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Iyengar senior teachers James Murphy, Robin Janis, and Carrie Owerko practice Eka Pada Urdhva Danurasana

Y oga keeps the mind and body young. But this admission may date me—I started doing yoga in high school during the late 1960s, not long after the

Beatles jetted off to India to study Transcendental Medita-tion with Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. Our local YMCA offered a yoga class, so I begged my father to drop me off every week. If the Beatles could do Headstands, so could I.

From the very beginning, I loved yoga; it challenged my body and focused my mind. Ever since then, I’ve continued studying yoga, trying just about every style with many dif-ferent teachers. I liked all of them for various reasons, but I favored the Iyengar method, the most challenging. It suited me because it was logical and thorough, and promised a solid practice from its well-trained teachers.

I began practicing Iyengar yoga in 1992 when I took a yoga class at Columbia University, where I work, on my lunch hour. One day, we had a substitute teacher—and some-thing about the more careful attention to the various parts of the body really appealed to me. It wasn’t just some haphaz-ard series of postures strung together, and we didn’t just lie around relaxing, although, of course, we ended in Savasana.

So, I sought out qualified instructors—and discovered the Iyengar Yoga Institute and its wonderfully talented teachers, some of whom are pictured in this article—Mary Dunn, Robin Janis, James Murphy, and Carrie Owerko. All of them have been instrumental mentors in my growth as a yogini. They even inspired me to become a teacher-in-training in the Iyengar method.

IyengarYoga

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tadasana Parivrtta Sirsasana ply 100% of myself and be present in the poses. With ev-eryone working so hard, a great spirit suffuses the room. Sometimes, I imagine if we concentrated hard enough, maybe we could levitate.

I’ve always been more strong than flexible, and be-cause I sit at a desk all day, I’m one of the stiffer mem-bers of the class. Poses such as twists come more easily now, especially after years of working to open my chest. My Downward Facing Dog has improved since my dor-sal spine doesn’t protrude like before.

Then, there’s Handstands. Even though I started do-ing them in 1993, I lost the ability to kick up after I took some time off for abdominal surgery. It took a number of years, but now I get up most of the time. And I still can’t reach my hands together in Gomukhasana (Cow Face Pose), though I try every day. And who knows when I’ll achieve full Padmasana (Lotus Pose)? My pelvic area is especially tight. But that’s what I like about Iyengar yoga. I’m there to practice, not to show off how accom-plished I am.

open to change

It’s not easy to get into the Iyengar teacher-training pro-gram; in fact, I failed my first audition. But after a few more years of practice, I was accepted in 2005. The program, run by Mary Dunn and James Murphy, was rigorous, but I enjoyed learning more about yoga and how to teach it.

My first teaching experiences, though, were a bit dis-maying when I realized that many students are reluctant to try something new. “Where’s the flow series? Why aren’t you playing music?” they asked. Although Iyengar yoga includes “jumpings” that flow, it is mostly about holding a pose in ideal alignment. And while music is great, it’s easier to focus without distractions. Nonetheless, the students kept mentioning how their old teacher did things.

Since yoga is about allowing change to happen and being open to new things, my job was to show them why this method works. The flexible students jumped easily into Headstands, but they were wobbly once they got there. They thought just getting up was enough, but the challenge is to hold a solid Headstand. That means it’s better to do it against the wall than be in a “banana” shape, where the back bows and the body is out of alignment. In Headstand, your chest needs to be open, the legs active and balanced

evenly. A proper Headstand flows in one straight line, from a firm foundation, with every part of the body extended toward the ceiling like the spire of a cathedral. With this alignment, some Iyengar practitioners can hold Headstand for 20 minutes or more.

Something for everyone

Yoga is not exercise. Mr. Iyengar says yoga is the art of living. It’s a method where you transcend your limita-tions. It teaches you how to observe your own body and mind, which can help you in all your other activities. Iyengar yoga is often mislabeled as the style practiced by dancers or teachers. The truth is Iyengar yoga speaks to all types of bodies and capabilities.

I’m no dancer—I’m just an average athletic person who likes to work hard. My yoga has evolved over the years, and at this point, I could be classified as an intermediate practitioner. In the beginning, my main challenge was to open my joints and relax the stiffness in my hips and shoulders. Virabhadrasana II used to be so painful for me. Should I mention I’m a wimp with some inversions, too?

