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Teacher Training Frequently Asked Questions
Q. You were saying the shoulder stand is important. Why?
A You spend most of your life balanced on your feet. You are a system and all systems are designed to retain attention when you are upright. To try to retain attention when you are upside down is important. Without making it any harder for your body you are able to sustain a richer supply of blood to the brain and to the areas where blood wouldn’t go otherwise. If you have tremendous pressure in your eyes and ears, consult a physician. As far as subtler postures go, as you hold the posture longer, things begin to move that you wouldn’t have move. The same is true with head balance only to a greater degree. The experience you get with head balances are beyond physical. Your insight into things improves much more than with any other posture. Until I met Mr. Iyengar I had not seen anybody put the emphasis so correctly on the alignment in head balance. The effect the pose has on your blood pressure is remarkable.
Q. Is it really essential to follow head stand with shoulder stand?
A. Not immediately but sometime during the session. Try to do both the same length of time. Better to work with a longer shoulder stand than head stand.
Q. How long should we be in head stand? Is length of time important?
A. The way you do it is more important. After five minutes, and you are at a stage where you know you’re collapsing, come down. Until you can keep working, there’s no limit. If you are able to hold it, it is okay. In my practice, I’ve got to get on to something else. I hold for ten minutes and go on. Once in a while it is alright to hold it for much longer period of time. If someone is watching you at that time, they can watch for your weaker areas. It is good to be watched by someone else.
Q. Is it better to do a few things or a lot of postures if you have a limited amount of time to practice?
A. Do a few things and get mastery over them first rather than many things at once. A long time ago I decided that I wouldn’t say I have no time for Yoga. That was a lie. People want to do too many things and that’s part of the problem. That subject could get as subtle as you want to make it. It’s always a matter of what the priority is in your life.
Q. Could you talk about doing aerobics and a yoga? Is it good to combine jogging and yoga?
A. It depends on what the person wants. If you are a carpenter and you are good at woodwork and you go off painting to learn more about carpentering then you’re not involved with carpentering anymore. The only reason to take up aerobics is that you would rather do that. You have to know what your priorities are. If you come to Yoga class for self-realization, which is what you should come for, then you don’t want these other things.
Q. Comment on the need for extra training for muscles, for example weight training, advisable or not?
A. We are talking about two things. My knee is injured. The doctor says weight lift. This is different. It’s not a normal circumstance. However, under normal circumstances I would rely just on Yoga. All weight training you need you can do with Yoga; all the ropes and weight training instruments go against Yoga. You want freedom and all these implements that you use even in Yoga should ultimately be shed away.
Q. High blood pressure victims are not to exert themselves. Can you do some postures for this?
A. Yes. Same postures, head stand etc. may be used to improve problems of blood pressure but you should work under medical advice. Use complete support against the wall. No strain on shoulders. A lot depends on why the problem is there: physical or psychological.
Q. I have a slipped disc. Therapist said I could do a forward bend sitting but not standing. Is this true?
A. You should not do it standing or sitting with a slipped disc. If you are standing and you bending forward you put I f you’re standing and you bend forward you put more weight on it. Forward bends are important because they are a spine strengthening posture.
Q. Would you talk about the other postures?
A. Trikonasana – Triangle pose affects the kidneys on one side and organs on the other. This pose will also regulate the secretions in the body. In reality all the these glands are so well protected it’s virtually impossible to bring pressure on it, however blood pressure is improved around the tissues making functioning of the glands better.
Q. Someone once said never end practice with twists of back bends. Why is this?
A. I would never say that. I have seen hundreds of classes ending with twists. I would not generally end with a backbend. Twists are used to relieve other twists in the body. It’s good to end with a twist to both sides. It’s fundamental knowledge; you would not say anything like not to end a practice with a twist. Don’t end with a head balance. Standing poses form the backbone of the work. With backbends what I suggest is one day use the wall or the ropes, the next day no support unless you have an injured spine or muscle. If you lack suppleness, at least every other day get away from support.
Q. I’d like to hear you talk about the breathing exercises. What are some simple exercises that could be taught to a class?
A. Let me, first tell you why I’m reluctant. With artificial breathing you are taking a balloon and filling it to capacity without knowing its functions. Breathing like this has a tremendous impact on the brain. If it’s done wrong it’s too much of a moral responsibility. Essentially let breathing take its own course. Some basic breathing is okay. Unlike the body when you work with it there is immediate pain but working with the lungs it doesn’t happen like that. The nerves don’t go into the lungs and the elastic air sacs may be over stretched. If you practice a posture every day and don’t practice for a week you’ll be back in shape again it two days. With lungs you lose it faster. You can’t get back in condition in two days, and if you force it you’ll damage your lungs.
Q. What sorts of personality changes happen during breathing exercises?
A. Makes you a better human being. The physiology affects your mental outlook. Say if you are very cold. That makes your chest even smaller. If you open the chest, you’ll fell immediately warmer. All of these things can be overcome by power of mind. You can learn to conquer the effects of heat (weather) by training the mind. It’s type of self-hypnosis. Q. When you say the Sanskrit names harmonize in the body, are you saying every time we use these names we feel the effect?
A. There are certain sounds in Sanskrit if pronounced align with sounds in the body producing a harmonic effect. In the Ghita when they are used for poetic effects in the verses, they have effect. Not just using names of postures will give this effect.
