I need to repeat to learn. More accurately, I often need to observe -> attempt -> observe again -> repeat efforts -> take a breath -> go again, etc. And, if I find things challenging, I’ve discovered that the quicker I make repeated attempts, the more likely I am to not overthink, and to just try. To let go. So, having attended the Ramamani Iyengar Yoga Memorial Institute (RIYMI) for the first time last October, I prioritised visiting Pune, India again this year. 

Yoga is challenging for me. It exposes me to myself - or better said - more of my whole self. Interestingly, Yoga also continuously emanates in me feelings across a spectrum of effort-fullness, bewilderment, growth and calmness. Visiting India as a foreigner can produce similar sensations at times too.

In the month of October, the Hindu festival of Navaratri is celebrated, meaning ‘Nine Nights’ in Sanskrit. Nine Goddesses are celebrated over this period, and at the end of the nine evenings is the observance of Dussehra. While paying respects to each female deity, there is also a colour and qualities associated each day with divine aspects available to us all. In the Women’s Class on day one of Navaratri, teacher Seema Joglekar recalled to the local students a lesson she herself had learnt from Geeta-ji (BKS Iyengar’s Eldest Daughter, 7 Dec 1944 - 16 Dec 2018) about what each Goddess can teach us. The first evening Goddess (Mahadevi) is Shailaputri, and she holds a trident, which Seema explains encourages us to balance the three gunas of: activity-rajas, inertia-tamas and lucidity-sattva, in our Yoga (and then, to work on strengthening our sattva component). What resonated for me in Seema’s retelling of this experience was the effortless way she was demonstrating esteem for lineage, by paying respects to a most senior teacher, Geeta-ji whilst also sharing aspects of Yoga philosophy in a relevant way; and, gently encouraging people to find natural links between our practice and everyday life.

As I respond positively to metaphors (anything to help me remember and learn!), I took this cue of numerical reflections from the teacher, and set about discerning my month at RIYMI into nine insights:

💛 1. Finding Point ‘0’

I didn’t know until recently that it was an Indian, Aryabhata, who produced the concept of zero. In the 5th Century CE, as an astronomer and mathematician he made the hypothesis. In Sanskrit the term ‘0’ is Sunya, which means “nothingness”. [1] As I have now learnt via the Iyengar system (especially through the RIYMI Yoga Sutras of Patanjali Lectures), ‘nothingness’ is not nothing, instead it is the absence of something. In one class during the month, RIYMI Director Prashant Iyengar (BKS Iyengar’s son), talked about cultivating neutrality in practice. He advised that such an approach helps to avoid the common pitfall between ‘want to do’ or ‘do not want to do.’ Instead, it is just ‘do’ and even more importantly, ‘do and observe.’ In terms of physicality, senior teacher Raya Uma Datta, talked about developing our balance point. Tipping neither way. Being still. Especially in inversions, he encouraged a building-up of our instinct developed in practice, to come back to our centre. In the daily self-practice classes I repeated this concept through techniques we had been shown, such as super-quick movements in inversions, rapid-fire Eka Pada Sirsasana and Parsvaika Pada Sirsasana, no stopping between sides, continuously for multiple rounds. Throwing the leg up and down. And I fell. A lot. It’s hard work to stay still! BKS Iyengar in Astadala Yogamala Volume 7 writes, “When the brain does not cooperate with the body, or the body does not listen to dictates of the intelligence of the brain, it means duality exists in the individual. Duality ceases when an asana is perfect. Then there is no more depletion of energy… One remains in a state of zero tension” [2]. Goddess Shailaputri herself encourages traits of brightness and energy, and I needed a good handful of that as I continued my asana development this month!

