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Beyond the Physical: Hatha Yoga at Nityananda Instituteby Rachel Gaffney
Last spring, when you and I were celebrating the return of sunlight, Don Erskine stepped off a curb, fell full force onto his knee and splintered his kneecap. Two days later, crutching his way back from the doctor's, he slipped, twisted, and fell, fracturing his other kneecap more agonizingly than the first. Don is an unusually dedicated, hardworking, disciplined person. If you ask him what he wants to be able to do when he is fully recovered, high on his list is to return to classes at the Movement Center, Nityananda Institute's yoga studio.
Catherine Fixe is a young, fit, and talented woman who yearns for depth of understanding. Her life is pressured and challenging. She wants both the physical stamina to meet those pressures and the perspective to keep her balanced. Central to both goals is her attendance at the Institute's yoga classes.
I tell these stories not only because they illustrate the satisfaction of our students, but because they speak more broadly about what makes the Institute's yoga program so remarkable. Catherine and Don represent vastly different needs. One has serious injury-related restrictions. One has an athletic nature and spiritual longing. And while there are many wonderful schools of yoga in the world, to find one that answers to such a broad range of students with the depth the Institute offers is a challenging task. But here we have such a program.
The Movement Center offers a wide variety of classes and workshops, from beginning to advanced levels-from back basics to prenatal to inversions. The style of hatha yoga we teach emphasizes breath awareness, adaptation of poses to suit the individual, and inner focus. This individualized approach makes hatha yoga accessible enough physically that students can experience the spiritual dimension. Our programs are further distinguished by the quality of our teachers and their teachers. Movement Center instructors are devoted to their students and their own practices. And they have been taught by a master of yoga, Swami Chetanananda, as well as by many other gifted yoga teachers.
Our instructors bring a wealth of experience and education to their teaching. Cumulatively, we have many years of teaching and graduate health training on our staff. But degrees and experience don't amount to more than shells unless teachers care for their students and dedicate themselves to their own practices. These two elements bring life and love to a class. These give students models to emulate, mentors to rely on, and fellow travelers from whom to seek direction.
How do our teachers express their care? They practice devotedly. They spend hands-on time with individual students, even when classes are full. They volunteer their time to develop and deliver the wide range of classes and workshops offered. They work together to improve what they teach and how they teach. In short, they give of themselves.
But our teachers haven't come this far without extraordinary guidance. Swami Chetanananda's input into the hatha yoga program has been its inspiration. He has shaped the understanding and the content. In his usual expansive way, he has brought the finest yoga teachers to train the Institute teachers. It is Swamiji who recognized the power of the Viniyoga tradition taught by Desikachar, based on the work of his father, Krishnamacharya. It is Swamiji who arranged for teachers in that tradition as well as the Iyengar tradition and others to visit the Institute and train our teachers, sometimes for weeks at a time. And it is Swamiji who powers the spiritual emphasis of our classes.
Which takes us to the last point . . . the beginning and ending point, in fact, of our hatha yoga program. Without spiritual grounding, yoga can veer quickly towards gymnastics. Without understanding that your body is a tool to know God, without devoting yourself to contact with the subtlest, sublime life force housed within you, yoga is no longer yoga.Nityananda Institute's yoga program extends from the love of spirituality that powers the very Institute itself. That, when all is said and done, is what makes it the remarkable service it is and the joyous event that so many of us owe thanks for.
Three people in particular deserve special mention for their contributions to the Movement Center: Ruth Knight, Pamela Rico, and Constance Monte. Thank you for your hard work, dedication, and devotion to our students and teachers.
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