Week 4

           Week three of online zoom yoga practice. The guest teacher for yoga practice this week is Amita Bhagat. Anita showed how to do Iyengar yoga. Its practices in 53 countries and is about finder one’s inner self. It takes six to seven years of practice to become certified at the first level; there are multiple levels to Iyengar yoga. It can be analyzed as a ritual because it is an action that an individual repeats on a schedule, whether that be daily to annually. A ritual consists of certain steps be taken at a specific time; one can think of it like a witch’s spell and of course yoga. According to Nevrin, symbols and props with set rules of interaction are rituals but yoga can be explained also in that way. Iyengar himself used his body as a “test subject,” meaning his body was treated in a way that a scientist would perform tests on a lab subject; a “laboratory” Amita said. He would practice most of his life, after a day of teaching he would then spend ten hours practicing for himself.  

           My atmosphere consisted of a cinnamon fall scented candle, a small plugin heater on, books used as blocks, and a towel on a rug in replacement of a yoga mat. The makeshift yoga mat was not a good temporary replacement for this type of yoga. During the positions in where you would jump, the mat would slide. Amita said that Iyengar yoga works at a cellular level, which I do not think is possible in a practice. Blocks are encouraged to be used and Iyengar is the one that was the first to use support during yoga practice. He was nicknamed “The furniture yogi” because of it. Using props helps one stay in a position for a longer period in time which then allows one to get the most out of the yoga.

          In the zoom call, it was difficult to understand her at times because the internet connection kept going in and out. The poses in this class was similar to what I think typical yoga is, includes poses like downward-facing dog, but what was odd is how important the placement of your fingers are when interlocking them. What was done on one side had to be repeated on the other, including finger sides, and at the end of each pose, you had to return to the original pose; which is standing up with arms down and palms facing in. At one point in the class, we had to place our fingers in between our toes to stretch them. I understand that stretching them may be good for a person’s foot health, but I would be uncomfortable performing this in a live in-person class. Towards the end of class, Amita explained how to do basic poses to build up and execute the higher-level complicated positions.