:: July/August 2005 Volume 4/Number 5

Workshop Report :
Going in Deep Joan White
May 27-29, 2005
B.K.S Iyengar Institute of Los Angeles

By Laura Faye

Signing up to attend a workshop can be a game of chance. If you’re in the mood for rest, the class may go overboard with chataranga dandasana, or you might crave energetic postures and the teacher decides to discuss philosophy.

The day of the Joan White workshop, I was hankering for some tough postures, lots of them, deep and long, intricate and complicated, intense. I was in the mood to get down on that floor, get in there and work hard. After all, the workshop was four hours long. And, like a genie sprung from a lamp, White happily served up the most exquisite banquet of challenging and interesting asanas, rounded off with a sprinkling of subtle philosophy, a perfect balance. Just give me that plain straight strong yoga satisfaction.

With an experienced teacher like Joan White,
even the tiniest correction can
make a big difference.

Photo by: Karen Lee Fisher

White’s nature is kind and bright; she radiates fun energy, and keeps a playful friendly atmosphere and a lighthearted interaction between herself and students. I noticed that White had previously taken asana requests and I surmised from the nature of the sequencing and the choices of postures that those requests were inspired by the curriculum for the junior and senior intermediate syllabus. This would be appropriate because White holds an Advanced Iyengar Teaching Certificate, is qualified as an official Iyengar Yoga National Association of the United States (IYNAUS) Teacher Trainer, is chairperson of the IYNAUS Certification Committee and gives teacher training courses all year.

We launched into a fantastic journey of discovery of the hips, pelvis and sacroiliac. She had us begin with urdhva prasarita ekapadasana, standing split, and then we branched off into a multitude of interconnected paths, the sequences she chose told the story of the art and science of the body itself; these were postures that I had previously only seen in books or practiced on my own, but was never given any instruction on such as ardha baddha padmottanasana, one leg bound in lotus intense stretch pose, and parivrtta upavista konasana, twisting wide angle pose, and akarna dhanurasana, archer pose and ardha matsyendrasana II, half lord of the fishes pose. These examples illustrate only a fraction of the exceptional range and magnitude of the postures we did during class.

White shows students how to lift out of the pelvis in krounchasana, heron pose.

Photo by: Karen Lee Fisher

White often used paschimottanasana, seated forward bend, which for me is usually tough, as the rest pose to compliment other postures. Because our muscles were so open and warm it was completely restful, my head all the way forward to my ankles, my trunk spread long, resting on my thighs. As a further layer of complexity, we completed more advanced postures while simultaneously exploring these asanas as a web of interrelationships, linking and intertwining, one growing and unfolding into the next.

There are many advantages to linking one posture with another. Linking confirms the interconnectedness of the various parts of the body and of the various individual postures, it teaches interaction. Through linking, White could teach an intricate concept such as lengthening the torso while twisting up out of the pelvis in a posture such as parighasana, gate latch pose, where that action is more obviously felt. Then a link is made to a more complex and challenging posture such as parivrtta janusirsasana, twisting head to knee pose, which brings access, so that same action or sensation can be experienced and understood in the subtler posture.

As a recurring thread to tie a philosophical bow around the lesson, White explained in simple terms, the Sanskrit words for power, intelligence and devotion: shakti, yukti, and bhakti. Without preaching, she suggested we incorporate these attitudes into our practice. It was pleasant to quietly allow these concepts to float through our consciousness while holding the asanas.

She also spoke about joyfulness referring to the 33rd of Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras, one of my all-time favorites, and wondered aloud why fun wasn’t included. Teasing us, she told us to “feel pleasure but not too much, lest our practice become sensual rather than spiritual.” I was having no problem feeling incredibly fantastic, I understood her to mean that deep satisfaction is even more fulfilling than pleasure.

Contact Joan White at www.joanwhite.us

Laura Faye holds degrees in Biology and Chemistry, as well as certification to teach yoga according to the Iyengar tradition. She has been teaching and practicing yoga for over 20 years.

 

All Rights Reserved.
Copyright © 2002-2005 LA Yoga Magazine