 |
  |
 |
|
|
|||||||||
|
|||||||||
Site Areas  |
store | | | articles | | | forums | | | studios | | | vacations |
|
yoga | massage | fitness | wellness | meditation |
|
|
For future visits, link to "http://www.YogiSource.com/forums".
Make a new bookmark.
Tell your friends so they can find us and you!
Coming soon ... exciting new changes for our website, now at YogiSource.com.
 Question for Iyengar TeachersModerators: Moderators Jump to page : 1 Now viewing page 1 [25 messages per page] | View previous thread :: View next thread |
| Yoga -> Iyengar Yoga | Message format |
nuclear_eggset |
| ||
| |||
| tourist |
| ||
Expert Yogi Posts: 8442      | NE - this is a HUGE question. I'll try to get back to it but have to dash to a workshop right now  | ||
| |||
| nuclear_eggset |
| ||
| |||
|
| ||
| i suppose i'm not an iyengar teacher, but as a practitioner experienced in a variety of yoga styles, i'll weigh in... yoga practice should draw from your entire life experience. to think you could take out non-iyengar elements from your practice is folly. if anything, adding iyengar yoga to your repetoire would only serve to strengthen your practice of other styles. the alignment and propping you learn in iyengar yoga applies to all yoga you could think of. its certainly worked that way for me. i read an interview with manouso manous (what a great name) and he commented that only three people in the world are practicing iyengar yoga: BKS, Geeta, and Prashant. Everyone else is doing some mutation of iyengar style, say, "Nuclear Eggset Yoga." or whatever. if you go into iyengar training, there will probably be some changes to your practice and teaching philosophy. i don't think, though, that these are things applied in order to restrict you. i've taken classes from a wide variety of iyengar teachers. they've been dramatically different. the common thread is the excellence of the teachers: their attention to alignment, confidence as instructors, intensity and insight into body intelligence. you could teach the ashtanga series in the iyengar method. it would just take 5 or 6 hours | |||
| |||
| kulkarnn |
| ||
| |||
| kulkarnn |
| ||
| |||
|
| ||
| |||
| tourist |
| ||
Expert Yogi Posts: 8442 | OK, here goes. First about Manuso Manos. I just spent the weekend studying with him and, although I haven't read the whole interview, it sounds very much like the way he talks. He likes to set up a point with a brash or outrageous statement and then say "I know that will bother some people and I don't really want to argue the details of it but I said that for a reason and let me tell you why..." And then he will explain what he said about any point, from why students run out to pee in the middle of class but teachers never do, to how and why we apply the first 4 sutras to our practice. Love it or hate it if you will, it is the way he works and it makes a very thought provoking weekend, for sure! NE - But there are some poses that are found in other styles of yoga that aren't done in the Iyengar tradition. There are some things that aren't done that I like doing. First of all, your practice is your practice and you can do whatever you like in it. It is that simple. However, as you get deeper into the Iyengar system you will see how much studying the workings of the "simple" poses informs you of the complex poses. I have known this since I started in 1997 but am only really delving into it with a bit of clarity now. I can understand that, though the prospect of giving up the other types of yoga I enjoy doing for three years or more (at least), seems sad to me. You will never give up or lose what you have done in the past. And you really shouldn't. It is part of your sadhana and part of who you are. Of course, while in a class, you do each pose the way the teacher tells you to, no matter where you are (I hope!) but what has already been learned in your body is going to inform what it learns next. It is unavoidable. Do any of you find that restrictive, or has your first and only love been this particular method? Iyengar is my first love so no, I do not find it restrictive at all. Back in the 60's when we had very little (ok, zero) instruction about how to go deeper into a pose or how really to even BE in a pose, I had soooo many questions. Iyengar answerd all those questions and more so I see no need to go elsewhere. Ialso understand that, if one becomes an Iyengar teacher, one should only teach Iyengar yoga via the approved methods in Iyengar classes, but what about teaching other classes that you do not call Iyengar yoga? How is that viewed by the Iyengar teacher community? Do all of you who teach Iyengar practice and teach only that method? OK, here is the really big question. If you want to teach "Iyengar yoga" then you must only teach Iyengar yoga. (And by association, it would make sense to only practice that way as well or you will get pretty confused...) If you wish to call yourself an Iyengar teacher, you must only teach in the Iyengar style. If you wish to teach other styles, you may not call yourself and Iyengar teacher, you may not say your are "Iyengar trained" and you may not say you teach in the Iyengar style or tradition or advertise that you ar Iyengar based or anything of the sort. Yes, it is a question of "branding" and yes, it does sound a bit like some other styles who are being aggressive about protecting their name. But really, it is a matter of respect and ethics. BKS did not want his name used but it became so widespread there had to be a "label" put on it so people knew what they were getting. So now he has said only those who teach as closely to his method as possible can use his name. Plain and simple. There are so many ways to illustrate this but often the fast food model is used - you don't go to McD's and get a Whopper or to Burger King for a Big Mac. Or a McWhopper or whatever. And if you did, the bigwigs in charge of the respective companies would be royally PO'd and someone would be fired pdq! There are many ways up a mountain, but if you keep going a few hundred metres up one path then running back down and trying the next one (hoping it will be easier or more scenic or more to your taste in some way) you will never get to the top. Most gurus will tell you this. At first you do look around and check out which paths look likely, but if you do want to get to the top, one day you will have to choose one and stick to it. As for variety, I can tell you that I myself have never been bored by Iyengar yoga. The variety is endless and the ways of working each pose go on and on and on. I have mentioned doing 2 hours of work on tadasana at a workshop before. I think we must have spent at least an hour on it at this workshop and there was NOTHING exactly the same (except the teacher was going for the same end result) in the way we worked. It was fascinating - truly! Anyway, do ask me more about this. It is a big topic, as I said  | ||
