Feels like winter, doesn’t it?  

The days are short, nights are long and mornings are dark and cold.  We want to hunker down and hibernate. The light changes inexorably, and there is nothing to do but accept it and go with the flow. But we aren’t bears; we switch on our electric lights and life goes on. We find beauty in sparkling snow, meaning in good work, and joy in gatherings of family and friends. We know that we will come out of the darkness and into the light—spring will return.

Geeta Iyengar’s oft-repeated words come to mind. When asked how it felt to live in Guruji’s shadow, the dedicated daughter and yogacharya replied, “I lived in his light.” We, too, are fortunate to bask in the illuminative teachings of Mr. Iyengar. Follow the path of the guru (gu=darkness; ru=removal) toward the light.  Go from ignorance to knowledge toward enlightenment, while continuing to work here on earth for ourselves and others.

I am thankful for the opportunity to have served the IYAUM region as a board member for the past seven years. I have learned, labored, laughed, sometimes lamented, but ultimately grown to know and love so many creative, committed, and compassionate people on this yogic path.  It has been an enriching journey.

It is my parting task and joy as a board member to fulfill the duty of an IYAUM CIYT—to teach at a Yoga Day event.  This year, four of us CIYTs are teaming up to teach at a cross-regional gathering: in person in La Crosse and the Twin Cities, and online over our five-state region. Please join us on December 11 to celebrate the birthday of our Guruji, B.K.S. Iyengar, who through his teachings has helped bring us out of the darkness of ignorance and into the light of truth. See details below.

Nancy Marcy, CIYT

IYAUM President 2019–2022

(Secretary 2015–2018)

SAVE THE DATE: Registration is now open for our Yoga Day celebration. Please join us in honoring Guruji's birthday on Sunday, December 11, 2022, from 11am to 2pm CST. This event will be in-person in Minneapolis, MN and La Crosse, WI, as well as online via Zoom. Free for IYAUM Members.

Donna Gustafson, November 9, 1928 – November 4, 2022

By Terese Pritschet

The Iyengar Yoga community recently lost a deeply devoted yogi and matriarch.

Donna Gustafson spent the last four decades of her long life practicing and promoting yoga with unparalleled joy and enthusiasm, and nurturing the expansion of the Iyengar Yoga community.

Widely known as the founder of the first yoga studio in St Paul, Donna’s compassionate, caring and vibrant soul touched countless lives. Nurse practitioner, mother of eight, grandmother of 13, and social justice activist, Donna was in her early 50s when she took her first yoga class. A few years later, in 1984, she discovered Iyengar Yoga and was immediately hooked. She studied locally with William Prottengeier, frequently attended workshops with numerous senior Iyengar teachers, and traveled to India five times to study with B.K.S. Iyengar and his daughter, Geeta. For 20 years, up until the pandemic, she attended an annual Yoga and Sound retreat led by Ramanand Patel and Mukesh Desai at Arsha Vidya Gurukulam in Pennsylvania, where Swami Dayananda contributed teachings on meditation and yoga philosophy. She even convinced Earl, her beloved husband, to occasionally share the experience of yoga, and thrice the pair celebrated their anniversary at a yoga retreat in Mexico.

When B.K.S. Iyengar came to the Twin Cities in 1987, Donna asked him to sign the wall of her earliest yoga classroom in the basement of her bed and breakfast. “Large or small?” he asked. “Large,” replied Donna. As if to match his larger-than-life persona, his signature spanned a five-foot expanse of wall, much to Donna’s delight.

Donna wanted everyone to do yoga and to enjoy its benefits Her daughter, Kim, joked about how her mother’s solution to every problem was, “Do yoga!” Donna’s overarching dream was to open a yoga studio in St. Paul, and she eventually recruited partners. In 1994, the St. Paul Yoga Center (SPYC) was born in a small, narrow space on Selby Avenue. Within a year, she jumped at the chance to move into what is now the Selby Studio, a much more spacious studio on the same block. SPYC was so successful that over next decade it expanded to three adjacent studios, with 45 weekly classes and 14 teachers.

For 18 years, until she was age 83, Donna managed all of the daily operations of the SPYC: recruiting teachers, scheduling classes, teaching classes (in the early years of the studio), doing the laundry and promotional duties, and handling all student registrations with paper and pencil. (She never owned a computer.) In 2012, Donna turned over SPYC to Paul Busch, one of the studio’s teachers. Thanks to Paul and a cadre of committed teachers, the SPYC continues to offer the authentic, traditional, ancient teachings so deeply valued by Donna.

