New Media Faculty Development Seminar

Yesterday in teacher training Mary and Eddy were listing the various common "mistakes" that people make in assessment. Encouragingly, the mistakes that people make at the upper levels are often the same mistakes that people make at the lower levels. Mary referred to BKS' definition of an intermediate student being one who can hold a bad pose longer." Intermediate teachers make longer mistakes.

One of the things they discussed was the "integration" of philosophy into teaching. In Iyengar land, this is not expected until the Junior I level, and perhaps this is part of why the philosophy often seems slapped on. Perhaps if people were integrating philosophy at the beginning, they would get better at it. At some point, Eddy lamented that no one has ever asked him "how do I integrate yoga philosophy into my life?" This is the question he has been waiting for for a long time. It reminded me a lot of what my teacher Stanley Rosen said of another teacher of mine, David Latcherman. He said, David, like Socrates, "spent his life looking for a philosophical friend." I think the upshot of that story is that David and Stanley had found this in each other and Eddy's wanting someone to ask the question is really the lament of wanting someone to talk with about the things that matter most deeply to him and perhaps more wanting to have someone to teach that to.

Well, I personally have never asked him the question because I do a lot of integration of philosophy in my life already. I don't really have a question about how to do it in that I'm already doing it (perhaps I'm not doing it enough in yoga teaching but Indeed, most of my life revolves around philosophy in one way shape or form. This blog being one example of many, but I did feel compelled to say something.

And at least some part of me realized philosophical complacency is the death of philosophy and so I began to ask in a way what counts as philosophy (now I have this conversation A LOT in professional circles because the dominate mode of philosophizing doesn't really think the type of philosophy I practice is real philosophy) so I was curious "what is Real philosophy according to those who are in the position to define the term in yoga land?"

So I said, well you could call people's attention to the bavana of various poses and to the extent they see themselves as enacting the qualities of mountains in their poses and are aware of that that is philosophy of a sort or does it need to be linked to a sutra or the Gita to make it philosophy...

Some conversation ensued and ultimately Eddy said, just bavana is not enough. He also talked about philosophy occurring at the teachable moment when you see the chance to say something that will really make a difference in the life of a student. Mary talked a lot about her teacher Mary Dunn, who did all the philosophy study work one is supposed to do, but generally in her teaching the philosophy manifested as practical life advice.

Mary also talked about helping a student who felt hopeless and after learning some things, she now had hope. Mary said, "now I think that's philosophy." Me too.

The theme of this workshop is the reflector and the reflected and the aim thus far has really been at getting us to reflect or self-examine in Socratic language. A lot of times, I do see the task of the philosophy teacher as simply getting people to wake up and look at themselves and why they think the way that they think. Within the context I teach in, I am happy with that as a goal. But there is a deeper sense in which that is just preparatory work. There is a content to philosophy as well and you do have to teach the content. But also, philosophy means love of wisdsom and so you have to find a way to make people fall in love with the life of wisdom seeking.

Which is part of what I think Eddy meant by saying that we have to learn to teach more from the heart. But again, back to the Socratic, for Socrates, I think he saw philosophy as the most erotic of practices in that it is what the soul truly loves and truly wants to participate in with other souls.

Simply put, the reflector is God and the reflected is our true self, in the non dual traditions of vedanta, ultimately these are one and the same. The job of practice is to refine the instruments of seeing so we can see, really so we can be what actually is reflected on the deepest level we become the reflector.

Those are my words, Here's how Eddy and Mary describe the purpose of the workshop, "Reflection on action brings insight & builds up knowledge about the effects
of our efforts. This new knowledge gives one ideas about how to improve or
modify our actions/efforts for better/different effect. A further use of
action & reflection is to understand what is done and what is a response to
what is done. i.e. what happens on its own which is not done by us. since
responses are effortless, learning how to cultivate responses takes one down
the path towards effortlessness



Bimba Pratibimba leads us towards self knowledge & subtlety in practice. It
transforms crude action "just doing the poses" into refined action i.e.
working on different levels, being "done by the pose" etc."


