Our session with Prashant-ji on July 20, 2018
My friends, students and colleagues from México, Marina
Navarret , Loreñia Trueba, Krista Baldini and Eduardo Mata and I were fortunate
to have a session with Prashant outside of class on this auspicious day. What
follows is my later transcription of the conversation.
I’m also recommending that you read James Murphy’s summary
of Prashant’s teaching from his first ever “ex-tensive” in Pune last year. Here
is the link:
https://iyengarnyc.org/2018/02/january-interview-james-murphy/
First Question (Loreñia):
What are the signs of education?
A: You yourself will know whether you have education or not.
There are no exams in relationships, nor are there exams in yoga.
He said something about mother exams and daughter exams,
jokingly. We do not have exams to be in relationships.
Nerves or breath will give signs of education. For example, consider
a baby learning to eat or walk, or a runner checking her watch to see that 10
minutes remain of her one hour run. The baby has internal signs of education,
the runner checking her watch, is using an external sign of progress. Consider
also the yogi/ni practicing asana with a timer checking to see how much time
remains of a long hold instead of meditating/feeling/discovering “what happens
when I hold this pose this long?”
Second Question (Loreñia):
What is meant in II.33 by “pratipaksha bhavanam”?
A: When anger erupts in life, you can’t use pratipaksha
bhavanam. Contrast this with a walk towards your rival’s house for a discussion.
In this scenario, you CAN prepare and use the technique of pratipaksha
bhavanam.
Related Question: How can we prepare for the emotional
rollercoaster of the romance of a romantic movie or the horror of a horror
movie? Implied answer: We can’t. We are at the mercy of the
moviemaker/actors/music, etc.
Prashant mentions that his father wrote Light on the Yoga
Sutras for non-academics, not for scholars.
Third Question (Eduardo):
How can we deal with the feeling of guilt in our lives when
it arises?
A: When we are admonished, it is an opportunity for learning
and reforming our actions. When we dwell on admonishment, it is like a dog
licking his own vomit. By dwelling on
the feeling of guilt, we WEAKEN THE MIND.
Good company can help with guilty feelings. The sangha is
very important. Also, going into nature, going to temple. Do passive poses for
better understanding of yama and niyama. Do backbending poses to counter tamas.
Do pranayama practice when you are NOT testing your lungs (i.e. do not do a strong
pranayama practice when the lungs are compromised for any
reason—physical/emotional or otherwise.
Discussion of food “ahar”—we eat grass eaters, in contrast
to the tiger, who eats a goat, but does not become the goat.
There is “food” for all the senses.
Fourth Question (Loreñia): Why go INSIDE for answers to
important questions? Why not seek answers in relationships/interactions with
people?
A: Prashant gives the ingredients in the chai/tea as an
example. Body/breath/mind are kneaded together; they cannot be separated. Some
actions have to be coordinated and must happen in succession, others have to be
synchronized, and have to happen at once. He gave the example of contraction
then suction in pranayama. Yoga is by happenings, not by doings. We have to
know the difference between reason and logic. These things, by implication, we
have to know from the inside. Doubtless (this is Peggy speaking now), there are
ways that our journey inward will support and nurture our relationships with
nature, other people, animals, the outer world in general.
At this point, my notes are generalized. I remember asking
Prashant myself about appropriate yoga practice for different ages at some
point, and loved his answer that we are not female or male, old or young, etc.
when we practice. We are consciousness itself.
In pranayama practice, we empty the back. Furthermore, as he
noted in a class later in July, the back has no nadis. They are all toward the
front body.
Ap kriya is not a
reference to physical water (perhaps to the concept/experience of moist flow
itself).
A chakra is not a wheel but a junction of prana nadis. All
chakras are in the spine.
Our job is to empower you.
In yoga practice, body and breath become subjects.
Example of trikonasana: legs straight? Waist turned? Arms
straight?—the body is knowable. Then: How is breath flowing? Then breath
becomes an object. In trikonasana, what mind state am I in?
We see in Chapter IV, Kaivalya Pada, of Patanjali’s Yoga
Sutras, that man can be object, subject, and/or instrument. We see that the
mind can be a mansion of mirrors. The brain creates AND receives reflections.
There is soft flute music playing. The concept of mirror
neurons occurs to me. Perhaps we are mirroring his understanding; I for one
hope so.
Example of the cat in front of the mirror. The cat sees
another cat. The cat is not confused. I can be ego or not ego, therefore I am
and I am not. When I look at my reflection in the mirror, I know that what I
see is not me. Prashant implies that our study of yoga through its eight limbs
can lead us to clarity in understanding our own consciousness, our own
mind/body/breath complex, our own mansion of mirrors.
Deep bows of thanks to you, Prashant-ji.