The SPYC was infused by Donna’s inclusive, compassionate, and caring personality. She inspired us all to show up, both in our practice and in our lives. She modeled yoga as a spiritual practice and provided a values-based path on how to live in the world. Both teachers and students have benefited from the steadfast integrity of the St Paul Yoga Center. After teaching there for 28 years, I fondly refer to it as my “yoga home,” and I know many others would claim it in the same way.

Never one to retire from living her yoga, while in her mid-80s Donna worked with a prison-based project called Alternatives to Violence, bringing the principles of ahimsa, non-violence, to incarcerated individuals.

Donna shined as a model of healthy aging. She lived independently in her Episcopal Homes apartment into her 90s, until a month before her death. After a fall on October 4, 2022, she was hospitalized with a fractured hip and wrist. As she continued to decline, she was transferred to hospice, where she slipped into a non-responsive state. She spent her last week in total stillness, simply breathing. Many of us sat with her that week, together sharing our gratitude for the seeds she had sown and nurtured to fruition. Donna calmly slipped away on November 4, just five days before her 94th birthday.

I feel the loss of this joyous, ambitious, persistent woman, and hold dear the memory of her colorful dress, her endless optimism and good humor, and her irrepressible smile. She was a light and an inspiration. The blessing on her answering machine still rings in my ears: “Have a peaceful day.”

At this time we also remember our beloved friend and teacher, Carole Leimomi (Momi) Jhung, who passed away on May 1, 2022, after a long struggle with chronic illness. We celebrate the lives of Donna and Momi, and we are grateful for the gifts they brought to the world.

Carol Tyx

Home:  Iowa City, IA

Years with Iyengar Yoga: 27

Fun fact: I’m a poet and I’ve written several poems inspired by my yoga practice.  Here’s a snippet:  “In yoga there are no mountaintops/ only the daily practice/ climbing into each pose/ as far as you can.”

An idea I'd like to share: I think so many people could benefit from yoga.  I wonder what might happen if teachers gave introductory workshops in more public places like libraries and community centers or homeless shelters.

My Story

The best advice I got from a professor in graduate school was to take a yoga class.  We spent so much time stooped over our books that we needed something to get us out of our heads and into our bodies. 

I didn’t have much money, so I signed up for a low-cost class in a junior high cafeteria.  Amidst the pizza and tater tot crumbs, I began my yoga journey.  Even in such surroundings, I felt the asanas strengthening my inner being.  I had brought a lot of heartache and feelings of not-being-good-enough to my graduate work, and I needed steadying.

My teacher did not do summer classes and recommended I study with the local Iyengar teacher to tide me over until fall.  My initial Iyengar Yoga classes met at a Zen center, and there I fell in love with yoga all over again.  I never went back to the junior high gym. 

My Iyengar teacher stressed developing of a home practice.  Asanas became part of my daily rhythm.  They were a grounding space, that along with weekly classes, helped me build confidence, balance, and strength.  It was about feeling at home in your own body, trusting that the practices could grow a sense of groundedness.

In my fifties I was diagnosed with a lung condition.  With the help of my teacher, I found practices specifically to build resilience in the lungs.  I credit yoga with helping me manage my chronic condition, keeping my lungs clear and open, at least most of the time. 

And then there’s getting older!  One of the things I love about Iyengar Yoga is the awareness that there’s always more to learn.  I’m in my seventies now, and although I’ve had my slump times where I’ve needed to drag myself to the mat, I’m still energized by learning ways to go deeper into a pose.  B.K.S. Iyengar is such an inspiration for practicing into elderhood.  Last year I broke my pelvis in a bike accident, and yoga aided my recovery immensely.  I knew how to work with my body’s limitations, and at the same time, stretch into the next steps.

At least twice a year my teacher hosts retreats with senior teachers.  It’s been a great gift to study with other Iyengar teachers.  These gatherings also remind me that I’m connected to a much larger yoga community.  I like knowing that I share in a practice that stretches around the world.

After being single for many years, I now have a partner who is also committed to the practice of yoga.  It’s a joy to share in a daily practice, even if we come from different yoga traditions. 

I close with a poem written in honor of my teacher, Nancy Footner:

Yoga Teacher

She learned how to tune

pianos, how to tighten

the strings, how to adjust

the hammers to strike with

just the right amount

of force, at just the right

angle.  And now she tightens

us, adjusts an elbow, lengthens

a stance, widens a toe

to help us hear

the tones of our bodies,

holding the notes longer

than we ever imagined

we could.

