艾揚格瑜伽的獨特之處是什麼大綱

This week, the international yoga community said goodbye to a beloved teacher, B.K.S. Iyengar, who died at the age of 95. He is credited with bringing yoga to the Western world and making it accessible to every age and walk of life. To learn more about what makes Iyengar yoga so special to those who practice it, I spoke with Carrie Owerko, a teacher at the Iyengar Yoga Institute of Greater New York. She was also a student of B.K.S. Iyengar, and studied with him in India in February. Here's an edited version of our conversation.

本週，國際瑜伽界跟深受敬愛的老師B·K·S·艾揚格(B.K.S. Iyengar)告別。他享年95歲。他被認爲是把瑜伽帶到西方世界的功臣，讓所有年齡段和各個階層的人都能接觸到它。爲更多地瞭解艾揚格瑜伽對練習者來說爲何如此特別，我採訪了大紐約區艾揚格瑜伽協會(Iyengar Yoga Institute of Greater New York)的老師卡麗·奧沃科(Carrie Owerko)。她也是B·K·S·艾揚格的學生，今年2月份跟他在印度學習。下面是我們談話的剪輯版。

Q. Why was B.K.S. Iyengar such an important teacher?

問：爲什麼B·K·S·艾揚格是一位重要的老師？

A. B.K.S. Iyengar was really a pioneer. He was one of the people who brought yoga to the West and really made it popular because he made it approachable for anyone. He felt that yoga was for everybody. No matter what the challenges — physical challenges, mental challenges or age — he didn't see any limitation.

答：B·K·S·艾揚格真的是一位先驅。他是最早把瑜伽帶到西方社會的人之一，他讓它變得真正流行，讓任何人都能接觸到它。他覺得瑜伽屬於所有人。身體或精神上的缺陷乃至年齡在他看來都不是限制。

I think one of his main contributions was making yoga accessible, but also the degree of attention he gave to the practices of asana, or postural yoga, and to pranayama, the breathing exercises, was immense. He was also an amazing communicator. He was constantly finding new ways to help his students increase their capacity to be aware of what was going on in their bodies and minds.

我覺得他的主要貢獻之一是讓所有人都能練瑜伽，而且他十分關注瑜伽體位和呼吸。他還非常擅於溝通，不斷尋找新方法幫助學生提高了解自己身心的能力。

Iyengar is a lot of the yoga people experience in the United States. The teacher may not be teaching Iyengar, but that teacher has been influenced by Iyengar yoga in some way.

在美國，很多瑜伽練習者都練過艾揚格瑜伽。他們的老師教的可能不是艾揚格瑜伽，但是那位老師在某些方面總會受過艾揚格瑜伽的影響。

Q. What is unique about Iyengar yoga?

問：艾揚格瑜伽的獨特之處是什麼？

A. What distinguishes Iyengar yoga is the very high degree of attention paid to alignment. Props may be used to increase awareness and to make the poses accessible. Sometimes we hold the poses longer than students might be used to in a flow-style class. There is an emphasis on movement, but then learning how to calmly abide in the body.

答：艾揚格瑜伽的一個特點是非常注重校正。可能會使用道具來增強意識，幫助練習者做出某些姿勢。有時我們練習某些姿勢的時間比流瑜伽的課程要長一點。我們注重運動，但是然後就要學習如何平靜地活在自己的身體裏。

The diversity of practice is another distinguishing element. We don't do one sequence every day. That is the case in other popular types of yoga where there might be a consistent sequence repeated day to day. Even though we do repeat some of the same poses, there is a lot of diversity in the sequencing. In my experience that helps prevent injury and overuse. His approach is therapeutic in nature. That is a huge aspect to the practice.

另一個顯著的特點是練習的多樣化。我們不是每天都重複一套動作。其他流行的瑜伽派別可能每天重複一套動作。雖然我們確實也重複某些姿勢，但是在順序上有很多變化。根據我的經驗，那能幫助防止受傷和勞損。他的方法在本質上是治療性的。那是這項鍛鍊很重要的一個方面。

Q. Why did B.K.S. Iyengar use props in his teaching?

問：爲什麼B·K·S·艾揚格在教學中使用道具？

A. Take the yoga block. Everybody knows a yoga block. It's something you can get at Bed Bath & Beyond. The prototype of the yoga block was actually a rock or cinder block from B.K.S. Iyengar's garden. When he was teaching students, he would sometimes place students over his knee for a supported back arch if they couldn't support themselves. The story goes that he asked his daughter to go in the yard and bring this cinder block to help. That was the beginning of the yoga block. He would use whatever was in the environment — tables, chairs, ropes. The more common props — belts, straps, blocks and chairs, this is the type of equipment that was not really used in the practice of yoga. Now everybody is using them. There are never enough props to go around.

