Rita Keller Workshop in Bellur - 2018

Before I begin to share my experiences about the workshop, I would like to give some input about the teacher, Rita Keller.

Rita Keller:

The western World of Yoga does not need any introduction to Rita Keller. She is an Advanced Senior certified Iyengar yoga teacher from Germany with over 48 years of Yoga practice and teaching experience. She started the practice of yoga at the age of 18 and Iyengar yoga at the age of 22 in London. A year later, she moved to Pune to learn directly from Guruji B.K.S. Iyengar.  Since then she never looked back.

She is highly revered as one of the stalwarts in establishing and spreading the knowledge imparted by Guruji in most of the European countries. She is a teacher, teacher trainer and a guide to many students who lookout to establish their practice in Iyengar yoga. More importantly she is a very humble, friendly and a modest human being. I learned many things from her in these short interactions with her in couple of years. I love the way she meet the new comers. She is a heart winner. She greets each and every participant personally. She is a master in eradicating the fear or nervousness of being a newbie. This helps in building confidence among the students.

Guruji had a vision for Bellur, his birth place. He wanted to help the people of Bellur by providing them the very basic amenities like education, employment, medicine and impart yoga to the younger generations for their wellbeing. He wanted to build a school, hospital and yoga center for them. Ever since, he shared this with Rita Keller, she is working relentlessly to fulfill the vision of Guruji. If I am not wrong, she is conducting Iyengar yoga workshops from the year 2009 with foreign students from Europe and America to raise funds and help the trust in fulfilling the dreams of Guruji on Bellur.

It was in the year 2012, I learnt about her workshop and finally participated last year in 2017.

Initial hurdles:

The group that went last year - I, Tulsi, Raghavendra, Virupaksha, Rajaram were so impressed with her teachings that we were eagerly waiting for her return to Bellur and making our savings for the workshop.

Last year she was here for 8 days but this year she took a long intensive of 19 days. This changed all our calculations. The expenditure for us now is two times more than the previous year.

After much negotiations with Mr. Kishore and Mr. B. Raghu, it was agreed on Rs. 2500/- per day for Indian students that include food, accommodation in a dormitory and tuition fee. That means Rs. 47,500 for 19 days. It cost me over 1 lakh (including travel and other expenses) with my wife  accompanying for 19 days which is extreme for Indian students, even for the higher income people. We would have studied a minimum of 6 months in Pune with all sorts of expenditure with that amount.

Since I was eagerly waiting for this workshop for a year, I decided to participate at least a week if not all. Fortunately few days before the registration I received some money from my father that was equivalent to the total expenditure of the workshop. So I registered for total 19 days. Few of my friends from Telangana and Maharashtra have stepped back on learning about the expenditure. Finally 6 from Hyderabad, Raghavendra, Mohit, Gaurav, Sridevi, Tulsi, I and Virupaksha from Ballari managed to go for the event.

Blessings of our Teacher:

The difficult part was to skip my teacher Zarna Mohan's intensive in Rishikesh that coincided with Rita Keller's workshop. The announcement came in after I spread the word about the Rita Keller's workshop to my fellow mates.

I was little nervous on how my teacher would respond to this; as half of the students of our class were willing to visit Bellur. A great relief came after discussing the issue with her. She had no issues at all. In fact she met Rita Keller in Pune and said that her students are coming to her workshop in Bellur. Moreover, she was worried and concerned about our expenditure for the workshop. This was like a blessing for us. We are fortunate to have a teacher like her. 

Workshop Experience:

This workshop was an eye opener for many of us. It taught us how much we still have to work to understand the depth of Iyengar yoga. Now I understood the words of Geetaji when she said, "one has to bring effortful effortlessness in the practice." Without understanding the effort it is not possible to understand the effortlessness. The very theme of the workshop was to create the 'softness' in all postures irrespective of how advance the posture is.

The last year during a conversation with Rita Keller I asked, how important are those advance postures Guruji performed in "Light on yoga"  like difficult arm balances, topsy- turvy and other difficult poses where body is contorted to a great level. She smiled and said, off course they are important. People think difficult before they attempt. If one is ready and practices with hard work and with some intelligence one can master them.

