Miss Bite Size Goes Iyengar:
By Bo Chang
Kofi Busia Iyengar Workshop
YogaWorks Downtown NYC
138 Fifth Avenue, 4th Floor
A weekend of Iyengar workshop with my teacher’s teacher sounded good to me until I was in Dandasana again. My legs were about to detach themselves from my torso and stomp out of the studio on their own. My entire body started to shake and tears welled up. Oh, for the love of Krishna, I’m sitting. SITTING!
YogaWorks invited Kofi Busia for 8 hours of workshops over 3 days at the end of May at its downtown NYC location. Kofi is…well, one could say a master teacher of Iyengar yoga and a teacher to many amazing teachers. Yes, that’s all true, but he’s so cool and super-awesome I feel like I need to express it in a different way, for instance, with a whole new dedication asana, an interpretive dance or a 15-minute levitation.
There were no new cool party tricks or any bad-ass Cirque du Soleil handstand sequences. No music, no nice-smelling incense, no new age stuff. He showed up in street clothing (button down shirt, sweater, coat…in late May!), told us his name is Kofi and went on to blow our tiny little minds.
A large majority of the class consisted of experienced Iyengar practitioners and teachers so everyone pretty much knew the asanas, prop usage and modifications. Kofi didn’t take us into 5 gazillion poses, nor did he adjust every little thing. He called out the asanas and told us stories while we held them for a really, really long time. Trust me. Even the easiest pose becomes an epic psycho-physical battle if you hold it long enough.
Oh the stories! First, they make no sense. He talked about tree bark, bass guitars, jazz, relationship dilemas, an old English actress, more tree bark, basketball, John Adams, Wealth of Nation, and on and on (oh, and shared his crazy amazing knowledge in isolation of muscles, bones and ligaments and some sick level of understanding in human kinesics). I mean, the man’s got some great stories! Hilarious! Then the realization set in – his stories are his teachings, his wisdom.
Vrksasana
You know what I learned while sweating in Dandasana and listening to these stories? I learned that I must look deep within myself to understand why I practice asana, how to become a better person through it and how a teacher must truly observe each student with clear eyes and mind in order to help in any meaningful way. No joke. I didn’t know I could get choked up and belly-laugh at the same time listening to someone talk about tree bark while standing in Tree Pose (Vrksasana).
I wish I could tell everyone to go check out his next workshop, but alas, he is rarely in town. He lives and teaches in Santa Cruz. But if he’s anywhere near where you’re going to be, cancel whatever silliness you’re supposed to show up to and go take his classes instead. I think I’ll start saving money to go to California.
Check out Kofi at www.kofibusia.com.