As always, I am struck by the deep parallels between this and Platonic philosophy. self-knowledge is ultimately an understanding of the relationship between soul and the divine. Plato was also very interested in metaphors of sight for knowledge. They pervade the dialogues. The good enables knowledge, just as the sun enables light. Eddy even used the image of teacher and student as two stones rubbing together to produce truth, but ultimately we have to become our own teacher. It is a lot like Socrates saying that he uses the arguments of others as a touchstone for the truth of his own understanding. He also put people in difficult situations, (intellectual poses if you will) so that they could see themselves more clearly.

Eddy talked a lot about using the classroom as that sort of space to practice clearing the mind, mostly by watching what the mind does all the time. How is it getting in the way of effortless effort? It is more about undoing than doing, but a whole lot of doing comes before getting to the point of undoing.

I think think point of aporia,, where Socrates gets is really the point where we first glimpse that inaccurate understanding is inaccurate, we really see there is no way out given our current mistakes of the mind and that has to happen to be able to see clearly.

So doing yoga and confronting how the mind is in what we can and cannot do is really like the arguments that fail in the first part of a Platonic dialogue. You have to see how the mind plays itself before it can play itself out and then a whole different level of seeing can occur. Then the journey within (or the journey up the mountain) begins.

In terms of the poses we actually did, tadasanas and UHs lots of vinaysa with T, UH, UK, utt, changing up the order to catch the auto matic response. Lots of jumping from AMS to Utt (by the way try to get your toes to actually line up with the finger tips some time. totally different, some chaturangasa and UMS Vira II, Parsvakonasna Trkonasaka, Vira I, III, AMS prasarita savasana. Long holds, learning to go at own pace, learning to see what all the corrections have gotten you over the years and also what they have not gotten you in that you are still doing the same mistakes.

there's a way it is kind of depressing, if one looks at it from the perspective of still more to do.... but there were glimpses of a better mind state throughout and palpable energy shifts and so the now and the experience of the now, which is really the only place where we can experience this true reflectedness also came and there is liberation and rest and peace in all of that.

Yesterday morning we had a bit of a false start in that I thought class started at 9, but it didn't start until 10, so we went and got a coffee at Starbucks and then headed back to La Quinta to take Milo for a walk.

Then we went back to class, got a juice at whole foods in between, ate lunch in the room after George, and went over to visit Marj at Yoga Mart. We both got some new yoga togs and a set of ropes to try out on the rope wall.

Then I had an iynascus board meeting and then we ate some dinner, came back and watched Baylor beat A& M in a very good, very close game and went to sleep. Milo woke us up at two, he was desperate to go out.

I did some Baylor work in between all this.

Here are the Sequences from Randy and George's class. Randy is just an amazing teacher, It is a real testament to the Iyengar method. I've watched him teach way back when he was just getting certified and now he's done with Junior III. His teaching is filled with energy, excitement, enthusiasm, humor, great instruction and increasing philosophical sophistication. Delightful.

George as always draws on the depth of his understanding of the poses to show me little nuggets about what I thought I already knew. Their classes were really going after very similar actions throughout. Fascinating to see the Iyengar method in action in these two different teachers.

Randy’s sequence

Prasarita Padottansana, concave hands forward under shoulders then back working on length in the abdominal region.
Prasarita Padottasana, head down and bringing head way through the legs.
Supta I, II and IV working with abdominal actions in all and keeping legs firm,
In Supta I draw bottom leg toward mid line in all poses bottom leg hamstring well on the ground, can arch lumbar to accomplish this, nail gun opposite side down, In Supta IV don’t let femur head collapse onto the abdomen.
Take all those abd actions into Jathara Parivarttasana,
Navasana
Ardha Navasana
Back and forth N to AN
Then AMVrk jumping up and down with two legs.
Sirsasana
Vrksasana, linking to the supta work.
UPHP linking to supta work.
Dwi Hasta Bujasana prep spend long time getting one arm way under, toward hamstring and then turn away from that leg by pressing with opposite hand on leg (don’t give up, observe mind which wants to give up which says, “i’m done” versus mind that says “I’ve only just begun.”
Dwi Hasta Bujasana full pose a coupel times.
Paschimottanasana, legs apart
JS working with the turning abdomen actions.
Parvritta JS
Parvritta Paschimott to paschimo directly between sides.
Setu bandha with brick
Eka Pada Setu Bandha
(no time for sarvangasana)

It was a great class, have at it.