If I remember correctly, last year she tried to explain about Taitirya Upanishad and how Iyengar yoga is based on this Upanishad. The major focus in asanas were on the Earth Element and Annamaya Kosha. This year, she continued from where she left before; rewinding and reminding the previous lessons from time to time. The focus was on Space, Earth and Air Elements this year. We have never understood the importance of these elements coordinating with the feet and hand movements while doing the asanas. It is for the first time we understood this clear, how important are these hand and feet movements in every asana whether simple or difficult and how these actions quieten the mind and bring softness in the pose. I was able to do or at least attempt some of the postures that I felt could never be possible to me. I clearly understood, if done with proper understanding and in a right manner it is certainly not very scary. At least, I overcome the fear of doing those asanas.

The beauty of Rita Keller's teaching is that she prepares you so well, that you don't feel any hardship in the end. Sometimes, I ended up doing certain things wondering how did that happen! She always keeps you at comfort level but that doesn't mean she lets you relax. I wondered the way she used to rush to all corners of the hall observing and adjusting wherever it is required.

From the very first class with Rita Keller, I got the feel of Gita Iyengar's teachings I experienced in Yoganusasanam. One can say, she is the softer version of Gitaji but she is as intense as her. Softly intense may be. Very interesting part of her personality is that she is very energetic and animated. We still remember some of her mannerisms, "look at those beautiful toes; they are sleeping! Please...! Please...! Please....!Do it for me!, Ooooiiii! Oh Goodieee! and so on.

Takeaway's from the Worskhop:

Rita Keller was in Bellur this time for three weeks to teach Junior I, II and III. All sorts of participants were there in the group from senior to junior practitioners and everyone has got something out of her sessions.

For me I think, I understood how much I need to practice and how I have to practice to progress further. When you work under a World class teacher like Rita Keller with the volume of experience under her belt and the way she carries herself, there is certainly something to learn.

For me the most outstanding part was the clarity I got in Pranayama. The Pranayama sessions were so clear and precise, I never understood the methodology this clear before. I was not able to establish in my Pranayama practice so far and now I realized why my mind used to wander while practicing it. My humble thanks to Rita madam for her wonderful teaching.

Again it is the same with asanas. Though, I must say intellectually knew the actions that she taught with feet and hand movements but never understood this clear. It is not that she taught something that nobody has taught before. I think the way she presented the subject I guess is what made the difference. She I think has a unique knack of teaching which haven't seen in many. I am basically a slow learner. I understand things late and slow. Rita Keller has a unique way of teaching. I haven't seen any other teacher teaching yoga on board and paper. She used to write down on board or paper and sometimes even draw the images about the brief summary of what is she going to present, explain it and then she teaches. Again before she begins the session she used to take the feedback and questions from previous session and continue after clarifying them. This is of great help to a slow learner like me.

She taught some very interesting sequences on the jet lag, mental fatigue, depression and High blood pressure etc. She shared lot of information and her experiences on women issues during menstruation and pregnancy. The pregnancy session on Virupaksha as a pregnant woman was very funny and enlightening. She named different asanas and asked Virupaksha to do them with 8 months pregnancy. By this she tried to practically explain what asanas can be done and what not in a very humorous way.

Being a senior teacher trainer, Rita Keller gave lot of input on how to teach students at different levels and also to help people suffering from ailments. She taught us very fine details of teaching starting from the proper use of props to teaching without touching the students unless it is really essential. As some of us from Hyderabad have began to teach the beginners and also assisting our teacher in Therapy classes, those lessons were really helpful.

Festivities and other Activities in Bellur:

This year, we were in Bellur during the festive season of Sankranti which is basically a festival of farmers celebrating the harvesting season. There were many cultural activities in the village as well as the school in the premises. Entire Bellur campus came to life on the Sankranti night as we all sang and danced. The memorable moments of the night were all ladies cheering the united dhoti team of men and all dancing together in the yoga hall after fire ceremony. Students of the school gave some cultural performances during the Republic day of India and yoga demonstrations as well. Apart from this we had great time exploring the beautiful countryside views during our trip to Melukote and exciting experience with monkeys at Lalbagh in Bengaluru. 

      

The group regularly used to visit Patanjali Temple in the Village to offer puja and chant 108 names of Patanjali. In between we visited the adjacent Rama Temple, Om Shakti Temple and Cheluva Narayana Temple in Melukote. Rita Keller is very much interested in knowing the "Sthala Puranam" the legend of the temple, its architectures, mantras etc.

     

We happened to visit Mr. Padmanabhachari, the sculpture who make the idols for Guruji. He was the one who was shown in Sadhaka the trailer, a 20 minute documentary on Guruji. It was a great feeling to meet that man. He has some kind of warmth in his personality.

