9th January 2025 - Day 4 of 50th Birthday Celebrations

Meeting up with a couple of my fellow Tardounies!

The days are starting to take on a familiar rhythm as we settle into the intensive. Up and out bright and early and into a taxi to PYC Gymkhana for a few settling asanas before the 8.30am class. I was a little overwhelmed and humbled by people coming to say thank you for the blog today. Truthfully, it is an undertaking, but one which I am happy to get stuck into (and feel no pressure to continue). It was so lovely for people to think of buying a gift or suggesting some kind of payment to say thank you, but if I can just say clearly here that for me, this would upset the dynamic completely - its a relaxed thing (trying hard not to try too hard again!) that is given with a spirit of sharing freely and the genuine appreciation coming my way is more than enough.

I also have to wonder about the wisdom of me being the person to share their understanding of Prashant's teaching - I could hardly be less qualified for this task as a total (Prashant) beginner myself and this is really the first time I have engaged more fully with his teaching. There is a saying that 'In the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is King!' and honestly in the case of Yoga Philosphy and Prashant's teaching, I wouldn't even award myself the single eye. However it does help that English is my first language and a lot of the people I spoke to today were struggling with this aspect of being able to translate quickly enough to follow what is being said.

I was particularly interested in his discourse on the autogenic nourishment provided to the body by the practice of asana. This is a means to ingest nutrients even when no food has been taken, We think we have to take external supplements to nourish the body, but asanas can be done in such a way to autogenically absorb nutrition. When the yogis’ journey high up into the Himalayas for their Sadhana they do not pop back to the shopping mall to gather their carrier bags of goodies! They do not carry an oxygen cylinder with them to be able to breathe at altitude. Understand that asana can be done in such a way to burn / consume or assimilate calories. This is where in particular Uddiyana Kriya plays a part - go for it wherever possible to ‘turn out what the body needs’. He also mentioned Kapalabhati Kriya and Agnisar Kriya. The body itself is a shopping mall with marvellous chemical complexes!

In between the morning and afternoon classes, Raya gave an hour long session expanding a little more on some principles of how to approach therapy, which I do not have time to write up fully. He made a very clear statement that he wanted heard that :

"As teachers we should always err on the side of caution, but as students we should always err on the side of courage".

The final session of the day was a class taught by Guruji's grandson, Srineet Iyengar, son of Guruji's second daughter Vanita. Although he teaches at RIMYI and also online Yoga Sutra sessions along with his Uncle Prashant, most of us in the room had never been taught by him before, so it was a new (and very interesting) gift to unwrap (notes below).

January 9th – 50th Birthday - Day 4 – Session 1 – Prashantji

We started with ‘exercise-ology’ swapping sides in Parsva Swastikasana ‘at pace’ turning rapidly to grasp the knee before switching to the other side.

Next we ramped up the pace more and found space to extend arm arms in line with the shoulders to swing right side and left side with the momentum of the arms. There should not only be a physical culture but also mind culture and breath culture. What is their involvement? Finally we went for a round of static Parva Swastikasana.

There is a vast age range in the room people in their twenTIES, thirTIES, sevenTIES, eightTIES which was short-handed to Early T’s and Late T’s (and perhaps those of us who consider ourselves the middle T’s). Priorities change in the different age groups.

Throughout these classes Prashant he has asked us to observe the PPP and PPC aspects and today he clarified for anyone who had not yet caught it what these stand for:

Participation, Partaking, Part with

And

Purpose, Process, Consequence.

He told us that the Nyaya Darshan lays out 16 means of knowledge. We should not be satisfied with just ability – we also need imagination (amongst others). Imagine Guruji was sat next to you as you practice and then you will clearly know where you lack!

Of the vast array of yoga asanas we tend to stick to a few ‘signature’ asanas and ignore those we don’t ‘like’. Often we don’t like because we cannot master them or because we don’t understand what advantage they give to us – but so much more is there beyond what we can grasp with our initial observation. There is an ‘ocean depth’ - Yoga is an esoteric subject which requires faith – so even if we cannot immediately grasp how it is good for our peripheral system we should at least begin the process of attempting each pose. Even it is only 1% of the final asana, at least begin!

So today we are going to explore some of the ‘step-children’ of our preferred asanas. No-one has ever said that Utkatasana is their favourite posture! Without exception!