答：以瑜伽磚爲例。每個人都知道瑜伽磚，在Bed Bath & Beyond商店就能買到。瑜伽磚的來源實際上是B·K·S·艾揚格花園裏的一塊石頭或煤渣磚。教學生的時候，有時如果學生自己支不起來的話，他會把學生放在自己膝蓋上作爲背部拱起的支撐。據說他讓女兒去院子裏找一塊煤渣磚幫忙。那就是瑜伽磚的起源。他會利用周圍的任何東西——桌子、椅子和繩子。更常見的道具是腰帶、帶子、磚塊和椅子，過去它們並不用於瑜伽練習。如今每個人都在用。道具再多也不嫌多。

Q. Is there a distinguishing pose or style of pose that is unique to Iyengar?

問：艾揚格瑜伽有沒有一種獨特的姿勢或者一種獨特的體式風格？

A. I don't know of a pose that we do exclusively in Iyengar that is not done in other styles. But the headstand and shoulder stand are really important poses in our practice. They are not always taught in other styles of yoga. We have alternatives for people who are not able to do them. If someone comes to an Iyengar class, they know there will be some inverted pose that is taught. We don't require to people do them but we try to make them accessible and safe. We insist on a yoga blanket to prevent overstretching of the neck area. Iyengar yoga is very cautious and mindful.

答：我沒聽說有哪種瑜伽體式是艾揚格瑜伽獨有的。但是頭倒立和肩倒立對我們的練習非常重要。其他類型的瑜伽並不都教這些體式。對那些做不到這些體式的人，我們有一些替代體式。來上艾揚格瑜伽課程的人知道我們會教一些倒立的體式。我們不強求，但是會盡量讓學生接觸到這些體式，並保證他們的安全。我們堅決要求用瑜伽墊，防止頸部的過度伸長。艾揚格瑜伽非常謹慎小心。

Q. When did you last practice with Mr. Iyengar?

問：你上次跟B·K·S·艾揚格一起練瑜伽是什麼時候？

In February of this year, I was in India, and B.K.S. Iyengar was in the practice. Even though his daughter and son and now his granddaughter are teaching the majority of the classes now, he would be in the practice hall every single day correcting people and engaging people. Even at 95 years old, he couldn't help himself. He had to teach. It was his calling.

答：今年2月我在印度時B·K·S·艾揚格還在教課。雖然現在他女兒、兒子和孫女在教大部分的課程，但是他每天都在練習廳糾正學生，和學生交談。雖然95歲了，他也閒不住。他必須得教。那是他的使命。

Q. Do you have any special memories of him?

問：你對他有沒有什麼特殊的記憶？

A. There were several different times where we had exchanges and encounters. He notices everything. One memory that stands out — I hadn't been to India for a few years. He saw me and said, "Oh, a little bit thin.” I had only lost like three pounds and thought, "How could he possibly notice that?” We were laughing. My mother doesn't even do that.

答：我們有過幾次交流。他什麼都能注意到。有一件事讓我記憶猶新——我有幾年沒去印度了。他見到我說，“哦，瘦了一點。”我當時只瘦了大概三磅，心想，“他怎麼可能注意到了呢？”我們都大笑起來。連我媽媽都做不到。

Another time when he was in the United States for his book tour, we had done a demonstration of poses at the City Center in New York to celebrate his book tour. He loved the theatrical, and we did this demonstration and he was very enthusiastic.

還有一次，他來美國宣傳新書，我們在紐約的市中心劇院(City Center)展示一些瑜伽姿勢，慶祝他的新書宣傳活動。他喜歡那個劇院，我們做了展示，他非常熱心。

I remember when we were at the institute he looked me in the eye and said, "You have to maintain.'' To someone who doesn't practice yoga, that might not mean anything, but we had worked so hard. It pushes you to break into new territory and challenge yourself, and after doing that you might back off. But that thing about maintaining the practice, that really stuck. Excellence is what he wanted of us. It's hard to put into words what you feel for someone who has changed your life.

我記得有一次我們在協會，他凝視着我說，“你必須堅持下去。”對不練瑜伽的人來說，這話可能沒什麼意義，但是我們練得很辛苦。它推動你進入新的領域，挑戰自己，在那之後，你可能想後退。但是，堅持練習這件事，真的讓你感覺很困難。他希望我們一直優秀。你很難用語言描述你對於改變你生命的人的感覺。