K. has made his compilation of Ramaswami's Newsletters available on Kindle via my Google docs site.
If you don't have a Kindle that's OK as you can download the free ibook kindle app.
If you don't have a ibook then there's still the free kindle reader for you PC, Mac or laptop.
The links take you to my Google docs hosting, just click 'Download' and you'll have the option to open them in your Kindle device or app.
They're also still available in pdf format over on the right sidebar as usual but they do look a little more beautiful on the kindle format, smaller file size too.
This edition includes practice notes for all of Ramaswami's Vinyasa Krama subroutines Ramaswami was a student of Krishnamacharya for over 30 years).
It's still very rough and in need of a complete rewrite to get rid of some of it's 'bloggyness'. It's also inconsistent as the style of the notes have changed over the three months I've been writing them up and posting them here.
Plus there's the havoc my mac's automatic spell checker has made of all the yoga terms and names, I'll iron them out, I promise.
It is what it is just a series of practice notes, things that came up as I practiced the subroutines each morning. Some of the notes reflect ideas I've picked up in my reading, online, from comments posted here (thank you) and from just working through the subroutines and at the postures.
Everything I mention I've tried and have found useful in my own practice, there are of course all kinds of other techniques and approaches that could be included, I'm either not aware of them, haven't tried them out or haven't found them useful for me personally.
I've tried to avoid getting too anatomical.
There are video's for all the subroutines, for some reason the links don't seem to work in ibooks but if you download it and open in the pdf reader they should work fine (My mistake, seems the links DO work in ibooks although it takes you out of ibooks to watch them).
The pranayama and meditation section are the next areas I want to work on, for now they are just a couple of practice sheets. Also, I hope to add practice notes for the Jump back library in the near future.
It is of course NO substitute for Ramaswami's own books, The Complete book of Vinyasa Yoga and Yoga for the Three Stages of Life both of which I've gained renewed respect for in the process of preparing these notes. The Complete book of Vinyasa Yoga lays out the breath for every single movement in and out of every posture, in every subroutine, in every sequence, quite remarkable. The Three Stages of Life goes into such depth that I consider it the best book on yoga I've come across thus far.
The whole thing has been brought together using Apple Pages.
Here's the new table of contents to give an idea of what's in it.
Padmasana, the lotus posture is, of course, the classic meditation posture. Although there are other notable meditation postures, siddhasana, gomukhasana, virasana and vajrasana, padmasana holds a special place because of it's stability. There is a beauty to it's construction, it feels symmetrical, the legs bound secure allowing for the arm balances, for example, in the final subroutine of the series. It is an excellent posture for engaging the bandhas, mula bandha feels particularly grounded and the stability of the pose lends itself to exploring uddiyana and jalandhara bandhas.
As well as for meditation practice, padmasana is an excellent posture for pranayama, again, on account of it's stability.
Some however may ind the posture boring or tedious, the subroutines allow us to explore multiple vinyasas while in padmasana, creating interest that may encourage us to spend longer in the posture which will in time allow the posture to become more comfortable.
The first subroutine day 88, the half lotus, is a good preparation for developing the lotus posture as are many of the hip opening postures and vinyasas from the asymmetric and seated sequences.
In this course of subroutines I've placed the sequences in order in which I tend to practice them, starting with standing postures moving on through seated or backbend postures up to inverted. I tend to finish my practice with one or more lotus subroutines, staying in the posture for my pranayama and meditation practice.
However, while working towards padmasana the half lotus or siddhasana for example would serve just as well.
I've tried to stress that padmasana is about the hips rather than the knees so here, again are my practice notes for entering padmasana from Day 88
Getting in to full Lotus
NB: THE most important thing to remember is to protect your knees, that it's the hip joints that do all the work, the knees only bend one way it's the rotation of the ball and socket hip joint that makes padmasana possible
Right leg
Bend the right knee and bring it up towards the chest. Reach with the right hand down inside the thigh and take hold of the right ankle.
Allow the right knee to drop out to the side through the rotation of the hip joint. Focus on that hip action, of the ball and socket joint, the femur head rotating in the hip socket, encourage it.
There's a tensing of the right buttock a lifting almost and a stretching of the thigh as you encourage the rotation in the hip joint that will bring the knee down towards the mat and the ankle to come up. This action should only happen at the hips joint your NOT pulling up the ankle and your NOT forcing the knee down.
