Lisa Walford

Today, December 7, I read that if Guruji is the soul of Iyengar yoga, then Geetaji is the heart.

Forty years ago, this coming January, I made my first of what would become many pilgrimages to Pune, India. The year was 1986. Upon Guruji’s alleged retirement from active teaching in 1984, Geeta Iyengar had assumed that role for us eager Western students.

Geeta was Iyengar’s first of five daughters. As the first born, upon the death of her mother in 1973, she oversaw the household, raised her sisters and brother, and continued her intensive practices with her father. Born frail and with one kidney, her father challenged her to heal through practice rather than be subjected to a life of medication. Like her father, her health issues invoked from her an empathetic sensitivity to the struggles of every person, but women in particular. Her rigorous studies included Ayurveda, which she incorporated into her writings and presentations. For me, Geeta was my first introduction to how an understanding of Ayurveda could enhance my practice.

Geeta wrote YOGA, A GEM FOR WOMEN in 2002. This was the era when yoga was fast becoming the health path du jour, and young women flocked to the mat. Geeta explained that, in yoga, we respect nature, its systemic balance and cycles. As a young woman, then, I wanted to know for myself. I practiced a ten minutes Sirsasana on the second day of my cycle. The flow stopped, and did not begin again until the following month. There have been studies (I will research if anyone needs verification) of athletes who took a few day off of training during their monthly cycle and those who trained throughout the month. Statistically, those who rested fared better in competition.

Geeta also advised on how to address pregnancy, and menopause. While she was writing A Gem, menopause was rarely spoken of. In nature, giving birth is associated with survival of the species. And in the act of procreation women were often used for the mere pleasure of men (historically, before the Women’s movement). Perhaps the “older” woman, who would no longer function in these ways, were less coveted and hence marginalized. Even now, it is often hard for older women to be seen and heard. In indigenous populations, the older woman was the elder, the wise one. Geeta recognized the emotional and physical changes that women go through in this stage and addressed them.

Women are the backbone of society, says the Bhagavad Gita. Geeta was the backbone of the family and the teacher training programs. She wrote the Preliminary Course and Intermediate Course books to build upon the material in Light on Yoga. She supervised the networking and growth of Teacher’s Training and the assessment process worldwide.

A remarkable woman indeed. I was lucky enough to be present for Guruji’s 80^th birthday. I was held at the Institute. Geeta took the week off; we did not see her until the final day of celebrations. When she approached the microphone, she walked slowly. I was spellbound as she began to apologize for her lack, as she explained, of proficiency in her asana and practice. She told us that, in preparation for the festivities, her duties had kept her in the kitchen and that she was really tired. What was unsaid, but loud enough for me to hear, was that her dedication to building and supported the teacher training programs worldwide, her regular teachings in medical and daily classes, her travel to help promote local communities and to spread Iyengar yoga had worn her down. Geeta is my heroine.

Leadership.. thoughts on receiving an award where I have done only what the universe asked of me. The cliché “follow your bliss” sounds hollow, except that it is the only way to feel like I have lived fully, unapologetically; as if stumbling through to the next opportunity/challenge. Made popular by Frank Sinatra, the lyrics to “I did it my way”, whether in French, by Elvis, or Franky, this song accompanied me when I divorced my first husband to follow a future in yoga. It was 1982.

Currently, I see many colleagues, younger than I, walk a similar path. They are facing a changing panorama of the yoga scene. They walk their talk, they have no choice, it is just what they must do, follow their bliss, their inner teacher, their Dharma. It is harder now.

At one point, an embodied spirituality was the invitation. Whether through the main currents of Iyengar yoga or Ashtanga of Pattabi Jois, the millennium era was peppered with American Veda (Philip Goldberg,2010), Madonna, supermodel Christy Turlington on the cover of Newsweek (2001), and Yoga Works. We all cherished the practice, the Sangha, the vision of health, harmony and happiness through yoga asana, meditation, chanting, and community. We sourced the studies to the classics, the Bhagavad Gita, the Upanishads, the Yoga Sutras. We went on long silent retreats. It is harder now.

In 2011 I sat in on an interview between Guruji Shree B.K.S. Iyengar and Philip Goldberg. Phil was on a book tour in India. Phil, 25 years Iyengar’s junior, asked Guruji what he though would happen to Iyengar yoga after he died. Guruji was very candid. He said that his system, if one could call it that, would be assimilated into a more general approach to yoga. Iyengar had no qualms, it was just how things would be. As his faithful student, I was rather stunned. Now I see the generosity in his words. Things change, they evolve.

This was leadership. Study, practice, listen, share, be honest, be humble, and repeat. I have always found the serenity prayer to be helpful.