Parivṛtta  Parśvakoṇāsana

By Hallie Evans, CIYT

Parivṛtta: Revolved   

Parśva: Side   

Kona: Angle   

Āsana: Pose

I have a student who cringes, visibly, as soon as I say the word “parivṛtta.”  Add “parśvakoṇāsana” to the “parivṛtta,” and everyone in class is making faces and groaning, prepared for the worst.   Of the three revolved standing poses, for me (and clearly others as well!) Parivṛtta Parśvakoṇāsana  is the most challenging.  However, I usually find that with any challenging pose, repeated practice makes it less terrifying, until maybe I can even make friends with it.  I’m reminded of Dumbledore’s wisdom in the Harry Potter series:  “Fear of a name increases fear of the thing itself.”  

When I went up for assessment, Parivṛtta Parśvakoṇāsana was one of the three poses I was assigned.  I’ve always really enjoyed practicing this pose…but teaching it for assessment?!  I decided that I’d warm up the students with a version of the pose on a chair first, before attempting the full pose.  I had them sit on a chair with the outer hip of the bent front leg facing the chair back, and the back leg extended behind.  The opposite elbow is hooked on the knee, and both hands hold the chair back/front leg.  The chair acts as support, ensuring balance, while  the front leg remains in its square. Best of all, holding the chair with the hands allows for increased twisting and better alignment.  

Follow the same elements of the classic pose: extend the spine away from the hips, press the elbow into the knee to deepen the twist of the ribs, and STRETCH the back leg firmly.  Using a chair, we can get into the proper shape of the pose without as much effort as the classic pose.  Then when we attempt the pose without the chair, we can remember that feeling and strive for that same shape, this time perhaps taking the bottom hand to the floor or a brick, and extending the top arm overhead.

Another variation I practice is doing the pose from a kneeling position.  Once the elbow is hooked on the front knee, simply lift the kneeling knee up and straighten the back leg, and you’re there!  The wall is also a fantastic tool for this pose; whether your back is at the wall or you’re facing the wall, it can help us keep proper alignment and assure stability.

In this pose, lateral rotational movement creates mobility in the spine.  It offers greater intensity than Parivṛtta Trikoṇāsana; thus the benefits are increased accordingly.  In Light on Yoga, Mr. Iyengar states that, “The abdominal organs are more contracted and that aids digestion.  The blood circulates well round the abdominal organs and the spinal column, and they are thus rejuvenated.”

Instructions, from Preliminary Course:

1. From Samasthiti (Tādāsana), jump to Utthita Hasta Padāsana.

2. Go to Parśva Hasta Padāsana.

3. Bend the right knee to 90 degrees so the thigh is parallel to the floor, as in Vīrabhadrāsana II.

4. Exhale and rotate the entire trunk, pelvis, abdomen and chest to the right; be in Vimanāsana.

5. Bring the left side of the abdomen over the right thigh.

6. Bend the left elbow and hook it on the outside of the right thigh, and then place the left-hand fingertips on the floor, outside the right foot.

7. Extend the right arm straight up towards the ceiling, look up, then extend the arm over the head in line with the ear.

8. To come up, release the hand from the floor, raise the trunk and come back to Vimanāsana, Parśva Hasta Padāsana and then to Utthita Hasta Padāsana.  Now do on the other side.

Hallie teaches classes at three studios: The Yoga Place, La Crosse, WI yogalacrosse. com; The Yoga Room, Decorah, IA decorahyogaroom. com; Root River Yoga, Southeastern MN rootriveryoga. com. She will be one of the four teachers at IYAUM Winter Yoga Day on December 11.

References

B.K.S. Iyengar, Light on Yoga, revised edition. Schocken Books, 1979.

J.K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone.  Scholastic, 1998.

Silva, Mira & Shyam Mehta, Yoga the Iyengar Way. Dorling Kindersley Limited, 1990.

Geeta Iyengar, Yoga in Action:  Preliminary Course.  YOG, Mumbai, 2000.

Photo of Hallie by Jennie Williford.

Karma: It's Complicated

By Joy Laine, CIYT

heyam duḥkham anāgatam (II16)

The pains which are yet to come can be and are to be avoided.

(translated by B.K.S. Iyengar)

Last month we began our exploration of the concept of karma, and it proved to be too complicated an idea to unpack in one article. This month we will look more deeply into its workings in the classical texts of Buddhism and Yoga.

We know that the past impacts the present in countless ways, and likewise that the present will in its turn impact the future in countless ways. Through observation and experience, we can see patterns underlying these connections, that it is not a random process. Although theories of karma in India are complicated and evolved over time, and although there is no one theory of karma, they all claim that, in addition to natural causality, there is a moral causality underlying the cosmos. Just as surely as the sun rises each day, so too will actions yield their appropriate consequences—if not in this life, then in some future life. Karma theories represent the hope that there is a moral order governing the universe.