I study regularly with Carrie Owerko, this issue’s cover model. Her arduous classes have taught me to ap-

The Light of Yogaiyengar teacher Mary Dunn pioneered the style in the U.S. with intelligence, empathy, and a stalwart spirit

Since she began teaching yoga in 1974, Mary Dunn has taught thou-sands of students at all levels from total beginners to senior citizens to advanced practitioners and teach-ers. Dunn, a founding organizer of the first Iyengar Yoga Association in the United States, was instrumen-tal in establishing the Iyengar Yoga centers in San Francisco, San Diego, and New York. From 2003 until 2005, I took the teacher-train-ing course she ran with teacher James Murphy at the Iyengar Institute in New York City.

Sitting in her airy Upper West Side apart-ment, Dunn reminisces with me about her begin-nings in yoga. “I never planned on being a yoga teacher,” she says. Back when she was a young mother of two daughters, Dunn couldn’t even touch her toes, although she regularly participated in ice skating, swimming, team sports, and tennis. “You should try yoga,” her mother, Mary Palmer, encouraged her. “It’s the most amazing thing!”

A bit skeptical at first, Dunn began taking a local yoga class once a week. A half-hour into her first class, she decided this was just what she needed to physically express herself and give her mind an intellectual workout.

Dunn moved to Berkeley in 1973 with her family and began teaching

yoga when her teacher left. In the meantime, her mother, inspired by BKS Iyengar’s Light on Yoga, traveled to study with him in India. When Iyengar came to the US for the first time to teach yoga in 1973, he stayed with Mary Palmer in Ann Arbor, where he taught hundreds of students at the local YMCA.

Dunn took his classes when he went to California in 1974. “He put me on the stage,” she recalls. “I was naïve and didn’t have any bad habits he had to break. I said to myself, ‘This person knows so much.’ I trusted him

from the beginning.” Dunn still marvels at her early encounters with Iyengar. “He was dynamic and strong, demanding yet also good-natured,” she says. “He demanded a lot from his students from the be-ginning, allowing them to have the wonderful experi-ence of doing more than they thought they could.”

Meeting Iyengar changed her whole life. “It wasn’t until I studied with Iyengar that the scope of the subject began to reveal itself,” says Dunn. “I became aware there were pathways in the body al-lowing the intelligent understanding of movement, the creation of silence. Asana and pranayama opened doors to awareness—emotionally, physi-ologically, intellectually, and spiritual-ly.” Her studies made her realize the universality of the human condition and helped her cope with her own difficulties. “To become a teacher, you have to have both detachment and profound empathy,” she says.

When Dunn and her mother trav-

eled to Pune to study with Iyengar, he set the tone by telling Palmer, “Out of class, she is your daughter; but in class, she is my daughter.” Dunn treasures the experience. “Mother and I laughed in the dark when we fell into bed exhausted after full days, delighted in what we were learn-ing,” she says. “We got to know each other in many new ways that set the basis for a marvelously satisfying adult closeness.” Since then, Dunn has made many trips to India to work one-on-one with her teacher.

Her own teaching style has always been clear, direct, and accessible. An article for the IYAGNY newsletter about Tadasana (Mountain Pose) re-veals the former high-school English teacher’s poetic economy of words: “From the very first direction, ‘Join your feet’ we learn to transfer focus from our head to what is most distant from it, our feet,” Dunn wrote. “As we develop our connection with the foot’s system of arches, our feet become wellsprings of energy we can use to fuel our entire being.”

“Teaching has given me a life’s work of which I’m proud,” she says. “I feel I’ve made a difference, and it’s given me innumerable friends and a wonderful sense of purpose. Being a yoga teacher is a way of connecting with people about the things that mat-ter most, not only for my own life but to look at the big questions.”

Diagnosed with advanced peritoneal cancer in 2007, Dunn has since had three major surgeries and chemotherapy. She maintains a blog where she talks about her ongoing treatment (marydunn.blogspot.com). Our thoughts and hearts are with Mary at this difficult time. —G.V.

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iyengar Yoga institute of new York 150 West 22nd St., 11th floor New York, NY 10011 (212) 691-9642 iyengarnyc.org

Where it all began

Living master BKS Iyengar, one of the foremost teachers of yoga in the world and creator of this eponymous style, be-gan teaching in Mysore, India, at the age of 18 and was then sent to Pune. Often called “Guruji,” for beloved teacher, he will turn 90 in December. Assisted by his daughter Geeta and son Prashant, Iyengar continues to teach at his center, called Ramamani Iyengar Memorial Yoga Institute (RIMYI).

