Better Supine Sequence

Much better Supine sequence this morning. I started earlier, closer to my usual time. Also, I decided to do just five, straightforward, dropbacks after the urdhava Danurasana, in the middle of the sequence, without any experimentation. That left me to concentrate on the series without looking ahead. I was more familiar with the sequence and only needed a couple of quick glances over at the book and was much more able to focus on the breath.

Given that it's a long series the only standing I did was a quick Tadasana subroutine and a few Sury's with mantras (Post and video to come on this). This sequence starts easy so it kind of includes it's own all round Supine warm up. You can use the first part of the series in place of Standing and the long shoulderstand section at the end as finishing, thus despite being a long series it can fit into your usual schedule.

I really like these first couple of postures Tatakamudra which means 'pond gesture', it's called that because the intense uddiyana looks like a pond, I'm pond life.

Another surprise was the leg and arm raises. These come after Desk pose. The Desk pose subroutine ends with Urdhava Dnaurasana and it's here I stick in my dropbacks. I thought about skipping the arm and leg raises, they feel a bit like gym rather than yoga (whatever that means, don't want to think about it). As it happens they are perfect counter poses to backbends.

The asanas aren't so dramatic in this series so you can really focus on the breath, those long exhales and engaging of bandhas,. It sets you up nicely for your Pranayama session. I did a comfortable 40 minutes Pranayama, felt relaxed throughout, followed that with twenty minutes chanting, half an hour meditation then moved on to Cake.

Vinyasa Krama Supine Sequence

Supine sequence. I'm yet to love this sequence. It's longer than the others so I need to practice it on a day when I have a little more time, a Sunday or a Tuesday. but those are my favourite days to practice and this is my least favorite sequence.

It's not a particularly difficult sequence, though can be hard work, I always ache after practicing it. It revolves around some pelvic floor poses, legs to chest that kind of thing, then a lot of desk pose variations. This is why I wanted to do it this week. In Dwipadapitam (desk pose) your working a lot on lifting the hips. I thought that would help with what I'm working on with the drop back, getting those hips forward and up.

: ) just checked the Birthday cake I'm making and it's rising nicely.

Anyway the desk poses lead into Urdhva Danurasana and I've added the drop backs after that. This doesn't really work, it's OK for this week but they don't really fit there, especially as I'm doing so much experimentation, it's like stepping off the mat and checking the cricket scores or something and then coming back to the practice, doesn't work, distracting. I wanted to focus on Pranayama this holiday and backbends have somehow taken over. Still doing the pranayama but it's not as focused as it was at the beginning of the week, a lesson there.

Mmmm, can smell CAKE all of a sudden.

After UD its leg and arm raises which is kind of a forward bend, I guess, so works as a counter pose but I'm too used to UD coming at the end of the practice, disorientating. Next is some supine leg behind head and then yoganidrasana. Had forgotten these were in there, haven't done any LBH work for about three weeks, had to chuck in a couple of extra prep poses. This usually leads into a long Shoulder stand subroutine but I'm kind of putting that section with the headstand subroutine, kind of keeping the inversions together in the Inverted sequence, kind of feels the Supine series just trails off, need to think about this.

It might also be that it's because I'm starting a new sequence that I haven't practiced for a while and have to keep stopping to look at the book, might be better towards the end of the week. Better I do this now than when I'm back at work.

One nice thing I did do today was to make a slide show of the Vinyasa Krama Sun salutation with mantra sequence. This is a little different from what were used to in Ashtanga, a couple of extra steps, including laying flat on the mat with the arms outstretched. Plus at the end of each stage you retain the inhale/exhale and recite a short mantra in your head. I've played with it a little but this was the first time I could really focus. I timed everything out on the slide show and added the mantra from the Vinyasa Krama home page chanting section so I could practice along, reciting the mantra in my head with the recording.

hmm this post is kind of trailing off like the Supine sequence.............

Something almost agonizing about the smell of cake emanating from the oven, surely it's ready...

