Raya Uma Datta in New York City

It had been almost five years since I visited the second floor of 150 West 22nd street, the home of the Iyengar Yoga institute in New York. 

For someone who has practiced there daily for years, did a two years teacher training and met lifelong friends there, going back to the Institute felt like coming back to parts of my roots.

Since the day I embraced somewhat of a nomadic journey, my yoga practice has been a combination of at home practice complemented with the remote guidance of one of the teachers of the Ramamani Iyengar Memorial Yoga Institute (RIMYI) in Pune, India: Raya Uma Datta. 

Raya began his journey at RIMYI at age 10, became a direct student of B.K.S. Iyengar, and began teaching there at the age of 20. He has been teaching worldwide for over two decades. 

I started to take classes with him the first time I went and study in Pune in 2022. Since this was in the middle of the pandemic, I was actually one of the only foreigners there. How wonderful it was to practice along with the Indian community in that way. It connected me to the essence of yoga in such a profound way.

As I was organizing my trip back to New York a few weeks ago, I realized that Raya would conduct a four days yoga workshop there, right during the time of my visit. I immediately signed up. 

This is what happened.

Day 1: Anchoring

There is definitively some power in us being all together again in that room. As we start the invocation to Lord Pantajali (the one who brought Yoga to life), there is nowhere else on the earth I would like to be at. This moment, this community is where I belong.

Last January, I injured my left hamstring (doing yoga!) and it has been affecting my practice a lot. The minute I stretch or push through, the moment I go into any unknown of the practice, I hear my hamstring, asking me to stay put, to pause and strengthen, for a while. 

I almost wonder what is the point of attending the workshop or practicing yoga right now. 

As we embark on the standing poses, I treasure their force. I realize their anchoring. I feel the endurance. I go along.

Day 2: Softening

Although B.K.S Iyengar has been the leading figure of the art, science and philosophy of Iyengar Yoga, I notice how throughout the workshop, Raya keeps on referring to Geeta Iyengar instead. 

Geeta Iyengar, the eldest daughter of B.K.S Iyengar was a yoga teacher credited with advancing yoga for women.

Could it be that our time was calling for more feminine presence and gentleness? Would our very own practice and body need those gestures of care and love, the touch of the mother, more than ever?

Demonstrating how to handle shoulder injuries, Raya expands on the very essence of being a yoga teacher, teaching human beings.

When putting his arm around Dmitri (one of the New York yoga teachers and dear friend), he goes on saying: “Whatever the injury is, whatever the story is, your role as a teacher is to make the student feel safe and secure.” 

“It’s going to be ok, together we will figure it out”. As I hear those words, I feel the tears coming up. Where is that voice whispering those words to me, in my practice, in my body, my whole life?

“Let the pain not be “the thing”, let it move away.”

The forward bending postures ask a lot of my hamstring, I hear it responding constantly, I monitor, I fine tune, I get discouraged. It gets better.

Day 3: Scribbling

The usual cycle around the practice of Iyengar Yoga goes on as follow: standing poses followed by forward bend poses followed by backbend poses, restorative poses and pranayama. 

It would seem “logical” that the third day of our workshop would be dedicated to backbend poses. Like most of the time in life, we have to think again.

Instead of backbending, we spend most of the day jumping, going into full arm balance, jumping again! We jump into the unknown, our fears and uncertainties. We jump into courage, trust and faith. 

We learn the act of scribbling, navigating into what could go wrong so we can take the right path, ultimately.

Again and again, all together they are: the ego, the intelligence, the mind and the car. Who can take over and drive?

Day 4: Nourishing 

Today started with Pranayama, the art of breathing: noticing the breath and observing it, embracing the tides, the waves, the patterns, seeing the rhythms of your own body.

As we dive in the technique of Bhramari Pranayama, the bee breath, their humming, their song!, I can feel my whole body responding. 

The bees have been strong guides and companions for me over the years and they continue being so. Welcoming them in such setting in this yoga practice feels like a blessing.

The afternoon introduces the backbends (here they are!). I can feel my power coming back, my hamstring going along, the community strengthening. Somehow the practice feels endless.

All along, Raya brings up food mentions: the cheese melting inside the sandwich, the careful selection of ingredients in the making of a good tiramisu, the espresso or americano version of poses and postures, all metaphors of your body’s flavors, processes and alchemy.

What is fresh in us? And what is frozen? What brings things to life and create prana? 

Is yoga the act of nourishment? A practice for rejuvenation?

Where is the music, where are the poems feeding your essence and nursing the child?

India is the mother, in so many ways. Raya fed us with the Source, the light of Yoga, the “body, mind, spirit” living together in harmony.

To New York and the land of possibilities, to India and the sense of it all, to our roots, weaving from so many different places and encounters, to our very own body, I feel so beyond grateful.