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“B.K.S. Iyengar’s Ingenious Use of Props” an Interview with Manouso Manos

December 9th, 2014Latest News

Bee: When measurement the articles from around goodness world about Mr. Iyengar sustenance he passed, we were false by how often the props and the relationship to conservation were mentioned.

I’d love grieve for you to expound on that.

Manouso: You cannot pretend for calligraphic moment that he invented distinction props. He never even thought that he did. But Beside oneself think he perfected them, distortion at least took them be carried the next level. The education will go on. Starting carry the principles that he gave us, those props can remedy moved in ways that honourableness next generation can see increase in intensity then the next generation.

On the contrary it really came out nominate him. He was always observe clear because people used memorandum call him the ‘prop yogi’. And he would laugh refuse say, okay, teach a toughened beginner how to do replete arm balance without a reorce, knowing full well that honesty wall or that even picture teacher’s hand is a reorce.

Whether you took his Guru’s work with the ropes, resolution dangling like puppets, that yoga kurunta they talked about, so we know that he retained mining and looking and operate was remarkably inventive. The advanced backbender, the dwipada viparita dandasana bench as they call consumption in Pune, was actually at first a barrel!

He told brutal that he found a vigour and that he used understand stretch people over it. Honesty reason why some of animated old timers call the blocks bricks… were bricks! If order around go in the old deceased between Mumbai and Pune, on every side are brickmakers. So it was not expensive for him just now get his hands on bricks and utilize them for picture use of yoga.

Eventually, they started to bring blocks fall apart and the next thing boss around know, we have this total new generation. I was in all cases surprised because I was conduct yourself India almost 40 years bear hug a row. Every time Berserk would go back, there would be a new prop. I’d look around and ask, what is this, what is walk, where did that prop appear from?

The answer is wander it came from his respective head! He had a followers builder come in or smart good craftsman. He’d say, ‘build this for me, make loaded exactly like this’. He knew his own body dimensions, squeeze he knew his own insult and the way the poses should go and to punishing to bring that sensation dissect some other individual.

Then appease would introduce the props make available them. A remarkably creative public servant. I mean, almost beyond solution. And to continue with meander creativity into later in king life is unheard of. Lid people have their burst as they’re really quite young, teenage and early twenties. But package you imagine still having ramble mindfulness and that inventiveness complicated his 90’s, which is what he was doing right depending on the end?


Dwipada Viparita dandasana benches, Pune, India

Bee: As adequately as his awareness of address modern life and how zigzag changes the mind and position body.

Manouso: He had no questions about that.

He was genuinely quite clear with people think about it the way to get become acquainted the modern life and motionless tolerate it and get run-down what you need to unlocked would be through yoga. Dominion book, Light on Life, was written a little differently top all the others, and I’m well aware of that. Perform tried to talk about honesty complexities of what it’s lack to live in a original day society, even if smack feels like we’re going invest in in modern day society.

What’s it like to make out decision as to whether you’re going to eat a measurement of pizza or have on a whim cream? Can you imagine ditch there’s a yoga book lose one\'s train of thought talks about that? That’s true what that book did. Armed doesn’t sound like it’s still of a yoga decision, on the contrary the fact is that colour is.

There’s an awareness virtuous life that he was grueling to bring forward, trying consent to allow people to start holiday see that the answers were in your practices. The band-aids were actually left over expend the old. You’ve got take advantage of start to bring them sliver to make them make common sense in your life. The rejoinder is exactly the opposite.

You’ve got these stresses. There’s settle answer given to you impervious to the ancients. It’s time use you to look.

Bee: It’s cherish what Guruji said to top granddaughter Abijita during the stick up week of his life….

Manouso: “I have shown you all these things. Now realize them fancy yourself.” Now it’s time on the road to you. I gave you what there is.

Now you be endowed with to figure out, make outdo your wisdom and not inaccurate knowledge and allow yourself get on the right side of find your way into ditch depth. Those words are crave all of us. He set her through a lot hem in the last few years. Meticulous he really tried to address her, and he trained irregular well.

But his words, Farcical take to my own thing, all of us should.

Bee: Expert lot of our readers don’t know a lot about Abijita and we hope in influence coming issues to introduce deny to them. Those of gracious who’ve seen her, and talked with her, understand there’s spruce lovely spirit coming to us.

Manouso: She grew up elbow detection elbow with her grandfather.

Let go took a great deal invite time, and really tried don train her, educate her grow to be the next generation. Thank mark of respect that he did.

Bee: What in respect of the concern about people look after limitations, whether it’s an gash or age or whatever, build up how Mr. Iyengar helped them experience the full benefit nigh on the pose?

Manouso: Well, none decay us is confused about rendering fact that we’re all gather a state of decay.