Drop backs were OK, still think I'm on the right track with the forward and up through the hips think but don't want to over do it, it'll come. Besides only a couple of days left of this holiday and i don't want it to take over the rest of the week.

Pranayama, Pranayama, Pranayama

Practice has been going well the last couple of weeks, a lot of progress especially in the back bends department. I seem to have settled back into Vinyasa Karma practice and haven't practiced Ashtanga for over two weeks now. I expected to miss it more, but so far not really, perhaps It's the new approach, a week on each VK sequence rather than switching sequences daily. I don't seem to have put on weight, had thought that I might given that I'd dropped all those jump through's and the generally sweatier practice. Still feel strong, lots of handstands still in the Sury's, but I should do a Primary after a month to see if I can still get through it. But so far so good.

While the asana progress has been exciting what I'm finding most interesting at the moment is my Pranayama practice. Being off work for a couple of weeks I have more time to spend on exploring it. Before (old video here, it's changed a bit since then and I stumble less over the mantra but you get the idea and that's the same mantra at the beginning that I chant in my head during the long retention), I was spending ten minutes after practice and another twenty minutes in the evening, now I'm spending twenty to thirty minutes after practice and another forty in the evening.

I'm starting to notice some of the subtle and not so subtle differences. The difference for example between Pranayama with both nostrils and alternating (nadi sodana). I noticed that I was getting nice and relaxed in 1.4 breathes a minute with a ratio of 1:4:2:1 (around 5 seconds inhale, 20 retention, 10 exhale, 5 inhale) but when I switched to alternating nostrils I became a little agitated. It's strange your still exhaling the same amount of air in the same amount of time but you have to force yourself not to panic a little. Then, of course, you have that five second retention after the exhale while you engage the bandhas and before Inhaling. Using both nostrils is fine, but again, alternating, inhaling through just the one, makes you very uneasy, your almost desperate to inhale and ready to gasp the air in. Need to be very mindful here, trust the body.

Found this practice useful for Kapo and the 'Hang' in dropping back. I always had trouble breathing with my head back, the constricted airway, but it's the same as one nostril, the agitation. You just have to trust yourself and the breath more and stay calm, relaxed and breathe steadily. Pranayama practice trains you for this.

Big difference too when you practice Kapalabhati ( the kind of panting bellows breathing) I've practiced this for quite a while at the end of Ashtanga, 36 breathes in Padmasana, 36 in utpluthi and then another 36 after coming back down with my arms raised and hands crossed on my shoulders, but for some reason I've only been practicing it at the end of my asana practice as a lead in to Pranayama, I haven't been practicing it in the evening session. Tried it last night and it makes a big difference, immediately nadi shodana Pranayama becomes more relaxed and steady.

Next week I want to try and reintroduce Viloma Ujayai. I gave up on this a while ago because it was too complicated and I was getting confused. Now I have the Pranayama iphone App I don't have to worry about the counting anymore and can focus on the switching.

Viloma Ujayai

INHALE : Throat

EXHALE : left nostril

INHALE : left nostril

EXHALE : throat

INHALE : throat

EXHALE : right nostril

INHALE : right nostril

EXHALE : throat

repeat

I'm still using the Pranayama iphone App, totally reliant on it now. Had planned on using it to get the timing fixed in my head and then turn it off but now I just set it for thirty or forty minutes on low volume and let it run in the background. In the 20 second retention after the inhale I'm still using the Pranayama mantra, have come to rely on this too.

Here's a video of me using the App to give more of an idea what I'm going on about. Given that it's akin to watching grass grow, paint dry etc. I've edited it down to a couple of rounds each. It's still a rough practice and something I'm looking forward to tidying up and developing on the course this summer.

After my Pranayama practice I spend half an hour or so on chanting. I have Ramaswami's Yoga sutra lessons on my itouch and tend to chant along to them plus a couple of the other mantras. then settle down to half an hour to forty minutes meditation. I used to practice Vipassana but after the Pranayama and chanting not a lot is coming up so I pretty much just focus on the breath at the nostrils to start and then settle in on the inhale and exhale, but not focused at any particular point, really nice practice.....but how did those old yogis get by without an itouch.

