dipika 1961 2021 Journal of Iyengar Yoga Maida Vale No. 53 July 2021 Issue 53 – July 2021 Editorial Editor: Korinna Pilafidis-Williams Welcome to another online edition of Dipika. Contents Co-editors: We have been through frightening and depressing times Alice Chadwick but there are things that may have changed for the Susan Collins better. Zoom has kept us connected to our weekly 2 34 classes. There are two articles which demonstrate that Online Classes The Armpit Chest Text editor our regular classes not only keep us flexible and sane, Lucy Astor in Iyengar Yoga Mary Newton but keep us connected to our teachers and fellow Alice Chadwick Alice Chadwick students as well (p.2 and p.12). For many who have 5 Design: embraced this online learning, it has even increased the New Research Study 42 Sarah Mc Carthy frequency and intensity of practice. Those of us who by Northumbria The Viparita Dandasana Bench follow the path of yoga know that it is not just for the University, Newcastle Photographs: body and the mind but can help with creativity and 44 Chandrika Angadi artistic pursuits too. Four longstanding students working 6 Iyengar Yoga in Action Shankara Angadi in creative fields share their views (p.6). Richard Agar Yoga and the Creative Arts Wendy McGuire Lucy Astor Ward, who is one of the most senior teachers in the Alice Chadwick country and a teacher at IYMV, reveals to us how Teodora Danciu 12 46 he got into Iyengar Yoga and shares memories of his Tony Fretton Room(s) with a View Teachers’ Beginnings Tim Greenhous first meeting with BKS Iyengar. Iyengar teachers often Tony Fretton IYMV mention parts of our anatomy that we may not have 48 Suhail Yusuf Khan known before but which we certainly feel after a strong 16 Rolf Killius Hugh Saffery Obituary class. There are also some “Iyengarisms” which are not Interview with Sarah Mc Carthy true anatomical definitions, like the ‘‘armpit chest’’. Tim Greenhous Keiko Onishi Richard Agar Ward Alice Chadwick, Dipika’s co-editor, provides us with Korinna Pilafidis-Williams an illuminating article on the actions and effects of the 50 Matthew Sturgis 24 armpit chest (p.34). Finally, and very close to my heart, Book Review: Imagine If Judy Waldman The First Public Iyengar is the quest to find the house where the first UK Iyengar Korinna Pilafidis-Williams Yoga Class in the UK Illustrations: Yoga class took place exactly 60 years ago. Having Korinna Pilafidis-Williams Alice Chadwick researched the subject for a long time, and with a good amount of serendipity and luck, I found the Iyengar® Yoga Maida Vale 32 birthplace of Iyengar Yoga in the UK. Dipika is certainly 223a Randolph Avenue The Human Life Cycle more than just a newsletter; it’s a magazine where London W9 1NL Illustrated by Asanas tel: 020 7624 3080 important facts about IYMV and Iyengar Yoga are web: www.iymv.org Korinna Pilafidis-Williams documented for posterity. email: [email protected] IYMV is a company limited by guarantee With gratitude and wishing you some happy reading, Registration no. 4431832 Charity registration no. 1092322 ® used with permission of BKS Korinna IYENGAR,Trade Mark Owner 1 I am always surprised to find that I enjoy the element of obedience Online Classes in Iyengar classes. I am not remotely Lucy Astor obedient by nature but I really love the feeling of surrendering my intention to the voice and directions of the teacher, in unison with the I have been a fan of the Iyengar Yoga Maida Vale since attending my rest of the class. It feels like being first introductory class in 2014. I had been inspired to sign up after in a shoal of fish or a flock of birds. hearing an obituary of BKS Iyengar on the radio. That first class felt like Oddly, it feels like freedom. coming home for me. My siblings and I, as children, had learnt yoga postures from our grandfather that he had learnt in the Indian Army. Another quality that I value in As soon as I started an Iyengar class, it felt familiar to me. I had often tried these classes, again unusually for yoga classes before but, as an overly flexible person, I could easily do the me, is precision. I really enjoy it in poses in a way that sooner or later would put my back out. At the IYMV, a teacher’s verbal instructions and I liked the feeling that my hypermobility was not going to fool anyone corrections. I also enjoy aspiring to, into thinking I was any better than I should be. and occasionally feeling progress in, the precision of my poses. Precision When the first lockdown happened, one of my first thoughts was what is not a feeling that comes naturally am I going to do without classes? I bought Light on Yoga (not before to me; approximation feels way the relationship between teacher time) and started to practise on