💚 2. Being OK with Chaos

The concept of chaos I refer to here is not in terms of anarchy. Or, do whatever I want. Instead, it’s more about recognising that as individuals we’re not nearly as in control of things as we think are (or would like to be). It’s about recognising we almost never see, let alone understand, ‘the full picture.’ For example, while away I was reading a book by writer Rajiv Malhotra, and he notes, “Dharmic civilisations [including Hinduism, Buddhism, Sikhism and Jainism] are more relaxed and comfortable with multiplicity and ambiguity… Chaos is seen as a source of creativity and dynamism… Chaos is a relative phenomenon that cannot threaten or disrupt the underlying coherence of the cosmos” [3]. Part of travelling is to experience how much you don’t know. Being in India teaches me this in spades. And taking this example back to Yoga, I wish to talk a bit more about my ‘practice’ of falling while trying to explore balance points. Falling is so much harder for us as adults. And I also don’t mean ‘deciding’ to deliberately fall, but falling over because I can’t control where I am in space anymore. My repeated attempts to go up into Pincha Mayurasana in the middle of the practice hall (no wall nearby), and into a pose which is strong on my back and shoulders, and shows me how heavy my legs are, meant I couldn’t balance the free-standing position for long at all. But, once someone had shown me how to ‘fall,’ and that I’d be fine, I learnt to just let myself fall backwards onto the support. Returning to Raya’s point on balance, the argument is that until you lose balance repeatedly - and experience a kind of ‘chaos’ in not knowing where you are in space, exactly - it’s harder to actually learn what your entire range of balance might be. And that by practicing, it may very well be of a much wider scope than first judged. So it’s less about balancing perfectly, and more about exploring your own sense of self within an open area. (And if such a pursuit has applications for our bodily plane, imagine the relevance to mental flexibility.)  Plus, it doesn’t need to be an ‘extravagant’ pose to enquire about your own stability. Teacher Vilas Adpat regularly over the month, had all his students doing Urdhva Hastasana in Tadasana and then going up onto their tip-toes. Sounds OK enough in theory, but holding it for longer than a few seconds shows where our precariousness in balance creeps in.

One day on my trip, I saw a ‘two wheeler’ (a.k.a. a scooter), speeding down the road with the passenger sitting closely behind the driver, holding in each arm two live goats around their back and bellies. It certainly looked chaotic. How tired his arms must have been! What do the goats perceive is going on?! What happens if the balance on the bike is compromised? In that moment, as an observer, all I can do is recognise my sense of ‘coherence’ is different from others (and to, of course, hope they all make safely to wherever they are headed). I readily acknowledge too, that learning to discern my own sense of balance and coherence in daily life is much harder than watching the Maharashtra traffic.

🩶 3. Bodily Intelligence compared to ‘Physical Yoga’

With the proliferation of Yoga globally, it is unsurprising that Indian schools with strong lineages encourage students to understand the “deeper purport” of this self-practice beyond the physical plane (beyond what might be called, ‘Yoga for Fitness’). Prashant-ji strongly drives home this message, warning against denoting the physical asanaas being ‘Yog.’ It’s a disservice to the complex methodologies developed in India over millennia. For additional clarity (in case required), doing Yoga to be healthy and physically well is not something with which the teachers at RIYMI take issue. Quite the opposite. Yoga is good for our bodies! Instead, we’re being encouraged to take it further… If Yoga can make you feel stronger and physically better, what can Yoga do for your breath? Your mind? Your mood? Your understanding of yourself? Your relationship with others? There’s so much in this art, science and philosophy to enquire about, and why stop at just one of the eight limbs of Yoga? Prashant-ji therefore encourages us to, “See what your breath can do for you, and you for it.” Layers of self-dialogue and exploration.

In terms of developing bodily intelligence, Head of the Institute, Abhijata Iyengar (and BKS Iyengar’s Granddaughter) talks about recognising all that our own body is doing second-by-second each day, to sustain and maintain us. If we’re going to focus on the body at times, we therefore would do well to marvel at this complex system of which we often pay little attention, staying so much of the time ‘in our heads’. She also reminds us that it’s not for us to take credit for the amazing work of our bodily system that keeps us alive. It’s egoistic when we attribute a role we’re playing that isn’t there. For much of it is beyond our comprehension and conscious control. We can however, nurture it, and see via Yoga whether we can bring body, mind and self together in unity more. As she explains, through practice, “take the involuntary into the voluntary.” Examination. Reading anatomy books helps me personally to unravel some of the marvels of our bodies, and it resonated as I had just read about the ‘fork’-like structure of the bones in our feet (medially to laterally), when foreign students were reminded by the RIYMI Teachers not to turn our front foot out too much for lateral standing poses [4]. “You have to study ‘the Art of the Foot’ in inversions,” also says Sunita Iyengar, Senior Teacher (and one of BKS Iyengar’s Daughters).

