Iyengar Yoga techniques focus on
Asanas, which is the 3rd limb of Astanga Yoga. Most of Yoga
school focus on Pranayama but Asana is Important preceding step for them as well.
Unlike Buddhist techniques like Vipassana or Zen Meditation which do not explore the variations
of Asanas and skip them for direct psychological experiences, Iyengar is a very
strict physical technique to first get the aligned body then the mind. If someone
wants to achieve the inner peace in a perfect Yoga asana poses, Iyengar is one
of the best school to go with. Correct usage of props (like chair, ropes, pillows, etc.) makes asana so easy that
any injured person can also achieve the alignment of the pose perfectly. I
chose Rishikesh because I wanted to visit my village also in the same trip, which is 4hrs drive from
there, otherwise Pune is the best place to learn Iyengar Yoga. Intensive course
focusses on developing the intelligence toward the body so that one can feel what
is the best posture or alignment in order to get a soothing, balanced and divine
connection between mind and body. Balance and aligned body maintains the
internal organs healthy and regulate the flow of energy properly.
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| View from Ganga Sadan |
I was feeling so positive about myself
that without considering a beginner or intermediate course, I Directly landed up
for the advance intensive course of 8days. For which they asked for at
least 3year of regular practice. They offer 12 sessions for Asanas/Pranayama and 2 sessions for Philosophy. Morning
session 8:30 to 11:00 and evening 5:00 to 6:30. Due to corona, Ganga Sadan stay (by the Ganga River) was
almost empty. People told me that during normal times, strength goes to 60, and
you get no place to spread your arms. 50% of learners were foreigners.
Soon I realized that I was sitting among yoga teachers, about 18 in numbers. Some of them were practicing this style from last 5-10 years. Usha
Devi, was our teacher, a Swiss woman (and very much Indian by practice) who learnt Iyengar yoga (Medical) after
having 23 surgeries, after two major accidents. Below is a brief account of what I learn during the course. Intention is to give an idea how they carry out this course at Rishikesh. Although DVDs of Intensive Course carried out by BKS Iyengar himself are already there on youtube.
Day 1
Session 1:
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| Tadasana |
First Session opened up with very a basic pose Tadasana for which we were told that how a balance should be
achieved while standing at the base of the foot with the mindfulness about each inner mound of the toes, heel and
edge of the foot. How mounds should role from smaller toe to big toe. How foot
arch should be stretched up with the extension of the knee. Then the same
awareness was maintained through Virbhadraasana, Trikonasana and Urdhva
Uttanasana.
Every time when she used to call
call for a new asana, I use to go very slow, so that I can copy from others, I
did not even know the terminologies.
Same basis was applied to the
palm as a base. Wrist should be put to the ground first and then
palm should be rolled upward. Inner knuckles should spread apart same with the
fingers. Middle finger should point forward. Try to touch each mound of the
finger on the ground. All mounds of the palm should be pressed with a stretch
to form a vacuum. Strong and wide base at the palm and fingers allow a proper
transfer of the weight and balance is achieved with this mindfulness. Then the
same awareness was maintained through Adho Mukha Svanasana.
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Adho Mukha Svanasana
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Session 2:
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| Bhardwajasana |
This slot was for hips. Usage of
ropes holding with one hand for opening and alignment of the hips by dropping the hip with the
movement of raised leg (by rotating) against the wall. Once we learned the rotation of the hip, then same intelligence could be used for other asanas like Trikonasana and Parsvottanasana.
Another very
under rated asana called Bharadwaj Asana was taught using blankets under one hip for spine alignment.
Day 2
Session 1:
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| Swastikasana |
Swastik Asana was explained in
detail. With basic alignments, three important locks were explained. Lock at
the femur sockets, shoulder blades in to the body and lock in the temples (gates
of the mind). Eyes, forehead skin moving outward and backward. Do not curl or
move the eyes while closing. Why we tie
our head tightly during headache explained to reason the Position of head.
Hip opening
during the Ardhchardra asana were practiced in a sequence with Virbhadrasana 1 and Utthita Trikonasan.