Divine inner light, grant me the Serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the Courage to change the things I can, and the Wisdom to know the difference.

As I enter the twilight of my leadership, I am eager to pass the torch. Always a bridge builder, whether YOGA with its pristine grace or something new, I invite you to dive into the next era of giving, of prayer, of chant, of passing the sacred pipe, of circling the planet with AUM.

Wow! I never published this blog! 2023, when virtual YogaWorks changed their platform.

During this final week of my teaching for YogaWorks, I may be a bit nostalgic. There are so many luminaries in these photos and many more that I am finding hidden on my computer.

It was 2007, we held a teacher training intensive in Santa Monica. YogaWorks had partnered with Allen Finger and Be Yoga in New York City. Chuck and Maty had moved to Hawaii.

I was tasked with merging the material between the YW and the Ishta trainings. While the essence of the YogaWorks method derived from the legacy of Krishnamacharya, Allen Finger’s method integrated Tantra and subtle body practices. It was a daunting and inspiring task to respectfully integrate them. One of the first things I did was to visit the New York studios to teach and introduce the YogaWorks method while taking a few classes in “Ishta” yoga, Finger’s signature style. Such memories!

I had just returned from a month in India, studying with Guruji Iyengar. My sweetheart (future husband) and I agreed to celebrate my 50th bday by staying at the Taj Mahal Hotel. I was somewhat disturbed to spend $30 on a Thali (traditional Indian meal) when I had been spending 30 cents in local restaurants. So I insisted that we visit a local place.  In all my trips to India I have only been sick to my stomach twice, and that visit was a bad one! I ended up on heavy anti-biotics and pain killers while the hotel delivered a dozen roses and a doctor!  Upon my return to LA I immediately boarded a plane to New York. I was so sick during that visit!

The training intensive was fabulous! One unexpected boon to the “commercialization” of yoga, is that, with YogaWorks, there was a professional business behind the teacher trainings. They would handle marketing, formatting manuals, registration, all of the business issues that support an effective program.

Teachers from New York joined us. You may recognize Natasha Rizopoulos, Julie Kleinman-Woods, Jenny Arthur, James Brown, Jasmine Lieb, Malachi Melville, Vinnie Marino, John Gaydos, Birgitte Kristen, Sonya Cottle, Thomas Taubman, Rasha!, Casey Coda, Russ Pfieffer (shout out, check out his FB group Psychology of Anatomy), Jessica Smith, Amy LaFond, Jesse Schein, Kim Haegele, Carmen Fitzgibbon, Nona Chiang, Anna Zorzo, Catherine Munro, Mia Togo, Jody Rufty from NY along with Kara Secular, Sara Bell, Chrissy Carter, oh Jee whiz, what an amazing ride it has been. Many of these fabulous teachers now own their own studios, or have written books, or travel the world disseminating the art of yoga. We are forever the essence of YogaWorks. May your and our journey continue to thrive, to nourish and to shed light into the hearts of many. THANK YOU everyone, now and always!

Who reads blog posts these days? We have so little attention span past the first three sentences or paragraphs, I know, because that is what I tend to do! So, I have decided to write for myself.

Reflections on four decades of yoga practice –

Why practice: to cultivate a sense of Center, a hub in the midst of an increasingly chaotic world. A Center that anchors me so that I pause before I speak or act impulsively. A Center rooted in values that embrace generosity, gratitude, justice, love and listening. A Center where I can return to replenish body, mind and spirit.

How to practice: first, I connect. Connection is how we grow, through relationships. A hub is only a hub when it has spokes. Whether I connect to a person, a tree, a way of sensing, or my breath. Connection based on the dance of listening and responding, a rhythmic attunement to sensation and change.

Yoga for Post Pandemic Recovery is a four day immersion with four colleagues, Joan Hyman, Annie Carpinter and Marla Apt and Cristina Holopainen, MARCH 16 – 19.   I teach on Sunday, March 18 at 1:00 – 4:00 PDT.  This entire weekend promises to be exceptional.

https://urbanashramyoga.com/postpandemic-recovery

Life practices for healing and resetting the nervous system for your students, loved ones, or for yourself

In Buddhism the third noble truth is to recognize that we have agency over how we relate to the inevitable suffering (the first noble truth) that is inherent in growth, change, dis-ease, decay and all the uncontrollable nuances life presents. As we emerge from the pandemic all of us carry deep within the scar tissue of systemic change, whether that is on a personal level of health or in cultural shifts in values, policies and priorities. Change is hard. Sometimes it seems like we harden to new possibilities; and that shedding old ideas of how things should be in our world just makes us run to pull the blanket over our eyes.

