Geeta Iyengar’s last teaching at BKS Iyengar’s centenary celebration
by Tara Duffy January 2019
What is Iyengar yoga? That was the question with which Prashant, Geeta, and Abhijata challenged the more than 1,200 students from more than 50 countries who attended Guruji BKS Iyengar’s Centenary Celebrations in Pune for twelve days in December 2018. We were blessed to have had five days teaching from Prashant and five days teaching from Geeta, with additional talks and Q&A, from both, as well as Abhijata.
How has Iyengar yoga evolved from when B.K.S. Iyengar, whom we now call Guruji, first began teaching in Pune? From when he took the pictures in the early 1960s for Light on Yoga, which, together with the manuscript, sat without a publisher for many years? From when the first foreign students arrived at the institute? From when Guruji had severe jaundice in the 1970s and had to adjust his asana practice? From when he first began developing props in the 1980s?
Iyengar yoga is not about following rigid rules, Prashant, Guruji’s son, showed us in numerous ways during the five days he taught. Guruji constantly challenged himself and experimented in his practice to discover what the effect of breath was on the asana, the asana on the body, pranayama on the mind. “There are 1,000 ways for the breath in each asana,” he explained, showing us how when we focus our breath on one particular area, the asana will be different from when we focus the breath somewhere else. Sirsana will be different when done at the beginning of your practice than when done following standing poses, for example. He showed us how even in pranayama, we can “play” with the breath to experiment with its movement. This was Iyengar yoga. Iyengar yoga is not a “system,” Prashant said, but a “style,” or “approach” to yoga.
Iyengar yoga is not just about correcting alignment by using props, Geeta showed us as she led the adult group through a vibrant practice, without any props (apart from our yoga mats) that included jumping from Uttanasana to Adho Mukha Svanasana to Virasana. The pratice was specifically for the children who joined the assembled group for one hour, and the adults sweat through it trying to keep up the pace. Of course, Iyengar yoga, as we all know, is strict about alignment and sequencing for a reason. Geeta showed us another day how the misalignment of some students posture was a source of pain for them that surfaced in particular in sirsana. She took time out of the regular teaching to show how these students needed to be first adjusted in tadasana, or other standing poses. She made us sit high on four folded blankets for pranayama to allow space for our inhalation and exhalation in the abdomen and to allow us to better lift the tops of our sternums. And then she taught us pranayama lying down without any prop. All of this was Iyengar yoga.
“Am I worthy to call myself an Iyengar yoga teacher?” was the shocking question Abhijata raised in a deeply personal talk on her self-doubt. She questioned whether she had the personal commitment to practice, the deep insight into students’ bodies, the vast knowledge of adjustments to be able to carry the weight of the Iyengar yoga name. These doubts were similar to ones I myself had, but often brushed aside, arguing I am committed to the Iyengar method, I know no other, I have passed my assessments. Yet we all can do so much more, learn so much more in our practice.
This is what I initially came away from the centenary with, a renewed commitment to practice, to learning through practice, as well a renewed commitment to try to bring the depth, subtlety, and variety of the Iyengar yoga method to my students.
We heard in the two days of celebrations following the yoga teachings themselves, from prominent figures in the world of business, art, sports, charity, religion, and politics, of how Iyengar yoga changed their lives for the better. Through documentaries, we watched and heard how Iyengar yoga has helped orhpans, criminals, and addicts. We witnessed an amazing performance of yoga by young students from Guruji’s hometown of Bellur. We learned how the village has been transformed through Guruji’s and others’ donations to the Bellur Trust, which built a secondary school, hospital, and yoga hall, providing so many more life opportunities to the children there.
Yoga Darśana teacher Tara Duffy paying respects with George Dovas of the Iyengar Yoga Centre of Hong Kong, to Geeta Iyengar and Prashant Iyengar after the centenary celebration for BKS Iyengar in Pune, India December 2018.
Yet upon leaving India, news came of Geetaji’s passing, giving the events of the 12 previous days an added significance. Geetaji taught us all, with all her energy and dedication, right to her end. She attended the celebrations on Guruji’s centenary, the 14th of December. She had only in the days prior told us that after Guruji passed in 2014, how she thought she too could not go on, but she slowly regained her strength and resolved to celebrate the 100th year of his birth. She willed herself, despite her failing body, to be there for that day.
We were truly blessed to have been there with her to celebrate Guruji’s life, his contribution to yoga across the world, and for teaching so many wonderful teachers from Geeta, Prashant, Abhijata, and all the others who have taught us.
© Tara Suilen Duffy 2019