  

Another important characteristic of Rita Keller is that she tries to mingle with local people. She doesn't want to be seen as an outsider. She participates in the cultural activities of the students, interacts with them, distributes stationery to all the students every year, encourages them to study and practice yoga. She never misses a chance to teach yoga to those children when she visits Bellur. I again remember Geetaji when she takes children classes. Both of them have something in common. Looking at her, sometimes I feel she is making way for her next birth in India.

   

Venue:

The way Bellur campus area is now molded is very fascinating. Rita Keller through a Power Point Presentation showed how the dry land and a huge monolithic rock is converted into a beautiful place now. They say, around 30,000 trips of trucks were made to bring the soil in the premises and you can imagine how much of work is done there to make what it is today. Every effort is being made to keep it clean and green. The administrators have driven an initiative to plant trees in the premises with every yoga group that comes here. We planted around 40 trees this time.

    

The ambiance of the venue is absolutely beautiful and calm and away from noise and any other kind of pollution. There is a beautiful view of the green fields and rock hills around. It is equipped with good quality accommodation rooms that can accommodate up to 40 people and a beautifully built cafeteria that can accommodate over 200 people and a beautiful yoga hall that can accommodate around 250 people.

            

All this is fine but one thing I am not able to understand what was Guruji's vision on the yoga hall. I can certainly say, that Guruji would not have wanted such a massive yoga hall to be used only for occasional intensives or Yoga Retreats. His vision must have been something broad. There is no point in teaching 40-50 students in a yoga hall that has the capacity of 250 people and that too for few days/months leaving the hall vacant throughout the year. More importantly, only foreign teachers conducting the workshops in Bellur gives a wrong indication to the people. Rita Keller is strongly emphasizing on building a Yoga University in the premises to impart quality yoga teaching to the people all over the World. May be, Guruji might have had this vision who knows! But the immediate need of the hour is that of regular yoga classes running throughout the year for locals and the staff of BKSSNT.

Another important factor is that I felt the need to bring more and more Indian students to these workshops. There is a wrong perception among Indian groups that Bellur is for foreign people as it is too expensive. We the group from Hyderabad tried our best to change this perception by participating regularly in the workshops conducted here.

I would like to conclude with the beautiful words of Rita Keller in her interview. She said, "All are welcome, there should not be a discrimination that a teacher is from India or Germany or any other country. We are all same entities, we learned the subject imparted by the same Guru, the subject is same and so do we. We are all one. So please welcome."

Iyengar Yoga Intensive at Ballari

The seed of thought for writing this article is sown by my teacher Smt. ZarnaMohan. One evening after the class, she asked me whether I am writing anything on the Ballari workshop. I said, I was busy and hadn't thought of it yet. I then came back home and gone to bed after dinner. The thought ignited by her sparked at mid night. I woke up at 2 Am and wasn't getting a sleep. So I observed my mind keenly. I do this often to induce sleep. Till this time I had yet to think of writing on Ballari workshop. Madam has given an idea to write but then my mind was working on to find a reason to write. I figured out the reasons for which I started this blog. Then I realized, it is this blog that inspired some students in Hyderabad to take up Iyengar yoga classes with Zarna Madam. It is this blog that brought my friend Mohit Garg to Zarna Madam when he was relocating from Pune to Hyderabad. He is now teaching beginners under her guidance. It is this blog that Introduced my friend Virupaksha Dani to get the feel of "Yoganusasanam" by Geeta Iyengar and there by introduced to Zarna madam. It is this blog that introduced me to a good friend Sunil Kolhatkar in Pune. He is now attending the classes of Prashant Iyengar at RIMYI in Pune. I made many good friends far across the nation and even abroad through this blog. This blog played a role in uniting people. Is this reason not enough to write a blog? Thinking this, I fell a sleep. Next morning when I woke up, I immediately put this thought on paper so that I don't forget. The seed is sown and it sprouted as well. It's time to grow.

Iyengar yoga in Ballari:

I would like to write few things about my friend Virupaksha Dani before I progress and share my experiences about the workshop. Inspired from my article on the "feel of Yoganusasanam 2014" on this blog Viru wrote me up saying that he is interested in attending the "Yoganusasanam 2015". I helped him up in the process of registration for the event and finding his accommodation at Balewadi in Pune. This is how we met and the friendship continued to Rita Keller's workshop in Bellur and Zarna madam's workshop in Rishikesh. Both were outstanding workshops in terms of exposure and learning yoga and yoga philosophy. I began to understand him better after our trip to char-dham immediately after Rishikesh workshop.