George taught a very similar though more basic level class at 1:00


George’s sequence.

Virasana
AMS looking at the direction of the biceps.
Supta I and II
Urdhva Prasarita padasana 90, 60 30
Working with both “flat back” and “arched back”
Jathara Parivartanasana
Ardha Navasana.
AMS
Sirsasana
Eka Pada Sirsasana
Balasana
AM vrk
Sarvangasana
Halasana
Eka Pada Sarvangasana from Halasana
Savasana.

BK Garceau, a trailer editor in LA and a former student of mine, is working on the trailer for Where We Started. He has been trying to cull it down to a two minute preview that tells the story without revealing too much. Though it's not yet complete, I thought I'd share what the trailer for the movie looks like in post-it note form on BK's door:



The trailer edit itself should be done pretty soon, but then we still have to finish sound work and color correction on the film so that the look of the footage in the trailer will match what the final look of the film turns out to be. So I'm not sure precisely when it will be released for public consumption - but I will tell you that watching the trailer made me excited about this film all over again.

Jeff and I are up in Dallas for the Mary and Eddy workshop. We came up Tuesday in time for George's class. George Purvis is an amazing teacher. Super nice guy and super knowledgeable about yoga. We basically had a three person private lesson with us and Jason. What a luxury to have a senior teacher look that closely at your poses. It really boggles my mind that more people don't take advantage of the enormous resource that is George Purvis at BKS Iyengar Studio of Dallas.

Here's the sequence, long AMVira, AMS, AMvrk, regular, palms out, palms in, palms turned all the way back, interspersed with UHs to refresh the arms. long chair dwi pada, Pincha. variation of eka pada rajakapotasana 2, with back toe turned under at the wall, hands holding onto chair, long holds on both side, this is brutal with the foot turned like this, give it a try sometime. Ustrasana rolled stikcy in front of knees, go back keeping pelvis at wall, Scorpion holding onto the chair and he taught a neat foot kicking trick to hook the feet, AMS sirsasana, dropping over to dwi pada upto to Urdhva D 8 to 10 times, Jason flipped back over a couple times and George helped Jeff with standing up, I rested... then viparti karani (with long discourse about the movie war horse).

Fun times. Off to Randy's class.

" Philosophy-no problem too trivial, no answer too obscure."

This is a t-shirt from the UT philosophy department. I saw a philosopher wearing it both Saturday and Sunday. How do I know it was a philosopher? Let's just say the image conformed to my stereotypical view of the philosopher making his way in a non-academic setting.

The shirt is funny in a way, clearly analytic philosophy making fun of itself here, which is better than when it simply takes itself seriously, but it does speak to a fundamental difference in various approaches to philosophy that are worth thinking about at some length.

Analytic philosophy does tend to view the philosophical task as a set of problems to be solved and the answers and indeed, the problems themselves can get pretty obscure. What is a philosophical problem you might ask? You know free will and determinism, the problem of evil, the mind body problem, turing tests, chinese boxes, possible worlds..is time travel possible? Zeno's paradox, the Euthyphro problem.

By the way, If you want to read a very funny blog written by the wife of a UT grad student go here to the philosologist blog a few posts back she has a totally hilarious characterization of the various strains of philosopher

I am not an analytic philosopher. Never have been. The problems approach is not what drew me to philosophy, though I do remember testing out Zeno's paradox on the playground in second grade. Plato's dialogues drew me to philosophy. I simply fell in love with them. (this is a very short version of a long story, the first installment of which will be published soon).

By and large, the students in my most excellent Plato seminar are here for the analytic philosophy. Baylor was not always a hot bed of analytic philosophy, but it has moved steadily in that direction for over a decade now and I would say it has solidly arrived in its promised land, as demonstrated by rankings on various reports.

I really don't mean to undermine this achievement in anyway. Truly, it is quite remarkable. If you build it, they will come. Baylor went about building it, and it is built very well, in a remarkably short period of time.

