mat to the beach!  Sticky mats were made to work on hard floors, not sand, dirt or even grass. Sticky mats will attract and hold onto sand.  When teaching yoga at the studio, I have often stepped on a pile of grit on the floor from someone's sandy yoga mat. It is hard to get the sand out of the mat. Even after washing sometimes sand remains. Let your hands and feet feel the earth. It is grounding and good for the soul.

3. Use a towel when necessary. I use a towel mostly to keep my hands clean.  When I do Downward facing Dog, I place my hands on a towel and keep my feet on the sand.  I definitely use my towel for seated and lying down poses.  When the towel gets scrumbled up and sandy, I just shake it out and reposition it on a fresh patch of sand.  Although I have to say that I love doing a split directly on the soft sand.  Your heels will dig a little trench and the warm soft sand will support your whole thigh in a way that allows you to relax into the stretch.  Usually after a split, I might rinse off in the water, do a Seated Forward Bend on my towel and then do Savasana.

4. Change your practice to suit the conditions.  Instead of coming into your standing poses from Down Dog, start them from Tadasana.  This way your hands don't get sandy.  You can do Sun Salutes directly on the sand. That will inspire you to not lower onto your belly, but to hold the Low Push Up and transition into Upward Facing Dog instead of going to your belly for Cobra. If you do need to lower to your belly, either do it on a towel, or skip the sun salutes.

5. Find the most level part of the beach to practice on. Sometimes this is hard as a lot of beaches slope to the water. You can adapt most of your poses to a slight incline, but headstand and a lot of the hand balancing on anything but a truly flat surface is tricky.

Revolved Triangle on the Beach

Bound Triangle

While I specifically mention the beach, you can apply these principles to any outdoor yoga session.  You don't need a yoga mat to do yoga, sometimes it is helpful and sometimes it just gets in the way.  I hope you get out there and enjoy doing yoga outside. Working on different surfaces causes your muscles to work in a different way. It’s a refreshing addition to your practice.

Have fun out there and feel free to post a picture of yourself doing yoga on the beach, or any other place outside.
I’ll see you in class! Karin

What is yoga?

Is it exercise? Religion? Lifestyle?

I originally got into yoga for the physical aspects. I was told that it would help me relax, and it did. I liked the way I felt after a yoga practice—calmer, certainly, but also more flexible and stronger, too.

In the yoga studio where I first started practicing, there were these printed signs around the ceiling: Ahimsa, Asteya, Satya, Aparigraha, Brahmacarya, Saucha, Santosha, Tapas, Svadhyaya, Ishvara Parnidhana ... I remember vaguely wondering what they meant but ultimately I did not care enough to inquire until several years later.

Eventually I learned that these were the first two steps on the path to yoga: the Yamas, or how you act in the world and how you treat others, and the Niyamas, or observances and practices that you do for yourself. I also learned that while the yoga poses were a doorway inside of yourself, these Yamas and Niyamas were the real tools that helped you be calmer and more content in your life.

It seems that I followed the natural progression of most people in yoga of starting with the physical when you are young and moving toward the more philosophical as you age. (I was in my early 20s when I started.) As a general rule, as people get older, they tend to turn more inward, becoming more philosophical.

Over the years, I have become more interested in the other steps on the path to yoga other than just asana. There are eight of these steps. The first two are the "Yamas" and the "Niyamas." The third is "Asana," which is what we practice as Hatha Yoga, and then "Pranayama," or breath work.

The next four steps are about turning inward. This was probably the real reason I wanted to get into yoga, but I just didn't know it. It took many years to get here. Like most people, I resisted these steps.  I just wanted to do the poses.  These four steps start with "Pratyahara," or withdrawal of the senses. This is the ability to not be swayed so much by our senses; to not be affected as much by attachment and aversion, which is often the cause of suffering. The next step is "Dharana," or concentration. If you can control your senses, then you can concentrate. It is hard to concentrate when you are being pulled by different likes and dislikes. After you develop the ability to concentrate, then comes meditation or "Dhyana."

Meditation isn't something you do; it is a state that can be entered into after controlling the senses and developing your ability to concentrate. When you can keep your concentration and stay in the present moment, without worrying about the past or being anxious about the future, you might be able to enter into a state of "Samadhi." This is the last step on the ladder of yoga. It is often called Bliss, which can be misleading. It is more like a calm and connected state. While Joy is part of Samadhi, it is not the joy of winning the lottery. It is more of an inward contentment and sense of connection with the world around you. Most yoga practitioners experience brief states of Samadhi. Maybe you have, too, and just didn't know what it was.

If you are ready to learn more about yoga, it might be time for you to sign up for an immersion experience. I recommend that you start with the Foundations Module of my Yoga Teacher Training Program. You don't need to want to become a teacher to take this module. This first step is simply to learn more about yoga. You will learn how to develop your own home practice. I will introduce you to Pranayama, or breathing exercises. We will begin to develop habits that lead toward meditation. We will also contemplate the Yamas and the Niyamas, the practices that lead to more happiness and contentment in your life.

