We might practice with the body, the limbs, torso and muscles etc, but we don't learn only for the physical body

Physical asanas for inner action

Our own Claire Ferry continues the Deepening Your Practice series of workshops in collaboration with the Yoga Fellowship of Northern Ireland. For more about the complete series, read here. 

Why is Iyengar yoga apparently so focused on the asana element of a yoga practice? 

We might practice with the body, the limbs, torso and muscles etc, but we don't learn only for the physical body. 

Asana practice becomes a vehicle for the full suite of the yoga system - a place where we can focus our monkey minds, observe action and re-action, link the tool of the breath to create space and to reconnect with our inner wholeness. It can be where we experiment with discipline and fire, with letting go and softness. Where we feel and sense the balance between mobility and stability, in our physical bodies as well as our brains and hearts. 

Claire will lead us through an asana and pranayama practice sequence with reference to selected yoga sutras collated by sage Patanjali some time between 500BCE and 450CE. 

You do not need to be a practitioner of yoga in the Iyengar method. Mr Iyengar consistently stated that he was teaching yoga based on the sutras and did not want to have his name associated with a personality 'cult' of yoga. 

"Don’t be exclusive, be inclusive… not only in asana but every walk of life" (BKS Iyengar) 

We can apply this to our practice. Inclusive of all parts of our embodiment - body, mind, breath, spirit. Inclusive of different approaches to yoga practice, to asana and pranayama and academic study.  

Come and practice for three hours and perhaps find a new (or very old) way of connecting into your essence, already whole and at peace behind the whirlwinds of everyday thought and circumstances, desires and aversions. 

BOOKING

Purchase a Deepening Practice Series pass via our booking page - each workshop is £40 or £30 for Yoga Fellowship members (see here for details of this collaboration and how to join the Fellowship). Remember to register onto Claire's workshop via the calendar or once you've logged into the student portal on booking. 

ABOUT CLAIRE

Claire has been practising yoga for most of her life, having been introduced to it at the age of seven, and then Theravadan Buddhist meditation principles from her early teens. She is a Level 3 Iyengar yoga teacher, has taught yoga since 2004 and continues to practice and study. Claire also runs Maitri Studio with her husband Geoffrey. You can read more about Claire on her profile page here.