🧡 4. Exploring the Feminine within Yoga

BKS Iyengar writes, “Art [i.e. the Art of Yoga] demands constant attentive practice… Art being the goddess of knowledge, the artist must humbly wait until she chooses to grace [them] as she can bestow or withhold favour. Without humbleness there is going to be no progress or learning, no fusion in art” [5]. I began this reflection with Teacher Seema’s re-sharing of Geeta-ji’s discussion of the wisdom of the Goddess. At a number of occasions, Prashant-ji spoke about more understanding of, and respect for, the matriarchal system and its relationship to Yoga. And as he himself clarified, matriarchal and feminine methodologies are for all people, irrespective of gender. How, for example, can we show care to ourselves and others? In self-practice one day, while I was in a prone pose, I heard a voice say, “May I ?” To my “Yes,” came a set of small corrections to my neck, back and an encouragement to soften my fingers. I didn’t even realise I was holding them tightly until that care was shown. And, when I worked out later who the person was, ‘feminine’ here also means fiercely dedicated to practice. This woman demands the lineage of Yoga is respected. For the most part, her caring adjustment was a ‘putting right’ of my wrong-doing. It was also done in a manner that didn’t disturb my own experience unduly. In a class, Teacher Pavithra discussed with participants, how Yoga practice can help regulate our hormones and the significant impact they have on our body and state of mind. As key chemical messengers within our system, via adjusted asana sequences (including during menstruation, peri-menopause and menopause), we can become more attuned of their fluctuations, and address their longer-term stability. Also, with key growth and repair functions, the health of hormones is key for all people. This is one of the many reasons why regular inversions are a feature of Iyengar Yoga (see also for e.g. BKS Iyengar in the Astadala Yogamala, Vol 7, p. 93, 110.). For a good number of years I studied Gender & Cultural Studies at university, meaning aspects of my previous training and education will naturally come into my Yoga. The complex dynamics of Yoga and gender is something, I think, worthy of continual reflection.

🤍 5. Beyond the Senses

Have you noticed that when you make an effort, you often stick your tongue out? Your eyes also widen. Senior Teacher, Rajlaxmi Nidmarti explained how the eyes and tongue have a direct relationship, and we should try to make both as calm as possible at all times in our practice, and especially in Savasana. Keeping the tongue ‘small’ and neither the tongue nor eyes darting around is integral. Sunita-ji reminded us in a restorative class, “Do not push with the tongue. Do not push with the eyes.” We do both actions much more regularly than we initially realise. It’s more too than just discrete body parts. Again, Sunita-ji in a 2-hour Saturday class insisted we recall that Yoga requires the quietening of our sense organs and and organs of action. The sense organs are also known as the Jnanendriyas, being our nose, tongue, eyes, skin and ears. The organs of action, known as the Karmendriyas, are the excretory organs, generative organs, mouth, legs and arms [6]. Yes, we are ‘doing.’ That action, however, can be monitored and calibrated to keep breath, body and mind from ‘grasping.’ For the senses are often about desire: what I want. And in Yoga, like every other part of our life, there is a continual dialogue with ourselves as to wants, needs, as well as likes and dislikes. Raya explained it at one point as the “compulsiveness” of our senses. In another vein, Prashant-ji asked, “Who says, ‘I love Utkatasana!’?” He jokes that Utkatasana isn’t on people’s social media profiles of ‘doing Yoga.’ His argument is that we have to move beyond performative goals and focus on what this methodology offers as a multilateral communication between organs, breath, mind, regions of the body, Prana, etc. Learning to do an asana has rewards, of course. There are things I can now do physically that I had no idea were possible, and naturally, that has taught me something about how I perceive myself. (Dropping backwards when what feels like your head is careening towards the marble floor keeps you intensely present!) It can be fun to try things too. I like Vilas’ phrasing, “Have good friendship with the asana.” Here, the subtlety is in the approach and purpose. It took me a moment to register the profundity of Raya’s comment one evening when he said that you can’t ‘own’ an asana. You can enter into it, and you can embody it, but it will never be yours. You can desire with all your desires to achieve a pose, but to what end? And if it isn’t possible, then what? Because of course we know there are things we want in life that can’t or won’t happen. Senior Teacher (and BKS Iyengar’s Family Physician) Dr Naik tells his students, “Better luck next lifetime,” and though he is smiling, the intent isn’t a joke. What you do now matters, and you also have to let go of grasping for a desired outcome.

