What are the invocations and why are they chanted at the beginning of class?

Class begins with a few minutes of sitting quietly followed by chanting three aums and the invocation to Patanjali, sometimes followed by other invocations. The invocations help create an inner atmosphere of receptivity. Through the invocations we offer thanks to our teachers, for our lineage and for the opportunity for practice together.

Print/Download Invocations

"Words cannot convey the value of yoga - it has to be experienced."  ~ BKS Iyengar. 

I came to Iyengar yoga in search of something more. Something deeper, stronger instruction, a spiritual connection to the physical practice of yoga. This was almost five years ago and at that time I was depleted in mind and body.  I had moved continents, birthed two babies and was raising and homeschooling them with no family support.  I was also trying to recover from two auto immune diseases and had a chronic lower back pain, a side effect of an epidural with my first child.  Finding a teacher who was invested in her students growth, a yoga community to meet with once or twice a week and a practice to which I was deeply connected, became something I was extremely grateful for.  
 
Within a few months of practicing I slowly began to build strength in my body and my mind felt more spacious, lighter somehow. My lower back pain eased and I started to set some time aside each day to practice just one or two asanas. I used a spare room to create a yoga and meditation space, I bought books and props, enrolled in an enrichment program with my teacher and gradually my home practice began to evolve.  
 
During the next three and a half years my home practice weathered the ups and downs of everyday life as homeschooling mom with a never ending to do list. It shifted and changed and I tried to adapt it to the needs of my life. I had some moments of clarity, but often felt stuck.  Time, or lack of it was a constant challenge and the poor mobility of my lower back made progression in some asanas difficult and sometimes impossible.  
 
However, my relationship with yoga grew ever more profoundly rooted and about a year ago I made the decision to delve deeper and started working towards my application for Iyengar yoga teacher training.  I increased my studio classes, workshops and my home practice.  I started to look at what was holding me back in my body and in doing so, injured my back.  Attempting to move forward had resulted in what felt like going backwards.  Weeks passed by and my endeavors to work around my back issue failed.  I tried to participate in class, I tried to practice at home, but I was in pain a lot of the time. I had to surrender. My regular practice ceased and I worked privately with my teacher on a therapeutic back care plan of just six poses. Initially it seemed so restrictive and I longed for my usual varied practice, the feeling of well being that my favourite asanas provided and the challenge of working on those asanas that were more perplexing to my body. I didn't know at that moment how transformative this therapeutic practice would become.
 
Focusing on just six poses provided a steadiness that my body so desperately needed and brought stillness to my mind.  Each pose created space in my lower back and the use of props (and the clever use of furniture to create props) gave me support to hold the poses for a therapeutic length of time and educated my body to feel the action from within.  I had always used props in my practise, but repeating the same asana over and over again with more support than I would usually take began to alert my body to very subtle changes.  As Guruji said, "props help students of yoga in monitoring and directing the right way to do the asana." In surrendering to my back pain, I was allowing my body to take direction and to feel the pose from a new perspective. 

Halasana has always been one of my favourite poses.  The quietness of mind and the calm stability that it promotes brings me to this asana most days.  I have always used a chair to support my legs, as I have found that bringing my feet to the floor strains my lower back and collapses my chest, bringing a feeling of compression to my upper body.  I have tried using a lower bench for my feet in an attempt to bring them closer to the floor, but have never been able to get a feeling of lift and lightness in my back that supports the full pose.  During the days and weeks that followed my back injury, ardha halasana was one of my six poses.  I used a piano bench to support my thighs, as it was just the correct height and the supported asana relaxed the muscles in my back, giving noticeable relief almost immediately.  I worked on it twice daily and found that it gave wonderful pain relief. However, as the weeks passed and I no longer needed the pose for pain relief, I began to notice a different feeling in my back.  It felt stronger, more aligned and the connection of my thighs to my hips felt deeper.  I knew that my feet would now reach the floor in this asana.  I removed the piano bench and brought my set up to the wall.  I brought my feet to the wall and slowly lowered them down the wall to the floor.  I no longer felt strain in my back, my chest did not collapse and I felt no compression in my upper body.  I felt the strength and the direction of the piano bench, even though it wasn't there.     

This introspective aspect facilitated by props has been a huge learning experience for me.  The ability to feel a deeper relationship with areas of my body dulled over time with lack of mobility and desensitized by medical procedure has been transformational.  My teacher said that this process of healing through yoga would reshape my practice and shift it to a deeper level.  How right she was! 
 
My journey with yoga is ever evolving and as I embark upon the path of Iyengar yoga teacher training I will reflect on this experience and the knowing that as with many aspects of life, surrender, then taking time to pause and focus on an obstacle allows for the unfolding of transformation.  

