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Seattle Iyengar Yoga

Celebrating the First International Day of Yoga

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A survey back in 2012 indicated that more than 20 millions people who practice yoga in the United States. Although the number of practitioners in various yoga methods has been increasing around the world, June 21 of 2015 was the first time the world celebrated the tradition of yoga.

The declaration of this day came after the call for the adoption of 21 June as International Day of Yoga by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his address to UN General Assembly on September 27, 2014:“Yoga is an invaluable gift of India’s ancient tradition. This tradition is 5000 years old. It embodies unity of mind and body; thought and action; restraint and fulfilment; harmony between man and nature; a holistic approach to health and well-being. It is not about exercise but to discover the sense of oneness with yourself, the world and the nature. By changing our lifestyle and creating consciousness, it can help us deal with climate change. Let us work towards adopting an International Yoga Day.”

With much excitement Seattle Iyengar Yoga Studio (SIYS) joined the world to celebrate this special day with more than twenty students. For 90 minutes, the owner and main teacher Shaw-Jiun Wang led a practice consisting of almost all the poses that Geeta Iyengar provided for the Iyengar Yoga community including chanting and the invocation to Sage Patanjali. Another teacher Huijung Campbell concluded the practice with a couple of inverted poses and Svasana (Corpse Pose). After the practice, we mingled at a casual community potluck. The spirit of friendliness and sense of community showed how significant the day meant to all of us.

NAMASTE!

Watch Mr. Iyengar’s earlier asana practice

 

Guruji’s Final Photos

http://www.huffingtonpost.in/2015/06/21/bks-iyengar_n_7540242.html

 

Celebration in India


http://www.ndtv.com/cheat-sheet/sushma-swaraj-addresses-the-united-nations-in-new-york-on-international-yogaday-highlights-773899

 

Celebration in France


Celebration in China

           

 

Celebration in other parts of U.S.A

 

 

 

When Iyengar Yoga Meets Cycling

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Guest blog post is by Sharon Cowdery.
Sharon is a long-time cyclist and Iyengar Yoga practitioner. She regularly attends yoga classes at Seattle Iyengar Yoga Studio and is a proud advocate for active lifestyle and a balanced approach to well-being. She often rides to the studio. When she does not, she takes bus or walk to take yoga classes.

Bicycling has been an integral part of my existence for nearly all of my 50 years. And still after all this time, whether looking to have some fun, get some exercise, take a vacation or for daily transportation, I often look to my bicycle as my first choice. When new acquaintances learn that I’m an avid cyclist, the most common points they mention are sore muscles, hills and inclement weather. Proper bike fit, conditioning, and the right gear are the keys to alleviating those discomforts typically associated with cycling, though I appreciate the opportunity to engage on a topic way more interesting than sore muscles or rain: Iyengar Yoga. At first glance it might seem unrelated, but Iyengar Yoga has made me a stronger rider and enables me to have even more fun!

Cyclists, like many athletes, develop postural and muscle imbalances due to the specific body positioning and demands of the activity. Numbness in the genitalia is the ‘buzz topic’ we hear the most about, but really, those symptoms are easily alleviated by proper form and standing up out of the saddle at regular intervals to improve blood flow. The forward rounding shoulders, tight hamstrings and the overdeveloped quadriceps that result from the bent over position on the bike make for less sensational cocktail party conversation, but are the more common culprits that discourage people from cycling when they manifest symptoms such as neck pain, low back pain, numbness or worse.

My practice in Iyengar Yoga has been the antidote to the aforementioned muscle imbalances, allowing me to ride pain free for hours at a time, day after day, with a smile on my face. The same actions that I apply in yoga are relevant to cycling: proper muscle alignment and usage, unrestricted breathing, and staying present in my body and my surroundings rather than spacing out.

Holding yoga poses or asanas for long periods of time has helped me learn to relax on my bike. Instead of dreading long climbs or head winds, I focus on my breath and scan my body: Am I releasing my trapezius muscle down my back rather than scrunching my shoulders up and shortening my neck? Am I lifting my chest? Are my hands over gripping the handlebar? Are my groin muscles relaxed? Are my hamstring and gluteus muscles engaged instead of my quadriceps doing all the work? Am I keeping my feet level and pushing through the balls of my toes? Is the effort balanced through the inner and outer edges of my feet? Am I holding my breath? Can I maintain the same level of output with less effort? Almost always the answer is “yes” and it makes me smile.

