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| I went to an Iyengar class last night and wanted to chat and ask a few questions. It was Iyengar Style and the instructor said she was still in training. I believe she said she attends 2 classes per week at www.yogadallas.com.
Questions
1) do all teachers frequently stop class to model the pose?
2) does the class always follow a theme and involve detail anatomy?
3) does every pose typically use props?
I found the instructor to be very knowledgable and comfortable. It was interesting to hear her talk about the subtleties of movements in the body. What was missing for me was a flow and staying in the moment. We'd do a pose, get out, and come look at another one before executing the next. I also found some of the props to be cumbersome. I felt like I could go into the pose correctly without them & the prop actually hindered me. I kept thinking about the prop, and not my body. Possibly I could focus more on my body with a prop with more practice.
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Expert Yogi
Posts: 8442
    
| Hi Kym- to answer your questions:
1) Yes, almost always
2) Often but not always
3) Not every pose but some classes do tend that way
As far as flow goes, I find that there is a flow but it is not the same as in vinyasa. It is the flow that you get while doing other activities such as gardening or cooking, where you may not be flowing like a dance through each aspect of the activity - stopping to empty a wheelbarrow or check a recipe - but there is still "flow" in that when you become immersed in the process, the time flies by. I would imagine it would take some time to get used to it if you came from another tradition.
The props really do bother some people, but if you let go of the idea that you are doing the pose properly (since almost everyone can improve any given pose) and allow the prop to be your teacher, you will usually find there is some little thing you can learn from it. For example, many people can put their hands on the floor in prasarita padottanasana and balk when asked to use blocks, yet I have been in advanced classes where everyone used blocks in order to more easily access the lengthening of the torso and side chest. When I demo halasana with my feet on a chair, I find I can get a better lift of the torso and show how to get the hips over the shoulders better than when I take my feet to the floor.
Not every teacher uses a theme and the anatomical talk may vary. Often teachers in training emphasise something that their mentor teachers have been telling them to work on. And sometimes any teacher can get off onto a bit of a tangent - not that I have ever done that myself  Jeeze I hope none of my students lurk here  |
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| I did Iyengar style for about 15 yrs. & what I found was, some of the props & some of the standard instructional gambits don't actually do much for me, & others do. One thing to remember is - for instance - the wall is your teacher, but - your body is not supposed to be as straight as real straight lines or as rigid as a wall - for sure. So, there's something to get - but - you may be beyond that - or not quite there yet. Don't take it too seriously. Just do the things that actually work for you! |
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Expert Yogi
Posts: 2479
Location: A Blue State | 1) do all teachers frequently stop class to model the pose?
The ones I know do. It's called "come watch".
2) does the class always follow a theme and involve detail anatomy?
That's called "sequencing". Together with alignment, and knowledgeable teachers,
it's one of the things that make Iyengar yoga so very useful to me. Sequencing
is what allows you to reach deep asanas without strain.
3) does every pose typically use props?
Tee hee! Seems that way sometimes! Is the floor also a prop?
I hate props, but there are some poses that just don't make sense
to me without that I use props. So, in my home practice, I guess I have
three poses that I almost always prop:
* Marichyasana III -- sit up on blanket so that my sacrum isn't tilted
back, as it would be when I do primary series. That pose is more
fun when your spine is straight.
* Urdhva Dhanurasana --- I usually put a block between my feet until
I'm completely open in my back, so that I won't turn my toes out.
It helps me focus on releasing the correct muscles.
* Shoulderstand cycle -- yeah, I like to put a blanket under my shoulders
for this....25-30 minutes without a blanket is not comfortable, and the blanket
helps get the upper back straight. No, I don't belt my elbows at home.
Sometimes I use a belt on my legs for Rajakapotasana, but usually I skip it.
