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Engineer inner calm

MOLLY GILMORE; For The Olympian | • Published October 27, 2009

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Inner Engineering sounds a bit like the title of a science-fiction film.

It’s actually a workshop, being taught in Olympia for the first time beginning Wednesday, Nov. 4, that teaches a practice of postures, breathing and meditation.

But Inner Engineering does sound a little bit like science fiction when those who’ve tried it talk about the changes they’ve experienced.

“I was incredibly impressed,” said Cate Montana of Yelm, a volunteer with the Isha Foundation, which puts on the workshop. “I could feel a change in how I was operating mentally. I was much more clear and calm.”

Rocci Mott of Rainier, who took the course last spring, credits the practice with saving her marriage by changing her own outlook.

“Every human being should give themselves the opportunity to explore something deeper than what they know right now,” said Namath Geriege, who’ll teach the seven-day workshop, which begins with a free introductory talk. “Inner Engineering is a powerful step in that direction. It will give people a powerful tool to explore within themselves.”

People who do commit to the practice report having more energy, needing less sleep and finding better health, but Geriege referred to all of those things as simply “side benefits.”

The workshop teaches an ancient yoga practice called Isha, but that doesn’t mean it’s about bending over backward.

“People understand that yoga means standing on your head,” Geriege said, chuckling. “Normal means to stand on your feet, and yoga means to stand on your head or twist your body into knots, but that’s not what it is.

“Yoga means union or to merge with everything around you. The practice or the exercise is just a method to lead you to the state of being within yourself where you experience this oneness.”

The practice taught in Inner Engineering takes 21 minutes and is intended to be done twice a day. Geriege said anyone can do it.

“Isha is not physically demanding,” she said. “We have people who are 80 years of age and who cannot bend their bodies.”

Mott is a yoga teacher, teaching the poses that are what most Americans think of as yoga.

“That other yoga is great,” she said, “but this is so much deeper. It’s physical, mental, emotional. It brings your body, mind and breath into oneness. You connect with the divine.”