♥️ 6. How One Asana affects Another Asana, and Reverse to Learn

Not many people probably practice Yoga on a Saturday evening, and this made Senior Teacher Kishor Ambekar’s lesson stand out to me particularly in my first week back at RIYMI. Repeatedly, the students were led to do Bharadvajasana I and then Dwi Pada Viparita Dandasana on a chair. Paraphrasing, Kishore asked those present, “What does the twist offer your backbend? And what does the backbend give to your twist?" As the class progressed, the students’ chests lifted up and up, and broadened. Shoulders were drawn back and then Pranayama was done. Each asana impacts another, and the more you practice, the wider the view of associated poses comes into view. Therefore, you can build on top of things. And you can build in unlikely ways. This trip I visited both the Ajanta and Ellora Caves, near Aurangabad. They are phenomenal testaments to the collective power of artisans. The Ajanta Caves were built and occupied from the Second Century BCE, and then some 500 years later, an entire second phase of building and design were added. Buddhist art that had previously not depicted the Buddha in human form, now included literally thousands of images of him and his life. Adaptation is a constant. In addition, what you do before and after taking an action impacts the result. Light on Yoga has more than 600 photos of BKS Iyengar demonstrating asana. RIYMI’s main hall has hundreds of these images as reference points, and one day Prashant-ji talked about how there were more than 4000 photos taken for the development of this tome. He encouraged us to realise the dynamic nature of asana and Yoga, and to not reduce it to a static image alone. He asserted that, for example, prior to a photo of Ardha Chandrasana by the professional photographer, Guruji would have done Urdhva Dhanurasana then ‘snap!’ Then, Sirsasana and another photo of Ardha Chandrasana. On and on. We don’t know what was the sequence to final image published in this seminal book. We are therefore encouraged to interact with asana with vitality, and in relationship. Asana to asana, moment to moment. Other examples of interesting interactions between asana I learnt this month included: How Gomuhkasana arms impact Parivrtta Janu Sirsasana. The chest relationship to Urdhva Mukha Svanasana and Utthita Trikonasana. What Supta Kurmasana provides for your Janu Sirsasana. And how could Anatasana give you a better Ardha Chandrasana? On and on, puzzle pieces only limited by our own imagination and experience.

💙 7. BKS Iyengar is Always Here

At a Saturday class with Sunita-ji, when she was challenging us all to articulate what we had recalled from Guruji’s written works, she reminded us that we have access to his teachings 24/7. It was her insistent, almost urgent tone and the particular phrasing that struck a chord with me, along the lines of, ‘You don’t need to wait for him to be in the downstairs library of an afternoon to make your enquiry…’ BKS Iyengar’s extensive materials of his lifetime’s dedication to Yoga are all at our disposal. Choose one of his many books and give it a go. I know too, I can’t read something once. This was made abundantly clear when I had a ‘lightbulb moment’ in one of Abhijata’s classes when she was referencing the need to extend the toes as we headed towards the final presentation of Mayurasana. How had I not realised in Light on Yoga that in many of the published images, Guruji is extending his toes? I’m nowhere near being able to do Mayurasana independently, but Abhijata’s reminder did demonstrate for me that at a certain point, that lightness in the foot has to come. When firmness and extension has been suitably established, anatomical shapes refine. I need to re-look at so many asana, and to sometimes take my attention from the whole composition to more specific parts of the pose and Guruji’s presentation. And, for more homework upon return, another set of steps is to apply Raya’s invitation to move beyond seeing asana as ‘shapes to copy,’ and to study more intensively the form.

