108 Sun Salutations UPDATE

REPOST: I was asked about the current enthusiasm for practicing 108 Sun salutations and when it started. I really have no idea but I found this old post from May 2009 of my doing it and going by the comments it seems to have been not uncommon back then, on the Solstice say. Recently I had a student here in Japan who mentioned she wanted to practice 108 sun salutations so I'm curious why it is suddenly so popular. 

See my page at the top of the blog titled The Ashtanga Key, it's all about Sun Salutations. Scroll down and you'll find my posts on the Origin of the Sun Salutation, how it became an exercise fad, and in the posts near the top why Krishnamacharya discouraged excessive amounts of sun Salutations as well as how it taught their practice with mantras to Ramaswami. 

108 Sun Salutations at TRIYOGA London http://www.triyoga.co.uk/story.php?titleid=1436

From 8.30am to 10.30am on Sunday, May 31st, the 13th day after Guruji‘s passing, Joey Miles will be counting through 108 Sun Salutations (or as many as you can manage up to 108!). If you prefer, just come and sit. Nikki Slade will then lead us in a chant in Guruji‘s honor. All are welcome. Tea and biscuits will be shared afterward. This will be our way of expressing the gratitude we feel and a way of honoring this much-loved and hugely respected teacher.

I won't be going to TriYoga tomorrow but am planning on doing the 108 at home tomorrow morning at 8:30 AM ( plus a 30-minute Savasana/Rest afterward).

I'm still a little confused, however, as to how to go about it. Do we still take the five-breath count in downward dog when doing 108 of the buggers or do we go straight back to upward dog on the next inhale?

Counting is also a concern, how best to avoid losing count. I'm thinking ten GO stones at the end of my mat, moving one over every ten Sury's. The thing is I don't want to spend the whole time worrying about losing count.

UPDATE

A couple of hours after the 108 now my arms and shoulders still ache a little, as do my wrists and my neck. The wrists and neck are probably a result of how I half float/jump up to standing from DD. Apart from that, I feel good, no bloodied feet Ursula (thanks to my nice soft Yogitoes perhaps).

I went straight from downward dog back up to standing without taking a five-breath count, I would have been there all day otherwise. I started at 8.30 and finished at 9.22 so just over 50 minutes. Think I was probably going too fast, I tried slowing it down at one point but ended up back at the same pace.

My count was awful. I put ten Go stones at the end of my mat, counted ten Sury's in my head, and then took off a stone at the end of the tenth. I kept losing count and according to the video I ended up doing 13 instead of 10 before I moved the first stone.

I made a video of part of it. My camera only shoots 15 minutes, so I made three and stitched them together. I changed my headband after 20 because I was dripping sweat ( I weighed myself before and I was 78.4, I weighed myself again afterward and I was 77.6, I sweated almost 2 kilos, as you can see from my mat). When I pressed Record for the last part I must have pressed too hard because I moved the camera and lost the clock. This is going to be a very very boring video but maybe it's OK if you fast-forward a couple of times.

In the end, I only rested/stayed in Savasana for 15 minutes. The heating had gone off and it was getting cold. I'm sure Guruji understands.

An interesting experience, 108 is just about right. Halfway through, you start to feel tired of it and have to force yourself to keep going, but then it feels OK again and you get into a nice rhythm. It would be a nice meditation if you didn't have to worry about the count.

Developing a home practice Part 16, Ashtanga, What's it all about

Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6 Part 7 Part 8 Part 9 Part 10 Part 11a Part 11b Part 12 Part 13 Part 14 Part 15a Part 15b Part 16 Part 17 Part 18 Part 19 Part 20 Part 21a Part 21b Part 22 Part 23 Part 24 Part 25 Part 26a Part 26b Part 27 Parts 28, 29 and 30 Part 32 Part 33 Part 34

This topic came up somewhere else and I thought I'd put my ten cents worth here too. This is in no way a criticism of anyone in particular but rather a culture.

