Roses are red.
Violets are blue.
Iyengar yoga, we love you!
Students, teachers, and enthusiasts from near and far wrote in to tell us why they love Iyengar yoga. What about you? What about this practice makes your heart sing??
Iyengar yoga returns us OM
The sun, moon and stars watch
As we learn to bend like a willow or be as steady as an oak before one breaks or loses a limb
Trees need not pose in Vrksasana
Standing tall on their earthly roots
Grounded and even
Turning over new leaves each year
Growing until they lay down in Savasana
We imitate them with our bodies
Twisting and stretching towards the sky on one leg or two
Hoping to maintain our balance in a storm
Opening our hearts to find the love that quietly awaits in Anuvittasana
Bending backwards, lifting, reaching and spreading to find our natural form
Expand the heart it feels good as one unlocks the gates standing guard
Back to Anjali mudra with a grateful
Namaste
– Miriam Alcala
Practice is my lighthouse, the beacon showing the way on the steady shore of the ever-changing sea that is life.
– Rosie Richardson
This practice has made me love me more! It’s taught me to respect, feel and embrace every aspect of the body. While it asks of my physical body, it strengthens my mind and nourishes my soul. It continues to provide me the will to expand my horizons day after day. That makes my heart sing.
– Natalie Palms
“Being deeply loved by someone gives you strength, while loving someone deeply gives you courage.” -Lao Tzu
I find practicing yoga takes courage. Beautifully, my practice then builds my courage to love.
– Rebecca Haralabatos
On this journey inward
toward my eternal home,
I work to peel back the many layers of my being..
parts familiar, the rest unknown.
Where to go? Which way is right?
Countless facets..so easy to lose sight.
This yoga practice is my one steadfast guide,
the constant companion
laying out the roadmap, holding up the beacon
so I may tread surely, stay open, be light.
Here to lead me back when I miss a step,
here to remind me when I grow weary-
“On this path, no effort is ever wasted,
nor is there any danger of adverse effect.
Even a little practice protects from the gravest fear.”
I am forever grateful..I am forever loved.
– Swetha Rao-Devigere
I love my ugly Pune shorts!
I love the energy I get from Iyengar.
I love the peace I get from the practice. It relaxes me, calms down my speedy mind, and deepens my meditation practice.
I love the depth of knowledge of the teachers and the enthusiasm they bring to teaching.
I feel fortunate to have found Adeline.
– Thacher Hurd
Iyengar yoga is the boat in this verse by Robert Browning:
The grey sea and the long black land;
And the yellow half-moon large and low;
And the startled little waves that leap
In fiery ringlets from their sleep,
As I gain the cove with pushing prow,
And quench its speed i’ the slushy sand.
– Kimberly Healey
I love Iyengar yoga for its constancy. My practice is always there ready to meet me where I am. (She) is never separate from me. Yoga is me.
– Cynthia Bates
Three Haikus
The limbs, soul and breath
Transformation of the mind
Iyengar yoga
When the sun wakes up
Salamba sirsasana
My mind finds its peace
Mind body and soul
Exhale – Inhale pause inhale pause
Exhale and observe
– Annika Sullivan
Practice keeps me sane. It has no beginning and no end. It challenges and embraces me. It works my body, my mind, my soul. It teaches me that every body is suitable for practice. It is with me everywhere I am. I am never alone when I have yoga. I love the dedication and commitment of my teachers, and this fuels my own commitment.
– Tiffany Goss
What makes my heart sing about this practice is the endless possibilities to express myself through myself. The effects are ongoing, everlasting, surprising and rippling like a river current as it flows itself from and to the source.
– Yogi Zain