Viru is a dedicated practitioner and an Iyengar yoga teacher in a small town of Ballari in Karnataka. He has been practicing yoga since his young days but introduced to Iyengar yoga only 8 years ago in a RSS camp conducted by Raghavendra Shenoy in Mangalore. Inspired by the session, he went on to learn Iyengar Yoga from Sri. Raghavendra Shenoy at various camps and from Karunakaran in Mangalore. Few years later he began to teach local people in Police Gymkhana in Ballari. He gradually went on to establish an Iyengar yoga center called 'Yogasri' hiring a hall on rent at Bala Bharati School. With his dedication and hard work he acquired good number of students now. 

First Iyengar yoga intensive at Yogasri:

The foundation for the possible workshop is laid by Virupaksha in Rishikesh when he invited Zarna madam to Ballari in the month of April 2017.

Couple of months after our return from Chardham, he called me up and said 'Ram, I would like to invite Zarna madam to Ballari for a workshop. Do you think she will agree?' I advised him to write an email inviting her to Ballari. He wrote an email and even called her inviting to Ballari. Subsequently, after seeking some information she gave her nod for the workshop.

Viru was happy and so do I. He then called me up and invited me and Tulsi to Ballari. Since we just arrived from an expensive trip of char-dham and I still had some debts to repay; I said will let him know later. He began to call me again and again insisting to come with Tulsi.

I was not sure whether we could make our trip to Ballari till the last 5 days before the schedule. It was again because of Zarna madam and Parmeshji the Ballari trip happened. They assigned me a job to take yoga sessions for the staff of L&T for six days and from the proceeds I received, booked the tickets to Ballari 3 days before the event.

Tulsi and I reached Ballari two days before the event as we wanted to make sure that arrangements were made properly for the event. Rajesh Bagadi from Belgaum also joined us the same day.

Workshop Experience:

Finally the day has come as our teacher arrived Ballari on 2nd of September 2017.  It was certainly a good experience for the students of Ballari as that was their first exposure to a workshop with a senior teacher like Zarna madam. We could see the enthusiasm and joy in their faces. Madam won their accolades in a single session and touched their hearts by the end of the workshop with her humility and the class of her teaching.

As far as we are concerned it was a new kind of exposure for us. Though we have been associated with her for a long time, she always offer something new to learn. Ballari intensive was a different learning experience. This time we were not participating students but were observing and helping the students. A day before the event I observed Virupaksha's class. Looking at the students I realized that it would be really difficult for our teacher to help and adjust all the students single handedly. So I, Tulsi and Virupaksha took the role of volunteers helping and adjusting the students during the session. I must appreciate the spirit and enthusiasm of those students who let us adjust them freely without any hesitation as we were completely new to them. Within a single session they become very friendly and some even called us for assisting them into their pose.

Since the workshop was for beginners, madam tried to teach the basic principles of alignment, precision and sequencing. Among these, one thing got registered in my mind with some impact was about sequencing. She taught, not only there is a sequencing of asanas in Iyengar system but also there is sequence in every asana. She must have taught it before but it got registered here during this workshop with some impact.

When you are dealing with someone new, it takes time for the students and even the teacher to catch up things. Since it was a short workshop of only two days, neither the students nor the teacher had time to understand one another. Instead of asking them to go into their poses straight away, she had a short interactive session asking simple questions and replying to their queries. Within a very short time she brought ease in the students which helped them perform their asanas smoothly. But that doesn't mean the sessions were not intense. She made it clear that she means business and made sure that everyone gets his/her money's worth.

She always used to tell us, teaching a beginner is not easy unless you know the basics right. She used to emphasize on learning the basics right. During this workshop, we learned how a beginner understands the same instruction differently and how one should deal with them as a teacher. When I was teaching the beginners in the class, she used to tell me, Ram! You should restrain yourself and come down to the level of a beginner while teaching them. I still remember the first instruction when she assigned me the job to teach. She said, you should remember the state of your body and mind when you started yoga while teaching them. She reminded me again and again that don't teach them what you know but teach them what they can understand and do. Even after this I used to get carried away at times as restraining is not that easy. Sometimes, you feel that you are restrained but the fact will be otherwise. She then taught me to watch their eyes to know whether they are tired and see whether their faces are relaxed. Here in this workshop I learned how one has to be restrained. In-spite of all her experience and practice, at no moment she got carried away. A delight to watch her teaching.

