Adapting the Practice to the Students' Needs
YJ has asked me to focus on the medical and health aspects of what I'm seeing here so that's what you'll find in this blog. Walking around Estes Park the last day or so, it's pretty obvious how tired most people are. A lot of people just flew in yesterday and are dealing with jet lag as well as the effects of altitude. It's 8000 feet here and one of the side effects for those of us who aren't acclimated to it is that it's hard to sleep, only increasing the feeling of depletion.
It seems like a number of the practices taught in the Iyengar Intensive today were a response to that. Thus both down dog (adho muhka svanasana) and standing forward bend (uttanasana) were taught with the head supported on a block. Mr. Iyengar asked us to place the crown of our heads on the blocks, blankets or other support in the manner of headstand (sirsasana). He stressed in uttanasana that the ears were the "brain" of the pose, helping us figure out how to place the head. When your head is supported properly the ears are straight up and down, not tipped forward or back. Supporting the head this way felt more cooling to me and my mind felt calmer coming out of these poses as compared to the usual unsupported versions.
The other obvious adaptation was in the way we did forward bends. Rather than coming into the poses with a concave back, as is usually taught in Iyengar yoga, we were instructed to instead allow the back to round and the head to drop. This, too, makes the poses less demanding. Years ago, senior Iyengar teacher Mary Dunn told me that good teachers teach not just from what they know but from what they see. In other words, they don't necessarily go with the class they planned but respond to the students in front of them.
Mr. Iyengar arguably has the best eyes on the planet for detecting the physical and energetic states of yoga practitioners and adapting what he teaches them accordingly. Today was a great example of that and a lot of tired yogis are grateful. Hopefully, we'll all sleep better tonight and be ready for more tomorrow.
