Today is BKS Iyengar Day

Today is BKS Iyengar Day

Yel and I started Yoga a few months ago with a great teacher, Rebecca in North Beach, but I dropped out after a few classes because I'm a lazy undiscipline lout with hamstrings made of inelastic uncooked spaghetti. Nevertheless we took a half-day off to go see B.K.S. Iyengar on his historic visit to San Francisco with all the proceeds of the ceremony charitably going to an indian village.  It was as if Yoda came into town.

Tucked inside Davis Symphony Hall in San Francisco, California, USA was a little old man from India with a cute wonderful smile and stern brows a lion witnessing in a crowd of admirers, expressions of love and enduring appreciation of his dedicated art.
It was a testament to their shining yet humble messages of affection and gratitude that this non-student, uninformed bystander witness was moved to tears.
BKS Iyengar and his art and way of Yoga has touched thousands upon thousands of people throughout the world.
The main master of ceremonies said Mr. Iyengar or as they called him throughout the talk, "Guruji" last came to town 21 years ago. He looked about in his late 60's but we calculated his age to the late 80s from his book, "Light on Life"
From around 2pm to 4:30pm today on October 3rd, 2005-
We were treated to an excellent retrospective video of Iyengar's life as Performer, Teacher and Guru encompassing old black and white footage of Iyengar contortions through the various asanas or poses; humorous clips of his stern yet generous capacities as a teacher and his wisdom and philosophy on Yoga to expose the self-"truth" through the quieting of mind oscillations and physical endurances.

As its ardent ambassador, he has steadfastly remain true to his mission of bringing the wisdom of yoga art to many leading to worldwide consiciousness transformation and spiritual perspectives.

First up was a sincere man named Patel who was dubbed the grandfather of American yoga for bringing Iyengar's teachings and system to the west.
He called him, "Guriji", a term associated with the likes of GOD and expressed his experiences with Mr. Iyengar in this acronym G = Generative, O = Operative and D = Destroyer. Such supreme embrace of his teacher, Mr. Patel imbued his guru with these mythic characteristics in Hindu lore reserved for deities.

Then there were a succession of people giving testimony on the power of Iyengar Yoga to heal physical ailments ranging from low back pain, muscle and spinal deformities, and neurological impairments. The real life down to earth story of Lisa Miller (?) was touching in her recovery towards regaining her life as a Automotive repair teacher and active sporty Half-Dome conquerer.

Then there was this man (Softi ?) with a soft British accent who was introduced to Iyengar early on his life when the phases of self-identity come to the fore. First at a lost for words to describe what his teacher means to him, he quoted from Gandhi and so happened to have one of my favorite quotes:

He continued his moving tribute by chanting Sanskirt wisdom verses from parts of an Indian epic, something about the "sun in the heart" where a god was giving advice to a warrior king when the king was in great crisis of indecision. The concluding fulfillment was/is the word/sound "AUM". The gentleman then gave a full body bow salutation, which I think was a 'Sun' salutation in the direction of Guruji Iyengar.

Another moving presenter was a Zen nun who help direct the San Francisco Zen Center. She retold the story of the pre-Buddha prince's meeting with the yoga ascetics and how after the buddha's awakening, he was not able to return to his yoga teachers to thank them for their wisdom because they had passed the earthy plane. So in a sincere gesture of her tradition she repaid the karmic debt by gently and with full care and attention a full body prostration done with such sublime awareness, I could not help but effuse tears of emotion.
Her powerful yet humble "Thank You" of buddhism to the wisdom of Yoga was beyond words.

I couldn't see Mr. Iyengar at our overhead viewpoint but I know many around me were moved as well by all the speakers.
To conclude the presentation, Mr. Iyengar finally took the stage from the seats amongst the audience and another standing ovation ensued. Local politicos from the Mayor to the President of Board of Supervisors, to Senators and Assemblymen, all the way to the Governor declared today as BKS Iyengar day.

And what a day is was. (note the 'Light' of our collective sunny days)

It is clear that this special being's single point devoted meditation on this particular spiritual endeavor is beyond words. Here's a video clip of what Mr. Iyengar said when questioned on "How" he brought this all about (crap, it's taking too long to upload, but maybe I'll get it up later).

The words that resonate with me was how his yoga was a vehicle toward embracing friendliness and compassion within its practitioners and how that practice effects us all.

I think I need a stretch...
For more info into Iyengar Yoga, you can check out: Iyengar Yoga Institute of San Francisco

Comments

[Iyengar yoga teacher, tony eason]

Great blog entry.

Now, go back and see Rebecca in North Beach(smile).

Even Mr. Iyengar may have had days where he felt he was "a lazy undiscipline lout with hamstrings made of inelastic uncooked spaghetti."

Anything worth anything, requires effort. ..

Wishing the best of all possible worlds,
Iyengar Yoga teacher, tony eason
http://ynottony.com