Chronic illness can be on a physical level, like long Covid, fibromyalgia, diabetes or hypertension. Deep seated fear of change or loss can cause us to retreat into a shell, shun friends, and close doors to new horizons. Anis Nin said: “And the day came when the risk to remain tight in a bud became more painful than the risk it took to blossom.”

To recognize how we all face challenges on small and monumental levels and that we can cultivate an inner resilience to adapt to change is YOGA. To recognize that while we exist in the ever changing moment we also breath with the small inner voice that can kindle and light the flame to illume our next moment with inspiration. This is also YOGA.

My workshop will include asana practice, dynamic and restive, along with meditation and discussion.

Navayogimarga: “The modern yogi’s path” An Online Yoga Festival

Monday January 16 –Friday Jan 20 and Open weekend Friday Jan 20 –Sunday Jan 22

https://www.navayogimarga.com/index.php

Begin your year with an inspiring festival of internationally renowned teachers representing different aspects of Guruji Iyengars influence over many facets of yoga. From asana practice to contemplative spirituality, breath and energy work to off the mat and giving back to the world, practicing with this broad spectrum of gifted teachers is a super opportunity. Join me to celebrate Guruji’s influence over modern yoga and to acknowledge one of my favorite teachers, Kofi Busia.

I will be teaching Immunity and Stress, Building Resilience through Iyengar Yoga.

This festival is Kofi’s vision. All of the presenters have some connection with this amazing teacher. He holds an advanced certificate from Iyengar and has been teaching for over forty years. He has studied Sanskrit and Indian philosophy at Oxford University and taught yoga in Oxford for more than 20 years. Kofi is one of very few teachers who seamlessly weaves wisdom teachings in a practical and contemporary way through out his classes.

He is respectful of all sincere yoga practitioners and inclusive in his willingness to bring us all together.

I hope that you will consider joining me for this extraordinary opportunity!  Receive a 5% discount when you sign up with the following code..

LWA1 into the “Discount Box” that appears AFTER pushing the “Add To Cart” button on the Festival Purchase Page at:
https://www.navayogimarga.com/purchases_c.php.

Stress and Immunity: Building resilience with Iyengar Yoga, a virtual workshop for our times. Saturday and Sunday December 10th & 11th, 10am to 1pm PST. All levels welcome. Presented by Iyengar Yoga Therapeutics with senior certified Iyengar teacher Lisa Walford and Alyson Ross, PhD, RN, CIYT.

For more information please contact Iyengar Yoga Therapeutics at info@iyengaryogatherapeutics.com or visit https://www.facebook.com/IYTLA.

Lisa was gifted with studying under Guruji Iyengar after she was diagnosed with HIV in 1986. Alyson worked for over a decade at the NIH as a stress researcher and has published extensively on the use of mind-body techniques in stress reduction. Together they will guide you through the science and yoga sequences to understand and feel how profound the healing process can be.

BKS Iyengar explained that what we do for ourselves when we are feeling depleted is different than what we must do to help strengthen our inner resources when we are in good health. Being pro-active about our wellbeing, physical, biological, energetically and emotionally is essential if we hope to live a satisfying life. The right effort rewards us on so many levels!

Join us and learn the fundamentals from both the Western and Yogic perspectives on the immune system and the impact of stress on our physiology and ability to maintain inner equilibrium. Principals in yoga asana to enhance inner resilience emotionally and physically are equally essential and will include sequences that Guruji Iyengar suggested for both new and experienced students.

Immune means protected, unburdened. In current times this concept takes on many dimensions: immune to gossip and slander or resistant to toxins and infection. And when we immunize ourselves – biologically through vaccines or emotionally through meditation and contemplative work – it is to strengthen our inner defenses so that we can adapt and protect against intruders – pathogens and reactive behavior. We can align and encourage our body’s innate resources to heal.

We have the tools, but do we have the skill? The Bhagavad Gita defines yoga as skillful action and balance in all things, equilibrium, and equanimity. What we do matters, and what we don’t do matters. This workshop explores the difference between a restful practice and a practice that restores inner equilibrium while enhancing core strength (core meaning our deepest root and most essential ability to restore health).

Dear friends.. Yesterday I had an interesting discussion with a few friends. I found myself mentioning the “culture of nature”, referring to being deeply engaged and fully present with nature. My phrase “culture of nature” seemed odd to some, and we had a thought provoking discussion. I left feeling uplifted, only to sink upon reading the news coming out of Texas..

Within the last twenty four hours I again wonder if we are decomposing or deteriorating as a culture. What makes culture, or a culture?  The dictionary says: “the customs, arts, social institutions, and achievements of a particular nation, people, or other social group”. Who is to say that birds do not have customs? Or that the relationship between trees, bugs, birds, and seeds is not a social institution? I love the idea of the culture of nature. Perhaps if we study the natural world we may find an organic rhythm that flows, ebbs, rises and subsides. Of course, taking a bird’s eye view of history we will see these tides of change rise and fall. Ours is but a breath in the life of the history of our people. Yet every breath counts!

