Dearest Friends,
Marla Apt will be returning to the Feathered Pipe Ranch for her twelfth annual Iyengar yoga program — Attention and the Gift of Awareness: An Iyengar Yoga Intensive, July 21 - 27. Here, she shares how she came to Iyengar yoga, her efforts to bring the benefits of therapeutic yoga to the greater public sphere, and why she returns to the Feathered Pipe year after
year.
Eric: From my understanding you first came to yoga and Iyengar yoga through your study of Buddhism. Is that true?
Marla: Yes, that is true. I was studying Buddhist philosophy, which exposed me to yogic philosophy. I was somewhat familiar with yogic philosophy, but not with the practice or how the practice and the philosophy merge. Buddhism was the lens through which I viewed yoga during my first years of practicing yoga.
Eric: Did you find that they resonated with each other, or were some things in conflict with each other?
 Marla: I immediately felt that they resonated with each other. When I first discovered Iyengar yoga I was kind of blown away. While I enjoyed the intellectual stimulation of the philosophy, I thought it difficult for laypeople to to grasp. When I took my first
Iyengar yoga class, I was amazed at how the concepts could be experienced in a practical manner, accessible to anyone with a body. I continued to be impressed with how BKS Iyengar was able to use asana and pranayama to access the goals of Yoga. Having already done some seated meditation practice, I found yoga to be complimentary and to be a sort of meditation in action.
Eric: You started Iyengar Yoga Therapeutics. What was your motivation for doing this?
 Marla: Iyengar yoga is inherently therapeutic. BKS Iyengar developed yoga therapy early in his studies and practice of yoga. He started working with doctors and took an interest in helping people through yoga. He saw very quickly in his teaching career how
yoga could help people overcome illness and injury and devoted a large part of his life to that subject.
 While all Iyengar Yoga teachers are trained with a therapeutic approach to modify and help students with basic problems and common ailments, we don’t consider that to be yoga therapy. Rather, therapeutic Iyengar Yoga is prescriptive, specified to individual students and
their condition. Iyengar yoga therapy has been taught to the senior teachers directly by BKS Iyengar. I wanted to help share knowledge of this healing art to all teachers of Iyengar yoga and to most importantly, make this therapy accessible to the general public.
Eric: Can you share what your intention is for your retreat at the Feathered Pipe and what you hope to teach?
 Marla: I hope to help develop a positive relationship with attention. Attention is a huge part of the yogic path - our ability to focus with one pointed-ness and awareness. There are practical tool that we can use in our practice to help us to build
attention, sustain it, and lengthen it. These are all aspects of the progression on the yogic path. I hope to help facilitate that process in our asana and pranayama practice - to see how we can use our attention and sustain it in a way that is positive and builds upon itself, and ultimately leads to a more meditative mind that has a more even flow of awareness.
One of the beautiful things about doing yoga at the Feathered Pipe Ranch is that can devote more time to the practice. We get to spend hours in daily mindful practice yoga. The mind, body, and emotions are all aspects of our consciousness. Refining and culturing them has a potent and cumulative effect. So being able to do that for several days in a row can be profound.
Eric: Iyengar yoga has really been one of the pillars of everything we have done at the Ranch during our almost forty-five years. What is your experience of the Feathered Pipe?
 Marla: It’s an honor because I know the history of transmission at the ranch. Many of the senior teachers who helped spark the flame of yoga in this country began that process at the ranch. So I definitely feel that history when I’m there: the
wisdom of the teachers and seeker in the students.
It’s nice to be able to help continue the thread of the ranch’s tradition of yoga studies in the same beautiful yoga room. At the ranch, I feel that we are supported in our practice. The lack of distraction helps to maintain our intention. Feathered Pipe provides an ideal retreat setting. The yoga is the focus of the week and everything else serves to support that.
We invite you to join us at the Feathered Pipe Ranch this summer, July 21 - 27, for Marla Apt's Attention and the Gift of Awareness: An Iyengar Yoga Intensive.
|
|
 |
Beginner’s Mind – Gernot Huber
Do you ever feel like your practice has become routine? Are you convinced you have figured out exactly how you like to practice (fast/slow, alignment instructions/no instructions, music/no music)? Are you now taking poses for granted that you couldn’t do a year or two ago? Do you keep obsessing over the same limitations, the same frustrations in your practice (tight hamstrings, poor balance, weak core, anyone)?
Do you ever ask yourself any of the above questions? Should you?
|
 |
Unplugging mindfully: Feathered Pipe Ranch - Retreat Guru
It seems that no matter how mindful we are in our practice – on the cushion, the yoga mat, or otherwise – many of us struggle to maintain a healthy relationship with technology. As more and more retreat centers offer full wi-fi and technology access, what’s a seeker to do when you really want to unplug?
|
|
Contact Us |
|
Feathered Pipe Foundation
P.O. Box 1682
Helena, MT 59624
(406) 442-8196
|
|
|
