there are iyengar trainings that are two years before you teach and iyengar trainings that are two days. big difference.

jo leffingwell taught iyengar style in seattle and I thought her classes were amazing.

It is a big world, even in yoga and you can't get everyone in the same box.
Most Iyengar teachers are excellent. Yes you should recomend them.
As a teacher, I ask to touch and then I usualy touch lightly to point the way, leaving the action to the student. That has been best for me and my students. I would never yell at anyone. Calm words can show the path.
I know that deeper action can be great from a skilled teacher. I've had Rodney Yee mold my body into asana that I thought would not be part of this lifetime. Not everyone can or should do that.
As you already know, you are your best guide.

Hi Cathy,

I found your post on the first page of an internet search using "Seattle + Iyengar yoga". As an Iyengar instructor you can imagine my dismay. I'm not only shocked by your experience but moreover that you feel you must now "warn" others of the "danger". I don't know, is that your intent?

Please understand that your deductive reasoning is a logical fallacy: Iyengar yoga hurt=hurt is bad=therefore Iyengar yoga is bad.

I'm terribly sorry you had a bad experience but be assured that not all teachers who say they are Iyengar instructors have actually taken the time to go through the VERY rigorous certification process. Those who have know full well that a teacher must first ASK permission to give any adjustment. The teacher should also have asked at the beginning of the class if anyone had any recent or chronic pain or injuries. ALWAYS tell your teacher about your physical history. Never assume they can guess. I find your experience to be the rare exception rather than a commonplace. Above all, Iyengar training emphasizes safety, perhaps even at the cost of excitement.

As far as yelling and egos, well...there are going to be those insecure folks in any walk of life. I've certainly run into them and then high-tailed it the other direction. You won't find that too often but if you do, keep searching. Your yoga journey is all about the relationship you forge with a teacher who both challenges you and supports you.

namaste,
Lori Theis

Hello Cathy.

I'm new here but not new in general.
I've read the entire thread and aspire to be succinct in my reply.

To your original question, if i may....
No, there is no reason to yell at or hurt a yoga student. There is also no reason to use confusing language, to needlessly praise asana, to burn incense, to play Deva Premal, or to do an asana practice in a sauna. But it IS done. And the most we can say of it is this: not all teachers are "skilled teachers" and not all students gravitate to the same experience. Some people simply need to be battered while others need to be coddled, and all points in between.

It is not to me to approve of either. If I go to a class and the teaching or the teacher does not resonate with me then it is actually part of yoga for me to look elsewhere and go. And that is not to say that a teacher should not have vocal inflection, emphasis, and a poetic beauty to their communication. They absolutely should. And it is not to say that a student should not be touched, adjusted, or assisted. My god, we as human beings don't get touched in healthy ways nearly enough. If a student is being touched in an unhealthy way that is not a condemnation of the tool of touch but of the operator wielding it. The mechanics have to be united with the heart, the intention, otherwise we're simply automatons.

I completely agree that safety is the prime directive. However, it is not universally so in all manifestations of yoga. For better or worse, yoga teaching rests on a continuum. At one end is efficacy. At the other, safety. Some practices are very effective and not at all safe while others are as safe as a padded cell but there's little or no effect.

There are some very sweet Iyengar teachers. There are also some that "elected" not to attend the Yogacharya Festival in California last year in honor of BKS because other traditions were invited. This after the sweet Iyengar teacher Kofi Busia worked very hard to arrange a quality yoga convention. Sadly, that sort of behavior reflects on the tradition. Very sad.

What I would tell the 20-something student is this: If you have an Iyengar practice AND that practice has an efficacy on your life and how you live it (off he mat) AND you feel called at the heart center to share that onward, then take that training. If the student does not have a practice in that style it is merely the rational mind, the intellect guiding the ship, not the heart. And that would make it very challenging to be a conduit for yoga at all, in any tradition.

This topic has been brought up in my teacher training, which is Anusara based. Our teacher has told us many stories, good and bad from her travels around the country doing seminars and taking classes. One specific class she mentioned was with an Iyengar instructor. As she was in a pose, he came by and slapped her on the back of her head, and quipped at her to draw attention to her shoulders. She said it startled her more than anything and made her body freeze, instead of open to grace. Plus he hit her in the back of the head, which made no sense, seeing as how he wanted her to draw attn. to the shoulders. In any case, she expressed the opinion that there are teachers in every style that don't know what they're doing, and who say and do things that are unprofessional and could potentially hurt students. It's unfortunate.

I recently went to a mixed level class (not Iyengar) where the teacher adjusted each student in EVERY SINGLE standing pose. It was highly uncomfortable for me, because he kept pulling me out of alignment. Finally towards the end, I had to kindly tell him that I didn't want to be adjusted. It was just one of those things. There was no way I was going to let him injure me and I was adamant about standing up for myself in that situation and kindly asking not to be touched. First, I'd like to say that my belief is the less you touch people, the better. Unless someone is in very bad alignment and is going to potentially hurt themselves, there is no need to immediately adjust them, especially when a teacher doesn't have any type of rapport with the student. Words are the best adjustment, and unless someone is very skilled in the principles of alignment for that posture...they shouldn't be touching any student! Why risk the potential to hurt that student? It's just not worth it.

What a pussy post! You like Shiva Rea and Rodney Yee? They are pin up center folds for chrissake.
Entirely the wrong attitude you have taken for your body experience. take responsibility for your bodies condition.