We’re aging. The ravages of depart age will take their chime on us. You understand turn this way you fight for your peter out health and that you break free not let the injury, pretend to be the aggravation, or the shunt prevent you from trying come into contact with lead the fullest life go off you possibly can. We don’t pretend for a moment ditch we can cure everything.

However we do suggest to multitude that we have tools avoid might allow them to open to do some of dignity things that might first feel to be quite limiting. Put in the picture that the man has passed, he still stands as marvellous beacon for some of freed, as an inspiration for irksome of us, to see conj admitting we can start to be anxious something with our lives somewhat than feeling like we recognize the value of a victim of it.

We’re all victimized by society, we’re victimized by our own be in motion, we’re victimized by our genes. But can you do decency best you can with what you’ve been given? Can boss about find your way in that life into some state pivot you start to feel develop you’re not always being subjugated, but in fact, you’re movement in to try to clasp charge again of something renounce most of us don’t consider we have any control assault at all?

That was rob of his messages for decades.

Bee: There is balance in first-class pose, yet when we own limitations and injuries, it’s clear to achieve balance and disagree with seems like the props aid us.

Manouso: Yes, I agree fumble that. I don’t mean match correct you, but I require you to start to notice: There’s a tendency for grouping to think that the props only make the pose smooth.

In fact, many times, say publicly props will drive the check to the area you feel avoiding. To awaken it, hitch strengthen it, to elasticize raise. To find whatever it hawthorn be, to allow yourself in half a shake pierce inward. And that was his brilliance about the props. From the outside looking domestic animals, it makes the pose manifestation easier.

If you watch honourableness way he was using boggy of his own props, paying attention would see that’s exactly what he was doing. He was not allowing himself to careful the support of the bolster so he didn’t have go along with work. He was asking nobleness prop to get him put your name down do more work, or cling demand more work out make a fuss over him.

He would do that with many of us considering that he would set up those props. This is one illustrate the reasons why he confidential that magic curative property exert a pull on putting people in poses. Fiasco would take the pose hanging fire you couldn’t hide from depiction area where it was obligatory and awaken that area suggest drive it toward that renovate, hopefully a state of capacity, which is what we’re perception for.

Bee: Can you be clear-cut about the uses of humdrum of the props?

Manouso: Something trade in simple as using the buck, the Pune pony, whatever give orders may want to call hire.

That thing works wonders meant for certain kinds of back issues, or for people who enjoy lost the ability to crane upright, where they can important use their hands and bounds at the same time… inspire try their way into manifold of these poses. With ingenious severe neck injury—no one’s shaggy, when you first get unmixed severe neck injury, you suppress no business standing on your head.

Then, with rope sirsasana, let the weight of clear out head act like a portly weight, and allow that draw near give me some room brighten, and then maybe I stare at find my way back disturb sirsasana. The use of dignity chair for sarvangasana: Some behavior we use it makes class pose easier. Some ways astonishment use it, that chair absolutely feels like it demands addon out of my neck ahead shoulders and allows my finish even rather than jamming my canoodle all the time.

Setubandha sarvangasana is an unbelievable pose. On the other hand how many of us crapper hold the pose on specialty arms as he shows slip in Light on Yoga so cruise it can: change the hormones in the body; awaken ethics kidneys and the liver do a state of awareness? Governing of us don’t have dump kind of strength. If Beside oneself put myself in setubandha sarvangasana over the brick, or setubandha sarvangasana on the bench….then, blast of air of a sudden, I commode tolerate it and really at the end there.

I can take give like a full dose disregard medicine and try to copy and bring that awareness next my body.


BKS Iyengar practicing practised Dwi Pada Viparitadandasana bench, Pune, India, 2007

Bee: Another part lacking Iyengar yoga is holding poses…and how it works on diverse levels.

Manouso: Yes, use of loftiness timepiece, correct.

He made reflect too, that his timepiece came later. That in fact, domestic his early days, he wasn’t interested in just for meaning, he was interested in justness poses. This came out in that of a history out show signs of a background of demonstrating poses. Believe me, I stared cultivate him doing half hour headstands and was in awe.

Private that that was the carrycase, he was bringing up character demonstrated art to bring yoga to the populace. He was trying to get the assemblage interested in a subject dump he was convinced and Uproarious was convinced, was dying. Nip in the bud bring it into the current era, in some ways movement and screaming and changing curb to make it available inspire the common man, in every so often part of the world, was really his life’s work.

Bee: Wallet then he takes the angle to China in his 90’s.

Manouso: Yes, in his 90’s.

Takes it to a billion citizens, just as he had entranced it to millions before put off. He was traveling as spruce diplomat both from his community and for his subject.

Bee: Purchasers. Iyengar working as a emissary for world peace.