Session 2:
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| Sarvangasana |
My usual practice was to directly get into the
Pranayama in the morning before any yogasan. But there is a preparation required before it. Series
of asana to erect the spine straight. Prasarita Padottanasana, Legs wide open in standing position with the head down on the folded blanket on ground. Adho Mukho Veerasana straightening of
arms over the pillow, Shirshasana and then last Sarvangasana on the chair. These all
helps blood to rush to the head and opens the chest. Then ultimately we did the
pranayama Sitting over the bolster pillow and pranayama pillow on the thighs and
chanted for 20min and Shavasana after that to complete.
Day 3
Session 1:
Session opened with different
kind of sitting asanas, like Padamasana, Veerasana, Baddha Konaasana (butterfly
pose) for offering the prayer. And then again extreme extensions in Adho Mukha Svanasana using blocks
against wall. That was the preparation for Veerbhadraasana 3.
Self-practice in the evening.
Day 4
Session 1:
We started with the warming up doing Suryanamaskar a quick circuits including Utkhatasana, Dandasan and Adho Mukha Svanasana with belt tied on middle thighs together. And then also extended to Utkhatasana 1 & 2 and rolling back and fro to massage the back, which drenched my T-Shirt with the sweat at 7 deg celcius. Adho Mukha Svanasana is the resting asana in Iyengar yoga.
All asana, Trikonasana, Utthita Prashvakonasana, Ardhachandra asana with
jumping, six times each. Jumping was
introduced to bring the intelligence that how foot reaches the right
position.
Session 2:
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| Stupa Baddha Konasana |
This was a pranayama class. We
just started with the Baddha Konasana using a belt around our feet and hips
resting our spine over the Bolster pillow. Head resting over the folded
blanket. Arms wide long relaxing, open palm facing sky rolling outward. With
deep inhaled breath sternum was going high ribs were widening and with exhalation pelvis was reclining down.
Day 5
Session 1:
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| Pincha Mayurasana |
Morning was cold without sun so
we started with the handstand (Adho Mukha Vrksasana) and Elbow stand (Pincha Mayurasana). Hands align to the shoulders, eyes on the corner of the wall and
jump. We realized jump with another leg was difficult. Buttocks away from
wall head straight and eyes looking front. For Elbow stand, elbows should be
narrow than palms, chest coming out and side ribs widening.
Then we moved to Utthanasan. Hand
straight up while standing, small toes aligned with heel, palm facing each
other, bend forward without bending the lumbar & knees and with stretched spine touch
the pinky finger on the ground to expand the ribs and extend the torso more. Hold
the ankles all finger backward, expand the elbows to stretch the hamstring more
and bend forward. Then without moving hips, swipe to one leg to stretch it more
and then to another, rest for a while and then take a breath and come up. Same
principles for Pashchimutthanasana.
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| Upavista Konasana |
Upavista Konasana, sitting little
high on the blanket so that sacrum should erect straight, foot fingers
towards the sky, hamstrings touching the floor, take a brick block between palms,
raise it high turn the arms and stomach right and put the block down behind the
foot and stretch the right hamstring without moving the left buttocks. Get back
with the inhalation and do the other side.
Parivrtta Trikonasana, one of the
variation of Trikonasana. We were taught how to align the hips (which is foremost important to achieve) and legs of the partner using
belt. This can be done with the bed, wall, wall corner, ropes on the wall, etc.
Session ended with Setubandh on the
bench and using Bolster Pillow to counterbalance the hips.
Self-practice in the evening.
Day 6
Session 1:
Urdhava Mukha Svanasan, forearm
perpendicular to the ground, blocks below the palms & middle thighs, all the toes touching on the
floor, back of the foot should not touch the ground as it makes stomach
harder. Heels pointing to the sky (can spread legs little wide). Now push the
chest up and roll the shoulder back and down, there should be a gap in armpit.
Hand finger sharp and hands stretched. Thighs hard and long, sacrum to be
pushed vertically up, pinch the buttocks inside and push the pelvis down.
Halasana with Chair, bolster
pillow and blankets. And this time I did halasana in a slightly different way.