The belief in karma, though not universal, is widespread in the Indian religious/philosophical landscape, and it takes different forms as it finds a footing across a variety of belief systems. Buddhist theories of karma, for example, will not be the same as Jain theories, and different again from those found in the Yoga Darśana. The idea of karma has also entered into popular western thinking. When Donald Trump succumbed to COVID, I saw several comments on social media that simply stated “karma!” To the user of this term, I would imagine that the use of the word karma in this context seemed apropos, capturing the idea that justice had been served. For a man who had behaved so badly towards others during the pandemic, it might seem only morally fitting that he would suffer this fate. Yet the idea of karma is complicated, and popular conceptions of its workings are often selective and different from what we read in the philosophical texts. I guess that people would be hesitant to use this same expression—“karma!"—in the face of a dedicated healthcare worker succumbing to COVID.

Misconceptions

In order to grasp the nature of karma, we have to understand what it is not. Our understanding of karma can be skewed when viewed through the lens of the ego self, one of the most pervasive of the five afflictions (kleśa). Those who have a strong attachment to the ego self (asmitā) and hence a fear of death (abhiniveśa) are attracted to theories of karma and rebirth because they see them as a form of personal survival beyond death. The idea is that each of us passes through a succession of lives, moving from one life to the next like trying on different sets of clothing, with the goal of building up a stock of good karma, like depositing money in the bank. There are at least two misconceptions contained in this view.

First of all, it is important to note that, from an absolute point of view, all karma is bad insofar as it fuels the process of rebirth. Remember that for Patañjali, human suffering is our most pressing problem. The fact that human existence consists of an endless round of birth and death (saṁsāra) only compounds the problem of suffering, since death does not bring closure. Patañjali therefore gives us the practice of yoga as a way to bring this treadmill of successive lives to an end. One important result of a yoga practice is that it can neutralize or parch the “karmic seeds” deposited in the past, preventing them from unfolding into future actions, thereby putting an end to this whole cycle of earthly existence (I.50).   

If we delve a little deeper into the psychology of karma, we can see the reason why, in some sense, all karma is bad. The Buddha is credited with refashioning the concept of karma such that the karmic value of an action is measured according to the intention with which an action is performed, rather than just the nature of the action itself. Thus, intentionally stepping on an ant carries a different moral weight than accidentally doing so. This view contrasts with a view known as consequentialism, which measures the moral worth of an action solely according to its consequences. Consequentialism would judge these two actions equally, since they both cause the death of the ant!

Patañjali teaches that until we are spiritually liberated, the intentions motivating our actions are contaminated by the afflictions, mostly notably the ego. At best the karmic quality of our actions is mixed. If I donate money to a worthy cause, then I am doing something that seems selfless and compassionate. Yet, so long as I conceptualize my action as “I am giving money,” drawing a line between myself and the recipient, then egoism is both present in and perpetuated by my action.  It is the presence of the afflictions in our actions, even our “good” actions, that makes those actions karmically binding, keeping us on the cycle of birth and death. Patañjali, in concert with the teachings of the Bhagavad Gītā, does specify a way of acting that does not generate karmic bonds (IV.17). A liberated person acts in a spirit of non-attachment. Such a person is free from the influence of the afflictions in their actions, and their actions will not generate further karma. Until we reach spiritual liberation, however, the afflictions (ignorance, egoism, desire, aversion and clinging to life) contaminate the intentions motivating our actions and hence fuel the process of rebirth.

It is true, however, when judged from a more worldly perspective, the distinction between good and bad karma is made. Yet, even here, we see that our judgment as to what constitutes good karma can be skewed by the influence of the afflictions. In accordance with karma theory, Patañjali teaches that the type of birth we experience, and the quality and longevity of any given life, are a consequence of past actions (II.14). We might celebrate a long life, full of riches and worldly success as an expression of good karma.  Yet, such a life can be viewed more negatively as strengthening the hold of the afflictions, since it may strengthen our attachment to the material world. From the yogic point of view, a good life would be the one most conducive to following a path towards spiritual liberation rather than further entanglement with earthly life.

Second, just as the afflictions can skew how we measure the karmic value of our actions, so too can the afflictions skew our philosophical understanding of rebirth.  Some people like to speculate on what “they” might have been in “their” previous lives. Sri Aurobindo believes that this misconception about rebirth and karma is why some western individuals find it appealing.

