Iyengar Yoga Center of Grand Rapids student, Mellany Porraz, is interviewed about her experiences with managing life with Multiple Sclerosis with discipline & practice. An Interview with Mellany Porraz: How a Disciplined Outlook to Life through Diet, Exercise & Iyengar Yoga Helps Her Manage Multiple Sclerosis. The interview is an inspiration for practicing yoga with discrimination & finding freedom through living with restraint. There has been medical research into the benefits of careful Iyengar yoga practice for those living with M.S. Research articles can be found on our national website here along with more studies on Iyengar yoga for numerous health conditions.
B.K.S. Iyengar said, "Let your pains be your teacher." In my experience too, very often, the obstacles, such as vyadhi (disease/illness/injury) do not have to block progress in yoga-- in fact, acceptance of an injury, condition, imbalance, often leads to progress when it is coupled with constant practice, called abhyasa, and restraint, vairagya (such as giving up behaviors that impede our progress or contribute to our pain). Learning from the condition of the moment is the joy of regular, repeated yoga practice.
Come join us this summer for yoga classes at the Iyengar Yoga Center of Grand Rapids, where we will work with acceptance of our limitations and search for pathways toward improvements & new space & understanding, beginning with the physical body as the gateway toward deeper levels of being.
