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."

Yoga Pilgrimage to Bellur

The Iyengar Yoga students of Hyderabad have got an opportunity to visit Bellur village of Karnataka where Guruji BKS Iyengar was born. Guruji has spent his childhood and teenage at this village. At the age of 18, destiny took Guruji to Pune to teach Yoga and take Yoga to greater heights internationally.

Though Guruji stayed away from Bellur, he never forgotten his village and always had a special concern for his birth place. With all the hard work Guruji earned place in the hearts of millions across the Globe by serving Yoga at his best and became so popular that he was named the 13^th most influential Indian of the Century on the World map. But he never forgot his roots where he belongs to. Bellur always has a special importance in Guruji’s life. At first, Guruji took the name of the village on the internal map through his knowledge and wisdom on yoga and now he is taking the village on international map again by serving the village of his birth place. 

BKSSNT at a Glance:
 

 

Guruji established Bellur Krishnamachar and Sheshamma Smaraka Nidhi Trust (BKSSNT) with a vision to serve the Village Bellur with all the necessities. The prime motto of the Trust is to promote Rural Education, Social Welfare and Health as well as to safeguard the cultural activities of the village. 

BKSSNT is built up in an area of around 15 acres at a picturesque location of Bellur village surrounded by rocky hills across. Work is under progress in an area of around 18 acres where many prestigious projects are under taken.

Under the roof of BKSSNT Smt. Ramamani Sundararaja Iyengar High School is built up providing pre university level education to the children of Bellur. A proposed college for higher studies is under construction at the new site. Complete care is taken to provide all sorts of facilities for the studying children in all aspects of study and sports. A Yoga hall is being constructed above the school building with all the necessary props and infrastructure.

 

The roots of Smt. Ramamani Sundararaja Iyengar High School were laid on 27/01/2005. The plant has now grown and started yielding the fruits. The children of the school are not only excelling in the field of education but also gaining great recognition in the field of yoga at state level. We hadn’t got much opportunity to watch the students practicing yoga as they were preparing for their exams. But we had a glimpse of what they can do during our practice. A girl just came into the hall and we asked her to demonstrate a couple of asanas. She without any hesitation demonstrated Natrajasana and Chakrasana which I shot in my camera. She really amazed us with her grace and elegance.

 

Smt. Ramamani Sundararaja Hospital is another institution under the roof of BKSSNT that is doing priceless service to the people of Bellur. There is hardly any hospital miles across Bellur Village. The other day of our visit we noticed an emergency case being admitted and treated in the hospital.

 

For the past couple of years BKSSNT has become a pilgrimage center for Iyengar Yogis. Students and teachers of Iyengar Yoga from different parts of the world are regularly visiting the place as a part of their heritage tour to the village of Guruji. It is learned that an accommodation capacity of 60 people is available at present in the premises. Arrangements are being made to increase the number as more people are supposed to come in the upcoming years. 

Journey to Bellur:

   

Unlike our previous trip to Pune in July 2011 for Guru Poornima, this trip was quite pleasant and comfortable as we boarded the train on time and no problems with trains this time. We boarded Garibh Rath at Secunderabad Station on 16^th Feb’ 2012 at around 8-30 PM and safely arrived Yesvantpur Station at around 8-45 AM next morning. Bellur Village is around 85 kilometers away from Bangalore. All thanks to Guruji’s son-in-law and Managing Trustee of BKSSNT Sri B. Raghu who arranged a transport from Yesvantpur to Bellur. On reaching Bellur we had our breakfast at Kamat Restaurant which is the main source of food for visitors to Guruji’s institute at Bellur. BKSSNT is couple of kilometers away from Kamat. We reached BKSSNT at around 11-45 AM. Mr. Govindaraju the Manager of the Trust has received and provided some decent rooms of accommodation for all of us. The cottages are clean and neat with all the necessary facilities. We then had shower followed by Lunch. At around 3PM we had a walk to the village where Guruji was born. The moment we stepped into the village we were welcomed and followed by kids of the village shouting and yelling. English Lady Michelle was the star attraction for the kids amongst us. The kids had a great time talking to her and followed her all the way back to our cottage. This remind me of Guruji’s childhood where I read that Guruji was the only person who could speak little English and it is this reason he was sent to teach Yoga in Pune by his Guruji Sri. Tirumalai Krishnamacharya. Watching those village kids speak fluent English with Michelle, we realized that Guruji’s efforts began to payoff. 

