Making sense of a Yoga system - Iyengar
Thursday, December 29, 2011 at 8:49PM At the last count there were over 100 so called styles of Yoga, each vying for attention. How to choose?
Apart from the obvious limitation of what is available locally, it is probably best to pick a style that has heritage and a historical hinterland, since part of the delight of practising yoga is in the study of the available texts and its proponent Yogis.
My teacher in 1979 had practised under Iyengar in India, and therefore it was natural for me start with this system. But this was not without its problems. I spent long periods without meeting my teacher, and my only fall back at the time was the old edition of "Light on Yoga", which was very forbidding to a new student.
Part of the problem was that the system was portrayed as a ladder, and a steep and long one at that. It felt that the ladder itself stood on flat ground (provided by Yama and Niyama) with the first rung being Asana. Once one had mastered Asana, then one could graduate to Pranayama and thence on to the other of the 8 limbs as set out by Patanjali, i.e. one had to practice the 8 limbs in strict sequence. Judging by the preposterously difficult advanced asanas depicted in "Light on Yoga", I felt that I would never reach the 4th limb even. At the time this led to a dropping off of interest.
However, a closer reading of Iyengar, particularly his later books, and also familiarisation with other systems such as Viniyoga and the writings of Desikachar, shows the ladder analogy to be false. (I also think Iyengar has changed his view over his long lifetime). To be sure, there is a sense of progression and direction, but this has more to do with integrating the kosas starting with the most immediately attainable (external) and moving towards the inner ones as awareness expands in order to be conscious of them.
I have since learnt that all yoga is attainable in each limb as long as Yama and Niyama are cultivated. So don't be discouraged if you don't get further than Asana number x of "Light on Yoga"! Attaining "x" is not the point.