However, the current state of affairs presents something of a challenge to me pedagogically. As a group, individually and collectively they are by far and away the most intelligent group of graduate students I've worked with in my twenty years of teaching. There are no weak links in the chain. They are well bonded and conversation flows easily. And that in and of itself, is simply a lot of fun. It is fun teaching super intelligent, highly engaged students. At the same time, the majority of them, not all, simply do not do philosophy in the way that I do it so I'm having to present my way of doing philosophy along with presenting Plato and my way of doing Plato.

Now some analytic philosophers are interested in Plato, indeed, the dominant mode of Plato scholarship is done by analytic philosophers, but they tend to be interested in the arguments in the dialogues or differently put, the problems that arise when considering the arguments in the dialogues.

Plato and Socrates were more philosophy as a way of life philosophers. They tended to view philosophy as an ongoing process of self-examination that led one to a deeper understanding, of self, other, world, society, and the fundamental principles that under gird reality. They did not so much see this process as a set of problems but sustained inquiry into the nature of who am I and what is.

Here are a couple philosophical problems that Socrates was concerned with "What sort of creature am I?" "What sort of wisdom do I have that the oracles says no one is wiser?" They are problems, sure, but they are problems that are inexorably bound to the meaning of life for him. When I was in high school, the cross country team had a great t-shirt. it is a quote from the Phaedo. "How curious is this thing called pleasure and how closely related to pain." Again, a sort of problem, the relationship of what we take to be opposite experiences, but it is what Socrates remarks when reflecting on the chains that hold him in his prison cell as he awaits the moment for his death by hemlock.

One of my former teachers Carl Vaught often said that "philosophy is not a set of problems to be solved but a paradox to be deepened." A paradox to be deepened over the course of a lifetime.

Jeff and I had a pretty fun weekend. I had a blast at Friday Practice. There were a good number of us present and so that added some extra energy to things and I had some really good linking insights going through the PW sequence again. Then we met Dad and Mom at Hyde park Grill to celebrate Dad's 74th birthday. We had a nice time and talked some about various childhood memories I about the death of Dad's parents, which doesn't seem like it would be fun, but we laughed a good bit at our various foibles and it was fun.

Saturday Farmer's Market, working out and yoga. Sunday yoga, long walk with Milo on the green belt and working out.

Jeff and I have both been engaged in healthier life style habits this year and have been doing a good job of sticking with it thus far.

I had a very strange dream in the middle of the night, I think it was watching Downton Abbey and Sherlock Holmes before bed. I dreamed a lot about death in various forms anyway, it left me a bit unsettled so I got up and did some supine pranayama and finally went back to sleep. Have felt a bit uneasy all day, but am going about doing my various Monday tasks, in addition to getting ready to go to Dallas for the week. Mary and Eddy start Tuesday, but Jeff and I and Milo are going up Tuesday so we can take some classes from George and Randy also. Anyway, as always, going away involves getting all my ducks in a row on the front end which is what I've been doing most of the day.

I had a nice time teaching Cue and Dorothy this morning. They are very engaged students. It is a good lesson in keeping an active engaged life and mind as one ages and goes through life.

So nothing deeply philosophic on this particular blog except some mild self-examination about abnihivesha in its various forms, dreams, memory, practice.

Here's what's on the docket for yoga classes this week.

AMVira
AMS
Utt
Malasana
Utt
Dandasana
Navasana
Ardha Navasana
Dandasana
Supta 1
Ubhaya Padangustasana

Lolasana

Dandasana
MI
Eka Hasta Bhujasana
Dandasana

Supta I
Urdhva Prasarita Padasana

AMS
AMVrk
PM
Sirsasana
Chair Dwi Pada
Salamba Sarvangasana I
Salamba Sarvangasana II
Jathara Parivartansana (legs bent)
savasana

Wow, it is finally Friday. I've had a busy week. We are in the process of interviewing for a position in the BIC so we've been interviewing candidates, observing teaching and the like. It is also tenure review season, annual review season, and I've in fact being reviewed as my three year stint as BIC director is drawing to a close. If all goes well, I'll do it for another three years.

Anyway, I guess what's "on my mind" in Facebook status language is the concept of evaluation and judgement and the importance of discernment. In yogic terms, discernment is viveka, it is basically the quality of mind that we develop through yoga practice that enables us to determine true from false, real from not real, good from evil, purusha from prakriti. In many ways, viveka is what keeps us on the path and without it we get lost.