This practice is about..... when you say this practice, are you referring to ...

1. Yoga,
2 Ashtanga Yoga (the whole eight limbs deal, or
3. the practice of Asana as sequenced into primary, intermediate, Advanced, including of course, drishti, bandha, breath and vinyasa.

According to Yoga Mala...

1. 'Yoga signifies the means to the realization of one's true nature'

2. Ashtanga as eight limbs, to make the mind 'one pointed so that we can see the universal self'

3. Asana, 'the preceding step', before all else 'The method for purifying and strengthening the body is called asana'.

As long as your purifying and strengthening you can think about anything you please no?

Now I personally, happen to use my time on the mat for a kind of moving Vipassana meditation. I let my mind do what it wants through standing with just some noting on my part. By the series proper it's settled and I'll observe where it settles, an emotion perhaps, some sensation or maybe it just settles on the breath in a kind of Zenish no mind type way. This works for me.

I'm not so concerned with 1 and 2 above. I'm quite happy with employing the Western Philosophical tradition for 1. It's organically a part of me and makes more sense to me to stick with the devil I know, rather than take on another. Likewise for 2. I'm brought up in a Christian (though I'm not practicing or a 'believer') and Western philosophical tradition that deals well enough with most of the other eight limbs. Where It's lacking I've always had some Western Buddhist leanings.

So, No, for me the practice isn't necessarily about focusing the mind or reigning in thoughts though I might choose to employ the practice that way.

But you know what, this practice, it's about pretty much whatever I want it to be about. Ashtanga, it's out there, authorial authority died a death a long time ago.

Who knows what the Korunta was about before it was taught to Krishnamacharya (assuming it was) or what it became about when he taught it to Jois. Surely it became about something else when he turned it into what we find in Yoga Mala. And is that what the practice is about to Sharath or is it different in his mind, we shall see in time. It certainly became about something else to the Western students who brought it back with them from Mysore with their Western paradigms and preconceptions. Notice the focus on anatomy, or the post Freudian/Jungian/Kleinian/Lacanian discourse that gets woven into talk about the practice. The influence of New Age philosophies, NLP, cognitive theory .........

In the end a practice is practiced. It's practiced by somebody and this is a hard, intense, demanding practice. Anyone who practices it six days a week, year in year out, earns the right to determine for themselves what the hell this practice is about. And you just know that what it's about to you, is going to change over time. Hey, you might even go through a phase where it isn't necessarily about anything, but you love and enjoy it just the same.

Developing a Home practice Part 15 Visiting a Shala

Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6 Part 7 Part 8 Part 9 Part 10 Part 11a Part 11b Part 12 Part 13 Part 14 Part 15a Part 15b Part 16 Part 17 Part 18 Part 19 Part 20 Part 21a Part 21b Part 22 Part 23 Part 24 Part 25 Part 26a Part 26b Part 27 Parts 28, 29 and 30 Part 32 Part 33 Part 34

Q. Why did it take a year and a half before I first went to a Shala?

My reasons for not going would have changed over that period. In the beginning it wasn't something I even considered. I started Ashtanga with a book from the library. At first I was just doing a bit of yoga in my living room, guys out here don't tend to think about going to a yoga class, a gym perhaps or swimming but rarely a yoga or fitness class, just not something you consider. It also took a few months before I became serious about what I was doing.

But once I'd begun to feel committed to the practice and more aware of the Ashtanga tradition, why didn't I search out a Shala then? It crossed my mind of course, Googling Ashtanga I'd come across a couple of places in London that taught it. I live outside London but it would only take me an hour at most to get to a Shala on a Sunday.

I think I was probably a bit body conscious. I was in my 40's and more than a bit overweight. When I would practice, I would feel heavy and awkward, my breathing ragged, I would get very hot and very sweaty, not something I felt like sharing with a roomful of strangers.

