Being Thankful for Iyengar Yoga and You

It's close to Thanksgiving, a time when many of us get together with family and friends to share a meal and express our gratitude.  I am so thankful that I am living on this island, full of aloha, full of a friendliness that I haven't seen anywhere else.  I'm thankful to be living just 10 minutes away from our daughter and two grandchildren.  And I am thankful for all that Iyengar Yoga has given me.

When I was 13, my mother noticed that I had a curvature in my spine.  She wasn't concerned or wanted to do anything to fix it, and it didn't cause me any pain or embarrassment since I couldn't tell from looking in the mirror that anything was wrong.  But as I aged, it got worse.  It became more noticeable and sometimes my left side hurt.  I needed to stop the progression, so I looked into deep tissue massage, Feldenkrais (which helped with the pain), and physical therapy.  But I could see little or no change from the work I did.  Then I discovered a book on back care (Back Care Basics) and it mentioned that Iyengar Yoga, which focused on alignment and was known to be therapeutic, could help.  So I sought out a teacher in San Diego and began taking classes. 

The classes were demanding and I was unable to do most of the poses without some props, but that's what is so great about Iyengar Yoga -- B.K.S. Iyengar developed a method of using props so that anyone could find alignment in a pose with the proper support.  I used belts, blocks, blankets, and bolsters.  The studio had a rope wall which also helped me to stretch out my spine in poses like Sirsasana (headstand) where I hung upside down and Adho Mukha Svanasana (Downward Facing Dog) where the ropes held the tops of my legs so that I could stretch out.  Though it was difficult at first and my muscles felt worked the next day, I loved it because I knew that my muscles were being stretched, strengthened, and re-trained and that eventually I would improve -- maybe not completely, but I would improve.  And little by little, I did.

Now I can do many more poses.  I feel much more aware of the alignment and muscles in my body. There is still room for improvement, as I think there always will be, but I have been able to achieve poses that I thought I never would.  I feel stronger, more balanced, and more at peace with myself.

That's why I decided to teach and to be trained specifically in Iyengar Yoga.  My wish is to help others find more strength, more openness, more balance and peace.  I am so grateful for all who come to my classes.  Happy Thanksgiving!

Vrksasana (Tree Pose)

Vrksasana means "tree pose" in Sanskrit. This pose is a standing and balancing pose in which you extend upward like a tree. It is a great pose for building strength in the legs and finding a sense of balance and poise and a steadiness of the mind.

Stand in Tadasana. Shift your weight to the left leg and bend your right knee. Hold your right ankle, and extend the knee out to the right side. Place the sole of the foot on the inside of the left thigh, toes pointing down. Keep the left leg straight, as in Tadasana, pressing evenly through the standing leg foot. Keep your pelvis level. Lift the chest and bring your palms together in front of the chest. Then raise the palms up overhead until the arms are straight. If you can, keep the palms together, but if it is difficult to keep straight arms, then separate the hands shoulder-width apart. Draw the shoulders away from the neck. Now, press down through the standing leg foot and extend the body up through the crown of the head, up through the fingertips. Let go of any tension in the head or neck. Keep the gaze soft. Hold the pose 30-60 seconds. To come out, exhale, lower the right foot to the floor and take the arms down. Repeat on the other side.

In the beginning, balancing on one leg may be difficult. There are several options.

• Try doing the pose at first without taking the arms overhead. Just keep the palms together in front of the chest.
• Or extend the arms out to the sides, parallel to the floor, palms down. Sometimes this is enough to find steadiness in the pose.
• You can do the pose with your back to a wall, the back slightly touching the wall.
• Or stand with the left thigh parallel to a wall, about a foot away from the wall. Place the fingertips of the left hand on the wall, with the elbow bent. Place the right foot on the left thigh, then slowly take the right arm straight up overhead. Now you can slowly move the left hand up the wall until it's parallel to the right arm, and then move it away from the wall as you feel balanced. When you're ready to come out, take the left arm back to the wall, and release the right leg to the floor.

Practice this pose regularly to build strength in your legs and to achieve balance and poise.