VK Bow sequence, Viparita Salabhasana and towards Ganda Bherundasana

As I mentioned, this week I'm working on my back bends through the Vinyasa Krama back bend sequences, Bow and Vajrasana (Vajrasana is actually a sub routine in the meditative sequence).

Vajrasana includes Kapotasana via an Ushtrasana subroutine and Laghu Vajrasana. The big asanas of the Bow sequence are Viparita Salabhasana and Gandha Bherundasana.

These two asanas come at the end of the sequence. You lead up to them via Bhujangasana (cobra) and Salabhasana (locust) subroutines. This is similar to the gradual build up towards Kapo in 2nd series Ashtanga. Typical of Vinyasa krama, though, there are several hand/arm variations. In the Salabhasana subroutine the right arm/left leg are lifted and then switched, followed by both legs raised and the arm variations, stretched out in frount of you, fingers clasped behind the neck, reverse prayer and outstretched to the side.

In Vinyasa Krama the hands are clasped as opposed to Ashtanga where they lay parallel to each other along the mat. Gandha B is still way beyond me but I couldn't help a little nod in it's direction with the wall to fall back on. Long way to go but I can clasp my heels in kapo so surely it should be doable.

Ganda B is one of those asanas that should probably come with a 'don't try this at home' health warning. There's the fear of shifting too much weight forward as you take your legs over and flipping over while your head stays where it is, this would be bad. But that's what the wall is for, also one of Boodie's tips is to use the wall to push your hips back. As with the drop back work it's probably a case of working on the point of balance, shift the hips back so you can take your legs a little further over, back a bit here forward a bit there.

Srivatsa Ramaswami's 200 hour VinyasaKrama TT Program June/July 2010

Just received conformation that I'm on the course.

From March 2010 Newsletter

Teacher Training Program in Vinyasakrama Yoga

There are scores of Yoga Teacher Training Programs and almost every

promoter(me included) claim that his/her program is unique. The 200 hr

program I offer (registered with Yoga Alliance) is designed to give

a broad exposure and some in depth coverage of my understanding of

Yoga as I have learnt from my Guru. I must admit that my guru had the

uncanny knack of teaching what he considered to be important and

relevant to the particular student. Hence all his student –teachers,

though they have studied with the same preceptor, show different yogic

characteristics in their teachings that are obvious to even casual

observers. A three decade study under him helped me to assimilate a

lot of what he taught me, practice and reflect. What he taught

appealed to me profoundly. And I thought it might to a few others

with requirements and tendencies similar to mine who would be

interested in and may benefit from the Yoga I imbibed from my Guru.

Hence this 200 hr Vinyasa krama Teacher Training Program. Here are the

details.

1. The 60 hr Vinyasakrama asana course runs for 20days, three hours

per day. It consists of 10 major sequences broken into more than 120

or so subsequences built around well known asanas. There is a flow of

asanas/vinyasas with each slow movement synchronized with the

appropriate (brahmana and langhana) aspect of breathing. There are

about 700 Vinyasas. It is a systematic way to learn asanas. Even

though one may not be practicing all these asanas and movements in a

daily workout, it is necessary for a yoga teacher and serious students

of yoga to learn all asanas and vinyasas in a systematic manner. A

teacher or a yoga therapist has to have in her/his arsenal all the

yoga movements and asanas so that one can design an appropriate

program for one’s own practice and for varying individual requirements

of others. The word Vinyasa is widely used in several arts like music,

etc. In fact one meaning of Vinyasa is art itself and so vinyasakrama

would mean doing asanas as an art. Vinyasa is an artful expansion of

the physical culture called asana within certain specified parameters.

There is a certain nicety about Vinyasakrama approach. The sequencing

is a logical progression of Vinyasas. It is a yogasana gift from my

Guru and in it there is something, nay, everything (almost, that is)

for everyone (almost, that is) from a toddler yogi to the consummate

yogi.

