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| Frank Gehry building Bard College, New York |
A few thoughts on Iyengar yoga classes.
Iyengar yoga is humbling, all the time. If you can embrace a childlike humility and realize that you always have a lot to learn, then you'll accept that steep learning curve that Iyengar yoga presents to you with grace. It is all about the journey. Every class I attend I am humbled by what I do not know or by how my body responds to some demand the teacher suggests.
The good news is that on a day when you are really exhausted or coming down with a cold there is still a practice for you. Iyengar yoga is for all bodies.
The biggest learning curve for my personal health was moving through Graves disease, a hyperactive thyroid. Yes I did all that Western medicine wanted me to do until they wanted to remove my thyroid, or part of it. I knew that meant I'd be on medication for the rest of my life. I decided to not do that. I stayed on medication for six and a half years and then my my thyroid stabilized. For the first one and half years I only was allowed to do one yoga practice, a combination of supported inversions and forward bends with a head wrap to keep my eyes closed. To limit input. That practice was a key part of my recovery. It taught me how far away I'd come from feeling quiet inside my body. I credit that restorative practice as being an instrumental part of my recovery from Graves disease.
Did you know that there are yoga hospitals in India? Here in the west we sometimes take medication several times a day. B.K.S. Iyengar will say, 'here, do this three or four times a day.' A different approach than the Western approach, but can you see how it can help?
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