Lisa Siregar

Students meditating during an Iyengar yoga class. Riana, the founder of the Iyengar Yoga Center says the form improves posture and brings balance to the body. (Photo: Yudhi Sukma Wijaya, JG)

Striking a Balance, With A Little Help

In Iyengar yoga, props are used to help adjust and support the postures. (Photo: Yudhi Sukma Wijaya, JG)

Five people sit on colorful mats in an air-conditioned room with soft pink walls and a shiny wooden floor.

“Welcome to the class,” says Dedi Suhendar, standing at the front of the room wearing a loose white top and black shorts.

Dedi is an instructor of Iyengar yoga, a form in which equipment such as belts, blocks and straps are used as aids when performing asanas (postures).

“In Iyengar yoga, it’s important to make sure you are doing the correct pose,” Dedi says, before instructing the class on how to sit correctly. “Please grab a block to pad your tail bone. Always sit on your tail bone, otherwise you can’t keep your spine straight.”

He then leads his students in a short period of meditation before asking them to stand, giving them clear instructions on how to achieve the asana he was demonstrating.

“Don’t just stand. You have to focus your body weight on four points of your feet,” he says, lifting his foot to show the points.

Looking around the room, Dedi issues corrections — “Drop your shoulders,” “Open your chest,” until he is satisfied all of his students are in the correct pose.

Dedi is one of five teachers at Iyengar Yoga Center Indonesia, the only organization in Indonesia certified by the Ramamani Iyengar Memorial Yoga Institute in Pune, India. The Pune institute is headed by BKS Iyengar, who developed the form.

In Iyengar yoga, the props are used to help adjust and support the postures. For instance, the downward facing dog posture is aided by leaning on a rope attached to the wall and placed around the hips. This allows students to maintain their balance while stretching their spines and dividing their weight between hands and feet.

Riana, who studied directly under Iyengar, is the founder of the Iyengar Yoga Center in Indonesia and another in Singapore. She has more than 20 years experience with the form and is also the head of the Iyengar Yoga Association for East and Southeast Asia.

She says people need to be careful in picking a yoga instructor, particularly if studying Iyengar yoga. Each of the center’s instructors have graduated from a two-year teaching course and passed an international test administered by the Pune institute.

“These days, a lot of people claim to teach Iyengar yoga, but they are not certified,” Riana says.

The form is like therapy, she says — it not only improves a student’s posture but is psychologically strengthening, and brings balance to the body. “When your body is not balanced, that’s when illness occurs,” Riana says.

She says that people’s thinking affects their posture, and therefore their balance.

“Stand up, press your heels to the ground and try to keep your rib cage straight,” she says.

If you push your rib cage forward, she says, it means you think too much about the future and need to concentrate more on the present.

She says yoga teachers can tell when a student’s mind is wandering because he or she holds the wrong position. “Most people do yoga because it’s fashionable, or because they feel they have lost their purpose in life,” she says. “But for me, I do yoga because of the benefits.”

Riana is married and a mother of five, and all her children practice yoga. Although a certified and experienced teacher, she still visits Iyengar’s Pune institute because she is still learning. “To understand and follow the philosophy is a life-long process of learning.”

Iyengar Yoga Center, Simprug
Ruko Simprug Galleri 10W
Jl. Teuku Nyak Arif, South Jakarta
Tel. 021 739 6930
info@iyengaryogaindonesia.com

Iyengar Yoga Center, Serpong
Jl. Raya Villa Melati Mas Blok L V No. 8
Villa Melati Mas Residence, Serpong-Tangerang
Tel. 021 537 3323

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