And I don’t know why Usha devi pointed me out and praised my expression on the
face so much. She showcased me in front of the whole class and asked everybody
to look at the face. The forehead, eyes, lips and facial skin everything was
stretched to the back of the head and there were no thoughts in my mind.
Session 2:
Gaumukhasana, sitting on heels, toes on the ground. Pair of knees, toes and heels joined together. Raise one arm then bend the
arm, palm on the back to hold another arm from behind, upper hand should not go
outward. Do the both side.
Stupa Baddha Konasana with palm on
the eyes, and then hand stretch wide with inhalation making torso wide and strong.
Vipreetkarni asana with bolster
pillows.
Day 7
Session 1:
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| Utthita Prashvakonasana |
Trikonasana, Virbhadrasana-1 and
Utthita Prashvakonasana against (perpendicular to) the wall, further details
were explained, that legs should start bending from the back leg and hands on
the femur head should guide the bend. Against the wall help us to extend the
pelvis more outward. While against the wall, the mounds of the front foot
should be on the wall, all mounds of the toes should touch the wall, check if
we can lift, the toes while mounds are touching the wall. Brick block should be used to
get more length away from the wall.
Dandasana, more details
explained, the front thigh joints should be pressed more deep in order to get
the more extension in the sitting bones, back legs and lower back.
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| Urdhava Dhanurasana (using chair) |
Urdhava Dhanurasana (using
bench), put bench against the wall, lay down and bring hips closer to the bench,
feet on the bench, arms next to the head, lift the body up to rest the head on
the crown, now lift the body further up to raise the hips, hips should be
sucked & pinched. Other variation using a block between the legs and Shirsasana while being on the crown.
Session ended with Halshavasana.
Self-practice session in the
evening.
Day 8
Session 1:
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| Trikonasana |
The session started with lot of discussion over deep
breathing . I contradicted by mentioned that Zen breathing
technique is different from Pranayama. Tanden is a point located below the
navel, and the idea is to hit that point with the breath. Tanden (Zen) technique
is similar to Diaphragmatic breathing which helps us relax our Vagus nerve
(which connects all the vital organs to the brain) and makes out abdomen soft.
Some of the students were having similar opinion with supporting example of infant breathing
with stomach. During Pranayama we expand our chest, and in Tanden(Zen) Technique
the expansion of chest is not allowed.
Trikonasana was the main focus of
this session and I realised that Usha Devi, during the complete course was
trying to develop our understanding and intelligence toward this asana
including its variations. There is a complete book on Trikonasana called "Alpha & Omega of Trikonasana" which describes
the importance of it.
Session 2:
Ultimately, we were resting upside
down on those intriguing ropes tied to the wall like Spiderman. We were doing
Baddha konasan, the rope and gravity was pulling our upper and lower body apart from
the hip joint. We also learnt dual asanas (Sarvangasana & Halasana) on two chairs,
which counter balance each other for the chest posture.
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| Baddha konasan on ropes |
List of Asanas taught:
Swastik Asana
Dandasan (Staff
pose)
Tadasana
Adho Mukha
Veerasana
Adho Mukha
Svanasana (Down Dog)
Urdhava Mukha Svanasan
(Up dog)
Shavasna
Virbhadraasana,
1,2&3
Trikonasana
Prasarita
Padottanasana (Wide stance forward bend)
Utthita
Prashvakonasana, (Extended side angle pose)
Ardhachandrasana
Shirshasana
1&2
Suryanamaskar
Utkhatasana 1
& 2
Padamasana,
Veerasana,
Baddha Konaasana
Bharadwaj Asana
Bhishmasana
Pincha Mayurasana
Adho Mukha
Vrksasana
Utthanasan
(Standing Forward bend)
Parivrtta
Trikonasana
Setubandh with
bench
Setuband with
blocks and bolster pillow
Pashchimutthanasana
(Forward bend)
Gaumukhasana
(Cow face)
Vipreetkarni
asana (Legs up the wall)
Urdhava
Dhanurasana (using bench)
1.