If this isn't happening it might be best to work on more hip opening postures, mahamudra in Asymmetric, badha konasana in Seated.
Lift up through the torso, support the right foot with the left and right palms and guide NOT pull the foot to the left thigh.
Lift up again and bend forward slightly, roll onto the front of the sit bones and guide the right foot a little further up the left thigh into the groin.
Again lift and roll further onto the sit bones allowing the right knee to rest on the mat.
Left leg
Bend the left knee and again focusing on the hip joint allowing the left knee to drop out to the side.
Rock your body forward and draw the right knee out to the side through the thigh muscles. Lock the knee by pressing the calf muscles against the thigh.
Reach over the left foot and support the left ankle with the left palm, cupping under the foot with the right palm, encourage the hip joint to rotate further and allow the knee to drop further out and down. Again, your not pulling on the foot but rather supporting it to allow the hip joint to do it's work.
Lift up through the torso, rock further forward on the sit bones and stretch out through the left thigh to allow the foot to come up over the right leg.
Using the strength of the thighs bring the knees a little towards each other this will bring the right foot finally up onto the right thigh closer to the groin.
Shuffle around on your sit bones if necessary, encouraging more rotation of the hip joints to tighten the lotus, this is preferable to wrenching, tugging, pulling the feet.
Ultimately, for many of the lotus vinyasas you will require a nice tight lotus where the heels are digging slightly into the belly, the soles of the feet pointing up and the knees closer together. In fact, the heels can be considered to be massaging the inner organs in some of the vinyasas by pressing deep into the belly
To release
Sit up straight lifting up through the torso, focus on the left hip joint and encourage it to rotate by engaging the thigh muscles which will press the left knee into the mat this will allow you to very gently encourage the left foot off of the right thigh.
As you allow the knees to draw apart the lotus will unfold, again allow the right hip joint to do it's work bringing the right knee down into the mat and allowing the right foot to glide off the left thigh.
Practicing these arm balances and inversions together in one subroutine can be challenging, consider working on them separately at first perhaps including one arm balance a practice or every few days. Utpluthis, the raised lotus from Day 91 is another arm balance as is Kukkutasana, also from Day 91, both will build strength as will the lead in's to most of the subroutines and the sun salutation with mantra.
HINTS/TIPS/SUGGESTIONS
This version of urdhava kukkutasana is a sliding up the arms or rather the arms are there as a guide, we don't want to rely on them too much.
Place the hands close to the knees, rock up onto the knees, shoulders over the fingers. Drop the shoulder blades down the back, engage mula and uddiyana bandha.
Exhale completely hold and pressing the hands down into the mat hoist the lotus up towards the armpits lifting up from your perineum, mula bandha.
The shoulders remember are over the fingers as you come up your shoulders may need to come even further forward to create a counterweight to your hips.
In the beginning hold for a breath and then lower on the inhalation, as you become stronger and improve your balance you may stay for longer, three to six breaths.
Padma mayurasana
Place the hands on the mat as close to the body as possible, almost tucked under your lotus.
bend your elbows slightly and allow your shoulders to drop to allow your elbows to dig into your belly.
Come up onto your knees and then stretch forward while at the same time raising your knees off the ground.
Padma Mayurasana is in effect a back stretch, tuck in the tailbone and attempt to arch the back slightly to bring the lotus up higher.
The elbows need to be together and really dig into the belly.
In the beginning hold for a breath and then lower on the exhalation, as you become stronger and improve your balance you mary stay for longer, three to six breaths.
The final vinyasa called for a tight lotus and you may wish to work towards this as a separate subroutine (see Lotus subroutines -to come).
From seated padmasana, lift up onto your knees, bend forward and place your hands on the mat with the fingers interlocked ready for headstand. Place the back of your head in the cup formed by your hands and bring your knees forward so they are touching your elbows.
To lift back up from here, exhale fully, engage the badhas and pressing firmly into the mat with your elbows draw your knees back up the back of your arms to your armpits.
Take a breath and on the next exhalation, straighten the back to bring the knees to the chest and then straighten the waist to bring your lotus the last of the way up.
Follow the directions above for the 3rd version (pic 11) to lower and raise your lotus to and from the mat.
