Elizabeth Brass Yoga

This week I was looking over notes from a yoga workshop, and squished on a page were the words, “yoga is an act of faith.” Like song lyrics or poetry, this sentence articulates something that is ineffable, beyond expression.

Today, much of the world feels beyond expression. The horrors and injustices we see call life into question. We ask ourselves: What is important? How can I live in this world and create positive impact? Our day-to-day lives, work, and activities, like practicing yoga, appear insignificant.

I've often wondered how I can get on my mat when “more important things need to be done.” There have been times in my life when I've reprioritized and my practice has fallen short. I know what that life looks like. These were times in my life when I did practice yoga (and taught part-time) but didn't know how to integrate it into my life. It was in my 30s, after years of desperation and ongoing health problems, that I knew something had to change.

Shraddha is a Sanskrit word that means faith but it is a special kind of faith. The faith that comes from experience. The Yoga Sutras point out that there are three main ways we acquire knowledge and these are called pramāṇas: perception (pratyaksha), inference (anumana), and testimony (agama or shabda). The most reliable is pratyaksha, our knowledge gained through direct sensory experience. It's the most immediate form of knowledge and involves our senses of sight, smell, taste, touch, and hearing. We don't need to be told not touch a boiling kettle because we've experienced the heat ourselves. It's the wisdom that comes from knowledge that helps us to navigate the world and make informed decisions.

As yoga practitioners, we've experienced the benefits of practice. Physical benefits like more energy or better flexibility or mental benefits such as positive outlook or a calmer mind. We have faith in these benefits because we've directly experienced them. We have faith that yoga helps us better live in the world. With this knowledge, we can practice with devotion and nurture the flame of harmony and health for all beings.
Photo Julia Baier Fotografie

I've been rereading Light on Life by Guruji Iyengar and I love the part where he writes that yoga isn't about appearances. He uses the example of an apple, how on the outside it can look perfect and on the inside it can be completely eaten by worms. 😐 He writes that people get confused about yoga, thinking it's about how it looks outwardly rather than by what the experience is on the inside.

We've all been there. Getting hung up on what we think progress in yoga “looks like,” a flexible body or a strong body that can move in cool ways. We think yoga should look beautiful or inspiring. We think yoga will improve the look of us and our life. Yoga practitioners should radiate health, otherwise they're surely doing something wrong.

In the book, Guruji explains that it's natural for worms to eat apples and that it's just that we don't want to be that apple! 🐛🍎 In yoga practice, we need to ask ourselves, "how am I really?" He writes that we need to ask ourselves this questions instead of obsessing on how we appear. This is what self-cultivation means, the process of organic farming of the self for the self.

When we look at soil, conditions, and the whole composition that it takes to grow a healthy plant, we start to have a new understanding of our own development. Like plants, we don't grow in a vacuum and have different needs for healthy growth. From introspection and exploration, we move toward integrating the different parts of ourselves. Guruji knew integration and wholeness, is what yoga practiioners seek:

“Yoga allows you to rediscover a sense of wholeness in your life, where you do not feel like you are constantly trying to fit broken pieces together.”​​​​​​​
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Consistency. I'm not the only one who struggles with it. When I first started practicing yoga, I was overjoyed when I could make it to class 1-2x a week. I didn't practice at home because I didn't know that was a thing people did. Once I learned that going to yoga wasn't the same as practicing yoga, I realised that I had no idea how to practice yoga.

The first question was where would I practice? I lived in a small one-room apartment and didn't have space. This was before the internet and there weren't many books on how to practice yoga at home so the first thing I did was to designate a corner of my room as a yoga space. It was just big enough for a yoga mat and my copies of Light on Yoga by Guruji, Yoga a Gem for Women by Geetaji, and Yoga the Iyengar Yoga by the Mehtas. Because I lived in one room, every day I saw my yoga space to remind me. I began following the sequences at the back of those books, general sequences and those for various ailments. I wanted to feel the effect and logic of the sequencing. This was the beginning of my home practice but I still struggled with consistency.