The perceived intensity of Iyengar Yoga, via what is commonly experienced as a highly imperative-based style, is sometimes referenced by people newer to Guruji’s methodology. But a fervency I see more clearly at RIYMI is that Yoga is for everybody. The elevated expectations match the high respect for the form. Equal is the perennial pursuit to include, adapt, welcome and investigate what it means for anyone who wishes to join. The diversity within the RIYMI student body is as natural as the consistent efforts those students make each and every class. Here, Guruji’s enaction from a core Yoga precept of inclusivity is held firm (e.g. Sutra 4.64, Hatha Yoga Pradipika) [7]. 

On the last evening of the October term, Patanjali Jayanti was held, an anniversary event for the Institute to pay respects to the Propounder of Yoga (and the beginning of Diwali, the Festival of Lights). Prashant-ji revealed to the crowd of us attending just how much Patanjali was “beloved” by BKS Iyengar. He also challenged those present to delineate between those who are ‘Students of Guruji’ and those who are ‘Students of Yoga,’ for his assertion is that the difference is key. Another sparkling provocation was to be cognisant of the difference between ‘Iyengar Yoga’ (that which Guruji taught), and Iyengar’s Yoga (his own pursuit). As he did, we must find our own inner illumination.

🩷 8. Ask the People Who Know

What was particularly reaffirmed for me again on this trip is what a unique opportunity it is to spend a month observing and being a student to some 14+ teachers, and 15+ other teachers, assistants, and the support team. On a daily basis these professionals demonstrate the reality that there is a proliferation of techniques available in Iyengar Yoga, not ‘one way.’ Even in a short time, I could see parts of their own personality and style in teaching and interactions, and I did not read their methodology as a need to teach to a formulaic or narrow mandate. I wonder if so much of this ‘being in Yoga’ gets cultivated in the self-practice sessions in the communal space of the RIYMI Hall. If every week, most days, you’re there for hours and hours, and someone is doing x and someone is doing y, well, you just get on with yourself. I believe that extends to the teaching from a very solid base: 

BKS Iyengar writes, “The pupils continue the thread… Tradition is not imitation. Lineage saves time… [But] if tradition is only copied or imitated, it becomes meaningless or dead… Tradition has to be followed and repeated meaningfully; so that the depth of tradition is understood” [8].

Depth is forged through long-term (as in, decades and decades, and more) of direct experience (Pratyaksa). It’s doubtful that the entirety of the apprenticeship learning-style of the Institute can be replicated outside RIYMI. It doesn’t mean, however, that we can’t apply elements into our own Yoga lives, and coming here I am exposed once again to limitless options and techniques. I say ‘limitless’ because the combination of the Institute, teachers, history, methodologies, philosophies, local and foreign students, and context makes for a boundless kaleidoscope of opportunity. Alongside this, there is so much insight being dispensed at RIYMI. Teachers encourage engagement and experimentation. Stories come naturally and experiences are shared generously. Teacher Prachi Gondi was particularly helpful to me over the month, from observing her range of classes, to her showing me particular techniques to help my own study. After meeting initially in 2023, Katie Rutherford, a Senior Teacher from Scotland, and I had wonderful, thought-provoking conversations about the cross-cultural applications of Yoga into different country contexts. We particularly discussed how to be ‘allies’ to the knowledge developed at/of RIYMI. She’s a regular, coming here for decades, so her counsel is wise (as are her Pune city recommendations!).

With time I see too that quick and frank correction of asana during class is not judgement. It is an offering for learning and improvement about what you are doing, not you per se. Everyone is given feedback. The expectation is that you want to be here and improve and learn, so you will be treated from this standpoint. The bar is set high because we are pursuing transformation. 