Q. At one point in the class you commented that this Yoga was not physical but spiritual. Why is this?
A. There are two basic ways of looking at the postures. It has to come to you. You cannot go and demand that the state come to you. The vehicle you use has to be used wisely in that direction. In India many lead their normal lives sticking to yama and niyama. If you ignore those nothing will happen spiritually. They are the most important parts. These are much harder to practice in real life than meditation and yoga. Working through a physical body you have some strength to practice this. If the mind is that well trained then yes you will be able to invite meditation.
Patanjali has made clear that only when the Prana culminates into concentration can meditation occur.There is no such thing as doing meditation. People are coming and teaching meditation. Patanjali says it happens, it is not taught. It will happen when the body becomes purified. The Sanskrit word for meditation is Dhyana. If you told an Indian you are doing Dhyana, he would laugh at you. Meditation is a state of being. To say you are ‘in’ that state or not in that state is correct. To say I do meditation is nonsense.
Q. How do you deal with back problems?
A. It depends on what kind of problem you have. Back problem is a joint problem. No backbends at all for certain areas of the spine. Most people who do backbends don’t use their chest enough anyway. I tell person to do Halasana and they try to lift but they can’t. Use a chair for plough pose, if they can do that for a while they will become stronger. Build it slowly.
Q. I think a lot of us have problems in the lower spine. What are good exercises for this?
A. Hanging from the ropes, using a chair. If you have two ropes hanging from the wall or ceiling you can use these. This can be strenuous. Don’t strain the area too much and hang from there. Problems are difficult to deal with theoretically.
Q. Is doing bow pose good for lower back tightness?
A. If you have a back problem, rather than doing bow work in locus pose. Don’t touch cobra with back problems. Don’t teach cobra. Don’t adopt that word. Eradicate that posture from your books. Tear it out so no one else can use it.
Q. How do you work camel pose pressed against the wall?
A. Moderate back with hands on heels. Next stage is hands on ankles. Next stage is hands flat on soles. Take one step at a time. Relieve strain by using buttocks and thighs more effectively. Use the proper muscles. If you find there is a strain there don’t do it.
Q. I have a slipped disc. Therapist said I could do a forward bend sitting but not standing. Is this true?
A. You should not do it standing or sitting with a slipped disc. If you are standing and you bend forward you put more weight on it. Forward bends are important because they are a spine strengthening posture.
Q. Sometimes when I’m doing forward bends, I get dizzy when I come up. Why?
A. It has more to do with your breathing. You’re tensing in your stomach and that hampers breathing and the tendency is to make the breath even shallower.
Q. In forward bend, I feel stress in lower back and I have a sway back. What is there to do?
A. The area is weak. Develop it by practicing a mild back bend like bridge pose. Twists help after doing forward bends?
Q. When you do Tadasana and tighten the buttocks, why tighten?
A. Tightening the buttocks helps to tuck tail in and under. Tighten anal muscles and work in mulda bandha. You eventually learn to release this. It’s a slightly more advanced stage.
Q. Would you give a procedure for opening the pelvis?
Work with standing poses and all variations of Baddha Konasana. Opening of the groins in the standing poses is a very important movement. Attempting the split would help using two chairs on either side for support. Lift out of the drop working in the upper pelvis and then drop down again.
Q. If someone has weak knees are standing poses still the best for strengthening?
A. Yes, if the openings in groin are stiff, these poses will be hard. There is a difference between weak knees and not so supple knees. So for really weak knees sit in the chair pose with back against wall. This is good test for knees.
Q. Someone once said never end practice with twists or back bends. Why is this?
A. I would never say that. I have seen hundreds of classes ending with twists. I would not generally end with a backbend. Twists are used to relieve other twists in the body. It’s good to end with a twist to both sides. It’s fundamental knowledge; you would not say anything like not to end a practice with a twist. Don’t end with a head balance. Standing poses form the backbone of the work. With backbends what I suggest is one day use the wall or the ropes, the next day no support unless you have an injured spine or muscle. If you lack suppleness, at least every other day get away from support.
Q. Would you talk about triangle pose?
A. Trikonasana – Triangle pose affects the kidneys on one side and organs on the other. This pose will also regulate the secretions in the body. In reality all the these glands are so well protected it’s virtually impossible to bring pressure on it, however blood pressure is improved around the tissues making functioning of the glands better.
Q. When doing Ardha Chandrasana and Virabhadrasana number three I’m collapsing backwards with the knee before extending forwards. What can I do?
A. Start from the bending position and pull the knee up before lifting up in to the pose..
Q. Going up in to Ardha Chandrasana can you jump?
A. Yes, you can use a spring but no jerking motion. As in Surya Namaskar you can jump back but you spring with control. You should know exactly what your body is doing throughout that movement. You can also kick into head balance but this is not for a beginner. It must be an agile movement and not an inability to go up hence it becomes a jerking movement.
Q. When I do sitting postures my left hip fells totally different from right. Why does it feel like the bone is grinding on bone?
A. Your front knee is collapsing. If you lift the knee the bones won’t grind.
Q. When I put my foot down and press down the knee my heel comes off. Should I try to keep my heel down?
A. In forward bend don’t worry about keeping the foot up but think about keeping the knee down. If you are sitting in Dandasana the knee should stay close to the ground. I used to do Dandasana just where the sun’s rays came through a hole in the wall. I would put my leg down just where the rays hot the floor. If I could see the sun coming through, the leg was too far off the ground.Q. What should we know before beginning a yoga practice?
In order to do yoga and not gymnastics the maximum attention goes to the parts of the body that are not to be disturbed, along with complete awareness of those parts. Keep the stomach and neck passive and be aware of the extremities and that the extensions are from the centre out. Working within your limits is important and do not try to imitate immediately postures shown in a yoga book because you may hurt yourself.