I have got the opportunity to learn from different teachers and each one of them have some unique features. Zarna madam has one such unique feature of demonstrating the asana before instructing them to do as the visual presentation has greater impact on students than the audio. She demonstrates couple of times and will repeat again very patiently if any student asks her to do so.

  

A strange observation came to my mind. I was understanding the teachings with clarity as an observer than a participant. Most of her teachings from the workshop are afresh in my mind. I did not try to remember them but they are coming to my notice when I am practicing at home.

I remember when I was learning intermediate level 1 classes at RIMYI in Pune, I used to observe the intermediate level 2 classes in my leisure time. One day, observing the class from the stairs I found that my feet were tight and my hands were tensed and so are my eyes and the head. Though I was sitting and watching, the mind was doing the action along with others and as a result of that my nerves were tensed and the body got tight. Now I realized, that kind of anxiety to do has lessened in me to a great extent.

There was a therapy session also as a part of the workshop for people with different ailments. For the last one year I have been working with her in therapy classes at Hyderabad. I have seen so many people getting cured of serious ailments with her healing hands and expertise in the field of therapy. One such magical moment occurred with a 7 to 8 year old boy. The boy is suffering from Cerebral Palsy. On asking, she said that he has a neurological disorder caused by non-progressive brain injury or malformation that occurs while child's brain is under development. As a result of it body movement, muscle control, muscle coordination, muscle tone, reflex, posture and balance is affected.

Though the boy was able to walk but was walking on toes with heels lifted high and fumbling. Due to weakness in his muscles he was running rather walking due to the fear of falling. There was tremendous improvement in those two days. He could actually rest the heels and walk slowly when madam insisted him to press the heel on the floor while walking. The boy also worked with lot of understanding and intelligence. He was moving the exact muscles which she asked to move. With proper guidance and training he will surely recover soon. She explained us how she worked at him. She made him use the muscles that are working to mobilize the muscles that are not functioning.

 

Ballari people loved the way she conducted the therapy sessions. They were really happy the way she touched people. A lady got so impressed that she invited her for the lunch. She was rather insistent to take her to lunch and if not dinner. But due to time constrain she couldn't make it.

Organization of the Event:

Within no time the end has come. Since it was a short two day workshop; it ended quickly. Initially, I thought the workshop is too short but then at the end I felt it was apt for the level of beginners as the students were not used to this kind of extended sessions through out the day.

I must appreciate Virupaksha and all the students who participated in organizing the event smoothly as it is not a one man job.

The event was perfectly started with lightening ceremony by Zarna madam paying respects to Guruji and Patanjali. And ended equally on well note by felicitating her  by Virupaksha and the students of Yogasri, Ballari.

We returned from Ballari with lots of love and affection. On behalf of Zarna madam, I would like to thank Virupaksha and all the students for their love and regards. Special thanks to Mrs. Madhavi, Mrs. Lata and their entire family for the hospitality and love shown towards us. 

The feel of Yoganusasanam

  

It’s been over a month now and the feel of Yoganusasanam in me is still alive. Though our classes in Hyderabad are at halt due to some reasons, my practice isn’t affected yet. The fuel of Geetaji’s convention is still running and I must say that my practice is going on smooth and well. Guruji always said, the beginners need some inspiration for practice and what can be a greater inspiration than Geetaji? At yoganusasanam I learned how important the basics to build up a good platform for yog sadhana are.

Geeta Iyengar’s “Yoganusasanam-December2014”, the event of the year for all Iyengar yogis across World kept in skepticism ever since it has been announced. When it was announced at the institute of Pune, it spread like a fire on internet circle and everyone got excited about it. A few days later the news of Guruji’s ill health started making rounds in the community. On 20^th August 2014 Guruji left his mortal body leaving his followers in grief. Now the skepticism began to follow on cancellation of the event.

In the month of October my teacher Smt. Zarna Mohan announced that Geetaji is going ahead with her convention and few days later the institute of Pune confirmed and the registrations were invited online for the same. Our teacher referred the names of 12 students from Hyderabad for the convention.

