Remembering B.K.S. Iyengar: From the Heart of a Lansing Student

After a day of observing myself after the news of Sri BKS Iyengar departing from his body this is what is in my heart.

Practice. I know myself because of practice. I know myself because of the practice of Iyengar Yoga in my life.

Sri BKS Iyengar methodologies of Yoga have touched each of us who have ever rested our hand on a block, supported our spine on a bolster, caught our foot in a strap, or opened our mind to the possibility of feeling whole and embraced by our daily practice. Chances are, if you practice yoga regularly, you have been touched by the spark of divinity that Sri BKS Iyengar offered to us through his dissemination of the yoga that he was so passionately connected to.

It comes back to practice. Personal practice–daily, monthly, yearly–that defines Iyengar Yoga for me. There are so many things that I and the world will remember him for, but this is what I  remember of Guruji today:

I remember the first thing I took away from working with him.  He taught us that it is the discipline of the practice that sensitizes us to our wholeness of ourselves, not the poses or going to class. He taught me that you need a teacher. A teacher who teaches you to practice so you learn to know the depth of each pose for yourself, what it means for you, its benefits, its purpose, its discovery. He spoke to what practice meant to him, how to learn what it meant for us, and showed us through his own perseverance and overcoming of obstacles what the outcome of the discipline of daily practice of this art and science offers us. His showed us through his practice, the time he devoted to it, to the intricacies in which he taught to us, distilling it with clarity in his observation of teaching us. It is through the study of myself, during my daily practice that I will remember him.

I remember the first time he entered the room I was in. I remember his hands upon my pose, I remember him telling us to practice every day to become sensitive, and to teach only what we know. I remember him instructing us to teach as a conduit from that practice and, if we could not on that day, to teach from our skill.

I remember him asking if after he adjusted my Sarvangasana if it was “better” and me being speechless.

His methodologies encouraged a moment-to-moment self-reflection that deepens over time and teaches us to know ourselves. Because of this, I am aware when a feeling arises, where it comes from within me, I know what to do with it and how to let it go. Practicing Guruji’s methods has provided me with the tools to be present in my life in and out of my yoga room. It has been learning the minutia of myself that has given me the template to continuously self reflect and fulfill my purpose. This deep and abiding dedication to my teacher that brings me back daily to my personal practice. This is what is it for me, today.

Guruji  taught me to observe, to listen, to do, to pause, to feel. And then to do again, and to continuously let go to be in the practice. He taught this to us and it keeps my practice alive.

But what I remember most are my years of dedicating myself to his tradition. Not the postures, the poses, or the accomplishments, but the practice. To allow the light inside of us to grow and be felt in our time on the mat, off the mat, in the world. The practice which leads to joy, to love, to light. There is so much to be said about this person, and I have only had a little corner of the world of Iyengar yoga, but I have made the practice my own, dedicated myself to his teachings, to his art, his science, his creation of yoga.

He, himself, is one of the reasons we know yoga today for what it is.

With gratitude and continued dedication I offer these thoughts to our yoga community.

With love. Ruth Fisk