Contact me to find our more about teacher training.

Pose of the Month: Vrischikasana (Scorpion Posture)

You can see how this posture got its name; it looks just like a scorpion. There are two versions of Vrischikasana. The first one is done from Forearm Balance, or Pinca Mayurasana. This is an easier version of Scorpion to balance in, but it also requires more stretch in the shoulders. The second version is done from Handstand. It is useful to play with both of them.

Prerequisites: You need strength, shoulder flexibility and a deep back bend to do Scorpion.

• Strength: There are two separate areas of strength necessary for Vrischikasana: One is core and the other is shoulders. You can build strength in both of these areas at the same time by practicing your ability to hold the various plank positions. There are four versions of Plank Pose on your hands: forward, to the right side, to the left side and Reverse Plank. In the beginning, try holding each one for 20 seconds. Build up to being able to hold each one for a minute. You can also try holding Plank Pose on your forearms.

• Shoulder flexibility: To do Scorpion and keep your shoulders and your rotator cuff safe, you need to work on stretching your arms overhead. You should be able to stretch your arms overhead and have them be in a straight line with your body without arching your back. If you cannot do this, it is important to work on stretching your shoulders by doing poses like Warrior III with your hands on a ledge, or in Down Dog.

• Back bends: As you can see in my Scorpion, I cannot get my feet to my head, yet. So, it is not necessary to be able to do so to work on the pose, but you should be pretty strong in your Wheel. Try practicing Wheel against the wall. Start by placing your wrist creases at the corner of the wall and the floor. When you lift up into Wheel, move your chest in the direction of the wall. If your chest can touch the wall, you can begin to work on coming down on your forearms in Wheel. Press your elbows against the wall and begin to move your chest toward the wall. Camel is another great pose that will help with your Scorpion. More than Wheel, Camel will also work to strengthen your abs. From Camel, you can progress to what is often called Pigeon Droppings. This is where you drop back from Camel to your hands.

• Arm balances: No matter which of the two Scorpion versions you try, you should be pretty comfortable in Forearm Balance and in Handstand. This doesn’t mean that you have to be able to balance in these poses in the middle of the room, but you should be relatively strong in each one of these at the wall.

Remember not to rush the pose. Take your time and enjoy the process. Set small, achievable goals for yourself and celebrate each time you reach one. You don’t want to get stung by forcing yourself into Scorpion!

Pose of the Month: Kasyapasana (Half Bound Lotus Side Plank)

The pose dedicated to the sage Kasyapa.

Any of the postures dedicated to a sage are among the most difficult poses to work on. They are often arm balances like Kasyapasana, and they take persistence. They are also among the most gratifying to achieve because of the hard work and dedication you have to put in to get them.

You already know yoga is transformational: The practice strengthens your body, focuses your mind, and tempers your nervous system. But the most powerful shift occurs when you realize you can do something you didn’t think was possible. And when you exceed your own expectations, you feel a sense of empowerment that flows into every facet of your life.

For many students this occurs when they finally achieve an arm balance. Watching someone perform a challenging pose can be inspiring, and they may make it look deceptively easy. The process of breaking down a posture and working on its individual parts can be a fun challenge if you allow it to be.

Kasyapasana is a combination of Side Plank and Half Lotus with a bind. Most arm balances require core and shoulder strength. But this arm balance also requires hip and shoulder flexibility. The other unusual thing about this particular arm balance is that in most poses that include Half Lotus, the hip is flexed. This makes it easier to bind the foot. Kasyapasana makes it more challenging by extending the hip.

To work on this arm balance, we will work on the following poses:

For the core strength: Side Plank and Side Plank with Tree Variation

About Me

I started doing yoga in 1980. Someone recommended a yoga class to help me relax. So, I signed up.

I don't know if I had a choice back then, but I landed in an Iyengar class with a fabulous teacher by the name of Connie Fernandez. (She moved to New Mexico in the mid-1980s, and I lost touch with her. If anyone knows of her whereabouts, I would love to let her know how much she inspired me!) She used to read us stories while we were in headstand to help pass the time. My favorite story was "The Face of Jesus on a Tortilla." That was probably a 10-minute headstand!

My only interest in yoga back then was purely physical. It did help me to relax, but it also helped me stay in shape between seasons of whatever sport I was into: biking, snow boarding, running, hiking, surfing and windsurfing.

After Connie moved, I floated around to find another yoga teacher. Soon, I discovered that Joan White, one of the top Iyengar teachers in the US, lived very close to me. I started taking classes at her house. It was great! If there were other styles of yoga making their presence known, I was unaware of them. I loved the precision and alignment of Iyengar Yoga.

