B. K. S. Iyengar

And I actually left, so I never craved that.

Now, I think there's great benefit from the Iyengar practice.

I think the Iyengar practice is of the lineage of Krishnamacharya, and I think it's wonderful to go and explore that and experiment that.

And if you have an Iyengar teacher that really, really nourishes you, go and check in with them as much as you can.

Absolutely.

You don't need to say, I'm only going to do Ashtanga yoga only like this.

If you feel inside of yourself that Iyengar practice and this Iyengar teacher is nourishing some part of myself, you can absolutely include that as well.

You don't need to make this definitive, I only do this, it's only like that.

I'm your host, Susan Johnson.

My guest today is Claudia Diaz-Boitano, a certified Iyengar yoga teacher from Chile, whose life and work have been deeply shaped by the teachings of BKS Iyengar and the teachers who carried those teachings forward.

I'm also joined by my dear friend, Yameli Mizrahi, who suggested I reach out to Claudia and helped make this conversation possible.

Together, we explore Claudia's journey from a background in sports to a life devoted to yoga, her experiences studying with Faik and Corinne Birria, and the lasting impressions left by Guruji, Gitaji, and Prashanthi.

Yes.

Me too.

So, Claudia, why don't we start straight away? I like to ask everyone, how did you come into this method of Iyengar Yoga?

Well, my first approach to Iyengar Yoga was through my first teacher, Rishi Joseph.

Let's get into it.

The story of restorative yoga brings us back to a familiar name, BKS Iyengar.

If you listened to our episode on Iyengar yoga, you'll remember that Iyengar became known for his extraordinarily detailed approach to alignment.

But another defining characteristic of his teaching was his use of props.

Blocks, belts, blankets, chairs, ropes, bolsters, and just about anything else that could help a student experience a posture differently.

Today, yoga props are so common that it's easy to forget how significant this idea was.

Iyengar rejected the assumption that every student should simply force their body into the same shape.

Instead, a prop could bring the pose to the person.

But because of the structure of the system of practice that he presents, there is the possibility of following that deeper.

And yeah, this holds true for many of the systems that grew out of the lineage that he sort of bequeathed through his students, Iyengar Yoga, Ashtanga Vinyasa, there are ways in which they are very well aligned with this as well.

And I think the thing for Krishnamacharya was his, as far as we can tell, invention of this concept of Vinyasa, which is a quite multi-purpose term, can mean quite a few different things in different contexts.

It's a word that is used in earlier Sanskrit sources, but certainly not for the linking of postures together or the coordination of movement with breathing or even the idea of vinyasa krama, the sequential steps that make something effective.

But what he's incorporating into that presentation is the idea of focus.

whether it's of the gaze or on the breath and the idea really also has comes through much more in his later teaching than in his earlier teaching i think that in medieval hatha yoga the whole idea was mudra which is a completely different concept that we can get into in a moment but that's doing something with the body for a longer period usually involving very slow breathing if not holding the breath and to really see it as a combination of a body position and pranayama and so bringing the breath absolutely squarely center stage while also thinking about how to move in accordance with a prioritization of the breath and at the same time to build concentration which is you know the foundation of most yogic practice systems means that you've got a very integrated method and even if nobody talks about philosophy if you're maintaining your drishti and you are breathing and paying attention to the breath and you are sequencing your movement to the breath or if you take it Iyengar's way and you get absolutely anally retentive about what your inner edge of your right big toe is doing your mind is absorbed it's not it's not running away doing something else and so the systems of practice manage to incorporate some of those priorities Inward focus, concentration, cultivation of the power and potential of prana to transform us.

And so all of that is ancient.

That is the traditional approach to yoga practice, but it's combined with other tools that mean you can do something more dynamic with it or you can do something more body focused.

acknowledge that again, like I am, like, I don't know, am I Seth? Like this physical form is Seth? And this habit that I've developed of my ego is Seth?

BKS Iyengar says something and I really like it and goes to something what you're talking about right now, Seth and Sally, what you were talking about, the way he calls it oscillation, how we oscillate between.

And I love that.

And he says, the seat of the ego or small self is the seat of the brain.

It can't be that.

And that's when I tend to go to light on the yoga sutras and potentially by BKS Iyengar because he's a lot.

He has no fluff.

Iyengar has no fluff.

Just like his practice, there is no fluff.

None.

And he goes on and on and on.

And then at the end of it, yeah, it's really...

Um, and, um, he did in fact study with the great, uh, yoga master, uh, Krishnamacharya in India- Yes, he did.

Yeah ... who was the, uh, who was the, uh, father-in-law of, uh, BKS, uh, Desi- uh, Iyengar, and the, I think the father- Mm-hmm ... of Desikachar, and, um, uh, the, the, the kind of the initiator of a long lineage, a, esteemed lineage- Mm ... of Hatha yoga.

And, uh, so he inco-incorporated the asanas into his approach- Mm ...

but he also worked, uh, in, uh, an energetic yoga tradition from the, uh, Kashmir Shaivite tradition, which I'll have you talk about.

It's more of a bending of the mind because when it comes to yoga, There's a famous yoga guru.

His name is BKS Iyengar.

People who are into yoga will know of him.

He passed away.

He died some years ago.

Hindu guru BKS Iyengar.

He stated that my poses are my prayers.

My body is my temple.