on self-discipline

 “The end of discipline is the beginning of freedom. Only a disciplined person is a free person. So-called freedom is only a license to act and do as we like. Yoga is meant to train and discipline the worries and anxieties of men and women.”

Yogācārya B. K. S. Iyengar.

At the Intensive with my teacher, Mr. Manouso Manos, a couple of students asked questions about feeling like they wished they were more intense students/practitioners.

With a gentle voice, Manouso shared some insights (paraphrased here): “In our minds, we can do more. Knowing our limitations is smart...

Don’t feel guilty about your intensity level...

The word discipline comes from “disciple”. As in, ‘Manouso is a disciple of Yoga, or B.K.S. Iyengar.’ I’m intensely interested in it. It’s not discipline being inflicted on me. I’m asking, ‘what can I learn?’  It’s not a burden because that will or wanting of Yoga comes from within...”

Prasārita Pādōttānāsana —“intense stretch of the spread legs pose” 1st stage, see Light on Yoga, plate 29

And now

So so full.

There is an entire notebook filled from two weeks of study with my teacher. There is my heart. All I can do right now is sit with it in awe, deeply humbled, inspired beyond words by watching over and over his dedication to helping others and to passing on yoga. He works so hard, gives so much.

On the last day of the Intensive Manouso said, ok what are you going to do with having been here?

1) use it as a badge—brag about it?

2) make $ on it

3) steal it and pretend it’s yours?

Then he said, “I’ll tell you what you cannot do, you are not to die with this information. You are making a huge mistake if you hold onto it.”

It’s heavy. So much—to practice, study and contemplate. It will take many months (sometimes it takes years) to fully realize what’s been taught. Paying attention was the job these last two weeks, next, practice, then passing it on.

  the B.K.S. Iyengar Yoga Institute of Los Angeles 

Perception

“During times of universal deceit, telling the truth becomes a revolutionary act.” George Orwell

How we perceive reality is affected/tainted by a personal or singular viewpoint—our position, past experiences, present role, ambitions, cultural conditioning...

“To understand many things you must reach out of your own condition.” Mary Oliver

Utthita Trikonasana with belt— spreading the front and back chest through the stretching the arms. The perception of stretching the arms apart is often not accurate. We may throw the arm behind and strain the shoulder instead of stretching to their potential wingspan. By hooking the belt between the crook of the thumbs the practitioner can study the true effect of their actions in the attempt to spread the arms (and therefore chest and back chest) completely. The belt slackens when the hands are actually closer together. What we think we are experiencing is not necessarily reality. With skillful practice we can train ourselves to see more clearly and beyond a narrow viewpoint (such as stretch experienced from one part of the body). I learned this mode of practicing this pose from my teacher, Manouso Manos, in 2006. This weekend at the Iyengar Yoga Therapeutics Training, he is asking us as teachers to study and practice exploring what it would be like to be in someone else’s condition to understand how to help them. “You have to be willing to put yourself on the line. Not everybody has the ability to override their prejudices.” Manouso Manos

It takes an expanded mind and heart to reach beyond the narrow experiences of our small self. We are so much more.

Open flowers

“I’d like to be those flowers

Open to everything”

Heather Masse, “Bird Song” lyrics

“Before you can end the thoughts you have go through all the thoughts.” Manouso quoting /paraphrasing Geeta Iyengar 

Excerpts from Mr. Manouso Manos’ philosophy talk (March 3): “Even the most detached yogi will instinctively fight for survival when faced with imminent bodily death...We instinctively move through the world assessing risks we may be approaching. We also need to examine the risk that we are to ourselves. Can you learn to process what’s going on inside you the way you process what’s going on outside? Train yourself to pierce the intelligence inwards instead of looking to past, future, making plans and calculations. Search for the state of just being— a feeling, seeing, breathing entity where the social curtains have been pulled back.

Can we examine, then shed the perceived threats, both external and internal? You are dealing with your worst enemy—you. That part of you that got you where you are, could you let it go?

Could maitri possibly be translated (from the Sanskrit) as trustworthiness instead of friendliness? There’s a difference. Which would you rather relate to? Imagine going through that with yourself—how are you friendly with yourself versus truly honest/trustworthy? The more you can trust yourself, the more you can trust others. Rather than thinking everything is trying to attack you, can you just watch? Be an observer with wide-eyed wonderment... You’ve got the marks, the scars, that brought you here. What would you REALLY change?“

Paraphrased partial notes. Any confusion is my responsibility. All credit for shining the light on being a human being is due to my teacher.

Infinitely grateful

“As Yoga students, Yoga practitioners, you must learn to read between the lines (instructions). There is so much more to Yoga than what can be said.” Sri Prashant Iyengar

On the way to study with my teacher: I’ve learned enough to recognize that this subject  will not be mastered but needs to be relentlessly pursued. “Almost no one can be a master of any one method of yoga, not to mention five.” “The only thing you get is right now.”

—Mr. Manouso Manos, October 2006 Intensive

Give me a fish, I eat for a day. Teach me to fish, and I eat for a lifetime. —fisherman’s motto

The art of learning

From last night’s philosophy talk:

“Learning is as much an art as teaching.” Yogācārya B.K.S. Iyengar 🌟🌟🌟🌟”The act of being a teacher is the act of being a student.” Mr. Manouso Manos 🌟🌟🌟🌟

Tapas is burning zeal (effort) to reach the goal.

The act of teaching yoga is the act of setting oneself on fire (through practice) to impact others through example. The act of being a yoga student is being lit on fire.🌟

Most of us are afraid of feeling inadequate. I am coming to understand the role of being a student may be the act of (seemingly) disappointing the teacher. And then going home and trying to learn from it. And showing up again for the next lesson. We have to remember that what we call “me” is in a state of becoming. It is not fixed. So if “I” don’t get it, “I” still can learn, change and evolve toward getting it.  Eventually our work becomes clear. Our will aligns with divine will. This must be maintained

and then passed on...

🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟

“Abba Lot went to see Abba Joseph and said to him, “Abba, as far as I can say my little office, I fast a little, I pray and meditate, I live in peace and as far as I can, I purify my thoughts. What else can I do?” Then the old man stood up and stretched his hands toward heaven. His fingers became like ten lamps of fire and he said to him, “If you will, you can become all flame.” —from The Sayings of the Desert Fathers

“The practice of meditation frees one from all affliction. This is the path of yoga. Follow it with determination and sustained enthusiasm...”. Bhagavad Gita, śloka 6.23

In Iyengar Yoga we train the restless mind to become absorbed in the actions of the body through the practice of postures (asana) first, then the breath (pranayama). Through developing the skill of concentration on the experience of the present, these practices prepare the student for meditative states leading toward experiences of oneness or union.

Ūrdhva Mukha Svanāsana. Upward facing dog pose with support  

What is within

“What is spiritual about the manifest is not the part that leaves tracks in the snow.” —Mary Oliver

Yoga makes the doorway into the body into that space within

Padma Mayūrāsana lotus-peacock pose