Projo Fitness Blog

In a keynote speech this this weekend's New England Iyengar Yoga Conference in Providence, John Schumacher, a yogi from Washington D.C.,
extolled his fellow practitioners to "show something beautiful" to the world and reach out to give the measure of the benefits of yoga.

Speaking to the more than 400 students and teachers gathered at the Rhode Island Convention Center on Saturday, Schumacher asked those assembled to examine what the power of their "intention" might mean for the own life and to the evolution of the broader yoga community in the years ahead.

Schumacher noted that yoga today, especially in the U.S., has a "cliquiness" about it -- different schools of the practice that often compete for students and cause dividing lines where there should be harmony.

Iyengar yoga, which is based on the teachers of Sri B.K.S Iyengar, the 90-year-old India-based guru credited with bringing yoga to the Western world, has "teachers that go through the most rigorous training anywhere in yoga," Schumacher said.

Schumacher, himself a senior teacher, has studied in India with Iyengar many times since 1981.

"Asked once what the definition of Iyengar yoga is," Schumacher noted, "Guruji (Iyengar) said 'I myself do not know what Iyengar is.' It is all pure traditional yoga from Patañjali -- a profoundly spiritual practice, on the very nature of what's real."

Schumacher also urged Iyengar yoga practitioners to "reach out to broader community" -- to show others why the practice is beneficial.

"We are not easy," he noted, referring to Iyengar studies. "We are uncompromising, unyielding ... we use Sanskrit," when calling out poses. "We're not just a one-night stand, we insist on your best shot."

But, he adds, "no teacher or system can be all things to all people."

In order to make Iyengar yoga more accessible and "inviting to folks" Schumacher encouraged his students to exert "not mere friendliness .. but the feeling of the oneness with the subject of friendliness," a quote from Iyengar.

Yoga, which means unity or "oneness," teaches its students to see the "spark of divinity in each and everyone of us," Schumacher reminded the conference attendees.

"We have something to share," he said. "We are radiating something beautiful."

Among the big-name Iyengar yoga teachers to attend the conference were Patricia Walden, of Cambridge, Mass., and Manouso Manos,of San Francisco.

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