Conversations With My Teacher

Yoga Praveena, Arun H.S. for those who are familiar, this name immediately brings a fond giggle. Why? Arun has been teaching yoga for the past 30 years and there has been no class so far, where his students have not roared with laughter at his quick-witted sense of humor. He is a student of Padma Bhushan, Yoga Guruji Dr B.K.S.Iyengar. It was a privilege and pleasure walking through the journey of my yoga teacher.

	I remember that during the practice of Kundalini Yoga, I used to have some strange experiences

How has the journey been since?
I started learning under Shri. Janakiraman at Rashtrotthana Sharirika Shiksha (RSS), Bangalore. There I learnt a combination of Pranayama, Meditation and Asana, with Kundalini Yoga practice. After a three months course, there was a test and I secured the second highest marks in the group. Apart from this my teacher used to take me everywhere with him in Bangalore for Yoga demonstrations. A lot of people used to appreciate my demonstrations those days. These two things inspired me a lot.

Also, I remember that during the practice of Kundalini Yoga, I used to have some strange experiences… like seeing different colors in front of my eyes and feeling numbness in different parts of the body. When I discussed this with my teacher he assured me that it was a natural course of Kundalini Yoga. After sometime these experiences disappeared making me depressed. I thought I was not doing things right.

At this juncture I met Ajith Kumar, a student of B.K.S. Iyengar who led me into Guruji"s way of Yoga. It was only after the practice of the Iyengar yoga system that I could relate to and explain scientifically what happened to me in Kundalini Yoga – that perhaps my experiences were not something extraordinary but natural.

How did you meet Guruji (B.K.S Iyengar)?
In 1978, Guruji visited the institution where I was learning and teaching. No one came forward to teach a class in the presence of a great yoga legend. Innocently, I volunteered and gave the class. At that time I was hardly 20 years of age. After class that day, he gave me some advice which has stayed with me ever since. He said, “Not everyone may be so flexible as you are, so it is important that you should come down to your students" level to teach, only then will you be successful." This message was reinforced very recently in 2005 in Argentina where one of my students said to me, “It is very easy to understand your teaching compared to that of others. I feel no confusion about my practice".

In 1979 I went for a week to Guruji"s Pune institute, along with my wife. At that time Guruji was away and I attended the class of his son, Prashantji and daughter Gitaji. I thought I had learnt something. But when Guruji came to inaugurate our institute - Prashant Yogashraya in 1985, he told me that I had much more to learn and asked me to go to Pune for one month of intensive yoga classes. This changed my entire approach to the art of teaching. After this I had the good fortune of being trained for 4 years in Pune with all the three Iyengars teachers.

“After 40 years of age, it becomes very difficult to practice yoga." Read about Arun"s view points on learning Yoga in the next page...

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