Paddelboard-Yoga in Texas 😅

This week I returned from the German Iyengar Yoga Convention with Abhijata Iyengar. Many impressions I'm still processing but some stand out.

During one of the breaks, I was sitting with an Iyengar yoga teacher who recently got her certification. This was her first time studying with Abhijata or anyone from the Iyengar family. Her mentor is an experienced teacher who has traveled numerous times to RIMYI/Pune. This new teacher was struck by how Abhijata's and her own teacher's teaching were similar. When I travel and take class in foreign countries, I've also been struck by how at home I feel, regardless of cultural and personal differences. This is what it means to learn yoga within a lineage.

A lineage is about being able to trace the transmission of knowledge within a tradition. Tracing the ancestry of teaching, is like a family tree, and gives a picture of the traits in the line of transmission of teachings. These lines can trace back to individuals endowed with a degree of authentic spiritual realization. Lineage teaching is concerned with preserving the potency and effectiveness of a particular line of teaching, be it yoga or meditation.

Abhijata told a wonderful story at the beginning of the Convention. Before her first international trip to teach, she was nervous. She would be be teaching people who have been studying Iyengar yoga longer than she has been alive and wondered what she could teach them. Her grandfather, Guruji, saw that she was nervous and said, “Do you think that they will be coming for your teaching? They will be coming for what I have taught you.” With a smile, Abhijata said that in that moment, her nervousness was gone. The burden had been lifted because she knew then what was hers to share.

This is the beauty of a lineage tradition. Like in all families, sometimes it can feel chaotic or confusing. We may feel misunderstood or frustrated. But we can be reassured that we're in good hands. Abhijata is helping steer Iyengar yoga into this present time, with all it's changes and challenges, as she was taught by her grandfather. We're blessed to be a part of this family of yoga.
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