Clear Yoga, Iyengar Yoga in Rhinebeck

We begin our practice developing an understanding that we are a place in space. We evolve through our practice to an acceptance and surrender that we are space in space. The phrases in quotation marks are from BKS Iyengar and shared by Patricia Walden. ... from a place in space to space in space... Thank you BKS Iyengar for your wise perspective Sunset on the Hudson River this evening

Gifts aplenty .... A gift from Sage Patanjali: Sutra I.33:... maitri karuna muditopeksanam sukha duhkha punyapunya visayanam bhavanatas citta prasadanam In daily life we see people around who are happier than we are, people who are less happy. Some may be doing praiseworthy things and others causing problems. Whatever may be our usual attitude toward such people and their actions, if we can be pleased with others who are happier than ourselves, compassionate toward those who are unhappy, joyful with those who are doing praiseworthy things, and remain undisturbed by the errors of others, our mind will be very tranquil. T.K.V. Desikachar A gift from Geeta Iyengar: Yesterday in class we explored the collarbones - the archway of the heart. Geeta says that we should broaden the collarbones to open our spiritual heart. middle clavicle has to get exposed while the inner and outer clavicles remain stable and quiet like the shins in padmasana. You have to keep soft in the outer clavicles. Skin spreads over the middle clavicle, when that part of the bone comes up, it is no longer a bone, it is a space for your mind, it is a mind. When that area closes, it makes us choke and cry. Takes time to get that middle clavicle to open. ( from the Women’s Intensive notes) In practicing Geeta’s instructions alongside Sutra 1:33, they are both teaching the same thing. Geeta’s work gives a feeling to the words expressed by Patanjali - to keep an open heart and and open mind. What a gift given to us ....

Happy birthday Guruji Treat each asana as a god or goddess; Each part of your body is a deity . Each organ is a deity. You are coming into your deity. Your temple. (BKS Iyengar: notes from the Women’s Intensive) Thank you to everyone who attended and donated to the special tribute class last Saturday. We raised $500 for The Bellur Trust in his honor.

Join me for a Benefit class this Saturday December 12th at 9-10.30am EST ( New York time) in honor of the teachings of BKS and Geeta Iyengar. All proceeds will be donated to The Bellur Trust http://belluriyengaryogacenter.com/trust/ The class is $15.... http://clearyogarhinebeck.com/online-classes/

Manage yourself. Satisfaction is one thing. Contentment is something else. To be satisfied is short term and not complete. Contentment is complete fulfillment. No more desire. If there is a will there is away. If there is no will, there is no way. Treasured wisdom from Geeta S Iyengar. How fortunate to have spent time on earth under the guidance of such an extraordinary and brilliant teacher.... Remembering her on this anniversary of her birthday

Pratyahara A summary of notes taken from a lecture given by Prashant Iyengar in June 2020 Our senses cannot be understood mechanically. We cannot have a mechanical view of our senses. How our eyes, ears, tongue, nose, skin function depend not just on the external object but on our subjective understanding....Continue reading

Practicing krounchasana (heron pose) this week. Like all forward bends, they require tremendous patience and humility. Time to humble up. I was inspired by Cristian Pisano’s translation and description of this pose as The precipice. I think of a precipice as a tipping point, from solidity to space, from the known to the unknown, facing my fears and avoidances, but also as a deep inner place from which to consider ones place in the order of things. He writes: although ...the truck lifts up along the leg, it is the descent of the head of the thigh bone into the hip socket and the space subsequently created that is explored, as well as the depth of the groin that opens like a precipice. Above this precipice, positioned high up, beams the diaphragm, which entices towards it, all movements of exteriorization of forehead and eyes upwards. Krounchasana is an upward climb; breath by breath, bone by bone, muscle by muscle, front body long, inching higher, no short cuts, only a quiet contemplative climb. Iyengar uses the chin to push upwards on the shin for the final ascent. He goes onto say abandoning the head to the knee and beyond symbolizes surrender and capitulation of all strategies. Frontal brain perception dies away and makes way for the humility of the earth. One is crowned by one’s own vacuity. Humble up indeed. Taken from his book The Hero’s contemplation. This class can be found here https://vimeo.com/ondemand/clearyoga2 (#74)

A restorative sequence for stress and emotional stability. When the breath is gently exhaled towards the heart, the heart is purified of desires and the emotions that disturb it. This instruction is from BKS Iyengar and was a thread through this practice. While we often inhale ...Continue reading

Mabel Elsworth Todd (The Thinking Body) describes the shoulder joint as a bicycle wheel; the head of the humorous as the center of the wheel; the full range of circular swing as the rim of the bicycle tire and the spokes are the attachments - ligaments, tendons, and muscles that contribute to the healthy motion of the arm. Those of us who have bicycles know what happens when one of the spokes is bent or broken - it makes the movement stressed and unstable and puts strain on ...the other spokes. This is what happens to the shoulder when it is injured, overused, or underused in any of the degrees of motion. Each and every part is important and relevant and we work through all the available movements in our yoga practice to maintain a balanced range of motion. BKS Iyengar talks about "stress and strain" - stress is necessary tension, "strain" is the "restraint" or opposite of stress and also necessary tension. Point zero is the balance between stress and strain and can be experienced, he says as " relaxation.....whilst in a state of tension, we reach precision...the point of inner harmony at which we can unlock the knotty confusion of matter". ( pg 189 Light on the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali). The shoulder joint is a perfect laboratory with which to study stress and strain. Tom Myers' in Anatomy Trains adds an interesting insight - the muscles of the shoulder mimic the muscles of the eyes: never have I seen such an obvious correlation between eye and hand; what we see, we use our hands to grasp, and it makes total sense that the muscles mimic each other for eye-hand coordination. The other picture, is the link between the hands into the muscular connections in the back body. The class we practiced today is a study on this connection and brings understanding, and also relief from shoulder discomfort. Here is the link to the video https://vimeo.com/ondemand/clearyoga2/468647014

Samskaras are the deep impressions of habit that are the driving force behind what we do. Most of the time we don’t notice how our habits steer our lives. Swami Ramananda of the Integral Yoga Center in San Fransisco gives this simple explanation as to how practice helps us overcome our subconscious habits: Imagine watching a tree grow - the growing tree is your yoga or meditation practice. If you just stare at it. It’s not going to do much, but if you commit to tending to ...it, daily with love and loving attention in your heart, you will watch the tree grow into its surroundings. But what you will never see is how deep it grows beneath the surface. Our daily practice doesn’t need to be long, or complicated, fancy or detailed, but when done consistently it s going to affect the conscious mind and therefore, the subconscious mind. If we are in a position where we have brought our conscious mind under control through practice, we have already set the stage for working with the samskaras (habits) that live in the subconscious mind. In many ways, you don’t have to do anything to overcome the subconscious samskaras, you just have to keep practicing. Jess’s schedule for practice (EST - New York time) Tuesday 9-10.30am Tuesday 11am-12.45am Wednesday 8-8.45am pranayama Wednesday 9-10.15am Thursday 9-10.30am Saturday 9-10.30am Sign up here http://clearyogarhinebeck.com/online-classes/ Or on Vimeo https://vimeo.com/ondemand/clearyoga2