Organization of the event:

Ever since the announcement of the event, there was a great enthusiasm among Iyengar Yogis all over the World. Looking at the enthusiasm of people willing to participate and the short period of time they had in hand for making arrangements for such a large group of people was really a challenge for RIMYI as they had never conducted such a big event in India before. They even had to shift the earlier announced venue of Law College from Baner to a Badminton court at Balewadi stadium on the outskirts of Pune to accommodate all the participants. Within a few days of lines opening up for registration, it was known that 1000 plus yogis are going to participate from all over the World. After yoga hall, the next challenge was to provide living accommodation and food for such a huge number of participants. They have arranged nearby hotels and a hostel near Balewadi stadium to accommodate and provided lunch at the Venue itself. Some of them were living nearby the institute and for them buses have been arranged to transport to and from the stadium. Every effort has been made to make the event a success. I have been in constant touch with few of my friends in Pune who were working as volunteers for the event. They were regularly updating me on the developments out there. Hundreds of students and teachers from Pune, Mumbai and others have worked tirelessly days and nights to make it a grand success. For the first time the initiative is made from the organizers to interact with people directly on facebook page “Geetaji’s Yoganusasanam - December 2014”. All the developments were updated from time to time and many questions and doubts regarding accommodation, food, travel, transport and other such things have been regularly answered through the page. Geetaji dedicated couple of hours on day 10 at the conclusion ceremony to thank one and all who helped in making this event a success. They deserved all the applaud and appreciation as they have worked to their skin to make it the event of year.

Yoga – the Union:

People say, Yoga is the Union of Individual soul with Supreme soul. I am in no position to understand this yet. But I am certainly sure that “Yoganusasanam” has successfully helped in union and re-union of hearts of different people across the World. 1200 plus people from 58 countries have represented this event for one cause “Yoga”. We were all from different countries, states, cultures, traditions, customs but none of these divisions were seen among people. We all united for one single cause of “Yoga”. Those 10 days were like a carnival for us. Every individual had his own share of experience to take back home.

  

I called it a re-union because many people who have not seen for many-many years have met again on one platform of “Yoganusasanam”. I would like to share a very interesting story of Kumbh Mela. There is a very popular story in India that people once lost in Kumbh Mela will never meet again; because it is such a huge gathering of humans at one place. I must thank Geetaji for re-uniting some of the lost ones in Kumbh Mela. I, Mohit and Sirisha from Hyderabad once again met Manouso, Eric and Anara from US, Fanny from France and couple of others from Delhi who were lost in the Maha Kumbh Mela of Allahabad in 2013. You may be wondering what I am saying. Well, the story goes this way. During early 2013, Manouso was in Kumbh Mela for a 3 day Iyengar Yoga intensive. Due to some unknown reasons a handful of Indian students 5 from Hyderabad and 8 to 10 students from Delhi have attended that intensive and another 10 to 12 students were from US who came with Manouso.

It was just a 3 day intensive but we had great time together. To many of us it was a lifetime experience. Iyengar yoga intensive with a teacher like Manouso at the banks of river Ganga, Jamuna and Sarasvati in the backdrop of Maha Kumbh Mela and who can ask more than that. All the students and teachers including Manouso and his wife Rita have enjoyed every moment we spent together in Kumbh. Those 3 days have just gone leaving memories.

I met Manouso and Eric a few number of times in Pune but haven’t seen any other thereafter. Every time I met Manouso he was always kind enough to receive me with a big hug and his wonderful trademark laughter. It was great to see Anara and Fanny back again. Anara hasn’t forgotten any one of us and neither did Fanny, which was amazing. I met couple of others from Delhi also. It was heartening to see the Kumbh Mela batch again on the same platform.

Galaxy of Stars:

“Yoganusasanam” was filled with Galaxy of stars headed by the mega star Geeta Iyengar herself. Manouso Manos, Patricia Walden, Lois Steinberg, John Schumacher, Gabriella Guibilaro, Stephanie Quirk, Tatiana and many other famous teachers from the west were present. Most of these teachers are familiar to me through their videos and books on internet. When I used to practice without a teacher during my early days into yoga, I used to look out for help and guess who used to come up for help? It was Patricia Walden, Lois Steinberg, John Schumacher and Gabriella through videos, books and journals. I was greatly benefited by Lois Steinberg’s book on shoulders. Getting a chance to meet all of these great teachers, interact and practice alongside them in the same hall was an unbelievable feeling. Just imagine a student like me who looks after someone like Manouso, Lois, Patricia, and John for inspiration is standing alongside me in the same hall, what would be the level of his enthusiasm? Lois Steinberg, whom I silently cherished and admired all my life was standing by my side taking lessons from Geetaji was a great delight. And she is such a humble and sweet person.

