I just finished my second month here at the Iyengar Institute in Pune. With only one month left, I already feel tinges of sadness and fear, and the desire to stay for the rest of the year. I will have completed 3 months by the time I leave, have learned so much, and still have that feeling that it wasn’t nearly enough and I want so much more.
The second month was completely different from the first for me. I was way less social, my health was much better and my practice much stronger. I remember one moment I had in the hall towards the end of the first month and again in the beginning of the second, where I looked around the hall, saw everyone practicing, and had a feeling of how immature my practice felt. After 17 years of almost daily practice, this was such a humbling experience.
I have had the tremendous honor of assisting in the medical classes. At first my role was small, but as everyone has gotten to know me and as I have gotten a deeper understanding of what is to be done, my role has gradually increased. For those of you who have not been to Pune, the medical classes are a Complex, Brilliant and Very Dynamic Display of the Therapeutic Aspects of Iyengar Yoga. People have to apply for the class and are treated for a varying array of conditions. These can run from “simple” back and shoulder pain, to heart problems, surgery recovery, thyroid issues, cancer, etc. Everyone has a particular sequence that’s individual for them, normally given by Geeta-ji. And almost every single teacher from the institute is there helping to run it. From the outside, it looks hectic and chaotic, but the more I am there, the more I begin to understand what is going on, the more I see the magical order to it. I have no doubt its the kind of experience that only after I leave, will I realize how much I have actually learned.
And now month three has started. I am still chasing Kapotasana, working to align my hips in Hanumanasana, getting a feel in my own body for what I observe and help out with in the medical classes, and as of today, working therapeutically with my own left hip, the one that just doesn’t want to release in Ardha Padmasana or Mulabhandasana. My practice has matured. I am learning to go after my poses. To not just hang around in Uttanasana, but to work with it. To get my legs together, knees straight, palms on the floor behind my feet, chest and abdomen directly on my thighs, head between my shins. Some things come naturally and some things you have to work for. I wish I had come here 10 years ago, got some of these teaching’s then, but this is my path and my life is surely blessed. I am so grateful for what I am receiving and so excited to be able to share it with my friends, colleagues, and students.