Our Yoga Practice at BKSSNT:

 

The prime objective of our visit to Bellur was to pay homage to the birth place of Guruji and to understand the usage of yoga props in a better way. We initially decided to have 3 sessions of yoga each day. Morning and evening sessions to practice the asanas and pranayamas and the afternoon session is for Q&A on Yoga. Due to so many happenings in the village out there we ended up practicing extended sessions in the morning and evening leaving the afternoon session for other activities.

 Yoga Props:

 

When Guruji introduced Yoga Props in his early days many criticized him for using props in yoga. People even called the Iyengar method of Yoga as Furniture Yoga. But today the World has recognized Guruji’s idea of introducing props in Yoga and everyone is using the props irrespective of the style of yoga they are being practicing.

 

When we were in Pune last July’ 2011 on Guru Poornima; Guruji during his convention revealed the secret of introducing props for the first time. Guruji said, “People ask me why you introduced props? Some even called Furniture Yoga. I never revealed this before. I am telling it for the first time. Props are of tamas guna (The dark and restraining qualities). You might ask; in that case, why you recommend something that has tamas guna. It is because your body is of tamas guna too. Your body understands tamas guna better. I used these props to convert your tamas guna into rajas guna (the quality of mobility or activity) and finally transform into satva guna (the illuminating quality). Once the satva guna is achieved you don’t need any prop.”

Though it appeared as if I understood what Guruji has told on that day on the outset, but it is only after practicing with these props I realized and truly understood what Guruji expects us to achieve in a given posture.

For the last one year I have been studying yoga with my teacher Smt. Zarna Mohan at Hyderabad. She has been continuously explaining each and every minute and subtle alignment and adjacent of the body in each and every given posture. Honestly, only after practicing with props in Bellur, I realized what extent of alignment and adjacent she was expecting from us. I realized why Guruji has said that our bodies are of tamas guna and how the props of tamas guna hold you from going into a wrong posture.

People basically understand that yoga props are used to support the people who cannot go into a given posture or to increase the strength and flexibility of an individual. But it is actually like a child who walks holding the finger of his father. He needs the finger of his father till he learns walking and once he starts walking on his own he do not need his father anymore. Similarly, you need props only till you understand and try and achieve the correct alignment of a given posture. Once you understand the technique and requirement of the asana you don’t need prop anymore.

We enjoyed all the three days of stay in BKSSNT practicing Yoga, going around the village and attending ceremonies etc.  

Lord Patanjali Temple:

 

It’s not only the Village; Guruji hasn’t failed to pay tribute to the Lord Patanjali. Guruji inaugurated the world’s first Patanjali Temple at Bellur Village on 31/10/2004. Sage Patanjali Temple is a part of the Temple Complex which consists of 800 year old Lord Hanuman and Sita-Ram Temple along with Lord Shiva Temple adjacent to it. The Temple Complex is located in a beautiful place surrounded by lush green trees and agricultural fields across and there is a lake adjacent to it.

The temple remained closed on day one as we have visited in the mid afternoon hours of the day. We revisited the temple on next morning after our breakfast at around 9-30AM. The village is around 15 minutes walk from BKSSNT. The temple remained open this time. A wonderfully carved, black stone Idol of Lord Patanjali was installed in the Sanctum Sanctorum of the Temple. Sage Patanjali was beautifully decorated with flowers and garlands. We had Lord Patanjali’s darshan and offered prayers amidst the mantra chanting of the priest Ramanujam.  

Lord Shiva Temple:

 

After seeking the blessings of Patanjali we visited the adjacent temple which is said to be a 1000 year old Shiva Temple. The temple appeared to be in a deserted condition. Renovation work was at full swing on that day as they were preparing to reinstall the Shiva Linga before the auspicious day of Maha Shiva Ratri. As a part of cultural promotion BKSSNT has played a vital role in the renovation of the temple and reinstallation of the Shiva Linga in this 1000 year old heritage structure. Efforts are made to renovate and rebuild the remaining parts of the temple complex. One would not be surprised to see a complete new picture of the temple in the days to come.A day before Shiva Ratri they arranged a Homam (Hindu traditional ritual) at the temple premises. Guruji’s daughter and son-in-law Smt. Savita B Raghu and Sri B. Raghu cordially invited us to take part in the ceremony. 

