Next Monday 21st June is the International Day of Yoga and I will be celebrating this on Sunday 20th with a special class on Zoom.
We’ll be working through a sequence designed by Geeta Iyengar for the first International Day of Yoga in 2015. Please join me on Sunday at 10.30am at the usual time. Looking forward to seeing you!
I’m pleased to be taking part in a great initiative to make yoga more accessible to students.
From this Wednesday 20th January I will be teaching a new class at 5pm-6pm aimed at University and College students, but open to all. These classes have been organised by Iyengar Yoga teachers in the UK.
The price for students is only £3 per class or £10 for 4 classes and the classes take place on Zoom. If you know anyone at university at the moment who would enjoy an introduction to Iyengar Yoga, please do forward these details on to them. And feel free to come along yourself!
I’m finding myself getting well into my stay at home routines now with weekly yoga classes, piano lessons and plenty of outdoor exercise. Being near to nature helps me a great deal and seeing people at my classes is wonderful as it keeps me inspired to keep teaching and practicing. It’s great to see people using their home space to practice yoga and making it work. Thank you to all those who’ve been making the classes!
This week I am going to trial a slightly earlier time for the Thursday class at 8am as some people have been finding it difficult to make it before work or family commitments. Please let me know if this works for you or if an even earlier time would suit. I am also going to offer a New Class on Sundays at 11am. Please do forward this email to friends, colleagues and family members who you think may benefit. Tuesday classes will remain at the same time.
Classes are free for NHS and key workers and for anyone who has lost their income. If you have any questions please do email me at yogawithguy@gmail.com.
I believe that yoga can only be learned through practice and experience, and it is difficult to assess progress and set goals in terms of ability to perform asanas and pranayamas. My honest opinion is that once qualified, teachers should become part of a community of teachers (where possible) who regularly support each other as they progress with the help of senior teachers. I am fortunate to have a community like this in London but it often feels that it is quite closed and not inclusive.
I am a school teacher by profession, and work in state education in London, where teachers are regularly observed by peers and targets are set to develop skills based on what is needed. I feel that there needs to be a more collaborative approach to developing already certified teachers, rather than an assessment model. I have felt tremendous pressure and stress through my last two assessments and don’t really feel like they contributed to a greater depth of understanding or had a positive impact on my life. I agree that the first stage of certification needs to be assessed. However, I think that after this initial stage, we should all be working together to develop or knowledge, skills and understanding of yoga rather than maintaining a pass/fail culture.
I was greatly inspired by Geeta Iyengar’s work and books as a trainee teacher and loved her approach and insight, in being able to break down learning the asanas into stages. I believe that as teachers, this is a vital part of our job. If we are to continue to just plough through a massive syllabus of asanas and build our egos with what we can perform, we will lose touch with new students and those who want to be introduced to the subject will go elsewhere. In my experience as a teacher of Iyengar Yoga, students are in need of a more simple, step by step breakdown of instruction. This needs to be taught by trainers and mentors and can be done through a small range of asanas. The beauty of the previous syllabi were that many of the asanas would come up again and again to encourage a new approach and a greater depth of understanding within the same asana.
I also believe that Pranayama should have a greater focus in the future and that this should be reflected in teacher development. So many teachers neglect to teach pranayama and have little understanding of Light on Pranayama, when it is such a vital aspect of what BKS Iyengar taught. Why is it not encouraged more? Again I am fortunate to have had teachers who have an excellent knowledge of pranayama and were able to share some of this with me. I think that Pranayama seems to be tagged on to the end of a syllabus without much care or thought about how it should be done. Yet, for me this is the key to a huge treasure that is being ignored.
Last month I took my Junior Intermediate Level 2 assessment in the Iyengar Yoga teaching system. It was an intense day of practice and teaching in front of 3 senior teachers and with students that I had never seen before. Unfortunately I didn’t pass this time but was given some clear feedback to work with. Initially I felt quite angry and dejected and it brought up insecurities about not being a “good enough” teacher. On reflection, I think it is more to do with how comfortable I felt in my role as an Iyengar Yoga teacher on that day. I’ve been teaching now for about 6 years and in that time have had many different challenges in my teaching practice. Not least the challenge of constantly asking myself whether my students are making progress in their practice.