my own (also not before time). But I more familiar. and students is highlighted in the couldn’t have been more pleased when the IYMV began to offer classes weirdness of online classes. An online. It was the luxury I would have wanted on a desert island and I am fascinated by the different atmosphere in which I can, seemingly it radically changed my whole lockdown experience. atmospheres created by teachers. without effort, concentrate and extend The qualities that I enjoy include my limits is a rare and precious thing. Online classes are a surprisingly good substitute for going to the studio. economical use of words; the right As a psychotherapist, this alchemy Seeing the same teachers and hearing familiar names of other students mixture of friendliness and formality; is of enormous interest to me. All gives a feeling of continuing to be part of a community. Not a community certainty. An attribution of ego to research shows that, regardless of in that it is social or like work colleagues. It is a connection that feels students always feels like projection. therapeutic technique, the quality of durable and impersonal, based on a solid foundation of shared practice. I don’t particularly want to be either the relationship between practitioner This isn’t the most important element for me, but it is an unexpectedly charmed or shamed. The magic of and client is the real agent of change. enjoyable bonus. 2 3 ‘‘ Spiritual freedom requires greater self-control and the ability to direct our lives in the right direction. New Research by Northumbria University, Newcastle - B.K.S. Iyengar Perceptions of Online Therapy Yoga Compared to Face-to-face Yoga in People with Multiple Sclerosis and Vasculitis And increasingly it seems to me that, in both practices, the crucial ingredient is who the teacher or therapist is, more than what they Yoga has been shown to be effective in improving postural control actually do. Their integrity, experience and directional focus are in a variety of neurological and ageing conditions, in particular what make the difference. multiple sclerosis (MS). Recent research has found that yoga for MS can decrease fatigue and bring improvements in gait and posture, My psychotherapy practice has really benefitted from the way that anxiety and depression. yoga enhances so deeply my body consciousness. An important tool, particularly working with clients who have suffered trauma, is embodied The aim of this study is to evaluate the use of Iyengar Yoga online classes countertransference. This means learning to observe, moment by moment, for people with MS and vasculitis. Due to COVID-19 a lot of exercise nuances of my own somatic responses to the client’s emotional state. classes have had to move to online platforms (Zoom, Microsoft Teams). This minute consciousness of my own bodily experience gives a much The purpose of the study is to gain a wider understanding of people’s less fallible reading of the client’s internal state than clever thoughts perceptions of online yoga and to assess its benefits and negative or theories. aspects in comparison to face-to-face teaching. There are so many other benefits of Iyengar yoga practice: flow, grace, The research team is led by Dr Gill Barry, a biomechanist based balance (particularly hard for flexible me), strength and interiority. At a at Northumbria University, whose work focuses on exercise and more prosaic level, lockdown life and online classes allow me to attend neurological conditions, with a special interest in the use of digital more classes, more regularly; they’re more time-efficient too, with no technology. Dr Gemma Wilson, a registered health psychologist also queuing for props etc. I know I am guaranteed ninety minutes of utter based at Northumbria, co-led the project. Together they conducted engagement. I have noticed recently that I am waking up in the morning interviews with yoga teachers and students who regularly attend feeling completely comfortable in my body, and I am amazed that this online yoga classes. should be the case in my sixties. I could go on. However long I do it, there will always be scope for more mistakes, more adjustments, Iyengar Yoga online classes for MS and neurological conditions more learning. I love the feeling that this is a bottomless well. with Korinna Pilafidis-Williams, Thursdays at 12.00pm 4 5 YOGA & THE CREATIVE ARTS For all of us, yoga can be a wonderful counterbalance to work, bringing us energy and focus and easing out our knots and strains. For the artist, yoga can relate very closely indeed to the creative process. Reflection and action; precision, stamina and courage; the freedom to search deep within and reach far beyond the self – these qualities sustain both practices.