In the immediacy of the moment, I have to pause and find some element of grace around me. Take good care of yourself and those around you, today, and always.

This poem, by John O’Donohue (1956 -2008), Irish poet, priest, teacher, is what I will read every day this week.

FOR PEACE

As the fever of day calms towards twilight
May all that is strained in us come to ease

May we pray for all who suffered violence today,
May an unexpected serenity surprise them.

For those who risk their lives each day for peace,
May their hearts glimpse providence at the heart of history.

That those who make riches from violence and war
Might hear in their dreams the cries of the lost.

That we might see through our fear of each other
A new vision to heal our fatal attraction to aggression.

That those who enjoy the privilege of peace
Might not forget their tormented brothers and sisters.

That the wolf might lie down with the lamb,
That our swords be beaten into ploughshares

And no hurt or harm be done
Anywhere along the holy mountain.

Please join me on Saturday April 2nd, 2:00p – 6:15p PDT for a workshop I am teaching titled Yoga for Grief, via Zoom. Signup details are below.

What do we do when confronted with suffering, when we are disillusioned with life, when someone betrays or harms us, when the unimaginable happens? Losing our footing – as we say- and slipping into despair, frustration, anger or grief is a natural reaction when life throws us a curve ball. We tend to think of this as a personal phenomenon, but we are experiencing cultural and global grief on a scale not seen in nearly a century.

Covid, the political divide, the war in Ukraine, our economic see-saw, just when we thought we are getting over, or working through a traumatic series of events, something new arises. The truth is, there are no guarantees in life, roses have thorns, and the Buddha reminded us that life is suffering. The Buddha also suggested that there is a path to the end of suffering.

We generally think of grief as the inconsolable emotional depths we go through when we lose a loved one. Yet we go through similar patterns to process any loss, all loss. Grief exists on a spectrum. On one extreme, “pathological grief” is when an individual is unable to process loss and incapable of resuming their life, even after a year or more. Yet many of us will recognize that we go through many of the classic stages of grief for smaller events. We lose a job, money, a friend, an ideal.

Denial, anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance were first coined by Elisabeth Kubler Ross in 1969. Since then there have been different versions of this process, but I find that these five give us a good framework to recognize our every-day inner dialog that accompanies loss.

In our current affairs, the shadow of Covid stalks our past and our future. We read that many people are in denial of the virus. Some people are angry that they must wear masks, some are angry that others choose not to wear masks. Our liberties are challenged. Everyone reassures themselves that their beliefs are based on fact. The bargain is that, if we do the right thing, this will all go away. And then another mutation appears to shatter our optimism and we get depressed. These stages are not like a step ladder, they are not linear, but you will recognize the pattern.

When we recognize that loss is a part of everyday life, that we are generally ill equipped to deal with loss, that loss exists on a spectrum, and that there are things that we can do to alleviate our suffering, why wait? When we recognize that loss and suffering affects us on all levels, psychological, physiological, it effects our sleep, our relationships, and that there is something we can do to improve our health, why wait?

Yoga, conscious breathing, reflection and meditation are all effective ways to practice the life skills that help us build inner resilience. Just as we need to learn how to strengthen a muscle, we can learn how to flex this compassionate self-abiding.

Some yoga classes are designed to help you build cardiovascular health, some to strengthen your bones, and some can help stabilize the nervous system. Our yoga practice will help reinforce the relaxation response through a discussion and experience of the effect of various poses. Metta meditation, Tonglen and basic pranayama are equally profound balms to sooth the heart.

Metta:

May we be safe and protected from inner and outer pain.
May we be at ease in our body and in our hearts.
May we be happy, may we thrive and live a creative and connected life.
May we be at peace.

Tonglen is a meditation practice that is known as “giving and taking”, wherein we first settle into a tranquil inner state, and then open to the suffering of those around us. It is a progressive practice that begins with people who are familiar and comfortable to us. As we are able to transform the feelings of darkness into those of ease, the practice suggests that we move on to relationships that are less comfortable. This meditation helps us condition our inner dialog from one of aversion to pain into one of being able to open to compassion.

Workshop Details

Title: Yoga for Grief
When: Saturday April 2, 2022, 2:00p – 6:15p PDT (includes 15 minute break)
Who: All levels are welcome
Where: On Zoom
Teacher: Just me, Lisa Walford

To sign up, please visit https://urbanashramyoga.com/events/yoga-for-every-generation. I look forward to seeing you there!