Most Iyengar teachers make a pilgrimage to Pune to study with him, but Iyengar yoga centers extend all over the world, with several thousand certified teachers and hundreds in the United States alone. Mr. Iyengar has writ-ten many best-selling books on yogic practices and philoso-phy including Light on Yoga, Light on Pranayama, Light on the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, Light on Life, and others. All these books are essential study tools for most yoga teachers and practitioners of all styles everywhere. What’s most amazing about Mr. Iyengar, though, is his willingness to go beyond his limits. He uses his own body as a laboratory of sorts, which is why the Iyengar method continues to evolve.

If you go to an Iyengar class, be assured that you’ll be guided by an experienced and knowledgeable teacher. Iyengar teachers are required to undergo an ongoing cer-tification process throughout their careers—with assess-ments on six levels from Introductory to Advanced Senior. The Iyengar Yoga National Association of the United States (IYNAUS, iynaus.org), a national non-profit group dedicated to the teachings and philosophy of BKS Iyengar, oversees the certification process. The Iyengar Yoga Institute of New York, located in New York City’s Chelsea area, where I study, is a non-profit group affiliated with IYNAUS and is the headquarters for the Iyengar Yoga As-sociation of Greater New York, which includes New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Connecticut. Students and teachers from any style of yoga can certainly benefit from the Iyengar method—and who knows, if you try it, you just might want to continue.

gerry Visco is a freelance writer and photographer and completed a two-year yoga teacher-in-training at the Iyengar Institute in New York City.

take time to explore

As my practice matures, I discover new things about myself every day. A few years ago, I realized I wasn’t stand-ing properly. I’d grip my stomach, and I wasn’t keeping the middle of my torso long—which made me wonder whether this constriction was what caused the abdominal issues that led to my sur-gery. Ditto my chest: A lifelong habit of caving in my chest and collapsing my rib cage could have contributed to my asthma.

As all my teachers emphasize, the best way to go beyond your limits is with a daily home practice, even if it’s a short one. Although it can be difficult to juggle a full-time job and a full life with all the New York City distractions, I developed a basic routine.

Every day, I swim at the gym on my building’s rooftop and spend as much time as possible before or after doing an asana sequence. Sometimes, I’ll pick one or two poses I’m having trouble with and keep at it. I’ve managed to improve my balance in Ardha Chandrasana (Half Moon Pose) and Vrksasana (Tree Pose). It’s great going into class

with confidence that I won’t fall. And after a month or two of daily attempts to stand tall and grab my toe in Utthita Hasta Padangusthasana (Extended Hand to Foot Pose), I can finally do it. And if I can do that with daily effort, then I can do any pose if I’m diligent.

Yoga is not about achieving the perfect pose—it’s about intention. It’s being in the moment, but it’s also the process, the effort, the concentration. Being able to touch the ground in Ut-tanasana (Forward Bend) or drop back into Urdhva Dhanurasana (Upward Facing Bow Pose) is not any better than doing the simplest poses with devotion and intelligence.

Yoga is an exploration of your body and mind. We try to bring freedom, lightness, and space into the body as we strengthen it. Through Iyengar yoga, I’ve learned not to rush but to concentrate and give the process my all. Half-effort and half-attention to anything will result in medi-ocrity. Developing my practice with my Iyengar teachers provided a foundation that helps all my poses as well as my own life challenges.

Roped InOne of the tools Iyengar relies upon is Yoga Kurunta,

the use of ropes, as part of a regular yoga practice. Geeta S. Iyengar, his daughter, describes seven rope techniques in her book, Yoga: A Gem for Women. The word kurunta means puppet, describing how the yoga practitioner suspends on the ropes.

Practicing yoga this way opens the body, releasing tension in the spine and pelvic area, and allows easier access to even the most difficult poses. An effective way to work with elderly or stiff practitioners, the ropes also help correct scoliosis. People with neck problems can practice Sirsasana (Headstand) with ropes.

Some other benefits of Yoga Kurunta:

• Good for backbends and concave back postures, forward bends, Downward Facing Dog, remedial or restorative work

• Spinal traction helps relieve back pain and tension

• Excellent for stretching hamstrings, shoulders, and chest

• Adds speed, lightness, agility, range of motion

Although using ropes can be a bit daunting at first, James Murphy says, “It’s actually a lot of fun.” He uses them often in his classes at the Iyengar Yoga Institute of New York because the gravity and movement in rope work awakens the body and brings freedom to the joints.

Practitioners should learn the art of Kurunta with an experienced teacher. Ropes provide a great tool for any yoga studio but, of course, they need to be securely bolted to the wall by a professional carpenter.

Being able to touch the ground in Uttanasana...

or drop back into Urdhva Dhanurasana...

is not any better than doing the simplest poses with

devotion and intelligence.

Setu Bandha Sarvangasana Variation