Jill Sinnott - Student at CIY

A Short Index for the Photos in Light on Yoga

“The book “Light on Yoga” contains 602 photos, it’s a treasure trove because Guruji’s photos are inspirational. However, because the book covers so many asanas it’s difficult to find a photo of a specific asana. In order to help with quickly finding a photo. Here is a short index according to the asanas families.”

- Eyal Shifroni

An Exposition of Yogacarya BKS Iyengar’s “Jnana in Asana: Experiential Knowledge” by Sharoni Fixler

The article discussed below is a transcription of a message given by BKS Iyengar at the American Iyengar Yoga Convention in San Diego, June 1990.

Yogacarya BKS Iyengar “Jnana in Asana: Experiential Knowledge” in Astadala Yogamala, Volume 2, pp. 254-256. Allied Publishers Pvt Ltd. 2009. $22.00 Paperback. ISBN 8177641786 http://iynaus.org/store/store/books.

Jnana marga is the path of knowledge. In his article, BKS Iyengar explains how experiential knowledge can be attained through the practice of asana (postures). Iyengar yoga is a practice-oriented tradition where asana and pranayama (breathing exercises) are the starting point for accessing the many facets of yoga.

It has often been referred to as ‘furniture yoga’ because of its hallmark use of props. Iyengar yoga is known for precision, a focus on alignment, longer holds in asana and the regular practice of headstand and shoulderstand.

Often, Iyengar yoga is perceived as a physically-oriented tradition, lacking the spiritual weight of other yoga traditions that put less emphasis on asana or none at all. In the article, Iyengar explains:

There may be a misconception in your mind that dhyana [meditation] is spiritual yoga and asanas physical yoga…..where there is asana, there should be dhyana. Where there is dhyana should be an asana.

He states that it’s impossible to meditate without having a body and taking a physical position during meditation. The body should not be given less importance than the mind. They are all part of a whole.

Do not be confused if somebody says to you that this is physical yoga, be indifferent to such words and stick to your practices. Even for spiritual yoga, the body has to be used. Can spiritual wisdom be imparted without speech?...Without physical means, the essence of spirituality cannot be expressed.

Iyengar explains that the asana practice matures over time and at first we do the asana from the gross body and eventually we move through to the subtle body to the causal body. He explains the gross body as the anatomical, the subtle body as the physiological, mental and intellectual and the causal body as the spiritual. We move from the gross to the fine as the asana practice evolves and eventually, the practice becomes meditation-in-action.

He goes on to correlate the three bodies with three margas (paths of yoga): karma (action) which connects to the gross body, jnana (knowledge) which connects to the subtle body and bhakti (devotion) which connect with the causal body.

Iyengar gives specific examples of poses that bring about a ‘state of silence’. From his own experience in the postures, he has ascertained the effects of each pose on the mind.

I will tell you the difference between these asanas. They take you to the state of silence [meditation], even perfection. But in that silence you find various differences. In Halasana [plow pose], the silence is passive and makes you pensive. In Setu Bandha Sarvangasana [little bridge pose], it is a half-pensive and half-dynamic state of silence. In Halasana, you can go to sleep, but in Setu Bandha Sarvangasana you cannot go to sleep and you cannot oscillate either. In Salamba Sirsasana [headstand] too you cannot oscillate, you can never be inattentive even for a second, otherwise you lose the balance. Yet you feel cool in the head. In Paschimottanasana [seated forward bend] you experience serene silence.

He explains that in each asana the state of consciousness changes and that the practitioner should experience the effects of each pose for his/herself. With that experience, he/she can choose and sequence poses based on their effects and according to the individual’s needs on a given day. For those who struggle in a pose or have difficulty accessing it, prop support is taken so that body and mind can settle more easily and the unique effects of the pose can be experienced.

Iyengar’s sequencing, use of support and longer holds are excellent tools to access to the meditative/devotional state and rebalance the mind/emotions through asana.

At 95 years old, Iyengar continues to practice amongst his students at his institute in Pune, India. He is a true proponent of practice as a path to understanding. There is an anecdote of BKS Iyengar going to a conference with several highly-regarded scholars. One of the scholars asked him where he had read the information he shared about a certain idea in yoga philosophy. He answered, “from the library of my body”.

Sharoni Fixler is a certified Iyengar yoga teacher and a lifelong student of yoga. She teaches regular classes at her centre in Calgary, Calgary Iyengar Yoga and facilitates a PreTeacher Training Program focused on personal practice. She can be reached at sharoni@calgaryiyengaryoga.com

A document created by Shelly Smith for the CIY community.
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