 ORIYI News - September 2002 |
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6 - Thoughts on Convention
Two things really struck me on the first day of the convention; the joyful explanations Geeta gave as she performed the opening ceremony and the other was watching her teach a small class a pranayama session.The ceremony began with Geeta chanting various slokas and invocations, we are all familiar with the invocation to Patanjali, but Geeta explained with real glee the relevance of the four others, and it was the respects paid to Hanuman (see picture) that stuck with me. He is regarded as the patron of learning. Geeta said that such is the generous spirit of Hanuman that if you give him a gift he is practically unable to hang on to it and so it’s a good time to ask him for something as he is unable to refuse! So Geeta asked Hanuman for help in our perfecting our understanding of yoga asana and Hanuman has to give it to us! So delightfully charming and simple! Watching Geeta teach a small class Pranayama in the evening was very illuminating. She spent most of the two hours really just accurately getting the students into the various positions. She would not let one foot be half an inch out of alignment - all the time she talked she was lightly flicking somebody’s foot here re-aligning a slightly tipped back skull there. She taught with a precision, clarity and an utmost simplicity that was really awe-inspiring. Philip Brown |