Another reason was that I wasn't confident about what I was doing. It wasn't just that I was new to the practice but that I wasn't even sure I'd be able to DO the practice. I couldn't reach my ankles let alone my toes in Sury A, as I said, I felt awkward, clumsy too. I know, your Shouting out, 'But that's the point, that's why you go to class, to a teacher, everyone is the same, nobody expects you to be perfect in the beginning!' You know what it was, I didn't want to make a fool of myself.

Another reason is.....I don't like teachers. (I'm hearing Chris Rock in my head ' I said it , I went and said it'). It's not that I dislike teachers as people but rather I dislike teachers as teachers. Now I say that, having been a teacher myself. I've been a school teacher, I taught for a bit at a University, I've taught in language schools and I've even taught teachers to be teachers. Perhaps it's because of that, because I'm always observing how others go about teaching rather than what it is they're teaching. But I've always been the same, preferring to try to teach myself a language rather than go to a language class or how to play an instrument. Though I have studied martial arts and had no problem with going to a teacher there.

Most likely I'm just a bit of a control freak and don't like giving up that control to anyone else. I like to work at my own pace which is sometimes faster sometimes slower than a teacher might teach it. I like to jump about here and there as I see fit. Become obsessed with something for a while and then something else, work it out myself rather than have it explained, perhaps you've noticed.

If I'd gone to a Shala early on I probably would have been fine, same as if I was studying a martial art but having left it for so long the control freak aspect of my character had begun to take.......control.

What made me want to go when I finally did go?

I think eventually I began to feel much more comfortable in myself physically and confident in my practice. I'd lost quite a bit of weight and had started to do full primary. I was much more flexible, stronger and fitter, I knew I could do this. But I was also aware that there were a lot of holes in my practice that it was untidy in places. I could pretty much do all the asana but they needed a lot of improvement. I could catch my fingers in Marichyasana D but that was about it.

I'd become very serious about the practice and wanted to progress. I'd also begun to entertain thoughts of going to India, to Mysore. Surely if I wanted to go then I would need to have my practice tidied up. I'd also heard on the net a lot of good things about some of the teachers in London as well as appreciating what I'd learnt from Swenson, Scott and Sharath, on their DVDs.

Next: First visit to a Shala, What did I think of it? Why did I stop going after only two classes?

Developing a home practice Part 14 Visiting a shala.

Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6 Part 7 Part 8 Part 9 Part 10 Part 11a Part 11b Part 12 Part 13 Part 14 Part 15a Part 15b Part 16 Part 17 Part 18 Part 19 Part 20 Part 21a Part 21b Part 22 Part 23 Part 24 Part 25 Part 26a Part 26b Part 27 Parts 28, 29 and 30 Part 32 Part 33 Part 34

I first visited a shala in September 08, a year and a half after I'd begun practicing Ashtanga. I went two Sundays in a row and haven't been since, though, just recently, I've started to think about going again (though still haven't been).

Which raises some questions.

Why did it take a year and a half before I first went to a Shala?
What made me want to go when I finally did go?
What did I think of it?
Why did I stop going after only two classes?
Why haven't I been since?
What's making me think I want to go to a Shala now?

Been thinking about this all week but am still confused about it myself, which is why I haven't written on it yet. Perhaps if I break it up into the above questions I can approach it that way.

Developing a Home practice Part 13

Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6 Part 7 Part 8 Part 9 Part 10 Part 11a Part 11b Part 12 Part 13 Part 14 Part 15a Part 15b Part 16 Part 17 Part 18 Part 19 Part 20 Part 21a Part 21b Part 22 Part 23 Part 24 Part 25 Part 26a Part 26b Part 27 Parts 28, 29 and 30 Part 32 Part 33 Part 34

I'm having fun doing this series of posts, especially now that I can use the blog itself as a resource to help my memory, nice to look back at the early posts. I was just looking through the second month of posting (Aug 08) and surprised at some of the things I was working on. There's a post on two accidents, dropping back....on to my head and falling backwards in Karandavasana while in lotus. http://tinyurl.com/c55nq8 I remember trying the dropback onto cushions and finally to the floor and managed it first time. I tried it again a couple of days later and ended up on my head. I decided to leave it alone and work on improving my Urdhva Dhanurasana.