Utkatasana – Long static hold

Utkatasana – As for the children’s class 30 times, fast!

Vrksasana – Long static hold (referring to the bent elbows of some students ‘Your house is unlocked and you have left and gone out!).

Garudasana – This is a hip posture, a breath-ological posture. Observe the comparison of the breath with just the legs folded , legs squeezing together and with the arm fold too. Notice the convex back when you squeeze the arms. Practitioners can be obsessed with concave back, even in Bakasana with its natural dome shape, you can see people trying to concave their spine. ‘Are there not lungs here?’ (points to the back of Raya’s chest).

Yoga doesn’t stop when you ‘get’ a posture. If the postures ‘give’ back to you THEN you get yoga. YOUR doing will not, Yoga happens by THEM.

Sirsasana This is a means to ingest nutrients even when no food has been taken, We think we have to take external supplements to nourish the body, but asanas can be done in such a way to autogenically absorb nutrition. When the yogis’ journey high up into the Himalayas for their Sadhana they do not pop back to the shopping mall to gather their carrier bags of goodies! They do not carry an oxygen cylinder with them to be able to breathe at altitude. Understand that asana can be done in such a way to burn or consume or assimilate calories. This is where in particular Uddiyana Kriya plays a part - go for it wherever possible to ‘turn out what the body needs’. He also mentioned Kapalabhati Kriya and Agnisar Kriya. The body itself is a shopping mall with marvellous chemical complexes!

Here he explained that the next part was ideally to be done as part of your home practice, not taught, as the fuller inhalations and exhalations infringe on those in close proximity to you. We learn how to restrict the breath flow as in digital pranayama, but so we must also learn to open up the nostril so that we create an ‘international multiple-lane highway’ for the breath to flow.

First we took supine asana (suggested was Supta Virasana, Supta Baddha Konasana or Supta Matsyasana) to become sensitive and engage with the body / mind / breath system. Then we explored 4 methods to open the nostril.

1)       We used our thumb to lift the entire central tip of the nose upward (like you would if you were making a gesture to say someone was stuck-up!)

2)       We inserted the tip of the finger and thumb at the (upper) gate of the nostrils and spread the membrane to the sides.

3)       We spread the skin over the cheekbones apart and drew downwards.

4)       We rolled the lips deep inwards as if we were going to make an exaggerated MMMM sound.

Don’t think that because the nostril passage is wide open, you can’t still perform a ‘rarified’ breath.

In some asanas it is possible to use your hands for the first 3 methods, but where the hands are not available, for example in Paschima Namaskarasana, we can employ the 4th method.

Trikonasana - Lips rolled deep inwards. Inhalation manifests energy, exhalation manifests power and we benefit from both, here they are both in exchange because of our extra-open breathing channel.

Trikonasana – This time rolling the lips AND silently uttering the sound forms (Uuuuh like uncle, aaaaah, eeeeee, oo). Can you witness how the pranic circulation is enhanced?

The nose is a high-tech organ – the ‘cockpit’ of the yogi – the tip of the absolutely complicated mechanism of the pranic system.

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January 9th 2025 – Day 4 – Session 3 – 50th Birthday - Srineet Iyengar

• Swastikasana for the invocation. Be aware of the completely unblemished, unchanging eternal light of the soul. Inhale in such a way as to deposit the inhalation there in that place and then exhale though the layers from that light at the core to the periphery, through organ, muscle, skin to distribute that light of divinity throughout, extending beyond the skin as if surrounded by a bubble of sanctity and purity.

  
  

• Samasthiti – This means eveness, so first we have to create that quality, the eveness of the weight distribution. First we notice that the weight is more on the toes, so we have to bring it more to the heels. Imagine there is a bangle tied tightly around the ankles and we have to create the eveness in the level of the bangle front and back. He gave us a moment to assimilate this and then said, ‘It immediately becomes apparent that the front of the bangle has to lift up, and the back has to lengthen down’.

  And then another bangle around the waist, even level front and back side.

  And then the diaphragm itself level front and back side.

  And then the pit of the throat.

  He gave us a few moments to observe and align our ‘bangles’ and then asked us to breath so that the breath rose up centrally from the base of the torso, reaching the pit of the throat, where it spread out to the sides and descended down the outer edge of the body, down through the fingertips and then continuing downwards through the feet. Let the breath be subtle. And now experience the quality of Samasthiti.