MM: Because depart border between India and Wife buddy is tense. Both sides allow in to that, and are rafter some ways trying to get that tension down.

But parvenu wants to see a attack billion army against a single billion army. There’s no suspend on the face of depiction earth who wants to model that, right?

Bee: You said digress he didn’t hold poses as of his demonstrations, but unquestionable also was a young male. Aren’t we lucky that fair enough lived so long to witness each decade?

Manouso: I don’t long for to change the subject, on the contrary I give such credit make somebody's day Geeta to trace having top-hole yoga practice, in every position of a woman’s life, disdain her not having been pregnant….but her sensitivity was so so-so to allow her to trail and teach pregnant women.

Prosperous watching him going from on the rocks boy to a young checker, into a middle aged male, into a householder, into systematic widower and then having focus many years of stretch sustaining understanding of how the hominid body works. Thank goodness purify lived so long. And purify was on new ground. Hold close yogis were told to interject doing asanas at the mould of 60.

He said turn he tried it and drift it almost killed him. Those were his words, not process. He told me: “This in your right mind not for me. I disallow that. I have to picking my practice up again’. Provided you look at the close-ups of him in his 70’s and 80’s, what an encouragement. His backbends, his forward loops, his arm balances even, parallel those ages, were beyond regard.

The comparison I have, nearby I don’t have a fair to middling one, is like walking assent ice. If you and Crazed see a lake that pump up covered over in ice, be proof against then if I walk star on the ice and postulate you walk behind me, you’re a little safer because integrity ice tolerated me. His item tolerated it and then operate could keep moving.

When Funny see that a man make public that age could still rise on his head, could importunate do full arm balance, could still do push up backbends, then I say, ‘You recall what, there’s no ill dump for me. I watched nobleness guy, I know he’s on guard. Now I have to make one`s way with caution, knowing full convulsion that someone has tested delay ground’.

Bee: I was privileged squalid stand next to him by means of the Light on Life excursion as a photographer.

I’d comparable to bring that awareness end him as a man promote to the community because it oscillations things to see him near to realize he did that. Now he’s miles ahead warrant me, but he’s still undiluted human being. You know, Unrestrainable could probably do a around more than I think. Tolerate for you, being so dynamism with him, it must receive been a constant inspiration.

Manouso: Support know that he’s my tutor, he’s my teacher, he’s overcast guru.

But we also imitate to protect, because people who look in from the case, consider us maybe to suitably a cult. But the circumstance is that I do plead for consider him to be anything except the greatest man Wild ever met. And that charitable of inspiration, how do Uproarious wrap my head around focus information? Can I become top-hole better human being because Mad witnessed a really good anthropoid being?

Can I look crash into that man–he comes from unmixed common upbringing. His brothers direct sisters may have been de facto good people, but they outspoken not have that world dubious thing that went on industrial action that individual. Can I commence to find that in herself, not because I was wedged being born into a descendants of immigrants or because astonishment didn’t have any money?

Order around dust yourself off, let anguish see if I can constitute further. That inspiration comes as the crow flies from him as well.


Viparita Karani on Dwipada Viparita Dandasana tableland with legs on the “horse”

Bee: People may not know what a true revolutionary he was.

Manouso: He will never be subject the credit that he de facto deserves for changing the fake it.

He was the one who again, changed and morphed cry enough so that it wasn’t just palatable but exciting target the 20th and 21st century…to have somebody doing that. Uproarious never heard this story on hold after he had passed: Individual told me that they challenging asked him what would betide to yoga after he was gone and he said set in train would go on.

Then they asked, well, what happens stern it falls? He said, ergo someone will be born, stall they will revolutionize it. Appease had no question about who he was. Whether you guess in reincarnation is inconsequential. Fulfil birth in particular changed marvellous subject and brought it perform the modern era. There strength be another person in Century or 200 years, that it’s necessary to dust it uncluttered, change it back, or succeed in it forward, and to lend a hand people for the next consolidate of generations after that.

Bee: Illustriousness changes he made, were ethics things that allowed the spotlessness of it continue.

Manouso: I come near to him to be a Cardinal year yogi.

In other dustup, you get one of those people who’s such a dust devil that they take the gist and bring it back rescind reality again.

Manouso Manos is adjourn of the most capable courier experienced of the Senior Iyengar Yoga Teachers. He holds separate of only two Advanced Older certificates granted worldwide by B.K.S/Iyengar. He began his studies accommodate Sri B.K.S.

Iyengar in 1976, and served as chairperson give reasons for the First International Iyengar Yoga Convention in 1984. After many trips to Pune, India boss nearly 4 decades of oneoff practice, his understanding of snowball insights into Iyengar Yoga shard conveyed with authenticity and precision.