First Few Days in Pune, India

Tuesday, June 2

I am here in Pune sharing a wonderful and spacious apartment with 2 friends from the Boston area. We are 5 minutes walking distance from the Ramamani Iyengar Memorial Yoga Institute.  For each of us it is the first trip to India.

We have been struck by the noise and pollution, and the chaotic travel of motorized rickshaws, cars, and motorcycles. Most intersections are uncontrolled, with no lights or stop signs. So you have to wait and dodge all this traffic. When you get off of main roads, however, the scenery becomes green and lush, instantly quieter and more serene.

We had our first asana class this morning, with Prashant Iyenger. He is the one and only son of Guruji. Class was from 7-9am. There were no instructions given regarding how to do the postures. In the advanced classes, in which we are enrolled, we are expected to know all the “points” of the basic postures. So he just tells us to take Trikonasana or dog pose, and then as we do it, he speaks philsophically about how the breath is a nutrient to the body and the mind; how the mind is conditioned by breath but also conditions the breath; how physical adjustments change the mind and the breath.

His main instructions, repeated over and over through different metaphors, were this: use the asana as a tool to achieve what you want to achieve in the breath or the mind. Use the breath as a tool to bring whatever you need to bring into a pose, whether it is endurance or strength in the legs, softness in the face, or expansion of the chest. You set your intention with the breath to do the work you want it to do. Same for the other tools: the body, the mind.

This way of working is called “making propositions” and “soliciting responses.”  The point of working in this manner is that yoga then becomes a tool for life. You can transfer this power of propositions and solicitations to any area of your life.

He went so far as to say that the breath should be used as a “supplement,” or a “nutrient”  for the body. When the breath is directed properly by the mind, it can provide  protein or vitamins or calcium.  My flatmate Carin and I were debating whether this was metaphorical or literal. I believe he was speaking literally. In any case, we have both read about sages and mystics of the Himalyas who have existed for a long time without food, aparently able to get nutrients from breath and sunlight.

I liked this teaching. The theory of making propositions in practice and soliciting responses is obviously a good way to practice asana. You take the pose Trikonasan, for example. I am feeling tight in my hips. What happens if I proposition the breath to rotate my leg so that my hips become unstuck? What happens if I make the proposition while exhaling? What about during inhalation? What about while retaining the breath? What answers are solicited in this particular experiment in the laboratory of the body?

I realized I already knew that I use my inhalation generally to lengthen, expand and stretch; the exhalation is for rotating, pressing, releasing. The point is I can control the breath and use it for my purposes once I understand it. Then all I have to do is set my intentions. The breath becomes the servant of the mind. Or the body becomes the servant of the breath; or the breath beccomes conditioned by the body. They are all interrelated and causality goes in both directions.

The larger lesson is this: once you understand that you can change your mind by adjusting the body, or change the body by using the mind to direct breath, you can transform in any area of your life.

What is it I would like to change about myself? If am rude or prone to harshness, what is my breath like during these times? I can learn to change my behaviour by watching my breath. If I lack the will power, that is, my mind won’t cooperate, I can also change my mind by putting my body in specific asanas.

So this is what a class with Prashant is like. Very theoretical, psychological, philosophical. He does not come around and correct alignment or even tell you what version of the posture you are to do. It doesn’t matter to him whether you decide to do the first repetition of Warrior I with your hands on your waist or go to the final position. Today it was all about breath, mind, and body as a whole.

Namaskar,

Pauline

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