....bg
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| instructional gambits...that cracks me up...
when i began practicing iyengar style a few months ago, i found the props to be a little cumbersome also. i would spend more time setting up my props than actually being in the posture. and as a tall, lanky boy, a lot of the props are slightly undersized for me (especially chairs)
but as you advance, you learn to use the props more efficiently. as you get a feeling for the general alignment and rotation of limbs you'll learn how the props are supposed to fit with your body.
and then they are a great teacher: your body will remember the propped alignment, and integrate it into your movement. belting my arms in bakasana and pincha mayurasana have yielded amazing results, you know?
some teachers can go a little crazy with the props, but there is something to be learned in that, too.
themes, props and detailed anatomy are what makes iyengar yoga a great thing. its actually a class in yoga; its movement education and body intelligence training. other types of hatha yoga are wonderful, but iyengar style really forces you to know your body. its not just "oh, my hips are tight" but "oh, this and this and this ligaments are tight, and here's how i need to rotate them to yield a release"
oooh and the heart opening...
seriously guys, don't get me started
i'm a total nerd...
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| i really want to echo tourist's statements about flow.
generally speaking, i teach vinyasa. most people consider my classes vinyasa classes. i call them 'free form' vinyasa classes. As i began to sing more and more into my iyengar roots, i began to teach more alignment, more prop use, and even model occassionally. many people told me that i was 'breaking the flow' or 'discontinuing vinyasa.' but the feeling of it was far different. While i felt that i maintained the flow (i had to get through X number of poses in 1 hr and 30 minutes--and did so), many felt that the explaination of movement/alignment, etc was cumbersome, and "not vinyasa" (they prefered counting).
so this got me thinking about what 'vinyasa' is. to me, it's not just the flow of breath and movement, because even in vinyasa formed classes, we hold poses for a number of breaths, repeat postures, and in many cases, we may even take the time to learn a pose by having teachers and assistants demonstrate while others wait and watch, and then try. so, obviously it wasn't absolute to the concept of how sun salutations are vinyasas.
this got me thinking about natural rhythms, being in the present, and also doing what needs to be done. it seems to me that there is a universal vinyasa. At the most basic level, we can see this in the concept of the creation and destructin of the universe (expansion and contraction), or at day and nite, or different times of day and nite. We see it reflected in nature through activity and inactivity, and in our own lives if we are tapped into the movement of the spirit--every aspect of what we do has entered that state of flow, that state of "prayer unceasing' or "meditation unceasing" or "constant being"--and then we are truly in a state of vinyasa.
i think that vinyasa classes are meant to emulate and demonstrate this process. but that doesn't mean that other 'more static' styles aren't in the greater process of vinyasa--of universal or omniversal flow.
i teach with strong iyengar influences, as i mentioned. I teach students how to 'flow with props' because sequencing and learning how to move props with grace into the right spaces can really help them 'flow' through the sequence rather than feeling 'herky-jerky' when using props. It's something that i practice as well--using props in different ways and learning new ways to move with them when moving from front of the mat to the back and so on. i enjoy and even prefer using props and modified versions of postures as much as i can. i find this helps my body open up more slowly and thoroughly--sometimes something that is not done in 'typical' vinyasa classes. (not always the case, of course--it largely depends upon the practitioner). |
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Expert Yogi
Posts: 8442
| I think this could move on to a discussion about why some people are attracted to forms where there is constant movement. I think there are some individuals who love movement and take every opportunity to move, but who can enjoy and embrace stillness when that is appropriate, and there are some who crave movement as a way to distract themselves from the noise in their brains and have a lot of trouble being still. I could elaborate but I won't 
Discuss.  |
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| sometimes, people are both, depending upon what's going on.
i had a class once that i taught that was vinyasa. i had three students in the class, all of whom had practiced yoga for more than a year. It was vinyasa yoga that they normally practiced--with sun salutations and the chaturanga-updog-downdog process in between 'sets' of other movements. essentially, power yoga.
anyway, all three students were incredibly crappy at chaturange, upward dog, and downward dog. upward facing or half forward bend was also a mess (rounded back, etc), lets not even talk about warrior I. i mean christ on the half shell, their alignment sucked. and i thought "who teaches these people?"