When I turned 40, I hit my midlife crisis. I quit my job teaching Woodshop at Germantown Friends School after 18 wonderful years there. I moved out of the house that I was literally born in and where I lived my entire life, and my husband and I adopted a sweet little boy from Korea! Suddenly, I was a stay-at-home mom in Bucks County, and I didn't quite know what to do with myself. Fortunately, I knew enough yoga to have a home practice, but I needed a teacher and some adult contact for myself. I found Vidyaa Yoga Studio, a local studio with childcare! Who cared that it was Power Yoga (vinyasa style with heat). I was happy to have found a place to practice and a community of friends. At Vidyaa, I also uncovered my desire to become a yoga teacher. That was back in 1999. In 2000, I became certified to teach Power Yoga under Cassandra Kish and have been teaching ever since.

Surprisingly, after all of my Iyengar classes, I loved Power Yoga. I loved the challenge and the flow, but I noticed that some areas of my flexibility weren't improving. I knew quite a bit about alignment from my previous practice, but that was from the point of view of a student. As a teacher, I needed to know more. So, I took an Iyengar teacher training course with Theresa Rowland from Studio Yoga in Madison, NJ. That helped answer my questions of "why?" and "how?" As my knowledge grew, so did my awareness of other styles of yoga. I studied Ashtanga yoga with Shari Simon of Sun Dog (even before there was a Sun Dog Studio), and when she sponsored David Swenson to come to town, I studied with him.

As we know, the only constant in the universe is change. So, from Vidyaa, I moved with my friends Melinda Drellich and Susan John to Flip Dog. I continued to teach and study and grow. When Anusara yoga came into the area, I studied that, too. I did teacher trainings and Immersions with Sue Elkind and Naime Jezzeny of Dig, and with Michelle Synnestdvedt of Prasad, not to mention studying with John Friend. In time, I became an Anusara-Inspired teacher. I loved the heart-opening qualities of the practice and the interweaving of the spiritual concepts into the physical practice.

Another change occurred when Flip Dog closed and I moved to the Solebury Club and to Yogaphoria. And here I am, 30 years later, still studying, practicing and teaching. Along the way I have studied a lot of different styles with a lot of different teachers, some local and some nationally known. I have learned a lot from each one and I am indebted to each and every one of them. I have learned that there are a lot of ways to do poses; each way has its benefits and trade-offs. That gives me a lot of tools in my tool kit.

Another benefit of 30 years of practice, besides a lengthy bio, is that I have worked through my share of injuries and good and bad times with my own practice. I've torn my hamstring three times, and I broke my foot and was on crutches for 12 weeks (but still practiced and taught, which is just one of the reasons why I ask my student teachers to learn to teach a class without practicing along with your students, because one day you might be forced to, and if you don't already know how then you're sunk). I also have some personal experience with scoliosis and arthritis and menopause ;-). There were times when I felt that I was a fraud as a teacher because of my personal setbacks and my own physical limitations and felt that I should quit. Over the course of my practice I have both loved and hated different poses at different times. I remember when my hamstrings were tight and I thought I'd never be able to touch the floor. Then I tore my hamstring and gave up caring and humbly started over. I can't tell you when I finally was able to touch the floor, but I know that I can now do it anytime and it so doesn't matter. One of my favorite Ramanand Patel quotes is "I've been to the floor and back, so I can tell you, God is not in the floor!" I still can't do a handstand in the middle of the room, but I am getting closer because I keep working on it. Some day I will be able to do it (or I won't and it, too, won't matter). Over the years I have also become more and more interested in the philosophical and spiritual aspects of my practice, as anyone who comes to my classes can attest. Still, I would have to say that my strengths as a teacher lie in my ability to read the body and see what is going on physically.

A word in Sanskrit that has a lot of meaning for me is "Abhyasa." The word Abhyasa means a serious practice, continued over a long period of time without interruption. I've kept at this practice for 30 years. If there is a period of time when I can't or don't practice, I feel it, and when I do return to my practice, I feel as if I'm coming home. That has sustained me, over time, more than anything else.

Most of what we know about yoga, we owe to B.K.S. Iyengar

I was very saddened to hear of the passing of Mr. Iyengar on August 20th. B.K.S. Iyengar was one of the founding fathers of modern yoga as we know it in the West.

Iyengar was sickly as a child, and he credited yoga with helping him gain his good health. His method of yoga was to use props to support the body to put it into the best possible alignment so that the postures and their benefits were accessible even to those with physical limitations. So, if you have ever used a block or a strap, or even a yoga mat, you have benefited from the yoga of Mr. Iyengar.

I have a favorite quote from Mr. Iyengar. I couldn't put my hands on it in time for this newsletter, but it went something like this:

Attention to alignment in asana is discipline; discipline leads to perfection and perfection is god.

To me this means we should show up regularly for our practice. We should strive to do the best with what we have and not worry about what someone else has or can do. If we do this with our whole hearts and with undivided attention, then we will shine with an inner light and know inner contentedness and bliss.