I don’t know why anything happens. Or why life is so hard sometimes. But I do know that there are frogs on my windows and the crickets’ nighttime song travels through my screen door as the sun is shining on the other side of the world.
I also know that good things happen. I got extraordinarily lucky when the first yoga teacher I encountered Jo Zukovich had studied with Sri BKS Iyengar. That was over twenty-three years ago. He died this last week at age 96. Here is what I wrote earlier this week to honor him for Yoga Journal:
“No one has explored the asana as thoroughly or as profoundly as Sri BKS Iyengar, at least not in recorded history. That is reason enough to pause. Even more than that, he developed a rigorous and disciplined method to pass down his realization. That is a reason for gratitude. My debt goes further. I am someone who could have been easily left behind. Paralyzed since the age of 13, I found Iyengar Yoga at 25 and have been practicing for 23 years. (I have not studied with Sri BKS Iyengar in person, as traveling to India is very difficult for someone in a wheelchair.) No other style of yoga possesses the depth, precision, adaptations, and knowledge to welcome my paralyzed body into the world of the asana. It turns out that Iyengar Yoga’s revolutionary approach to alignment, precision, props, and adjustments transcends my severed spinal cord.
Through Iyengar Yoga, I gain access to living sensation within my paralysis and have gained glimpses into the ‘unseen’ unity of the Universe. Sri BKS Iyengar transformed my disability into a conduit for my salvation. My life’s work and that of my nonprofit, Mind Body Solutions—working with people living with trauma, loss, and disability—all of it is made possible because of his fervent life and dedication. There is no way I can ever repay my debt. There is no way I can adequately honor his influence. What I can do is strive to help others in the way that he has helped me. Today and for the remaining days of my life, I am humbled, honored, and proud to call myself his student.”
(The link to this and writings from other teachers: http://www2.yogajournal.com/yoga-101/remembering-bks-iyengar-matthew-sanford/ )
The image above is one that Jo sent me the day after Sri BKS Iyengar passed. I love this image. There he stands, a lush valley behind him. There he stands, a life’s work behind him. This valley is rich enough to accept my paralyzed body, to help me feel life where I was told there was none.
My life has been strange. Yours has too. Everyone has truth cross his or her path at one time or another. The question is not whether this happens. The question is whether you have the strength to let it change you. The teaching of Sri BKS Iyengar was one such moment for me. Thankfully I paused, let it in, and was not afraid to work. I am grateful for the lush valley that his life left in its wake.
My mind returns to the crickets. I am not lost because Sri BKS Iyengar is no longer walking this planet. I can feel what I have learned and what I will continue to learn. It keeps me company like the sound of the crickets and I know that the sun is shining on the other side of the world.