So I've been thinking a lot about the capacity to discern, in terms of evaluating progress toward tenure, evluating performance, evaluating my "job satisfaction." I'm enjoying the challenges of the new job a great deal, but at the same time I've really been reinforced in my view of my "dharma as teacher." In many ways, directing BIC is teaching on a macro level. A lot of what I enjoy about the job is mentoring young faculty through the tenure process and there is a lot of telling and sharing what I've learned. I was actually talking with Sam and Candi about it at the New Menoring dinner. It is different than how I typically teach philosophy in that I'm just pretty straight forward about this is the lay of the land as I see it. In the philosophy context, I try to be a bit more Socratic, in the sense that I present ideas but I more try to create a context where the discussion of ideas occurs. So part of me likes the straightforward approach. There's another aspect to the teaching dimension of BIC in the sense that I have the opportunity to think and to a certain extent bring about, good pedagogy more globally, in terms of reshaping curriculum and encouraging active engagement in the classroom etc.

Yesterday, I was sitting in the office typing up some administrative request and a student came by looking for his keys. I told him to wait a couple minutes and I would help him look in the front office. I went out and he and a friend were sitting patiently. They asked if I was "BIC Director" and I said "yes." I asked if they were BIC students, yes. first year. They like the BIC and they said "thank you for the BIC." Now that was pretty cool, but I'm just a small part of BIC, its my turn at the directing of it but it evolved over close to a thirty year period from its initial seed existence as a response to a university self study, chaired by my good friend and mentor Bob Baird, to where it is now as one of four programs in the honors college.

That's one of the things I like most about BIC, is that I feel like I'm part of a large team working toward a common aim.

But it is still a different feeling for me than the feeling of being in the classroom talking with students about Plato. There's something very deep in my soul that knows "this is exactly what I'm supposed to be doing." That's dharma and it is quite different from "job satisfaction." I'm one of the lucky ones in a sense that my "job" and my "dharma" overlap a great deal, but I think it is important to keep the concepts and my experience of them distinct.

This came up in a different way in one of my philosophy student's blogs. Karl Aho, you can check out his blog post here

He was asking about how to maintain the leisure necessary to philosophize when pursuing professional philosophy and I answered him on the blog, but it strikes me that it is a good parallel with one's own personal yoga practice and what goes on in the yoga classroom. There's an overlap sure, but you have to cultivate the space in your life for practice without its public context.

Wow, it is finally Friday. I've had a busy week. We are in the process of interviewing for a position in the BIC so we've been interviewing candidates, observing teaching and the like. It is also tenure review season, annual review season, and I've in fact being reviewed as my three year stint as BIC director is drawing to a close. If all goes well, I'll do it for another three years.

Anyway, I guess what's "on my mind" in Facebook status language is the concept of evaluation and judgement and the importance of discernment. In yogic terms, discernment is viveka, it is basically the quality of mind that we develop through yoga practice that enables us to determine true from false, real from not real, good from evil, purusha from prakriti. In many ways, viveka is what keeps us on the path and without it we get lost.


So I've been thinking a lot about the capacity to discern, in terms of evaluating progress toward tenure, evluating performance, evaluating my "job satisfaction." I'm enjoying the challenges of the new job a great deal, but at the same time I've really been reinforced in my view of my "dharma as teacher." In many ways, directing BIC is teaching on a macro level. A lot of what I enjoy about the job is mentoring young faculty through the tenure process and there is a lot of telling and sharing what I've learned. I was actually talking with Sam and Candi about it at the New Menoring dinner. It is different than how I typically teach philosophy in that I'm just pretty straight forward about this is the lay of the land as I see it. In the philosophy context, I try to be a bit more Socratic, in the sense that I present ideas but I more try to create a context where the discussion of ideas occurs. So part of me likes the straightforward approach. There's another aspect to the teaching dimension of BIC in the sense that I have the opportunity to think and to a certain extent bring about, good pedagogy more globally, in terms of reshaping curriculum and encouraging active engagement in the classroom etc.