             

 

Birjoo, Rajvi, Devki, Gulnaz, Abhay, Rajlaxmi, Zubeen, Uday, Raya, Abhijata, Nawaz, Sunita are the star teachers from India who are not only popular in India but also abroad. I am fortunate enough to have studied with most of these teachers in Pune. It was a great delight to see all these teachers performing asanas on stage following the instructions of Geetaji with such a grace. Every beginner should be thankful to Guruji and Geetaji for providing such an opportunity to participate in the event. Apart from Geetaji’s teachings, all these teachers demonstrating on stage, helping you, guiding you in the hall, learning with you side by side works as a great inspiration for beginners and helps in understanding the essence of practice.

            

Apart from all these teachers, there were few others like Mark Zambon who were the stars of the event. Mark Zambon is a US Marine soldier who injured his legs in a bomb blast in Afghanistan. Two months after his accident he took up Iyengar yoga as a rehabilitation program. He never looked back since then. Here is a short interview of Mark that I shot in his hotel in Pune.

On day six, the little stars of RIMYI – the kids surprised the visitors by some electrifying performance.

    

The Geeta Factor:

I must mention about the Geeta factor or Geeta effect here. Every word she utters shows the level of her knowledge and experience in the subject. She sounds authoritative, practical and very real. Many people think she is a strict, fearsome and stubborn person. Some even find her arrogant. These impressions are more in the minds of western yogis. I never personally interacted with her before and never been to her classes with her, so I had no attributes of her. But I heard people saying all these about her. After attending her classes those ten days I found several facets of her personality. I am not trying to make any judgment but I found some of these facets during my observation as a raw student.

She is no doubt a strict teacher but also a very compassionate teacher who wants to give out the best and also extract complete labor out of a student. She can’t tolerate people doing casually without paying complete attention and effort. She was commanding and sometimes even demanding to get the posture done correctly. Many a times she was furious also with some people. She used to call up people on stage who were doing really bad and not let them go till she makes them do the posture correctly. In the process she might be shouting, yelling to make them do. But that is only till that moment; later she would be again a different person altogether. Her effect was such that people were really nervous to be on stage with her. I think people who were on stage during those days will definitely agree with me. It is not because she is abusing you or shouting at you personally and we all know that. But still there is some unknown fear to face her. It was seen on every individual who had been on stage. This was one facet of her personality.

   

It is not always that she shouted to make the corrections done. For instance, she called upon a lady on stage to do some asana and she was terribly scared and almost shivering. Geetaji realized that and said, “Why are you so nervous? Don’t be scared. I won’t kill you. And I can’t kill you (with jiggles). The entire stadium burst out in laughter. She gave this feeling of relaxation because she knew that lady had a limitation of her age and need to be relaxed before making her do. On another occasion, she called my friend Mohit up on stage to perform a back arch. He was nervous throughout his time on stage but she was seen very patient and soft with him because she knew he is a beginner and did really well on stage for around 10 minutes doing the back arches. She was addressing and instructing him like a friend, which was amazing. She has not let him go until she made him realize what was happening to his sacrum region while he was doing different actions in the back arch. Some people might have found boring and felt the time being wasted but she did not wanted to let him go unknown. This is a typical character we often find in Guruji. Guruji once said in an interview that he cannot just sit and watch when someone is doing a wrong posture. His heart pains when someone does something wrong. He cannot rest in peace until their mistakes are being corrected.

  

During the convention Geetaji once said, Guruji was sitting in the balcony of his room from where he can see the yoga hall. He found a person doing ardha chandrasana very badly and began to shout Raya! Abhajata! When asked what happened? Why are you shouting? You are not well Guruji, you need to rest. He said, look at that fellow; how is he doing the asana? Call Raya and Abhijata to correct him. And he did not relax until they came and corrected. This was few days before his death.” So much he loved yoga that he cannot tolerate someone doing badly. And Geetaji is the daughter of this man and how can she tolerate the same?

During one of the days, they have arranged a surprise by adding the students of children’s classes of Pune in the convention. We got an opportunity to see a new facet of her life. When she was teaching to those kids, the strict, fearsome Geetaji turned into a funny, mischievous and a bubbly child. The way she was teaching them was a delight. I once read in ‘Yoga Rahasya’ Guruji saying that you need to come down to the level of a student to make him understand. And I personally experienced Geetaji doing that; which was amazing.