A few years later, I moved into a bigger studio apartment and as a present, my mother gave me a yoga bolster. Once I had my own bolster, my practice began to change. I wanted to lay over that bolster so practice drew me in further.

The Yoga Sutras of Pantajali speak about the importance of practicing consistently, uninterrupted over time in sutra 1.14

sa tu dīrghakāla nairantarya satkārāsevito dṛḍhabhūmiḥ

Practice becomes firmly established when it has been cultivated uninterruptedly and with devotion over a prolonged period of time. (Edwin Bryant, translation)

Sometimes we're devoted to yoga but it's hard to integrate it into our lives. We still struggle to make the time for our own practice or study. This is the yoga. The struggle, the effort, the cultivation of integration, including all the successes and the failures. There may be false starts and days or even years when we feel lost. This is the time to make the corner in our lives for ourselves and yoga. We will need to do it again and again. It's never too late to start.

Iyengar yoga practitioners were cross-training before that was a thing. People often ask me if I “did anything else” besides yoga, like working out or running. My answer is always the same. No, I'm boring, I only practice yoga.

Boring as I may be, Iyengar yoga practice offers such a wide range of possibilities for physical and mental experiences and effects, I've wondered why people do anything else! If it's cardiovascular intensity one's after, then spend 1-2 hours jumping between asanas or 108 times surya namaskar. If it's relief from back pain, shoulder stiffness, or an injured knee, look no further than Guruji's therapeutic practices. If it's stress reduction or help with mental instability, there numerous options for pranayama and asana practices to calm and stabilize the nerves.

The notion of cross-training has it's foundational logic that it's beneficial to combine different kinds of activities to decrease the risk of sustaining injury from repetitive strain or overuse and this is an important part of whole-body health. Doctors started recommending this approach for people to have a more rounded set of skills that the body can call on when needed. Guruji already knew this and this part of the reason why that Iyengar yoga classes around the world follow a weekly schedule within the month. Week one, focusing on standing poses, week two on forward bends and twists, week 3 on backbends, and week 4 on pranayama and restorative asanas. In this way, within one month, a range of practices are explored. This method not only gives our bodies and full range of experiences but also our minds!

In today's world, where we see ever more rigidity and intolerance, the notion of crossing over in our practices has deeper ramifications. It builds not only physical agility but also mental flexibility because the body and mind are consistently adapting and creating neuromuscular changes. We don't need to always add something to cross train but rather go deeper into what we're already doing.





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Yoga practitioners know that yoga retreats, intensives, & workshops are special times for us. We get to step away from everyday life and delve deeper into our study and practice of yoga. 🔥 This is a gift that we give to ourselves. It’s not always easy or fun to practice intensively. But when it’s right, it can be life changing for us and our practice.

Last weekend, I returned from teaching my first retreat since the pandemic. It felt risky during this time to commit to this old structure of in person yoga retreats when much has changed in our world. 🌎 But sometimes we have to return to what we love knowing everything has changed to see for ourselves who we are now. 💫

I’m blessed to know inspiring yoga practitioners and met some for the first time, who joined me on this trip. Thank you to everyone who participated for your dedication, warmth, and openness. 🌞 Community is important in yoga and you’ve expanded my yoga family and practice. 🙏🏽❤️

I look forward to step out of life again and have more time for yoga together. 🪷

And thank you to Charlotte Rosser for taking photos especially when I forgot! 😍

This week a student texted me early morning to tell me that she injured herself and was in pain and wanted to know if I had any suggestions – and I did. This interchange reminded me of a story about the “bat phone.”

I'm an American born in the 1960's and grew up watching the original TV show, Batman. 🦇 On the show, Batman had a bat phone, a private telephone reserved for a specific purpose -- Commissioner Gordon used it summon the superhero in emergencies. This super cool phone was mounted in the bat mobile (Batman's car) and was red and glowed when it rang! ☎️

When I was in my 20's and began teaching yoga, one of sisters made a new friend in graduate school. This friend was the daughter of an Iyengar yoga teacher. One day I met this friend and her boyfriend and we got to speaking about the coincidence of Iyengar yoga in our families. The boyfriend told me that when he met his girlfriend's mother that she had a phone in her house (the time before computers and mobile phones) for when yoga people called with their questions and problems. He said it was like the bat phone and always ringing!