| |||
| kulkarnn |
| ||
| |||
| tourist |
| ||
Expert Yogi Posts: 8442 | |||
| |||
| nuclear_eggset |
| ||
| |||
| kulkarnn |
| ||
| |||
| YogaGuy |
| ||
dhanurasana - 2006-04-16 3:42 PM you could teach the ashtanga series in the iyengar method. it would just take 5 or 6 hours Hours? I think you mean days!  I agree with Tourist. You can study whatever you want and nobody can take away what you've already learned. All yoga is complimentary. But if you want to use the name you have to follow the rules. As for poses that you can't do? That seems unlikely. Look in Light on Yoga. If they really aren't there, I'm sure you can find 20 other poses that you will love just as much. Then you can always do your favorite poses in your home practice. Nonetheless, I think that's bunk. Because there are soooooo many poses in the yoga tradition and I've seen so many variations of them in Iyengar with all the props. I've seen poses totally reworked for therapeutic purposes and they don't look anything like the original poses anymore. So to say that some poses aren't allowed just seems ridiculous. But I CAN see how certain poses are favored and certain variations are favored and how easier poses are taught before more challenging ones. | |||
| |||
| tourist |
| ||
Expert Yogi Posts: 8442 | I was under the impression that (sorry if my sanskrit's wrong) supta parvrtta trikonasana isn't a pose in the iyengar system A common misconception. We absolutely do that pose in Iyengar. In fact, Julie Gudmestad once taught a full evening of "standing poses" all done lying on the floor with our feet on the wall. It was lovely! I realize, however, that the argument can be made that the room behind this particular door has everything you really need in it already Yes, this is how I feel for myself. This room has everything in it that I need. But either it does not have everything in it that you need or maybe there are still a few corners of the room you haven't seen yet Perhaps I'd rather explore the base of the mountains, surveying them, exploring the differences between them, and enjoying the unique flora and fauna on them for exactly what they are. :-) This is exactly what goes through my mind when I hear those analogies! I don't wanna be in the NBA. I just wanna shoot a few hoops! (eeesh, a Canadian like me should be using hockey terms, eh?) I don't see myself as a person with that sort of ambition either. However I am the sort to read a book to the end (except for Candace Bushnell's - sorry Candy, we loved SATC but the other novels pretty much suck. There is an old thread somewhere about that...  ) and try to follow things to a logical conclusion. Plus, as I said, I am sure this is where I want to be, so that helps. I'm not going to give up swimming because I can do lots of variations on running. It's actually some of the same adrenaline rush from the quick flowing, rapid movements of the vinyasa that I've done in the past and do right now that I haven't seen much of in Iyengar (I mean, like a full class - one of the Iynegar classes I did last week did have about five minutes of it, and it wasn't as smooth...). A couple of things here: running is not swimming (I know this, married to an old triathlete ) and so in a way, even though we are comparing different styles of yoga, we are still looking at apples and oranges - or running and swimming, if you will. I would have trouble figuring out why someone wouold completely quit one style for another if you really love them both. Over time, one will probably dominate the other and maybe go back and forth for a bit. If you do yoga for a long, long time I would imagine Iyengar would "win" simply because it is much easier to accomodate the eventual pains of the body that we all get. But then there are those whacko ultra distance runners who never break down, too The bonus is that if you know enough about Iyengar, you don't have to quit practicing (see the Bikram threads ) every time you are injured or exhausted. I think it is a really good idea to experience different styles. Bruce's training included a segment where he was required to visit various studios and try other styles., which is great if it is accessable to you. Another point I should make is that I am truly blessed to be in an area that is chock-a-block with very highly trained Iyengar teachers. If I were the only Iyengar teacher available to someone, I can see that they might want to move on or even get bored (  I hope not, but I can see it might be possible!). I have many teachers available to me who have studied directly with the Iyengars on a regular basis over the past 30 years - and they bring in guest teachers who can still do things that make their jaws drop! So my experience of Iyengar yoga is probably not typical. I am pretty sure the gods thought I was going to need all the help I could get so they dropped me here in the hopes that no mater how dense I was, I would get the help when I was ready I am glad this discussion has been helpful. I have enjoyed it, too  | ||
| |||
| Jump to page : 1 Now viewing page 1 [25 messages per page] |
| Search this forum Printer friendly version E-mail a link to this thread |
| (Delete all cookies set by this site) | |