    

At the end of the convention, Geetaji arranged a mass lunch for all the participants. Before beginning the lunch, addressing the students she said, “Today’s food is tomorrow’s strength; so eat well. You been here for ten days and thankfully by the grace of God, no one was injured or fallen sick. This is not the end but just the beginning, go home and practice well.” Here she sounded like a mother who cares for her children.

We all know that she is not doing well with her health these days. In spite of this, she conducted the convention and she never shown us the labor of pain she has gone through those 10 days. In fact, I observed that she looked better and better as the days progressed. She was seen little low on day one and as the days progressed she looked very enthusiastic.

Yoga Experience at Yoganusasanam:

It is very difficult to define the experience of Yoganusasanam in a single word. I believe every individual has got something from the convention and Geetaji has not let anyone go empty handed for sure. For a raw beginner like me getting an opportunity to learn from Geetaji is a blessing. Learning from one of the highest authorities of yoga is obviously a blessing to the yogi of any stature. Assumptions are on that Geetaji would retire from teaching due to her health condition and Yoganusasanam would probably be the last chance for beginners to study under her. All the beginners who participated in the event must thank Guruji because it was his idea to conduct this convention for beginners. Geetaji during her inaugural speech said, “It was Guruji who suggested conducting this convention and beginners should be given the priority. After the announcement of the event, Guruji’s health deteriorated and they felt like cancelling the event. But Guruji said, ‘No! The event must go on. If I am well I will sit aside and watch.’ But Guruji is no more in his physical body but he is definitely present here watching all of us. Wherever there is yoga, Guruji will be there.” So, true! Guruji has dedicated all his life to yoga. Thank you Guruji, we owe you so much.

It was obviously my first opportunity to learn from Geetaji. Though I practiced Geetaji’s classes from videos, the experience to be in her class is terrible. The charm, the grace, the vibrancy that Geetaji has and the tenacity to extract the best from students was mind blowing. You miss out these qualities on videos. Being in her class live is altogether a different experience.

To me Yoganusasanam is definitely going to remain a memorable event for my life, because I learned how to keep ourselves grounded and not carried away by our practice. It taught me how important the basics are. It is not always you learn and do advance postures and keep improving your flexibility and strength. It is something more than that.

Throughout the convention Geetaji taught very fundamental asanas with basic instructions which I think many would ignore. To take my personal experience for instance; when she made us go to Sirsasana with one leg up, I really struggled and had to rush to the wall to go up. The pose is explained in detail by Geetaji in her preliminary course book. Believe me; I just flipped that page thinking that as a beginner’s pose. And when I did there with one leg up, I was really struggling as if I was doing Sirsasana for the first time. Somehow I managed to go up but again I felt managing would be really a bad idea before Geetaji, so I rushed to the wall and from that moment I am practicing regularly with one leg up at home. This practice has improved my feel of Sirsasana completely.

   

Another reason for Yoganusasanam being a memorable event in my life is that I got answers for many unasked and unanswered questions of mine with regards to my personal practice, my body, my asanas and pranayamas etc. Geetaji answered all those questions without being asked as if she transcribed them from my mind; which is an amazing thing. I strongly feel many other participants might have experienced the same.

She hasn’t hesitated to shower all her knowledge and experience on the aspirants. It was a great opportunity for beginners, senior practitioners and even teachers to learn the subject and keep the values of Iyengar yoga alive. She clearly said in the very beginning of the convention “I want the students, not the teachers. Now days, everybody wants to become a teacher, nobody wants to become a student. I don’t want this.”

She was not only concentrating on beginners and senior practitioners but also some of the patients and pregnant ladies and a large number of teachers from different parts of the World. She hasn’t failed to remind all the teachers not to forget the basic qualities of teaching imparted by Guruji.

Apart from Geetaji’s teachings, we had some very interesting discussions, lectures and screenings on different facets of Guruji and other aspects of yoga and yoga practice by Abhijata, Birjoo, Rajvi and others. We also had some chanting sessions by Sunitaji. For the first time ever, I chanted the complete verses of Patanjali Yoga Sutras and it was a great feeling.

Yoganusasanam has been a great inspiration to many iyengar yogis and I wish Geetaji continues her teaching. I can only pray God to give her good health so that she continues teaching and conducting events like this. Finally I would like to thank Geetaji, Prashantji and all others who were involved in conducting this event. It was a great learning experience.