also, typically at this place the teachers play music during class. they like jazzy-funky 'dance trance' music. i'm cool with that, but when i'm teaching, i find it incredibly distracting. it's rather annoying when i practice. i can live with it, but i prefer not to.
so they show up in my class, these poor unsuspecting students with very messy asanas. i break out props, no music, and start teaching alignment in vinyasa. This means skipping sun salutation, but i did 'half sun sals' and taught it slow--slow--at tempo--at tempo--at tempo. and then i did the second half (central vinyasa chat, up dog, down dog) in the same way--with props. and then warrior I, II, whatever. Each one was "slow" from their usual 'power/trance-dance yoga class' but it did the same postures (all of them) in the same amount of time.
The difference was, no zone out to music. no zone out in 'flowing' as a means of destraction. It was asana instruction, breath instruction (in fact, savasana was 10 minutes long instead of the usual five, so they actually spent LESS time in asana than in their usual class), and then chanting at the end.
and then they freaked out to the boss about it. absolutely hated the class--it didn't flow, they said. it wasn't fun, they said. she made us do chaturange properly, they whined. we hardly had any savasana, they said (uhm, 5 minutes more than normal!). it was pretty hilarious.
so the boss said i had to explain myself. why wasn't it vinyasa--i explained that it was vinyasa. i did the same postures in less time than the typical class there--the same number of poses, same number of repititions, same amount of time (actually less in some cases) per pose. I worked on alignment, described alignment. worked on breath, described breath. There was no music, because it was about being present, being in the body, learning the yoga.
he said, but the class wasn't fun. and i said, i'm not a baby sitter or an entertainer. i'm an educator. if they want fun, they can go to gymboree. yoga is meant to be enjoyable, but not a distraciton like 'fun.' he said, but you didn't play any music. i said, we didn't need the distraction. I said, i teach yoga, man, YOGA.
yeah, so, interesting discussion. |
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| >T - individuals who love movement and take every opportunity to move, but who can enjoy and embrace stillness
And I always think a balance is best for me. A little Ashtanga to build strength and stamina, a little Iyengar to keep me aligned. A little Vinyasa to get the inner dance happening and a little Anusara to center that dance in the heart.
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| Jambo, that's kinda how I feel about it. I'd like the Iyengar classes to get me in touch with alignment, but I'd want to take vinyasa also. I do believe I can get very still in my head during vinyasa. I go inside and breathe and I love it. Movement in my body and stillness in my head are not mutually exclusive. (Is that what you meant Tourist?)
When I did the Iyengar, I was not still and quiet in my head. However, I do see that with practice I could get used to the different format and still my mind while in a pose and not think about the props.
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Expert Yogi
Posts: 8442
| I think some - and not all but a lot (especially athletes) I have spoken to - think that they have stillness in the mind but they are actually not within the mind and still but outside the mind and it looks still because they are looking from the outside. Deep, huh?  |
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| yay! mobius strips of thought!
i think that one got confusing.
i think that in vinyasa, one can truly find and move from inner stillness. i also think that without vinyasa, one can do the same (because it's part of the larger vinyasa).
i think that in a yoga classroom, vinyasa or not, there's connection to the larger vinyasa. |
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| I do not teach Iyengar, but I do focus on not only holding poses (there is strength and surrender in holding poses) but also the movement between the poses as well... being mindful of the continuous movement of the body as we change from one asana to the next.
I had no clue Iyengar stops after each pose - see you learn something new each day! |
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Expert Yogi
Posts: 8442
| Shannon - we stop between each pose sometimes and sometimes we don't If you count coming back to tadasana after one standing pose and the next, we VERY often flow through poses in a practice - not so much in a class, especially in the early levels. One thing that Iyengar students often forget to do is come out of poses with the same care and attention that we use as we go into them, which is not smart. I have hurt myself doing that. My students are getting a lot of nagging about it right now - don't collapse coming out ofthe pose!  |
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