Volume 3 Issue 2

February, 2002

Problems:  The Path to Knowledge

Complete the first 4 postures in the sequence to the right, then repeat to the left.

Repeat the entire 4-posture sequence, right and left sides, with the front foot turned out to its limit.

“What is your problem?”

I’m thinking I had better come up with a problem pretty quick because Geeta is looking impatient.  This is my first interaction with her.  A logistical error has placed me in the group with medical problems.  I’m really at the fringe, but she has included me with those whose names had been called out by the assistants and were lined up together at the back of the room.

When I registered at the Institute I was asked to fill out a form that included information about any health problems I was experiencing.  I was so excited to have finally found the Institute after wandering lost in the hot , busy Pune streets for about 30 minutes that I could think of nothing, so that portion of my form was left blank.  A previous question asked why I had come to study at Pune, what was my purpose?  Well, duh.  That question had blown me away.  What do you say that doesn’t sound inane or pompous?  I wrote, “To deepen my practice.”

“I have sciatica.”

It’s true.  I have had sciatica problems since my cross country drive in 1992.  The drive was more fun that I thought it would be.  My car was heavy with personal belongings.  My travel buddies were my dog, Tucker and his two cats, Zinc and Zonk.  We drove about 10-12 hours a day.  We were going to our new home in Ohio.  My husband was already there.  I had left my son in Arizona to begin his first year of college.  I was on the road without benefit of human companionship.  The cats were extremely unhappy.  Tucker and I were having a great time.  We discovered that even if a hotel indicated in the AAA guide that it would allow pets, it did not necessarily mean two cats and a dog.  I drove most days more than I wanted to.  That trip left me with a chronic sciatica problem that becomes worse after driving for more than an hour at a stretch.

“Do all your poses at the wall.”

Sounds simple enough, I’m delighted.  I have not been practicing standing poses very much.  Manouso had given me a reprieve of sorts when he told me that with my menopausal symptoms I should only hold standing poses briefly.  I was afraid I would be the wimp of the class.  Now I get to have a wall to stand against.  Hurray.  But there are lots of people jockeying for the little wall space available.  I find a spot on one side of a trestler.  That, it turns out, is much better than the wall anyway.

Mr. Shah comes up and asks, “What is your problem?”

I never really thought of myself as a problem before now.  I say, “Sciatica.”  You don’t want to go into long stories with the assistants or the Iyengars.  They lose interest and patience pretty quickly.  After all there are over 60 people in the room.

Mr. Shah tells me he is going to teach me a new way to stand.  By the time I leave things will be better.  Of course they will be better.  I’m not driving at all while I’m in India.  The longest car trip I take during this time is 2 hours and my sciatica, of course, flairs up.  Mr. Shah believes he is a miracle worker who will undo damage that has had over 10 years to settle into my body.  That’s okay.  As long as he thinks there is potential for success he won’t give up on me.

I must stand at a wall or, if I’m lucky, the trestler or the window grill and turn the front foot out as far as possible.  My front foot is also to be supported by a quarter round block, toes up, heels down.  I’m very glad to be at the wall for this.  How could I balance otherwise?  A few weeks later the entire class is asked to turn the front foot out as far as possible.  Most of us (I have moved away from the battle for wall space by this time) are in the middle of the room.  I find balance even without a support like the wall.  When turning the front foot and thigh externally as much as possible I must use the inner back thigh to press the weight into my back heel.  I have been aware of just how weak the muscle that performs this is since my knee reconstruction.  Ah ha, now I will get some more intelligence and strength in that muscle.  I am elated. I discover the very real differences between left and right sides.  I learn that my back leg is not doing its job, that the front leg is not doing its job.

When I leave India my hip is better.  My standing poses are stronger.  I have work to continue, not just with the muscles and placement of the legs but with my astounding ability to delude myself.  The truly amazing things that I continue to learn from my experience at the Institute revolve around issues I thought I had resolved, issues that are not resolved at all.  They are just hidden from my view in a different way.  I had deluded myself into thinking that I was using my legs well in the standing poses while in actuality I was practicing in the same ineffective manner that Manouso had pointed out 10 years ago.  The Iyengars’ guidance shatters illusion.

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UTTHITA TRIKONASANA

Utthita Trikonasana can be translated as extended triangle.  In this posture our balance is challenged.  Hip and hamstring flexibility is required.  There must be a  solid foundation through the legs and feet.  This allows freedom for the spine to turn and extend.  The following instructions are adapted from Yoga in Action by Geeta Iyengar.

f    From Tadasana, inhale and step or jump the feet apart to Utthita Hasta Padasana.  The feet are 4 feet apart, parallel and equally weighted.  The arms are extended out at shoulder level.  The shoulders are down, the shoulderblades turned inwards.

f    Turn the left foot slightly in and the right foot 90 degrees to the right.  As the right leg turns do not allow the trunk to follow the right leg.  Resist by turning the abdomen left.  This is Parsva Hasta Padasana.

f    Exhale, extend the trunk to the right.

f    Place the right hand on the right shin.

f    Place the left hand on the waist with the left elbow bent and directed toward the ceiling.

f    Turn the chest and waist toward the ceiling.

f    Straighten the left elbow extending the left forearm towards the ceiling.

f    Turn the head and look at the left thumb.

f    Inhale, come up to Parsva Hasta Padasana, then Utthita Hasta Padasana.  Step or jump to Tadasana.

f    Repeat the posture to the left.

f    Repeat the entire sequence, this time  rotating the front leg out as far as possible.

By rotating the front leg as much as possible alignment of the hips and thighs is learned.  It firmly establishes the head of the femur into the hip socket and allows freedom of the spine. 

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