I loved this image of a red yoga phone for emergencies – a hot line - between teacher and student. 🆘 How lucky we are that we have our bat phones that have certainly saved me throughout my life. I think this is part of why I always have question and answer sessions in my workshops and in my online membership that we have recordings library on varied topics in practice. This week I was able to refer my student to one of those practices for her sacroiliac joint and, hopefully, emergency averted.

This is another reason that I love Iyengar yoga, the knowledge of our teachers and their dedication to helping others. If you want to join me this weekend, May 17-19, for an online weekend workshop, let's enjoy this beautiful practice together. It's only 7 euro for the whole weekend including the recordings for you afterwards.

You don't have to attend all the classes to join. Everyone with experience in Iyengar yoga is welcome to join. Here's the link for information and to sign up
https://www.elizabethbrass.com/mayyogaweekendworkshop

The hot line continues. 🔥

With the seasons changing, I always notice my mood and yoga practice changing. I want to be outdoors, and it's harder to show up for practice on the mat. This is when the practice routines that I've set up in my life are important. They keep me connected to my practice and aware of when it starts to slip.

If you notice this happening to you, taking classes online can be helpful. In our busy lives, online classes connect us to teachers and felow pracitioners near and far and it's sometimes the best option to stay connected and inspired when we need it.

I know many people are fed up with being online but for some of us, it will spur on our consistency . Every year in May, I see a change in yoga class attendance. The days are longer and warmer and the outdoors call us, making being inside for yoga less attractive. Add turmoil and struggle around the world and yoga can seem less important in our lives.

This is precisely when we have to redouble our efforts with our yoga practice.

Patanjali, in the Yoga Sutras, oulines for us what happens how the kleshas (afflictions or poisons) derail us on our yoga path. When we see a change of feelings or priorities affecting our yoga practice, it's important to look at the root causes and reassess our commitments, energy, and priorities. Put our own peace in mind and body at the top of your list. Even if our yoga practice looks very different from what it once did, we can find a way to reconnect to our basic yoga techniques.

If you want to reconnect now, join me this weekend for an Online Weekend Workshop, May 17-19 for only 7€. 🤩We'll practice and leave you plenty of time to enjoy the rest of your weekend. 🙏🏽
https://www.elizabethbrass.com/mayyogaweekendworkshop







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Iyengar yoga practitioners see ourselves as part of a global community and this is important. In times of intense divisions in the world today, coming together and shedding what divides us, individually and collectively, is meaningful for us as people and yoga practitioners. Guruji Iyengar famously said:

Yoga allows you to rediscover a sense of wholeness in your life,
where you do not feel like you are constantly trying to fit
broken pieces together.

Prioritizing wholeness in our lives can become more important as the world spins away from it. This week in our mentorship group, ahimsa, nonviolence, came up in our discussion. Ahimsa, the first yama, personal practices, and the yamas being the first of the limbs of yoga. Guruji embedded ahmisa into our approach to asana and pranayama. From our very first yoga class, we most likely won't hear these words, but sense intuitively, a sense of the pieces of ourselves being put back together. Understanding our desire for wholeness, integration, and freedom, Guruji devised a yoga technique with the emphasis on balance, commonly referred to as alignment. This practice not only brings greater strength and health, but also, a sense of wellbeing, which helps us walk on this earth, creating as little himsa, violence, as possible. No easy feat but this is why it is a life- long aspirational practice.

If you want to explore this and other practices with me, for only 7€, you can join my Online Workshop, May 17-19. We will practice asana, pranayama, and have question and answer sessions on practice. You'll have access to the recordings for as long as you'd like. This weekend is so crazy cheap because I want everyone who wants to be able to join and paying even a bit helps us to show up for ourselves and our yoga practice. Here's the link to register and/or learn more
https://www.elizabethbrass.com/mayyogaweekendworkshop

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.