• Paschima Namskarasana – Inhale from the base silently uttering A   U    M The A resonating lower down, the U rising up towards the pit of the throat and the MMM descending down to the hands. Let it settle there and notice that there is absolutely no hurry to begin the exhalation – a natural, organic Kumbhaka (pause) takes place. Allow the chest to respond naturally to the breath.

• Urdhva Prasarita Eka Padasana – Let the mind solely focus on the metatarsal of the lifted leg – a single point of awareness there (eka grata). The hand on the side of the lifted leg has to grasp the ankle of the standing foot from behind. I observed that the pose was extremely stable and from that single point of awareness the rest unfolded naturally, organically.

• Prasarita Padottanasana – Imagine the nadis (channels) through which energy flows and see that you create eveness of these channels so that they remain parallel to each other and equally illuminated.

• Asanas generate certain Samskaras (lasting impressions) and when done in this way with understanding and awareness create a (positive) Vrtti that stays with us and leads to the desire to repeat the asana, which generates that Vrtti and so on in a kind of feedback loop.

  
  

•  Krounchasana – First we observed the push and pull of the asana done without understanding where the trunk and the back of the leg jostle to take the lead. We had not done any preparatory poses. Then we were told to hold the foot (or belt) where the arch meets the heel, so that the foot and toes had the freedom to extend and lift upwards. You do not need to keep the back rigid, you can allow it to gently slouch there. This created a gentle, quiet, effective Krounchasana.

• ·Bharadvajasana 1 – First we experienced this as often practiced with the right hand cup shaped behind to lift the trunk and the left hand pressed against the outside of the knee. We observed that this was a twist of the spine like a spiral staircase and that the inhalation breath came in a single line where the lower back was narrow and the chest was broad. Then we did the classical pose with the right hand around the back of the body clasping just above the left elbow with the left hand palm catching the outer knee. We observed first that the arm behind created a support for the trunk and that now it was a turn instead of a twist, where the lower back was no longer narrow and the breath a ’sheaf’ flowing down behind the navel. It should be a turn rather than a twist.

• Bharadvajasana 2 – Same observations as Bharadvajasana 1 – a turn instead of a twist with the hand reaching behind to catch the padmasana and the breath a sheaf. A creative contemplation. He told us that Guruji said that every asana has a personality. The more you talk to it, the more you get to know it, the more profound and long lasting the effect of the asana.

• Marichyasana 1 twist clasping around the shin. If you could not clasp, then at least reach back and hold the straight leg shin – As soon as your raise the bent leg knee up, the back slouches so first you have to see that it lifts. To prevent the slouching, shift the body weight forward so that you are sitting on the front of the buttock bone rather than the flesh of the buttock. There is inherently length on one side of the torso while the other side is naturally shorter – however when you inhale see that you touch the corresponding points in the body left and right side evenly (even if they are slightly diagonal to each other due to the unevenness).

• Marichyasana 1 forward extension (he called this Marichyasana 2, but its what we usually call Mari 1 Fwd) – The back broadens and the breath is almost exclusively felt there, hardly at all in the front body. Take the awareness to the crown of the head which softens it to extend the upper back further.

• Parivrtta Janu Sirsasana – If there is stiffness, bend the extended leg and put the foot flat on the floor so that you can extend the spine and rotate more fully and then see about extending the leg. Turn the torso to look at the ceiling, so that you almost topple. Same guidance as per Marichyasana – is the breath touching the corresponding parts at the same time? Feel it behind the navel, and evenly diffuse it all the way out to the other knee. The influence of prana extends beyond the body 96 thumb widths so that you are forming a bubble of prana all around you.

• Seated Virasana – Hands on feet, fingers pointing forwards and start to become more aware of the pranic kriya / movements of the breath. It was said that Yoga is a meditation in action. But the meditation in yoga is sharp like a diamond – complete awareness.

• Padmasana – Continuing to observe the breath. Imagine a point 12 thumb widths away from the nose and inhale steadily from that single point - direct that breath towards the heart. Offer that breath to the Lord and hold it there. Then exhale. Now hold that exhalation steady at that single point. Release the abdominal grip and resume the breath.

• Savasana – Exhale from the outer corner of the eyes. This is the opposite of that single, sharp focus.