Guruji’s House:

 

While returning from the temple we stopped at the place where Guruji was born and led his childhood. It is very near to the temple. We stopped there for a while and had some photographs at the place of his birth. By going through the village one could easily imagine the hardships Guruji has gone through during his initial days. He very well understands the problems of the villagers. Therefore he established BKSSNT with a sole purpose of uplifting the lives of rural people by providing assistance in education, health, sanitation, agriculture and handicrafts etc. There is plenty of talent in the rural areas of India. If a proper platform is provided they will definitely prosper in various fields. The students of Smt. Ramamani Sundararaja Iyengar High School have already started to prove this fact. Guruji is planting the trees of the future through various projects under BKSSNT. 

Festive Atmosphere:

 

 

Our trip to Bellur was coincided with Maha Shiva Ratri; as a result the atmosphere was quite festive all over. On 18/02/2012 we were invited to the Saraswati Puja ceremony (the deity of wisdom and knowledge) where Smt. and Sri B. Raghu were the chief guests. After the puja, the school authorities organized a cultural event where we got an opportunity to listen some of the kannada folk renditions of a very talented local folk singer called Ramchandran. He mesmerized one and all present in the auditorium with his Golden voice. Though we did not understand Kannada we couldn’t resist ourselves from applauding the talent of Ramchandran. Ramchandran was later honored by the chief guests present on the podium and the students who qualified the Pre University College (PUC) examinations were awarded certificates by the dignitaries. We later got the honor to have a joint lunch session with all the chief guests present on the occasion and got an opportunity to interact one on one with Mr. Ramchandran. He obliged our request by singing few songs for us which we recorded in our cameras with zeal. At the end of the session I just stood up and hugged that guy in appreciation. One of the videos is embedded here below. You can follow rest of the links on Youtube.

 

We were later invited by Smt. and Sri B. Raghu to take part in the Shiva Linga reinstallation ceremony to be held next morning at 11AM. We visited the temple on early hours of the next morning. The Shiva Linga was already reinstalled in the sanctum sanctorum. We were blessed with an opportunity to see the decoration and abhisehka of the Linga. The temple was beautifully decorated with flowers and banana leaves all over. People all over the village thronged into the temple on the occasion. Some of the VIP’s like the Local MLA, Chairman of Grama Panchayat and others were present on the occasion as chief guests apart from Smt. and Sri. B. Raghu.

 

We finally came at the end of our pilgrimage to Bellur. We reserved our return tickets on 20/02/2012 which was also the auspicious day of Shiv Ratri. All of us unanimously decided to pay a visit to the famous Manjunatha (Shiva) Kotilingeshwara (crore lingas) Temple which is situated 45 kilometers away from BKSSNT in kollar district of Karnataka. The temple has a fascinating view of a giant Linga at the outset of the temple compound and countless number of Lingas within the compound of the Temple. 

We finally ended our pilgrimage to Bellur with a final darshan of Lord Krishna at a very famous ISKON temple of Bangalore very close to Yesvantpur Railway Station. We boarded the same train back home and safely arrived Hyderabad in the next morning at 9AM. 

Hospitality:

 

 

A special mention has to be made about the hospitality we received in BKSSNT. We are thankful to Smt. Savita B. Raghu and Sri. B. Raghu for their kind hospitality. They made our journey comfortable by arranging vehicle to and fro Bangalore. We got an honor of having lunch with them and also the opportunity of having traditional South Indian feast at the house of Gram Panchayat chairman along with them on the eve of Shiva Linga Punah Pratisthapana. How can we forget the hospitality of Mr. Govindaraju – the person in charge of BKSSNT? He took utmost care in providing the basic needs for us. I take this opportunity to thank one and all associated with BKSSNT on behalf my teacher Smt. Zarna Mohan and all other students of Iyengar Yoga, Hyderabad.  

Special Regards: 

On behalf of all the students of Iyengar Yoga, Hyderabad, I take this opportunity to thank Guruji Sri BKS Iyengar and Smt. Zarna Mohan. Without the blessings of Guruji the trip wouldn’t have become possible and without the support, guidance and teaching of our madam Smt. Zarna Mohan the journey wouldn’t have become fruitful. The trip to Bellur was quite educative and informative for all the students of Hyderabad. We hope and wish for more such educative programs in future too. Thanks again for everything.