IMG_0193, originally uploaded by deweesescience.

Finally

Greetings. Please remember that I share a computer with my husband who is in a Doctorate program right now. It's not always easy to get on the computer. But, here I am finally.

I flew to Portland, Oregon for the Iyengar Yoga Convention. There were 500 certified Iyengar teachers in attendance. Geeta Iyengar, BKS Iyengar's daughter flew here from India to teach us. She brought with her the senior teachers from RIMYI as well as Abijata, BKS Iyengar's grandaughter. Abi has been studying and teaching under their guidance for some years now in India. She taught some classes at the Convention and did a fabulous job. I loved her actually.

The main point that Geeta tried to drill into our heads was a point that she opened the convention with and continued returning to this point throughout the classes. She said to us, it is not so much the pose or the sequence, but our powers of observation, that help or hinder both the student and our practice. We cannot put someone in a pose and then walk away without looking. It's not enough. The poses and the props alone are not magic spells that work miraculously of their own volition. As a student you can testify, if you place a brick under the wrong place in Setu Bandha, it becomes uncomfortable. So, as teachers, she was telling us, it is unacceptable to just build prop set ups, put a person in a position over it and think that those mechanical actions somehow have added up to a therapeutic healing pose.

How do we make our powers of observation stronger? How do we become not only teachers who can see these smaller, finer threads , but practitioners of a deeper, more compassionate yoga? Svadhyaya. Self study, be willing, be more open minded and be less resistant to changes in our emotional and physical selves. Look closer, dig deeper.

For years I could not access my thoracic spine and inner shoulder blades. Then, one day I spent about 20 minutes staring at an anatomy book. I was looking at the pictures of the bones in the upper back, the way the vertebrae stack down from the occiput then between the ribs. As I stared at the picture, I begin to lift my chest with the image of those bones infused in my consciousness. I visualized those particular shapes moving down and forward. A samskara had been created.

"Healing therapy is a science and an art. It needs purity of heart and clarity of head." BKS Iyengar

Svadhyaya is continuing to question ourselves. To do this we have to be willing to let go of our ego and admit incorrectness, admit lack of compassion and open ourselves to criticism, from students, teachers, fellow humans. We need to continue looking for shadow areas in our practice, look for ways to create new samskaras, deepen our actions, deepen our poses, so that we may become more observant and compassionate teachers and students.

1.14 sa tu dirghakala nairantarya satkara asevitah drdhabhumih

Long, uninterrupted, alert practice is the firm foundation for restraining the fluctuations of the mind.

I love trees.

Vals's Pictures Portland 5-07-10 A 189, originally uploaded by deweesescience.

Path in the Japanese Garden in Washington Park, Portland Oregon

IMG_0268, originally uploaded by deweesescience.

I like paths.

IMG_0271, originally uploaded by deweesescience.

IMG_0211, originally uploaded by deweesescience.

Wooded path in Portland, Oregon

IMG_0255, originally uploaded by deweesescience.

Thank you

Ganesh 1, originally uploaded by chiangmai chimes.

Thanks to all of you who attended the sutra class this past Saturday. A couple of you have made some suggestions for future classes. Please feel free to keep the suggestions flowing. My hope is that you can use the sutra classes to not only study the sutras, but explore what the philosophies have to offer you on your continuing yogic journey.