Yesterday, I was sitting in the office typing up some administrative request and a student came by looking for his keys. I told him to wait a couple minutes and I would help him look in the front office. I went out and he and a friend were sitting patiently. They asked if I was "BIC Director" and I said "yes." I asked if they were BIC students, yes. first year. They like the BIC and they said "thank you for the BIC." Now that was pretty cool, but I'm just a small part of BIC, its my turn at the directing of it but it evolved over close to a thirty year period from its initial seed existence as a response to a university self study, chaired by my good friend and mentor Bob Baird, to where it is now as one of four programs in the honors college.

That's one of the things I like most about BIC, is that I feel like I'm part of a large team working toward a common aim.

But it is still a different feeling for me than the feeling of being in the classroom talking with students about Plato. There's something very deep in my soul that knows "this is exactly what I'm supposed to be doing." That's dharma and it is quite different from "job satisfaction." I'm one of the lucky ones in a sense that my "job" and my "dharma" overlap a great deal, but I think it is important to keep the concepts and my experience of them distinct.

This came up in a different way in one of my philosophy student's blogs. Karl Aho, you can check out his blog post here

He was asking about how to maintain the leisure necessary to philosophize when pursuing professional philosophy and I answered him on the blog, but it strikes me that it is a good parallel with one's own personal yoga practice and what goes on in the yoga classroom. There's an overlap sure, but you have to cultivate the space in your life for practice without its public context.

It's the fourth week of the month, where the pedagogical focus of Iygengar public classes is pranayama. What is pranayama you might ask? Literally, the word means something like extension of prana or energy. Breath is one manifestation of prana, but the scope of prana is pretty much all pervasive.

Patajali has five sutras that talk about Pranayama directly (though there are sutras in the list of meditative techniques that are clearly talking about pranayama).

Pranayama is the 4th limb of yoga, it comes after yama, niyama, asana. It is the first limb where any temporal distinction about the order of practicing the limbs occurs.

Patanjali writes (I am using Edwin Bryant's translation here), "When that (asana) is accomplished pranayama, breath control (follows). This consists of the regulation of the incoming and outgoing breaths" (ii. 49).

How does one know when asana is accomplished? When the effort to to it becomes effortless according to BKS' translation (or by the relaxation of effort and absorption in the infinite, according to Edwin's translation).

Or perhaps when one is not afflicted by the dualities of the opposites" (II.48).

That sounds like a pretty high starting point and in a sense it is, but I've also been taught that basically, start pranayama when you have some daily asana practice well established.

One of the biggests lessons I took from my recent studies with Swati Chanchani is that all asana is a preparation for pranayama, or differently put, one should look at asana from the perspective of developing a pranayama practice, so is the spine straight, are the hips level, how to the arms and legs work to faciliate the necessary openness in the hips to sit straight and the necessary openness in the chest to breathe well and overall the presence of mind to begin focusing on the breathe.

As an aside, at a recent Patricia workshop, Patricia asked us to paraphrase the sutras in our own words and the one I had was ii.49. I sort of jokingly paraphrased it as "when your asana practice is good enough, then you can start worrying about the breath."

Patanjali goes onto explain the parts of the breathing process is 11.50 and 11.51 and then he outlines the effects of pranayam, "then the covering of illumination is weakened and the mind becomes fit for concentration" (11.52-53).

Another way of thinking about pranayama is that it is a bridge between the outer work of yama, niyama, and asana and the inner work of concentration, meditation, and samadhi. Maha Mudra perfectly symbolizes this transitional state in that it is both a pose and a pranayama. so today in class we'll work again toward Maha Mudra, vanquisher of death...

Here's the sequence from Monday at San Marcos and the further development of it for class today listed in bold. Just FYI San Marcos class is all levels including beginner and Castle Hill is in theory Level 2-3, though there are a couple beginners in there as well.

Arm work (UH, UB, Paschima)
AMS
Goumukasana full pose.
AMS
some work at the bar to open the chest
AMVrk
PM prep
PM
Sirsaana
Chair Dwi pada
setu bandha
Sarvangasana, walking up the wall, working toward Sarvangasana II
Maha Mudra
savasana legs in chair

Off to do some morning yoga with Jeff before a busy Tuesday begins.