And there is the issue of safety: Iyengar Yoga helps with cycling in that regard as well. Balance is obviously critical to learning to ride a bike and it is an invaluable skill for staying upright when I encounter unexpected obstacles. Enhanced awareness from my yoga practice helps me anticipate and avoid unsafe situations on the road. Yogic concepts such as friendliness (maitri) and non-violence (ahimsa) remind that we all share this world – drivers, pedestrians, and cyclists alike – and should aspire to act accordingly.

Just as the experience is different every day when I go to my yoga mat, each bicycle ride is unique and I look forward to the next adventure, even if it’s on a route I have ridden many times before.

Guruji Quote

 

Yogasana – A Path of Self-Transformation

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“Transformation literally means going beyond your form.” – Wayne Dyer

Some people practice yoga postures (yogasana) to improve their balance and flexibility. Some add yoga to their exercise regimen as a different supplement to running or weigh-lifting. Some find the premise that “yoga calms the mind” attractive and chanting OM could possibly help them relax and wind down. Regardless the motive, many yoga enthusiasts and practitioners probably agree on the “feeling of well-being” that cannot easily be put into words. After all, yoga is mostly experiential.

Iyengar Yoga is well known for its creative and therapeutic sequencing. For example, if I want to improve upon my back-bending postures, I would progressively open my shoulders and hips by practicing standing poses and perhaps inverted poses in a skillful sequence. It would not be prudent to practice a forward-bending pose to prepare for a back-bending poses. After a back-bending practice, I would neutralize my spine by adding some gentle lateral twisting poses to conclude the sequence.

Moreover, Iyengar Yoga helps deal with symptoms of different ailments. Headache, for example, may be alleviated when the practitioner, under the guidance of Iyengar Yoga Certified teachers, adopt an individualized sequence of supported supine and forward-bending poses. The outcome is often a pleasant surprise.

A pleasant surprise when you discover a new path while hiking in a forest. A pleasant surprise when you watch your first hand-knitted sweater being worn. A pleasant surprise when you watch the Sun breaking through dark clouds for even just a second.

When we practice yogasanas, we are transforming our perceptions and understanding of our very existence. Matthew Remski, a modern author of Ayurveda and yoga, most recently posted this comprehensive definition of asana on his Facebook page:

The descriptors such as “mindfully,” “expression,” “interoceptive” and “aspirational” resonate with the students’ experiences at Mary Reilly’s weekend workshop at Seattle Iyengar Yoga Studio last month. In the workshop, Mary Reilly artfully sequenced the yogasanas of different categories for an experience of self-transformation. She beautifully shared the theoretical underpinnings by citing the concepts in the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali I.33:

maitri karuna mudita upekshanam sukha duhkha punya apunya vishayanam bhavanatah chitta prasadanam ||33||

(Through cultivation of friendliness, compassion, joy, and indifference to pleasure and pain, virtue and vice respectively, the consciousness becomes favorably disposed, serene and benevolent) – Translation from Light on the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali by B.K.S. Iyengar.

Mary Reilly emphasized on the notion of “upekṣana,” or “impartiality” as she preferred as an English translation during our practice of yogasana. In coming out of a deep standing forward-bending pose (Ardha Baddha Padmottasana), Mary asked us to resume in Mountain pose, Tadasana to observe and absorb the “new things inside” about ourselves after the previous pose. Throughout the weekend, she guided us through the realization how “asmita,” the I-ego tended to revisit the habits of the past or the fears of the future. To neutralize asmita, we need to develop upekṣana during our practice of yogasana. When we are in a difficult pose, we stay open to possibilities rather than rely on the habits or fears to take over. Bound in this body and its worldly existence, we need to remain impartial in our self-perception to allow changes to take place from inside.

B.K.S. Iyengar’s quote here sums up what Iyengar Yoga practice of yogasana is not just physical yoga, but an accessible path for self-transformation: “Transformation is sustained change, and it is achieved through practice.” One pose at a time.