“It is this survival of the identical personality that attracts the European mind today in the theory of reincarnation. For it is the extinction or dissolution of the personality, of this mental, nervous and physical composite which I call myself, that is hard to bear for the man enamoured of life, and it is the promise of its survival and physical reappearance that is the great lure. The one objection that really stands in the way of its acceptance is the obvious non-survival of memory. Memory is the man, says the modern psychologist, and what is the use of the survival of my personality, if I do not remember my past, if I am not aware of being the same person and always? What is the utility? Where is enjoyment?” (SA, p.501)

It is fair to say that this popular conception  of rebirth is widespread in India too. Sri Aurobindo goes on to note that philosophers in India did not view rebirth in this way at all since, “they were not attracted to the survival of the personality.”  Theories of rebirth are not to be seen as vessels of personal survival. The personality or ego self (asmitā) is impermanent, always changing, and our attachment to its preservation is a major source of suffering.  Indeed, it is our attachment to this ego self that is the primary manifestation of ignorance (avidyā). I, Joy Laine, am not a fixed entity. Even within one lifetime, Joy Laine undergoes multiple and ongoing transformations. If we were to extend this across eons of lifetimes, the connections of personality become even more tenuous. Indian theories of rebirth do not propose that Joy Laine is reborn time and time again and do not have as their purpose the preservation of that which is a major source of suffering.

This certainly makes the workings of karma subtle and more difficult to grasp. If there is no Joy Laine present in future lives, then who exactly is experiencing the repercussions of Joy Laine’s actions? This is really the wrong question to ask. If I know that my actions now can be the cause of future suffering, then that in itself should be sufficient for me to refrain from acting in such a way, regardless of who will have to bear the suffering. Analogously, I would refrain from doing anything that would cause suffering in the lives of my children. One way to think of future lives is that they are like our children, closely related but not identical to ourselves.

Continuities

As we saw last time, the philosophical disagreement between Patañjali and the Buddhist philosophers centers on the existence of an enduring Self (ātman/ puruṣa). For Buddhists, as we examined last month, the relationship of cause and effect is viewed as sufficient to sustain the moral continuities within a life and from one life to another. Patañjali posits the same continuity of cause and effect, but in addition, views this complex causal network as taking place against the backdrop of an unchanging Self which witnesses the unfolding narratives powered by karma. Without the presence of an unchanging puruṣa, Patañjali argues that the link between cause and effect is nullified (IV.18 and IV.21).  It is important to note, however, that puruṣa is not itself subject to birth and death and is free of the bonds of karma. This is precisely why it offers human beings an escape from the round of earthly existence. It is also important to note that, while puruṣa provides an unchanging backdrop to the ongoing drama of successive incarnations, thereby providing a stronger link between lives than that posited by the Buddhist philosophers, it is not to be confused with a personal or ego self.

Conclusion

There are two important questions that I have not addressed. The first is whether the belief in supernatural karma is true. The second is whether or not such a belief is essential to the practice of yoga. Some contemporary Buddhists and yoga practitioners reject a belief in supernatural karma in favor of a more naturalistic understanding of karma, one that meshes with a view of the cosmos as understood by the natural sciences and contemporary psychology. Whatever the mechanism, we know that our actions have consequences and some of those consequences endure into the future, beyond our lifetime, climate change being one example. What is essential to the philosophy of yoga is that we act in ways that do no harm, that we do all we can to reduce future suffering without concern for whether this suffering is “mine” or not.  In this way, we make the world a better place and free ourselves from the bonds of egoism.

Joy Laine taught philosophy at Macalester College for over thirty years and teaches Iyengar Yoga around the Twin Cities.

Selection of Resources

Edwin Bryant, The Yoga Sūtras of Patañjali. North Point Press, 2009.

Sri Aurobindo, “The Reincarnating Soul” in  Gary Kessler, Voices of Wisdom. Wadsworth, 1995.

2022 IYAUM Board of Directors

President:  Nancy Marcy

Vice President:  Nancy Footner

Treasurer:  Dawn Talbert

Secretary:  Katharine Wood

Membership:  Bethany Valentini

Media & Communications:  Shannyn Joy Potter

IYAUM Liaison to IYNAUS:  Susan Johnson

Contact:  iyengaryogaaum@gmail.com

IYAUM Newsletter Committee

Editor:  Irene Alderson

Visuals:  Shannyn Joy Potter

Contact:  news@iyaum.org

Iyengar Yoga Association of the Upper Midwest

P.O. Box 582381 Minneapolis, Minnesota 55458

For earlier newsletter editions visit IYAUM