💜 9. Inorganic and Organic Yoga: You Teaching You

Because Yoga is a complex methodology, philosophy and science - and because the RIYMI teachers take their craft incredibly seriously - at times I can be overwhelmed with confusion across Sanskrit terms; over the sequencing of philosophical concepts; and, even basic parts of asana I have repeated for a long time. Why have I been doing that pose that way? When feeling lost, it’s grounding to recall, and be explicitly and repeatedly told, by the teachers, that we need to learn to be our own educators.  “Your body is a laboratory,” says Dr Naik. He is also clear about role, “I am not your ringmaster.” Yoga is fundamentally an experiential pursuit. It must be done (not thought, talked, or read about, etc.). Prashant-ji reminds us that socially we are all about ‘being organic’ at present, and yet to only do practice with a teacher always telling you what to do is actually ‘inorganic’ to basic Yoga principles. (Noting this is for established students. If a person is just starting out, of course, you begin with a teacher.) Practice also involves learning to rest our organic body, including by making space for the organs to be held well, and nourished, within our frame. The more you can register your own body, the more deeply adaptations for restoration become. This ‘organic’ imperative Prashant-ji lectures on is to develop our own “customised observation,” a pursuit, ultimately, we can only do with ourselves.  For out-of-town students, besides some basic parameters, it’s your own choice how you participate during your time at RIYMI. Vilas himself made a similar point in the last class I observed him teaching. He likened the way we enter into an asana, and the choice of props taken (if any), as being like the choice of mode of transport to a new destination. Each shows you a different view, and travelling itself teaches us. I too needed to work out for myself why I was here. My approach has been to open my eyes, tune my ears, shut my mouth, and to attend as much as possible. For we are all encouraged to ‘do and see,’ ‘do and reflect,’ and ‘do and notice’…. This approach, then, is not about being correct (although, of course, that matters. Being careless is to cheat ourselves). Prashant-ji offered this exemplar in a Pranayama class, ‘I am showing you Lesson 1. When you are children at primary school your homework given that evening then, is for Lesson 1. But here, you must take Lesson 1, and then you must create and practice your own Lesson 2, 3 and 4.’ There is also, immediately from Beginner’s class, an expectation of, and discussion to modes of self-practice. As was said repeatedly, ‘Get on the mat and don’t worry about right and wrong. Just do and observe.’

A month later, like a good Indian Filter Coffee in a Malabar cup, I’m full to the brim with information, and hot to go! I started this piece by talking about repetition. I shared what I did, and how I reflected on what I heard, saw and felt. Part of building my own competence is then to write down my experience; to see if I can make a degree of ‘order’ in the hope of developing. More importantly, to hold myself to account to a pursuit I hold dear. “Close your eyes and watch all your existence,” says Rajlaxmi after a particularly inspiring forward-bending evening class. She has taken the many hardworking students through a challenging sequence (many of us would say totally gruelling!). After all that work, it truly is ‘being’ and ‘existing.’ And I can see how sweetly the Savasana comes. The class or practice may finish, but the learning never ends (and, as Prashant-ji delineates, who knows when the education will come?). Perhaps then, it goes without saying I’ll need to repeat both my Yoga, and, another RIYMI Pune trip.

Jackie Ruddock

Jackie Ruddock has been practising Iyengar yoga since 2008, and joined Central Yoga School in 2018. She is a certified Level 1 teacher, and visits RIMYI on a yearly basis.

References:

[1] Senior, Roshani, https://www.open.ac.uk/blogs/MathEd/index.php/2022/08/25/the-men-who-invented-zero/, 25 August 2022.

[2] Iyengar, BKS, Astadala Yogamala Volume 7, 2018, p. 358.

[3] Malhotra, Rajiv, Being Different: An Indian Challenge to Western Universalism, 2011, p. 18. 

[4] Calais-Germaine, Blandine and Lamotte, Andree, Anatomy of Movement (Second Edition), 2021, p. 259.

[5]  Iyengar, BKS, Astadala Yogamala Volume 3, 2018, p. 196.

[6] Iyengar, BKS, Astadala Yogamala Volume 2, 2018, p. 278.

[7] Yogi Swami Svatmarama, translated/commentary by Rieker, Hans-Ulrich, Hatha Yoga Pradipika, 1992, p. 41.

[8] Iyengar, BKS, Astadala Yogamala Volume 6, 2018, p. 46.