this weekend. A big Iyengar teacher named Dean Lerner
from State College, PA. We had two pranayama classes, and 4
asana classes, for a total of 11 yoga-hours. The classes
were great, despite my congenital inflexibility. Like
Sara predicted, my body felt great (if tired) after the
weekend.
He told the following story about how he got into Iyengar
yoga. He became very ill traveling in India. While
recovering, he bought Iyengar's
Light on Yoga because it had poses for kidney
problems. He returned to his home in Arkansas, where he
proceeded to practice from the book. After some discomfort
and confusion, he decided to write to Iyengar himself. The
letter went something like this:
"Dear Mr. Iyengar,
I bought your book, and am enjoying learning yoga. I have
a few questions however. I cannot do the poses like you do.
Some of them are uncomfortable..."
(pause for laughter)
He proceeded to ask specific questions about the poses.
He received a letter 3 weeks later from India. Its
contents:
"Dear Mr. Lerner,
I am not concerned with your comfort. I am concerned
with the precision with which you execute the poses..."
He proceeded to answer some of the questions and point him
to some of his students in the US.
I love that! "I'm not concerned with your comfort..."
If you do Iyengar yoga, this is, uh, evident.
If you're ever in State College, check him out!
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