This was a good time for my practice, I work 9:30-5:30 and am only fifteen minutes away by bike from my workshop. I'm able to get up and do a full Primary or Intermediate in the morning without rushing, and when I get home I can take an hour or so to work on some extras. Extras then, were mainly the Jump back and the Press to handstand (Still, STILL can't do that ). Now I might work on some Dropbacks, Karandavasana, That ruddy crocodile, Mayurasana. Asana's that don't need a lot of warm up. Strength based poses are especially good, Karandavasana in the middle of Intermediate is exhausting (see yesterday's post) and it's hard to focus on the technique but practice it on it's own when your feeling stronger and you can think more about what it is your doing.

Sometimes I feel almost guilty that I'm able to practice so freely. I know many have to try to fit their practice around family commitments, Jobs with long hours or long commutes. I'm lucky to be able to practice like this and the progress I've made is probably more a reflection of this than anything else. It's not just that I was able to devote myself to the practice, but also that I had the time to work on this Blog and use it to reflect on my practice. I was able to take Jump back clips from all my DVDs, break them down into screenshots and turn them into slideshows (half way down in the right hand column of this page). Such a great exercise and something I still do now, with Karandavasana for example. I'd break down my own Jump back as well as Kino's say, and run the two slide shows side by side and try to work out what she or Lino or Sharath where doing right that I wasn't.
Sharath's Jump back

Mine, Aug 08
But this all kind of begs the question. Why, if I had all this time and passion for the practice, didn't I go to a Shala with a teacher, rather than practicing alone at home. Well I did, I went twice the following month in September 08.
NEXT: First visit to a Shala

Developing a Home practice Part 12 Blogging on the jump back

Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6 Part 7 Part 8 Part 9 Part 10 Part 11a Part 11b Part 12 Part 13 Part 14 Part 15a Part 15b Part 16 Part 17 Part 18 Part 19 Part 20 Part 21a Part 21b Part 22 Part 23 Part 24 Part 25 Part 26a Part 26b Part 27 Parts 28, 29 and 30 Part 32 Part 33 Part 34


I've said that blogging began to take over my practice and this was especially the case in the first few months. If I'd been fixated on the Jump back before I started to blog, once I'd begun it became an obsession. I have a little Application on my blog called Feedjit, it shows where visitors to the blog are coming from with little country flags. Love this application so nice to see people coming from all over the world, and great to see some of the flags appearing again and again. Over time I've managed to put a few names to some of the flags after receiving comments, nice to see a flag pop up and be able to think 'Oh hi G, how's Vienna this morning' or to notice that A.'s popped by really early before her practice in California or T. from Osaka etc. It also shows how some have arrived here in the first place by showing their google search, my favourite was someone searching for 'grimmly jump back guy'. I've come across links from blogs in Japanese referring to me as Uncle, whose obsessed with the Jump back.

The first month of the blog was mainly bringing together information I'd found online but I also posted a couple of videos of my own attempts at jumping back. I've just counted, I posted six videos of my Jump back in that first month. Strangely, I never felt self conscious about it, perhaps because I didn't think that many people would see them anyway, and that anyone who did make it here would be, like me, trying to nail the jump back themselves.

Posting here encouraged me to think about the jump back more, to try new things and video them. I posted videos of me trying to jump back in grip socks on a bare floor. I tried Yoga blocks, Nike push up grips (really helpful). I tried to do straight leg the Jump through (never managed it) as well as jumping through crossed leg. My whole practice revolved around the Jump back as did my day. I did my practice in the morning and as soon as I got home in the evening I got changed and worked on it some more. I started to think about the physics involved as well as the anatomy, one of the few times in fact that I've bothered with anatomy.