How do you see whether your students are progressing? Is it about how well they follow instructions? Is it about whether they can stay in headstand for longer? For me, I look at whether my students are growing in confidence in their asana practice. Are they able to penetrate more deeply in a shorter amount of time? We may only work on 3 or 4 asanas in some classes but in some depth. Iyengar yoga is known for the amount of scaffolding and detailed instruction given to help you achieve the benefits of the asanas. However, surely we should be aiming to help students work from within to develop an internal understanding of the practice?
In London there are countless yoga classes, countless yoga teachers and “styles” available. There are some days when it feels like a challenge to even convince people that it’s worthwhile doing a good shoulderstand. I know that I will continue to grow as a teacher and am fortunate to have a great teacher who offers regular teacher development opportunities. Next time I face an assessment, hopefully I will have a bit more steadiness and will feel more comfortable in my role as an Iyengar Yoga teacher.
It’s been great to see so many of you at classes the last few months. Do keep coming along, and come and have a chat after the class.
Portugal Retreat special discounted price!
I am doing a special offer on my week long yoga holiday in Portugal. If you book before May 25th there is a discounted price. So if you’re thinking about spending a week in the sun before the school holidays and enjoying a healthy week away, then click on my website to book or find out more.
Triyoga workshop Friday July 26th
I will be running an Iyengar Yoga workshop at Triyoga Soho on July 26th. The focus of the workshop will be to deepen understanding of Level 1 postures and move up to Level 2 postures and will be in Studio 2 which is large and has ropes too. This includes headstand and some of the more challenging standing and seated postures. There will also be an opportunity for some relaxation and pranayama at the end of the class.
Virgin Active Chelsea – Thursdays 12.30pm – 2.00pm – Iyengar Yoga Open
Virgin Active Chelsea – Thursdays 7.15pm – 8.45pm – Iyengar Yoga Open
Virgin Active Notting Hill – Sundays 10.00 – 11.30am Iyengar Yoga Level 2
Virgin Active Notting Hill – Sundays 11.35am – 12.35pm Iyengar Yoga Level 1
Posture of the month
Urdhva Prasarita Padasana
This posture has many benefits, including improved digestion, toning the abdominal muscles and strengthening the legs and spine.
It can be done either actively lifting the legs up from the floor and keeping the arms extended by the sides. Press the arms down and extend the legs up, keeping the legs totally straight.
It can also be done with legs against the wall to relax the brain, heart and lungs. A great way to work if you have tight hamstrings or are stiff.
One of the main principles in Iyengar Yoga is concerned with working within the asanas to establish correct action and appropriate directionality. Much of the credit for this blog must go to my senior teacher Alaric Newcombe who introduced me to this concept.
Action in my understanding is: “what you do whilst going into the asana and whilst in the asana to improve the asana itself.”
Directionality as I understand it is: “the directional movement of parts of the body, muscles or bones” (ie. upwards, downwards, left, right, towards the ceiling or floor)
If we look at a straightforward asana like Urdhva Mukha Svanasana, the actions might include: “spread the palm of the hand” “roll the wrist towards the thumb” “move the coccyx in” and “move the shoulder blades into the back”.
The directionality of this asana is more concerned with big movements: “lift the thighs up” “move the chest forwards and up” “stretch the heels back“.
Urdhva Mukha Svanasana with heels raised (Upwards Facing Dog asana)
Differentiating between these efforts can genuinely help to improve understanding of an asana and how to work. In the initial stages of learning we might be more concerned with the directionality and shape of the asana. Once there is some understanding of these broad strokes (you can imagine a painter learning to use a brush and creating the strong outlines of a painting), we can begin to add more detail and refinement within the shape.
Then we begin to find that action and directionality are intrinsically linked and that the more we learn to hone the actions, the better our sense of direction within the posture. Like reading a map, we begin to find that the landmarks help to guide us where we want to go, in spite of variables that will undoubtedly come in our way. On any given day we may find that the direction is harder to access, so we can work on the actions and see if it comes. On another day, the direction may be there but the actions may not be as accessible…So we work with what we have to create the best piece of art we can in that moment.
Exciting news!! The film about Iyengar’s life and work has received it’s first screening in Vancouver in Canada. Hopefully this means that it won’t be too long before we can see it in London.
Yoga with Guy 