27.02.2010
Correcting imbalances in the body
When someone is young we can sort out the imbalances in 4-5 years. Once you reach 40 it is more difficult because of the ways we get. The cells renew every 7 years. When you are young your body can readjust much faster. You grow until there is a plateau at 40, so the first 20 years you will heal quickly, then during the plateau less quickly, than after 40 it is even slower.
When you find what is wrong with the feet then you find what is wrong with the body. This is a science and it is an art to see it. It is a physiological problem how you use your body, not an anatomical one. It is all so logical. How did we loose it?
Hanging can help to correct the top half of the body, standing poses for the bottom. If the problem stems from the feet, the body compensates with the problems. The weight in hanging will take away the effects of the imbalances.
How long can I hang?
One hour is fine, you won’t loose your legs.
Which positions help in case of a migraine?
A migraine is a problem of tension in the circuits going up from the neck to the skull. It happens when someone does a weight lifting with own mind, lifting the whole world on own shoulders. Yoga Kurunta can help in such case, to unblock the awareness one can also hang from the rope at the back of the neck. It is also possible to put a roll under the neck at the dent between the two muscles that end in the skull, just on that spot. One should do it all before the attack, never raise the head up after. Also one can roll the mat up under the neck in shoulder stand. It is important as well to avoid the sun or too much light in the eyes.
After the back bends series I felt wobbly and weak. What is the line between laziness and pushing our limits too far?
You are taking part in an Intensive Course so of course you are working intensively. During your normal life you don’t practice like this. Use the opportunity to relax in the afternoon sessions. Finish your practice with some relaxation or a Shoulder Stand.
I feel pain after a while in Shoulder Stand.
You are expected to struggle in class, it will energize you and bring the unrest back to rest. You are not allowed to do any less in Shoulder Stand.
I have low blood pressure so which poses are good for me?
Inversions and back bends are excellent. You can do back bends with a chair for a long time. And one more point, when you came here you had low blood pressure, now you don’t.
The teacher’s qualities
I like people who go to the extreme. That is the path of a teacher, mad to know. If you are not mad you are lukewarm, not hot. Remember about the quality of tapas, the determined effort. Many people out there have no right to be teachers, they are spoiling the name of yoga. A true practitioner has to first have a regular practice and the right kind of practice as well. I want my teachers to wake up and roar, and I want them to roar back at me and we can roar together. Spiritual life is a challenge. Support each other to stay in the truth, like in a Sangha.
How do you know people’s problems?
I look at the skin colour and texture, posture, eyes, back, and hips. If you want to be a yoga teacher you have to be a doctor of the body, mind, and possibly spirit. According to my calculation you need 20 years to learn this, but no one has that much time. Even after 20 years of meditating I didn’t feel mature.
Himalayan Iyengar Yoga Centre
Yoga master teacher Sharat Arora
Article derived from the Intensive Yoga Course
at the Himalayan Iyengar Yoga Centre in Arambol North Goa, 2010
