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| Hey all , ive been doing bikrams yoga at home for around 6 months now to try to overcome chronic back problems ive made some good progress but the hips are soo so tight and not looking like improving.
ive heard about the inyengar style bit , just wondering for maybe some tips should i give it a go if not why?.
the problem i can see is in sydney there is only 1 place doing inyengar that i can see and im 45 mins from the city.does anyone do it at home??? |
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Expert Yogi
Posts: 2479
  
Location: A Blue State |
Hi TSR,
Yes, I do Iyengar yoga at home all the time. You can work with the sequences
in the back of Light on Yoga or other Iyengar books (like the one from
the Mehtas in London). A class once a week or so will give you things to work
on between classes and guidance on what you are doing.
I think that working with the Iyengar method will help you with your back a lot more
than doing Bikram yoga. Talk to an Iyengar teacher about your back problem, and
they may be able to suggest some things. There's an Australian Iyengar association
(which you can find through Google) that may be able to ID some teachers who are
closer to your location.
Hope this helps,
.............. bg |
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| Hiya. There are definately more than one iyengar yoga teachers in sydney visit http://www.iyengaryoga.asn.au/find/teachers.html for a list of teachers in and around sydney. Peter Thomson comes highly reccomended as well as pixie illas. Enjoy. |
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| damien - 2006-02-25 8:22 PM
Hiya. There are definately more than one iyengar yoga teachers in sydney visit http://www.iyengaryoga.asn.au/find/teachers.html for a list of teachers in and around sydney. Peter Thomson comes highly reccomended as well as pixie illas. Enjoy.
thanks guys , i find a woman teacher in oatley which is 5 mins from my place i can't get in till may but im still excited in the meantime il continue my bikram at home. |
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Expert Yogi
Posts: 8442
 
| Trent, do mention your back issues to your teacher and don't push through pain without telling her. Iyengar can be really great for backs (as can Bikram or other forms) but sometimes it does take some detective work to find out exactly what works best for an individual. I hear your Iyengar teacher in Oz are amazing  |
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| I dont know how the teachers in Oz compare as they are all i've known. The studio where I work we are going to have a senior teacher visit from the US can't remember the name though. It will be interesting to see how the teaching differs. |
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| I have done the Hot but Inyengar is where I find the most benefit. It is where I find the challenge on the triangle (mind, body, soul).
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| Balen - 2006-03-17 7:50 AM
. It is where I find the challenge on the triangle
iyengar yoga is where i actually learned how to do triangle (both bikram and classical)
its funny, in bikram classes i could never get a straight answer on what i needed to be doing with my hips in triangle pose, but they cleared it up in my first iyengar class...
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| I found that Bikram is not hip opener as well. But I've seen a great improvement since I started Hatha (with Sivananda focus). Though I have to agree that Bikram really works with the back pain. Sometimes I fill soreness in my neck and shoulder blades, and feel the pressure in particularly standing stick pose and some other postures in the class, but surprisingly it disappears after the class! I tried Iyengar for the first time today. The teacher was too strict. Are all the Iyengar teachers like that? |
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| iyengar, as a style, cares very much about form. that's the point of the method. power yoga styles, including bikram, care about form, but not nearly to the same degree at all. don't give up on the teacher *just* yet. they may not be right for you, but they may not have gotten a good chance to know you yet either. give them another two or three classes, if you possibly can. did you let the teacher know about your problems, openly? that makes a huge difference too. you need to respect your body, and if the teacher tries to tell you to do something that you know you can't do, you have to tell him/her that you can't do it, and why. |
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Expert Yogi
Posts: 8442
| I have heared that Iyengar teachers are "strict" but some are more, shall I say "serious?" than others. Every Iyengar teacher I have ever studied under (including Geeta Iyengar) has been detail oriented and teaches as BKS Iyengar has instructed, and every single one has had a great sense of humour. Some tap into that more than others and some may have a sense of humour that appeals to some and not others (as in the rest of life  ) I don't think I have ever had an Iyengar class where I haven't laughed. But if you don't like details and are not interested in learning the depth of the poses, Iyengar won't work well for you. I strongly suggest going to at least 6 -8 classes to get a good idea of the style. Every class will be different  |
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Location: London, England | Hi Tourist,
I went to the Mehta's place and got taught by Geeta's brother-I'm glad she's got a sense of humour, because he was the most miserable, egotistical individual i have ever had the misfortune to be taught by-maybe her sense of humour is reaction to his lack of it!
Nick |
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Expert Yogi
Posts: 8442
| I have heard that you have to "get" Prashant |
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Location: London, England | Hi Tourist,
Yes, I guess you may be right-but he was so rude to everybody, including his regulars-I never wanted to go back-he didnt seem to embody any of the virtues that i would associate with inner peace-he didnt come across as knowledgeable, just arrogant-still, maybe i should have persevered
Nick |
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| Dear Nick:
I know Prashant from my birth, that is for last 49 years. He is actually a very kind person and highly spiritual. I have a feeling that his South Indian accent and mannerism which is foreign to a softspoken westener may create an impression such as yours. I know from my experience that he has a good sense of humor, if NOT total. It is also possible that he was shocked to experience a cultural state of a western country as compared to his own place. And, I am not boasting since I am from India or something (my wife is European www.authenticyoga.org/nancy.html) and I have lived in India for 30 years and 20 years in Western countries, and also have hundreds of western friends), but there is NO doubt in my mind that Western countries lack culture and spirituality and are from where India is. Therefore, his feelings may have expressed in the class, which I am not defending, but just trying to guess.
I do appreciate your statement and I am not saying what you are saying is wrong. But, I just wanted to throw some light on what I know of Prashant. I meet him each time I visit Pune.
Lastly, the I style itself has some hard voice. And, in that respect Manuso Manas may be correct, otherwise I disagree with M.M.
I apologize if I offended you in any way, and also on behalf of my teacher Prashant. |
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Expert Yogi
Posts: 2479
Location: A Blue State | Yes, Prashantji definitely affects some people that way. On the question of arrogance, generally, I'd have to say that attitudes and expectations about how teachers treat students are a bit different than in Pune than in the West. As a result, the Iyengar style of teaching can be rather striking upon Westerners -- ! So I don't think it would be fair to say that Prashant is arrogant by Pune standards. As to whether one likes his sequences, that is a separate question. |
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Location: London, England | Dear Neel,
Bear in mind, that this was sixteen years ago or so! point taken, though, it may just be cultural or social etiquette (I'm apparently not too strong on that either!)
Take care
Nick |
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| Thanks Nuclear eggset and Tourist for your suggestions and motivation. I tried the teacher yesterday again (You see that it took me 2 weeks to convince myself to give it another shot! Lol) And it wasn't as bad as the first time, and there is a reason for that. It was only the teacher and me in the first session, and obviously he focused on my each and every muscle, and it was really difficult to take! So, I'm going to attend his classes once in a while "to go deeper" into the postures, I want to become an instructor myself, so I have to be able to perform correct alignment alongside many other things an instructor should do!
I tried an Ashtanga class the day before yesterday, and I really enjoyed it! And my first Ashtanga class was way better than my first Iyengar one!  |
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iyengar ????????