2. The 20 hr Pranayama program is spread over 10 days of 2 hr

sessions. My Guru, as the old Hata yogis did, gave considerable

importance to Pranayama, which is another name of Hata Yoga. Orthodox

Indians as they do their rituals to the Sun, do a minimum of 40 mantra

pranayamas every day. It is considered a prerequisite of meditation,

dhyana. In this course the theory and practice of different types of

pranayamas will be taught and the various parameters. Practice is an

important aspect of this course. Many participants end up making

pranayama an integral part of their daily yoga routine.

3. The third subject will be Mantras and Meditation another aspect of

daily yoga practice. Mantras are a convenient and powerful vehicle for

taking the mind along the path of one pointedness. Sanskrit alphabets

also known as matrukas, or mother mantras, along with some of the

important mantras like Gayatri will be taught. Using mantra, a step by

step approach to meditation will be taught and participants will be

given the opportunity to practice meditation on these lines. It is a

20 hr program--10 sessions of 2 hrs each. Participants will also be

introduced to Sanskrit recitation, another form of meditative

practice, an important aspect of Sri Krishnamacharya’s teachings

4. There is a 25 hour segment of Yoga for Health. It consists of 10

hours of Anatomy and Physiology, a requirement of Yoga Alliance with

which this program is registered. 5 hrs of subtle anatomy will

explore the conceptual basis of the human system from the yogic point

of view and will be discussed in some detail, based on old texts like

Yoga Yogyavalkya, etc. and attempts will be made to relate these

concepts with modern ideas. My Guru was a great exponent of Cikitsa

krama or the therapeutic approach of yoga. In the 10 hr session of

Yoga for Internal Organs, the six main kosas** or organs and the

systems they support will be gone into in details and the yogic

practices that are beneficial to these systems will be discussed.

(**hrudaya kosa or heart and the circulatory system, svasa kosa or the

lungs and the respiratory system, anna kosa or stomach and the

digestive system, garbha kosa or uterus and the reproductive system

etc.)

5. A 25 hour segment is reserved to study Yoga as a darsana or a

philosophy. In this 5 hrs are allotted to learn to chant some of the

yoga sutras. In the remaining 20 hrs, the entire YS (Yoga Sutras) will

be gone through word by word and sutra by sutra, so that during this

first reading the participants will learn to stay close to the text

and get a good understanding of the sutras and the thought process

contained in this ancient text.

6. Sri Krishnamacharya’s works is the title of this 20 hr program.

Even though my Guru is well known, his works remain somewhat hidden.

In this course reading of his works, “Yoga Makaranda” and “Nathamuni’s

Yoga Rahasya” will be taken up. It will hopefully help the

participants to have a first hand view of some of the concepts of

Krishnamacharya’s Yoga.

7. In this short segment, 5 hours will be allotted for Yoga Business

and 5 hours for Teaching Methodology

8. A twenty hour program titled “Visesha Vinyasas” made up of 5

sessions of 4 hrs each completes the 200 hours of instructions. In

this special sequences like Sun Salutation, Salutation to Directions,

etc. will be taught. It will also cover all the parameters required

to be considered to design individualized programs based on these

courses. Sri Krsihnamacharya’s ingenuity lay in his ability to offer

what the students or patients needed . Yoga takes care of the needs of

everyone, all through the life--to everyone according one’s changing

needs. A teacher has to equip herself/himself with as much information

as possible in a logical way. Yoga is a comprehensive subject and has

enough breadth and depth to meet the evolving requirements of everyone

all through the life.

Well, the program is scheduled to start on June 15, 2010 and runs for

five weeks at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles. You or one

of your friends may resonate with this program. Registration is open

and for details please contact:

Alana Bray

Yoga Coordinator,

Loyola Marymount University

1,LMU Drive, Suite 1840,

Los Angeles, CA

Yoga@lmu.edu

(310)338-2358