Actually I've been thinking about this recently, have you noticed there's hardly any anatomy on this blog? There was a couple of posts on Grilley's anatomy DVD which I watched once. Found it interesting but never got around to looking at it again. I bought a couple of books on anatomy and yoga but haven't really bothered with them. Several bloggers I know refer to it a lot and there are lots of anatomical terms floating around that I always have to google. It's curious, I've studied some brain science in my time but in connection with yoga I have virtually no interest in anatomy at all. Why do you think that is? It's not like I'm all New Age (so far from it) and into a mystical or spiritual aspect of the practice and have a resistance to the western scientific approach. I also don't seem to want to think about it culturally or philosophically and yet I'm a Philosopher. I remember once making a conscious decision not to Philosophise about Love, not to deconstruct it. I was probably afraid that if I did then it might be like an onion and after peeling away layer after layer there might be nothing left. I wonder if, on a subconscious level, I feel the same about Yoga. Afraid to look at it too closely in case I lose my passion for it.

That said I keep meaning to fish out the Anatomy books and try to work out how you count the vertebra of the spine. I have this little twinge in the same place, probably at the bottom of the thoracic region. Nothing much, if I poke my finger around there it feels a bit like a small bruise. It's made me pretty much lay off the drop backs and Kapo's for a bit 'till it passes but I've also wondered if it might come from putting my leg behind the head.

Of course, practicing at home without a teacher we probably need to know a bit of anatomy so we don't end of buggering ourselves up.



Next: Not just about the jump back

Developing a Home practice Part 11a Staying motivated

Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6 Part 7 Part 8 Part 9 Part 10 Part 11a Part 11b Part 12 Part 13 Part 14 Part 15a Part 15b Part 16 Part 17 Part 18 Part 19 Part 20 Part 21a Part 21b Part 22 Part 23 Part 24 Part 25 Part 26a Part 26b Part 27 Parts 28, 29 and 30 Part 32 Part 33 Part 34

I received a couple of emails asking me how I've managed to stay motivated and/or managed to get myself on the mat every morning, which is pretty much the same question.

In the beginning it was easy. you start off with the suryanamaskaras, and when your unfit and not very flexible that feels like a lot at first. Before you can get bored with that you include Sury B, which still brings me out in a sweat. Then of course you start to add the rest of standing which keeps it fresh and interesting for a couple of months. After a while you have a routine going, it starts becoming familiar you relax into it. You haven't exercised for a while before this so your starting to feel results right away, your feeling a little healthier , fitter, perhaps you've lost a kilo or two. After a while though it all begins to settle down. As you settle into a routine it becomes....well, routine.

It's now that the danger of dropping a couple of sessions comes up. At first, perhaps you were only practicing three days a week. You drop one of those and you have a gap of four days, it becomes harder to get on the mat. Before you know it you get around to your practice maybe once a week if you feel like it, or end up laying off it for awhile altogether though with the intention, always the intention to start practicing again soon. There's always a reason not to practice or a reason to put it off until tomorrow.

Practice tip 1

Routine is everything. Practice every morning. Even if it's only a a couple of Suryanamaskaras A and a B. just to get your body moving. But, do it on your mat. Roll the mat out and do your Sury A there. Cognitive therapists are probably nodding there heads here. Link up all those associations, mornings, mat, practice. Same with meditation practice, you might not be able to face a 20 or 40 minute session but even five minutes sitting on your mat or cushion will keep your practice ticking over.

Practice tip 2

Incentives. Mine at the moment is my half grapefruit with honey on top, love this. Tastes so good after practice. It's the first thing I have, before any water even. Looks bright and beautiful after my darkened practice room and when your parched, so so refreshing. no practice no grapefruit. I might not feel like practicing some mornings but I always feel like that half grapefruit.

Also Marks and Spencer's milk chocolate covered toffee popcorn. Did I practice this morning ? no? then they stay on the shelf.

To be continued......