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Dear Friend,
As our Spring Session of classes is drawing to a close, we want to let you know that there is still a lot happening at Kelowna Yoga House this summer!
There will be a 7 day early morning sadhana, followed by super deals on our 7 week Summer session. Read on for more upcoming events...
Sincerely,
Kelowna Yoga House
www.kelownayogahouse.org
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Upcoming Events
Summer Sadhana
July 4-10, 6:30-8:00am daily
Go deeper! Join Krisna for 7 consecutive days of early morning practice. This is a great way to build momentum for developing a home practice. Rise with the sun and spend your mornings being guided through an asana practice with inspiration from the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali. The last class will be a restorative pranayama practice. To register, submit your name and payment at the Yoga House or contact Krisna at nerolidevi@hotmail.com 250-869-8771.
Fall Free Week of Classes!
Mark your calendar: Sept 12-17
We are celebrating our 10th year this coming September. All members past, present and future can partake in a free week of classes. KYH's birthday party will be September 10th. Stay tuned for more details and the Fall schedule coming soon....
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Geeta Iyengar
by Terry Tustain
Geeta Iyengar is the eldest daughter of B.K.S. Iyengar. Until 2010, she taught classes and was the principal administrator at RIMYI (the Ramamani Iyengar Yoga Institute in Pune). She now divides her time between the running of the institute and international teaching. This is a short account of my personal experience of Geetaji, who, with my teachers at Yoga House, continues to be a source of inspiration. Geeta came into my life one warm and moist morning in early August, 2007. I was in India to do classes at RIMYI and I was waiting, in a room with a lot of other people, for the entrance of the person who is, arguably, one of the world's best yoga teachers. She was not late. I sensed somemovement at the far end of the room by the door, and a large, older woman of medium height, wearing bright green shorts, a white polo shirt and white socks walked unevenly to the stage at the front of the room. I knew that Geeta was not in good health, but I was taken aback by her limp and her weight. She was wearing a wide belt for hip support which cut into her flesh and drew attention to her size. She looked as though she might be in pain. Geeta sat on some carefully arranged blankets (prepared by her Indian teachers earlier) and, without any other greeting, asked us to sit tall and led us in the oms and invocation. When she opened her eyes, her face was impassive, but her gaze was intense. It occurred to me then that her physical state bore little connection to her intellect and that what I had heard about her acute powers of observation was probably true. As a rather insecure yogini, I began to feel nervous. The first class began as most would, with adho mukha virasana followed by adho mukha svanasana (or "dog pose" as it was often called). I had chosen to be close to the back of the room and off to one side, where I thought it might be safe. I hadn't counted on Geeta doing much walking about. It didn't take her long to move past the obviously devoted and boundlessly flexible types at the front of the room to reach those of us who, in her words, "thought they could hide at the back". We had moved on to trikonasana at this point, and as she passed me, she gave my upper back a good slap. And so she progressed, taking the measure of each of us at a glance, and administering a slap here, a prod there, until she made her way back to the stage. At one point she asked a woman why she was not making the effort to lift into the pose (still trikonasana) as she had been instructed. The woman responded that she had been travelling for two days and was still a bit tired. Geeta then made it clear that tiredness was no excuse and that if we were that tired, we might as well stay at home. I decided that, if Geeta said anything to me, I would consider her question rhetorical and not answer. Certainly I would not offer any excuses. For the next two hours we practised standing poses. By the end of the class I had decided that my best bet was to take each day as it came, concentrate on what I was doing and not think too much about what might be down the road. I did wonder how long it might be before Geeta took a closer look at what I was doing and ordered me out of the class. read more
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Volunteer Opportunities
You may or may not know that Kelowna Yoga House is a non-profit, charitable society. As such, much of what happens around KYH gets done by a dedicated group of volunteers! Some positions are ongoing, like working on a committee, and some are on an as needed basis. Selfless service is a fundamental practice of Yoga called Karma Yoga. If you have some time to share in community building, here are some opportunities for you to get more involved:
- The maintenance committee needs another member! It helps to be handy. For more information contact David doubledlight@gmail.com
- We need someone with a good working knowledge of Dreamweaver to give some occasional technical help. Contact Krisna at nerolidevi@hotmail.com
- The advertsising committe needs a new member. Meetings are as needed. Help to spread the word about the fine teaching and unique community we have at Yoga House. Contact Deborah at doubledlight@gmail.com
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A big thank you to all of the volunteers who made our first Jewelry Exchange and Sale Fundraiser such a success. A grand sum of $790 was raised. Our thanks goes out to everyone who donated such beautiful jewelry, helped with setup, pricing, selling and baking!
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Marlene Miller Workshop
a review by Jutta Dewitt
Marlene began each session with contemplations of chosen readings from B.K.S.Iyengar's Light on the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali. Marlene reminded us throughout the practice to be aware of our attachments to either pleasure, suhka or pain, duhka. We must strive to find a balance between them and not become attached to either.
Friday evening, Marlene warmed us up with a quick succession of standing poses, to prepare for the intense backbends. Marlene pointed out how many of us "bow" our calves back in the standing poses. Doug demonstrated ardha chandrasana positioning his standing leg against a pillar which corrected the alignment of the standing leg. The pose which looked the most daunting was urdhva dhanurasana. This was done by bending over the back rest of a chair positioned near a wall, then allowing the hands to walk down the wall as the spine slowly released opening into a backbend.
Saturday began with supta padangustasana and variations, including a supine version of kurmasana. These poses do wonders for loosening the hip joints. She reminded us, as we get older, to practice these regularly. Hip work and twists were the focus of this day's practice.
On Sunday, Marlene took us into more intense hip work. From sukhasana with forward extension, we progressed to parivritta janu sirsasana, maricyasana II, and full padmasana. Throughout the weekend, Marlene spent some time on sirsasana and its variations. Marlene pointed out how students practicing at the wall in sirsasana, could still manage to do parivritta eka pada sirsasana, by going into parsva sirsasana first before splitting the legs.
Sunday finished with pranayama in supported savasana and then seated pranayama. For me , the workshop was an affirmation of my own practice as well as an inspiration towards practising those poses which I avoid. I found Marlene's workshop well worth the experience.
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